USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Lee > Lee : the centennial celebration and centennial history of the town of Lee, Mass. > Part 22
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THE HISTORY OF LEE.
Southern Berkshire and Hartford and New Haven may be established, but there is no immediate prospect of it.
LEE AND HUDSON RAILROAD.
At the time of the construction of the Boston and Albany railroad, a survey was made by John Morgan of Stockbridge, of a route from Westfield via. Otis, Becket, Lee, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge to the New York State line, which was found to be some 13 miles shorter than the route finally selected via. Pittsfield. The hope has never been given up that the Boston and Albany Railroad Co. would at some time shorten their route by building a road on the line surveyed by Mr. Morgan, and when the Lee and New Haven road was likely to be built, a continuation of it to West Stockbridge so as to intersect with the Boston and Albany at the State Line, was deemed highly desirable. This enterprise was favored by the directors of the Boston and Albany, who gave encouragement that they would take a perpet- ual lease of it and put on the rolling stock. The first entry on the town records with reference to this road occurs Sept. 28, 1869, when a committee was appointed to make a cursory survey of a route from Westfield to West Stockbridge via. Lee. This Committee reported the route fully as feasible as Mr. Morgan had represented, and in April, 1871, the Lee and Hudson Railroad Co. was incorporated for building a road from Lee to West Stock- bridge, there to connect with the Boston and Albany. At a special town meeting Feb. 15, 1872, it was voted to subscribe to as many shares of the stock of this company as shall amount in dollars to five per cent. of the valua- tion of the town, as reported by the assessors on the first of May of that year, and to issue town bonds for the pay- ment of the same. In pursuance of this vote a subscrip- tion of $85,000 was made. The town of Stockbridge
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also voted and subscribed $40,000 to the stock, and in- dividuals in both towns took smaller amounts, so that the directors felt encouraged to go on with the enterprise. The road-bed had been pretty much completed, when the general financial revulsion of 1873 occurred, paralyz- ing all kinds of business, and especially diminishing the income of railroads. The money of the company had all been used, and the Boston and Albany Company declin- ing to aid the enterprise, as had been the verbal under- standing, the road with all its franchises was sold to pay its debts, but not till it had accomplished its purpose of reducing freights on the Housatonic road.
THE TOWN POOR.
In the early settlement of the town, the poor seem to have been cared for by their neighbors without much concert of action. The first record on the town books with reference to the poor occurs Dec. 26, 1785, when the selectmen were instructed "to provide for widow Handee as they think best." In 1790 commenced the plan of bidding off the keeping of the poor, venduing them as it was called, to the lowest bidder, though there was at this time only one person, " old Mr. Howard who was vendued." In 1791 a committee was appointed to investigate Mercy Baker's circumstances, and the select- men were instructed to settle with Stephen Toby for keeping her the past year, and to have a fatherly care over other poor persons. In 1797 four were vendued to be kept at 1s. 3d. per week. In 1802 the town refused to pay Dr. Partridge's bill ($156.52) for doctor- ing a poor woman. Overseers of the poor distinct from the selectmen were first proposed in 1816. The plan of bidding off the poor to anyone who would keep them at the lowest price was continued till 1854, when the pres- ent town farm was purchased of Rev. J. N. Shaffer, and
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a suitable person was hired to work the farm, board the poor, have the care of the cemetry and look after the roads, bridges, and general interests of the town. This has proved a wise arrangement and a great improvement, humanely speaking, on the old plan of " venduing."
THE CEMETERY.
The burial of its dead is one of the first cares of a town, and accordingly in 1778, the year after the incor- poration of Lee, the town appointed a committee to select and purchase a " burying ground." The commit- tee seem to have taken due time for deliberation, for no further action was taken by the town on this subject till the March meeting of 1785, when the report of the com- mittee recommending the purchase of 100 square rods of Levi Nye for a burying ground was accepted. This was the eastern section of our present cemetery. Subse- quently, in 1804, one half acre more was purchased of " Deacon Nye," for $20. In this year also, the selectmen were instructed to procure a pall, and a small lot, 30 square rods, with a right of way to same was purchased of Wm. Ingersoll for a burying ground in South Lee. In 1854 the town purchased of Rev. J. N. Shaffer the present town farm and enlarged the cemetery lot. The vault at the Center Cemetery was built in 1856, and the one at South Lee in 1857. In 1862 the selectmen were authorized to regulate the lots and remedy all infringe- ments by individuals. The first person buried in the cemetery was Matty Handy, sister of the late Seth Handy. The whole number deposited in the Center Cemetery in the first century is estimated at about 4,000, or the pres- ent living population of the town.
