USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Ashfield > History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 1910 > Part 31
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CHAPTER XXIII
PHYSICIANS, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
A large number of physicians have practised in the town; of these the first was Dr. Phineas Bartlett, who is mentioned in the town records as early as 1766, and who remained in practice until the time of his death in 1799. After visiting a patient he fell from his horse and died in a fit. In 1793, he built the house now occupied by Professor Norton's family. He was largely identified with public affairs, represented the town in the General Court, was town clerk a great many years and filled other posi- tions of responsibility. His sudden death was greatly lamented.
A contemporary of Dr. Bartlett was Dr. Moses Hayden, who was in practice in 1766, and perhaps earlier. He lived at South Ashfield, was in practice about fifteen years, and removed to Conway.
The next physician was Dr. Francis Mantor, a relative of Dana Graves, who was in practice at the close of the last cen- tury. Dr. Enos Smith probably came next, and was in practice many years. He lived on the Plain where Amos Daniels now lives, also at the Miss Sedgwick place, later, on the "Flat." About the same time as Dr. Smith, Dr. Rivera Nash engaged in practice in the town. Dr. David Dickenson was also here con- temporaneously with Drs. Smith and Nash.
Dr. Cornelius Luce was in practice about 1810 for a few years, and lived at the north end of lot No. 18, probably in the hollow near the old mill. Dr. William A. Hamilton followed a little later. Then came Dr. Atherton Clark, who married a daughter of Dr. Smith, and first engaged in practice in the town about 1816. He also lived where Amos Daniels now resides, and was in practice many years. William S. Clark, a former president of Amherst Agricultural College, was a son of Dr. Clark.
Dr. Jared Bement also married a daughter of Dr. Smith, and engaged in practice in 1830-33. He resided where Albert Crafts, Jr., now lives. Dr. Charles Knowlton and Dr. Roswell
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Shepard were in practice about the same time,-the latter for a few ycars only. They were in partnership for a timc. Dr. Knowlton remained in town and died in 1850 .* He lived in what is now the Sedgwick house, and his office was near where the Flower house now stands. He was succeeded by his son, Dr. Charles L. Knowlton, who removed to Northampton in 1868, where he dicd in 1898, and was buried in Ashfield with his family.
Dr. Bement was succeeded by Dr. Milo Wilson, to whom he disposed of his business about 1838. Dr. Sidney R. Brooks, a native of Buckland, bought the homestead and practice of Dr. Wilson in 1845. He remained until 1855. While here he built the two houses now occupied by Joseph Green and Hugh Wing. He married a daughter of Dea. Asa Sanderson.
Dr. Stephen W. Tabor studied medicine with Dr. Knowlton about 1840, married his daughter, and practiced here a few years. He went to Shelburne Falls, then to Independence, Iowa, where he became a judge. He was afterwards appointed auditor in the Treasury Department at Washington.
Dr. James R. Fairbanks, a native of Pittsfield, subsequently engaged in practice in Connecticut, succeeded Dr. Charles L. Knowlton in Ashfield in the spring of 1868. He remained in town until 1879, when he sold out his residence and practice to Dr. Geo. R. Fessenden, a graduate of Harvard, who had prac- ticcd in Plainfield a short time before coming here.
Dr. John E. Urquhart, a graduate of Maryland University, came here in 1887. Both Fessenden and Urquhart still remain in town, each having a large and lucrative practice.
Other physicians have been in town for a short time. A Dr. King was in practice for about two years in South Ashfield, and a Dr. Lee died in town in 1816, after a short practice.
Dr. Enos Smith was here probably longer than any other physician. He was a graduate of Dartmouth, was considered not only a good physician but a man of excellent business ability.
*The only living descendant of Dr. Knowlton is a granddaughter, Mrs. Dora Knowlton Thompson Ranous, now engaged in literary work in New York City.
