USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Lee > Lee : the centennial celebration and centennial history of the town of Lee, Mass. > Part 5
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God, who sitteth in the heavens, Throned amid eternal spheres, In whose sight an era mighty, Like a passing day appears. God, our God, we bow before Thee, Gratefully, adoring fall,
Thou hast crowned the years with goodness, Thou hast blest and given all. 7
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY FRANKLIN CHAMBERLIN, EsQ., OF HARTFORD.
Stretching from the southern boundary of Vermont on the north, to the north line of Connecticut on the south, and bounded on the west by the State of New York, and on the east by our counties of Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin, is an uneven tract of about 950 square miles, which constitutes the western section of Massachusetts, and which (having previously belonged to the old county of Hamp- shire,) was, in the first year of the reign of George III., made a dis- tinct county, and in honor of the pleasant inland county of " Berks," in old England, was called "Berkshire." The county is of unequal breadth, being, on the line of Vermont, only about fourteen miles, while upon the southern boundary it is about twenty-four miles wide. Its surface is pleasantly broken by high hills and deep valleys. On the east, we have a continuation of the Green Mountains chain from Vermont, southward into Connecticut, and this range is graduated from its summit westward, by two or three ranges of hills of less ele- vation, till we come to the valley of the Housatonic river; and even through this valley, there are distinct ranges of elevated land, which have been so broken by the attrition of the centuries, as to appear to a traveler like distinct and isolated hills. Along the western bound- ary is the Taconic range of mountains, which extends by its easterly spurs from one to four miles, toward the center of the county. The elevation of several points in the east (the Green Mountain) range, is about 1,800 or 2,000 feet above the valley, and, its general summit level may be taken as about 1, 600 feet. " Saddle Mountain," lying be- tween Williamstown and New Ashford, on the west, and Adams and Cheshire on the east, is considered as belonging to the eastern range. Its highest summit, "Greylock," nearly west of the village of Adams, is 2,600 feet above the level of the valley at Williams College, and about 3,580 feet above tide-water at Albany, being the highest point in the Commonwealth. The Taconic Range is much more elevated and broken in the south part of the county than in the north. Its gen- eral elevation, below the middle of the county, is about 1,200 to 1,400 feet. It is considerably higher in Egremont, and its highest summit, called sometimes "Mount Washington," and again " Mount Everett," is about 3,150 feet above tide-water of the Housatonic.
THE RIVERS OF BERKSHIRE.
Among these hills and mountain peaks, the chief of the valleys, are the Housatonic and the Hoosac valleys. The first is formed and fer- tilized by the river which gives it its name; and the last is watered
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and beautified by the Hoosac and its tributaries. The Housatonic has two principal sources, the eastern, rising in Windsor and passing south-westerly, through Dalton (where it is increased by a consider- able stream from Hinsdale), to Pittsfield, at which place it is joined by the western branch, which mainly originates in the beautiful lake lying on the west side of the road leading from Pittsfield to Lanes- boro, and pleasantly covering a part of the dividing boundary of those towns, by its mile and more of length and breadth. In addition to the Housatonic and the Hoosac, which are its principal streams, Berk- shire has numerous other small streams, tributary to those rivers and to the Deerfield, the Connecticut and the Westfield rivers, and is beautified in its numerous valleys by a multitude of little lakes ; some of which are gems of beauty. From its valleys, one gets many bold and beautiful presentments of
THE SURROUNDING HILLS AND SCENERY.
In Spring and Summer, the wealth of vegetation in the valleys and the luxuriance and numerous colors of the forests on the hills, fill the eye with beauty and gladden the whole nature of the cultivated trav- eler with delight; while in the Fall, these same hills and forests pre- sent, in their ripened foliage, a brilliancy and glory, and variety of color, which cannot be surpassed, and can hardly be equalled in the entire world. This grand display of Autumnal foliage is to be attrib- uted, of course, to the great variety here gathered, of the gems and species of our American trees and shrubs,-as to which the late Pro- fessor Dewey cites the Frenchman Mirbel, as saying that the species of the oak alone, in America, were more numerous than all the species of trees in Europe. Standing upon "Greylock," or upon " Mount Wash- ington," and stretching the vision north from Washington, or south from "Greylock," the eye of a lover of natural beauty is filled with won- der and delight; and those who have traveled somewhat widely will enjoy it most, as it cannot fail to recall to them Scotland and Wales ; the lake country, and Derbyshire, and Devon, in old England, and the most beautiful-of course not the most grand -- scenery in Switzerland. As you stand upon either of these high points, your eye, after resting awhile upon the opposite peak at the other extreme of the county, wanders from one to another of the lower hills and the pleasant val- leys ; from beautiful lake to swiftly-running or quietly-winding stream, and the whole seems like a vast and charming park, with its cultivated fields and gardens, its hills and groves, and its hundreds of miles of driveways, stretching along by the rivers, or winding among the hills, or skirting the borders of the quiet and lovely lakes.
