USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 40
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About the close of the war his wife died, and he afterwards married Miss Mary A. A. Hobart, a granddaughter and ward of Major-General Dearbon, the department-commander.
He finally experienced new pecuniary misfortunes, and, says a relative, "living in the plainest way, became a simple husband- man ; though of broad acres, whereof many lay fallow, or in lake and pasture." Nevertheless, to the last, he retained the respect and gratitude of the community, for which he had done much ; and for whom he continued to labor, as he had opportunity, with his pen and otherwise. The relative from whom we have before quoted writes as follows :
In 1836, circumstances made me for the greater portion of a year an inmate of my uncle's family, and an active assistant upon the farm. He was then gray-headed, but not wrinkled ; of a pleasing complexion ; but little, if any, bowed in figure ; and preserving evident traces of the prepossessing good looks of his youth. His manners were mild and kindly, with a faded brocade of old French breeding, which-con- trasted with his surroundings at the time-impressed me as not a little interesting, nor wholly without a touch of pathos.
He never used the scythe, but I frequently raked with him in the
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hay-field. At the end of the swath, he would at times pause in the sun, and taking out his smooth-worn box of satin-wood, gracefully help himself to a pinch of snuff, while leaning on his rake: quite nat- urally ; and yet with a look, which-as I now recall it-presents him in the shadowy aspect of a courtier of Louis XVI, reduced as a refu- gee, to humble employment in a region far from the gilded Versailles.
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By the late October fire, on the great hearth of the capacious kitchen of the old farm-mansion, I remember to have seen him frequently sit- ting just before early bed-time, gazing into the embers, while his face plainly expressed to a sympathetic observer that his heart-thawed to the core under the influence of the genial flame-carried him far away over the ocean to the gay Boulevards.
Suddenly, under the accumulation of reminiscences, his eye would glisten, and become humid. With a start he would check himself in his reverie, and give an ultimate sigh ; as much as to say, " Ah, well !" and end with an aromatic pinch of snuff. It was the French graft upon the New England stock which produced this autumnal apple ; perhaps the mellower for the frost. * * * * *
In 1837, though advanced in years, the Major, yielding to strong inducements, and with a view of ultimate benefit to his children, removed to Galena, in Illinois, there to occupy a responsible position in a mercantile house. * * * He died at Galena, in 1846, and not without the consolation of knowing that his venturous removal so late in life to what was then the remote west, had, in part, already been attended with many happy results to his family.
But enough. He survives in my memory, a cherished inmate-kindly and urbane-one to whom, for the manifestations of his heart, I owe unalloyed gratitude : and, for the rest, pleasingly, though strangely, associated with Tuileries and Taghconics.
In tradition, and in the memory of the older inhabitants of Pittsfield, no man is remembered with higher regard than Major Brown. We give as much as our space will permit of a very faithful sketch prepared by Hon. Alexander Hyde, of Lee :
Among the noble men whom Pittsfield has produced, Major Henry Clinton Brown must stand in the first rank. He is entitled to this posi- tion by birth and culture.1 Good blood flowed in his veins from both his ancestral lines. His father was Col. John Brown, an eminent law-
1 See vol. 1, p. 181. The grandfather of Col. John Brown, whose birth and parentage are there chronicled was Lieut. Jacob Brown, a retired officer of the British army, who was among the earliest settlers of Massachusetts, and established himself at Haverhill.
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yer of Pittsfield, and still more eminent for his patriotic services in the revolutionary struggle of '76, in which he laid down his life as a sacri- fice, while fighting with the Indians and tories at Stone Arabia. Ilis mother was Huldah Kilbourne, of Sandisfield, Mass., who was left a widow when Henry, who was born at Pittsfield, May 9, 1779, was five months old ; and who inspired him with that love of justice and integ- rity for which the Kilbourne family has ever been distinguished. An intimate friend of Major Brown writes us : " His mind was so consti- tuted that it never entertained the possibility that a Christian could be a dishonest man."
