USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 64
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As a financier, Mr. Plunkett held many honorable positions. For twenty-seven years he was a director of the Agricultural Bank, and for five its president. From the first organization of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company, he was among its most influen- tial officers ; and, upon the death of Governor Briggs, in 1861, he succeeded him as president. His business-talent contributed essentially to the remarkable success of the company. His serv- ices to the town in connection with the gas and water works, Housatonic, and Boston and Albany railroads, the removal of the county-seat, and in other particulars, have been of great value.
In political life, Mr. Plunkett would doubtless have been more fortunate had his convictions permitted him to choose a side more popular in Massachusetts. But, as it was, his success was honor- able. He represented Chester in the legislatures of 1834, and 1835, and Pittsfield in those of 1868, 1869, and 1875. He was senator from Berkshire in 1842, 1843 and 1862. He was twice nominated by the democratic party for lieutenant-governor, and once for representative in congress. These positions were, how- ever, but faint indications of the esteem in which he was held. Official place sometimes offered him opportunity to effect cher- ished objects ; but, as a rule, his influence did not depend upon it.
In April, 1830, Mr. Plunkett married Miss Hannah S. Taylor of Chester, who died in 1844. In October, 1847, he married Miss Harriet Merrick Hodge of Hadley. He died October 31, 1875.
Mr. Plunkett was a man of original and energetic thought, uniquely fitted for the places which he filled. He was a close observer of men and things, with a happy faculty of adapting all he learned to whatever purpose he had in hand. His sympathies were quick, and nothing which pertained to the welfare of the community, or of the country, was foreign to them. For forty
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years he was fully identified with the public affairs of Pittsfield, and during all that time there was hardly a project for public improvements in whose discussion he did not take part, and few which he was not concerned in carrying out.1
The peculiar love which the inhabitants of mountainous regions bear to their homes, is a matter of trite remark ; and is perhaps due to the distinctness of outline and feature, which individualizes each locality, and renders it easy for the imagination to endow it with life and character. This individuality, Pittsfield, by the completeness and picturesqueness of its encircling bounds, pos- sesses in an unusual degree; and it seems to have inspired in many of its best citizens, a corresponding affection. We have already noted this attribute in several of the subjects of our biographical sketches; and, to some good extent, it characterized most of them. In the character of Mr. Plunkett it was a prominent feature. He never wavered in his love for and loyalty to the county of Berkshire and the town of Pittsfield. On his return from a tour in Europe, he declared, with enthusiastic emphasis, that, in his estimation there was no place in the entire world that could equal Pittsfield as a place of residence, and this feeling he constantly manifested in his life.
Rev. Dr. Todd shared largely in this sentiment. Indeed, it began to be inspired long before he became a resident of the town, when in the summer of 1834, passing through it on a trip to Sara- toga, he was struck with its beauty, and celebrated it eloquently in the Northampton newspapers. His biographer says, with strik- ing truth :
* No one knew him thoroughly who did not know him in Berk- shire county, in Pittsfield, in the First Church, and in his own family.
The county of Berkshire was to him the most beautiful region in the world. He would often point out its natural charms to strangers, and speak of them in his family letters, with the enthusiasm of a mind highly sensitive to the beautiful and poetic. In all this region he was recognized as a kind of bishop, partly, in later years, on account of his age and experience; partly because of his being pastor of the leading church in the county ; but most of all, on account of his strong common sense and practical wisdom, and his unconscious tendency
1 The statements and opinions regarding Mr. Plunkett, given in the text, were in part communicated to the Pittsfield newspapers, by the writer, at the time of his death. In repeating them here, the same language is sometimes used.
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to push to the front and take the lead, from sheer weight and energy of character. There was scarcely a convention or anniversary, a dedication or an installation, or a meeting or gathering of any kind, secular or religious, which did not demand his presence.
The story of Doctor Todd's pastorate in Pittsfield is included in our account of the First Church, and a general sketch of his life is rendered unnecessary in this place by the publication of an ex- cellent and universally read biography. 1
Still some general account of one who loved the town so well and conferred so much honor upon it will naturally be expected.
