USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Bernardston > History of the town of Bernardston, Franklin County, Massachusetts, Volume II, 1900-1960, with genealogies > Part 13
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MEN BORN IN BERNARDSTON WHO BECAME PHYSICIANS
Caleb Chapin
August 20, 1759
Gideon Ryther
November 28,1768
Marshall Chapin
February 27, 1798
Horace Chapin
August 28, 1822
Ruggles A. Cushman
1856
Clifford S. Chapin
January 25, 1873
NON-NATIVE RESIDENTS OF BERNARDSTON WHO BECAME PHYSICIANS
Calvin Scott August 9, 1754
Remembrance Sheldon 1760
Isaac Cushman
September 12, 1790
Josiah W. Barstow
June 21, 1826
Homer Crowell January 14, 1852
Lawrence Wheeler 1870
Edward F. Ashley 1876
Fayette E. Read 1879
John G. Adams
April 18, 1902
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
PHYSICIANS, AND FORMER PHYSICIANS, WHO MAINTAINED HOMES IN BERNARDSTON
Ezekiel Foster Thomas Snow Frank A. Townsend Harvey T. Shores Benjamin P. Croft Morton M. Snow
This article was prepared by DR. LAWRENCE R. DAME of Greenfield
Chapter XI
OLD HOUSES AND CEMETERIES
BERNARDSTON HOUSES
T HE fine old Colonial houses in Bernardston are real historical monuments. An entire volume could be written about the more than two hundred dwellings that are a century or more old. The early Indian Wars, fire, and storm have destroyed nearly a hundred others. About eighty cellar holes exist throughout the town at present. Alterations, in the name of repair or improve- ment, have changed appearances, but the early history of the town, with its periods of prosperity and depression, can be traced easily. The earliest homes were built with an eye to protection from the Indians and the cold New England climate. The architecture was simple, almost severe. It was a square type of post and beam con- struction, built without embellishment, of native oak, chestnut and pine. Enormous chimneys provided the settlers with fireplaces for all cooking facilities, heat, and sometimes light. Windows were generally small, not only to keep out cold, but to allow easy cover- ing to keep any glimmer of fireplace light from the keen sight of prowling, hostile Indians. Also, the British tax on glass and metal- ware kept those luxuries to a minimum. At first, the hardware was whittled out of hickory, and oak pegs were used instead of nails. Later, the wrought iron nails and HL or strap hinges were fash- ioned on the family anvils. The wide boards indicate there was plenty of lumber available, and, of course, siding, flooring and roofing would be completed faster with wide boards. The native slate was used for roofs, and many homes still retain the original slate, probably quarried in Bernardston or in nearby Guilford. Many of the original families have long lines of descendants among the present local citizens, whose devotion to the town is one reason there are so many well-preserved beautiful old houses today.
About three miles north of the center of the town on the road to Brattleboro, is the present home of Mr. and Mrs. Sterling K. Nelson. The ell, now the kitchen, was the second framed dwelling built in 1739 by Samuel Connable-the first was in Burk Fort. This Connable house is the oldest remaining of those of the first seventeen settlers. The front portion of the present house was
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
added in 1790 by Mr. Connable to accommodate three generations of his family. The secret tunnel for escape from the Indians is gone, but the old oak timbers, the original slate roof put on by his grandson, Joseph, in 1828, the narrow steep stairway, wide boards, oak pegs, old clapboards, and many other features remain as they were when Massachusetts was a British Colony. Even the kitchen door displays the "witch's cross" which our forefathers thought prevented evil spirits from entering. Twenty-six little Connables were born in this house before ownership changed. Fortunately, the present owners cherish the pioneers' style, and any modernization for comfort has not detracted from the charm of the early architecture.
Near the junction of Routes 5 and 10 stands the Ryther House, home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Donaldson. The house, built in 1745 on a Proprietor's Lot drawn by David Ryther, is one of the finest examples of early American architecture. It is of genuine "criss- cross" construction; the rooms on the lower floor alternate thin walls with those of much greater thickness, and their counterparts on the upper floor reverse the wall construction of the first floor to make for balanced strength that has withstood the power of wind and storm for over two centuries. A significant feature of the old house is the sliding shutters of wood that fit over the inside of the windows in the southeast room, completely obscuring the sight of anyone trying to look inside, and also blanketing any glimmer of light from a nighttime fire on the hearth. Of special interest is the northwest room, where strange murals depict a primitive lay- out of Boston Common and Boston Harbor, projected upon the fireplace panel about 1810-1815 by an unknown wayfarer called the "Spy." The home furnishings are early American, making history of two hundred years ago really live again.