It was the intention of Mrs. Brown to educate her son for the pro- fession of his father, and for this purpose he was early sent to Williams Free School, now Williams College, to prepare for Yale, where his father had been educated. At the age of seventeen, his health becom- ing seriously impaired, he spent a winter in South Carolina. On his return he was still too feeble to pursue his studies, and deciding that a business-life would be better for his health, he entered the store of his distant relative, Mr. Harry Brown, then a merchant in Stockbridge. Having served an apprenticeship with his cousin, he established him- self in the mercantile business in Williamstown, having for a partner, Judge Ezekiel Bacon, late of Utica, and for a clerk, Ezekiel R. Colt of Pittsfield ; and there was ever after a strong friendship between the three. While living in Williamstown he married widow Sutton, a woman of strong character, who lived to bear him two daughters. He afterwards, in 1815, married his cousin, Mary Kilbourne, of Sandisfield, who died in February, 1876.
At Williamstown, he held the office of postmaster, but on the appointment of High-Sheriff Larned as colonel of the Ninth regi- ment in 1812, he was appointed to the vacancy, and removed to Pittsfield, being then thirty-two years old. We quote again from Mr. Hyde :
The governor was induced, by the very unanimous request of the citizens, and particularly by the urgency of those who were contempo- raries and fellow-patriots with his father, to tender him this office, for which his courteous manners and systematic business-habits rendered him eminently fitted. This office he continued to hold, to the great acceptance of the people, for twenty-seven years, or till his death, which occurred May 22, 1838.
Many of our older citizens remember Major Brown's high-bred cour- tesy, manifested not only in the presence of the judges and his peers, but also in all his intercourse with those in the lower walks of life. The boys in the street and the laborers in the field were treated by him with courtesy and consideration. We well remember the urbanity of his
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manner as he passed the students of Lenox Academy, always bowing to them and greeting them with a pleasant salutation, which tended to increase their self-respect, and more especially their respect for the sheriff. As he drove by us when we were playing " wicket " -- the game of ball then fashionable - he did not drive his stylish horse and gig over our wickets, as many took a malicious pleasure in doing, but turned aside, with a pleasant smile, as much as to say, " Boys have some rights which gentlemen are bound to respect."
As an instance of Major Brown's great courtesy toward the most neglected and lowly, we give the following : An aged colored man, named Tip, of whom Miss Sedgwick has given a pleasant sketch, came to his house soon after his death, and poured forth the grief of his grateful heart with a pathos that made every one present to weep. " What a loss ! What a loss ! Ah, what a friend he was to me !" he continued repeating, while the tears flowed down his cheeks. One of the sons, supposing that his father had conferred some pecuniary bene- fit upon the poor negro, finally asked him : " What did my father do for you ?" "He always treated me like a gentleman, young sir. When I saw him I knew I should be honored. Respect and honor come very blessed to the poor colored man."
Among the duties of his office were some calculated to annoy, if not exasperate, men subject to stern justice, but such was Major Brown's uniform sympathy of heart and kindness of manner in executing the decrees of law, that the poor victims felt that the bitterness of their cup was greatly mitigated. The sheriff not only seemed to share but actually did share their sufferings, and who can estimate the value of such sympathy in alleviating the sorrows of life ! Not an instance is known during his sheriffship of more than a quarter of a century, in which his mingled dignity and sympathy did not so far overcome the asperity of convicts and those criminally accused, that they yielded ready obedience to his requests and regarded him as their friend.
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In his church-relations he manifested the same fidelity as in his more public civil office. For many years he was deacon in the First Congre- gational church of Pittsfield, was superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and took an active part in all causes of benevolence and moral reform. Among other minor offices filled by him was that of president of the Berkshire County Temperance Society.
The title of Major, by which he was so generally known, was fixed upon him by his fellow-citizens, from the fact that the general govern- ment once sent him a commission as Major in the United States army. Though he did not accept the commission, his neighbors and friends dubbed him with the title, in spite of his remonstrance.
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As he had lived the life of the righteous, so he died his death peace- ably, in the hope of a better life, May 22, 1838, aged fifty-nine ; leaving a rich legacy to his family, the town, and the county, in the example of a noble, Christian character.
Hon. William C. Jarvis ranks high among the lawyers and politicians, whose learning and talents have done honor to Pitts- field. He was born at Boston.
