USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Northampton > Representative families of Northampton; a demonstration of what high character, good ancestry and heredity have accomplished in a New England town . > Part 2
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"Resolved, to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better.
"Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to deny whatever is not most agreeable to a good, and universally sweet and benevolent, quiet, peaceable, contented, easy, compassionate, generous, humble, meek, modest, submissive, obliging, diligent and industrious, charitable, even, patient, moderate, forgiving, sincere temper; and to do at all times what such a temper would lead me to.
"Resolved, I will act so as I think I shall judge would have been best and most prudent when I come into the future world.
"I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done supposing I live to old age.
"Resolved, Whenever I hear anything spoken in conversation of any person, if I think it would be praiseworthy in me, to endeavor to imitate it.
"Resolved, after afflictions to inquire what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them."
THE EDWARDS FAMILY
I T IS important to remember that Timothy Edwards, the father of Jonathan Edwards, contributed to the glory of righteous ancestry in his union with Esther Stoddard, daughter of Solomon Stoddard, the famous minister of North- ampton's First Church. She was a woman of rare accomplish- ments, judging from what we read of her.
From the story of such a union and such an ancestry it is not surprising that such facts have been gleaned as are shown in Charles A. Winship's comparison of the Edwards and Jukes families - an analysis which has attracted the attention of sociologists the world over. Mr. Winship's object was to show the great difference between a godly, righteous life and a criminal life, in its hereditary results on succeeding generations. Within the limits of this volume it is not possible to reproduce Mr. Winship's comparison in full. It is sufficient to say that Jukes was a notorious criminal of Chicago and was the progenitor of a long line of criminals.
The striking contrast between this criminal's family, and the accomplishments of Jonathan Edwards' sons, daughters, and grandsons, etc., is very striking.
From Edwards there sprang the most remarkable gift to the world of human ability and achievement that was perhaps ever heard of. Let the reader judge for himself.
The Edwards family has furnished an array of more than one hundred lawyers, thirty judges, and the most emi- nent law professor probably in the country. James Bryce
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Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Edwards
She was Sarah Pierpont of New Haven, Connecticut, before her marriage to Mr. Edwards
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The Edwards Family
in his comments on America places one of this family at the head of legal learning on this continent. This was Theodore William Dwight, LL.D., born in New Haven, July 18, 1822; graduated from Hamilton College, 1840; pro- fessor there, 1842-58. In 1858 he went to Columbia College, organized the law school, and was its president for thirty- three years. Some of the most eminent official attorneys of Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago have been found in the Edwards family.
There is not a leading college in the country where their name cannot be found recorded. They have not only fur- nished thirteen college presidents and a hundred or more professors, but they have founded many important acad- emies and seminaries in New Haven and Brooklyn, all through the New England states, and in the Middle, Western, and Southern states. They have contributed liberally to college endowments. One gave a quarter of a million as an endow- ment for Yale.
At Yale there have been more than one hundred and twenty graduates. Among these are about twenty Dwights, nearly as many Edwards, seven Woolseys, eight Porters, five Johnsons, four Ingersolls, and several of the following names: Chapin, Winthrop, Shoemaker, Hoadley, Lewis, Mather, Reeve, Rowland, Carmalt, Devereaux, Weston, Heermance, Whitney, Blake, Collier, Scarborough, Yardley, Gilman, Raymond, Wood, Morgan, Bacon, Ward, Foote, Cornelius, Shepards, Bristed, Wickerham, Doubleday, Van Volkenberg, Robbins, Tyler, Miller, Lyman, Pierpont. Winston Churchill, the author, is a recent graduate. In Amherst at one time there were of this family President Gates, and Professors Mather, Tyler, and Todd. Wherever found, the Edwards descendants are leaders in college faculties. Those who know what Gates, Mather, Tyler, and Todd have stood for at
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Representative Families of Northampton
Amherst will appreciate what Jonathan Edwards' blood has done for this college.
There have been sixty physicians, all marked men. Dr. Richard Smith Dewey was an eminent surgeon in the Franco-Prussian War, having charge of the Prussian hos- pital at Hesse Cassel. Dr. Sereno Edwards Dwight was a surgeon and physician in the British regular army. The physicians of the family have had important connection with insane hospitals. The legislative action of New York by which the first state insane asylum was built, was largely brought about by a physician of this family. Eminent names in the medical annals of San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Boston, and other cities can be traced to Jonathan Edwards.
