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 3
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Referring again to Mr. Clarke's qualities as a musician, further note should be made to his local services to his fellow- citizens in the promotion and procurement of rare, sterling musical attractions for the people of Northampton and vicinity. Mention has been made of his connection with Dr. Meekins in the famous "Choral Union." In 1860 Mr. Clarke, with Dr. Meekins as musical director and manager, organized a company of the musical citizens of the town and produced the opera of "Il Trovatore," which was given in
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the town hall with great success. This opera was the first given in this country by amateur performers, the soloists, chorus, and large orchestra being citizens of the town. The principal solo parts were taken by Mrs. T. W. Meekins, Dr. T. W. Meekins, Miss Julia Warner Shepard, William H. Clark, and Christopher Clarke. Extra trains were run in all directions, and the three successful performances gave North- ampton a well-deserved reputation all over New England, as a thoroughly musical town, a reputation she still holds. It should be remembered Mr. Clarke's succeeded in bring- ing the famous "Swedish nightingale," Jenny Lind, here, for a concert in July, 1851, at the "Old" Church. She came from Springfield in a barouche, drawn by four white horses, and the crowd which heard her was so great that she had to beadmitted through a window at the rear of the church, just back of the pul- pit. It was necessary to raise a guarantee fund of three thousand dollars to bring her to Northampton, but this was furnished by William H. Stoddard, George A. Burr, and Mr. Clarke. The receipts of the concert were forty-five hundred dollars.
Mention of the versatility of Mr. Clarke's enterprise must include notice of the fact that he sympathized with all the healthful sports of the rising generation, was a member of one of the earliest baseball clubs in the town, and has promoted and financed several teams since.
It was a pleasing event to Mr. Clarke when his fellow- citizens, without waiting for him to pass off the earthly stage, decided to give him a public tribute of appreciation on his eightieth birthday. This took the form of an assem- blage of about two hundred and fifty of the most prominent citizens at a dinner, with notable addresses.
In 1915, not long after the foregoing matter had been written and had received the approval of Mr. Clarke, he passed away in the eighty-ninth year of his age.
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Henry S. Gere
MEMOR
EST
here.
The Gere Coat of Arms
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HENRY S. GERE
A Conspicuous Representative Country Editor
T HIS is the story of a plain country editor, who did much good in his day and generation, through uprightness, industry, close application, and fre- quent exercise of civic spirit, both with his pen and in public speech.
Henry S. Gere was born in Williamsburg, April 30, 1828, a son of Edward and Arabella Williams Gere. His ancestry early attracted and attached him to Northampton, for here his paternal grandfather, Isaac Gere, a jeweler, lived and built the first brick block, opposite the First Church.
Mr. Gere's father graduated at Yale College and was seeking a professional career, when ill health turned him to farm life in Williamsburg. His wife was a daughter of Gross Williams, landlord of the Williams House.
Henry S. Gere had a common school education in his native town, and followed this with a term at Wilbraham Academy and Williston Seminary, entering the latter insti- tution the year it was opened.
At seventeen years of age he had his first smell of printers' ink, when he began work in the office of the Hamp- shire Herald, in Northampton. The Herald was a weekly
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paper printed on an old-fashioned Washington hand press, and Mr. Gere must have been an easy learner and early acquired confidence as a writer, for he became editor of the paper two years after he entered the office. In 1848 the Herald and the Courier were consolidated. Mr. Gere was at first assistant editor of the combined papers. Later he became editor and proprietor. In 1858 the Courier was combined with the Gazette, and the publication continued under the firm name of Trumbull and Gere, the late James R. Trumbull, Northampton's historian, being the junior partner.
Mr. Gere early showed his conscientiousness as editor by uniting with the "free soil" party, which he followed to the only legitimate conclusion, the complete abolition of negro slavery.
His editorials were strong and forceful. He used no redundant phraseology and fell into no tautology. Plain English words, with the most direct combinations to express his meaning, were good enough for him. He had a sober purpose in all his writings; he wrote nothing merely to pro- voke a laugh or excite ridicule. He used sarcasm or humor sparingly, but always held the attention of his readers by the orderliness of his statement and the coherence of his argu- ment, on large matters editorially, while in his discussion of local affairs he was particularly forceful, because his judg- ment was direct and practical. He always informed himself thoroughly of what he was writing about and stated his conclusions clearly in a few words.
