USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The Berkshire jubilee > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
" And then to mark the lord of all, The forest hero trained to wars, Quivered and plumed, and lithe and tall, And seamed with glorious scars, Walk forth, amid his reign, to dare The wolf, and grapple with the bear.
" This bank, in which the dead were laid, Was sacred when its soil was ours; Hither the artless Indian maid Brought wreaths of beads and flowers, And the grey and gifted seer Worshipped the God of thunders here.
" But now the wheat is green and high On clods that hid the warrior's breast, And scattered in the furrows lie The weapons of his rest; And there in the loose sand is thrown, Of his large arm, the mouldering bone.
" Ah, little thought the strong and brave, Who bore their lifeless chieftain forth; Or the young wife, that weeping gave Her first born to the earth, That the pale race, who waste us now, Among their bones should guide the plough.
APPENDIX. 205
" But I behold a fearful sign To which the white men's eyes are blind; Their race may vanish hence, like mine, And leave no trace behind, Save ruins o'er the region spread, And the white stones above the dead."
Z
LEE, FROM THE WEST.
-
E
-4
LITERATURE OF BERKSHIRE.
BY W. A.
THE Literature of Berkshire, using the term in the broad sense of the word, is worthy of being remembered on this occasion. The amount of it is, I suppose, about seventy or eighty volumes, besides some hundreds of single sermons, orations and addresses. Few writers in our country, have written more than the two ED- WARDS', HOPKINS and WEST, GRIFFIN and HUMPHREY, with TODD and Miss SEDGWICK. Then Dr. DEWEY and MR. TAPPAN, have published several volumes each ; and Professor DEWEY, and oth- ers, have written various treatises. Father LELAND, of Cheshire, was also prolific as an author.
In the department of Theology, what writings in America are more celebrated, than those, which have come from the pen of Berkshire men? In the department of education and of the right training of the young in knowledge and virtue, what writings have been more widely diffused and more useful? In the depart- ment of moral fable and interesting narrative what writings have been more acceptable to the public? In the department of poe- try what poet in America is comparable to him, who was born among the eastern hills of the Green Mountain Range and who cultivated his rare talent in the silent valley of the Housatunnuk ?
I know not how many volumes of foreign travel have been pub- lished by citizens of Berkshire. The History of our County was written many years ago, by Rev. Dr. FIELD and Professor DEWEY, assisted by many ministers of the county.
METAPHYSICS OF THEOLOGY.
I believe there is no spot in America, where it has been so much cultivated, as in Berkshire; and that without perhaps impairing the plainness and faithfulness of the preaching of those, who cul tivated it.
210
BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.
In a six foot square study, in Stockbridge, was written that great book, President EDWARDS' Essay on the "Freedom of the Will." This was published in 1754, ninety years ago ; but at the present day it stands at the head of all such speculations.
Dr. HOPKINS' writings are well known. He was the minister of Great Barrington.
Dr. STEPHEN WEST, of Stockbridge, wrote a metaphysical book, an essay on Moral Agency.
Dr. JONATHAN EDWARDS the son of the President, wrote also on the subject of Liberty and Necessity.
Some of the writings of Dr. E. D. GRIFFIN, are also sufficiently metaphysical.
And last, Rev. HENRY P. TAPPAN, formerly a minister of Pitts- field, has published three learned volumes, designed to establish a system in opposition to that of President Edwards; and it is writ- ten with great ability.
These various works, produced by Berkshire, are, I believe, more in number, and in value, than all the other metaphysical books, which have been published in all North America.
MISSIONARIES FROM BERKSHIRE.
The Missionaries from Berkshire should be honorably remem- bered.
1. The first was Rev. JOHN SERGEANT, who first visited the Indians at Housatunnuk, in October, 1734, and died amongst them in 1749, - having baptized one hundred and eighty-two Indians, and formed a church, consisting in 1749, of forty-two members.