Captain Moses Scott returned from captivity in Canada to Ber- nardston in 1747 and built the first home on the Old Northfield Road "east of the iron bridge." His farm included all the meadow land north of the present village to the Old Cemetery, and many acres to the east. The house is a choice sample of the period, with a huge central chimney and five fireplaces, narrow steep stairway divided at the top, and many of the original wide panels of pine mellowed with age. The present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Harland Clark, have preserved the unusual stencilling done by a British officer who was in hiding at the house during the War of 1812. Here again is a beautiful home full of pioneer treasures gathered and preserved by the Clarks.
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
Records of any other houses built at this time or for the next twenty years are non-existent. Doubtless, the difficulties with the Indians forced many settlers to live within the forts; doubtless, some of the homes have burned or have fallen with age and neg- lect. By the year 1760, the hardy forefathers were again building houses for their families, that stand today as monuments to their courage and fortitude. Many of the dates are unknown, and which house was built prior to another is difficult, if not impossible, to determine accurately.
About 1760, Samuel Hale came to Bernardston and lived a por- tion of his married life in the present Redding house. This house was built about 1775 as nearly as can be determined, and was moved to its present location across the road in 1939, when the railroad overpass was built at Hale's Crossing. The living room with huge fireplace and brick ovens used to be the kitchen. It has been extensively repaired in late years but retains the charm and simplicity of a much earlier date.
The big house next door, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Morton Whithed, was built about 1800, and into this home, Samuel Hale's son, Captain John Hale, moved with his family. An old building was added to form an ell, and still another was added for a shed, so there are three distinct buildings joined together forming this attractive home. It is known that the front parlor was papered in 1816 with squares of printed designs that were pasted together to form strips. It has been preserved as it was originally. Marshall Whithed, a Hale on his mother's side, married Miss Myrtia Cook, and all four of the couple's sons were born in this big front parlor. At present, the sixth generation is living in this beautiful dwelling.
One of the grandsons of the original Hale spent his married life in the present home of Mr. and Mrs. John Carlin on South Street. Miss Aimee Whithed, sister of Marshall, and a beloved Bernardston teacher, was born in 1866 and lived all her life in this home, and it has been known to the present generation as the Aimee Whithed homestead. This is a square, two-story home, painted white, with one of the most beautiful fanlight doorways in town.
The town tax list for 1790 shows that David Ryther, Jr. was taxed for land, house, barn and stock which he sold to Amos Bur- rows in 1820. Amos sold the property the following year to his son, Isaac Burrows, who married Rebecca Louisa Connable in that same year. The couple lived on the farm which was later owned by their son, Frank. In 1890, Maveret, the daughter of
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
Josephine Carrier and Frank Burrows, married Harry A. Perry and moved to Kansas. The house was kept as a summer residence until recently, when Mr. and Mrs. James Perry established it as their permanent residence. This lovely Colonial home has a beau- tiful setting upon a small knoll with a background of trees, nes- tling at the foot of Fox Hill. A cedar rail fence covered with ram- blers encloses an old-fashioned garden and a patio south of the house. The old lilac bushes, the spreading maples, and the view across the meadows, gives the passerby a feeling that this farm house has been a part of the town for nearly two centuries.
Another Burrows homestead of early history is the present home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. Canedy. Entering Bernardston from the south on Route 5, one of the first houses to be seen is this story and a half, white, rambling dwelling on the corner of West Moun- tain Road and South Street. Early Bernardston records mention the surveying by Ebenezer Barnard of Lots 45 and 46 in April of 1743, and the drawing by Samuel Bottwood of Lot 46 on which the house was built. At the Franklin County Courthouse, a deed, dated September 18, 1794, records the sale of the house to Zeba Allen by members of the Allen family (Asaph, Joseph, Jonathan, Electra, Simeon, Samuel and Mary Allen Wright, the wife of Thaddeus Wright, the blacksmith.) A later deed records the sale of the property by Amos Carrier to Frank Burrows. The Burrows- Perry family owned this landmark for many years, until it was sold in 1951 to Mr. and Mrs. George Davis from whom the present owners bought it in 1956.
