USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 58
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He entered with characteristic eagerness into the new and almost fascinating interests of the religious services, and soon began to exhort in the meetings. His youth gave a charm to his appeals. "His eloquent, and what were deemed almost miracu- lous, addresses in religious meetings," says his friend, Hon. Hiland Hall of Vermont, "drew together great crowds of people, and elicited very general and extensive appreciation and admiration."
To the faith which he then embraced and the church into which he was then baptized, he continued devotedly and affection- ately faithful to his life's end. Forty-five years afterwards, in reply to a remark, which he overheard, that it " seemed strange that the governor of Massachusetts, should be president of a Baptist missionary society," he replied, "Sir, I think it more honor to be president of a Baptist missionary society than to be governor of Massachusetts."
Shortly after his conversion, George spent three years in learn- ing the hatter's trade ; but, although he had become sufficiently master of the art to set up in business for himself, he abandoned it, and in 1813, with five dollars which he had earned at haying, in his pocket, he left home, and commenced the study of the law with - Kasson of South Adams. In 1814, he removed to Lanes-
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boro and continued his studies in the office of Luther Wash- burn, Esq. He was admitted to the bar in 1818. A few months before, he had been married to Harriet, only daughter of Ezra Hall of Lanesboro. The first office which he held was that of town-clerk of Lanesboro, to which he was chosen in 1824. In 1826, he was appointed by Governor Lincoln, chairman of the board of commissioners of highways for Berkshire county, which place he held until the board was superseded by county-commis- sioners elected by the people. He was also division-inspector of militia, which he resigned in 1830, and was succeeded by E. R. Colt. The estimation in which he was held at this period of his life may be inferred from the following extract from an article in the Sun of 1827, giving an account of wool growers and manu- facturers : "George N. Briggs, Esq., displayed an accuracy of knowledge, and depth of thought and reasoning upon the great topics of the meeting, and the future prospects of the country in regard to them, answering to the high appreciation which the county entertains of his abilities." He was elected to congress in the fall of 1830, and was successively re-elected, until July, 1841; his career there being distinguished for devotion to the cause of American manufactures, and the consistency of his life with his religious and temperance principles. In 1842, he removed from Lanesboro to Pittsfield, In the fall of 1843, he was chosen governor of the commonwealth, which office he held by annual re-election until 1850. Of his public life up to this time, he says :
I was six times elected to congress from the Berkshire District, and seven times chosen Governor of Massachusetts. I never asked a man to vote for me for either of these offices, or asked a man to attend a political convention when I was nominated, or to nse any influence in any way to promote my election to either of those offices. * * N man ever said to me that the interest of the whig party required, or would be promoted or injured by my doing or omitting to do anything.
This last statement is remarkable, and as honorable to the whig leaders as to the governor; for, it is to be remembered that during the later years of his administration occurred the Mexican war, involving the question, what Massachusetts should do in regard to raising volunteers for what the governor and a large portion of his party regarded as an injust invasion of a
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sister-republic ; the anti-slavery and free-soil agitations, and the coalition between the free-soil and democratic parties, which resulted in his own defeat and that of his party. And in the very last year of his gubernatorial life there came before him the question of the pardon of Professor Webster, convicted of the murder of Doctor Parkman; a question which agitated the people of the commonwealth almost as much as any of the great political contests of the day. In 1851, Governor Briggs resumed the practice of the law, and continued in private life until August, 1853, when he was appointed, by Governor Clifford, a judge of the court of Common Pleas ; which office he held until that court was abolished in 1858, and the Superior Court established in its stead. This closed his official career.
During its whole course, he had been distinguished for his efforts in behalf of religion and morality. Of his love for the church with which he was identified, something has already been said. His regard for morals was not confined to any one branch -public or private; but he was the special advocate of temper- ance. His labors in this cause began in the very first dawn of the temperance-reformation in 1828, and from that time they were unintermitted. His speeches in that behalf were innumer- able; his attendance upon conventions and public meetings was as constant and frequent as his public duties permitted. And his private and personal effort was not less assiduous.