2. Mr. TIMOTHY WOODBRIDGE was his worthy assistant teacher of the natives.
3. The care of these Indians then fell to Dr. WEST, and to Mr. JOHN SERGEANT, the son of the first missionary.
4. Among the first missionaries to India, was Rev. GORDON HALL. After the labors of thirteen or fourteen years, he died in 1826, at the age of thirty-six.
5. Rev. DANIEL WHITE, of Pittsfield, missionary to Africa, died very soon after his arrival, in 1837.
6. Other missionaries are the following-
211
APPENDIX.
Miss SALOME DANFORTH, Smyrna.
Rev. JOSIAH BREWER, of Tyringham, at Smyrna; he has re- turned.
Mr. NATHAN BENJAMIN, of Williamstown; at Athens, in Greece, in 1838.
Mrs. WHITNEY, whose name was MERCY PARTRIDGE, of Pitts- field; at the Sandwich Islands.
Mrs. HARVEY R. HITCHCOCK, of Great Barrington; Sandwich Islands.
Mrs. ROGERS, (was ELIZABETH M. HITCHCOCK, Great Barring- ton;) Sandwich Islands.
Rev. J. C. BRIGHAM, of New-York; went as a missionary agent to South America.
Mr. DANIEL S. BUTRICK, of Windsor:
Dr. ELIZUR BUTLER, of New Marlborough:
Mr. JOSIAH HEMMINGWAY, relieved:
Mrs. WISNER, (JUDITH FRISSELL, of Peru;) all among the Che- rokees.
Mr. CYRUS BYINGTON, of Stockbridge.
Mrs. JONES, (EMILY G. ROBINSON, Lenox.)
Mr. EBR. HOTCHKIN, of Richmond, and ANNA BURNHAM, among the Choctaws.
Mr. BENTON PIXLEY, of Great Barrington; among the Osages.
Mr. FRED. AYER, of West Stockbridge; among the Ojibwas.
EMILY ROOT, of Lenox; to the New-York Indians.
Mr. HOTCHKIN; among the Choctaws.
There may be yet others, whose names have escaped inquiry.
CATALOGUE OF BERKSHIRE SOLDIERS AND CHAPLAINS
IN THE FRENCH AND REVOLUTIONARY WARS.
1. Of those who fell in the field, or in the service of their country-
Colonel EPHRAIM WILLIAMS, the founder of Williams' College, killed near Lake George, Sept. 8, 1755.
Capt. CHAPIN, killed at Williamstown, July 11, 1756.
Rev. WHITMAN WELCH, of Williamstown, chaplain, died near Quebec, March, 1776.
212
BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.
Colonel MARK HOPKINS, of Great Barrington, died at White Plains, Oct. 26, 1776, aged 36.
Colonel THOMAS WILLIAMS, of Stockbridge, died at Skenesbo- rough, July 10, 1736, aged 30.
2. Of the Chaplains in the service of their country, besides Mr. WELCH, already mentioned-
Rev. ADONIJAH BIDWELL, of Tyringham, at the capture of Louisburg, 1745. Died June 2, 1784.
Rev. JOHN NORTON, captured at Fort Massachusetts, at Hoosuc or Adams, in 1746.
Rev. STEPHEN WEST, chaplain at the same post in 1758. Died May 13, 1819, aged 83.
Rev. GEORGE THROOP, of Otis, chaplain in 1776.
Rev. THOMAS ALLEN, of Pittsfield, chaplain at Ticonderoga; also a participator in the Battle of Bennington. Died Feb. 11, 1810, aged 67.
Rev. DANIEL AVERY, of Windsor, chaplain in 1777. Died in 1819.
3. Of those who survived the war-
Gen. JOSEPH DWIGHT, of Great Barrington, commanded the artillery at Louisburg, 1745; was in service also at Lake Cham- plain, in 1756. Died June 9, 1765, aged 62.