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LEE'S FORTUNATE LOCATION.
In the center of this vision of beauty, six miles long by about five miles broad, flanked on the east by the high hills of Washington, and shut in on the south by the grand pile of hills called " Beartown," lies our goodly town of Lee. Nestling among the foot hills of these mountain ranges ; midway between old "Greylock " on the north, and " Mount Washington " on the south, and divided by the swiftly-flowing Housatonic, (a river beautiful in name and in all its bed and border, from its source in lake and mountain spring, down among its wooded hills and pleasant valleys, to its outlet in the Sound,) Lee has enough of beauty to satisfy the desires of its children, while they remain at home, and to be a pleasant memory when they are away. It furnishes few, if any, splendid or exceptional illustrations of grandeur or of beauty, or of highest cultivation, but from its center to its utmost circumfer- ence, it exhibits intimations and possibilities of beauty and of culture, which its busy citizens have, till recently, found little leisure, taste, or wealth, to cultivate or develop. One hundred years ago, it was a wilderness, almost unbroken by the hand of civilized man. To-day, its pleasant homes, its cultivated farms, its factories and shops, its stores and counting-houses, give food, shelter and employment, to a prosperous and intelligent community of about 4,000 people. Its churches and schools, its farms, its mechanical, manufacturing and mercantile establishments compare fairly with those of any other place of similar population and pursuits in the broad world. Its quiet, steady growth from that to this, it is our privilege and pleasure to contemplate in this hour.
THE HISTORY OF A CENTURY.
Standing thus between the living and the dead, upon this Centen- nial uplift, we would review the past, glance rapidly at the present, and. perhaps, endeavor to forecast a little that future, which as to any certainties, is all unknown to us. We must proceed, with rapid sketch and vision, taking in only a few of those historic facts which have special local or family interest, and which are carefully and well gath- ered for future reference and use, in the brief sketch contributed by the late Dr. Alvan Hyde to the " History of Berkshire," in the fuller " History of Lee," contained in the lecture of Rev. Armory Gale; in the address of the late Dr. Nahum Gale at the laying of the Corner Stone of your Congregational Church; in the address delivered at the Semi-Centennial of the Congregational Sunday-school ; and finally, and much more fully, by the son and the grandson, of the best of good men and true, who have ministered to the wants and the growth of
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the moral and spiritual elements of the people of Lee, in the historical notes which will be published in some convenient form in connection with the doings of this Centennial Day. The harvests there garnered will afford valuable and interesting materials from which you and your children may, and will, pleasantly gather and glean, in your quiet hours for the century which is before you, but could not be collected and compressed so as to be presented in the brief space which should be taken by this Address.
THE TOWN'S INCORPORATION.
Lee is one of the modern towns of this quite modern Common- wealth, and its memories are all fresh, vivid and easily called up. One hundred years and more had elapsed after the landing of the pilgrims, (December 21, 1620) before Western Massachusetts began to be settled, and the deed by which-in consideration of £460, three barrels of cider, and thirty quarts of rum, the southern half of Berk- shire County was conveyed by the Indians, was dated April 25th, 1724. From this territory, known at first as the " upper and lower Housa- tonic townships," Sheffield, and afterward Great Barrington and other towns, were set off and incorporated. Stockbridge was chartered in 1739, as an Indian town, six miles square; and Richmond and Lenox followed a few years later. The whole territory surrounding Lee had been settled and occupied before Isaac Davis built his farm-house near John McAllister's, and it was not till October 21, 1777, that Lee became an incorporated town. Five different special grants, " Hoplands," "Watson's," "Williams," "Larrabees," and " Glass Works," were in whole or in part included in the township. These grants are quite fully referred to by Dr. Charles M. Hyde in the " Historical Notes."
THE HOPLANDS AND WATSON'S GRANTS.