John Todd was born at Rutland, Vt., on the ninth of October, 1800. A few months before, his father, Dr. Timothy Todd, a noted physician of that town, and a member of the governor's council, met with an accident, which crippled him until his death which occurred when his son was six years old. Mrs. Todd being abruptly informed of the accident, and being pre-disposed to insanity, became at once a hopeless lunatic. Before his death, Dr. Timothy Todd, after several changes of residence and business, finally settled at Killingworth, Conn. In these changes his prop- erty had been nearly dissipated, and his family was left so desti- tute, that it was necessary to borrow shoes for his youngest son to wear at the funeral. The family was scattered, and John was received into the family of his father's youngest sister Matilda, who had married John Hamilton, of North Killingworth.
In the year 1810, Mr. Hamilton being a prisoner among the Spaniards, and his wife breaking up housekeeping, John lived for several months with his cousin Jeremiah Evarts, of New Haven, who had married a daughter of Roger Sherman; but, Mr. Hamil- ton returning in the spring, he again became a member of his family. In the fall of 1812, he went to live with his uncle, Dr. Jonathan Todd, at East Guilford, in order to obtain better school- ing. In 1815, his cousin, Mr. Evarts, who had removed to Charlestown, to become editor of the Panoplist, again offered him a home in his family, which was accepted. Mr. Evarts was treas-
1 JOHN TODD, the story of his life, told mainly by himself, compiled and . edited by his son, John E. Todd : New York, Harper & Brothers, 1876. John Edwards Todd, eldest son of Rev. Dr. Todd, was born at Northampton, December 6, 1834, graduated at Yale College in 1855. He was for several years pastor of the Central Church, Boston, and has since held the same position in the Church of the Redeemer, at New Haven.
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urer of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions, and was connected with several other societies; but he · seemed not to have recognized the talents of his cousin, and suffered him to work his way in his family by petty and tedious labor. Young Todd, however, steadily pursued his classical studies, with some dim view of sometime entering college. In 1817, a revival of religion commenced in Charlestown, and he was one of its subjects. This circumstance revived and intensi- fied his desire to obtain a college-education, with the ultimate view of becoming a missionary ; and, although utterly without means, and but illy fitted in his studies, he determined to make the attempt, and was admitted to Yale College in the fall of 1818. Poverty and ill health haunted him through his whole college- course, but he sustained himself by school-teaching, and by writ- ing for several publications ; receiving also some aid from Christian ladies and gentlemen who had become interested in the promising young divinity-student.
Immediately upon graduation he entered the Theological Sem- inary at Andover, where he maintained himself in the same way as at college, although with improved health and rather better pay for his literary labors. Here he was in danger of giving him- self up to a literary and editorial life, having at one time deter- mined to accept the editorship of the Boston Recorder and Tele- graph. His love of preaching saved him. In June, 1825, he was licensed to preach by the Suffolk Association of Congrega- tional Ministers, and in May, 1826, he left Andover to take charge of the Orthodox Congregational Church at Groton. Here he had a stormy pastorate of six years, the Unitarian denomination being in a majority in the town, and sectarian feeling running high
In 1832, he removed to Northampton and became pastor of the newly organized Edwards Church. Here he had a pleasant pas- torate and remained until 1834, when he accepted a call to the Clinton street Congregational Church at Philadelphia. This church, which originated in a Sabbath-school, was the first of its denomination in the city, where Presbyterianism was predominant; the undertaking at once excited the bitter opposition of that sect, . and Mr. Todd led a laborious, vexatious, and disagreeable life while engaged in it. He was, however, well-nigh successful in establish- ing the church on a firm basis. In December, 1839, he resigned
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its charge, and in January commenced preaching for the First Congregational Church at Pittsfield, over which he was installed pastor on the sixteenth of February. He thus gives his first impressions of his new home : "Everything seems strange to me here. It seems strange to see the mountains all around me covered with snow. It seems strange not to be able to leave the stove for half an hour without having all the fire burned out and the room cold. It seems strange to find the water frozen in your room, though you make up a hot fire at ten o'clock, and get up at four. It seems strange to go to meeting when the thermometer is six below zero, and stranger still to see the Baptists go down to the river and baptize seven, when the thermometer is six below zero, and a man has to stand with a rake and keep the pool from freez- ing over. Last Sabbath you might have seen the richest man in town going to church with a large buffalo-robe under his arm, which he used in his pew ; and I actually had my toes touched with frost in the pulpit." His biographer thus completes the pic- ture.
