USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Cheshire > History of the town of Cheshire, Berkshire County, Mass. > Part 9
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FROM 1787-1707.
knowing well the sterling worth of her adventurous lover, her trust in him remained unshaken, and her patient waiting was at last rewarded by his return, soon after which they were married and started for their new home. Her outfit was three chairs, a table and bedstead. She seems to have possessed a great many attributes well calculated to help her husband on to success, and her sympathies for those around her who were less fortu- mate than herself in life, are well illustrated by the following story. Shoes and stockings were luxuries only indulged in during the severity of winter, and for church wear in summer. Many an old lady now living, has told us how carefully they were kept in a bag during the week and carried in their hands until the last hill this side the church was reached, where set- ting down upon some rock or bank they would put them on. Returning, at the same place they would be taken off, and when home again they were carefully brushed, and restored to the bag until another Sabbath. Captain Brown's wealth made this economy unnecessary in his family, but one sum- mer Sunday " Aunt Chloe " as she was familiarly called, meeting an old friend from the back road asked where her girls were, as she saw none of them at church, to which the good woman replied that " they had no stockings to · wear and were ashamed to come." "Why" said Mrs. Brown "that's no matter ; tell them to come along next Sunday and my girls shall go without to keep them company" It is said that true to her word, the remainder of the 'season the daughters of the rich Captain came to church minus hose.
Two of these daughters were sent to a school at Albany, and received ad- vantages far in advance of most of the village girls. The daughters of Mr. Tibbits at the gambrel-roofed house, and the daughter of Squire Barker being the only ones thus favored. Dr. John Lyon settled at the village in the valley after his return from Bennington and practised his profession.
Dr. Nathemial Gott was also practitioner at that place, living in a house that stood upon the lot opposite the farm house of Nathaniel Bliss.
Dr. William Jenks settled at Stafford's Hill, on the land opposite the glebe farm which was purchased in 1790, by Charles Jenks, on his arrival at the Hill from Cumberland, R. I. Here he died early, leaving a young widow, who afterward married Dr. David Cushing. Dr. Cushing bought, prior to his marriage with Mrs. Jenks, the house opposite the present Prince farm on the brow of the Hill, and which also belonged to Col. Joab. Upon his marriage to Mrs. Dr. Jenks, he disposed of the place, took the house down and removed to the one opposite the church property, where he remained until his death. Dr. David Cushing, like Dr. Jenks, died young, at a little past forty, leaving his wife a widow for the second time while yet in her youth, comparatively. On the place where her husband died she remained, reared her children and lived to an advanced age. In
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
the grave-yard on the breezy hill that seems so near the blue mountain tops, they all lie, side by side, three graves, just beyond that of their old pastor, in the shade, cast by a tall cherry tree. There, too. are the Wilmarths, the Masons, Capt. Converse and many beside of the people whose houses and well arranged gardens stood along that hillside when Dr. David Cushing ministered to them professionally. These graves were made when busy care and toil were all around. Now there are no houses, no people, no hum of industry, even the very birds seem to have migrated.
There are two children left of this family, one, Dr. Erastus Cushing of Cleveland, Ohio, the other, Mrs. Charles Bowen, mother of H. C. Bowen, Postmaster of Cheshire. To the latter this farm has fallen, although her own home is in Adams, she will never allow this spot of land to pass from her possession.
In 1793, the town voted not to allow inoculation to be set up. In February. 1794, they voted to allow a pest-house near Brooks Mason's Muddy Brook, one by Benjamin Bliss's, Stafford's Hill, another near Dea. Carpenter's, Pork Lane and employ one doctor. Small-pox was a scourge in early days, sweeping through all countries, visiting palace and cottage alike. Jenner was watching his milk maids on the Rhine, and studying into the charmed amulet they seem to wear, but vaccination was a thing of the future. Inoculation was the best preventive known to the medical fraternity. Pest-houses, built in some lonely, far away spot where they could not contaminate the well, were kept by some hired person who had had the small pox. People taken there were inoculated for the disease, and by a proper course of diet, and correct treatment were able to have the plague somewhat lighter than if it came upon them unaware.