The Slate families have been builders or owners of some of the town's most beautiful Colonial homes. About 1764, Captain Joseph Slate lived in a little log cabin on the property where he built the original Slate homestead on South Street. It was in the rear of this place that Israel was engaged in the business of rope turning from flax grown on the farm. Miss Mary Slate remembers the old man turning the rope as the boys pulled it slowly out of the driveway and across the street. It was made into bed cords, clothes lines, or halters. Seven generations of Slates lived on this farm until it was sold and it is now the property of the Ernest La- Plantes. Next door, the Chamberlin home was built by Henry Slate in 1843. Across the street, Terah Fox built the little Cape Cod house afterward owned by Moses Wait and Mrs. Elvira Burk, now occupied by Miss Mary and Mrs. L. Dwight Slate.
Another branch of the Slate family settled on Huckle Hill and in the Bald Mountain Road area. In 1769, Justin Slate built on
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
the site of the present Lawrence Gale property on Bald Mountain Road. The old original house, built with some of the Burk Fort timbers, had nearly fallen victim of the elements, when Hendrick Slate mounted it on skids and moved it west to make room for the present home now owned by the Gales.
Huckle Hill is a most scenic area with a gorgeous view across the valleys to Mt. Monadnock and is also interesting historically. The sites of the old Meeting House and Deacon Sheldon Fort are marked and numerous cellar holes indicate that many homes of the early settlers were standing years ago.
The William Field, Sr. home was built about 1812 to replace the ancestral homestead which burned and which stood a few rods to the north.
The building across the road, used as a shop by William Field, Sr., was built by a Slate from timbers of the Sheldon Fort. Three- fourths of a mile north of Mr. Field's shop stands the old District School No. 5 which was permanently closed in 1908.
Coming south down the road is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam Field, Jr. It has recently been rebuilt and remodeled follow- ing a fire. The Almon Flagg home is near the second site of the Old Meeting House and the home of one of the ministers, Rev. Job Wright. The Frank Oakes house, farther down the road, is unusual because it had a fireplace in the cellar as well as on the ground floor. Apparently former occupants were not compatible, and found it necessary to have cooking facilities for the wife on one floor, and those for the husband on the other. Huckle Hill must have been a busy section two hundred years ago with a meet- ing house, fort, school, homes, and even a neighborhood tavern and distillery.
At the extreme west end of the town we find an agricultural area. Today, dairying is carried on "around the mountain" as it was called. Mr. and Mrs. Norman Duprey have a modern dairy equipped with machines and tools that would have astonished the farmers of years ago. Today, it is necessary to pasteurize milk, to artificially dry hay, and to fill the silo with chopped corn or grass with a minimum of hand labor. Several Chapin families lived in this section. Alanson Chapin lived where the Arthur Tylers live now. Another home is the present Dyer farm, where Zalmon and Climena Chapin, great-grandparents of Miss Florence Wright, lived. This house displays the hand hewn beams in the living room, and until recently, a trap door under the couch led to the cellar. From these rolling hills, teeming with agricultural prod-
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
ucts, one can look across to the Mt. Holyoke Range and think of the lines of "America, the Beautiful."
In contrast, on River Road, we find the homes of people who were employed in the industries of the town. The gristmill, the cutlery, a shoe shop, and probably other places of business, made this section a busy industrial area. The home of Mrs. Edward Snow was the house where Jonathan Cushman lived when he built and operated the cutlery before he left for service in the Civil War. Nathan Wyatt lived across the street, and Will Cook, father of Edric Cook of Leyden, lived at the present Kocian place, and both worked at the cutlery. Near the Greenfield line is the present home of Mr. and Mrs. Judd Payne. This house belonged to the Lunt family of Greenfield, and was the boyhood home of Theo- dore Cronyn whose family resided there for thirty-eight years.
By the early part of 1800, fear of Indians was over. There was political stability, probably more money and time. The inhabit- ants built just as they wished and where they chose. By 1834, the population had increased to an all-time high of 945. Many homes built at that time, a century and a half ago, are useful, comfort- able and practical. The facts about their owners or builders or the dates are uncertain, but they hold a place in the town's history of homes that should not be omitted.
