USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 9
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While in the practice of his profession, he married Miriam Tyler, a daughter of an old Boston family, and a lady " of good sense," whose memory he appears never to have ceased to cherish. By the aid of his wife's friends, he established himself in mercantile business at Boston. This enterprise failing, Williams, in 1740, obtained an ensign's commission under Gen. Oglethorpe, in the unjust and unsuccessful expedition against St. Augustine. The next year, he took part, with the same rank, in Admiral Vernon's still more ill-fated armament against Carthagena. Like others, he was led into this disastrous affair by the promised plunder of the rich Spanish-American cities; but he was fortunate in escaping with life from the yellow fever, which ravaged the fleet with fear- ful malignancy : and he gained nothing from his southern adven- tures, except an ensign's half-pay on the retired list of the British army, and the military education acquired in two campaigns under accomplished officers. .
Ile now returned to Massachusetts, where his abilities commend- ed him to his uncle, Col. Stoddard, and to Col. Wendell, who, in consideration of the benefits which his connection with it would confer upon the plantation at Poontoosuck, entered, in 1743, into a written agreement to give him one of the settling-lots, not dis- posed of previously by Mr. Livingston, and also one hundred acres
1 " While the doctor was in the practice of physie, a person who had been blind from infancy applied to him for a cure. Dr. Williams, fertile in inventing, pulverized a small quantity of a stone jar, and placed it on the eye of the patient, which soon ate off the film, so that the blind man received his sight. This anecdote we have mentioned to show that he was not deficient in his profession, and that he did not despair of healing the wounds and infirmities of mankind, which, to common minds, seem incurable." - BERKSHIRE CHRONICLE, published at Pittsfield in 1789.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
adjoining, provided that he would settle upon the lot and perform the duties attached to it. 1
Ensign Williams appears to have visited Poontoosuck in 1743; but, upon the breaking-out of the war in the following spring, he received a commission in Col. Stoddard's regiment of Hampshire militia, and was detailed to construct "the line of forts between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers" determined upon by the General Court, and located by their commissioners; viz., Fort Shirley at Heath, Fort Pelham at Rowe, and Fort Massa- chusetts at Hoosac, - now Adams, - near the present Williams- town line. This service he performed to the satisfaction of the Government, being promoted major while the work was in progress. 2
In the spring of 1745, he raised a company from among the men of his command for the expedition against Louisburg ; but he was not permitted to accompany it, as his services were considered more valuable in the position he then occupied. In June, how- ever, re-enforcements for the besieging army being urgently de- manded, " an express was sent one hundred and fifty miles through the wilderness to Major Williams, at Fort Massachusetts," directing him to repair with the utmost despatch to Boston, bringing with him as many men as he could induce to enlist. In six days he reported to the Governor with seventy-four men, and was immediately commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment, Col. John Choate; which sailed for Cape Breton on the 23d of June. Louisburg capitulated before their arrival; but the regiment, under the command of its lieutenant- colonel, - Col. Choate having returned home, -garrisoned the place till the following spring.
V
The easy success of Louisburg revived in the Colonies the long- deferred hope of relieving themselves, by the conquest of Canada,
1 Papers in the T. Colt and Lancton Collections.
2 This service has been ascribed to Col. Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College ; but I have before me, in the collection of Hon. Thomas Colt, the memorials of Col. William Williams to the commander-in-chief and the General Conrt, who must have known the facts, in which he reminded them that he built the works in question. A letter to Mr. C. Kilby, a relative of his wife, and a well- informed Boston merchant, makes the same statement, which is further cor- roborated by other papers in the same collection. In his order for building Fort Shirley, he was directed to call upon the company of Capt. Ephraim Williams for aid.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
from a constant source of danger; and a grand expedition with that object was at once set on foot. But, instead of the promised English naval contingent, the most powerful French fleet which had ever floated in American waters appeared off the coast of Nova Scotia, under the command of the Duke D'Anville; and the Colonial plans for invasion were transformed with haste and trepidation to measures of defence. It was apprehended that Massachusetts would be assailed simultaneously on her coast and her north-western frontier; and, while a large force was collected for the protection of Boston and other seaports, smaller corps watched, and attempted to guard, the other extremity of the Province.
