USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Heath > Sesquicentennial anniversary of the town of Heath, Massachusetts, August 25-29, 1935; addresses, speeches, letters, statistics > Part 7
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The house on the place was built about 1805 by Reuben Porter. The grandson of Mr. Porter visited at the house in after years and showed Mr. Stetson where his grandfather made the first slash preparatory to clearing his land for a homestead. It was at the ravine west of the house and he explained the method used. He said they cut the trees each side of the ravine, so that all the trees from both sides would fall into it, and kept doing this, then fire was set to them, the fallen monarchs. This seems wasteful to this generation, but then, it was the quickest means of elimination which was so necessary for the herculean task before them.
Mr and Mrs. Stetson were the parents of nine children, four of whom are living. Effie married Arthur Baker of Farley and has two children as well as grandchildren ; Frank married Ethel White ; Justus married Alta Sumner, both families live in Green- field; Henry married Cora Jeffords and they are living with their daughter, Vivian, who married Oscar Thompson and they have one son, Howard.
The ancestor of the Gleason clan in town was Thomas
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Gleason, who came to these shores in 1640 or thereabouts. We noticed this fact in the early Gleasons, an Isaac Gleason married Hester Eggleston who was a niece of Roger Williams. In a later generation there was a Patience Gleason, who was the mother of Volentine Harris, who appears in the early Heath records. He was born in 1755. It was said he lived in the house that stood west of Joseph Thwing's, which is now in the pasture owned by Rancie Bolton.
There is an interesting account of one of the early sons, Lieut. Maynard (whose mother was a Martha Gleason) who was captured by the Indians when he was on duty near West Point. All of the party were tomahawked excepting Lieut. Maynard. They debated what to do with him and finally decided to burn him. All preparations were made, when Maynard as a last resort gave the Freemason's sign of distress-and it so happened that the chief was a Mason and ordered the execution postponed.
Solomon Gleason, the first of the family to come to Heath, was the youngest in his father's family and his brother Jona- than was appointed as guardian when he was but 11. Jonathan's daughter Elmira, married Elijah, son of Elijah and Sarah (Morse) Flagg. Patience, sister of the two above mentioned, married John Barber and was the ancestor of some of the present people-to be more exact-Patience was the great- great-grandmother of John and Adelbert Stetson, also of John Kendrick and Mrs. Henry Ballard, who both live in East Charlemont.
The Vernon Gleason, born in 1759, so prominent in early Baptist history here, was a cousin of Solomon Gleason, and was too a cousin of Volentine Harris.
Solomon came to Heath before 1788 as his oldest child, Sally, was born then ; he married Eunice Wilson and after Sol- omon's death, she married Jonathan, her husband's brother ! In her later years Mrs. Gleason is described by those who knew her as "a grand old lady-one never to be forgotten." Solomon
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Gleason bought, too, what is now known as the Roberts place in 1789.
The third son of Solomon was Abijah, born in 1793 on the place that was situated east of George Newton's-the cellar hole is up there on the hill. But the old homestead of Abijah was where Rancie Bolton lives now. Abijah was a very progres- sive farmer for his time. He married Elizabeth Bevens in 1816 and for his second wife, Amanda Clark-"Aunt Mandy."
Abijah used to tell of one time when he was critically ill with typhoid fever, when all had despaired of his life, his sister Sally left her large family and came to care for him. The doctor had forbidden food as they used to do in fevers, but the first thing Sally did, was to send the boys out for some trout. She cooked these and made a broth from them, and he always declared she saved his life.
Mr. and Mrs. Gleason were the parents of 11 children; two of the daughters married Hannums. Martha Ann married Ed- ward Warfield and their son, Herbert, married Mary Bassset, who have recently celebrated their golden wedding. They are now living in Charlemont. They have two children, Marjorie, now Mrs. Glaze, and Horace, who is married and lives on the home place in Charlemont.
The sixth child of Abijah was Edmond, born in 1826 and married Lucinda Sumner, daughter of Levi and Deborah. They first started housekeeping in the old house (still standing) where Oscar Thompson does now, but later bought the next place north.
Clarence Gleason, a son of Abijah, is living with a niece. He is a very interesting person to meet as he can remember so well the earlier days, and his memories were augmented by the stories of his mother who could also relate much of interest of her earlier days.
