USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Ashfield > History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 1910 > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
At the time of their coming here, Professor Norton was asso- ciate editor of the North American Review, and Mr. Curtis editor of Harper's Magazine ("The Easy Chair"). But besides their interest in national affairs, they found time to get acquainted with the little town where they had made their home, its cir- cumstances, peculiarities and needs.
About this time efforts were being made to unite the two Congregational churches that had been separated for a dozen years. In a quiet, unobtrusive way, hardly perceptible, but really felt, they threw their influence towards that result, also, after the union, towards securing the old church for a town hall.
As time went by, they became acquainted and familiar with the people of the town. If a town meeting was to be held they were pretty sure to be there, not for the purpose of influencing or criticising the proceedings, but to observe the ways of doing business, to see the citizens in a mass, and also probably to get a little recreation from it. They attended the meetings of the Farmers' Club and entered freely into the discussion with the members. On one such occasion when the subject was "Rural Betterments, " Mr. Norton expressed his disapproval of barbed wire fences very strongly, saying he had much more respect for one of the old stone walls our fathers built, covered with beautiful vines, than for these fences. Mr. Alvan Cross, a hard
379
ASHFIELD SUMMER RESIDENTS
headed practical farmer, speaking soon after, said he was sorry to disagree with Professor Norton but he had noticed when cattle were turned out to pasture they had little respect for an old stone wall, even if it was partly covered with vines, and were pretty sure to jump over it somewhere, but put up a good, strong barbed wire fence, and after they had tried it two or three times they respected it, and it was for the farmer's interest to have a fence the cattle would respect, whether Professor Norton did or not. Of course, the laugh was on Professor Norton, but Mr. Curtis gallantly came to the rescue of his friend and soon made everything right. Afterwards, two of the most pleasant meetings of the club were held at his place, with Mr. Norton and his family the genial hosts.
The work of Professor Norton and Mr. Curtis in connection with the library and academy has been noticed on other pages. Most of the twenty-three annual lectures which Mr. Curtis gave for the benefit of the library had been delivered the previous winter in the principal cities to large houses, and for which liberal sums were paid. The Ashfield audiences were not always large, but Mr. Curtis made no complaint. Rev. Mr. Greene, as Presi- dent of the Library Association usually made the arrangements with him for the lecture. One evening, there was quite a thin house, and Mr. Greene, who was of a very sensitive nature, felt deeply hurt at what he considered the slight to Mr. Curtis by the people of the town. After a troubled night in thinking over the matter he made an early call on Mr. Curtis to present his regrets and apologies. He found him cheery as usual, and when he broached the dreaded subject Mr. Curtis said, "O, con- sidering the subject, the night and all the circumstances, I thought we had a very good house." He could name more excuses than the apologist, and Mr. Greene felt much relieved.
Mrs. Amanda F. Hall notes that Mr. Curtis once told her that "Never in larger assemblies did he enjoy such thrilling, intelli- gent response to his addresses as from his fellow townspeople here."
For the benefit of the library, Professor Norton also occa- sionally gave readings from Lowell, Longfellow and Emerson,
380
HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
interspersed with delightful reminiscences of these men whom he so well kncw.
Whatever was of general interest to the town, improvement in the roads, old burial places, village betterments, fire pro- tection, and so on, they entered into heartily.
The Academy dinners have already been spoken of. It was plain to be seen that Mr. Curtis and Professor Norton appre- ciated and enjoyed the success of these dinners.
As nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed since these dinners were at the height of interest, we quote an account from one of the leading papers of the state, of the dinner of '87.
ASHFIELD'S BIG FESTIVAL THE GATHERING OF LITERARY MEN
Speeches by George William Curtis, Prof. C. E. Norton, Prof. G. Stanley Hall, Charles Dudley Warner and President Carter.
From Our Special Reporter.
ASHFIELD, Thursday, August 25.