Col. JOHN PATTERSON, of Lenox, marched with a regiment of minute men for Boston, in 1775, the next morning after hearing of the Battle of Lexington. He assisted in the capture of Burgoyne, in 1777.
Gen. JOHN FELLOWS, of Sheffield, marched to Boston at the head of a regiment after the battle of Lexington; he fought at White Plains. He died August 1, 1808, aged 73.
Capt. DANIEL NIMHAM, an Indian, commanded a company of Stockbridge Indians at White Plains.
Col. BENJAMIN SIMONDS, of Williamstown, was a soldier in Fort Massachusetts when it was attacked, in 1746. Died April 11, 1807, aged 81.
Gen. DAVID ROSSITER, of Richmond, commanded a company of minute men at Cambridge, in 1775. Died March 8, 1811, aged 75.
-2
7-
213
APPENDIX.
Col. SIMON LARNED, of Pittsfield, an officer in the Revolution- ary war, and in the war of 1812. Died Nov. 16, 1817, aged 61.
Rev. CORNELIUS JONES, first minister of Sandisfield, dismissed in 1761; afterwards a wealthy farmer in Rome and Skenesbo- rough, and a zealous whig ; commanded the militia of Rome at the capture of Burgoyne.
Col. OLIVER ROOT, of Pittsfield, a soldier in the French war, was with Col. Brown at Palatine, in 1780. Died May 2, 1826, aged 75.
Col. JOSHUA DANFORTH, of Pittsfield, an officer of the Revolu- tionary war.
Dr. TIMOTHY CHILDS, of Pittsfield, a surgeon in the army, marched to Cambridge in 1775, in Capt. DAVID NOBLE's company of minute men. Died Feb. 20, 1821, aged 73.
4. The following are the names of Captains in 1775 ---
CHARLES DIBBLE, Lenox.
NATHAN WATKINS, Partridgefield.
SAMUEL SLOANE, Williamstown.
WILLIAM RILEY, Great Barrington.
EBENEZER SMITH, New Marlborough.
WM. GOODRICH, Stockbridge.
NOAH ALLEN, Tyringhamn.
PETER INGERSOLL, Great Barrington.
Capt. SOULE, Sandisfield.
Adjutant SAMUEL BREWER, Tyringham.
21
1
2
che
C.C+
2
MR. BARNARD'S LETTER.
Albany, August 19, 1844.
To the Honorable Samuel R. Betts,
MY DEAR SIR-I beg leave to communicate to you, and, in this way, to the Sons of Berkshire who will assemble at Pittsfield on the twenty-second and twenty-third days of this month, the deep regret I feel at being deprived, as I am, at the last moment, by occurrences which I could not foresee or avoid, of the happiness of being present, as one of their number, and mingling my con- gratulations, my rejoicings, my sympathies, with theirs, on this interesting and affecting occasion. I feel this deprivation as a personal affliction. It is an occasion which had been long antici- pated by me, and impatiently waited for.
The idea of such a Jubilee as this, to be conducted in the man- ner of this, and held for such objects, could hardly have origina- ted in any other period, or in any other quarter of the world. The living Sons of a single County in Massachusetts, born on its rugged soil, and nurtured on its rough, yet fertile, kind and genial bosom, are to come together from all parts of our wide-spread country-a very numerous company-to join hands around an altar, erected in the land of their nativity, by themselves, and ded- icated to friendship, to gratitude, to patriotism, and to religion. They are to hear a sermon delivered by one of their number, and an oration pronounced by another, and speeches will be made, and poems recited, around the whole circle. The fountains of all hearts in that generous circle will be broken up, and a libation will be poured out, nobler and purer than any and all that He- brew, Greek or Roman ever offered. It is a sacrifice to be made to mother earth on the spot whence the dust of their bodies was taken. It is an offering of thanksgiving to be made by the chil- dren of one large and happy family, gathered once more before they die, under the spreading roof-tree of the paternal mansion. It is a solemn procession to be made around moss-grown graves, tenanted by the honored and still beloved dead. All the gene-
215
APPENDIX.
rous emotions, all the pious feelings, all the tender sympathies, all the undying sensibilities of the human heart, will be touched, and brought into full play, during the simple and beautiful ceremonies of this occasion.