Public education, from that of the college and the normal academy, down to the primary-school, was an object of his con- stant solicitude; and some of his, characteristic speeches were made at their anniversaries. At the inauguration of the state normal school in Westfield, speaking of common schools, he said :
I can recall the case of a poor boy who once sat upon the hard plank seat in one of these schools, in one of the poorest districts in this state, while his father was toiling at the anvil for his daily bread ; who, under the smiles of a kind Providence, has been honored by his fellow-citizens infinitely beyond his deserts, and who, as chief magistrate of this com- monwealth, deems it his highest honor to plead for the cause of common- school education.
Governor Briggs's closing days were saddened by the gather- ing clouds and bursting storm of the great rebellion, and the departure of his youngest son for the seat of war. But danger and death are not met upon the battle-field alone. They came to
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him one still afternoon, in the very sanctuary of his own peaceful home, unannounced by any warning voice of disease.
In the afternoon of the fourth of September, 1861, while pre- paring to carry to their home some ladies, whose carriage had broken down in front of his house, while taking down his overcoat, he overthrew a loaded gun which had been misplaced under it. It was discharged, and the contents were lodged in the side of his face, inflicting a terrible wound. His friend, Dr. H. H. Childs, was called, and other surgeons were soon in attendance. From the first, it was Governor Briggs's impression that the injury would prove fatal; but Dr. Childs felt some little confi- dence that if he could inspire the sufferer with hope, his life might be saved; and for a brief time the result seemed to answer his expectations.
The wound, however, soon again obtained the mastery, and the patient continued to sink until the evening of the eleventh, when he fell into a gentle slumber, from which he never awoke.
The news of his death was everywhere received with the warm- est expressions of sorrow, both from the press and from public bodies. With many of the latter, indeed, he was officially con- nected : Among them the American Tract Society, The Baptist Foreign Missionary Union, The National Temperance Alliance, The State Sabbath School Union, and the Berkshire Life Insur- ance Company, of all of which he was president, and several colleges of which he was trustee. 1
In Pittsfield, every possible demonstration of respect was paid to his memory. All the leading citizens of the town, with many distinguished men from abroad-among them ex-Governors Washburn and Clifford, Chief-Justice Bigelow, Hon. John Z. Goodrich, and the delegates of several of the societies before- mentioned, were among the congregation which thronged the Baptist Church at his funeral. The sermon was preached by his pastor, Rev. Dr. Porter, and all the other Protestant clergymen of the town took part in the exercises, which were exceedingly impressive. The sun had already set when the procession
1 He had also declined several similar positions ; among them, that of secretary of the American Sunday School Union, secretary of the American and Foreign Bible Society, and chancellor of the Madison University, New York. In Pittsfield, every possible demonstration of respect was paid to his memory.
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reached the spot in the beautiful cemetery where he now rests beneath a handsome and appropriate monument.
A meeting of the citizens of the town was held at the First Congregational Church, and the Sunday evening next after his death, in order to express their sense of the loss they had sus- tained. Rev. Dr. Todd presided, and addresses were made by him, by Hon. Messrs. Henry H. Childs, James D. Colt and Thomas F. Plunkett of Pittsfield, Hon. Oliver Warner, secretary of the commonwealth, Rev. Dr. Marsh, secretary of the American Temperance Union, Rev. Dr. Warren of Boston, Hon. Thomas Colt, and James Francis, Esq., senior deacon of the Baptist Church in Pittsfield. A similar meeting was held in his old home at Lanes- boro. At a meeting of the Berkshire bar, Hon. Increase Sum- ner, chairman, and Henry W. Taft, Esq., secretary, resolutions reported by Messrs. H. W. Bishop, Increase Sumner and George J. Tucker, eloquently portraying the character of Governor Briggs, and their grief in his death, were passed. Mr. Sumner, in reporting them to the court, paid a most classical tribute to his deceased friend. Chief-Justice Bigelow responded in similar terms, and in the course of his remarks, said :
The death of Governor Briggs will be widely and deeply felt through- out the commonwealth. During the many years which it was his for- tune to pass in public life, he became more generally known to the people of the state than most persons who are called to fill high offi- cial stations. His great affability of manner, and the republican sim- plicity which characterized his intercourse with others, allowed every one to approach him with perfect freedom, and he won the hearts of all by the genial traits which distinguished him.
