USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Cheshire > History of the town of Cheshire, Berkshire County, Mass. > Part 3
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It was during the next few years after the forming of the New Providence settlement that the Browns, Barkers, Angels, Comans, Whipples and others purchased the lands in the valley. In 1768 the fresh genesis commenced. A band of Puritan neighbors, yeomanry and gentlemen, left their comfort- able homes in Rhode Island, and made their way, largely on foot, sometimes with ox sleds or carts, for horses . were a luxury that but few could com-
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
mand. Now and then one rode away on horseback. As far as the Connecticut River their path was plain, from this point they struck out through the unfrequented ways of the tangled forests, following Indian trails, and river courses, blazing the trees as they journeyed, until they reached the site of the present town of Cheshire, approaching it by its eastern hills or from the south, following up the Honsatonic. Over- coming the fear of the malarial fogs that rose in the valley, and which had influenced their predecessors to halt on Stafford's Hill. they immedi- ately purchased the low lands then open to settlement, built their camp fires, cut down the trees, builded their houses, and commenced life in the rough. The following notice of some of these settlers is an extract from Judge Barker's paper:
" Elisha Brown of Warwick seems to have been the earliest to remove. His deed of lot No. 46 in the 2d division North Range bears date Oct. 6th, 1767, while Daniel Brown of Warwick, the more prominent man and largest land owner, bought No. 45 the following March. John Tibbits also of Warwick took the north lot of No. 70 in April 1769, and Abeather Angel of Scituate, R. I., the easternmost lot 63 in Sept. 1771. Thomas Matthewson of Warwick the west lot 52 in the second division May 1772, and James Barker of Middletown, R. I., and John Barker of Newport, R. I., (brothers) parts of lots Nos. 21 and 76. June 9th, 1773, and Benjamin Ellis of Warwick, Lot 41 in 1774. In the same section were John Lyon, who came from Fairfield, Con .. in April 1770, and his son Dr. John Lyon (afterwards doctor of Cheshire), born at Danbury, Conn., in 1756 and who must have removed to Berkshire with his father. The son is said to have been one of the Berkshire boys at Bennington. He lived for many years at the old gambrel roofed home under the elms at the forks of the road near the crossing of the Kitchen brook in the south part of the present village. This home was built about 1769 by John Tibbits, father of George and Henry Tibbits afterward wealthy merchants of Albany and New York. James Barker who had been one of the Court of Assistance in Rhode Island, and was made one of the Jus- tices of Common Pleas in Berkshire soon after his removal to the county, lived on the spot now ocenpied by the widow of Noble K. Wolcott, just north of Dr. Lyon's.
He seems to have been an active man in public affairs, and was one of the early registers of deeds in the northern registry district, and the first town clerk of Cheshire upon its incorporation as a town. In the probate office are many wills of hi's drafting in a handwriting closely resembling that of the present clerk of the courts.
In the practice of Justice of the Peace, and neighborhood counsellor he seems to have been succeeded by his son Ezra, to whom he willed his homestead, and who was known to a later generation of Cheshire's people, as the old Squire Barker. He died in 1796.
John Barker who came with James from Rhode Island, removed from Cheshire in 17-6, with his family and several of his neighbors, intending to settle in Killington, Vermont, but died upon the journey, at Woodstock. His family returned to Berk- shire. These men were descended of the James Barker who is named as one of the grantees of the Rhode Island Charter from King Charles II."
James Barker had served five years in the French and Indian War, some- times called King George's War, and lasting from 1754 to 1463. A war
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FROM 1767-1777.
that gave Canada and the Mississippi valley east of the river to the Eng- lish. Ten years later in 1773 James Barker directed his way toward Berkshire. To quote from his journal, kept from day to day by his own hand, and for many successive years :
"I sent up my eldest son with wife and children. One pair of oxen, one old mare, and a cow and a bull. I also sent my second son to build me a house on my northern- most farm. In May following I sent the biggest part of my household goods, and on the 20th of same month set off with my family and some goods for Providence to pro- ceed for Lanesborough.