And another order of sensations also are likely to be aroused. While the living Sons of Berkshire have been growing up, the world has not been standing still, and they themselves have not been idle. Science, and the Arts of civilization and of life, and the knowledge of truth and of God, have been making progress. Physical and moral, and intellectual, and religious cultivation has been advanced. Berkshire itself shows how the rough places have been made smooth, and how the hills have been carried into the plains. Her rich vallies laugh in the sun, and the slopes of her lofty ridges wave in yellow corn, or in green pasture. The comfortable dwelling, the rich mansion, the school house, the college, and Chris- tian spires out of number, diversify and adorn her beautiful land- scapes. These have long been her heritage, but improved and ex- tended by her care; and now, unpromising as seemed her broken ter- ritory for such an enterprise, she is girt with a pathway of iron, and traversed daily, and almost hourly, with the speed of the wind, by snorting and furious steeds, of human generation, with ribs and sinews and hoofs of iron and steel. And all around her, and far distant from her -far as the footsteps of her children have wan- dered-improvement has been going on. The light of Christiani- ty and of liberty has been diffused. Good morals and good prin- eiples, we trust, have gone along with the increase of physical fa- cilities and comforts. While the earth has been subdued, and the powers of nature have been tasked to fill our horn with plenty, and make our cup overflow with blessings, we trust that good will to men, and peace on earth lave been steadily promoted. And, in every good word and work, at home, and remote from home, the Sons of Berkshire - aye, and the Daughters of Berkshire not less than they - may claim to have had their full share. In sei- ence, in literature, in arts, in trades, in professions, in politics, they have been among the foremost men of their time. In their ranks have been found eminent writers, eminent poets, eminent lawyers, eminent doctors, eminent divines, eminent professors, eminent artists, eminent judges, eminent orators, eminent senators, eminent statesmen - and, with all, eminently honest men. There is scarcely an honored station in life which has not been filled
AA
216
BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.
and adorned from their number. Many of these will be found at the gathering of the Jubilee; and every heart there will beat with honest and just pride in the presence of such recollections, and such a consciousness, as the occasion cannot fail to call forth. And those who will contribute most to the noble enjoyments and sacred pleasures of the occasion, not so much by what they may there say and do, as by what they have been, and what they are - by the good they have done in the world, and the conside- ration and fame they have acquired - these are entitled to know and feel -and in the depths of their hearts they will feel - the fullest and most exquisite relish of delight.
The very occasion itself will demonstrate that Berkshire has produced and given to the world, something of ability and learn- ing worth being proud of. The Sons of Genius will be found there, among the Sons of Berkshire. Eloquent lips will speak in prose and verse; sound instruction will be communicated; pious lessons will be inculcated; glowing thoughts that burn into men's minds will be uttered. The company assembledt here - they themselves go away wiser and better than they came.
I repeat that I feel it as a personal affliction, that I am to be deprived of the happiness of attending this Jubilee. And since it must be so, I wish, in this way, to put in my claim to be num- bered among the Sons of Berkshire-content to take my place among the humblest of the number, if only I may be remembered as one of them. I was born in Berkshire County, and I am proud of the place of my birth. I am proud of the great and good names that have sprung from her soil. I wish to be allowed to claim that affinity to these names which is due to the accident of my birth in the same territory. The soil that has been so fruitful of good men and good women - certainly I think I may be allowed to rejoice that I was born upon it. And this is not all I have to rejoice in towards Berkshire County. My father, who is still liv- ing in perfect health, at eighty-seven, was not a native of Berk- shire. He married there, resided there a few years, and then, when I was a very young gentleman, not yet out of the cradle, re- turned to his father's home, and the place of his nativity in Con- necticut. When I was of age to begin my classical studies, if ever I was to begin them, he found himself an inhabitant of west- ern New-York, long before the wilderness there had blossomed in- to a garden as it has since done, with reduced and limited means.