On public occasion he often proved himself a good speaker, especially at the old town meetings, where he gave excellent advice, tending to all needed public spirit, but infused with calls for prudence and economy. He un- doubtedly was the leading means of reviving the old "Three
Henry S. Gere
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Counties" agricultural society, through a vigorous speech, January 7, 1903, when he made a rousing appeal for courage and progress. The society, now nearly a century old, had fallen on hard times a few years ago, but Mr. Gere's cheer- ing and inspiring words had the effect of a rallying cry from a brave general to disorganized forces. The society made a fresh start, and its success has been uninterrupted ever since. In this connection it is interesting to recall his personal bearing. He had a commanding figure, taller by a foot than that of the average man, and his peculiar but sparing gesticu- lation contributed greatly to the force of any address he was making.
As a compiler of local history Mr. Gere was notable. Having a most retentive memory and a long life acquaintance with men, things, and events in his generation, he was able, with his skillful pen, to present the facts of the past years in a most readable and attractive form. The large edition of his paper, published at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the town of North- ampton was a fine piece of country newspaper work, embrac- ing, as it did, a compendium of the important events in local history every year from the settlement of the town to the time of the celebration. Another excellent work of his was the publication, about the same time, of a pamphlet of reminiscences. This collection will be of increasing value in the history of this region, as time goes on.
Mr. Gere married, August 22, 1849, Martha, daughter of Simeon P. and Dorcas Clapp Clark of Easthampton. She died May 6, 1906. Their children, living, are George S., proprietor of the Gazette job printing business; Collins H. and Edward C., who were in partnership with their father in the publication of the Gazette; William H .; Miss Mary E., a graduate of Smith College and a former teacher in
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Western Female college at Oxford, Ohio, and Northfield Seminary; and Miss Martha F., former assistant librarian in the Clarke Library. There are also three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Holding, as he did, such a commanding position as an editor, it was natural that Mr. Gere should have been more or less active in political work and that he should have been recognized in the distribution of some of the emoluments of civil office. He was an intimate adviser for many years in the councils of the leaders of the Republican party organiza- tion, headed committees, and in 1858 was chosen County Treasurer. This office he held for eighteen years. He was chairman of the Republican county committee for twenty- five years, a member of the Northampton School Committee for six years, and at the time of his death was a trustee of the Northampton Institution for Savings. He was also a prominent member of the old agricultural society, the presi- dency of which he declined.
Mr. Gere was of too patriotic a mold to ignore the call of his country to arms in 1861, and he enlisted in the 52d regiment, and became postmaster for the Army of the Miss- issippi at Baton Rouge. The 52d regiment association was formed in 1866, and Mr. Gere was chosen its secretary and treasurer, an office which he held at the time of his death.
As a lover of nature Mr. Gere was also notable, and he delighted his readers with refreshing accounts of his annual visits to the hill towns, describing the attractions of that region in graphic and ever new viewpoints. He had a model garden at his beautiful homestead on High Street and took much pleasure in working there in his later years.
When Mr. Gere reached his eightieth year, in 1908, he was given a banquet by the editors of western Massachusetts, at Cooley's Hotel in Springfield. He was then believed to
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The Gere Family's "Grandfather's Clock" Made by Henry S. Gere's grandfather (Isaac Gere) the first jeweler in Northampton
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The Gere Homestead
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be the editor of longest service in New England. He was at that time in the sixty-second year of editorial work. After- ward he gradually relinquished writing, and presently aban- doned it altogether.
What more can be said about this interesting old journalist? In the course of his long life he doubtless made many enemies. Few men in his profession fail to do so, but how often the public forget the thousands of paragraphs of kindly praise which an editor gives, year in and out, to the men and women of his time. The editor, like the preacher, helps form the character of his times, and he is rarely appre- ciated as he should be until he has passed away.