In 1811, he was admitted to the bar, and removed to Pittsfield, about the year 1815. He represented the town in the legisla- tures of 1821-22-23 and 24. In 1825, he was appointed director of the state-prison, and removed to Woburn, which town he represented in the legislatures of 1826-27 and 30. In 1824-26- and 27, he was speaker of the house, receiving at his last election two hundred and sixty-two out of three hundred and thirteen votes. In 1828, he was chosen senator for Middlesex county, ou which occasion the Pittsfield Argus, which, it will be recollected, was the organ of the conservatives in Berkshire, used the follow- ing language : " We believe that he will be a great acquisition to the senate. Mr. Jarvis has always been a friend to the people and an advocate of popular rights. He has done much to liberal- ize the views of this commonwealth, with regard to civil and religious freedom. We are glad to see a man of his talents and liberal views in our senate, at present the most aristocratical branch of our state-government, founded on the rotten basis of property, and not population."
In 1827, Mr. Jarvis was chosen state-treasurer, but declined. In the same year he received sixty-seven votes for United States senator. For sometime previous to 1829, he held an office in the custom-house, from which he was removed in that year, having opposed the election of President Jackson.
Mr. Jarvis was a clear and thoughtful writer, and in 1820, he published, from the press of Phinehas Allen, a volume of some three hundred pages, 12mo, entitled " The Republican : a Series of Essays on the Principles and Policy of Free States : having a par- ticular reference to the United States of America, and the Indi- vidual States." This work attracted considerable attention at the time, and still affords valuable instruction to the political student.
Few, if any, of the citizens who have served the town of Pittsfield well, better deserve its grateful memory than Samuel
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Metcalf MeKay. Colonel Mckay was born at Bennington, Vt., April 3, 1793, and was educated at Williamstown.1
He commenced the study of the law at Boston; but at the opening of the war of 1812, he entered the army as lieutenant of cavalry ; served with distinction, and rose to the rank of major. In the campaign on the Niagara frontier he did good service as a member of the staff of Major-General Brown.
After the close of the war he removed to Pittsfield, and engaged in farming; but in 1832, entered into the manufactur- ing business, building the Pittsfield cotton-factory, in connection with Capt. Curtis T. Fenn. He married Katherine Gordon Dex- ter, daughter of Hon. Samuel Dexter, the distinguished federalist, whose position in favor of the government in the war of 1812, has been related in another chapter.
Colonel McKay was a member of the state-senate in 1829, and represented the town in the legislatures of 1823-24-25-26-28- 33-34. He was appointed by Governor Lincoln, commissioner of education ; and, in 1827, a member of the first board of Massa- chusetts railroad-commissioners.
A man of marked earnestness of purpose, Colonel Mckay held pronounced opinions and clearly-defined aims ; so that he was often brought into conflict, not only with political antagonists, but with those from whom he differed in matters of local policy. But his manners were conciliating and prepossessing. His was one of those happy characters, which compel even polit- ical assailants, wlien about to attack it, to prepare the way by a concession of abundant praise. He died October 6, 1834, of con- sumption, and was followed by his two elder sons, Samuel Dexter and Eustace, who fell victims to the same disease, both at about the age of twenty-one years. The youngest, Gordon, became a leading man in Pittsfield ; built in 1842, the first large iron foun- dry in the town ; and was the first projector of its water-works, to whose success he contributed much. In 1852, he removed to Lawrence, and soon afterwards to Boston. He has accumulated a large fortune, by prosperous manufacturing and shrewd invest- ment in patent-rights.
The widow of Colonel McKay, survived him, seven years. She was a lady of elegant culture and fine intellect.
1 He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Williams College, in 1823.
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Hon. Thomas Barnard Strong, was born at New Marlboro, in 1780, and graduated at Yale College in 1797. Having read law with his uncle, Hon. Ashbel Strong, by whom he was adopted, he was admitted to the bar in 1800. Inheriting a sufficient fortune, he did not devote himself closely to his profession, but gratified his taste for farming. He was an original corporator and ardent friend of the Agricultural Society, and was actively interested in all institutions for the public good, and especially in schools. Representative in the legislatures of 1827-28-29 and 32. He died May 24, 1863. He employed his leisure largely in liberal studies, which, with fine wit and a keen appreciation of character, rendered him extremely interesting in conversation.