MORALS OF THE EARLY TIMES.
It is customary to refer to the period of settlement as one of great purity in morals, but the records of the
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church and town do not warrant this reputation. Drunkenness, theft, profanity and licentiousness, evi- dently prevailed more then, in proportion to the popula- tion, than now. Liquors were sold in the stores and taverns without restraint. Everybody drank, but all did not drink to excess. Wines were furnished at all wed- dings, liquors at " raisings," " bees," and other public gatherings, and cider, as soon as the apple orchards were started, was a common beverage. When a neighbor called in for an evening visit, it was considered uncour- teous not to bring forward a pitcher of cider. Even the ministers drank at their gatherings.
The records of the church show that the cases of disci- pline for drunkeness and licentiousness were frequent, but it should be remembered, in reference to these that discipline was strict in those times, and that in a sparse population all violations of law and order are apt to be known and much talked about. The Sabbath was kept with great strictness, and all traveling on this day, ex- cept for worship, was prohibited. There are records of fines for violation of the Sabbath statute ranging from $2.00 to $18.00. The penalty for profanity was less ; usually six shillings.
As early as 1825, the temperance reformation began its work here. About this time, Dr. Hyde preached a sermon on the wisdom of the Rechabites in their absti- nence from wine and all intoxicating drinks. This ser- mon was published and widely circulated. Dr. Hewitt of Bridgeport, one of the early apostles of temperance was invited to preach here, and did so to a very full house. Public opinion soon banished the sale of liquors from the stores, and at a meeting of the church in August, 1829, it was voted to be the duty of all members to abstain wholly from the use of ardent spirits for the sake of example. From that day to this, it appears from
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the records that the town has very uniformly voted in favor of temperance measures.
FIRE DISTRICT.
With the increase of buildings, came increased expos- ure from fire. The means at first relied upon for protec- tion were the simplest possible. A long step in advance was taken, when in place of precarious reliance on neigh- borly sympathy and aid, a well organized fire company volunteered to provide themselves with apparatus for ex- tinguishing fires, and to discipline themselves so as to use it most advantageously. In 1856, the "Water Witch" fire engine was purchased by liberal individual subscriptions, and this engine and the efficient company by which it has been manned, has done notable service at various fires. The "Water Witch " has ever been kept in good re- pair, and the uniformed company is ready at a moment's warning for work. 1856, July 9, the town voted to pur- chase land near N. Gibbs, Esq., and build a house for the " Water Witch" engine. A commodious building was ac- cordingly erected with a hall in the second story fitted up for the meetings of the company. At the annual meeting in 1859, the town voted to establish a fire district, in which was included the Center, North Center and North-west School districts. This organization is kept up with efficiency. About the time of the purchase of the "Water Witch " engine, the "Forest Engine Company " was organized in Water street, and an engine purchased by subscription, the town erecting a suitable building for housing it. This fire company has also done good ser- vice, but its organization is not so efficient as that of the " Water Witch" Company, as the latter is sustained by the Fire District Corporation.
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FARMING AND FARMERS.
The difficulty of subduing the soil, and bringing the wild lands into productive farms, was enhanced in the time when Lee was first settled, by the clumsy imple- ments then in use. The blacksmith was then one of the most useful members of the community. Iron was prized as highly as it is now in some of the South Sea Islands. But the virgin soil yielded bountifully to the hand of diligence. Abundant harvests of wheat, flax, Indian corn, potatoes and hay, rewarded patient labor. But at the commencement of the present century, the imperfect system of husbandry, that knew not how to make the most of natural resources, had so far reduced its fertility, and the difficulties of remunerative cultiva- tion of rocky hill-sides proved so great, that the wheat lands of the Genesee Valley, the open prairies, or the rich alluvium of the river bottoms of the far West, drew heavily from the farming population of this town.