During this decade and the last the terrors of small-pox were added to the ravages of war. Many continental soldiers were buried in camp and field, and very many of the Cheshire volunteers fell victims to it, and never returned. Mount Amos was the spot where the first pest-house was lo- cated, and where some went, and submitted to inoculation, rather than to take the risk of having it when on the march or in the hospital even. There is an old pathetic story connected with a little grove of trees that lies by the side of the road leading down from the lone house on Mount Amos, of how an old lady belonging to one of the first families had died of this dread disease, and according to the code of the times had been refused burial in any church yard. She was buried just outside the fence, and for genera- tions thereafter her kinsfolk were separated from her by this barrier.
In 1783, slavery existed under the law, and some of the citizens of Cheshire held slaves prior to that date. The trade was abolished by an act of 1788. From a correspondence still extant between Elder Peter Wer-
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FROM 1787-1797.
den's church and Major Samuel Low, it is evident that Major Low had owned, and freed a negro girl known as Mary Diamond, as well as her children Tony and Violet. These latter he had retained in his service and taken with him to Palatine, N. Y., whither he had removed. The Adams church writes to the Major that Mary fears he is holding Tony and Violet against their will in a state of slavery, and insists that he shall relieve the uneasiness of Mary's mind without delay. Major Low's reply is a model of coolness and spirited defense, admitting himself unworthy, he goes on in these words :
"I return you my sincere thanks for your kind letter in which you inform me so agreeably that Mary D. is in some trouble lest I may retain her children against their will. I hold as you say liberty and freedom as a fixed principle and at the begin- ning of the war declared my house free. Have I counteracted my declaration ? Hath not Mary D. been free ? Tony was 21 last March, and all who know him, know him to be a bad boy. I have paid much money for him, I am justly entitled to his services and Violet's until such time as they fairly recompense me for my expense and trouble in rearing them. Should this not be satisfactory to my brethren I will leave the matter to indifferent parties."
The house occupied by Major Low, and where he owned these slaves still stands and is now owned by Mr. Martin Jenks. Major Low kept his word and eventually let Tony and Violet go for themselves. Violet returned to Adams where she married a worthless "nigger" by the name of Jake who led her a life of such questionable happiness that she was finally compelled to abandon him, upon which occasion Jake declared him- self satisfied with the plan, but insisted upon dividing their worldly goods to please his own desires.
" Now," said Jake, "here am de house-I'll perwide it. I'll keep the inside, you can take the outside. Here am de pig and the dorg. I'll keep de pig, you can take the dorg. I'll keep the bugalow (the bureau) and de crock- edy ware (the china crockery) " and so on until poor Violet found herself with nothing of value for her side of the house, and learned, perhaps, that even liberty had its drawbacks.
It was in 1792 of this decade that the dark day settled over the New Eng- land States. At Cheshire the people arose to find everything as usual, but as the morning advanced a strange light broke over the landscape, a dim, yellowish tint, which gradually grew from dimness to a gloom like twilight, and then to a darkness like night. The cows came up to the pasture bars, and lowed as if anxiously asking for protection, the fowls all went to roost, the birds sought their nests. The stars came out in the sky as thick as at midnight, and men and women waited in fear and trembling to see what the end would be. Some feared that the Day of Doom had come ; but the darkness wore off by degrees, not long afternoon the sun
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
broke forth, the gray light faded away, heavy hearts beat lightly once more and the terror of the hour was over, although for years those who witnessed the phenomena told often of the frightful, unnatural scene.
The family of the Bliss's are descendants of Nathaniel Bliss who came into the settlement at an early period, and lived on a farm at Muddy Brook, near where the cross-road connects the old with the new road. There were four sons, who settled in this vicinity, three of them, John, Nathaniel and Orrin, on farms that lie along the old road over the hills. Nathaniel Bliss, Sen., is spoken of as Leftenant Nathaniel Bliss.
The farms owned by John and Orrin Bliss have passed from the posses- sion of the families. They themselves moved from them into the village where they died. Their children are all gone from the familiar places, and the chronicler of these people and their times is compelled to add these fam- ilies to the long list of absent ones, whose names we find no more, save as we sadly read them on the marble, and the yellow pages of town or church book.
The farm of Nathaniel Bliss, Jr., is still owned by his children, and is managed by the three sons who have always remained there, Granville, Clinton and Milton. An older son, Henry Bliss, is a well-known lawyer, who has been for many years in successful and active practice at Adams. As this town does not seem to offer sufficient charms to the members of this profession to ever hold them within its borders it may be pardoned for alluding, now and then, to those who have gone forth from its farms and homes to meet success, in this direction at other towns.