Fronting the little oval park by the side of the old town-hall, which thirty years more have not yet improved, stood the long, cupola- crowned white frame meeting-house of the First Church-an object of great admiration to its original builders, but somewhat the worse for wear, and presenting a strange contrast with the new and elegant edifice which the pastor had just left. In the interior, low galleries ran around three sides, one of them being appropriated by men, the opposite one by women, and the middle one by the choir, who were not crowded by an organ. In the back corners, under the galleries, lingered two or three box-pews claimed by some of the older families ; along the fronts of the galleries ran interminable stove-pipes, which dripped pyroligneous acid abundantly on the well stained carpets, but diffused little heat ; behind the lofty pulpit, a supposed window was concealed by faded and dingy crimson tapestry. But the cheery disposition of the new pastor, determined to look on the brightest side of everything, found some- thing even here to approve. " The church has a good bell, a very good town-clock on it, and a good clock inside, on the gallery fronting the pul- pit." In his new people he found much greater cause for satisfaction. " It is a great, rich, proud, enlightened, powerful people. They move slowly, but they tread like the elephant. They are cool, but kind, siu- cere, great at hearing, but very critical. I have never had an audience who heard so critically. There is ten times more intellect that is culti- vated than we have ever had before. You would be surprised to see how much they read. The ladies are most abundant, intelligent,
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refined, and kind. A wider, better, harder, or more interesting field no man need desire. It is large enough to make him tremble, and desira- ble enough to satisfy his most fastidious wishes."
How well Doctor Todd filled this field in his pastoral relations has been shown already ; but he was also deeply interested in all the efforts for public improvement, and in the literary institutions of the town. No one of its citizens was more jealous of its honor, or more anxious to enhance its reputation. He was an earnest advocate of the introduction of pure water, of the beauti- fying of the public streets and squares of the rural cemetery, and of all similar works, and of all measures of public instruction.
The Medical College, the Young Ladies' Institute and other seminaries ; the Young Men's Association, and the public library were all deeply indebted to him. For many years he, as well as Rev. Dr. Humphrey, plead eloquently for some such gifts as after- wards laid the foundation for the athenaeum; and his selection as one of the trustees was a just recognition of his previous efforts. Doctor Todd's reputation as an author reflected honor upon the town, and a brief record of his works will not be out of place here. He appears to have had an early predilection for literary work. Indeed, at one time he seems to have been in doubt, although not very long, whether he should abandon the pulpit for the editorial chair. This was in 1825, when, being a student at Andover, he was invited to become editor of the Boston Recorder and Telegraph; and did edit the Christian Almanac. He first began the writing of books at Northampton, in 1833, his object being to aid himself in the support of his insane and widowed mother. His first book and one of his most popular was Lectures to Children. This was followed by Simple Sketches and the Student's Manual; which last, his biographer rightly considers as on the whole, perhaps, the most important of all his published works. "For nearly forty years," says Mr. Todd, "it has found a place in students' libraries, and to this day enjoys the singular distinction of being the only standard authority in the field which it occupies. During his whole life, the author was constantly receiving letters of thanks from men in this and other lands, for the influence exerted upon them by this book. It has passed through a great many editions in England, as well as in this country; over one hundred and fifty thousand copies having been sold to young men in London alone."
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In 1847, Doctor Todd published Stories on The Shorter Cate- chism, and in 1867, " two little books * * Serpents in the Dove's Nest; a plain and forcible treatise upon certain prevalent vices ; * * * and Woman's Rights, a presentation of his views upon that much discussed subject."
In 1869, he visited California, and took part in the ceremonies at the uniting of the eastern and western sections of the Pacific railroad. On his return, he delivered a course of lectures, the profits from which he gave to the Young Men's Association. They were published in a handsome volume, and formed one of the most popular and interesting accounts of the golden state.
Besides his larger works, he wrote many smaller tracts and newspaper-essays which were quite as widely read, and had as powerful an influence. Among these, one of the most valued in Pittsfield is that styled Polished Diamonds; being an account of the Christian life of his eldest daughter during a painful illness of many years.