America has had no more brilliant preachers and theo- logians than some of those that bear the name of Edwards, Dwight, Woolsey, Park, and Ingersoll. There have been no more noted missionaries, than this family has sent, for faithful and successful work in Asia Minor, India, Africa, China, Hawaii, and the South Sea Islands. Dwight's famous five volumes on theology are a product of a worthy descend- ant of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards A. Park, the long time head of Andover Theological Seminary, whose vigor of thought, keenness of logic, and pulpit powers are unsur- passed, was a descendant of Mr. Edwards. The family has furnished several army chaplains and one eminent chaplain of the United States Senate. They have made many churches prominent by the vigor of their pulpit utterances.
More than eighty members of the family of Jonathan Edwards have been honored with public office. Legisla- tures in all sections of the country, governor's councils, state treasuries, and other elective offices have been filled by these men. They have been mayors of New Haven, Cleve-
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Edwards Elms
There were originally two of these. The farther one in the picture shows Miss Maria D. Whitney, after- ward professor at Smith College, seated with a friend in the cosy seat above the trunk of the tree
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The Edwards Family
land, and Troy; governors of Connecticut, Ohio, and South Carolina; they have been prominent in the Continental Congress, in the constitutional conventions of Massachu- setts, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. They have represented the United States at various foreign courts; several have been members of Congress; three have been United States senators; and one vice-president of the United States.
In the Edwards family some sixty have attained prom- inence in authorship or editorial life. Mr. Winship found one hundred and thirty-five books of merit written by this family. Eighteen considerable journals and periodicals have been edited and several important ones founded by the Edwards family.
The Edwards family is a prominent factor in the mer- cantile, industrial, and professional life of thirty-three states of the Union and in several countries abroad, in ninety-two American and many foreign cities. They have been pre- eminently directors of men. The Pacific steamship line and fifteen American railway systems have had as president, su- perintendent, or otherwise in active management, one of this family. Many large banks, banking-houses, and insurance companies have been directed by them. They have been owners or superintendents of great coal mines in Pennsyl- vania and West Virginia, of iron plants and vast oil inter- ests in Pennsylvania, and of silver mines in Nevada. There is scarcely any American industry that has not had one of this family among its chief promoters. Eli Whitney, of cotton- gin fame, married a grand-daughter of Jonathan Edwards.
Prison reform has found its leading advocates in this family. Wilberforce's best American friend was of this fold, and Garibaldi valued one of the family above all other American supporters.
NEW ENGLANDERS AS DOERS OF THE WORLD'S WORK
And Massachusetts Leads Them All
D AY after day the obituary columns of the newspa- pers are full of the notices of prominent men all over the country. If you stop to think of it, is it not remarkable that so many of these men come from the hills of New England? Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, particularly, have contributed a most gener- ous share of the men who have done and are doing their part of the world's work. This is shown by remarkable statistics.
Massachusetts and Vermont produce the greatest num- ber of eminent persons in proportion to population, as shown by the census and the book "Who's Who in America?" Professor Nearing of the University of Pennsylvania says that Massachusetts had 85 names in the 1913 "Who's Who" for every 100,000 of its native population in 1880, before which year nearly every one in "Who's Who" was born. Vermont came next with 75.5. Next in order are Connec- ticut with 69.2; Rhode Island with 64.8; New Hampshire with 63.1; Maine with 54.3; New York with 46.6; Dela- ware with 37; Maryland with 33.9; and Ohio with 31.5.
New England had 72.4 names in "Who's Who" for every 100,000 of its population in 1880. Other sections of the country trailed along. Dr. Nearing shows that surprisingly large numbers of eminent persons whose names appear in "Who's Who" were born before 1850. The eminent persons who were alive in 1913 were for the most part well along in life. Only one in a hundred was born since 1880; only four- teen in a hundred were born since 1870. More than a quar- ter of the eminent persons were born before 1850.