In all the eulogiums which the death of Governor Briggs called forth, there were no more truthful words than these. If there was any one art in which he excelled more than in others, it was that of making friends. In many points, he was a man of emi- nent talents ; in this, of genius. He never missed an opportunity of creating a new friendship, or of deepening an old one ; and the day rarely passed when one or the other, or both, were not accom- plished, in personal intercourse ; while, by his public acts and addresses, he reached the hearts of thousands whom he never knew. In closing this imperfect sketch of the man, we cannot do
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better than to employ the words which a true poet wrote concern- ing a great soldier :
Since he had the genius to be loved,
Let him have the justice to be honored in his grave.
Hon. Julius Rockwell was born at Colebrook, Conn., April 26, 1805. He attended the common-schools, and worked on his father's farm, until he left home to commence his preparatory studies for college. These he pursued with Rev. Dr. Ralph Emerson of Norfolk, Conn., and Rev. Dr. Cooley of Granville, Mass., and entered Yale College in 1822; graduating in 1826. He studied law at Sharon, Conn., at the law-school in New Haven, and with Hon. Henry Hubbard, at Pittsfield. He was admitted to the Berkshire bar in 1830, and commenced the practice of his profes- sion as partner with Mr. Hubbard.
He married, in 1836, Miss Lucy Forbes, daughter of Hon. William P. Walker of Lenox. For four years, from 1834 to 1837, he was a representative in the legislature from Pittsfield, and, for the last three speaker of the house. From 1838 to 1840, he was one of the bank-commissioners. In 1843, he was elected representative in congress, which office he continued to hold until 1854, when he declined re-election ; being appointed in that year, by Governor Washburn, to fill the vacancy in the senate, caused by the resignation of Edward Everett. He held the seat during . part of the sessions of 1854 and 1855, but was defeated in the legislature of the latter year, by the sudden accession to power of the American party, to which he declined to give his adhesion.
In 1853, he was, with Governor Briggs, a member of the consti- tutional convention. In 1858, he was again chosen to the legis- lature from Pittsfield, and was again made speaker of the house of representatives. At the organization of the superior court in 1859, he was appointed one of its judges. In 1865, he removed to Lenox.
James D. Colt was born October 8, 1819, being the eldest son of Ezekiel R. Colt. He graduated at Williams College in 1838; after which he passed two years as tutor in a private family in Natchez, Miss., where he also commenced the study of the law. In the fall of 1830, he returned to Pittsfield, and continued his legal studies with Hon. Julius Rockwell, and at the Cambridge law- school. In 1842, he was admitted to the bar, and entered into a
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partnership with Mr. Rockwell, which continued until Mr. Rock- well's appointment as judge in 1849. It was a somewhat remark- able compliment to the firm, that both its members were tendered this appointment at the same time. Mr. Colt, however, declined the offer, and, associating with himself his brother-in-law, Thomas Perkins Pingree, he continued in the practice of the law until 1865, when he was appointed one of the justices of the supreme judicial court. His health failing, he resigned in 1866, and visited Europe. His search for health proving successful, and a new vacancy occurring in 1868, he was re-appointed to the supreme bench upon which he still remains.
Besides his judicial office, he was one of the selectmen of Pittsfield in 1848, and represented the town in the legislatures of 1853 and 1854, holding in them the position of chairman of the judiciary committee. On the death of his uncle, Dr. Robert Campbell, in 1866, he was chosen director of the Western rail- road.
CHAPTER XXV.
BURIAL-PLACES AND CEMETERIES.
[1754-1875.]
Earliest burial-places-Condition of the first central ground-Movements for a new-Purchase of the First-street ground-The town-lot-Grants and sales of portions of the first burial-ground-Friends object to the removal of the dead-A rural cemetery proposed-Town grants a site to a cemetery-cor- poration-Preparation of the grounds-Their dedication-Subsequent his- tory-St. Joseph's cemetery.