I arrived there on the 1st of June, 1773, with my wife and children, and goods all well through the goodness of God. I brought up with me two cows and a bull, two heifers, a mare and a horse. I brought a letter of connection from Elder Thurston's church to Elder Nathan Mason's in Lanesborough and New Providence, and was re- ceived into that church with my wife also, My wife, and children, and myself had small-pox at the pest house.
June 27. I bought 200 acres of land of Jacob Bacon for which I am to pay £300 lawful money all in less than six months."
As has been stated Squire James Barker died in 1796, and his position as justice and village advocate fell with the homestead upon his son Ezra of whom to this day people speak as " Old Squire Barker."
The first Barker who ever came to America shipped in 1636. The- grand- daughter of this man married the falconer of King Charles I., and the picture of the royal falconer, dressed as retainers at the Court of the Stewart were wont to dress, with the falcon on his shoulder is held as a precious heir loom by the descendants.
James Barker coming into the colony when in its first decade had a wide opportunity of influencing those around him, and of shaping the interests and principles of the infant settlement. He was deeply interested in all religious moves, was for many years standing clerk in the church, where many a letter extant shows the vigorous intellect and wide knowledge of the man. John Bucklin from Coventry bought a farm at New Providence and his descendants have always been owners of the soil in the vicinity through successive generations. Many interesting stories are told by these emigrants of their journey thither, and their first experiences.
A man, moving with wife and child, drove an ox team upon which were loaded the household goods, while the wife with the little one in her arms rode on horseback. One afternoon the roads were rough, and the progress slow for the loaded team so that as night fell the wife found herself farther in advance than she had supposed. In vain she called her husband's name, in vain listened to hear his voice, or the sound of the lumbering wagon ; but instead of these welcome noises she heard, as it grew dark in the forest, the baying of hungry wolves and knew they were on her trail. Dismount- ing and fastening the terrified horse, she gathered knots of wood, and piling
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
them high around her horse, herself and baby, she set them on fire, and by replenishing at intervals kept the coward horde at bay until almost day dawn when her husband joined her.
Caleb Brown built his log house upon the spot where Mr. C. J. Reynolds now lives. During the first winter the wolves carried off his calves and sheep. He was compelled to gather his stock into a rudely constructed shed, and build nightly a fire to shield them from the foe. One night, through the detention of some of the family and neighbors away from home, the sheep were not properly put in the fold, and fell a prey to the wolves again, which was a loss very deeply felt. "The log house put up by Mr. Brown was on the opposite side of the street from the present dwelling and for the first few years the children with the grown people occupied one end of the building, the sheep, lambs, and calves the other.
In the house afterward erected on the knoll, Caleb Brown reared his large family. The house remains virtually the same, a large apple orchard was set ont in the field beyond it, and each child possessed a tree named for itself, there was the Caleb tree, and the Russel tree, and Lois, and Amy, and Lydia, and so on throughout the large number. The trees are growing still.
A natural curiosity in the shape of a huge rock, or pile of rocks, is shown just south of this building and on the farm. Thrown up in the meadow in some convulsion ages ago, great trees have taken root in the crevices and are growing green and strong there, a winding way leads around the rock, uncertain and dizzy, but takes the pedestrian to the top from whence the view in a clear day is a very extended one.
Jonathan and Shubael Willmarth were among the emigrants who came up in 1767, and shared the fortunes of the New Providence settlers ; but it appears that when Adams set about obtaining an act of incorporation it was the wish of the New Providence people to be incorporated with that town. The proposition for some unknown reason was not entertained. and Adams was incorporated as a town by itself in 1778. At the first town meeting men were chosen to office whose names had heretofore been on the records at New Providence-notice Capt. Phillip Mason, Capt. Reuben Himman, and about this time the Willmarths are found in Adams, where they probably remained, but were taken back to the old spot for burial, from which one can conclude that they retained their relations with Elder Werden's church. In 1:80, New Providence was actually incorporated with Adams.
Stephen Carpenter as well as the Willmarths was from Providence, be- longed to the same church. and was one of the strong men of the colony. He did not stop at the hill proper, but took up land farther to the west in
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FROM 1767-1777.
the grant. John Lippit cleared a farm not far from the church land. He was from Scituate, R. I. None of his descendants remain.