217
APPENDIX.
But what then? There was Berkshire; and Lenox Academy and Williams' College were there; and there as much good Greek and Latin, and Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy could be had, as might suffice a young man of humble pretensions, and at a very moderate cost, as those institutions were among people of simple, unostentatious and unexpensive habits. Thus I became indebted to Berkshire for my academic and collegiate education. And I have one thing more to thank Berkshire for - the chief thing of all - the blessing of all blessings - for my mother. She was a native of that County, of a family not unknown or undistin- guished among those who may meet at this Jubilee, and she is still living at a very advanced age. May God bless Berkshire forever, for my Mother!
Quis talia fando temperet à lachrymis ?
Through you, my dear sir, and in this way, as I cannot do it in person, I beg to present to the Sons of Berkshire assembled at their Jubilee, my respectful greeting, my congratulations, and my hearty good wishes, and to subscribe myself,
Their friend, associate and brother,
D. D. BARNARD.
A BERKSHIRE FAMILY SCENE.
[Having incidentally heard a friend mention one of the many family-gatherings brought together by the Jubilee, it occured to the Committee that there might be a picture of it preserved, with- out rendering what is sacred, unduly public, so that, should another such occasion occur after this generation is gone to the dead, it might be seen what made the children of Berkshire love their homes so tenderly, and what kind of families we have here. Ac- cordingly the Committee wrote a note to a friend, requesting him to furnish them with a sketch of the picture. They believe that no heart will require an apology for its insertion, after having read it. ]
REV. J. TODD,
REVEREND AND DEAR SIR-Some time prior to the celebration of the Berkshire Jubilee, I was requested by a friend in New-York to prepare an account of its doings for publication in one of the monthly magazines. Without promising to do so, I nevertheless made my arrangements to present him, so far as I could, with a faithful picture of what might take place on that occasion. But when the days of the Jubilee had passed by, and that which had so long been a thing of anticipation became one of memory, I found it impossible to comply with his request. The Berkshire Jubilee had indeed come and gone. But that which it had brought with it, unlike what I had looked for, could not be imparted to others. True, there were the crowd of joyous home-comers,- there were the addresses, and songs, and speeches, and toasts,- there was the warm welcome of children back to the old mansion, and the glad greeting of brothers and sisters long separated,-but all these, excellent and beautiful as they were, were not,-nor was any thing that can be told in words-the Jubilee. That was far down deep in the heart's inner sanctuary,-a thing sacred, which might not be imparted to others, and with which " a stranger intermed- dleth not." I know not that it can be better described than in the language of a hard, browned-faced old man, than whom few are
219
APPENDIX.
less used to the melting mood,-on the second evening of the cele- bration,-" I don't know how it is," said he, " but I have felt all day as if I could sit down and weep, and as if it would be manly to do so."
In our family, the ten living children met at home for the first time in seventeen years. The old mansion in which eleven of us, one of whom is not, were born and brought up, opened its doors to receive us back, and father and mother, still living in green old age, gave us the warm welcome. Some of us had gone away early in life, and had formed new connections and found other homes in the far west; while others had remained under the shade of the old roof-tree, raising up new plants in the native soil. New ties were around us, a new generation was springing up in our pathway, and the cares of life had long pressed heavily upon our hearts, but at the sight of the old homestead age seemed to renew itself, and we all once more became children. Why should we not ? Here was the old mansion with its rooms and chambers, its long halls and winding balustrades, just as it was in our childhood. Here were the old thorns by the door-step, and the long garden in the rear; the shrubbery in the court-yard, and the apple trees in the orchard; the barns on whose mows of hay we tumbled in mer- riment; the wood-house chamber, the shed, the cistern, the well; all unchanged, or changed only as our own hearts had changed by passing years. And our parents too, the same still, only dear- er to our love as age had gently imprinted its signet upon them; we saw all, if not in the same bright sunshine of childhood, yet in a softer, milder light, like evening twilight of autumn, and felt again like children subdued and chastened into a quiet gladness.
