USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The Berkshire jubilee > Part 6
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cause we have gone from you." And your hearts' desire shall be satisfied, for "the home of our child- hood does live and will live green in our memory." It is the joy and pride of our hearts to feel and acknow- ledge with you, that " the chain which binds us to you is more than golden, and we too, would have its links grow stronger and brighter." Let it be extended until it shall encircle the whole earth and bind togeth- er our common brotherhood.
How true is it my friends, that " the sons of old Mas- sachusetts have reason to revere and love their native soil. She is the mother and nurse of a mighty people. She does indeed hold on her way with her soil trodden by the free, and the air of her mountains still breathed by a noble race of men. Her hills, her vallies and her limpid streams remain as they were,', but even these shall not endure as long as shall the great principles which lie at the foundation of her institutions.
It is now nearly two hundred and twenty-four years since our Pilgrim Fathers reached the bleak coast of this " new world," and effected a landing at the con- secrated "Rock of Plymouth," with a wide waste of water on the one side, and a wilderness waste on the other. The history of their sacrifices, their sufferings and their achievements is familiar to us all. It will remain so to after generations as long as grateful hearts shall beat in American breasts. They came freighted with riches more enduring than gold, more precious than pearls - a knowledge of the true, the great prin- ciples of religious and civil liberty, resolved on their
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maintenance at every sacrifice. These principles they carefully planted in the soil of their chosen home, wa- tered them with their tears, and guarded them with their prayers. They took deep root, have had a steady growth, and will, under the protection of a righteous God, continue to spread until they cover the whole earth.
After the memorable event just mentioned, more than one hundred years elapsed and Berkshire re- mained an unbroken forest, peopled only by a few red men along the banks of its beautiful Housatonic. Not until 1725, did our bold hardy ancestors effect a settle- ment within its borders. Sheffield has the honor of affording an asylum to the pioneers, and of being the first incorporated town. Among these fearless men were Noble, Austin, Ashley, and others whose names will be revered by their descendants, while the history of our country remains.
True to the great principles of the Pilgrims, the Ge- neral Assembly in its grant of two townships of which Sheffield is a portion, directed its commissioners to re- serve lands for the first settled minister, for the future support of the Gospel, and for the maintenance of schools. This was no novel evidence of the wisdom which distinguished the councils of the Colony, and has since done the Councils of the State; and con- ferred such enduring benefits and blessing upon man- kind. Religion and universal education have always occupied a prominent place in the deliberations and acts of our time-honored sires.
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Great Barrington and Egremont, at that early day forming part of Sheffield, were settled soon after. Here have lived the Ingersolls, the Hopkins', the Whitings, the Iveses, and other time-honored names.
In the history of Stockbridge, there is much of in- terest. Here, soon after the commencement of the white settlements, on the Housatonic below, under the kind care of their white fathers, were gathered the scattered families of the "River Indians." In 1734, Mr. John Sergeant, their first missionary, became their spiritual teacher, and Mr. Timothy Woodbridge their schoolmaster. Efforts were early made to enlarge the means of instruction by the aid of the manual labor of the pupils. The Rev. Dr. Watts and Captain Coram, lent their aid to raise funds in England, and the Prince of Wales, Mr. Hollis, and many other distinguished men contributed to the funds of the mission.
On the demise of Mr. Sergeant, the renowned Presi- dent Edwards became his successor, assisted by other distinguished men. It was here he composed his great work on the Will.
Among the good men connected with this benevo- lent enterprise, Capt. John Koukapot's name deserves a place. He was a native, as brave as he was faithful, and as religious as he was brave.