Another of the very early settlers here was Stephen Northrop, who came from Danbury, Conn. He was a young man, not yet married. Entering town over the Lanesborough mountain he took up the land so long known as the Northrop farm which the family have always owned and inhabited until 1880. For three successive generations the eldest born was Stephen. Young Northrop, looking around upon his possession, decided to put up a log house near where the brook was flowing along over the pebbles, and commenced so to do, but he was soon called upon by some of his neighbors asking him to build higher up on the land, as they wished to lay out the road near the site he had chosen. This he consented to do and made the change at once. The wolves, hungry and fierce, barked around the place as soon as the sun went down, making doleful music for the young man-all alone. The fire blazed brightly amid the trees all night through; but the wolves got bold and howled in spite of the precautions used, advancing nearer and nearer the hammock of pine boughs. Necessity always invents; so it oc- curred to Mr. Northrop to construct a box in which he could sleep and be safe from his skulking visitors. At nightfall he built his fire and repairing to this somewhat crude bed slept in safety.
Israel Cole, coming up with his wife and small children, one an infant in arms, for some cause strayed from the main band of neighbors in whose company they were journeying, and as the afternoon closed, the clouds darkened, and flurries of snow filled the air. The forest leaves scudded be- fore the mountain gale, and together with the winds, the snow whitened track, and the anxiety caused by their separation from the party, they lost their trail, and found to their dismay that they were going-they knew not where. The wife was riding upon the pony, the infant of the flock in her arms, wrapped about in shawls and wraps to protect its tender frame from the inclement night. After turning, and changing, and wandering, here and there to find the trail, rapidly grown more hidden beneath the snow, the mother finally dismounted, tethered the pony and laid the baby, all wrapped about and fast asleep, beneath a tree, that she might better assist in finding the way. After a long and tedious search in the darkness the trail was found and all things made ready for the onward march; when lo ! No baby could be found. With eager hearts, and hasty steps, up and down the forest paths they wandered, these two, but could find no black eyed baby. Weary, cold, and heavy hearted, they sat down for a single moment upon the trunk of a fallen tree to devise some plan of action. Through the dim woods they heard that mournful sound the pine trees always make, and the echos of the rising storm rose and fell like a dirge. Suddenly, to
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
their ears, on the wintry wind came a noise so sweet that they forgot the cheerless night, and springing to their feet followed the call. Only the cooing of a baby-that was all. For mothers it would be needless to paint the rapture with which this one gathered the lost baby in her arms. For others, it would be useless, as they could not understand it, but these par- ents never forgot the tall beech tree near the Savoy line where in the November storm they laid their baby.
In 1268, Jonathan Richardson came from Newton, with two sons, one 14 and the other 9 years of age. The father rolled up a log house, felled some trees, put in some crops, and left the brave little fellows to do the farming. They managed the place, milked the cow, tunneled troughs of the basswood tree, in which they stirred the cream for butter.
The wild beasts howled at night around the little log cabin, there were no near neighbors ; but on this place-a place now owned by Mr. Frank Wood -these brave boys remained alone, until the coming of the parents the fol- lowing fall. At that time Mr. Richardson brought the remainder of the fan- ily, and the household goods on an ox cart, occupying five days in the journey.
Deacon Squire Monroe was a man of note, whose name is found often upon the church books, having joined the Stafford's Hill church at an early day. He hired fifty acres of land in New Framingham, where he brought his family in 1429. On his way he, with his goods, through some accident. was thrown into the Connecticut river. Narrowly escaping with his life, he sacrificed some of his goods and all of his money, ten dollars in silver; so that he was forced to accept charity until he could locate himself, and com- mence a course of labor that would bring remuneration. He was success- ful, as the world went then, and it so happened that when the country began to grow, and lands in central New York were offered for sale, a neighbor of Deacon Munroe's caught the western fever, sold his little farm, half way up the mountain side, and removed to Elbridge, N. Y. The country of course was new and unbroken. Fever and ague lurked behind every tree, and shook its yellow banners at every fireside. The weevil destroyed the first erops and the rain drowned out the second. The family grew very sick of their bargain, and pined for. the healthy mountain breezes and pure spring water that bubbled up in a erude trough by the door of the little red farm house they had left behind. So returning in the fall for a visit, they took tea, one day, with neighbor Munroe: the bent of the con- versation turning upon the mistake the farmer had made in going west; he was full of regrets and complaints and wished that he had never made so unwise a move, when Deacon Munroe exclaimed, " Well, well, neighbor Ç .. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll take your western farm off your hands with- ont seeing it, and you may take mine ; even swap all round. Will you do
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FROM 1767-1777.
