USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Northampton > The Northampton book; chapters from 300 years in the life of a New England town, 1654-1954 > Part 25
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In 1655, a year after the settlers arrived, the first meeting house was built of "sawen timber," 26 feet long, 18 wide and 9 high, having two windows and one door and costing 14 Pounds. It is to be noted that it was not until some hundred years later that a meet- ing house became "exclusively a place invested with sanctity." In the early days it was an all-purpose affair-town hall, church, school, forum, and presently, a place for exhibits of the country fairs. In short, as the record states-it was "a House for the Towne."
In no time at all, "Nonotuck alias Northampton," as one an- nalist puts it, with a population of between three and four hun- dred, had quite outgrown its first House. In July 1661, it voted to build a new one "on the Highway," on a spot known later as Meeting House Hill, probably opposite the present entrance to Center Street. The House was 42 feet square and had a Bell Coney (balcony), and a turret or belfry, but no bell for many years, lacking which the citizens were summoned to all meetings, re-
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ligious or secular, "by sounding the trumpet or beating the drum."
The 150 Pounds appropriated for the construction seems to have been an over-estimate as the final cost is recorded as only 115 Pounds. This almost unparalleled economy may in part be accounted for by the fact that no seats were provided. Happily we come upon a vote some three years later "that the meeting house bee decently seated."
After 70 years' use this second House had become "old and shaky" and, in turn, too small for the rapidly growing town. Its condemnation was hastened when, in the midst of one of Jona- than Edwards' stirring sermons, the Bell Coney, over-crowded with worshippers, suddenly collapsed. Providentially no one, saint or sinner, was killed, though some were seriously injured.
A third meeting house near the old site was completed in July 1737, "70 foot long, 46 or 48 wide, with a steeple and Bell Coney at the end," and with three entrances. Its construction seems to have been expedited by the workers' consumption of some 69 gallons of rum and "several barrels of cyder."
A hasty glance at the town's business during these early years shows certain preoccupations which have persisted to the present time. Taxes, as already noted, and School Rates, "guarding and protecting the rights of all," appointment of Supervisors of the Byways (1661) and from the very beginning, Town Ordinances, based on community procedures in the Old World and "distin- guished for minuteness of detail and coverage of every conceiv- able situation affecting the town's orderly life." Less contem- porary would seem provisions for the use of meadows, commons, and highways; cutting timber on commons; strict orders on fenc- ing, and the streets to be kept clean and "no Horse Racing thereon to be permitted."
It is not surprising to note that during the years of the various Indian Wars, to which the town sent its contingents of fighters, and of the constant threat of raids, "little town business was trans- acted." After these troubles had more or less settled down, came other troubles, unpopular Colonial Governors, increased taxes, revocation of the earlier charter to the Colonies, and finally an unpopular new charter granted by King William in 1692 to the "Province of Massachusetts Bay," which called forth the terse comment by a leading citizen, "Charter new. Debts old."
The attitude of Northampton toward new taxes to take care
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of these old debts was definitely uncooperative. Under date of May 1693 we read, "The Towne voted the selectmen should keep the two last mony Rates in their hands till Micallmust (Mi- chelmas) and not deliver yt to the Constable. And the Towne ingaged to save the Selectmen harmlesse."
Meantime, in spite of wars and taxes, the original little gov- ernmental acorn with its vigorous sprouts continued to grow and flourish in Northampton, as elsewhere in the area, and to perfect that noteworthy, democratic form of local government known to history as the New England Town Meeting.
II
A drawing of the middle 1800's shows a handsome public building with stylish citizens and a dashing equipage in the fore- ground. It is indeed a far cry from the first House for the Towne and the pioneers who built it of "sawen timber" in 1655.
The site for this, our present House, was bought for $2500 from a syndicate owning lands on Main Street purchased from the Widow Hunt. The Gazette of July 3, 1849 reports that the contract for the New Town Hall had been let for $12,975. The total cost of the building was $20,000. The architect, William F. Pratt, a native of Northampton, based his design on the romanti- cized Gothic then in fashion and endowed his structure with four towers, simulated battlements, and various suggestions of her- aldry, some of which have since been modified.