But, in this as in every hour of New England's peril, He who rides upon the storm and guides the whirlwind proved her surest helper. The September gales crippled the French fleet ; D'Anville died; his successor in command committed suicide; and, of the proud armament which, boastful of irresistible might, in May set sail from Brest, only a shattered remnant crept back in November, having succeeded only in postponing the fate of Canada.
In the mean time, however, continual incursions of French and Indian marauders harassed the northern settlements. Fort Mas- sachusetts was, in August, captured and destroyed; Deerfield again suffered massacre ; and prowling bands of St. François savages infested all Upper Hampshire. 1
The officer highest in rank in Western Massachusetts was Brig .- Gen. Joseph Dwight of Brookfield, 2 who had served with great credit at Louisburg, and, returning home at the close of the siege, had raised a regiment, principally from the Connecticut Valley, for the expedition against Canada. To this corps - of which Gen. · Dwight, in accordance with a custom of the army, was the titular, and when not on actual brigade-duty the acting colonel - Lieut .- Col. Williams was assigned. It had been recruited for special service in the proposed campaign; but, much to the disgust of both officers and men, it was ordered to other duties, not only in the exigency of the D'Anville alarm, but subsequently. Early in
1 Until 1761, the present Hampshire, Berkshire, Hampden, and Franklin were all ineluded in the old county of Hampshire.
2 Gen. Dwight removed, about 1756, to Great Barrington ; but he had a tem- porary residenee at Stockbridge in 1752, where he was addressed in the petition from Poontoosuek, requesting him to call the first meeting of the plantation.
6
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
October, when the coming of the hostile fleet was announced, " five companies were sent to Boston, and five to the most exposed western frontier;" but, intelligence of the disasters to the enemy arriving soon after, the regiment was re-united in Northwestern Ilampshire, where it was employed during the winter in detached parties, scouting, garrisoning the block-houses, creating new defences, watching the movements of the enemy, rallying to the support of threatened outposts, and in every way guarding the endangered section.
Late in the fall of 1746, Massachusetts and New York resumed their preparations against Canada, and, undeterred by the near approach of winter, began to concentrate men and munitions of war at Albany ; but the more cautious counsels of Connecticut prevailed, and the expedition was given over, as the event proved, for that war.
The Massachusetts troops were, however, still kept under pay ; and, on the 21st of April, Gen. Dwight assigned to Col. Williams three companies and part of a third for the purpose of rebuilding Fort Massachusetts, adding, "I suppose Capt. Ephraim Williams will send all or part of his, if you desire it, who, I think, ought to do their part of this duty." The rebuilding of the fort was by order of the General Court, and under the direction of a commis- sion appointed for that purpose, consisting of Cols. Stoddard and Porter, and Oliver Partridge, Esq. The Indians made some at- tempts to impede the work, amounting, in one instance, to a not very spirited skirmish ; but, by the 2d of June, it was completed, and the command transferred by the following order : 1 -
FORT MASSACHUSETTS, June 2, 1747.
Major EPHRAIM WILLIAMS.
Sir, - Intending, by the leave of Providence, to depart this fort to-morrow, which, through the goodness of God towards us is now finished, I must desire you to take the charge of it; and shall, for the present, leave with you eighty men, which I would have yon detain here till the barracks are erected, which I would have you build in the following manner, viz., seventy feet in length, thirty in breadth, seven-feet post, with a low roof. Let it be placed within five feet of the north side of the fort, and at equal distances from the east and west ends.
Let it be divided in the middle with a tier of timber; place a chimney in the centre of the east part, with two fire-places to accommodate those rooms. In the west part, place the chimney so as to accommodate the two rooms on
' Lancton Col.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
that part, as if the house was but twenty feet wide from the south; making a partition of plank, ten feet distance from the north side of the barrack, for a storeroom for the provisions, &e.
The timber, stone, clay, lath, and all materials, being under the command of your guns, I can't but look upon you safe in your business, and desire you to see every thing finished workmanlike; and, when you have so done, you'll be pleased to dismiss Capt. Ephraim Williams, with his men, and what of my company I leave. You'll not forget to keep a scout east and west, which the men of your company are so well adapted for, and ean be of very little service to you in the works.
Sir, I shall not give you any particular directions about maintaining the strong fortress or governing your men, but, in general, advise you always to be on your guard, nor suffer any idle fellows to stroll about. Sir, I heartily wish you health, the protection and smiles of Heaven on all accounts, and am, with esteem and regard, sir,
Your most humble servant,1
W"Williams.