L. CLARK SEELYE The Builder of Smith College
T HERE can be no dispute as to L. Clark Seelye being the builder of Smith College; for during thirty-seven years, from its very beginnings, he presided over the institution, and molded it to general public satisfaction. More- over, he developed it to remarkable and unexpected success. President Seelye did not arrive in Northampton un- known. He had been prominent in the Congregational Church and ministry in a neighboring city, and a professor in a nearby college, but it was a surprise to many that he should come to this place in the capacity of college president.
He was born in Bethel, Connecticut, September 20, 1837. His father was Seth, born in 1795, and the latter's father was Nathan Seelye of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Mrs. L. Clark Seelye's father was Lyman Chapin of Albany, and his father was Silas Chapin of Springfield.
The children of President and Mrs. Seelye are: Dr. Ralph Holland Seelye of Springfield; Harriet Chapin Seelye, who married Rush Rhees, President of Rochester University; Abigail Taylor Seelye, who married Dr. Charles L. Scudder, and now resides in Boston; Arthur Moody Seelye, who died in 1895 aged 24 years; Dr. Walter Clark Seelye of Worcester; Henrietta Sheldon Seelye, who married Professor William Gray of Smith College; and Bertram Seelye who died in 1880 aged one year.
Laurenus Clark Seelye obtained his early education in private schools in his native state. In 1853 he entered Union College at Schenectady, New York, and graduated from it in
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President (Emeritus) L. Clark Seelye of Smith College with a Grandson
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L. Clark Seelye
1857, taking the degree of A.B. In 1858 he was a student at Andover Theological Seminary. He then went abroad and, until 1862, traveled in Europe, Egypt, and Palestine, and continued his studies in the universities of Berlin and Hei- delberg. He received the degree of D.D. from Union Col- lege in 1875; and of LL.D. from Amherst College in 1894, and in 1913 from Union and Smith colleges. He married in 1863, and the same year was ordained pastor of the North Congregational Church of Springfield. After two years and a half of pastoral work he accepted a professorship in Am- herst College, where he remained from 1865 to 1873, when he became president of the new college in Northampton.
Not many people of the present day will remember the fact that there was some feeling displayed by a small fraction of the townspeople to the effect that the new college should be presided over by a woman. This feeling was voiced in a local paper published in the early 70's. But the founder of the college, Miss Sophia Smith, of Hatfield, had made it plain, by the terms of her will, that men should have a leading part in the college government and instruction. "For it is a misfortune," she said, "that women should be educated wholly by their own kind." The selection of Professor Seelye was in accordance with this provision. If those in favor of a woman president had had their way, it is said that Elizabeth Powell Bond, of Florence, would have been put prominently forward for the position. She was unques- tionably a woman intellectually fitted for the place, but some man of many qualifications was sorely needed in the trying first years of the institution, and it is doubtful whether any one else could have so fully met the necessities of that time as Professor Seelye.
The institution was chartered in 1871, and in the fol- lowing year he was informally offered the presidency by
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the trustees who had been appointed to select the head of the college, the tangible equipment of which consisted of the two adjoining homesteads of Judge Lyman and Judge Dewey, and a fund of $386,608.29 from the estate of Sophia Smith. The board of trustees consisted of eleven men named by Miss Sophia in her will.
Professor Seelye declined the first overture, as it seemed to him that the funds at the disposal of the trustees were wholly inadequate to develop the carefully thought-out plans of the founder of the college. However, he was per- suaded to reconsider his answer and, on June 17, 1873, was unanimously elected president. Miss Smith's will provided that half of the entire bequest might be used for buildings, but the new president realized that all this money was needed for a permanent fund. He therefore conditioned his acceptance on the postponement for two years of the open- ing of the college so that the interest of the fund might accumulate to furnish money for the erection of buildings, and that more time might be given to do the preliminary work necessary to the success of such an undertaking.
Therefore the college did not actually open to students until September 9, 1875, five years after Miss Smith's death. The equipment then consisted of three buildings-College Hall, which is the present administration building, the president's house, and the Dewey house - on land which the town of Northampton had contributed twenty-five thousand dollars to buy. There were four resident teachers and fourteen students present at the first chapel exercises presided over by President Seelye. The single class, all of whom pursued the same studies, required but one recitation room.