Dedication ceremonies which took place on the evening of March 13, 1850, were climaxed by a magnificent ball held in the great hall that occupied the entire second floor. "The handsome uniforms of the Amherst and the Northampton Artillery Com- panies, combined with the elegant costumes of the ladies added largely to the splendor of the scene." Dancing continued until the highly sophisticated hour of three in the morning.
The great hall continued to serve as a place for all sorts and kinds of town gatherings, other balls, concerts, lectures, rallies, as well as for its Theatre, until the early 1920's when Architect Karl Putnam was engaged to convert it into much-needed rooms for the Mayor, Board of Aldermen, Councillors, and other city officials. From then on, though the subsequent gatherings on the second floor have frequently maintained its lively tradition, they
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have seldom lasted until 3 A.M. or enjoyed the benefits of musical accompaniment.
Some 34 years after its erection, the Town Hall became the City Hall. Town Meetings, Selectmen, and Moderators made way for meetings of the Aldermanic Board and Common Council, for Mayors and the other city officials elected in accordance with the charter granted in "Chapter 25, Acts of 1883, Commonwealth of Massachusetts." "Approved June 23, 1883." In September of that year "the Act of Incorporation was accepted by a majority of the voters."
The charter made provision for the change-over with specifica- tions for a division of the town into seven wards based on the distribution of population, the appointment of wardens to handle the forthcoming elections, the preparation of a ballot with can- didates for office to be voted in on the first Tuesday of December, and so on. The Selectmen acted as the over-all men-in-charge.
Any young man of 21 who filled out his ballot in that first city election of December 2, 1883, and who was still alive and voting at the ripe age of 91, would have been confronted by a virtually identical ballot at the elections of November 3, 1953-a Mayor, and, from his particular ward of the seven, one Alderman and three Councilmen. Also a City Clerk, City Treasurer, one ward member of the School Committee together with two at large, an elector under the Oliver Smith Will, and Trustees of Forbes Library, their Secretary and Treasurer. He would find only one addition to this lengthy ballot-the Superintendent of Smith's Agricultural School (as of 1918).
To summarize the charter briefly: it provided for the taking over by the Mayor and the City Council on the first Monday in January 1884, all the powers previously vested in the Selectmen; full and exclusive power to appoint a Constable or Constables, a City Marshall or Chief of Police, and all other Police and sub- officers, to provide a Fire Department, to elect a Collector of Taxes, Superintendent of Streets, Water Commissioner, Board of Public Works, Overseers of the Poor, Board of Health, Library, Cemetery, and City Improvement Committees, Commissioner of the Sinking Fund, etc., etc. There are also Sections on Procedure, making a grand total of 44 Sections embedded in the new charter.
The city's first Mayor was Benjamin E. Cook, Jr. "Though a registered Democrat he would accept only an independent en-
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dorsement, maintaining that the office should not be determined by politics." This principle does not seem to have appealed greatly to his 30 successors in office, 16 of whom were registered as Democrats and 14 as Republicans. In the elections of 1953, according to the New York Times of last November Ist, of the 39 cities in Massachusetts, only Springfield, Brockton, and North- ampton "still cling to party labels, in the face of a growing trend toward non-partisan elections."
Of our 3 1 Mayors, all men, whose likenesses may be studied on the walls of the Aldermanic Chamber, 20 were elected for more than one term, 14 of these having been elected for 2 terms, 5 for 3 terms, and one for 7 terms.
Since 1888, there have been accepted by the City Council or by the Voters on Referendum, a series of approximately 100 items, as set forth in Acts of the Legislature, which affect the charter. These many additions, their unclassified listing, taken together with the original, often verbose, text of the charter and the not-too-clear sequence of its original 44 Sections, creates a network of insertions and cross-references baffling to even the hardiest student of the city's government.
There have been seven unsuccessful attempts to give the city a new charter, two in 1900, the others in 1907, 1919, 1938, 1943, and 1950. This latest attempt to simplify the text and streamline and modernize procedure came to naught when the Noes had it by some 526 votes. One of its provisions, the conversion of the two-chamber City Council to a one-chamber Council, is again to the fore. A "Unicameral Bill" has been passed by both houses in Boston, and signed by Governor Herter on February 16 of this year. It provides "that if ten per cent of the Northampton voters sign a petition calling for a referendum on the issue, the matter shall be voted on at the 1955 municipal elections."