THE burial-ground near the first meeting-house, established probably about the year 1754,1 continued in use until the year 1834, and was for that time the exclusive resting-place of the dead of the town, with the exception of a yard in the East Part, and two, used at different times, in the West Part, all of lim- ited size. That at the East Part, in which lie buried the remains of the first white woman who made her home in the town, still . remains, and is cared for respectfully ; the same is true of the second burial-ground at the West Part; but the first is overgrown by woods, and is only recognized by a few sunken and moss-cov- ered head-stones, which may be seen by the traveler, on his left hand, as he begins to ascend the mountain, on the road to . Lebanon Springs.
The first movement for a new burial-ground was in the year 1826,-in that most spirited decade in the town's history, during which so many improvements were made-when an article was inserted in the warrant for town-meeting, "to see if the town would appoint a committee to inquire into the expediency of clos- ing the central burial-ground, and opening another where the ground is less valuable, and better adapted for that purpose."
The town declined to make the inquiry then; and in 1830,
1 See vol. I., page 159.
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Nathan Willis, Calvin Martin, John Churchill, Lemuel Pomeroy, Samuel M. McKay, E. R. Colt, and Butler Goodrich, were appointed to report upon a proposed enlargement of the old ground. Nothing came of it that year; but in 1831, Edward A. Newton, Simeon Brown, and S. L. Russell, who were appointed
committee on the same subject, reported before the adjournment of the meeting, recommending the purchase of a new ground, and the planting of shade-trees upon it. Other recommendations contained in the same report were adopted by the meeting; but upon this they were requested to report further. They probably reiterated their recommendation, although no record of it remains ; for in 1833, the town directed a committee, consisting of select- men Nathan Willis, Thomas B. Strong, and Oren Benedict, with Edward A. Newton and John B. Root, to take the matter of pro- curing land for a new burial-ground into consideration. This committee reported, that for various reasons it must be obvious to every one who would give the slightest consideration to the sub- ject, that, with slight reservations, burials in the old ground must soon cease. It was already so entirely occupied, that it was a common occurence in opening new graves to find them already tenanted by the dead of the past. Indeed, with the exception of a few spots which had been reserved, by common consent, for the use of certain families, this experience was the rule, rather than the exception.
We can well credit the committee's statement. The burial- ground contained only about four acres, some portion of which was a ledge; and it had been in use, at the least, seventy-two years. With its dust was mingled, not only that of the fathers of the town, but that of some of the invaders, and some of the defend- ers, of the country, in two wars.
The committee recommended the purchase of a lot containing about eight acres, in the south-east corner of the estate of Thomas Melville; being the same which was afterwards known as the new, or First-street, burial-ground. This land was offered for one hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre, with the understanding that a street three rods wide, to be taken, one-half from the pur- chase, and one-half from the remaining portion of the Melville estate, should be laid along its west side, and be continued, by another small purchase, to connect with the street already opened from East street, through the grounds of Hon. Jonathan Allen.
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It seemed to the committee, that the price of the lot offered them was reasonable, and that it was very suitable for the desired pur- pose; being as near the center of the village as was desirable, generally free from rock, and in particular, as not being subject to the continual objection of a thickly-settled population, becom- ing daily more thickly settled.
They deemed the amount of land to be purchased full small for its purpose, and would have bargained for more, had they not thought it probable that an addition on the north could, at any time, be purchased on satisfactory terms.
But the progress of events soon proved the fallacy of this latter opinion. The eight acres recommended were purchased, and established as a burial-ground; but a very few years later, the Western railroad was laid through their northern border, and Messrs. Edward A. Newton and Thomas B. Strong, a majority of a committee appointed to purchase of the Melville estate five acres on the north, as had been suggested by them in 1833, reported that they had purchased them for eleven hundred and forty-four dollars. "They were obliged," they said, "to pay for this lot, a higher price, in consequence of the competition of the railroad- company, who wanted it for a gravel-bed; a use which would have greatly injured the neighboring property." This, and the fact that there was no other vacant lot near the center so valuable for the proposed purpose, determined them to make the purchase. "The committee concluded their report with the following opinion, which proved as fallacious as their earlier one : "a provision is now made for the remains of the dead, for many years to come, in all respects suited to the wants and character of the town ; but as it will not all be actually required for this use, for several years, the committee recommend the leasing of it, as it may be needed."