The immediate fruits of these labors of love, were the rearing of many educated men who shared in the ecclesiastical, the civil, and the military concerns of the times; in the efficient aid of the tribe in the war of the Revolution, and in the security afforded to the surround-
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ing white inhabitants against the hostile incursions of other tribes of Indians by their presence, their known fidelity, watchfulness and bravery. Soon after the peace of 1783, this tribe of Indians removed to a tract of land given them by the Oneida nation in the State of New-York. This they called New Stockbridge. Upon this fertile spot of six miles square, with the younger Sergeant for their minister, they continued to reside until the year 1822. With many of the leading men of this little community, I became acquainted soon after 1811; and it affords me pleasure to bear testimony to their high character for industry, sobriety, intelli- gence and integrity. Their example furnishes a beau- tiful illustration of the benign influence of civilization and the Christian religion upon the red man of the forest, and high evidence of the faithfulness of those good men who were employed as their instructors. The nation still exists as a distinct community near the head of Green Bay, with most of the Oneidas for their neighbors, where with faithfulness under God's blessing, they maintain their praiseworthy habits and character.
The first printing press established in the County, in 1788, was at Stockbridge ; and from it not the "star in the East," but the "Western Star" appeared to shed its mellow light upon Berkshire's hills. Not long after, issuing from a press in Pittsfield, the "Sun" arose in the firmament of this County, and its rays gilded the hill tops, and illuminated the vallies. Among my earliest recollections is the post-rider bearing these
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lights of the mind. Methinks there can now be heard in the distance, the sound of his horn announcing his welcome approach.
Here too, at an early day, other lights appeared and shone in their brightness, in the sacred desk, at the bar, on the judicial bench, and in the halls of legisla- tion. Among them a long catalogue of names might be enumerated, but it is unnecessary. They live in history, and in the memory of their descendants. Of these "many daughters have done virtuously, but one excellest them all." She has done honor to her illus- trious sire, to her sex, and to our country. "Her works do follow her."
Compared with the rapid peopling of the great west, the settlement of Berkshire was slow. But it was pro- gressive and onward. The same noble race of men which first entered its borders with strong arms, reso- lute hearts, and dauntless courage, penetrated its deep forests and laid them low. In the vallies and on the hill-sides, the cleared fields and the waving grain ap- peared. While yet only the log house was their dwell- ing place, the meeting house and the school house were neither forgotten nor neglected. The minister of the Gospel was at his labor, and the schoolmaster was abroad in the land. What else than that which we have seen and do now see, could be the fruit of such a beginning?
The settlement of the northern towns was conside- rably retarded by the frequent incursions of the Indians from Canada. These occasioned the building of Fort
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Massachusetts in Adams, and a smaller fortification in Williamstown before the first French war. Under the protection of these forts, after the close of that war in 1748, and while they were commanded by Col. Ephraim Williams the younger, the settlement of the northern towns commenced. In Lenox in 1750, in Pittsfield and Williamstown in 1752. But as late as 1755, the set- tlers were compelled to flee before the stealthy foe and take refuge in Stockbridge, with the loss of some of their number. These severe trials did not entirely subside until several years afterward. The treaty of peace between England and France in 1763, brought them to a close. Before this period settlements had commenced in most of the towns of the County. Six only however were then incorporated. From this time until the commencement of the war of the Revo- lution, Eastern Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, gave up many of their resolute sons and daugh- ters to people this Switzerland, and the wilderness was soon converted into fruitful fields. But peace did not long continue. They were however found equal to every exigency. The Colonial difficulties with the mother country had not been unobserved by them.
The world has heard of the fame of the Congress of 1776, and scarcely less known are the memorable pro- ceedings of the Mecklenburgh convention of 1775. But earlier than either of these, on the 6th day-1774, a Congress of Deputies of the several towns in this county, convened at Stockbridge, of which John Ashley was chosen President, and Theodore Sedgwick was
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appointed Secretary. Sixty members were in atten- dance. The names and the transactions of this band of Patriots should be as well known and as familiar to the sons and daughters of Berkshire, as is the declara- tion of our National Independence.
Among much other business done, a covenant was agreed upon and recommended to be signed by the people of the County, engaging with each other " not to import, purchase, or consume any goods, wares, or manufactures arriving in America from Great Britain, until their charter and constitutional rights should be restored.