" Hoplands," somewhat inconveniently known from its separate school fund, is a strip of land extending nearly across the southern portion of the town, and including six school districts-the two at South Lee, the one near the Charles Hinckley homestead, the two in Water street, and the one at East Lee. This tract belonged to Great Barrington prior to 1777, but was included in this town at the time of its incorporation.
Watson's Grant comprised a large tract originally purchased by Robert Watson of Sheffield (assisted by a tory lawyer named David Ingersoll) of the Indians in 1757, which constitutes to-day the town of Washington, and parts of the towns of Middlefield, Hinsdale,
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Lenox and Lee. This land, before it became incorporated into the several townships with which it is now connected, passed through a number of hands, and was known by the successive names of Watson- town, Greenock, Hartwood and Mount Ephraim.
HOW COL. WILLIAMS "GATHERED IN " 4,000 ACRES.
There seems to have been in the " Williams" Grant (or Minister's Grant, as it is frequently and quite significantly called,) some features which, as showing some characteristics of the times, and of the leading and probably the best men of that day,-and perhaps as confirming the opinion that "there is no new thing under the sun "- may well receive our passing notice. This grant formed the north- west corner of the town, and contained about 4,000 acres. It seems to have been made by the General Court, January 21, 1740, to Col. Ephraim Williams and six associates. In the sketch of Lee, con- tributed by Dr. Alvan Hyde to the History of Berkshire, published in 1829, this grant is merely noticed as "Williams' Grant." In the History of Lee, by Rev. Amory Gale, (compiled and delivered as a lecture to the Young Men's Association of Lee, March 22, 1854,) it is mentioned as embracing about 650 acres in the northwest corner of the town, and in explanation of its origin, Mr. Gale says : "Col. Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College, was an efficient soldier in the second French war, who fell in his country's service, as commander of a regiment, on the 8th of September, 1755, near the shores of Lake George, when only about 41 years of age. As a testimony of the high estimation in which he was held, the authorities granted him, before his death, this tract of land, for many years known as the " Williams' Grant." There are probably two errors in this explanation, which are easily accounted for by those who know how such histories are usually compiled by those who have little leisure, small means to expend in research, and little or no compensa- tion for services. The quantity of land, instead of 650 acres, was about 4,000; and the grant, having been made to Williams at the early age of 20 years, was before, and not in consideration of, the special services which afterwards called attention to him. He had followed, in his early years, a sea-faring life; had visited England, Spain and Holland, where he is said to have "acquired graceful manners, and a considerable stock of useful knowledge." The first war in which he distinguished himself, was that between France and England, from 1744 to 1748, several years after this grant had been made. He is spoken of in the History of Berkshire (page 166) as " graceful and easy in address, and pleasing and conciliating in his
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manners," and it is added, "He was employed in advancing the settlements in some of the towns in the county, and had an uncom- mon share of influence at the General Court." Having these facilities for obtaining a grant, he seems to have presented, on May 3, 1739, a memorial to the General Court, in which it is represented that he and his associates had a piece of meadow which the Stockbridge Indians would like to own, and which the memorialists proposed to have given to them, the General Court granting Williams and his asso- ciates an equivalent in the unappropriated lands of the province. This memorial was signed by two of the Indians, and there is attached to the registry, a memorandum that Williams and partners gave £450 for the land. In response to this memorial, a grant of these 4,000 acres was made to Williams and his associates as an equivalent for this " meadow which the Indians would like," and for which it is said Williams and his associates, to extinguish an adverse claim of another Indian family, paid £15. Col. Williams had connected with himself as "associates," Timothy Woodbridge, of Stockbridge, the school-master, Rev. Stephen Williams and Samuel Hopkins, of Springfield, Rev. Peter Raynolds, of Enfield, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton, and Rev. Nehemiah Bull, of Westfield, deceased, represented by Mr. Oliver Partridge, of Hatfield. Oliver Partridge seems to have surveyed this parcel February 18, . 1739, and it is described in his report as "adjoining westerly and southerly the Indian township on Housatonic river." The surviving widow of this Rev. Mr. Bull had been, before her marriage, Miss Elizabeth Partridge, of Hartford.