According to tradition Nathaniel Bliss, the son, was connected with some of the engagements in the later wars.
The Southworth farm house is on a knoll at the summit of a hill which this old road climbs. It is a low, long building. guileless of paint, and has never been rebuilt. It was once the gay home of fair girls; now the spirit of melancholy seems to pervade it, a narrow, over-grown path leads to the door-way, the steep roof rests upon the low doors and windows, the wains- coting is half way to the ceiling : it is all as it used to be, and yet there is nothing left to tell of the merry voices that echoed there, or the light feet that tripped over the meadows, or followed along the pasture paths. The wind, the sun, and the birds are just the same ; down the country road, over a stone wall, lie the graves of many who used to know these places ; upon the slabs of marble are carved a cherub's head, or perchance, a weep- ing willow, and below the name of Southworth, and, sometimes, that of a neighbor. It was upon the farm at Muddy Brook, now owned by the Chadwicks, that Squire James Barker bid his son to place the stock when he sent him to Berkshire in advance of the family in 1773, speaking of it as his southernmost farm.
CHAPTER IV.
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FROM 1797-1807.
THE GREAT REFORMATION. THE BIG CHEESE. VACCINATION. JOHN VIN- CENT. DEATH OF ELDER NATHAN MASON. ELDER LELAND'S VIEWS ON COMMUNION. ELDER LEMUEL COVELL, PASTOR THIRD CHURCH. THOMPSON J. SKINNER, DEFAULTER. CAPTAIN BROWN'S LOSSES. DR. MASON BROWN. MASONIC LODGES. JIM FISKE.
In 1797, after Elder Leland's return from a trip into Virginia he re- fused to take pastoral charge of the Third Church, and we hear of the members sending every second month to adjoining towns for an " ad- ministrator " to visit and break bread with them.
In 1799 a mighty influence broke out among the people, leading to what has come down through the years as "The Great Reformation." Many ministers from abroad assisted Elder Leland and the home pastors, preach- ing by night and by day to throngs of people in the church on the green, to gatherings in the "West school house," as that on the hill beyond the kitchen was commonly known, as well as in a little brown school house re- cently put up at Federal City. The brook at the kitchen and the river under the shade of the willows, were visited daily by such as wished bap- tism and the following crowds who went to witness the ordinance.
.Among the ministers from abroad was one bearing the name of Kies, a young man, but very devout ; he had listened to the sermons, and the re- joicings of the converts, had joined in prayer as the elder ministers led the way, and now and then exhorted sinners in a morning meeting of prayer. That was all-for there were present the mighty preachers of that day, upon whose words all hung with breathless attention.
At length it came to the mind of some brother that no one had asked the young man to preach to the congregation and forwith he was called upon and invited to give a sermon the next evening in the West school house. The minister objected. He was young and inexperienced, older workers in the vineyard were so much better fitted to gather the fruit, he had very little faith in his ability. Surely no one would go to the school house when
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
they heard that "only Brother Kies" was going to speak. However a refusal would not be accepted and the appointment was made. All night the minister was troubled at the prospect before him, he could not rest so disturbed were his slumbers. To stand before Leland, Hull, Werden, Ma- son and many besides who had. for years, stood upon the watchtowers and high places, proclaiming the doctrines so dear to them, was impossible, he could not do so presumptuous a thing, so at an early hour he again went around to those who had made the arrangement, and begged to be released. No one would go the school house-he knew-emptiness and barrenness would be the result : but still they held to the appointment.
It is said that the last hours of the afternoon were spent in an agony of soul, by Elder Kies. He could decide upon no subject, or call to his mind any words that seemed to him fitting for the occasion, and repeated to all he chanced to meet, " There will be nothing but empty seats at the school house, I am sorry the arrangement has been made."