There are on each side of the Housatonic, extensive plains of rich alluvial land of the first quality, easily tilled and very productive. These lands vary in width from the narrow swales in the northern section of the town to the wide interval lands of the south part. The soil of the uplands is a loam, interspersed with gravel and stones, particularly on the east side of the river ; on the west side there is more clay. Ground gypsum, one of the first special fertilizers recommended, was used with very good effect. Many of the farmers have learned to utilize various waste products of the manufactories in the com- post heaps which they use upon their lands. The farm- ing community has been as liable, as the mercantile and manufacturing community, to various manias. Legisla- tion has been brought in to give fictitious importance to particular products, as in the "morus multicaulis " fever, when many thought to grow suddenly rich by raising mul-
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berries and silk-worms. In 1840 the town paid a bounty for raising wheat, but of late years farmers have been better satisfied with what advantages they had, and studied how most to profit by them.
The Berkshire Agricultural Society, the oldest in the United States, was incorporated 1811. The farmers of Lee, since the first cattle show at Pittsfield, have been connected with this society. The Housatonic Agricultural Society at Great Barrington, was originated in 1841, though not incorporated till 1848. Designed for the ac- commodation of the residents of Southern Berkshire, some of the farmers of Lee have from the very first been connected with it.
The soil of Lee, on an average, is not so rich, nor so well adapted to farming as in the lower river towns of the county. But the farmers of this town, owners of the soil, eager for securing greater productiveness, have been dili- gent in the pursuit of agricultural science as well as in the accumulation of agricultural wealth. In 1828, one- fourth of the people of the County were engaged in farming. By the census of 1875, out of a total popula- tion in the town of 3,900, only 285 are given as occu- pied in Agriculture. 2,536 acres in tillage, (valued at $206.678,) 85 in orchards, woodland 2,873, unim- proved 3,108, unimprovable 162; total, 8,764 acres, in 57 farms, 15,046 acres are taxed ; 466 horses are reported, 44 oxen, 766 cows, 491 sheep, 235 lambs. Agricultural products are valued at $116,682.
INDUSTRIAL.
THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF LEE.
AGRICULTURE was the leading occupation of the first set- tlers of the town, and so continued for the first half cen- tury. Mechanics of various kinds followed early in the
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wake of farmers, for in those days almost every hamlet had its blacksmith, shoe-maker, tailor, carpenter and wag- on-maker, and every considerable village was expected to furnish, besides the above-named, a merchant, a painter and glazier, a hatter, a cabinet-maker, a cooper, a fuller, a watch-maker and a tanner. The idea of making cloth and clothing, boots and shoes, hats, caps, etc., in factories, had not then been conceived. Cotton fabrics were almost unknown. Wool and flax were spun and woven in almost every farmer's family, and the woolen goods were taken to the fullers to be fulled and dressed. Home- made, or "hum-made," as it was called, was the rule for men, women and children. Many families were almost independent of mechanics and merchants, the husband, be- sides attending to his husbandry, doing his own carpenter- ing, cobbling and smithing, and the wife,-originally sig- nifying a weaver,-besides attending to her ordinary household duties, " minding the baby," etc., was also a spinner, weaver, and seamstress. Thus David Baker, when he first came to town, was a shoe-maker as well as a farmer. In Winter, when farming business was not pressing, he went around among his neighbors making and mending their. boots and shoes, they furnishing the leather, and he working for a Yankee sixpence per hour, or six shill- ings for a day's work of twelve hours.
The first pressing want of a new colony is lumber for houses and barns, and accordingly one of the first indus- tries of Lee was the sawing of lumber, for which the for- ests and streams furnished abundant facilities. The first saw-mills were erected on the mountain streams that are tributary to the Housatonic, and which at that time flowed more evenly through the year than they have since the forests have been leveled. At one time there were half a dozen saw-mills in operation here, and lum- ber constituted the chief article of export, the farmers
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transporting it by horse-power to Hudson, and bringing back salt, molasses, sugar and other groceries, Santa Cruz and New England rum, we are sorry to add, being in- cluded.
A grist-mill was another of the wants of the early set- tlers, and was early supplied by John Winegar, who came here in 1770, and built a grist-mill on the Housa- tonic, just above the site of the Columbia Paper Mill, of the Smith Paper Co. Mr. Winegar afterwards built an- other grist-mill in Water street, on the stream that comes from Lakes May and Green-Water. These, and the mills afterwards built at the north-end of the village, and at South Lee, did custom work, almost without exception taking a sixteenth part of the grist as toll for grinding.