President Seelye's judgment and foresight were well illustrated at the inception of the college by his determina- tion that the institution should have no preparatory depart-
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L. Clark Seelye
ment connected with it, and that its intellectual standard should be equal to that of men's colleges. This course attracted unusual attention all over the country, as up to that time no college for women had been started without a preparatory department; none had required Greek for en- trance, and the quality and the quantity of the work asked for in other women's colleges were below that required in colleges for men. There was much doubt expressed at the time by prominent educators as to the practicability of President Seelye's course, but the steady growth of the institution with its high standard of scholarship evinced the wisdom of his decision.
It would seem difficult to teach the Bible from a literary and critical point of view, but this was done successfully by President Seelye (as it has also been done by his successors) to over sixteen hundred girls - Catholic, Protestant, Jew, and Gentile.
The development of the cottage system was something that the president had to work out gradually, because limited resources did not permit the building of dormitories as fast as they were needed; and great care was taken in the selec- tion of house managers, or "house mothers" as the students were led to call them. A limited campus also prevented the president from carrying out his cottage plans to the full. His idea was, also, that the students should learn to become good wives and mothers, and they were encouraged to fit themselves physically as well as mentally and morally to become home makers.
A resumé of the tangible assets of the college, showing its remarkable growth should be recorded here. There were, when President Seelye laid down his work, one hundred and seven members of the faculty, not counting five physical in- structors, five librarians, and an office force of five. There
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were eighteen college houses or dormitories, an infirmary, and a hospital, a new auditorium, College Hall assembly and recitation rooms, Seelye Hall recitation rooms, the new library building, Lilly Hall of Science, Chemistry Hall, a finely equipped observatory, Music Hall, Hillyer Art Gal- lery, the Alumnae Gymnasium, the Students Building, and the Lyman Plant house. Allen recreation field and its club house were also added to the college equipment during Pres- ident Seelye's term of office. The assets of the college, July 1, 1910, amounted to $3,282,756.
It did not take the trustees of the college until Presi- dent Seelye's retirement to find out and recognize the value of the work done, for at their spring meeting in 1900 it was voted to celebrate the completion of twenty-five years of academic work the following October. At this celebra- tion there were exercises by the undergraduates and alumnae, and historical addresses by Lieutenant-Governor Bates, Rev. John M. Greene, and President Seelye. The presidents of six other colleges were in attendance to show their appreciation of the importance of the occasion.
But the fullest triumph for President Seelye came on his formal retirement, according to his own wish, in 1910, at the age of nearly seventy-three years. The trustees and graduates of Smith College present showed themselves to be most thoroughly appreciative of, and devoted to, the honored head of the institution.
President Seelye's unique term of service had continued from the inception of the college in 1873. At the age of seventy, in 1907, his resignation of the presidency was pre- sented to the trustees, but at their urgent request he con- sented to remain in active service until some one could be found to take his place. In April, 1909, the trustees ap- pointed as his successor Dr. Marion Le Roy Burton, to take
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office September 1, 1910. Dr. Burton accepted the appoint- ment. In May, 1910, the trustees formally accepted the resig- nation of President Seelye, and on the same day made him President Emeritus. He was to serve as acting president until September. That method of preparing for his successor was accepted by President Seelye because it spared the college officials the strain and worry of an interregnum which would have followed his retirement closely on his resignation.
The last two years of President Seelye's connection with the college saw the removal of the Hatfield House, the com- pletion of the library and John M. Greene Hall, the purchase of the Edwards property, and the beginning of the Northrop and Gillett houses.
The closing of an official life of such usefulness, dignity, and decorum contributed to make the parting formal exer- cises an occasion most memorable. Some gifts there must be for such an occasion, and the trustees gave the highest degree in their power when they bestowed the title of Presi- dent Emeritus. The faculty presented pieces of heavy silverware, and the alumnae gave mahogany furniture, and rugs for the president's library.
Since his retirement from the college, President Seelye has been many times called on and serenaded at his beau- tiful home on Round Hill by students and alumnae of the college, and now, nearly an octogenarian, he still enjoys life, carrying with him the esteem of all his fellow townsmen by whom he is considered the "First Citizen" of Northampton.
President Seelye has shown his interest in local affairs, social and business, on many occasions. He has often been called on to preside at public meetings, and he has given counsel on important committees of various civic bodies. He was prominent in the various gatherings of the three days Quarter-Millennial celebration of the city in 1904, and
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could have had any office in the gift of his fellow citizens had he been willing to take it.