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He was sent as representative five times and served as state senator. He was a man of large physique, with a strong voice and a quick and sharp repartee. He had a good practice, but his pent-up energy reached outside of his profession. He owned a large amount of land at times and quite a flock of sheep. During the fine wool craze he paid $200 for a merino buck with which to improve his own and the stock of the town. Many stories are told of his peculiarities. Being called to see a patient in a crit- ical condition, while holding the pulse of the sick one, the husband and others of the family waiting in breathless suspense, he suddenly broke silence by saying in his quick, sharp voice, "Esquire White, have you seen my new merino? One of the finest sheep in the state, sir. Call up and see him some day, sir." Another of his side enterprises was the starting of a small grocery when he lived in the house now occupied by Mr. Daniels. Going into the cellar one day to fill a jug with molasses, he received a hurried call from above. As it was cold weather the fluid ran slowly and he left it to answer. It proved to be an important case where a doctor was needed at once, and for- getting the matter below, he promptly obeyed the summons. Later, on returning, he thought of the molasses and going into the cellar found the jug full, the barrel empty, and the cellar bottom thickly covered with the sticky substance. The doctor ejaculated, "It don't pay for a man to have too many businesses, sir. Ready to sell the grocery at once, sir." He liked at times to go out among his hired men to enliven the labors of the field himself. One afternoon he went out to load the hay on a wagon. In his characteristic way of wanting matters to move lively, he began to call," More hay, sir, more hay, sir." Soon coming to a place where the tumbles were nearer together the pitcher threw the hay up so fast the loader could not take care of it, although still crying, "More hay, sir." Finally, his quarters becoming so contracted, he slid to the ground. "Doctor," said the pitcher, "what are you down here after?" "More hay, sir," was the reply.
One of his daughters married William Hawkes, and was grandmother of the blind writer, Clarence Hawkes, also great- grandmother of Rev. Albert Howes of Fitzwilliam, N. H.
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Dr. Charles Knowlton was born in 1800 at Templeton, Mass., married in 1821 and graduated at Hanover Medical College in 1824. Hc began practice in Hawley at "Poverty Square, " then a thriving village, and moved to Ashfield in the early thirties. He was a "free thinker" and was outspoken against the stern theology of the day. The Congregational minister and a portion of his church were very bitter against him for his belief and also because of a book he had published, believed to be injurious to the morals of the community. A portion of the church favored the doctor and the result was a serious schism in the church. He was esteemed a skillful physician and had a very large practice. After his death, his son Charles L., who had begun practice in the town of Worthington, was induced to return to this town. He was here about eighteen years, when deeming the long and hard rides too much for his health he decided to remove to Northampton. A good story is told in connection with this removal. A petition was circulated requesting him to remain, and obtained a large number of signatures. It so happened that one of the men most active in circulating the petition was the town undertaker, but nobody saw the joke until he presented it to the doctor, who said at once, "I suppose you thought it would help your business for me to stay in town."
Dr. Shepard mentions that during the length of time he kept the death record about 50% died of consumption. By consulting the death record of the past ten years and summing up all the lung and throat diseases under different names which formerly might have been called consumption there is probably now less than 15% instead of 50.
We find mention of only two cases of small pox in town. In 1824, Simeon Wait, who had been on a peddling trip to York State, returned home sick with the disease. He was confined in an old house which stood on the hill about a hundred rods south of the Farragut house, where he died. His solitary grave may be seen in the mowing lot below the road leading to George Ward's house. In 1850, a daughter of Mrs. Marvin Williams, who lived in the house now owned by Mrs. Prouty at the east end of the street, came home from Springfield sick with what
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was called measles but proved to be the small pox. Several people were exposed and two other families lived in the house. The town spent $223 in trying to prevent the spread of the disease and in aid to the family. Passengers in the stage ob- jected to riding past the house, so it was obliged to go up the Norton hill and down the Goodwin road past the hill cemetery. Mr. Albert Crafts says that one evening, as a tenant of the in- fected house came into the front of the store, two other villagers who were sitting by the stove quickly made their escape through a back window. The patient died and was secretly buried in a corner of the old cemetery. Fortunately there were no more cases.
In 1867, a strange epidemic of typhoid dysentery prevailed among the children at Beldenville in the northeast part of the town. Thomas Kelley lost all his children, three boys from three to sixteen, within a week. Stephen Sears, his next neighbor, lost a boy and girl of fifteen and nine, and Alonzo Eldredge, a boy of nine, leaving the three families childless. Clark Bardwell also lost a five year old boy, making seven children in one small neighborhood in the space of about five weeks.