The hour drew near, the hour of early candle lighting, as the appoint- ments to those school house, evening gatherings were always given out, and it was a custom well understood that ever family, or every person, was ex- pected to bring a candlestick containing a tallow candle, as there was no other means of lighting the house. Elder Kies took up his hat and went out upon the street, stepping upon the foot path by the roadside, he stopped-looked with amazement, rubbed his eyes, and looked again-the streets were filled. Over the hills from the village, down the hills from the mountain, over the cross-road from Pork Lane, across the lots from the surrounding farms. people were coming, in wagons, on horseback, and on foot, each with the prescribed candle, pouring into the little school house filling it to overflowing, mounting upon the window ledges, crowding into the entry, blocking up all the standing room and filling every space within and for a distance around the school house.
Elder Kies arose in the desk and read a hymn, well-known then, entitled: ". A Sound of a Going in the Tops of the Mulberry Trees," commencing :
" What joyful sound is this I hear, Fresh from the mulberry tops ? Ye saints give ear, the Lord draws near, Your drooping heads lift up. Hark ! Hear the sound-it moves around, How sweet the accents are. My joys abound. Iknow the sound ; It is the voice of prayer."
His lesson was one of David's psalms, and his text " How long halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him." The words flowed from his lips in a torrent of eloquence that
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FROM 1797-1807.
so affected the people as to interrupt the speaker from time to time, by shouts and groans and lamentations, and this meeting at the " West Neigh- borhood " was never forgotten.
The impressions of Elder Leland were something remarkable before the commencement of these meetings. He says, a heavenly visitor came, one day, to his house with salutations of peace. When sitting in his room alone it seemed to be whitewashed with love, when straying abroad through his fields, in the shadow of those steep hills, a circle of light seemed to surround him, and resting at eventime, sitting by his door sill (this house is at present occupied by Mr. George Carpenter just as it was then) the words came again, and again, and still again, " The Lord will work," as though injected into his mind.
He started early in the fall on a tour to Virginia preaching and perform- ing the work of an evangelist. A throng of people followed him for a num- ber of miles listening to his words, and bidding him at last tearful good- byes. Appointments were made for a long distance ahead, but becoming more and more impressed regarding the people he had left behind he final- ly cancelled his engagements and returned, declaring that he could not preach to Virginia with the sins of Cheshire on his back. He reached the residence of Deacon Wood at midnight, and awakened them from deep sleep by singing in his sweet thrilling voice :
" Brethren, I have come again, Joseph lives, and Jesus reigns, Praise Him in the loudest strains."
They arose and admitted him, and from that day the work went on. Long years after when Mrs. Wood was an old lady to her children's children she often told the story of the old time hymn as it sounded from out the fall night, breaking their slumbers and proclaiming the arrival of their beloved friend and teacher.
In every era and among every people since the race began we find men who leave the impress of their character on all associated with them. Men born to rule their fellows, and to mould the thoughts and opinions of state and nation. Such a man was Elder Leland ; not only in the sparsely settled districts of old Virginia where his influence was sought when a great measure was before the people, but also among the sturdy farmers of this little village, his political views were heartily and unanimously en- dorsed. A strong Jeffersonian himself, the whole people were admirers of Jefferson also. When he was chosen to fill the Presidential chair their exultation knew no bounds, and impelled by a desire to pay him some tribute of respect, the original thought occurred to them that from so fa- mous a dairying community what could be more appropriate than a mam-
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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE.