Fitting to close this sketch are the words used by the Rev. John M. Greene, D.D., of the trustees, at the celebration just referred to. They are fitting because they tell well the simple truth in the heading of this chapter designating Pres- ident Seelye as the builder of Smith College.
Dr. Greene said:
"In my judgment President Seelye's success in college building has been unsurpassed in the history of American colleges. I do not know of any other instance where a president, either a man or woman, has started a college with so small a fund as he had and made it yield such large results. In the number of students enrolled in the college, in the force of teachers employed, in the number of graduates of the course of study, in the amount of productive funds amassed, and in the number of college buildings erected, the progress of Smith College has been phenomenal. He has had high standards of scholarship and exacting ideals of womanhood, which he has steadily kept before the minds of the students and urged upon them to adopt and realize in themselves. Whenever, in the college life, emergencies have come, he has by wisdom, coolness, and courage, shown him- self able to meet them. There has been no standstill nor retrograde in the growth or prosperity of the college. It has continually gone on, and always upward.
"President Seelye might go into almost any part of the college section of Northampton, and erect a slab on which were graven the words which Sir Christopher Wren put over one of the doors of St. Paul's Cathedral in London: ‘Si monumentum requiris circumspice.' "
The Williston Family
NE.QUID.FALSI
The Williston Coat of Arms
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THE WILLISTON FAMILY
And Their Record as Builders in the Educational World
T HE name of Williston is synonymous with the cause of college and seminary education in this part of the Connecticut Valley, and a sketch of the family would not be complete without some account of the life work of the three members of the family who were most prominent in the patronage and encouragement of education in the youth of the country. These were Samuel, John P., and A. Lyman Williston.
The American progenitor of the family was Rev. Noah Williston, who resided in West Haven, Connecticut, in the early days of the colonies. He had four children-two sons, both of whom were ministers, and two daughters, both of whom were minister's wives. One of the sons was Rev. Payson Williston, who had three sons, Samuel, John P., and Noah B. The first two were destined to make a shining mark in the religious and educational world; and the last became a prominent and useful citizen of Brattleboro, Vermont.
Samuel Williston, the most distinguished of the brothers, was born in Easthampton, June 17, 1795, and died in that town in July, 1874. His mother was the daughter of a Connecticut clergyman, Rev. Nathan Birdseye of Stratford. The story of Samuel Williston's life reads like an industrial romance, in the change from boyhood poverty to the posses- sion of wealth in elderly manhood. He was a lad of high scholastic ambition, but trouble with his eyes prevented the
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entire fulfilment of his desires for a liberal college education, and he was obliged to content himself with a term at Andover Seminary and a long course of reading and night study. After a brief trial of mercantile life, which he did not like, in the store of Arthur Tappan of New York, he engaged in farming. As a farmer he showed himself so industrious and capable that his father finally set him up in the sheep indus- try, with an investment of nearly two thousand dollars. It was while engaged in this venture that he married, in 1822, the daughter of Elnathan Graves of Williamsburg. In order to piece out his income he taught school, which he did to public satisfaction, as many of his pupils and their parents have testified. Unfortunately he lost nearly all his sheep profits by the failure of the purchaser of his product. Mr. and Mrs. Williston were somewhat discouraged with the failure of their farming operations, but a way was soon opened to them for success in a manufacturing field that they little dreamed of. Mrs. Williston had made cloth buttons for several local parties with general acceptation, and to test their value she sent a small package of them to Arthur Tap- pan, the well-known New York merchant. Mr. Tappan was so pleased with the buttons that he ordered twenty-five gross, at two dollars a gross. This started the business of button manufacturing in Easthampton. Mrs. Williston first em- ployed women to come and work in her own home. Then she gave out the work to families to do in their homes. In 1836 Mr. Williston began to travel about the country taking orders in all the large cities, and there were soon over one thousand families at work on the product in Easthampton, Northampton, and other towns in the vicinity. On one of his trips to New York he saw some buttons of English make which greatly interested him, and he began the manufacture of these with the assistance of an English journeyman worker.
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