The annual Ashfield dinner, that festival which culminates as well as puts on exhibition the simple, but strong, literary life that pervades this quiet village in the summer, was held to-day, and a fairer sky, brighter sun or more delicious atmosphere never combined more completely to enhance the enjoyment of such an occasion. It has been indeed a rare day, and the prac- tical farmer declares that none better could be made for the celebration. After the incessant rains the sunlight seemed more beautiful than ever while the air combined the freshness of June and the mellowness of autumn. The well-washed roads from all directions lead up to these mountain heights along brooks that have lost none of their clearness through freshets, but babble more distinctly and musically for the increased volume of water. But the beautiful weather was not alone responsible for the large gathering here to-day. For ten years these literary treats have been held with varying interest, until people for twenty miles around plan a regular excursion to attend them. Although there was every prospect last night that the day would be rainy, the three hundred dinner tickets were all sold, and but few of them were taken by natives of the village. A dozen more were crowded around the elastic tables, while fully a hundred were admitted after the dinner to hear the
381
ASHFIELD SUMMER RESIDENTS
speakers. While it represents characteristic New England types, the gathering is in many respects unique and remarkable. The plainly finished hall of the quaint old town building with its remarkable tower, was filled with tables, even the high stage behind the speakers being occupied. Clusters of asparagus tops hung from the ceiling, and the buzz of the flies that occupied them was drowned in the hum of expectant voices below, and unnoticed in the silent attention the after-dinner speakers received. At each plate was a bouquet,-a simple, old-fashioned nosegay, with verbena, sweet peas and plain-colored geraniums. Around the well-filled tables matrons and maidens bustled long before the dinner hour and waited on the hungry visitors as they came in, apparently pleased to see the rapidity with which the food disappeared before appetites made keen by mountain air. Outside the hall, the visitors began to put in their appearance early in the forenoon. The motley collection of teams that invaded every resident's yard in the vicinity and lined the fences resembled the cattle-show gatherings, but the occupants would not be mistaken for the average frequenters of such exhibitions. There were no boisterous or rollicking loads of young people and no noisy groups of children. At least two hundred people waited around the hall for the doors to open at one o'clock. With plenty of ushers to seat the visitors as they crowded in, there was little confusion and no scrambling for seats. The dinner possessed the relish of plain, home-cooked viands simply served.
Along the table facing the audience sat the speakers and their relatives and personal friends. Prof. C. E. Norton was pale from recent illness, but refused to disappoint the audience, although it was thought last evening that he would be unable to preside. On his right sat Charles Dudley Warner, with his large blue eyes scanning the visitors. Next him George William Curtis seemed to lose his customary dignity and reserve in the hearty greetings he received from country folks who took him by the hand. Franklin Carter, president of Williams College, Prof. G. S. Hall of Johns Hopkins, Professor Ware of Columbia College and Principal Hall of the Hartford high school were among the distinguished people there. Professor Norton pre- sided in his usual happy manner, a smile playing around his mouth whether his words were witty or formed polished sen- tences. He began by bidding the visitors all a welcome, and said he wished "that the hall was as large as our hearts." He then paid eloquent tribute to Rector Greene, Alvan Clarke, and John Field, who had died during the year.
382
HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
Professor Norton's introduction of the last speaker, George William Curtis, was a peculiarly graceful one, as he quoted from Wordsworth's lines on "The happy warrior" to characterize the editor's life. Mr. Curtis began by apologizing for always speak- ing on these occasions. He related the story of the witness who said that he was born in a certain town and lived there eighty- seven years, when the lawyer asked him where he had lived before that time. For ten years he had spoken at these dinners, and some one might ask what he did before the dinners began. Williams College, he said, was present in tremendous force. "She gave us a president of the United States and has sent us a president to-day. Williams is the college of Bryant, Garfield and Mark Hopkins, and also of Wadhams, and Stanley Hall, but I must be careful for other college men are present. From the hills little streams flow to the sea, from the hills little boys run whose names in mature life are cherished in every home. When Bryant was a lawyer in Cummington he wrote 'The Water Fowl.' I am sure his eye was set on a little boy who was to come from Plainfield, who has turned his knowledge to patriotic uses, and has strengthened the union of our states. I can characterize that man (Mr. Warner) by the title of his book, 'Summer in a Garden.'" He then referred humorously to the various suggestions about the new academy building, and praised the skill of Professor Ware who had come to advise about its construction. "I am sadly conscious," he said, "that there is nothing left for the last speaker, but I appeal to every man and woman here if there is not a satisfaction in having the last word in behalf of our academy?" Touching allusions were then made to John Field and his gift and after a description of what had been done for the academy, Mr. Curtis made an earnest appeal for its future support.