SECRET SOCIETIES
December 23, 1826, a Masonic Lodge was organized in this town by Rev. Titus Strong of Greenfield, meeting at John Williams' tavern. Rev. Orra Martin was chosen Master, Horace B. Childs, Senior Warden, Samuel P. Fuller, Junior Warden, Roswell Ranney, Treasurer, Jonathan Lilly, Jr., Secretary, Sal- mon Mather, Senior Deacon, Horace Cole, Junior Deacon, Aus- tin Lilly and Luther Ward, Stewards, Seth Hall, Tyler, and Samuel Lee, Marshal.
The Lodge was removed to Conway in 1830, and after a few years the charter was given up, but upon petition, it was re- stored again in 1869, forming the present Lodge which now exists there.
The Master of the Ashfield Lodge was a Baptist minister at South Ashfield, and it seems that the church in the north part
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of the town differed from their ministerial brother, as the follow- ing records on their books show:
April 25, 1827. After consulting about the Freemasons, voted that it is a burden to the Church that any of its members should be of that order.
At a church meeting, June 25. Voted again, that it is a gricf for any member to belong to the Freemasons. Five mcm- bers including the Elder, voted that they have no fellowship with the Freemasons.
August 27. We find that many things creep into the Church hurtful to the minds of some; one in particular concerning the Freemasons, which causes uneasiness for a member to join that order; and as there is some of that order who are members of our Church, we view it as a duty, as a body, to let it be known throughout the Church, that we think it will be for the union of the Church and for the honor of religion, for those members of the Masonic order not to meet with the lodge, to the grief of their brethren, which if they do, they may expect it will cause a labour if not a discipline with them. And, if any member here- after should join the Freemasons, knowing that it is a grief to the Church, it should be considered just grounds for the Church to excommunicate them.
The Anti-Masonic feeling, caused by the disappearance of Morgan, was very strong about this time .*
The secret organization called the Native American or Know Nothing party formed here in 1853 has been spoken of on another page.
A Grange was organized here in January, 1875, with A. L. Richmond as Master and Levi Gardner, Secretary, soon after- wards succeeded by Emory D. Church who apparently filled that office during the life of the organization. There were evi- dently over fifty members, but the records ceased in less than three years and its charter was surrendered to the State Grange. It is said one reason for its early death was the failure of their cooperation plan, as a small store which they had started proved a losing venture. In 1900, another Grange was organ- ized, or rather the old one was revived, and has been success-
*The masters' gavel used in the old Ashfield Masonic Lodge is preserved in the Conway lodge.
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fully carried on for ten years. There are at present about a hundred and twenty members.
THE SHAKERS IN ASHFIELD
In his Historical Sketch, Dr. Shepard speaks of the "vagrant religious fanatics called Tremblers" being in the North part of the town in 1781. The old records would indicate that they were here one year later. At a meeting held February 7, 1782, it was voted, as Dr. Shepard quotes, "That the selectmen be requested to warn said straggling Tremblers now in town and those that shall come in hereafter to depart in twenty-four hours or expect trouble." At an adjourned meeting March 19, a Committee of Safety was chosen and then it was "Voted to instruct the above selected committee to warn the Straglin Quaquars to depart the town immediately." Mr. Curtis and Rev. Mr. Huntington were greatly interested in this old record and as to who these "Tremblers" or "Straglin Quaquars, " as they were called in the record, were, and Mr. Curtis proposed to investigate, but he died soon after. Subsequent investigation found that the oldest people knew but little of this sect. Mr. Erastus Elmer, over ninety years of age, had heard his mother speak of their living on the old road east of the Samuel Hale place in Baptist Corner, also on the locust knoll south of the house where Samuel Hale now lives. An old well is there which has always been called the old Shaker well. Mrs. Abram Shippee and Mrs. Samuel Hale, Sr., confirmed this account. Mr. Elmer said they were presided over by a woman called the "Eleck" (elect) lady. Some thought she was a witch. Mr. Marcus Parker said his father and his neighbor, Uncle Abner Kelley, went from Cape Street over to Baptist Corner, some six miles, to attend one of their meetings. Said that "when the meeting got well a-going, most everybody shook, but father didn't shake."