In the Springfield Registry of Deeds (vol. "M," p. 525) is a record of articles of agreement and division, dated January 20, 1742, between these "associates," with which is connected a plan of the land ; from all of which it appears that Col. Williams had in the division 900 acres, lying around Laurel Lake. The ministers, following along northward, had each a lot of 400 acres, while flanking the last three, ministers' lots, Mr. Partridge, or Rev. Mr. Bull's estate had a lot of 700 acres. Woodbridge sold his in 1746, to Isaac Williams, of Goshen, Ct., for £280, and it was called 510 acres. In the Pittsfield and Springfield Registers and in papers in the Massa- chusetts Archives, this grant is called the Ministers' Grant, and there seems to be some reason to believe that the prevailing consideration, for the grant may have been the number and eminent respectability of the grantees. Dr. Edwards seems to have exchanged 240 acres of the Ministers Grant for the same quantity of land in Stockbridge in 1750, and in August, 1769, Timothy Edwards sold his father's
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remaining right therein to Joseph Woodbridge, for £328. Most of this land was added to Lenox, but that which was assigned to Capt. Williams in the division, was included in the township of Lee. Dr. C. M. Hyde, after a careful and thorough examination of records and papers, in which were preserved and embalmed this grant and its acces- sions and surroundings, intimates that the transaction was a "pecu- liar one, and reveals the shrewdness of the benevolent persons who took such good care of the affairs of the Stockbridge Indians ;" and we may add that, unexplained and read by the light of the comments of partisan journals, it would have seriously shadowed the prospects of a batch of presidential candidates, in the year of grace, 1876 .*
THE TWO OTHER GRANTS.
Larabee's grant was to John Larabee, the officer then in command of the single fort, "Castle Williams," which was thought to afford suffi- cient protection to the Harbor of Boston. Upon his memorial, which sets forth seventeen years of special services, a large and dependent family, a small and inadequate compensation, the Legislature, in June, 1739, voted to grant him &175, and 500 acres of the unappropriated land of the Province. This grant, located east of the Williams Grant, and duly reported to the Legislature, was confirmed to Lieut. Larabee and his heirs and assigns. He seems to have been a faithful officer, for in 1762, (the year following his death,) a grant of £50 was made to his heirs, by the General Court, in testimony of his faithful services.
The "Glass Works" Grant covered the center of the town-the present village-and was made in 1754, by the General Court, to John Franklin and his associates. It was designated "A Grant of Money to Encourage the Making of Potash; " and consisted of 1,000 acres of land. Certain parties seem to have been engaged at Brain- tree, now Quincy, in the attempt to manufacture "potash, cider, glass and cloth," in which they were pecuniarily unfortunate, and after va- rious attempts to acquire, first monopolies, and then indemnities, they seem to have obtained in 1757, in addition to the former Glass Works grant, assistance "by way of lottery," which the General Court au- thorized them to enjoy, and voted them the use of the Hall of Repre- sentatives, as a convenient place in which to "draw " it.
NATURAL PRODUCTS.
In the early settlement of the town, the bear, the wolf, the moose, and the deer, were occasionally seen, and in going through the woods
* In the above account of the Williams' Grant, the very natural mistake is made of confounding Col. Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College, with his father, Col. Ephraim Williams of Stockbridge, the patentee of this grant -EDITOR.
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at night it was customary to carry torches to scare away the wolves. The birds, natural and spontaneous vegetation and mineral, were much the same as now. Marble, of firmness and strength, which will sus- tain a pressure of 20,000 pounds to the square inch, while Italian mar- ble crushes at 13,000, and most of our American marble at 12,000 pounds, is the most valuable mineral yet found in Lee. It is, in sev- eral important respects, the best building material in the world; but it was, for many years, quite unknown to the early settlers, though crop- ping out in so many prominent and extensive ledges, and when John Winegar built his second dwelling house, the oldest now in town, and near Royce & McLaughlin's mills, the nearest place where he could find stone for his cellar, was on Pixley mountain. This must have been about fifteen years after Davis built the first frame house, and there were then living here a considerable number of families.
THE ANCIENT WORTHIES OF THE TOWN.