In their walks and drives about town the nooks and corners of Ashfield were pretty well explored. Cook's hill, the Sanderson hill and Peter hill were favorite resorts. One bright September afternoon when they had visitors, Chief Justice Gray among the rest, the party was seated on the large rock on Sanderson's hill above the village,-now in Mr. Belding's peach orchard, and their talk called forth from Alvan Sanderson, who was at work on the flat below, the remark that he "guessed they must be telling mighty good stories up there, for some pretty big laughs came down once in a while."
383
ASHFIELD SUMMER RESIDENTS
In one of these walks on Peter hill, James Russell Lowell ex- pressed a desire to own the Lorenzo Lilly farm for a summer residence. The house is situated about seventeen hundred feet above the level of the sea and commands a fine eastward view. The land extends northward to the summit of the hill, which is one thousand eight hundred and forty feet in height. Professor Norton secured the place for his friend, but the death of Mr. Lowell in 1891, prevented the transfer of the property. The place is now a part of the Norton estate, and the house is the "Lilliput Lodge" which has been occupied for several seasons by Rev. C. B. F. Pease and family.
Mr. Curtis died at his home on Staten Island, N. Y., August 30, 1892. On the arrival of the news at Ashfield the next morn- ing, the bells were tolled and in the evening a citizens' meeting was held and resolutions passed on his death, which were tran- scribed in the town records. A meeting of the trustees of the Academy was also called and similar resolutions passed which were recorded. Henry S. Ranney, Esq., the veteran town clerk, and Charles Howes, as chairman of the selectmen, were chosen as the town representatives to the funeral. From a New York paper of September 3, 1892, we give a few extracts from an account of the funeral.
No service more simple, more free from pomp and circum- stance, could have been arranged than the funeral of George William Curtis. Only three small rooms in the modest cottage where the essayist lived and worked for more than thirty years were opened for the reception of those who attended his funeral. In all, family and friends, there were fewer than half a hundred persons present.
In the darkened parlor to the right of the centre hall the casket rested, and on it was placed a single wreath of white and yellow roses in part, and in part a segment of white lilies of the valley, in which the word "ASHFIELD" was worked in purple flowers. Ashfield is the name of the New England home where George William Curtis rested in his vacations.
Dr. Chadwick's service was concluded without music or ritual, and then the casket was removed to a hearse, and, fol- lowed by only four carriages, taken to the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp. On a knoll overlooking the lower bay and a
384
HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
broad stretch of the Atlantic is the burial plot of the old Staten Island family, Shaw, of which family Mrs. Curtis is a member. There in 1874, was buried Sarah Shaw Curtis, Mr. Curtis' daughter. There he was buried yesterday. Fewer than a score of people were present when the casket was lowered into the grave. Dr. Chadwick prayed over the grave, and then Professor Norton steppcd to the head of the grave and with bowed un- covered head paid a friend's tribute to the character of the man he had loved. What he said no one but the one woman standing nearest the grave hcard. When the mound was made they placed over it the one wreath bearing the word "ASHFIELD."
Professor Norton continued the Academy dinners for ten years after Mr. Curtis' death until the twenty-fifth dinner when he decided to cease his connection with them; but he still kept up his interest in the town and in the institutions for which he had done so much. The last summer he was here he was anxious that a civic service committee should be formed, an organized, permanent body working for the general good of the town. Such an organization was started with a few members, and it is for the interest of the town that it be sustained as Professor Norton had suggested. Mr. Norton died October 21, 1908. On learning of his death a well attended meeting of the citizens was held at the town hall and resolutions passed ex- pressing the feeling of loss which the town felt at his death. Dr. G. R. Fessenden and A. D. Daniels were chosen a committee to attend his funeral at Cambridge. On the 23rd at twelve o'clock, the hour of the funeral, the town hall bell was tolled for half an hour.