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SOME OTHER EARLY NORTHAMPTON CELEBRITIES
H AVING already given reason why this volume can- not record in detail the history of the great North- ampton families, prior to the present generation, there still remains to be mentioned, something, in a general way, what a few of the great men of these prominent families were noted for.
First, there were, before Jonathan Edwards and his family, in and about the years 1670-1690, those early settlers, Elder John Strong, Lieutenant William Clark, Thomas Judd, John King, John Lyman, Samuel Wright, Caleb Pomeroy, Captain Aaron Cooke, Joseph Parsons, Nathaniel Phelps, and Enos Kingsley, all ranging from the age of sixty to seventy- five years when they left this mortal life. They were truly the seed of the generation which made Northampton great and influential in the family of towns of the State. Lieutenant William Clark, in particular, was notable as the ancestor of all the Clarks in this region and many farther away - to the number, it is said, of nearly a thousand. Joseph Parsons was the husband of Mary Parsons, who was tried for witch- craft in 1674, but acquitted.
The period of the Revolution against Great Britain fur- nished men of local prominence in General Seth Pomeroy and Major Joseph Hawley. The life of General Pomeroy is familiar to every Northampton schoolboy who knows any- thing about local history. He was one of thirty Northamp-
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Representative Families of Northampton
ton men who gave their lives in the service of their country in the war. Prominent among the characteristics of this remarkable man was his strict adherence to principle. It is related of him that on one occasion he said to his son Lemuel, "Lem, never fear to do your duty, no matter where it calls you, no matter how great the danger. But if ever you are tempted to do a mean thing or a wrong thing, be the greatest coward in the world."
The name of Hawley is an important one in Northamp- ton history. The first of that name was Captain Joseph Hawley, who graduated at Harvard in 1674, in a class of three, and came at once to Northampton. He was highly honored in many ways, and he and his wife (Lydia Mar- shall) were the ancestors, on the mother's side, of the two professors, Josiah D. Whitney of Yale, and Maria Whitney of Smith College.
Lieutenant Joseph Hawley, the third child of his father- namesake (born in 1682) married rather late in life Rebecca Stoddard, the eleventh child of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, the second minister of Northampton. History records a melancholy ending of Lieutenant Hawley's life by suicide, following a long spell of religious hypochondria.
However, that marriage uniting the Hawley and Stod- dard families, gave to the region and the thirteen colonies one of the most inspiring advocates and actors in that struggle for freedom from British domination which preceded the Revolution. This was in the person of the third Joseph (Major) Hawley.
Major Hawley furnished an instance of patriotic pride which has come down to us, to the effect that, in a despond- ing mood, expressing doubt as to the result of the revolu- tionary struggle, he said, in an interview with Caleb Strong, "We shall both be hung," - for their sentiments and speeches
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Other Early Northampton Celebrities
in public. To this Strong replied, "No, Major, probably not more than forty will be hung, and we shall escape." Hawley was aroused by this and replied in his energetic way, "I will have you know that I am one of the first three."
When delegates were chosen to the Continental Con- gress, Major Hawley was among the most eligible of candi- dates, but declined to accept the position and the choice fell on his friend, John Adams, to whom he addressed a letter concerning certain propositions which he denominated "Broken Hints," for the consideration of himself and his col- leagues. This document was placed before the delegation and by them presented to the prominent men from other colonies. When the contents of that paper were made known to Patrick Henry and he heard the sentiment, "Fight we must unless Britain retreats," he exclaimed, "By -, I am of that man's mind."
And it was this third Joseph Hawley who left a portion of his real estate, nearly one thousand acres (afterward con- verted into the Hawley Fund of about three thousand dol- lars) for the benefit of the higher town schools.
Coming now to the times of peace, stands resplendent the name of another one of Northampton's most distin- guished citizens, Caleb Strong - in some respects the most distinguished. He was born in 1745, graduated at Harvard College in 1764, and studied law with Major Hawley. He was county attorney for twenty-four years and a member of the Legislature, in both branches, in all fourteen years, and assisted in forming the constitution of Massachusetts in 1779 and of the United States in 1787. He was also United States Senator two years and Governor of the State eleven years.