Of those first settlers ; of Isaac Davis and his house, upon what is now the John McAllister farm ; of Reuben Pixley, who gave his name to Pixley mountain, and who also built on the Hoplands, near where Harrison Garfield's farm-house now stands; of John Coffy, the Irish- man, and of Hope Davis from Tyringham; of Aaron Benedict and George Parker; of William Charter, the Quaker; of Lemuel Crocker and of Asahel Dodge; of Samuel Stanley, the tanner; of John Col- traine of Tolland ; of John Winegar and Jonathan Foote; of Richard Howk, whose large Dutch barn gave to his homestead the name of " Howk's Barracks ; " of Josiah Yale of Wallingford, who bought a portion of the Williams or Minister's Grant, where the old Yale house now stands, and who was among the first and foremost men of Lee in public spirit and enterprise, giving his crowbar in those early days when good tough iron was not plenty, for a crank to the meeting-house bell, because "he knew that was good iron," and purchasing at full price three pews in the meeting-house, because buyers were few and money scarce; of Jesse Bradley of New Haven ; of Ball, Bassett, Backus, Barlow, Gifford, Hamblin, Jenkins, and of the families driven from Cape Cod, by the distress brought to that locality by the Revo- lutionary War, and its closing days of large debts and taxes and paper currency ; and of their early struggles with obstacles of every kind, till by untiring perseverance, economy, and industry, they changed the wild wilderness into productive farms, and replaced the small log- houses upon the mountain-side, by comfortable homes, and made pass- able roads, hard and worked, instead of simply following among bushes and tangled under-growth, the marked trees of the first settlers ; of 8
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the bridges over which carts and wagons could be safely driven, instead of the felled trees which, for a time, served for crossing when the streams were too deep to be safely waded; of the weary journeys from "the Cape " by ox-cart or on horseback-husband and wife, or mother and son upon a single horse,-you will find full and interest- ing variations in the compilations and historical notes to which I have referred.
THE FIRST TAVERN AND MEETING-HOUSE.
" Cape street," with its narrow valley and its convenient hill-sides for the homes of the early settlers, was at first the most populous part of the town, and there it was proposed to build the meeting-house, but Cornelius Bassett and Nathan Dillingham in 1778, built the "Red Lion " tavern on what is now the Pease lot, which was occupied as a ho- tel till 1833, and remained as a landmark and memento of earlier days for some years after the more modern hostelry, built where the Memo- rial Hall now stands, took its place as the hotel. It was the first two. story house built in Lee, and it is said that the first store, to which Job Hamblin brought from Boston by a forty days' journey, a load of salt, was kept in its buttery. This imposing and important establishment had, of course, a centralizing tendency, and aided in drawing popula- tion and the " meeting-house " to the present center.
THE EARLY TOWN MEETINGS.
The first town meeting was held at Peter Wilcox's homestead (a log house of one story and with only one room), Dec. 22, 1777. It is supposed the population was then about two hundred. In 1780 the meeting was adjourned "for eight minutes, to meet in Peter Wilcox's barn," indicating probably an increase of population which made the one room of a log house inconveniently small. The next place of meeting was Major Dillingham's tavern, and after that, the meeting- house for many years. Notices of town meetings were posted on the whipping post, near the meeting-house, and at the two grist mills.
LEE'S PART IN THE REVOLUTION.
Although the town was not incorporated at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, and though after its incorporation the records were quite imperfectly kept, it is certain that the men of Lee did their full share in supporting the Government in that birth-struggle of our national life ; and of their names and services in the raising of . men, of money, of provisions and horses, and other needed supplies, you will find honorable mention in the historical notes. In 1841 there were Revolutionary pensioners living in Lee whose names and
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ages were : Joseph Wilder, 82; Reuben Marsh, 78; Nathaniel Bas- sett, 84; Joel Hayden, 78; Cornelius Bassett, 79; and Levi Robin- son, 78. All have long since passed away, but their patriotic example and blessed memory will live as long as each returning Fourth of July reminds us of those who fought and suffered, that we might have freedom and peace.
GROG AT SIXTY DOLLARS A BOWL.
Of some of the distressing circumstances and conditions which pressed upon our fathers in those days, we can form no true idea from any of the experiences of this generation. In the war of seces- sion we knew something of depreciated currency, and we are to-day suffering from its effects and influence. But our currency was not sufficiently depleted to give us any true conception of the baseness of that Continental currency, the worthlessness of which gave rise to the expression, " Not worth a continental." We have good illustrations of it, however, in two incidents connected with citizens of Lee. One is related of Cornelius Bassett, whose prize money as a privateer was £100, which he invested in this depreciated currency; he after- wards exchanged his currency for a watch and finally gave his watch for the land where the "Red Lion " was afterwards built; and the other of Capt. Amos Porter, who was active in both the French and Rev- olutionary wars, and expended a large share of his property in the support of his company, and, when peace was declared, led his com- pany of sixty-four men up to Toucey's and treated each of them to a bowl of grog at $60 a bowl, making a total of $3,840.
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