In 1890, the young people of the town organized a literary association called the "Curtis Club" which became a very in- teresting and successful institution. In 1896, this club caused a tablet to be erected in the town hall to the memory of Mr. Curtis which was appropriately dedicated, Professor Norton assisting in the ceremony. It is placed at the east side of the door at the north end of the lower town hall and reads as follows:
IN GRATEFUL AND AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS AND AS A MEMORIAL OF HIS PRESENCE AND SPEECH ON MANY OCCASIONS IN THIS HALL, THIS TABLET IS SET UP BY THE CURTIS CLUB OF ASHFIELD. MDCCCXCVI
385
ASHFIELD SUMMER RESIDENTS
After Mr. Norton's death, citizens of the town, by voluntary subscription, procured a tablet to his memory similar to that of Mr. Curtis to be placed on the wall opposite. This reads as follows:
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED IN LOVING MEMORY OF CHARLES ELIOT NORTON AND OF HIS LONG AND CONSTANT FRIENDSHIP FOR THIS TOWN, BY CITIZENS OF ASHFIELD. MDCCCCIX
This tablet was unveiled Sept. 21, 1909, quite a gathering of citizens, the teachers and pupils of the Academy and the family of Professor Norton being present at the exercises. The veil was drawn from the tablet by little Virginia Hall, a great-grand- daughter of Admiral Farragut, and formally presented to the care of the town by Sanford H. Boice, president of the Civic Service Association. The charge was accepted by Allison G. Howes, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, after which remarks were made by some of the trustees of the Academy and by Rev. Mr. Hallett and Rev. Dr. Jones. Tributes were given as to the interest Mr. Norton had in what was for the best good of the town, also for many kindly deeds rendered in private. Charles Norton, Esq., of New York, feelingly responded for the family, expressing thanks for the erection of the tablet and for the estimation the people of Ashfield had for his father. Miss Lizzie Curtis, by request read a paper on the relation of these two summer residents to the people of the town.
It was as follows:
It is forty-six years this summer since Professor Norton came to Ashfield in search of health for his eldest son, then a baby. Two years later my father established his summer home here- and for the next twenty-seven years a friendship already sincere and intimate, was broadened and deepened by close and fre- quent intercourse during three or four months of each year.
What that intercourse meant to the two participants was fully known to no one except themselves; but some of the re- sults of it were seen and felt by their friends and neighbors of this town.
386
HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
Although their ways of looking at life were superficially very different, Mr. Norton and my father were singularly at one in their principles and ideals. I do not think that any question of moment arose during their joint residence in Ashfield with regard to which their sympathy was not perfect. No matter what task one might undertake, he sought for and received the aid and comfort of the other.
Their public work does not concern us to-day. It is of their love and labor for their summer home that we are now to speak.
Here also they were singularly congenial. Both, I think, held the same opinion of the town which was their residence for a third of the year from choice, not from necessity.
It was not simply as a place of rest and relaxation that they looked on Ashfield, nor was it simply the beauty of its hills, and streams, and woods, that brought them hither year after year. If I apprehend their feeling correctly they believed, and believed intensely, that small towns and villages of this country are its heart, and that the future welfare of the nation depends on keeping that heart sound and true. It was with this end in view that they gave their time and strength to the helping of every- thing in Ashfield that tended to broaden and deepen the stand- ards of life, and to make living itself more enjoyable.
It was for this reason that they gave every year, some of the best that was in them to the academy and library, holding, as they did, that an uneducated community cannot remain free in the full sense of that word, and that schools and books are essential if Ashfield in the future is not to fall below Ashfield in the past.
That was the feeling which actuated them, and it may, I think, be most clearly expressed in Emerson's words:
"God for the fathers, so for us Thou darling town of ours!"
Many tributes have been offered to the memory of these two friends since they ceased to live on earth. Among them there is not one that has not brought pride and gratification to their friends and kindred.
And yet, I think, there is none more beautiful and fitting than the inscriptions on the tablets in this hall, for, as I have already said, the thing they cared for most in Ashfield was not to enjoy her beauty, her rest, her peacefulness. It was to win the good will of their friends and neighbors, and to work with them as fellow-citizens and fellow-residents.
387
ASHFIELD SUMMER RESIDENTS
That they won their desire is placed beyond a doubt by the words which their fellow-citizens have dedicated to their mem- ory in the town hall of Ashfield.