Tanning was another of the early industries of the town. Every farmer expected to get his hides and skins tanned, as much as he expected to take his grist to mill. The boots and shoes of the men were mostly made from cowhide, and those of the women from calf-skin. Hence, in after time, when finer leather was introduced, the farmers were styled "the cowhide gentry." Samuel Stanley was the first tanner and currier. His establish- ment was at the hamlet called Dodgetown, a mile or more east of Mr. John B. Freeman's. Levi Crittenden subse- quently ran a tannery at East Lee, and in the early part of the present century there were four tanneries in ope- ration in this town, one in Bradley street, and one at South Lee. These establishments were on a small scale, doing mostly custom work. Tanning was a slow process at that time, as the hides were allowed to lie in " the liquor " two or three years. The tanner might say with the old Grecian painter, I tan a long time and for a long time, for the cowhide boots, with a pair of new taps and possibly a cap or two, were expected to last at least a year, and " turn the water " all this time.
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TIIE HISTORY OF LEE.
Before the introduction of silk hats and cloth caps, a hatter was a necessary mechanic in every considerable village. Mr. Amos Burchard was the hatter for Lee. His shop stood on the corner east of the present residence of Mr. Caleb Phinney. Here he made the stiff stove-pipe hats of those times from fur and wool, felting them by the tedious hand-bow process. Boys and laboring men commonly wore wool hats, while older and wealthier farmers indulged in a fur chapeau, and the cocked-up hat was reserved for the gentry. Neither a tanner's vat nor a hatter's shop, is now to be found in Lee.
Another industry of the olden time, now extinct, was the manufacture of pottery. This was carried on at South Lee. . The clay was taken from a bed near the base of Beartown mountain, and was fitted only for the manufacture of coarse articles. The clay is now used for the manufacture of brick.
The first iron works in the town were started by The- ophilus Mansfield, at South Lee, then called the Upper Hoplands. Mr. Mansfield first built the grist-mill there, and then, in connection with John Keep, the bloomer, and Abijah Merrill, the blacksmith, erected a puddling furnace long known as The Forge. This was a successful enter- prise, and long continued the leading industry at South Lee, but finally gave way to the still more successful business of paper-making. Mr. Merrill, one of the lead- ers in this enterprise, afterwards started the first iron- works in Pittsfield.
This region, at the time of its settlement, was covered with a dense forest, and "clearing up" the land was the first work of the farmers. The best pine trees, when near a saw mill, were reserved for lumber, but the beech, birch, maple and hemlock that constituted the bulk of the forest trees, were felled in windrows and burned. The value of ashes as a fertilizer was then little understood,
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and many were gathered from these windrows and from the enormous fire-places, and sold at a very low figure for the manufacture of potash. Major Dillingham, among his other enterprises, was the manufacturer of potash, and sent a horse and wagon around from farm to farm bartering tea, spices, etc., for ashes. His leach tubs and kettles were set up in the rear of his hotel, the " Red Lion," and some of his big kettles are still to be found in the hog-pens of the farmers, now used for boiling swill. This industry ceased early in the present century when our forests were more highly appreciated for lumber and fuel. It would have been better for the agriculture of the town had potash never been manufactured here, for it does not appear that the leached ashes were ever re- turned to the farms.
A pot-furnace was early established, and continued for many years at East Lee by James Whiton, who afterwards took his sons into partnership, and finally went into the paper business, which seemed destined to swallow up all other industries here. Mr. Whiton is remembered as an enterprising and enthusiastic man. As an evidence of his enthusiasm, it is told that he prophesied that Lee was to become a second Manchester.
A cupola furnace was also built in the early part of this century, by Mr. Tarsus Botsford, in the north-east part of the town, on a stream which comes down from Washing- ton mountain, but it does not appear to have done much business.
In the remains of old limekilns scattered over the town, there is abundant evidence that limestone, the prevailing rock on the west side of the Housatonic, was early used for the manufacture of lime. It would seem from the multitude of these old kilns that every farmer, when about to erect a house, built a kiln in which to burn his own lime. Certainly they were very temporary struc-
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tures. The business of burning lime is now centered in the large and well constructed kiln of Messrs. Gross and Stallman, which is a self-feeder and is run continually night and day, turning out about 100 bushels of lime each twenty-four hours. The market for this product is mostly found in the local paper mills.