Colonel Timothy Dwight, another illustrious citizen, al- though born long before the Revolution, was the ancestor of
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Representative Families of Northampton
the numerous later family of Dwights, famous even to the present day, in descendants living. It is related of Colonel Timothy, that in 1740 he was the recipient of the first case of tea which came into Northampton from Boston, and that Mrs. Dwight boiled a whole pound of it at once, as one would a lot of dried herbs, and it is not to be wondered at that the bitterness of it made her, with a single taste of it, throw it away in disgust.
Major Timothy Dwight, remarkable scion of this family, was a graduate of Yale College and for many years a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, somewhat corresponding to the District Court of today. Physically he was a remark- able man, of large stature and corresponding strength, and it is related of him that he emulated his father, who was not- able in muscular exploits. Among the feats recorded of his prowess are those of lifting five hundred pounds weight of flour into a wagon, and throwing a stone across the Con- necticut River, "forty rods from the point where he stood and thirty rods beyond, in all 1165 feet."
Timothy Dwight, the son of Major Timothy (his mother was the third daughter of Jonathan Edwards) was president of Yale College from 1795 to 1817, the year of his decease.
To follow the records of all the noted Northampton families of past generations, would require too great and un- necessary a pursuit of genealogical lore. Those curious in such matters would find a most admirable study of this subject in two books written by the late Rev. Solomon Clark, a native of Northampton, once a minister of Plainfield, and every Northampton man, woman, and child who has local pride in the place of their birth and their ancestors or fore- fathers, should read Mr. Clark's painstaking work.
Christopher Clarke
Through
CI, IRKE
The Clarke Coat of Arms
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CHRISTOPHER CLARKE
Public-Spirited and "All-round Citizen"
A S a most important scion of one of Northampton's oldest families Christopher Clarke furnishes a nota- ble genealogical sketch.
Mr. Clarke was born in Northampton January 4, 1827, the son of Christopher Clarke and Harriet Butler. His grandfathers were Samuel Clarke and William Butler, the latter the first book publisher in Northampton and also founder of the Northampton Gazette. His grandmothers were Jerusha Phillips of Boston, and Huldah Brown Butler of Northampton. The first Christopher Clarke was a mer- chant, and his sons, Augustus and Christopher 2d, succeeded him in the same line.
The immigrant ancestor of this family was Captain Daniel Clarke of Chester, England, who came to Windsor, Connecticut, about 1636, settling there with his uncle, Ephraim Huet to whom, with six more patentees, the town of Windsor was granted. The above-named Captain Daniel Clarke was secretary of the colony of Connecticut from 1659 to 1666 inclusive, and for several years a magistrate.
In childhood and youth the subject of this sketch had an intense love for music and an unusually sweet voice for a child. He sang solos in children's concerts, and at an early age was a member of the Unitarian Church choir. Later he was prominent in the town's famous "Choral Union" and other musical organizations, all financially successful.
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Representative Families of Northampton
Christopher Clarke, the boy, began an apprenticeship in the store of his brother Augustus Clarke at the age of four- teen, with wages for the first year of thirty dollars, and five dollars per year increase until he "graduated" at nineteen.
Being fond of books, his public spirit, for which his life has been so distinguished, prompted him to the leading part in raising funds for the construction of what is now known as the Clarke Library and Memorial Hall Building, to honor both the veterans of the Civil War and to properly house the books of the Northampton Free Public Library, which up to that time had been kept in the town hall. The amount of money Mr. Clarke secured for this purpose was nearly eighty thousand dollars, including the endowment of forty- two thousand dollars furnished by his uncle, John Clarke, to which the uncle later added the sum of five thousand dollars toward the building fund. It is a notable fact that the Clarke Library Building with its Memorial Hall, was the first large free public library building in a town in this country. It was opened for public use in June, 1874.
Mr. Clarke has attributed his success in life largely to his constant association with a superior class of men and women in Northampton (which he always called "the lead- ing town in the State"); also to his intense love of nature in all its phases, and to music, which made him an "all- round" man and public-spirited citizen, interested in and ready to aid all good causes with personal service and money. To one who knew him long it has seemed that Mr. Clarke's modesty did not permit him to state other leading causes of his success. These include notably his excellent health and long life, and his unfailing good nature, cheerfulness, and regular habits. It is a fact worth mentioning that no one ever heard him speak ill of any one - an unusual charac- teristic. Rallied, at one time, on his abundant cheerful-
Christopher Clarke
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Christopher Clarke
ness, by a friend, he responded, " I make it a point to smile rather than show anger, as I have found that anger makes me ill, and I suffer for hours afterward, if I indulge in it."