Soon after Mr. Curtis was established here, his friend John W. Field of Philadelphia bought land on the hill south of the village and put up substantial buildings there. He became much attached to the town and before his death in 1887 ex- pressed a wish that he might be buried in Ashfield. The kind- ness of Mr. and Mrs. Field and their liberality towards the Academy and Library have been told in other pages. Mr. Field was buried here but Mrs. Field lost her life in a burning building in London in 1897. A sister of Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Josephine Lowell, bought of Mr. Moses Cook the house on the hill south of Mrs. Curtis'. She died in 1905. In one of his books on the slums of New York, Jacob Riis speaks of Mrs. Lowell as being among the foremost in settlement work among the poor of that city.
The "Cross Cottage" on the hill, having been conveyed by deed to the Trustees of the Academy by Mrs. Field, it was purchased in 1893 by Loyal Farragut, son of Commodore Farra- gut, thus adding another sterling citizen to Ashfield's summer residents.
Others are the Morgans in their stone castle on the hill, the Sullivans in "Little Switzerland," Dr. Murray on the old farm bought by the Bement ancestor in 1762, Colonel Emmett on the old Eldredge farm with his view of the South Ashfield valley, Mrs. Underhill on the old Fuller and Barber farm, Revs. Pease and Sewall and Professor Thomas snugly ensconced in their bun- galow in the grove above the Bryant place, Misses Warren and Thorpe in the village, the Cockadays, the Browns, Turnbulls, and Butlers in South Ashfield, the Marshalls and Ludwigs at Chapel Falls, Dr. Jones and Miss Low in the heart of the old Steady Lane district, and others.
Besides these, old natives of the town have returned to share in its pleasures as summer residents. Milo M. Belding has not only built for himself a fine summer residence, but has bought up a number of old lots and has made the waste places to blossom
388
HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
as the rose. President G. Stanley Hall has secured by deed the tiptop of Peter hill where he plans at some future time a lookout summer bungalow. Lucius S. Hall yearned for his old boyhood haunts in New Boston, and bought a farm there.
Ashfield has been fortunate in its summer residents. They have been of a high class, and have had the respect and esteem of the old residents of the town.
APPENDIX
If any care to look up the town's history further, we would refer them to the Ellis book, two copies of which are in the town library, also several are in the hands of private parties in town. We understand a few copies are left which can be had of Mrs. Geo. W. Ellis of Philadelphia for $3.00 a copy.
There are many copies of Mr. Barnabas Howes' pamphlets in town and are probably easily accessible. Dr. Packard's book before alluded to gives much ecclesiastical history of the town.
The records of the town are in good condition to be consulted. The large safe and the vault recently built give sufficient space for them to be conveniently arranged.
The State Commissioner of Records now exercises supervision over the preservation of records in the towns, but our excellent town clerks, Mr. Ranney and his worthy successor, John M. Sears, Esq., have been a law unto themselves and have had a conscientious care of the papers relating in any way to the interests of the town. The old records of births, deaths and marriages have, as far as possible, been gathered from various sources and indexed. Many of the old valuation books have been preserved, back to the first assessment in 1766.
The clerk's and treasurer's books of the old proprietors are here, also the records of the first Baptist and Congregational churches. The Diary of Rev. Alvan Sanderson for four years, manuscript copies of his sermons, also those of Rev. Dr. Shepard are preserved here.
A record of an early deed of a "Right" in Huntstown reads thus :
Sept. 13, 1742. Jonathan Nelson of Upton for a considera- tion of Forty five pounds grants to John Sadler of Deerfield a proprietors Right in the Township Granted by the Great and General Court of this Province to Capt. Hunt's Company on account of their Expedition to Canada, the said Township lying to the west of Deerfield and Joyning there upon the said
390
HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
John Sadler to perform or cause to be performed the conditions which the General Court require in order to a proprietor holding a right in the said Township, by a proprictors Right in this Decd as means the Sixty third part of the said Township, and the particular Right hereby disposed of is Number 31.
No. 31 was in Baptist Corner. Sadler came here some years after but did not settle on this lot. He lived south of where Charles Hocum docs, probably on Lot 62 or 63.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.