Another of the early industries which must not be ig- nored, was the distillery business. To the credit of the town be it said, that this was never carried on extensively here, though at one time early in the century there were two stills in operation, mainly for the manufacture of cider brandy. When the temperance reformation com- menced, about 1825, they were both abandoned, and the worm of the still has not been seen here since.
Two fulling mills were early started in this town, one in Water street and the other at South Lee. Nathan Dillingham was part proprietor of the one in Water street. and an amusing incident is told of him in connection with this mill, illustrating his shrewdness and the simple mode of administering justice in those days. Some cloth was stolen from the mill one night, and in the morning, the theft being known, the neighbors assembled together to de- vise ways for detecting the thief and bringing him to jus- tice. Major Dillingham, suspecting one of the company, said, "Who knows but that the thief is right here among us? I propose that we draw lots to see who he is." To this all consented, partly in fun and partly in earnest, for there was a little superstition lurking in the minds of the early settlers. Accordingly the major prepared some' straws, all of even length, and proposed that the one who drew the longest straw should be held as the thief. The man whose conscience accused him thought to avoid suspicion by shortening his straw, and when they compared the lots his short straw revealed his guilt. The major fasten- ing his sharp eye upon him said, "Thou art the man."
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The thief broke down and confessed his crime. With the era of woolen factories the fulling business disap- peared.
The war of 1812 greatly stimulated the manufacture of woolen goods in this country, and two of the young men of this town, Isaac Ball and Lemuel Bassett, were led to form a partnership and undertake the manufacture of satinet. Under the firm name of Ball, Bassett & Co., they built a small mill on the outlet of Laurel Lake, near its entrance into the Housatonic. The business prospered and they gradually enlarged their operations. In 1828, they reported themselves as employing fourteen hands, using 12,000 lbs. of wool annually, and manufac- turing 12,000 yards of satinet, 1,000 yards of broadcloth, and 300 yards of felting. In 1819, another woolen fac- tory was started in South Lee, that employed ten hands. This seems like a small business now, but in those days these factories were regarded as important, and they cer- tainly contributed not a little to the development of the town. When the large establishments of Lowell and Lawrence went into operation, the small factories of the country found it impossible to compete successfully with the capital and machinery there employed, and those in Lee were sold and converted into paper mills.
Another industry of no little importance in the early history of the town, was the manufacture of chair-stuff. The forests abounded with large maple and beech trees, which the farmers felled, sawed, split and shaved into sticks of suitable size for chair legs and backs, and then hauled them to the shops, where they were turned by water-power, and thence sent to the large chair factories in the cities, principally to New York. Fenner Foote, Joseph Chapman and Robert Lischman, early in the pres- ent century, commenced the manufacture of chair-stuff in Water street, and afterwards Stephen Thatcher and the
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THE HISTORY OF LEE.
brothers, Thomas and Cornelius Bassett, started a still larger turning shop on the Housatonic, in the north end of the village, called at that time " the Huddle." In 1828, . there were four turning shops in town, that of Messrs. Thatcher and Bassett employing ten hands, paying an- nually $4,000 for lumber and exporting $8,000 worth of chair-stuff. These turning shop's, like most of the early manufacturing establishments, were finally merged into paper mills.
Mr. Thatcher is still living and is almost a centenarian, having been born March 6, 1781. His years and the important part he has played in the history of Lee, de- mnand more than a passing notice. He came with his father, Deacon Roland Thatcher from Wareham to Lee, when he was seventeen years of age. The journey of 150 miles, was made in the Winter on an ox-sled, and occupied seventeen days. For three years he worked on the farm which his father had bought a little north-east of the vil- lage, now owned by Pliny M. Shaylor. Being of an en- terprising turn of mind, farm-life seemed tame to him, and he desired to become a sailor and see the world. The whaling business was then coming into prominence, and Hudson was fitting out some whaling ships. Thither he went at the age of twenty with the intention of be- coming a whaler, but not finding a situation to suit him, he turned his attention to turnpiking, and worked as a common laborer on the turnpike then being built between Albany and Schenectady. He followed this business for several seasons, part of the time as overseer, returning to his father's in Lee to spend the Winters. During the war of 1812, he started the manufacture of wire here on a small scale, which he continued till the competition from England, rendered it no longer profitable. The manu- facture of chair-stuff was his next enterprise, and this he continued till lumber became scarce and the style of
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