" To observe the most strict obedience to all Consti- tutional laws and authority.
"To promote peace, love, and unanimity among each other.
"To take the most prudent care for the raising of Sheep and Flax, and the manufacture of clothes and linen, and to withhold all dealings and transactions with those persons who should refuse to sign or ob- serve the covenant."
And they recommended and set apart Thursday, the 14th July, for a day of fasting and prayer, to implore the divine assistance that he would interpose and in mercy avert those evils with which they were threat- ened.
In after years similar conventions were held, in which the condition of the County and the country were considered, and measures for promoting the ge- neral welfare recommended.
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That which shows as well the rapid growth of the County after the close of the French war, as the rea- diness of the people for determined action, is the raising of two regiments of "minute men" in this same year ; the one commanded by Col. John Patter- son of Lenox, and the other by Col. John Fellows of Sheffield. These men were not misnamed. On the 18th April, 1775, the battle of Lexington was fought! news of it reached Berkshire, (not by the rail-road,) on the 20th, at noon. At sunrise the next morning, Col. Patterson's regiment, completely equipped and uniformed, were on the march to Boston. Fired by the same spirit, Col. Fellows' regiment with equal promptitude and appointment, proceeded to Roxbury. Many of these brave men remained in the service to the close of the war. Nor did Berkshire at any other time, nor in any emergency during the fearful struggle falter in her duty. As she then shared in the sacrifi- ces made upon her country's altar, so does she now in the glory of her achievement.
At length, as is well known, peace came. But 1783 witnessed no sudden recovery of prosperity. After a few years of manly struggle to bring plenty out of de- stitution, the people of this County, in common with those of the State, were put to a new trial of their pa- triotism. In 1786 domestic insurrection raised its fiendish form, sundering the ties of kindred and friends, and threatening anarchy throughout the entire State. But here again were our fathers found equal to the emergency. Prompt and energetic action soon dis-
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persed and put to flight the insurgents, but not with- out the loss of life in the principal battle, which was fought at Sheffield, on the 27th Feb., 1787. Quiet was soon after restored, but the evils inflicted were not so speedily cured. Asperity and division in families, Churches, and Society, occasioned by this outbreak, required years to wear away. Of the insurgents, four- teen were tried for treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. But to the honor of our Country, history will record that even in the infancy of our institutions as well as in their manhood, no life has been taken by the hangman for political offences.
But let us turn from this painful incident in Berk- shire's history, to the pleasant contemplation of anoth- er, which speaks peace and good will to men. Its record is among the brightest pages of her history, and its gentle influences are felt not only here, but in every quarter of the globe.
Col. Ephraim Williams, to whose name, allusion has already been made, as is well known was the founder of the seat of sound learning in this County. He fell in the service of his country as the commander of a regiment, on the 8th of September, 1755, near the shores of Lake George, when only forty-one years old. For several years he had followed the ocean, and had made many voyages to Europe, but had relinquished this pursuit prior to the first French war in 1744. In this war he was greatly distinguished for his bravery as the captain of a company in the army of New Eng- land for the Canadian service. Soon after its close
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he was appointed to the command of the line of Mas- sachusetts Forts on the west side of the Connecticut river, and made his head-quarters principally at Fort Massachusetts. In its vicinity he was the owner of considerable tracts of land, and witnessed the com- mencement of their settlement. The strong affections of his generous heart were drawn out towards the fel- lers of the forest, for he saw and felt their dangers, their privations, their hardships, and their sufferings. He resolved to be their benefactor, and he became the benefactor of mankind. On his march to the northern frontier, on the 22nd July, 1755, a few days before his death, he made his will. By this, after bequests to his kindred, he directed " that the remainder of his land should be sold at the discretion of his executors with- in five years after an established peace; and that the interest of the monies arising from the sale, and the interest of his notes and bonds should be applied to the support of a free school in a township west of Fort Massachusetts forever, provided the township when incorporated should be called Williamstown."