moth cheese, the result of their united contributions. In investigating the history of the manufacture of this cheese we find a diversity of opinion as to the place of making, some of the older people claiming that the curd was mixed at Elisha Brown's, on the farm now occupied by William Bennet and there pressed, then brought down to Captain Daniel Brown's to be cured and dried. In support of this theory we copy from the Hampshire Gazette of September 10th, 1801, the following quaint account of its mak- ing and journey :
" And Jacknips said unto the Cheshireites behold the Lord hath put in a ruler over us that is after our own hearts. Now let us gather together our curd, and carry it into the valley of Elisha unto his wine press, and there make a great cheese, that we may make a thank offering unto that great man. Now these sayings pleased the Cheshireites, so they did as Jacknips had commanded. And they said unto Darius, the son of Daniel, the prophet, make us a great hoop, four feet in diameter, and eighteen inches high, and Darius did as he was commanded. and Asahel and Benjamin, the blacksmiths, secured it with strong iron bands, so that it could not give way. Now the time for making the great cheese was on the 20th day of the seventh month, when all the Jacobites assembled as one man, every man with his curd except John. the physician, who said: ' I have no curd but I will doctor the Federalists, send them to me and I will cure their fedism,' but Jacknips said : . Behold Frances, the wife of John the Hillite, she is a goodly woman and she is wont to make good cheese, now she shall be chief among women.' Now, when all these things were ready, they put it in Elisha's press-ten days did they press it ; but on the eleventh, Jacknips said unto the Cheshireites 'Behold, now let us gather together a great multitude and move it to the great house of Daniel, the prophet, there to be cured and dried.' Now Daniel lives about eight furlongs from the valley of Elisha. So they made a great parade and mounted the cheese on a sled and put six horses to draw it. And Jacknips went forward, and when he came to the inn of Little Moses he said unto Moses . Behold, the great cheese is coming.' And Moses said unto Freelove his wife. . Behold the multitude advancing, now let us kill all the first born of the lambs and he goats and make a great feast.' And they did so, and the people did eat meat and drink wine, the fourth part of a hin each, so they were very merry. And Jacknips said : . It shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, what mean you by this great cheese ?' Ye shall answer them saying : 'It is a sacrifice unto our great ruler, because he giveth gifts into the JJacobites and taketh them from the Fed- eralists.' And Jacknips said : . Peradventure within two years I shall present this great cheese as a thank offering unto our great ruler,' and all the Cheshireites shall say . Amen.' "
Others claim that it was brought to Daniel Brown's in the beginning, and we incline to this statement from the fact that Mr. Edmund Foster (grandson of Captain Brown) and others of equally good authority are posi- tive that such was the case. Each good wife set her milk in her own dairy and on the appointed day brought the curds, and there were mixed and salted by the most skillful dairy women. It was pressed in the cider-mill. and one month from the day of its making it weighed 1,235 pounds. From the fact that at a later period a larger cheese was made in the same town
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FROM 1797-1807.
weighing about 1,400 pounds, doubtless arises the conflicting statement. In the early fall the cheese was carefully packed and in the care and escort of Elder Leland and Darius Brown, it was drawn to Hudson and from there shipped by water to Washington. Through the kindness of Mr. Daniel B. Brown (son of Darius), we are able to give the presentation speech, and Jefferson's reply, from the original documents. The latter bear- ing the signature traced by the hand that penned the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and struck slavery from the north western territory.
To Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of America :-
SIR :- Notwithstanding we live remote from the seat of our national government in an extreme part of our own state, yet we humbly claim the right of judging for ourselves. Our attachment to the national constitution is indissoluble. We consider it as a definition of those powers which the people liave delegated to their magis- trates to be exercised for definite purposes, and not as a charter of favors granted by a sovereign to his subjects. Among its beautiful features the right of free suffrage, to correct all abuses, the prohibition of religious tests to prevent all hierachy, and the means of amendment which it contains within itself to remove defects as fast as they are discovered, appear the most prominent. Such being the sentiments which we entertain our joy must have been exquisite on your appointment to the first office in the nation. The trust is great. The task is arduous. But we believe the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, who raises up men to achieve great events, has raised up a Jefferson at this critical day to defend Republicanism, and to baffle the arts of aristocracy. We wish to prove the love we bear to our President, not by words alone but in deed and in truth. With this address we send you a cheese, by the hands of Messrs. John Leland and Darius Brown, as a token of the esteem which we bear to our Chief Magistrate, and of the sense we entertain of the singular blessings that have been derived from the numerous services you have rendered mankind in general, and more especially to this favored nation over which you preside. It is not the last stone of the Bastile, nor is it an article of great pecuniary worth, but as a free will offering, we hope it will be favorably received. The cheese was procured by the per- sonal labor of freeborn farmers with the voluntary and cheerful aid of their wives and daughters, without the assistance of a single slave. It was originally intended for an elective President of a free people and with a principal view of casting a mite into the even scale of Federal Democracy. We hope it will safely arrive at its destined place, and that its quality will prove to be such as may not disappoint the wishes of those who made it. To that Infinite Being who governs the Universe we ardently pray that your life and health may long be preserved, that your usefulness may be still continued, that your administration may be no less pleasant to yourself than it is grateful to us and to the nation at large, and that the blessings of generations yet unborn may come upon you. In behalf of ourselves, and our fellow citizens of Ches- hire, we render you the tribute of profound respect.
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