Gen. Dwight's regiment was broken up Oct. 31, 1747; and it appears that Col. Williams had previously secured an appointment as sub-commissary,1 which, as more lucrative, he preferred to the command of Fort Massachusetts, for which he was also named. But his inveterate ill-fortune in pecuniary matters continued to pursue him, and even as a quartermaster he failed to make money. The military profession, indeed, proved to him as barren of sub- stantial profit as the medical and the mercantile had been. He complained, that, for his services " as commander and inspector in building the line of forts from Northfield to Hoosae, he received only eight pounds per month, Old Tenor; " that, as lieutenant- colonel commanding a regiment in the Louisburg garrison, his pay had been less than what a captain was afterwards allowed, - "the miserable Province pittance, not enough to buy a cabbage a day in that dear place ; " and that his salary as commissary was so long in arrears that he was obliged to borrow £1400, for twelve months, of Col. Stoddard and Moses Graves. He did not, however, rest quiet under this ill-requital of his public labors, but was often at
! The major to whom the command was thus transferred was the founder of Williams College. Capt. Ephraim Williams, to whom allusion is made by both Gen. Dwight and Col. Williams, was probably a Conncetient officer in command of one of the companies sent by his colony in aid of the common defence.
2 He seems to have received his appointment as early as February, 1747, but not to have entered upon its duties until his regiment was disbanded.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
Boston in the intervals afforded by his military duties, engaged, with other officers of the Louisburg expedition, in pressing their claims upon the consideration of the British Government through correspondents and agents in London. The matter lingered long, and was never determined to the satisfaction of the officers, who finally, in individual instances at least, appealed with no better success to the General Court.
Such was the story of that one of the early settlers of Pittsfield who had the best opportunity to make a subsistence as a soldier during the interruption of the plantation by the war which closed with the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in the summer of 1748. How it fared with those who enlisted in the ranks may be inferred from the following extract from a representation made to Gen. Dwight by the captains of his regiment in behalf of the private soldiers, at the close of their term of service. After reciting other " particulars in which they conceived themselves injured," the memorial pro- ceeds : -
" In regard to their pay : as these levies were raised for a particular expedition, they expected, as according to proclamation, to receive the King's pay; so, as they were marching forces, 6d. per day, clear of any stoppages. But, by his Excellency's letter, they perceive they are to be paid as garrison-soldiers at the very lowest establishment in the nation, which is very distressing to them; many of them having been obliged to expend much more for clothing since they have been enlisted in said service than the amount of their pay, and must return to their families without any thing for their relief and support, and, indeed, without a penny in their pockets to carry them home, after having marched hundreds of miles at their own or their officers' expense, in obedience to your orders." 1
1 The story narrated in the preceding pages, so far as it is of a local character, is collected from original letters, orders, and memorials in the T. C. and L. Col- lections.
CHAPTER IV.
PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
[1749-1754.]
Return of the Pioneers. - The First White Woman in Poontoosuck, and her Trials. - David Bush. - Nathaniel Fairfield. - Alone in the Woods. - A Bridal Tour in 1752. - Zebediah Stiles. - Charles Goodrich. - Partition of the Com- mons made and annulled. - Col. Williams settles on Unkamet Street. - His Property there. - The Plantation organized. - Powers of Plantations. - Votes with regard to Meeting-house, Preaching, Bridges, and Highways. - The First Bridge built. - Propositions for a Saw and Grist Mill.
T THE peace introduced by the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle, al- though brief and troubled, enabled the settlers of Poontoo- suck to gain a foothold upon its soil, which was never afterwards wholly relinquished. Only the purchasers of the forty lots sold by Livingston participated in the abortive labors of 1745; 1 and these, with such changes as time had wrought among them, and joined by the three buyers of Huston's gift, returned in the sum- mer of 1749, to "find that their clearing and girdling were of little or no advantage to them, as the young growth had covered the ground in a surprising manner." 2
In the same year, Col. Stoddard having died in 1748, his widow, Madame Prudence, was, upon the petition of Col. Wendell, author- ized by the General Court to act for her minor children in dispos- ing of the seventeen "rights " which remained unsold, and in all matters which pertained to "bringing forward the settlement." In June, the joint proprietors of the township, who now by in- heritance and purchase had increased to thirteen, appointed Col. Oliver Partridge of Hatfield their agent, who sold several lots;
1 Mem. of Col. Wendell, Mass. Ar., V. cxv. p. 504.
2 Mem. of settlers in 1762, Mass. Ar.
85
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
among which were two to David Bush, which extended from South Street, along Honasada, one hundred and sixty rods. Jacob En- sign, in 1752, purchased Lot 29, North, through which Beaver Street now runs. Col. Williams received by gift No. 31, in the same range.