I might extend the picture, and tell of our many joyous meet- ings during that whole week of the Jubilee, -of the revival of old recollections, of revisiting wonted haunts, of welcoming back former schoolmates long forgotten, of recounting feats and achieve- ments of the play-ground, - but I could not do it justice. It was one of those bright spots in life, which, like the island beyond the gates of Hercules to the early voyagers, lives forever in the me- mory of those who had seen it, but a description of which no words can convey to others.
Soon after we came together, it was proposed by some one of our number, that some memorial should be made of our home meeting. The suggestion met with universal acceptance, and after
220
BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.
a little consultation, it was concluded to present our parents with a family Bible, in which each child's name should be inscribed. A beautiful Oxford Bible was accordingly procured, and Sabbath evening, after prayers, was the time fixed upon for presenting it, that being the last day we were to be together.
That Sabbath was a bright day. The morning broke over the hills, pouring its glad light upon mountain-side and valley, just as it used to do to our childish vision. Upon all nature there had fallen the same old-fashioned Sunday quiet, and the whole land- scape seemed to be rendering silent worship to the great Creator. Not a sight met the eye, not a sound came upon the air, which was not in harmony with the sacredness of the day. Within doors, too, all seemed like the Sabbaths long past, for ours had been the Puritan Sabbath, a day of rest from all worldly toil and care and thought, when we were made to feel that one stage more of life's journey had been passed, and that we were one day nearer to our eternal home.
We all attended the public religious services, worshipping again in the same church where each in turn had received the seal of the covenant, and to which our feet had been directed from earliest childhood. How familiar to the eye was that ancient sanctuary, and though one missed here and there faces which were ever seen in God's house, how fresh came back to the heart the hallowed scenes and teachings of departed years ! Many an eye filled with tears, and I believe many a heart was made better, by the lessons which memory brought back to us during that day's worship.
As the sacred hours wore away, one and another of the children and grandchildren dropped in from their own homes, until once again of a Sabbath evening we were all assembled under the pa- ternal roof. According to our custom from childhood, we met for family prayers in the west parlor of the old mansion. As we gathered at the call, from hall and chamber to the wonted place, the full, rich sunlight of a summer's afternoon streamed through the thick blossoming foliage around the windows, and the Sabbath quiet,-the quiet of a New-England Sabbath,-seemed to have brooded over every heart. Our mother read aloud from the Bible, and middle-aged men, grown stern amid the cares and business of life, and mothers, whose homes and loved ones were far away, became children again in the hearing of that voice, whose tones from infancy to maturer years had taught them lessons of piety
221
APPENDIX.
from God's Holy Word. A hymn, hastily written but a few hours before by one of the daughters, and which I transcribe unaltered, was then sung with an interest and depth of feeling that language cannot portray.
HYMN.
Once more a heartfelt greeting, In the house which gave us birth ! Once more a Sabbath meeting Around our father's hearth ! Now, while our sins confessing We bend the knee in prayer To heav'n, we send our blessing For being gather'd here !
And when in prayer we're bending, Will not sweet spirits come, From the blest skies descending, To join the group at home ? (Green be the turf above them ! Soft be their lowly bed ! There still are hearts which love them, Our bright, our early dead !)
We thank thee that our parents In green old age abide, And that once more we gather Around them side by side ! Oh, may the lessons taught us In days long since gone by, By faithful hearts deep-cherish'd, Lead to the home on high !
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.