it ?" extending at the same time his hand for a hearty shake on the trade. The visitor looked at him in surprise, saw that he was in earnest, and seizing the proffered hand said : " Yes, I'll do it, of course I will, and glad of the chance." "Well, well, then it's a bargain. Wife, pack up, you and the children." And . without farther ado the Munroes were off for their new home, among the fair meadows and productive fields of New York, where a fortune awaited them, and where Deacon Munroe lived to be asso- ciated with many a good deed and work, where he served the Empire State in her councils, and died leaving a fair inheritance to his numerous boys and girls, while the discontented neighbor lived out his days on the little mount- ain farm, making a living and laying aside a few hundreds by dropping the pennies so far down in the depths of his long purse that they did not easily find their way out.
Although no Indian massacres befell these early settlers, as had fallen to the lot of their more easterly brothers, the settlement of a new country, remote from an old one, is ever rife with hardships. Food, raiment, nec- essary implements of labor must be obtained in small supplies and with extreme difficulty. The furniture of the tables consisted for many years of pewter dishes, of wooden plates, and cups made of gourds. Johnny-cake and mush were standard articles on the pioneer's table. With constant labor they, in time, overcame the wild grasses, destroyed the native weeds, and cultivated clover with different varieties of grass which covered the fields, and afforded fine pasturage for their cattle. They rarely killed lamb or calf for home consumption, so eager was their desire to stock the farms. These practical men soon learned that the location they had chosen was full of possibilities for a grazing and dairying country; but the most sanguine one among them all, probably, never dreamed of the manufacturing success that would be attained by some of the future inhabitants, a success made possible by the many wheels that would be turned by the little tumbling river, running so quietly between the alder trees. In the meantime their heroic hearts quailed sometimes, when the fruits of toil went down in a single night from causes beyond their control. Prowling wolves devoured their flocks, wild storms swept across the country crushing their fences and admitting animals to tread the valued crops beneath their tramping feet. Again they would be stolen by thieving crows or squirrels, while sometimes foxes, running mad, appeared among their cattle, snapping, snarling and biting. The way looked dark, and the pioneer farmer wondered how he was to provide for the little ones coming so rapidly to his cabin home.
Each farmer had his mark for the animals that browsed in the open country. through the summer ; this mark was branded upon the back or clipped in the ear, and by it the owner claimed his property in the fall.
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
Reviewing the history of these people many queries arise. How did they grind their corn? for they must have mush and Johnny-cake. How did they make their leather? Where were the smithies? for horses must be shod. and tools must be mended. What of shoemakers, millers, tailors, weavers and furniture makers? Saw mills were a first necessity, water power was plenty, therefore they were the first industries established, and grist mills followed. At Pontoosue pond was the nearest grist mill for the Stafford's Hill settlement: the way was long and the settlers improvised circular tin graters, then they pounded their corn in an iron mortar with a pestle, which was succeeded by circular stones after which it is said that the first water wheels were patterned and called " Tub Mills."
The climate demanded warm clothing for many months ; every house- wife was familiar with the loom, and kept the spinning wheel running. Most thrifty people dressed in homespun. A blue and white checked linen, home woven, was a common dress among the women in summer, replaced by flannel in winter. They raised their own flax and reared their sheep.