Among those whom tradition points out as engaged in the set- tlement of 1749, are David Bush, Solomon Deming, Nathaniel Fairfield, Gideon Gunn, Timothy Cadwell, David Ashley, and Samuel Taylor. So, also, there is reason to believe, were Daniel Hubbard, Stephen Crofoot, Simeon Crofoot, Jesse Sackett, Josiah Wright, Hezekiah Jones, Abner and Isaac Dewey, and Elias Willard.
By these pioneers, and others whose names cannot now be ascertained, the busy scenes of the previous occupation were renewed, with chastened hopes, and forebodings yet more sombre than had haunted them six years before: for all the tidings which reached them betokened how hollow and treacherous was the peace which had been patched up at Aix-la-chapelle; while they well knew that the emissaries of France were tempting the savages of their own neighborhood, who as yet gave no sufficient assurance of resisting their wiles. Many indeed, even of the Mohegans, found delight and profit in enhancing the value of their alliance with the English by exaggerating their inclination to transfer it to their enemies.
But by the summer of 1752, which is usually accounted the birth-year of Pittsfield, some of the settlers had log-cabins ready to receive their families. And first came Solomon Deming, from Wethersfield, with his wife Sarah behind him on the pillion. She was a maiden of seventeen when Solomon first essayed to provide them a dwelling-place in the wilderness of the Green Mountains. Now a brave young good-wife of twenty-six, she entered Poon- toosuck, the first white woman who ever called it home.1
1 The town of Pittsfield has erected a neat obelisk of marble to the memory of Mrs. Deming, in the little burial-ground on Honasada Street, near the spot where she fixed her home in 1752. The following inscriptions embody the tradi- tions handed down regarding her : -
SOUTH SIDE. - This monument is erected by the town of Pittsfield to com- memorate the heroism and virtues of its first female settler, and the mother of the first white child born within its limits.
NORTH. - Surrounded by tribes of hostile Indians, she defended, in more than
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
Mr. Deming's farm was on the north side of Honasada Street, in the eastern outskirts of the township, a region much frequented by the Indians, who were accustomed to make themselves a terror and an annoyance to the wives of the settlers, calling at their cabins in the absence of the men, and, with insolent threats, demanding food and drink. It was considered impolitic, in the precarious state of public affairs, to offend the red nuisances by well-deserved punishment ; and the only recourse - one to which only the bolder dames dared resort -was to shut and bolt the door in their impudent faces: and this was probably the extent of the defence against the savages commemorated by Mrs. Deming's monument; for nothing more serious occurred between the natives and the settlers, except in a single instance.
David Bush, a native of Westfield, where his ancestors had long resided, purchased, as has been related, the two lots, 16 and 17 South. He was one of the more " well-to-do" settlers, and was the first to commence a clearing in 1749, on which he "had cut several tons of hay before the first white woman came to town." The honor of first penetrating the soil of Pittsfield with a plough is claimed both for Capt. Bush and Nathaniel Fairfield; but, as is the case with most claims of priority based upon tradi- tion, there is nothing to determine which is rightly entitled to it, if either be. Nathaniel Fairfield's early connection with the set- tlement is, however, sufficiently noteworthy. . He was born at Boston in 1730; and his father, who had a large family, having suffered severe pecuniary losses, he was adopted by a Mr. Dickin- son of Westfield; but in 1748, at the age of eighteen, becoming impatient to seek his own fortune, although war still lingered on the border, he went with Dan Cadwell 1 to examine the settling- lots at Poontoosuck, and probably other land in that vicinity.
one instance, unaided, the lives and property of her family, and was distinguished for the courage and fortitude with which she bore the dangers and privations of a pioneer life.
Sarah Deming, born at Wethersfield, Conn., February, 1726. Died in Pittsfield, March, 1818, aged 92.
EAST. - A mother of the Revolution and a mother in Israel.
WEST. - Sarah Deming, born in Wethersfield, Conn., Feb., 1726. Dicd in Pittsfield, Mass., March, 1818, aged 92 years.