Edmond's other son, Fred, married Della Stetson and there are five children ; Ray, who married Jennie Hamilton and they have six children, they are now living in Clarksburg ; Belle, who
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married Ray Dickinson, a family earlier recounted ; Pearl and and Frank. Frank married Edith Marshall and they have two sons, Earl and Frank Walter. Frank was at the church service Sunday and was the youngest person there, being but one month old! Grace married Oscar Landstrom and has three daughters, Ada, Pearl and Ruth. They live on the place formerly known as the town farm.
Abijah's brother William was very prominent in Heath affairs, and a Baptist. He was Captain of militia, and the train- ing camp was located down the hill in Colrain. They were engaged in intensive training and at one time they staged a mock battle and a man was killed. This aroused much indig- nation, and many heated arguments were held. The guns used were only loaded with wads and powder, although it looked as though someone must have slipped in a ball. These wads, they tell me, were made of various things, paper, hemp, the fibers from flax and sometimes old bees nests and all agreed that those were best.
To make a test a gun was so loaded which was discharged and it was found to their dismay that these could shoot through a two inch plank.
Capt. Gleason cleared an immense tract of land, beginning from Sullivan Taft's-north, then went to North Heath where Adelbert Stetson formerly lived and cleared all that land around there. Then he returned to his own section, and married Lucy, daughter of Dea. Sullivan Taft from that nice old Colonial house, and went to live on the place he first cleared. His first house was a little old rambling affair, so small everyone won- dered how his large family could find room in it.
Later when his family increased more, he built a new house which was considered the best by far, of any in town. The Captain used to be proud to show guests over the house, and each choice bit was exhibited with deep satisfaction. The first point of excellence was the wonderful old flat door-stone, found there on the place,-it was at least five feet wide by 10 or 12
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long-we understand this is now down at the Hosmer place as a piazza floor. The underpinning of the house was flat stones stood up edgewise and then bricks laid, to keep out cold.
The best of lumber was used, and the finishing was very beautiful, some of it in black walnut. The pantry shelves a foot and a half wide were of bird's eye maple, and it was a pleasing sight to see this beautiful wood and the priceless old willow ware dishes upon it. The window sills were of nice wood and four or five inches thick. The newel post and the hand rail of the staircase in the hall was a thing of beauty and its equal was never seen in these parts.
Capt. Gleason brought his acres to a high degree of pro- ductivity. He kept 15 cows, two pairs of horses and two yokes of oxen and a great many young stock. They often made 100 pounds of butter a week and shipped it to Boston.
Capt. Gleason used to tell all about the silk worms being raised right near him, and he said quite an extensive business was carried on. Orville Brown, a brother-in-law of Capt. Gleason was the head of the silk industry.
Capt. Gleason had 11 children. Four of his sons enlisted in the Civil war, Adoniram Judson, Thomas, Edward H., and Frank. Their daughter, Julia, married Fred Reed, and Lucy M., married Edward H. Gale. Mrs. Reed is living in California, and is 88 years old this month ; Charles married Nellie Davis,- their daughter, Eva, married S. E. Davis, and is living in California.
William Sullivan Gleason was the oldest son of Capt. Wil- liam. He was born in 1830 and married Melissa Sumner, sister of Mrs. Edmond Gleason and there were seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Gleason's first home-making was at Jos. Thwing's place. They lived awhile at Number 9, but later settled in North Heath, where Oscar Lively now is. Their oldest son, William Everett, bought this place of his father, married Frances Swain and four children were born to them: . Ellen married Ernest Kinsman; Florence married Fred Blanchard
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and had three children and later married Wm. Willis and had one son, Clyde; Edwin S., married Florence Fleming, and has four children; Bertha married Everett Johnson and is living in Colrain and has several children; Wm. Gleason married later Maud Mantor and bought the house of his mother, at the center where he lived until his death in 1932.
Henry L. Gleason, a brother of Will's, married Minnie Chapin, who was married from the old Chapin place on Burnt Hill, later he married Maggie Haley and they had two sons, Earl who is married and lives in California, and Howard, who is married and has two children and lives in Florida; Henry's third wife was Susie Brown, who is a descendant of the Shippees, who also lived on the Hill.