The home of Mrs. Harold Denison on Church Street was built by Eliezur Chamberlin who came here from Durham, Connecti- cut, in 1808. It is believed he lived in a log cabin on the grounds of Powers Institute for two years while he was building this house.
The large white house located west of the Goodale Memorial Church is the Messer home. It was built in 1814, and Job Goodale lived there while over-seeing the erection of the church. The Messers have done much to make this place attractive and to have it retain its antiquity including the lovely fanlight doorway.
The Earle Kemp home on Fox Hill was built by Colonel Ferry, a benefactor of the town, in 1813. He lived in what is known as the Bernardston Inn farmhouse, the present Taylor home.
Henry W. Cushman built, in 1850, the "Four Columns," so- called, once used as the Unitarian Church parsonage. The lovely old place has four Doric columns across the front in the style of the Southern homes of the period. It is now used as an antique shop and the home of Richard Zehnter.
Another interesting home is the one owned by George Wood. It was originally built as Goodale Academy in 1833, with money left by Job Goodale. When the Academy was discontinued, Joel
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
M. Dewey, for whom Dewey Street is named, purchased the prop- erty for his home. Edward Felter bought it later, and made it into apartments. At one time the Telephone Exchange was located here, but it is presently used as an apartment house. Another apartment house is Cushman Hall which was built to house the teachers and pupils attending Powers Institute.
The present Streeter home on the corner of Church and River Streets is used as an apartment house now. This has a long history from the time of Lorenzo Park, Zebena Newcomb, and O. W. Gray. In 1921, it was purchased by Harold S. Streeter. It has gen- erally been the home of the proprietors of the corner store. The Cape Cod cottage in back of the Streeter house belongs to the re- nowned "Rayford the Clown." This home of Mr. and Mrs. Ray- mond Bickford dates back a century and a half.
One of the interesting features of an old New England village is its "Green." Bernardston's is opposite the Bernardston Auto Ex- change on Route 10 leading to Northfield. It seems that Joel Nash married Lydia Newcomb who lived on the "Green." When the present Atherton home was built as a boarding house for stu- dents attending Powers Institute, a little more room was needed. Mr. Nash moved his home to the east, and there it stands today, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Duane Bliss. In 1862, the Elmore Streeter house was built entirely of used materials, according to the present owner, "Jamie." The Arthur Nelson house was built a little later by Hartley Hale on the site of a log cabin in which Oliver Cooley ran a store early in 1800. On the corner is the lovely Cape Cod house now owned by the Parsons family. The much beloved Dr. Carpenter bought the property in 1818 from Orra Sheldon, and the house was built about 1829. The little wooden shelves for bottles of medicine and small drawers that held the doctor's pills are built into the "office" wall. Treasured antiques of the Parsons family are preserved here: the plain old mantels formerly in the Captain Jonathan Slate place built in 1769 on Bald Mountain Road; the settees, built of old timbers of the Deacon Ebenezer Sheldon Fort on Huckle Hill; and the Colonial cupboard taken from Burk Fort. So, for more than a hundred years, these homes across the "Green" have turned their friendly white faces toward passers-by.
If one didn't like the area where a house stood, it seemed to be the custom to move it to a more suitable or convenient location. After the famous Potter-Aldrich murder case, the house that was the scene of the fracas was moved by A. M. Stratton to Center
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
Street from its original setting on Martindale Road. Here Mrs. Lucy M. Chase lived and tutored young ladies. It is the present home of Miss Florence E. Birks, the daughter of the former min- ister, Rev. Richard E. Birks.