The manner of living was well calculated to develop the original, invent- ive power of people, and in every neighborhood was sure to dwell some whose native ability allowed them to carry on successfully the different crafts, and as no person has every gift, in the diversity, by an exchange all could be provided for. Women were usually the tailoresses; some one who could fit well went from house to house cutting and preparing the coats, vests and pants, and was followed by a woman with her " goose," who staid until all were made. The shoemaker, bearing his kit, (meaning a shoe- bench with waxed ends, awls, brads and the tools necessary for the manu- facture of a shoe,) went his rounds every fall. Fixed in some out of the way corner, he pegged and sewed and whistled until all the feet were shod. This they called ". Whipping the Cat."
Every family tanned its own leather, Cutting down a huge tree they made of it a trongh, which they sunk in the ground to the upper edge; this was the tan-vat. While clearing the land there was no trouble in securing the bark in a sufficient quantity, which was dried, then on cloudy days when the boys could not work out of doors, they pounded and shaved it on a big block of wood. Ashes were applied to the skins to remove the hairs in place of lime. The blacking was made of soot from the chimneys mixed with lard. Possibly, when finished, the leather was a trifle coarse, but it was good and wore admirably.
Everything at first-pork, sugar, teas, household furniture, etc.,-must be brought from beyond the Connectiont, often strapped on horseback, packed in saddle bags, sometimes by ox teams which made them all expen- aive luxuries. In the spring time the maple trees were tapped, the iron
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FROM 1767-1777.
kettle hung on the crane or the arched branches in the woods, and a supply of sugar and molasses made. In the fall, if the sugar cask ran low pump- kins were boiled down and the quantity thus increased.
Working with the few and awkward tools they could command, they achieved wonderful things, and those who live to-day look in silent admira- tion upon the articles that now and then come to their notice. The maple was their favorite wood. Their floors manufactured of it were neat and lasted well. Their looms were somewhat heavy perhaps, but they answered every purpose. The ploughs with their wooden mouldings would scarcely do a farmer now, but they turned the furrows well; the harrows with their wooden teeth, the long flails, and sleds for winter use were well made. Sometimes now, beneath the roof of a gray old barn, hanging in some sly corner, one spies a flail, or scythe, or harrow, covered with the dust and cobwebs of years, and looks and wonders as he thinks of the hand that fashioned and wielded them.
The women requiring saleratus for their short-cake had no way of pro- curing it; baking powder or soda they had never heard of, but they knew a way that their grand-daughters have never been quick enough to think of. They boiled lye and salt together, put them in a bottle and when they evap- orated, behold! a saleratus, or, as they named it, pearl ash, which answered all their needs. Others burned cobs, and procured the same result from the ashes, called cobash.
Furniture was difficult to manage. Kitchens were generally provided 'with benches and a wooden settle, this latter was long with high back and ends, the seat opened on hinges and revealed a box where wood was kept in winter, a pine table, looking glass, and never failing dye tub of indigo blue stowed in a warm corner completed the list. In the parlors were straight- backed, wooden chairs, table, looking glass, a sanded floor, and if the family was " forehanded," a chest of drawers and a bedstead. Sometimes white curtains were used for the windows, but green shades were more common, manufactured of strips of basswood, cut thin and exactly the width of the window to be curtained. A woof was drawn into the loom and these strips woven with it, care being taken to have a plain piece at the top and bottom of each shade that it might be properly hemmed.
Stoves were not used. Huge fire places occupied nearly one side of the kitchen, and often on a cold winter's night when a great fire was needed the farm horse was chained to a big log and driven into the kitchen where before the fire place the log was unfastened, placed across the andirons, and the gentle horse, thus released from his burden, driven from the door again. Back by the soot grimed chimney was a swinging crane from which hooks were suspended, where the kettles were hung to boil. Potatoes
1
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
were roasted in the hot embers drawn out upon the hearth. Johnny-cake was baked on a flat board before the red hot coals. Some housewives used a "tin kitchen," in which they baked pies, bread and cake. This was a sloping tin box with one side wholly open, and drawn up before the glowing fire, the opposite side and the ends were inclosed, while over the top was placed a cover when the dishes were baking. Others had a brick oven either in the chimney or out of doors in which great fires were made, and left to burn until the bricks that lined the oven were thoroughly heated. Then the coals and ashes were removed and the oven cleanly swept, ready for the long rows of pies, cake, bread, etc.
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