1 In 1745, Amos Root had sold one of the forty lots purchased of Livingston to Dan Cadwell, whose descendants still reside upon it, and retain the original deed conveying it to him.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
Before they were satisfied with their exploration, their provisions gave out, and Mr. Cadwell returned to Westfield for a fresh supply ; leaving yonng Fairfield for three nights alone in the forest, as regarded white companions, but with a disagreeable co-tenantry of savages, whose unmusical voices he heard plainly on every side as he lay in the hollow log which served him for nightly lodging, and hiding-place by day.1
As a result of this exploration, he purchased lot No. 18 south, on the south-west corner of Wendell Square.2 Having built here his log-cabin and opened his clearing, Mr. Fairfield revisited West- field, and, having married Miss Judith -, returned in 1752, with his bride, to their new home. On this bridal tour, the story of which may serve for that of many that were made by the fathers and moth- ers of Pittsfield, the young couple were accompanied by a yoke of oxen, and a dray bearing their household goods; and, pursuing their way by the aid of marked trees, they reached the house of Solomon Deming on the third evening, and there passed the night. The traveller by the Western Railroad now makes the same journey in less than two hours; but it is not necessary to suppose that the trip of the Fairfields proved tedious. The region through which they came was designated, even in the formal descriptions of the conveyancer, by the pleasant name of "the green woods between Westfield and Poontoosnek ; " and perhaps - since sum- mer days are very genial - the bridal party dallied a little leisure- ly in the fragrant shade.
In the same summer, Zebediah Stiles found companionship in a like humble home, on the corner of West and Onota Streets.
Then, also, came Charles Goodrich, "driving the first cart and team which ever entered the town, and cutting his way through the woods for a number of miles." It is of tradition that he reached the last of the Hoosac summits which he had to pass, just at nightfall; and, fearful of missing the path if he attempted to proceed in the dusk, tied his horses to a tree, and kept guard over them all night against the wild beasts, walking around to prevent himself from falling asleep, and "munching " an apple, his sole remaining ration, for supper. Goodrich, who became one of
1 Family tradition.
2 The two branches of the Housatonic River form their junction in this lot, which lies on the south side of Honasada street, and just below the Pittsfield Cotton Mills.
PLAN OF 1752.
Y
COL. J. WENDALL
CHS GOODRIDGE
FRAMINGHAM POND
L! MOSES GRAVES
CHAS. GOODRIDGE 756. 5 A.
COL.J.WENDALL /275 A. '5D P.
1226.25 A.
COL. JACOB WENDALL 2049 A. 70 P.
J.
CLISHA. JONES 382 .A.
CH.GOODRIDGE 1000 A. 66 P.
COL J STODDARDS HEIRS
ASHLEYS POND
ELISHA. JONES
LT. M. GRAVES SOL. WILLIAMS
LIEUT. M GRAVES
0
SCHOOL -MINISTRY
CHAS. GOODRIDGE
COL.O. PARTRIDGE 359.5.4. 16 P.
SOL. WILLIAMS 372.5 A. 5 P.
A
COL. EPH. WILLIAMS 359 A. 96 P.
WILLIAMS
0. PARTRIOGE
MI
CHAS. GOODRIDGE
MINISTER LOT
HEIRS OF COL. JIIHN STODDARD DECD 5067 ACRES
MINISTRY LOT
SCHOOL
LOT
B
*
C
D
E
F
G
K
This is a Plan of the Township of Poontoosuck as it was taken by the Com- mittee some time in December, 1752.
Test. BENJA. DAY, Surveyor.
A, A large Mountain the line ran upon, near half way from the settling-lots to the south-west corner.
B, A large Brook.
C, Ye foot of the Mountain.
D, The top of the Mountain.
E, A small Brook.
F, Foot of a large Mountain. G, Ye Road. HI, Stockbridge Road.
I, The River.
K, The foot of the Mountain.
L, The corner of the 9,000 acres.
M, A large Brook.
O, Northampton Road.
P, A small Brook.
S, The River.
X, Mountain Land from here to the river.
* A large Pond.
The original of this plan is in the archives of the State at Boston, and a copy in the Town Clerk's office at Pittsfield. Some of the minutiæe of the original have been omitted by the engraver, chiefly relating to the area of the allotments to the several proprietors.
Framingham Pond is stated on the plan to contain 186 acres. Ashley's Pond, now Lake Onota, is represented as containing 284 acres.
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