The Oscar Woodard house was moved to Library Street from Huckle Hill where the Remillards live now, and another story added by Frank Oakes' father. The Herman Wiemers' home on Center Street was moved from the present site of the Greenwood place, on the corner of Depot and South Streets. The Wiemers' house is of unusual construction, in that wide planks were placed vertically, with the outside shingles nailed directly to the planks, and on the inside the plaster was applied in the same manner, directly to the planks. The present Greenwood place, dated 1777, was moved from across the street when the late Charles Barber home, now the Morning Star Rest Home, was built in 1883. The Taft place on Center Street was once the Town Hall and stood on the site of the present Town Hall. The old Universalist Church, which stood on the site of Lena Corkins' home, was moved in the early 1900's to Depot Street about opposite the Baptist Church. The Universalist Church building has been used in various ways such as: a barbershop, a poolroom, a general store, and a post office. At present it is used as an apartment house. Miss Ruth Wilder's home on School Street stood where the Post Office is today. Bryant Burrows' house on Cross Street was the old Brooks place and stood on the John Dunnell lot. This old house was made into apartments for the workers at the Nahum Cutler shoe shop and was named the "Beehive" at that time as so many busy people lived there. The Raymond Dunnell house on the corner of Cross and South Streets, built about 1790, was the home of Dr. Brooks who added the half story and tore down the large central chimney. Two other doctors, Dr. Dwight and Dr. Bowker, lived there until, in 1868, Paul J. Allen, the grandfather of Mrs. Elinor Cronyn, bought it and moved it back twenty feet as it was located within ten feet of the street line. The Karl Merz home on South Street was the "little red school house" of that area. It was built about 1784 and moved to the present location from the site of the old South Street School No. 1. In repairing and remodel- ling, Mr. Merz found the worn floor boards that indicated the po- sition of the "scholars'" desks and the aisles between each row. Both the red shingles and the old floor boards are covered now, but perhaps this history will preserve the interesting item beyond the memories of the present generation. More recently, there have
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
been eight houses moved to make room for the new Highway 91.
To the east of the village, the Joseph Kmiec house, located on the south side of the road leading to Northfield, was known as the Rufus Guillow residence. This family came from Townshend, Ver- mont, in 1827. Recently, the house was struck by lightning, and when repairs were being made to the chimney, many negatives were found in the partition. After these were developed, old pic- tures of Bernardston people and homes were identified. One could say, "No ill-wind but blows some good."
In the eastern part of the town is a section as full of interest as any area. The great gravel and loam deposits of years ago have left this a plain where earliest settlers found good farming possi- bilities. The Henry Deane home was one of the earliest frame houses built by his grandfather and great-uncle, the Sprague boys. It had a central chimney used for cooking, for the story is told how Grandmother Sprague refused to give up her fireplace for the modern "iron cookstove." Not far to the southeast was the Reuben Park place where, near the present Amidon home, Reu- ben Park, in 1820, could be seen "hoeing corn backward," be- cause he wished to see what he had done, not what he had to do. The Hale families who settled in this area were descendants of Daniel Hale who lived in the old homestead. This building burned, and on the old site Ralph Deane built the house where he now resides.
In the northern part of the town near the Vermont line was the huge farm owned and operated for years by the Warner family. Fire has destroyed several of the original buildings, but about 1812, great-great-grandfather Pliney Warner built for his grand- son, Otis, the quaint "Salt-box" painted red, and standing on the west side of the road to Vermont. This long slanting-roof type of construction received its name from the slanting cover of the old salt-box that was a familiar sight in all kitchens of old. It was practical, for the snows of winter could pile up in the rear of the house and on the roof keeping some of the bitter cold winds from blowing through the handmade clapboards. This home belongs to Mrs. Ruth Warner, the widow of George, who was the last op- erator of this farm. The Jennison place, the home of the former Postmaster Putnam, and the Lailer place, were once part of the Warner estate. The home of Almon Hale was called by the Warner family the "Squatter Place." It seems that years ago some family came from the South, settled on that place and built there. The newcomers minded their own business, had nothing to do
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HISTORY OF BERNARDSTON, 1900-1960
with the neighbors, and molested no one. Apparently, the Warners allowed them to remain there many years although they knew nothing about them. Thus the name: "Squatter Place."
At the corner across from the Chase House which dates back to stagecoach days, lives Miss Ruth Whitney. She remembers, as a little girl, when the family first moved there, her father had to remove several old wooden benches and a little old organ from an outside building before he could use it as a chicken coop. The main house is apparently two buildings attached, for there is a step down into the kitchen from the main part of the house. Miss Whitney says she believes this is one of the first "split-level" houses in town.
On the Branch Road off Keets Brook Road going up the hill toward the area of the old Melvin Denison farm of years ago, is the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Wiegand. The place is unique in that it is shingled on the sides as well as the roof with old Guil- ford slate. The present structure, built as a lodge with large win- dows, commands a most beautiful view of the valley below.
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