Could a stronger recommendation be given the doctrine taught by mental healers and practical metaphysicians, so far as such doctrine relates in the discipline of mind toward making for health? His fellow-citizens have often been stopped and button-holed by him on the street, to listen to his stories, and he has doubtless chased away many a fit of the blues.
His principal public service, probably, was the promo- tion and acquisition of several public State reservations, including Mount Tom, Mount Nonotuck, Mount Sugar Loaf, Deer Hill, and last of all, in the organization of a corpo- ration for the purchase of Mount Holyoke, which seemed likely at one time to fall into the hands of private speculators who would have had no care for its scenic preservation. Mr. Clarke succeeded in bringing this property (world- renowned as furnishing "the finest cultivated view in New England") within the reach of all the people, by a fine road to the summit hotel. This road, of the most enduring macadam, cost over thirty thousand dollars and makes the summit easily accessible by automobiles and pedestrians, with- out charge.
Mr. Clarke also planned the beautiful four-mile drive about half way up the summit of Mount Tom (from the Easthampton mountain road to Holyoke to the Mount Tom railroad station) and when this was opened to the public the reservation authorities named it the "Christopher Clarke Road."
Mr. Clarke also succeeded in securing two forest reserva- tions in Williamsburg, contributed by Mrs. Edward Nash
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Representative Families of Northampton
and Mrs. L. D. James. For many years he has worked for a uniform building line on the south side of Main Street, above Crafts' Avenue, meaning thereby to establish a uni- form line-front for all the public buildings on that side of the street from and inclusive of the City Hall to the beginning of West Street. To this end he procured the services of a landscape gardener and scenic draftsman, to show how the street might be thus improved. In this plan was included a suggestion how a considerable space of ground between Memorial Hall and the Academy of Music might be utilized as a small park or outdoor resting-place for citizens. This met with prompt popular approbation. In a short time other public-spirited citizens joined him in the project, contributed funds, and procured the establishment of the present Public Gardens. But Mr. Clarke's plans for the improvement of Main Street, in the locality referred to, went still further. He urged the erection of a new City Hall on a line with the other public buildings, and although this part of his design has not yet matured, there is reason to hope that it will before many years.
Mr. Clarke's public services have included help in many directions for different meritorious enterprises, and his life- long acquaintance with old and former residents (those removed still taking pride in the "grand old town") made him a valuable aid, for many years back, to any project of public interest which required pecuniary support for a foundation.
If ever the day shall come, to future generations of readers of these records, when the gorge on the Connecticut River, between the mountains Tom and Holyoke shall be spanned by a suspension bridge, it should be remembered that Christopher Clarke made the first suggestion of this enterprise. Mr. Clarke's ideas to this end were embodied in
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Sideboard in the Clarke House
"Sir Christopher" at His Ain Fireside
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Christopher Clarke
an article published in a Sunday edition of the Springfield Republican and contemplated an airy-like structure high over the river, from Titan's Pier on the Hockanum side, to a point on Mount Tom, where the acclivity of the Christopher Clarke Road fairly begins to show itself on the east side of the mountain. It does not seem at all improbable that the day will come when this enterprise will be carried out, for it must prove not only useful to the general public, but a never-ending source of delight to automobilists and other tourists.
He never sought nor held any political office, though always an influential and popular member of the Republican party. As such he always acted in delegate capacity when called on to attend the old-time conventions, and he often helped the party machine get out the vote. He has recalled with much gusto his experiences with the "Wide-Awake" boys in the Lincoln-Hamlin campaign of 1860-61.
Mr. Clarke was chairman of the first City Improvement Committee, and City Forester for over thirty years. He is a veteran fireman and the inventor of the Clarke tower fire escape, an original and novel apparatus of great value for the preservation of life and property from fire and panic, and he was granted patents on this invention in this and several foreign countries.
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