Not long since, the National Municipal Review was quoted in the Gazette as having given "Cities with 2-Board Councils an Editorial Blast." It appears that Northampton is one of six cities in the whole country still wedded to what the Review calls, "this obsolete system." Recently a discouraged reformer was heard to say, "There are three things around here that never change-the unexpectedness of our weather, the eternal hills, and the city charter."
As many citizens already know, leaving the charter aside, there
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are three other most useful sources of information about our gov- ernment, in printed form: 1. The Annual City Reports; 2. the Re- vised Ordinances of 1953-the first printed revision since 1929, with 318 pages, 48 chapters, each with many sections, and a table of contents ranging alphabetically from Assessment of Taxes to Zoning Ordinance, illustrating Northampton's continuing pre- occupation since the 1650's, with the "detailed coverage of every conceivable situation affecting the town's orderly life." (A few copies are available at $1.50); and 3. the Manual, City Officers, Northampton which skims off the top of the City Report and gives the quickest, neatest look at City Government of all four official documents.
This handy little "Pocket Book" costs nothing more than a visit to the City Clerk's office and should be in the pocket or the files of every one of the (1953) 13,880 registered voters. Unfortu- nately the supply is limited. In it are listed all city officials, elected and appointed, when, by whom, and for how long; 7 Aldermanic and 12 Joint Standing Committees of the Council; 20 or more other Committees, Commissions, and Boards that carry on the work of city departments, how appointed and for how long; rosters of the Police and Fire Departments, regular and special; lists of such historic, but little known appointees as Field Drivers, Weighers of Hay and Coal, Moth Superintendent, Surveyors of Lumber, and Measurers of Wood and Bark.
Included also are the Budget and its distribution, salary lists, the Bonded Debt, Historical Notes, Fire Alarm Boxes, Political Calendar, Rules and Orders of the two Chambers, etc., etc .- a miniature encyclopedia in 67 pages, an up-to-date Who's Who of the men and women in the City Government. Since the city's business is everybody's business, here is an invaluable guide book for every citizen.
These scattered Notes do not even pretend to tell the whole story of Northampton's Towne Houses. They have been put to- gether primarily to arouse greater interest in and curiosity about our city's government. There are big gaps in the historical nar- rative. Very important items of political developments and re- lationships have been quite ignored, as well as our role as a county seat, and the complex warp and woof of city, county, district, state, and federal responsibilities and authority. Then, too, it
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would have been pleasant to cast a friendly glance across the waters toward our opposite number in Northamptonshire, where our connections are many and where, we are told, their first settlers, the Early Britons, moved in and took over a mere 2000 years ago! "But that," as one of the best story-tellers of all time didn't quite say, "is several other stories."
Chapter Thirty-Three
Northampton's Lawyers
By WILLIAM H. BROWNELL
ORTHAMPTON, like most early New England towns, started its life without benefit of professional lawyers. All legal matters, including trials, were conducted by persons without formal legal training. Even the Judges were lay- men. Most court cases were handled by the litigants themselves although on occasion, particularly when the problem involved the community itself, prominent citizens of the town were called upon to do work which today is customarily done by trained lawyers. Mary Parsons, tried as a witch in 1682, conducted her own defense and was acquitted.
Among the persons who handled legal matters in this early period were Medad Pomeroy, a blacksmith, the first Joseph Haw- ley, who was a teacher, farmer, and merchant, Colonel John Stoddard, and Ebenezer Pomeroy. Mr. Hawley represented the Town of Northampton in several suits, one of which required his presence in Boston for fifteen days. He received {3 for ex- penses and fees of which 30 shillings was his fee and the rest ex- penses. Ebenezer Pomeroy as King's Counsel prosecuted some Hadley Indians for murder in 1696 and in 1703 represented the town in a boundary dispute with the Town of Hatfield. Colonel John Stoddard, a soldier and legislator, was the third Probate Judge of Hampshire County and was also Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. It is interesting to note that Warham Mather, son of Northampton's first minister and the first North- ampton native to be graduated from college, served as a Probate Judge in New Haven for 1 1 years although he had no formal legal training.
