USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 35
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Only six years ago, the agricultural concerns of this county were stationary. Few, if any, valuable improvements were attempted. Indifference and unconcern seemed to pervade society. In 1810, the genius of the county shook off the slumbers of its husbandry, and the spirit of improvement commenced. Under the auspices of your associ- ation, a career of usefulness was resumed and diligently promoted. The former state of things has given way to a new condition ; unfold-
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ing to us improvements, in variety and usefulness surpassing the most sanguine expectations. Every department of rural employment demon- strates an intelligent cultivation, and effectual good management. In the selection and rearing of domestic animals, more correet information prevails, and greater emulation is awakened. The vast increase in vari- ety and excellence of our erops satisfy our warmest desires, and leave us nothing to envy in the most favored regions of the west.
There is, perhaps, something of the rostrum's rose-color in this picture ; but, addressed to those familiar with the facts, it could not have been very violently overtinted, and it at least indicates very marked and beneficial effects of the society's operations.
But these effects were more conspicuous in Pittsfield and its immediate vicinity than in other parts of the county, although throughout its whole extent, its good influence had been largely felt. And even in the most favored spots very much remained to be accomplished. In this work we cannot minutely follow the society, nor in its efforts to extend its operations. We return to its early difficulties and the methods by which they were over- come.
And, chief among these difficulties, was the lack of pecuniary means. From 1811 to 1816, the society depended entirely upon its small fee for membership, and upon the voluntary gifts of indi- viduals, which amounted in that interval to over thirty-six hun- dred dollars, mostly in subscriptions of from five to twenty-five dollars; the larger sums being almost invariably given by citizens of Pittsfield, or obtained by them from friends outside the county. In 1812, Mr. Watson spent a good deal of time, and a hundred and fifty dollars in money, in an abortive attempt to obtain legislative aid for the society, and continued his efforts in the same direction, and with like result, as long as he remained in office. He was much vexed by his ill-success ; but his successors in office, with perhaps a more intimate knowledge of the ways of legislators, persevered in their application, and in 1816 obtained a grant of two hundred dol- lars yearly for three years. In 1818, through the exertions of the Berkshire Society primarily, a general law was passed, providing that every agricultural association in the state, whose field of operations embraced at least one county, and which possessed a securely invested fund of one thousand dollars obtained from pri- vate sources, should receive two hundred dollars annually from the treasury of the Commonwealth ; and in the same proportion for
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additional investments. From this time the society was compara- tively free from pecuniary embarrassment, although its means were far from adequate to secure all the objects which it desired.
Its course was, however, beset with vexations of a still more irritating character, arising from the jealousy which sprang up against it-especially in the southern towns of the county - as designed for the aggrandizement of Pittsfield, and as manifesting partiality to its citizens in the distribution of offices and premi- ums. The short-lived apathy which annoyed Mr. Watson, was of little moment; and the labors of organizing the society and developing its system of operations must have been rather an agreeable mental task. Perplexity concerning the means of defraying current expenses was certainly not so pleasant ; but, to men conscious of only the most liberal and patriotic motives, it was not so trying, by far, to the temper, as it was to meet the cavilings of those who could not, or would not, rise above the influence of petty village-rivalries.
No sooner did it become manifest, that, while the society was to become an honor and a source of great benefits to the entire county, it would redound especially to the credit and advantage of the town whose citizens had originated it, than appeals to local feeling began to be made, greatly checking its progress and weak- ening its power for good. It was one of the many instances in which the sedulously cultivated jealousy of Pittsfield reflected serious injury upon the whole county.
This jealousy found vent in efforts to exclude citizens of Pitts- field from the management of the society, and to hold the cattle- show and fair yearly in different towns. It had been a leading principle with Mr. Watson, derived from European example, that the fairs should be stationary in one town ; and universal experi- ence has since proved its wisdom. To violate it, would have been to sap the well-laid foundations of the institution; and its lead- ing members in Pittsfield successfully resisted the attempt.