The records of the old Baptist Church in March, 1782, give the names of a number of persons who were "rejected by the church," and their names are found afterwards on the lists of those joining the Shakers from Ashfield. Of the origin of this
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sect and the length of their sojourn little could be ascertained here, but from histories and from old Shaker books the following is gleaned:
In 1770, "Mother" Ann Lee became the head of the Shaking Quakers in England. In 1774, with a number of her leading followers, she emigrated to the United States. In 1776, they settled in Watervliet, near Albany, starting a religious colony there. In May, 1781, Mother Ann with three elders and two female friends 'started on a missionary tour to the east. They entered Massachusetts at Sheffield; then passed over the moun- tain into the town of Enfield, Connecticut, where by the Shaker account they spent a week teaching and preaching, and though threatened with violence by the "ungodly" they finally pro- ceeded on their way unmolested to the town of Harvard, Mass. Here and in the adjoining town of Shirley they remained through the summer, where as the Shaker records say, "They spared no pains day or night teaching and instructing the people." It is evident they gained quite a following there and there was much opposition, so much that in January they were forcibly driven from the town and proceeded to Enfield again, where after a brief stay and making unsuccessful attempts to hold meetings, they were driven from the town. They then crossed the river, went up to West Springfield, recrossed the river, briefly visited a few believers in Granby and Montague, then passing on to Ashfield "tarried at the house of Asa Bacon."
There is some confusion in the Shaker accounts, some saying they arrived here in March, but the town record plainly shows they were here in February. "Here," the records say, "they were away from the claims of riotous mobs, and the retreat seemed like a great blessing of God."
The two votes of February 7 and March 17 were not very thoroughly carried out, for the Shakers record they did not leave town until the 20th of May. They then returned to Harvard and stayed until September when they were driven from the town with violence, several being whipped and one having his arm broken. They visited various towns in Connecti- cut, including Enfield where they were again mobbed while
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attempting to hold meetings, and left there, finally, about the first of November, bringing up at Ashfield again, "where by invitation they accepted a home at the house of Asa Bacon where they remained until the following spring." Here they held meetings through the winter, also at Shelburne Falls at the house of Jonathan Wood, a three-story house that stood just back of the present hotel. It was afterwards called the "Old Shaker House" and was torn down in 1854.
The Shaker accounts of the meetings held are apparently exaggerated. They say "At one meeting at Asa Bacon's there were sixty sleighs and six hundred people-counted by John Farrington, by Mother's order." The meetings are described, "Great manifestations of the power of God and great purging among the people."
In March there was evidently a determination to clean out the disturbers, for the Shaker accounts say that a mob of fifty came over from Shelburne headed by Col. David Wells and met a delegation from Ashfield headed by Capt. Thomas Stocking. They convened at Chileab Smith's tavern just north of the corner above Houghton Smith's. They wanted "Mother" to go with them to Phillips' tavern near the center for a hearing, probably because Mr. Phillips was the leading justice in town, but his house was not a tavern near the center. It was a private house standing nearly opposite to where Mr. Levant Gray now lives. The town records give Captain Stocking as one of the constables that year. The Shaker account goes on to say that after a conference at the tavern, a committee was chosen, one of whom was Mrs. Smith and Colonel Wells another, and this committee proceeded to the house of Asa Bacon for the purpose of interviewing the "Mother." A full report of the conference is given in the Shaker "Testimonies" with the conversation between "Mother" and the Committee which represents "Mother" as having decidedly the best of the argument, and ending with a sharp reprimand from her. The result was that the "mob" departed without any "riotous demonstrations." The last of April, 1783, they left town.
Some of the parting words of Mother Ann to the people of
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Ashfield are thus recorded: "It is now spring of the year and you have all been taught the way of God; and now you may all go home and be faithful with your hands. Every faithful man will go forth and put up his fences in season, and will plow his ground in season, and will put his crops into the ground in sea- son, and such a man may with confidence look for a blessing."
The Shakers proceeded from here to Harvard, from which place they were again forcibly driven in July. They then slowly wended their journey towards York State, endeavoring to hold meetings on the way, but in almost every instance they were broken up by interference of the inhabitants.
Mother Ann died at Watervliet, September 8, 1784, aged forty-nine.
Is it not to the credit of Ashfield and Shelburne that they were thus tolerant toward these people who were so sorely abused elsewhere?
A more extended account of the Shakers in Ashfield may be found in a paper by F. G. Howes read before the P. V. M. A., February 23, 1909, and now on file in the Transactions of that Society, Vol. V.