Hon. Henry Hubbard, was born at Sheffield, May 22, 1783. His father, John Hubbard, was a member of the legislature in 1786, and a prominent participant in the Shays rebellion. His grandfather, Rev. Jonathan Hubbard, was the first clergyman of Berkshire county, being settled at Sheffield in 1735 ; and, through . him, he traced his descent to John Hubbard, who landed at Say- brook, Conn., in 1640, and afterwards settled at Hadley, Mass., and became the ancestor of nearly all of the families of the name of Hubbard in western Massachusetts.
Henry Hubbard was educated at Williams College in the class of 1803; but owing to. some diffculty between himself and the faculty concerning his commencement-theme, he did not grad- uate.
He studied law at Sheffield, with his brother-in-law, John W. Hulbert, and, having been admitted to the bar in 1806, com- menced practice at Lanesboro, where he continued to reside until 1815; in which year he married Sophia, daughter of Timothy Whitney, a leading merchant of that town. Before the close of the year 1815, he removed to Dalton, and in 1821, to Pittsfield.
In political life he was first a federalist, and afterwards belonged successively to the whig, free-soil and republican parties. He represented the town of Lanesboro in the legislature of 1812, and Pittsfield, in 1838 ; and was for three years a member of the executive council under Governor Lincoln. When, in the year 1844, the legislature of Massachusetts deemed it incumbent upon the commonwealth to send legal agents to protect its colored sea- men in the ports of the southern states, Mr. Hubbard was selected to perform that duty in the courts of New Orleans. He met
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somewhat more courteous treatment than Mr. Hoar, who was sent on a similar mission to Charleston, experienced ; but the city, and especially the neighboring country, were thrown into intense com- motion, and, however politely they expressed it, the merchants and other gentlemen of the city insisted that it was not in their power to protect him. It was clearly impossible to execute the duties intrusted to him, and he returned to Pittsfield. The com- monwealth, by not resenting the insults offered to its agents, approved their judgment in withdrawing from the posts to which they had been sent.
For nine years, closing with 1849, Mr. Hubbard edited the Berkshire County Whig.
For many years after his removal to Pittsfield, he was one of its most influential political leaders, although somewhat too earn- est and impulsive to attain personal success ; frequently advo- cating unpopular measures : notably in the instance of the famous law forbidding the sale of spirituous liquors in less quantities than fifteen gallons, for which he made a long and powerful argu- ment, in the legislature, which was published in the papers of the county, and drew down upon him the indignation of the oppo- nents of the law who honored him by hanging his effigy on the Old Elm.
Nevertheless, his advocacy of matters of home-policy was esteemed of the highest value, and his speeches contributed much to the success of some of the most important; among them the Medical College, the Hudson and Western railroads, the location of the cemetery, and the improvement of the public schools.
Mr. Hubbard was a high-minded gentleman of the old school. Prominent among his characteristics was a delicate and rare sense of honor which forbade every mean act. With him meanness was the last fault to be pardoned. For every other wrong he had charity. Few men, indeed, whose lives are so pure and who have so high veneration for what is great and good, exhibit so gentle a consideration for those who are the reverse. His mind was of a metaphysical cast, and his deeper thought and study were gener- ally in directions not immediately practical; but his wide and varied reading, his independent thought, and his close observa- tion of men through a long life, made him one of the most inter- esting conversationalists ; and often enabled him to throw new and valuable light upon subjects, even in common life, which .
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practical speakers had apparently exhausted. He died December 25, 1863.
Hon. Edward Augustus Newton, who was born at Halifax, N. S., May 1, 1785, was the great grandson of Thomas Newton, who came to Massachusetts from England, in 16SS, with Gov- ernor Phipps, in whose administration he was attorney-general of the province, and comptroller of the customs. The son and grand- son of Attorney-General Newton, left Boston upon its evacuation by General Gage, in 1776, and successively held the office of collector of customs for the province of Nova Scotia; the latter holding it at the birth of his son.
His father dying in 1802, Mr. Newton was left without pecuni- ary provision ; and from that time he undertook, not only his own support, but in great part, also, that of his mother and a large family of brothers and sisters. In 1804, he went to Boston and obtained a situation in the commercial house of Stephen Higginson & Co .; by which firm, he was, in 1805, sent out as a super-cargo to the East Indies. Having made a series of voyages in this capacity, both to the East and West Indies, he became a partner in the house ; and in 1816, went to reside in Calcutta as their representative. In May of the previous year, he had mar- ried Miss Sarah T. Williams, daughter of Hon. John Chandler Williams of Pittsfield. During a residence of nine years in Cal- cutta, he conducted business with eminent success, and also ' became deeply interested in the welfare of the neighboring coun- try. Here, also, he became intimately connected with the cause of missions to the heathen ; and not only gave much of his time and means to its support-his house being always a home for newly-arrived missionaries of whatever land or creed-but was enabled, by his influence with the native governments, to rescue some of them from prison and probable martyrdom.