The practice of law as a separate profession began to develop in this country in the 18th century and Northampton's first pro- fessional lawyers appeared in about the middle of that century.
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Major Joseph Hawley, one of Northampton's famous citizens, opened his office for the practice of law in 1749, almost 100 years after Northampton's first surgeon, George Fyler, appeared on the scene. Unlike Dr. Fyler, who was a Quaker and was forced to leave town for violating the Sabbath, Major Hawley remained in Northampton. A graduate of Yale College, Hawley studied for the ministry at Harvard and prior to opening his office in North- ampton studied law in the office of General Phineas Lyman in Suffield, Connecticut. His fees were 12 1/2 cents for a writ, 14 shil- lings for a will, and 8 pence to a shilling for a deed.
Governor Caleb Strong began his legal career in Major Haw- ley's office where he studied law in the customary way of that time serving as something of an apprentice in an established law office. He opened his own office in 1772 and built up one of the largest legal practices in the state. In addition to achieving fame as a lawyer, Governor Strong was a United States senator, a dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention, and Governor of the Com- monwealth. He refused a judgeship of the State Supreme Court when it was offered to him in 1783.
At the close of the Revolution there was a movement to elimi- nate courts and lawyers, but the infant profession survived and by 1796 there were in addition to Major Hawley and Caleb Strong two or three other practicing lawyers in Northampton, among them Robert Breck who served as Clerk of Courts, Seth Hunt, and Joseph Clark.
The legal profession became well established in Northampton in the 19th century and Northampton's lawyers were among its most prominent and respected citizens. As it was stated in the Quarter Centennial Edition of the Hampshire County Journal published in 1887 under a group portrait of the bar, "Their por- traits on this page represent as good a looking class of men as any- where in the country; most of them are faces identified with the history of the city, and none of them should be taken for fools."
In its history 4 Northampton citizens have been elected to the United States Senate and all of them were lawyers. They were Eli P. Ashmun, Isaac C. Bates, Elijah H. Mills, and Caleb Strong. None of Northampton's lawyers ever reached the Supreme Court of the United States although several of them have served on the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Among these are Charles E. Dewey, William Allen, and Charles E. Forbes, the founder of
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Forbes Library. Judge Forbes served for only a few months and then resigned.
One unusual feature of Northampton's legal history which is in keeping with Northampton's reputation as an educational cen- ter was the Northampton Law School, which existed for 7 or 8 years. The school was established by Judge Samuel Howe, son of a Belchertown doctor, and one of the few lawyers of his time who was a graduate of a law school. The date of its founding is be- lieved to be 1823. Classes were held on the second floor of the building now designated as 201 Main Street. The faculty included Judge Howe, and Senators Mills and Ashmun. Tuition with fuel was $100 and the curriculum consisted of lectures, moot courts, and problems in the intricacies of the law. The school flourished for a few years and is supposed to have had as many as 40 stu- dents at one time. It declined when its founder, Samuel Howe, was appointed to the bench and Elijah Mills and Eli Ashmun ac- quired other interests which prevented them from devoting a sub- stantial amount of time to the school. It went out of existence in 1829 or 1830. Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, was a graduate of the school, so that Northampton has played a part in the lives of two lawyer Presidents of the United States, Pierce and Calvin Coolidge.
Two other prominent members of the 19th century bar were Osmyn Baker, first President of Smith Charities, and his partner, Charles Delano, who as Baker & Delano represented 8 towns as local counsel in the litigation over the will of Oliver Smith. Oliver Smith left the bulk of his property as a fund to start Smith Chari- ties and Smith's Agricultural School. Members of his family chal- lenged the will on the ground that one of the witnesses was insane. After a trial in Northampton, which was well attended and as much talked about as a modern murder trial, the case was taken to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. It was argued here by Rufus Choate and Daniel Webster, two of the most eminent lawyers of the time. Webster, who argued that the will was good, was upheld and Oliver Smith's money was used for the purposes set forth in his will.