These efforts to disturb the original plan culminated, in 1825, in newspaper-discussions which elucidated how large was the share which Pittsfield had in founding and building up the soci- ety. The amount of its contributions prior to the legislative act of 1816 has been indicated. In order to obtain the benefit of this act, the members of the society gave to the treasurer their notes for fifty dollars each, with interest annually ; which, as they
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were all responsible men, was considered such an investment as the law required. In 1825, the society numbered two hundred and three active members, and the fund obtained and invested, as above described, amounted to two thousand four hundred and seventy-five dollars, of which citizens of Pittsfield contributed eighteen hundred dollars. This fund was established in 1819. Previous to that date, the whole amount contributed to the society by individuals was about forty-two hundred dollars, of which the people of Pittsfield gave three thousand and ninety-eight dollars, the remainder of the county eleven hundred and twenty-two dol- lars. The contributions of the town, in time, influence, and per- sonal effort, were even in much greater proportion. The labors of the president, secretaries, and other officers there resident, were, alone, of value almost beyond computation. The publica- tion of these statistics sufficed to show that the benefits derived by Pittsfield from the location of the cattle-show and fair were not out of just proportion to the support which it had given the society ; and, since it was moreover for the best interest of all that the show should not be migratory, all motions to hold them in other towns were uniformly voted down. Every effort was, how- ever, made, to conciliate the friendship of all parts of the county. The leading offices were conferred upon citizens of Lenox and Stockbridge; great care was taken that other towns than Pitts- field should be liberally represented on the committees, and accommodations were provided for the stock brought from a dis- tance to the shows. Local clubs were proposed as a substitute for holding the cattle-shows in different towns, it being suggested that only cattle and other articles which had received premiums at local shows should be entered at those of the county. A local society was actually established at Stockbridge. But perfect sat- isfaction, it was found, could only be obtained by the division of the large territory of the county into districts, each having its own society.
Vexatious as this controversy was, it proved finally beneficial to the society, and the cattle-shows and fairs rapidly increased in the character and amount of their exhibitions. Something of the splendors of the earlier processions was revived, and the escort of the Berkshire Greys and the music of excellent bands enlivened the display ; while the exercises in the church were generally in the highest degree creditable. It was at this time, too, that the
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proposition was first made, although not carried out for more than a quarter of a century, to purchase grounds for the society's exhi- bitions.1
We cannot here fully enter into all the interesting and curious details of this early history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society ; but a few detached incidents must not be omitted. After the first year or two, the semi-annual meetings at Lenox appear to have been discontinued. In 1812, a board of trustees were appointed to whom a great part of the business of the society was for a time intrusted.
In 1814, Mr. Watson declined re-election as president of the society, and was succeeded by Major Thomas Melville, who mani_ fested a spirit very similar to that of. his predecessor.2
In 1816, he returned to his former residence in Albany ; "aban- doning," he says, "all those rural scenes which had delighted me-all my flocks and herds, which I had reared with infinite pains for nearly nine years. In the midst of promoting agricul- tural improvements and domestic industry, I returned to resume the dull and monotonous scenes of a city-life."
The society instructed its president to convey to him its senti- ments of regret for his removal, and its " high sense of the import- ant services he had rendered, by his patriotic efforts to promote agriculture and manufactures, and by his perseverance in the establishment of this interesting institution." And it farther voted " to perpetuate its gratitude to its founder by offering annually, as a premium for the best full-blooded merino buck, a silver-cup of the value of $12.00, with the words 'Watson cup' inscribed thereon." Mr. Watson attended the twenty-seventh anniversary of the society in October, 1837, where he received the most gratifying public and private exhibitions of respect and kind recollections, and delivered his last address ; his valedictory to all such associations ; " and here," says his biographer, "appropri- ately terminated his public course." He died at Port Kent, New York, December 5, 1842, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. The
1 By a resolution offered in 1822, by Thomas A. Gold, Esq.
2 When Mr. Watson removed from Pittsfield, in 1816, Major Melville pur- chased and occupied his residence and farm, where he continued until late in life, exhibiting his interest in agricultural affairs in various ways, and among others by establishing in 1822, "a repository for the sale of agricultural implements"-the first in the county.