Samuel Gleason, brother of Edmond and Wm. Sullivan was the next to the youngest in Abijah's family. He married Martha J., the daughter of David Temple. They lived awhile at Dr. Wolcott's or Wm. Landon's, also at the Crofoot place but his homestead was in the west part of Heath where Mr. Pike is now and where the four children were born, Clifford, the oldest, Carrie, Martha and Ella, who were all mentioned in the Temple line. Clifford Gleason was a very successful business man, and was engaged in the marble business at Shelburne Falls. He was a man who endeared himself to every- one and his death was widely lamented.
GOULDS. The first of the Gould family here was Eli, who was born in Amherst in 1766. Zaccheus Gould, the earliest in American life emigrated from England around 1638. Though a very young man when the fight occurred at the Concord Bridge and the battle of Bunker Hill, Eli Gould was filled with an intense love of liberty of a true patriot and at once enlisted in defence of his country. However as he was much too young to enter the ranks, he was assigned the position of caring for General Washington's horse. It was a beloved service and he
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exercised much painstaking care to present the horse at any minute to the pleased owner, who often commended him for the faithful performance of his duty.
He married Bernice Johnson in 1790; they had eleven children, five girls and six boys. Not long after the close of the war Eli Gould left Amherst and came to Heath in 1777. He bought a large tract which included the greater part of the land in the east center, and extended north quite a distance. He built the original house where the Misses White owned on Plover Hill. They lived, too, on a place over Plover Hill, this adjoined Jonathan Taylor's. David Gould was born here.
They moved to New York but only stayed two years and upon his return to Heath settled on the rough and rugged rocks on Burnt Hill. This home was on the road that turns to the right near Burnt Hill schoolhouse. It was not far from the old Benson homestead, sometimes called the Howe place. Both of these houses are now gone, with very little left to mark the sites, but in the early days were filled to overflowing with the big healthy families of the Goulds and the Bensons. The 17 children of Squire Benson and the 12 of David Gould had a merry time of it together, though hardships were many. One of the later sons, Charles Gould, told once of one fall helping to dig and put into the cellar 800 bushels of potatoes!
The schoolhouse at this time was packed to the doors with the children of the families of the east and southeast part of Heath. We are told they sat around in a circle, in the first building, instead of the seats being arranged in rows.
Eli Gould was a shoemaker by trade and went around to all the different families in the vicinity to make the boots and shoes and also to do repair work on shoes. His periodical visits were looked forward to, as it was a means of learning the local news, which without newspapers was hard to get. He lived to be 82 and they were years of well organized industry. His wife also lived to be a very old lady.
Capt. David Gould was born in 1797. He was the third son
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of Eli. With such a large family it was impossible to give the children much of a schooling so each of them worked by the day for the farmers in summer and went to the district school in winter. David saved up money from his work, invested it in real estate, and thereby acquired a large property. They toiled and prospered until they were the owners of 300 or 400 acres. They kept a large dairy, sometimes over a hundred sheep, together with large numbers of hogs that they fatted for pork, besides two spans of horses, several yokes of oxen and young stock. They made vast numbers of pounds of butter in the fall and and winter and big cheeses in the summer.
David Gould in the late fall would take his team and trans- port his butter, cheese, pork and beef to the Boston markets and return laden with provisions for himself and neighbors, medicines for the Doctor and other articles desired by the home people. He sold quantities of wool, but saved enough for family use. Some he exchanged for satinet to be made into clothing, some was taken to the carding mill and then card- ed into rolls to be spun into yarn ; some for knitting stockings and some woven for the women folks.
Capt. Gould married in 1820 Sarah Greene, who was the daughter of Henry Green, who served in the Revolution seven years. Thus the children of David and Sarah Gould could say with pride that both of their grandfathers were heroes of the Revolutionary war. Twelve children were born to the Goulds. David was a large, well-proportioned man, and was over six feet tall and weighed nearly 200 pounds. He was possessed of a resolute will, had excellent health which gave him a strong constitution. His keen judgment was often called . upon to settle difficulties. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gould were al- ways kind and obliging to all their neighbors and in time of trouble none were more willing than they to do all in their power to give the needed comfort. None ever were turned from their doors empty, who came to them for relief.
They were both members of the Congregational church.