Osmyn Baker retired from the practice of law after this case to become the first president of Smith Charities. His partner Charles Delano after 2 terms as a Congressman returned to Northampton to practice law. In addition to his law practice Baker found time
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to serve as trustee of Clarke School and is given credit for being the leading spirit in the founding of both the Hampshire County Law Library and the Northampton Public Library. He was chair- man of the building committee for the Memorial Hall and Li- brary Building made possible by a gift of $40,000 from John Clarke. He made daily visits to the building site and supervised its construction almost brick by brick. When it was finished he made the first selection of books for the new library.
One of the best-known members of the bar during the latter half of the 19th and first few years of the 20th centuries was Judge John B. O'Donnell, Judge of Hampshire County District Court and fifth Mayor of Northampton. His is the romantic success story of the Irish immigrant boy who came to America with noth- ing but the clothes on his back and died in a mansion on the highest hill in the city. Judge O'Donnell came from Ireland in 1847 and began his career working for 25 cents per day in a cotton mill. He studied law at Boston University, entered politics, became a real estate developer, served as Mayor during 1892 and 1893, and was later appointed Judge of the District Court. He had great personal charm and a warm, sympathetic personality by means of which he overcame the ancient New England prejudice against the foreign-born. He appears to be the first successful local law- yer who was not of old New England stock and was Northamp- ton's first foreign-born Mayor.
In 1868 Charles Delano formed a partnership with John C. Hammond which continued until Delano's death in 1883. John C. Hammond, who was in active practice in Northampton for more than 50 years, was Northampton's only president of the Massachusetts Bar Association and had a special talent for training young lawyers. Among these were some of the leaders of the Northampton bar in the early part of the 20th century including Calvin Coolidge, Northampton's only President, Henry P. Field former Judge of Probate, Walter L. Stevens, Rufus H. Cook, Thomas J. Hammond, and Edward L. Shaw, former Judges of Superior Court. All of these are now deceased with the exception of Walter L. Stevens and Rufus H. Cook both of whom have now been in the active practice of law for more than 50 years. Stevens, a native of Worthington, came to Northampton in 1897 and Cook, a native of Hadley, came to Northampton in 1898.
Judge Cook, senior partner in the firm of Cook and Cook, is
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now special Judge of Probate, Vice President and director of Florence Savings Bank, a Past President of the Hampshire County Bar Association, a director of Northampton Historical Society, a former City Solicitor and during his long career has been active in many community affairs.
Walter L. Stevens, senior partner in the firm of Stevens and Dunphy, is also a Past President of the Hampshire County Bar Association and was for many years a Referee in Bankruptcy. He is now a Trustee of the Academy of Music, a Trustee of Clarke School for the Deaf, a Trustee of Forbes Library, a director and Past President of People's Institute, Vice-President and director of Northampton Institution for Savings, and President of North- ampton Historical Society. In all of these various positions he has given freely of his time and ability while carrying the burdens of a large and busy law practice.
These two men and John Crosier, retired Clerk of the District Court who served in that position for more than 30 years, are the oldest living members of the local bar which now has approxi- mately 30 members.
The physical aspect of the court rooms has changed very little over the years but the court hours which in 1900 were from 9 to 5 are now from 10 to 4 and the formal court attire, starched shirt and collar and Prince Albert coat, is now a thing of the past as is the procession which took place before every court sitting when the High Sheriff in full uniform escorted the Judges from the train to the Court House.
The traditional law office is a dark old-fashioned room fur- nished with dusty tomes and unwieldly furniture with emphasis on utility and durability rather than appearance. This is to a large extent still true of Northampton's law offices although in recent years some of the local attorneys have made an effort to make their offices attractive as well as utilitarian. Perhaps the most ener- getic in this respect is William E. Dwyer, whose suite on the third floor of the Hammond Block at 39 Main Street with its colorful draperies, pastel walls, and modern furniture presents a vivid contrast with the old style law office.
Although the decor of the law offices has not changed much through the years their inhabitants have introduced into them, in some cases with considerable reluctance, the personnel and equip- ment found in any modern office. Secretaries, telephones, type-
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