In 1825, he retired from business with a handsome fortune; having resisted tempting offers to increase it by remaining longer abroad. When he returned to America, it was his intention to make his residence in Boston; but family considerations induc- ing him to remain a few years in Pittsfield, he became attached to the place and decided to make it his home.
His father-in-law dying about this time, he purchased the interest of the other heirs in the Williams homestead, in which
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he continued to reside until his death ; identifying himself closely with all the interests of the town.
Chief among the founders of the Episcopal Church, he always had its welfare deeply at heart; but he also sympathized heartily in the growth and prosperity of the other churches of the town, and in all its religious and educational concerns. He was president of the Berkshire County Bible Society, from 1834 to 1844; and of the Agricultural Bank for many years. He was also president of the Agricultural Society for two years, and trustee of Williams College for nineteen. Frequently a member of the town school-committee, he performed its duties zealously.
Although never engaging actively, or at least as a partisan, in political life, he was not at all indifferent to public affairs. Orig- inally a federalist, and by temperament conservative, he gener- ally coincided with the views and measures of the whig party, by which he was elected a member of the executive council, in 1842 and 1843, and presidential elector in 1836. Agreeing with the class of statesmen represented by Messrs. Clay and Webster, in their views regarding the treatment of the institution of slav- ery in the earlier days of the agitation against it, with the changed circumstances of the country, his opinions became con- siderably modified, and in his later years he was a warm sup- · porter of the government in the war for the preservation of the . Union.
Mr. Newton's first wife died at Rouen, in France, in 1835. In July, 1837, he married Miss Susan C. Tyng, daughter of Dudley Atkins Tyng of Boston, a member of one of the most ancient and distinguished families of Massachusetts. Mr. Newton died August 18, 1862.
On the Sth of May, 1791, before the afternoon-sermon in the little brown meeting-house under the Elm-for it was the Sabbath- day-James D. Colt, son of Capt. James D. Colt, was married, by Rev. Thomas Allen, to Sarah, daughter of Ezekiel Root; and in accordance with the custom, "the marriage-festivities were con- tinued through three days, commencing at the house of the bride's father in the village, and terminating in feasting and joy at the homestead of Captain Colt, on the hill between Stearnsville and the Shaker village. The guests accompanied the wedded
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pair, all on horseback, in a happy cavalcade from the village to their own home.1 "
Among the children of this auspicious wedding, was Ezekiel R. Colt, who was born Febuary 9, 1794, and educated at the Pitts- field and Lenox academies. In his earlier youth, Mr. Colt was clerk in the store of his kinsman, John B. Root, and with Henry C. Brown, at Williamstown. He was also clerk in the commis- sariat of Major Melville at the Cantonment, and at Rutland, Vt. About the year 1816, Mr. Colt commenced the mercantile busi- ness in connection with Moses Warner, who, dying soon after, was succeeded by James Buel. This firm continued to do busi- ness on Bank row for twenty-five years, maintaining an unrivaled reputation for integrity, and an unusual popularity.
Upon the charter of the Agricultural Bank, Mr. Colt became its cashier, and continued to hold the office until his resignation in 1853. Here he had the opportunity to exercise his peculiar talents, and also some of his marked virtues. In an administra- tion of thirty-five years, no man was ever wronged by him to the extent of a fraction of a penny ; while during the whole term, dividends averaging nine per cent. a year, were regularly paid the stockholders, through seasons of panic and through seasons of prosperity. And when at last he left the bank, it was in posses- sion of a large accumulated reserved fund. After his resignation he was appointed state bank-commissioner, and still later, receiver in bankruptcy of the Cochituate Bank of Boston, and per- formed the duties of both places with ability and with the same probity with which he executed all the offices of trust held by him. The whole range of country-banking scarcely furnishes a parallel to Mr. Colt's career in successful and upright financiering.
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