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Mrs. Gould was converted and joined the church when Rev. Moses Miller was pastor. Mr. Gould was selectman for several terms, and also represented Heath in the legislature in 1852. He was at one time Captain of the old Floodwood Company, this is where he gained the title of captain. They stayed on the farm until 1853 when they bought the place at the Center now called the Maxwell house, and there they spent the sunset years of their life.
Their children : Caroline married Stephen Davenport, they had a large family but the only one who stayed in Heath was Harriett, who married Visenlio D. Thompson. They had five children; Lura married Charles Clark and has two sons; Jesse married Lottie Temple; Edmond married Kate Howard and has two daughters; Oscar married Vivian Stetson. :
Henry Gould married three times, Martha Temple, Sabra Crosier and Melvina Alden, the mother of Hattie (Oakes), Rose (Benson), and Lilla (Hardy). The daughter of the second marriage was Emma, who married Win. Fleming, and Edith, daughter of the third marriage, who married Wm. Holman and has several children and grand-children.
George Gould married Jane Merrifield, whose daughter was Rose, who married Sylvander Benson. Louisa, the ninth child, married Hugh Maxwell, our esteemed town clerk and treasurer and assessor for so many years. Mr. Maxwell repre- sented his district in the State legislature in 1860. They had three children ; Cora, who died in 1885, Ella, who married Frank Ward, have three children, Gladys, who married Dean Davis and has two sons, Madeleine, who married Henry Rickett and has two children; Hugh, who married Edith Hancock and they have 'two children.
Ann Gould married Amos Temple and they had two chil- dren ; Bernice married Joseph Chapin and had two children, Edwin and Minnie, who married Henry Gleason.
These 12 children all lived to manhood and womanhood, all lived happily together, working in harmony and such was their
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love for their parents and each other that they all settled within a comparatively short distance of the homestead.
When we think of the achievements of these early people who had so few of the advantages we enjoy today with free schools and other helps, we think what a great work they wrought with so little, for they raised a large number of in- telligent, gifted children, who became the backbone of our country, many of them lawyers, ministers, physicians and teach- ers of renown who have gone all over the country and have been the mainspring of the communities wherever they settled.
THE BENSONS. Squire Benson was born in 1785, he mar- ried Hannah Greene in 1810 and moved to Heath in March, 1815. They lived first with his brother, Jonathan, who had a place on Burnt Hill and came to Heath first. Then Squire bought the place next, so he was between David Gould and Jonathan Benson. He moved into this house in 1817 and they lived here for many years and brought up their family of 17, fourteen of whom lived to adult years.
On July 15, 1869 at a family gathering Squire Benson and his wife and all their children then, eight sons and four daugh- ters, who for the first time all met! Squire was then 85 years old but possessed of health and vigor equal to most men of 60. His reasoning faculties were of the keenest and he was very familiar with the events that had taken place here for 70 years.
Squire Benson, the sixth child, was born in 1823. He married Elvira Buck, daughter of John, and they went to live in North Heath where they passed their married life. It was owned by Mrs. Benson's parents and in 1850 was regarded as a very old dwelling. Their daughter, Sarah, married George Stetson and lived on the place. They had two sons as stated earlier. Squire Benson, Jr., voted for president in 1844, voted for James K. Polk; he voted for 18 presidents ; in 1916 he was unable to go to the polls.
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They had four children, Fred, who married Audelle Vin- cent and later Mary Tyler. He had one daughter, Daisy, who married Ed. Landry and has two children; Eucla died many years ago; Sylvander married Rose Gould first and second Rose Alden ; and Sarah.
Squire Benson was skilled in preparing flax and making it into rope as his father did before him. At the time of the 125th anniversary of the town, Mr. Benson was seen, "walking briskly, back and forth along the rope walk he had set up, to show how ye rope was made." He had on the usual leather apron with its huge pocket for tow. He used to gather the flax of the farmers and make it into different ropes. One was an 8-ft. piece for tying stock, also a 75-ft. one for bed-cord for which there was a good demand, as all bedsteads then were held together with a cord net on which corn husks or straw was laid. Mr. Benson was a genial soul and full of wit. He wanted it understood "Squire was my name and not a title." Once for the colic he was advised to try smoking. He did, but it made him so ill he went to bed and the whole thing so disgusted him, he threw the pipe into the hog-pen and never smoked again. He had good eyesight and rarely had to use glasses. He said "it is a little bit stylish to wear them, but I can see better without them." He died in 1918 nearly 95 years old.