This plot was never used for burial-purposes; but became known as the Town Lot, and was the scene of cattle-shows, menageries, and circuses, until it was sold in 1863 to Samuel W. Bowerman and Robert W. Adam.
Encroachments upon the limits of the old First burial-ground began with the taking from it a portion of the park, in 1790. They were continued by the lease to Dr. Timothy Childs, and the sale to Jonathan Allen & Brother, mentioned elsewhere. Other sales and grants followed, until the whole western border of the
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ground, to the depth of seventy-six feet, was disposed of. The last sales in this quarter took place in 1848, when the line between the portion sold and that retained, south of School street, was straightened, by the sale of certain pieces of land for the sum of six thousand and fifty dollars, which, by vote of the town, was divided among the Protestant parishes in it, in the following pro portion : eleven hundred and forty dollars each to the First and South Congregational, the Baptist, Methodist, and St. Stephen's parishes ; and two hundred to the Second Congregational ; reserv- ing one hundred and fifty dollars to defray the expenses of the sale, and of the removal of the dead to the new cemetery. Lots of land from the burial-ground had previously been granted to the Baptist, Episcopal, and Methodist churches, which the two last had sold, and the other parishes had built upon, as stated in the account of their respective churches. In 1849, another portion, in the north-east corner, was set apart as the site for a high- school house.
All, or nearly all, these appropriations of the burial-ground to the purposes of the living, required the removal of the dead, at first to other portions of the old ground, and to the new ground after that was opened.
This disturbance of their deceased friends was generally acqui- eseed in by the living, although very reluctantly. A few, how- ever, refused their consent; and one gentleman even preferred to leave the remains of his mother, buried before the door of the lock-up, which the town had built in its vicinity, rather than to have her grave disturbed.
But, in the spring of 1849, Mr. Joel Stevens, a member of one of the oldest families in the town, received a note, to the following effect, from the seleetmen :
In disinterring and removing the remains of the dead from the old burial-ground to the new yard, according to a vote of the town, we have arrived at the graves of your grandfather's and father's family, and request you to be present to-morrow morning, as their remains will be removed.
In response to this summons, Mr. Stevens appeared promptly on the spot, and seeking out the chairman of the selectmen, Col. George S. Willis, notified him that he forbade the disturbing a particle of the earth that surrounded the graves of his friends,
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warning him that he would sue both the town and every person engaged in the act, if it were done; adding, "if you wish to see the title to that ground, read it on the moss-covered head-stones. Remove these remains as you propose, and in ten years you must remove them again. Then what will you find to remove ? "
Colonel Willis expressed his sympathy with Mr. Stevens' feel- ings; and, meeting him the next day, informed him that the board had determined not to subject themselves or the town to legal troubles, and would let the matter rest until the next town- meeting.
Mr. Stevens replied, that, since their interview, he had been thinking over the feasiblity of a cemetery, that should be large enough to suffice the town for some hundreds of years, and where the dead might rest undisturbed for all time. If such were pro vided, he would consent to the removal of his friends; and he thought that others, like situated, would also be satisfied. Colonel Willis, after brief consideration, warmly approved the idea, al- though he doubted whether the town would be ready to adopt it. He, however, drafted a petition, requesting the selectmen to call a town-meeting for the purpose of considering the subject, and Mr. Stevens undertook to procure the requisite number of signa- tures.
In doing so, his first effort was to procure the signature of some prominent citizen to head the petition ; but after applying to sev- eral-some of whom refused on account of the hopelessness of the plan, although they approved it, and others because they deemed it unnecessary-Mr. Stevens headed the list with his own name, and was able easily to obtain the signatures of other respectable citizens, although not distinguished for wealth or position; and that in the space of twenty minutes.
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