This trust has been most faithfully executed; for notwithstanding the almost uninterrupted continuance of war from the lamented death of this good man, un- til the close of the Revolutionary struggle in 1783, we find these trustees as early as 1785, making applica- tion to the Legislature, for a law to enable them more fully and beneficially to carry into effect the high pur- poses of their appointment. An act incorporating a free school was passed, and nine trustees were ap-
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pointed. A lottery for its aid was granted, which re- alized $3,500. The inhabitants subscribed $2,000 more, and in 1790 an edifice was erected. The next year a school was opened under the care of Mr. Ebe- nezer Fitch.
The people of Williamstown, influenced by a most commendable desire fully to carry out the object of the founder, in 1793 petitioned the legislature to erect the free school into a college. The prayer was grant- ed, accompanied with a farther endowment of $4,000. Thus was brought into existence within ten years after the close of a long desolating war, this favorite seat of learning of which Berkshire may be justly proud without reproach. Its onward course for fifty years, is a name and a praise in the whole earth. The light of its thousand educated men has not been hid. Their's and our country's history will be written together.
In 1807, Samuel J. Mills, Gordon Hall, and James Richards, were pupils there. Often in lonely retire- ment on the banks of the Hoosac River, their young hearts communed together, and their united prayers for the heathen ascended to the throne of grace. They were heard and answered.
In 1808, in one of the rooms of the college, a society was formed by them and a few other kindred spirits, for sending a mission to the heathen. For its com- mencement they wrestled until 1810, when on the 27th June of that year, Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, Jr., Samuel J. Mills and Samuel Newell, submit- ted their views to the general Association of Massa-
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chusetts, and sought the advice and counsel of the fa- thers of the church. Immediately the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized by that body of men, and commenced its great work. The hearts of these young men were already prepared to obey their Master's command - " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." They went, and with what zeal, fidelity and success they fulfilled their mission, need not here be told. They are written in the history of the church. The broad stream of benevolence which here commenced its steady flow, has already borne its life-imparting influ- ence to the islands of the sea, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. The heathen are made glad in its coming, and clap their hands for joy. But who can tell what will assuredly be done through this instrumen- tality? That is reserved for the unfoldings of eter- nity.
May not Berkshire too, well rejoice in the prosperity of her Metropolitan village? Not the first to begin, but the first in the course of all the lovely places of business activity and quiet retirement within her bor- ders. Pittsfield's long well shaded streets, her deeply embowered dwellings with their spacious pleasure grounds, wear the distinctive and charming livery of New England village scenery. Here is the home of comfort, refinement, and, as we well know, of hospita- lity. In the midst of the enchantment, her far famed elm lifts its lofty branches to meet the sun in his com- ing.
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" Wise with the lore of centuries What tales, if there were tongues in trees, That giant elm could tell."
With what pleasure would we listen in silence to its teaching? We might perhaps inquire, how long ago its young germ peered above the surface ? At what early day the birds nested and caroled in its branches ? When the red man first rested at its foot? In what year it lifted its head above its surrounding fellows and became their king? How these one by one at long intervals, or in quick succession fall ? How ma- ny " winter's winds have whistled through its branch- es," since it became the forest king ? What was done amidst these hills before the light of civilization dawned upon them? But 'tis dumb -it will not an- swer; and we will console ourselves with the reflec- tion that we are not the first of our race whose ques- tions have failed of solution.
With pleasure too, have our eyes seen that of which we had before heard - these seats of science and learn- ing. Let the knowledge of this Medical Institution go forth with healing in its wings. Let all live and flour- ish. Let their usefulness be commensurate with their fame.