MILLERISM IN ASHFIELD
Ashfield did not escape the tide of this sect that spread over the land in the forties. There are people living in town who well remember the visits of lecturers and itinerant preachers for the purpose of proving the speedy destruction of the world. They had meetings over Mr. Jasper Bement's store, also in the town hall where by means of charts and a blackboard they proved to the satisfaction of those who were disposed to believe it, that the world would certainly come to an end soon, and they obtained quite a little following here. Later, exact dates were fixed for the event, and a goodly number of the faithful had ascension robes prepared. It was even said by some of the irreverent outsiders that there was quite a discussion among the believers as to the material, cut and size of the garment to be worn on the occasion, and not a little envy that some had richer robes than others. A story is told of Uncle Joe Manning, the
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whitewasher of the town, also a zealous Millerite who lived in a cabin with about an acre of land nearly opposite Mr. Anson Goodwin, who lived where Albert Richmond now does. Mr. Goodwin was a thrifty farmer, kept everything neat and trim about his premises, and his neighbor's somewhat untidy estate across the way was a constant eyesore to him, and he often tried to buy him out, but without success. On the day before the date fixed upon for the closing drama, Mr. Goodwin wended his way across the road to his neighbor and the following conversa- tion is reported: "Well, Uncle Joe, they say the world is coming to an end tomorrow." "Yes, the world's coming to an end to- morrow sure." "Really sure about that, Uncle Joe?" "Sartin sure, never was more sartin of anything in my life." "Well, you are going away and don't want it, suppose you give me a deed of that piece of land this afternoon." "Ah, but the good Lord he say, 'Occupy, occupy, till I come.' " Uncle Joe kept his land until death, and the Millerites, frequently disappointed in their dates, lapsed into Second Adventism, and finally dis- appeared from town.
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CHAPTER XXIV
ASHFIELD SUMMER RESIDENTS
In 1890, at a gathering of the students and others connected with the Academy, the following paper was read by a person who had just before heard from Mr. Norton's own lips his account of his "Discovery of Ashfield."
About twenty-five years ago on a bright day in June might have been seen a traveller driving along the valley road from Shelburne Falls to this town. To gain the stranger's acquaint- ance at once, we may say he was a professor in one of our prin- cipal colleges and an editor of one of our leading magazines, that he was in search of some quiet, pleasant village among the hills, where he might establish a summer home for himself and family. He stopped for a short time in Buckland, then jour- neyed on toward Ashfield. There had just been a refreshing rain, and the country was at its best. The air was clear and bracing and full of the song of birds, the flowers were in full bloom by the roadside and the hills were clothed with resplen- dent green. As he approached the village the quiet little lake by the highway mirrored back the beauty of the clouds, the hills and the trees. As he tells the story, he stopped at the modest little tavern in the village and partook of an excellent dinner. He took a walk through the street and was charmed with the beauty and quietness of the place. He then continued his journey toward the west, stopping occasionally on the summits of the hills, to enjoy the views. He spent several days in driving through Berkshire County, but was un- able to remove from his mind the pleasant and restful vision of Ashfield which he had left behind him, so that he returned, looked over the place once more and finally engaged a home for the summer. He soon after wrote to his brother editor in New York that he had found a paradise among the hills, the haven of rest they had been so long seeking, and bade him come and share it with him.
Professor Norton hired a house for the summer, and the next spring, April, 1865, he secured a deed of the place from the heirs of Jasper Bement. Mr. Curtis came to visit him and the town, tarried with his host over Sunday, and the next summer, 1866,
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came with his family to Ashfield. The first year he hired of Mrs. Miranda Alden the house on the "Flat" now owned by the Smith family, soon after, renting the house owned by Moses Cook on the Plain which he bought in 1872. Both houses were large and substantial structures, nearly three-fourths of a cen- tury old; Professor Norton's being built in 1794 by Dr. Phineas Bartlett, and Mr. Curtis' at an early date by Levi Cook, the first postmaster in town. They were only about fifty rods apart, and from the library window of each the house of the other was visible. The land of Mr. Curtis extended up to the highway opposite Mr. Norton's house and a footpath was soon made straight across from one house to the other, which, as the years went by, became well worn by the frequent visits of the two friends back and forth.
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