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inscription upon the plain and simple obelisk which marks his grave, indicates the feeling which he retained to the last, concern- ing his work in Pittsfield :
Here lie the remains of ELKANAH WATSON,
The founder and first president of the Berkshire Agricultural Society. May generations yet unborn learn by his example to love their country.
The annual festivals of the Agricultural Society continued to be the great gala-days of the year for the town and the county, and many pleasing incidents regarding them might be related ; but no very striking changes in their management took place until their removal to grounds purchased by the society in 1855, which introduced a new period in their history, whose considera- tion must be reserved for another chapter. We take leave of its earlier era by quoting the ode written for the cattle-show of 1820, by William Cullen Bryant, who was at that time a young lawyer of Great Barrington, and an active politician, serving often as secretary of the federal conventions.
Since last our vales these rites admir'd, Another year has come and flown, But where her rosy steps retir'd, Has left her gifts profusely strown.
No killing frost on germ and flower, To blast the hopes of spring, was nigh ; No wrath condens'd the ceaseless shower, Or seal'd the fountains of the sky.
But kindly suns and gentle rains, And liberal dews and airs of health, Rear'd the large harvests of the plains, And nurs'd the meadow's fragrant wealth.
As if the indulgent power who laid, On man the great command to toil, Well-pleased to see that law obey'd, Had touch'd, in love, the teeming soil.
And here, while autumn wanders pale Beneath the fading forest shade, Gather'd from many a height and vale, . The bounties of the year are laid.
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Here toil, whom oft the setting sun Has seen at his protracted task, Demands the palm his patience won, And art has come his wreaths to ask.
Well may the hymn of victory flow, And mingle with the voice of mirth, While here are spread the spoils that show Our triumphs o'er reluctant earth.
CHAPTER XVI. MEDICAL COLLEGE AND MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
[1784-1875.]
Preliminary action-Dr. O. S. Root-Application for charter-Nature of the opposition to it-Charter granted- Lecture-course before the charter - First faculty and trustees-Purchase of Pittsfield hotel-building-Subscrip- tions and endowment-Town action and grant-Popular dread of resurrec- tionists - Exciting cases of " body-snatching " - Anecdote of Timothy Hall-Provisions for anatomical study at the medical college-Doctor Good- hue elected president-Sketch of his life-Lyceum of natural history- Sketch of Prof. Chester Dewey - Death of Doctor Goodhue - Dr. Zadock Howe elected president - Dr. H. H. Childs made president - Connection with Williams College dissolved-Equality of the two medical colleges of Massachusetts recognized by the State Medical Society-Death of Professor Palmer-College-building burned-Relief by grant from the legislature and citizens' subscriptions - New college erected on South street - Dr. H. H. Childs resigns his professorship - Decline of the col- lege-Clinique established- Doctor Timothy Childs-Efforts to restore the prosperity of the college-Berkshire Medical Journal-The institution dis- solved and the building sold-Lyceums and alumni-History of Berkshire medical societies-Condition of the profession in 1785 and in 1875 con- trasted-Pittsfield Medical Society established - Vaccination introduced into Berkshire.
THE year 1822 is marked in the annals of Pittsfield by the practical establishment of the Berkshire Medical Institu- tion, which for many years contributed much to the town's mate- rial prosperity, and still more to its intellectual culture. At this date there were already, in New England, seven medical schools, of high repute. Nevertheless, there had long been a desire for a similar institution in western Massachusetts. The first effectual effort in that direction was not made until 1821, when Oliver S. Root1 returning from a course of lectures at Castleton, Vt., Dr.