But that which has greatly rejoiced the hearts of Berkshire's guests is, that we have everywhere wit- nessed surprising improvements in all the departments of life. "Her hills, her vallies and her limped streams do in truth remain as they were; but the former are greatly beautified by the hand of man, and the latter
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pressed into his service, and made the source of increas- ing wealth." And her people ever true to their inter- ests, will still farther press them into their service, and draw still greater wealth from the same unfailing source.
Berkshire may justly claim the honor of having formed and established the first Agricultural Society in our country. This was incorporated in 1811, under the active and influential agency of the Hon. Elkanah Watson, then a resident of the County. It has ever since held its annual fair at Pittsfield, in the month of October in each year, and has exerted a powerful and highly beneficial influence upon the great and diversified agricultural interests of the County not only, but of our country at large. Its legitimate fruits are strong and abiding friendship and good feeling among the people: the better cultivation of the soil, the beau- tifying of the farms, the great improvement of all kinds of domestic animals, and of household manufac- tures, and the vast increase of production; the well deserved reward of ingenuity and industry.
These few leading incidents in the settlement, his- tory, and present condition of Berkshire, have been brought before our minds on the present occasion only by way of remembrance, that we may contemplate in broad contrast the privations and sufferings of its early settlers, and the benefits and blessings everywhere enjoyed by their descendants; so that thankfulness and gratitude may fill our hearts.
Nor has Berkshire, in common with all New Eng-
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land, been wanting in expansive benevolence. She has not withheld her offspring from going forth to peo- ple other portions of our country, carrying with them the principles and habits of their Fathers. In every State of the Union, and in almost every hamlet, they and their descendants are now found and known; and wherever they are, their impress is seen and felt.
We live in an eventful age. Since the commence- ment of our National existence, we have witnessed greater advancement in the arts of civilized life, than had been beheld in centuries before. The application of steam to the purposes of navigation, to locomotion, to every department of Mechanics, forms an epoch more marked than any other since our Savior's advent.
The middle ages of the world are distinguished by the discovery of the Magnetic Needle, enabling distant nations to hold easy intercourse with each other, and converting the wide ocean which before lay waste, into a great highway; on which nautical science has drawn every line, and marked every point. And by the invention of printing, which freighted their ships with the combined knowledge of the world, making it the common property of all. But who can recount the increased power for doing good which steam has imparted to this invention and to this discovery ? The power press -the steam ship- the rail-road car. From the one, as from the sun in the firmament, the light of intellectual man is radiated, and by the oth- ers, almost with the celerity of light, it is borne across ocean and continent.
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All these means for advancing National greatness and individual prosperity and happiness, are by the providence of God, placed in our young and vigorous hands. With them we are to demonstrate the great problem " that man is capable of self government," --- that the American people, without kings or nobles, can at the same time be rulers, and ruled according to their own will, without change of dynasty, and without decay. How this can best be done, concerns us and our children.
Our government, unlike any other, commenced its existence with all its proportions fully developed. The wisdom of mature manhood laid its foundations deep and strong, built thereon the superstructure, and put all its parts in harmonious movement. The great builders have gone to their reward, and we have suc- ceeded to the inheritance. Our's is the humbler, though little less responsible duty of its preservation, with such improvements as experience shall suggest, and to transmit it to our children not only unimpaired, but strengthened and improved.
How better, indeed how else can this high duty be discharged than by a careful study of the elements of New England character, and by the maintenance and preservation of their combined whole in all its symme- trical proportions ?
Here with the light of History is found the distin- guishing difference between ours and all the free gov- ernments of antiquity, and the reason why they are long since only known in History, or by their ruins,
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and why we may indulge the hope, yea the confident expectation, that our's shall endure while time endures.
Their people were pagans, idolators, their temples and their gods were alike, of their own creation. We are Christians, and worship the uncreated, the living and true God. They and their temples and their deities have come to nothing. Our God ever lives and reigns. Their religion was a Mythology built upon the sand. Our's is the religion of the Bible, built upon the Rock of Ages. It endures from everlasting to everlasting.
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