The Hunt family were here before 1800. There were three brothers who came first, William, Peter and Sherebiah. Shere- biah bought where George Bolton now owns, but was so home- sick here on the hills, he soon sold out and left town. The other two bought where Alexander Tetreault lives now, and where the Bailey-Rose Ranch is situated.
William Hunt, a later William, married Anna Henry and lived first where the Ranch is, but through the trickery of a relative lost this place and moved to Rowe, but returned and bought the Crofoot place where most of their children were 1
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born. Eliza, a daughter, married Chas. Benson, son of the first Squire and lived where Mrs. Malone now owns,-her Faraway place. They had two children, Anna and Walter, who are both living in Granby.
THE GALES. There were two brothers, Luther and Daniel, who came here in the early days; Luther settled where Oscar Lively is now. He cleared most of the heavy timber and had a fine farm. He held many town offices. He married twice, first Sally Spooner, and second Nancy Spooner. There were eight children by the first marriage, and four by the second. The first were, Esther. Philip, Otis, Sarah, Lucretia, Luther, Daniel and Henrietta; the second were, Mary C., Elizabeth S., Nancy A., and George C.
Philip, the second son, after a few years of "peddling" goods around this section came to his father's place, bought the homestead and bath the present house in 1858. He was a member of the legislature in 1860 and also held town offices. His son, Daniel J., stayed on the farm of his parents, taking care of them in their old age and thus acquired the homestead.
Daniel, a son of Luther, married Nancy Dodge in 1843 and came eventually to reside on the farm known as the Moses Smith farm which had been in that family for over 70 years. Daniel attained a position of prominence, serving as selectman, assessor, school committee and Justice of the Peace. He also represented his district in the legislature in 1869.
Daniel brother of Luther, first settled where Arthur Crowningshield now owns.
THE BURRINGTON FAMILY. The first deed was in 1836 -this was when John Burrington bought the John Canedy place in North Heath which was near the old Loveridge place on the road to Christian Hill by the forestry. 1
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A later deed was in 1847 when John Burrington bought the place where his grandson, Frank, is living as earlier stated. He married Susan Canedy and they had three children; Wil- liam, who married Elizabeth Ballard, daughter of Jonas and Angelina (Clapp) Ballard and they had three children; Mary, who married Orman Hicks; Frank, who married Anna Howes, they have two children; Frederick, who married Hannah Landstrom, and they have five children, Lawrence, Catherine, Jane and the twins, Paul and Irma, born this summer ; Rachel married Ralph Sumner ; Albert, the second son of John married Victoria Felton and they had four daughters, Alice, spoken of earlier, Mabel, who married Ernest Payne; they have one daughter, Alice, who married Philip Vincent, and has one son, Donald; Ethel, who married Robert Miller and died'a few years ago, and Grace, who died this summer ; and a daughter of John was Susan Jane, already written about.
At the close of the Revolution many new settlers came. "Most of them were young married men. The pioneer came the first summer provided with an axe, a brush-scythe, a shovel and a hoe. Selecting a place for his dwelling, the forest trees were soon levelled about it, a little cellar dug, and a log cabin built. A piece of ground was cleared up, the logs rolled in piles, the brush burned, a patch scratched over with the hoe and sown to rye, and another prepared to plant with corn and potatoes.
"Then the pioneer went back to the place he had come from, to build castles through the winter; and in the spring he came, driving a yoke of oxen with a cart containing his house- hold goods, his wife with a baby in her arms riding a horse, and a cow tied to the cart following behind. Then came years of toil and hardship. The barn was to be built, the fences made, the orchard set out. Each year a new piece of land was cleared and sowed or planted, old stumps were dug out, walls
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built, and the farm brought under better cultivation. Then came the building of a frame house with its heavy timbers and huge chimney containing bricks enough to have built an ordi- nary brick house.
"By this time the pioneer had other neighbors about him, and all came to the raising. The one essential thing about a raising was a liberal supply of New England rum, and the occasion was one, not only of neighborly kindness, but of great social enjoyment. There is this to be said of the liquor ; it was a good genuine article, the people of that day not having learned to adulterate liquors in the way much villainous stuff of a later day is compounded.
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