1 Oliver Sacket Root was born at Pittsfield, July 1, 1799, and passed his youth in the family of his grandfather, Col. Oliver Root. In 1821, he com-
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J. P. Batehelder, a professor in that institution, having become dissatisfied with it, sent word by him to Dr. H. H. Childs that the favorable moment had arrived to establish a new school at Pittsfield. Doetor Childs seized the hint with avidity, and imme- diately took steps to avail himself of it. Publie-spirited, devoted to his profession, and eager for distinction in it, this movement was one to enlist his warmest sympathies. Prompt, practical, and energetic, he pushed it vigorously and without pause ; never, for a moment, suffering the public interest in it to flag.
He first pressed his plans upon the newly organized Berkshire District Medical Society, which appointed Drs. Asa Burbank, of Lanesboro, and Daniel Collins of Lenox, together with him- self, a committee, to petition the legislature for a charter and endowment for a medical college at Pittsfield. This petition was presented at the June session of 1822. It was worded with great shrewdness and tact, and placed in a clear and strong light, both the argument for the proposed measure, and the answers to antie- ipated objections. After demonstrating concisely and forcibly the absolute necessity of public institutions for medical instruc- tion, it presented a cogent argument in favor of the new one. It called the attention of the legislature to the fact that a large pro- portion of the students in the medical colleges of the neighboring states were citizens of Massachusetts, and concluded as follows :
Your petitioners forbear any comment upon a fact which will become disgraceful, should it be permitted to exist after being brought to the notice of the Legislature. Lest this statement should be thought to affect the high reputation which is so justly due to the distinguished professors in the institution at Cambridge, your petitioners beg leave to state, that an explanation of the fact is to be found in the enormous expense of attendance on a course of lectures at that institution, which amounts to an utter denial of all its advantages to students of mod-
menced the study of medicine at Castleton, Vt .; but, after his first course of lectures, he spent a year in Virginia, as a teacher. On his return he resumed his studies at the Berkshire Medical Institution and graduated in 1824. Ile immediately entered upon the practice of medicine in his native town, and continued in its active duties almost to the day of his death, Octo- ber 22, 1870. For many years in the latter part of his life, Doctor Root was secretary of the trustees of the medical college, secretary, treasurer and actu- ary of the cemetery corporation, and an active member of the town school- committee. In the latter position he was especially distinguished, and the children of the public schools attended his funeral in a body.
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erate pecuniary means. With this view of the subject your petitioners anticipate that the only question on which your honorable body will deliberate is with respect to the location of the institution. And on this subject it is not, perhaps, presuming too far to expect that the Legislature will coneur with the medical society of the county of Berk- shire in selecting the town of Pittsfield, as offering the most eligible situation. This town is about equally distant from the several medical institutions in the adjoining states, and would afford the necessary accommodations for students on terms as moderate as could be offered in any part of the Commonwealth.
The county of Berkshire has cheerfully paid its due proportion to the treasury of the Commonwealth, and its citizens have rejoiced in the munificent patronage which literature and science have received at the hands of the Legislature ; and they confidently trust they shall not be disappointed, when in their turn they ask that pecuniary assistance, which they have enabled the Legislature so liberally to extend to other institutions. Justice to the inhabitants of the town of Pittsfield com- pels your petitioners to observe, that in anticipation of an incorpora- tion and endowment by the Legislature, they have subscribed the amount of three thousand dollars, including the grant from the town to be paid to the trustees of a medical institution to be located in that town. Your petitioners therefore pray an act of incorporation for a medical institution to be established in the town of Pittsfield, county of Berk- shire, and a grant for the benefit of said institution.
This petition was referred to the Fall session and ordered to be printed in the Boston Centinel and Pittsfield Sun. When it came up for consideration, it met with no little opposition from the friends of the school connected with Harvard University, and from other gentlemen in the eastern part of the state, who as yet were too little willing to admit the intellectual equality of the professional men of the two sections, and who also dreaded innovation from the teachings of a younger seminary.
The location proposed, and the most active leader in the new enterprise, did not tend to reassure them. The radicalism of Berkshire, and especially of Pittsfield, was proverbial at Boston ; and Doctor Childs was known to be ardently attached to the most ultra school of democratic politicians. Only two years previous to the petition, this feeling had been revived by the doctor's course in the constitutional convention.
It is not strange that many of the eastern conservatives were reluctant to trust the education of youth, even in medicine, to so
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dangerous hands ; and to place them in a locality where they would be surrounded by so very progressive influences.
The petition was, however, ably and zealously supported in the senate by Hon. Jonathan Allen, and in the house by Hon. William C. Jarvis. Doetor Childs was also at Boston, urging the elaims of western Massachusetts with his usual ardor. The charter was finally granted and was signed by Governor Brooks, January 4, 1823; but the people of Berkshire were generously permitted to endow their own college.
This charter authorized the establishment of a medical school at Pittsfield under the title of the Berkshire Medical Institution ; and named as trustees, Rev. Heman Humphrey, Dr. J. P. Batchelder, Henry Hubbard, Samuel M. MeKay, and Henry H. Childs, together with such others as they might associate with them- selves ; the number in all, to be not less than seven nor more than fifteen.
This board was authorized to hold real estate of the value of $50,000, and the same amount in personal property. The usual governing and managing powers were granted, but it was pro- vided that degrees should be conferred only by the president and trustees of Williams College, and under the same rules and restrictions which were adopted and recognized in bestowing sim- ilar degrees by " the University at Cambridge."
This plan was adopted to assimilate the practice here to that of the Massachusetts Medical College whose head is the president of the University ; and with the further view to secure conservatism and uniform practice throughout the commonwealth, to avoid the multiplication of bodies with the power to confer scholastic degrees, and to give greater dignity to, and confidence in, the Berkshire diplomas. The trustees, in their first circular, stated that it was adopted "by agreement" (probably with the trustees of Williams) " sanctioned by the commonwealth ; " but it doubt- less went far to allay the fears of those who had honestly opposed the charter. It, however, proved inconvenient in practice, and soon came to be unnecessary for the purposes named.
Without waiting the result of their application to the legislat- ure, the friends of the college, on the 16th of August, chose a " board of management" to superintend its affairs. And this board, which consisted of the same gentlemen named in the char- ter as trustees, announced in the Sun of August 22d, a course of
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lectures to commence on the 18th of September, with the follow- ing professors : Theory and practice of medicine, Dr. H. H. Childs ; anatomy, surgery, and physiology, Dr. J. P. Batchelder : materia medica, Dr. Asa Burbank; chemistry, botany and min- eralogy, Prof. Chester Dewey of Williams College. Obstetrics, by a lecturer not named.
The tuition for the course was fixed at forty dollars ; and board at one dollar and seventy-five cents per week, including washing, room-rent, and lodging in the institution.
In 1821, the Pittsfield (democratic) Hotel had become unprofit- able, and the pacification of parties rendered it no longer necessary. It was therefore determined to sell it, and Joseph Shearer, Eldad Francis, and Doctor Childs were appointed a committee for that purpose. Of the original three hundred shares into which the property was divided, Joseph Shearer, a strong friend of the pro- posed college, owned at this time one hundred and sixty-two, and Doctor Childs thirty-nine ; and it was, perhaps, in anticipation of that enterprise that a deed of the premises, for the sum of three thousand dollars, was made to the latter gentleman, on the 28th of Jannary, 1822; although this was three months before the vote of the medical society to petition for the charter.
The purchase included the large three-story building described in the account of the hotel, the grounds on which it stood, and the furniture. The furniture was somewhat worn, and the building needed repairs, as well as a few changes to adapt it to its new uses ; but little was done in that direction until after the charter. With the aid of the stable for anatomical purposes, very fair provision was, however, afforded for the informal course of 1822.
The embryo college was organized at the time specified ; going into operation with twenty-five students, almost before a large portion of the neighboring people knew that it was contemplated. The result of this preliminary course was most beneficial ; attract- ing, by the favorable reports of the students, the attention of the public not only in western Massachusetts, but in the adjoining states ; while it greatly facilitated the subsequent labor of organ- izing the institution.
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