Henry Laurens Dawes was born at Cummington, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, October 30, 1816. His family is a branch of that of the same name which is distinguished in politics and literature in eastern Massachusetts. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 1839. While a student at law he taught school and edited the Greenfield Gazette. He was admitted to the bar in 1842, and commenced practice at North Adams, where, for a time, he edited the Transcript. He also represented that town in the legislatures of 1848, 1849, and 1852 ; and in the constitutional convention of 1853. In 1850, he was elected to the state-senate. From 1853 until 1857, he was district-attorney for the western district of Massachusetts. In 1857, there being a very decisive contest pending, regarding the future status of political parties, Mr. Dawes, being the exponent of republican principles in the westernmost district of Massachusetts, was chosen by a large majority over the democratic and American candidates. And he represented this district until 1874, when he declined a re-nomination. In the following session of the legislature, he was chosen a senator of the United States.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MISCELLANEOUS.
[1800-1876.]
Agricultural society-Schools-Newspapers-Removal of county-buildings -Banks and insurance company-Academy of Music-Abraham Burbank -Edward Learned-New manufactures-Valuation and census.
T "THE Berkshire Agricultural Society, whose story we left in the year 1825, has continued to flourish, and its transactions have often been interesting and important; but none specially connect it with the town of Pittsfield, until the purchase of exhi- bition-grounds, in the year 1855.
This was not at that time an entirely new project. As early as 1822, on motion of Thomas Gold, the society voted " to provide a permanent location of land, in Pittsfield, for a show-ground- either by purchase or leasing, as might be most for the benefit of the society-and that the executive committee look for some suit- able place, ascertain the terms, and report at a special meeting." There is no mention of any such report; but at the annual meet- ing of 1823, on motion of Hon. Phinehas Allen, Samuel D. Colt, John Dickinson, and Thomas B. Strong were appointed a com- mittee to correspond with Henry W. Dwight, then at Washing- ton,1 to ascertain if the society could lease the Cantonment grounds, and if so, to obtain the terms from the government. The com- mittee were directed to report at the next quarterly meeting of the executive committee, who were authorized, if they should deem the terms advantageous, to lease the premises for one or more years. No mention is made in the record of any farther action, and the project seems to have slumbered until 1855.
On the 9th of January in that year, the society voted that the time had come to purchase land for its annual cattle-show and
1 Mr. Dwight was at this time president of the society as well as member of Congress.
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fair ; and the following committee were appointed to consider the feasibility and expediency of the plan : E. H. Kellogg and Henry Colt of Pittsfield, Socrates Squier, Justus Tower and Eli Bradley of Lanesboro, William E. Johnson and Asahel Foote, of Wil- liamstown, and Joshua R. Lawton of Great Barrington.
At a special meeting, May 1st, the committee reported favor- ably, and, after much discussion, the society gave them full powers to make arrangements for the purchase.
On the 7th of July the committee-to which Hon. Julius Rock- well was added-were authorized to purchase the land for which they had taken a bond of William W. Goodman; and, on the 31st, these grounds-which embrace twenty-nine and two-thirds acres on the west side of Wahconah street a mile and a half north of the park-were deeded to the society by Mr. Goodman, the price paid being twenty-two hundred dollars.
On the 23d of July, Socrates Squier, Henry Colt and Robert Pomeroy were appointed a sub-committee to erect such fences and buildings as they might deem necessary, and prepare suitable grounds for the exhibition of horses.
The eastern portion of the land purchased of Mr. Goodman is rather an abrupt hill-side, which leads to a broad and nearly level surface, in much the larger portion of the estate. On this eleva- tion, which commands superb views of the neighboring scenery, the committee erected, near the brow of the hill, a plain wooden building of one story in the form of the letter T, having a length of one hundred feet, and a breadth of forty. The traverse is one hundred and twenty long by forty wide. The interior was left rough without paint or plaster. The roof was surrounded by a railing and seats, and furnishes a delightful promenade. A few rods west of this building, which is styled Agricultural Hall, an excellent half-mile track, on a perfectly level surface, was built for the exhibition of horses and the trial of their speed. On the north-east of the hall a block of booths, containing some fifteen stalls, was provided for the sale of refreshments and other articles. In 1860, a dining-hall, forty feet square, was added to the north end of the exhibition-building, giving it the shape of a cross. Sheds and barns for the protection of stock brought to the cattle- shows have since been added at different times.
The expenditures, in 1855, were as follows : for the hall, built by Abraham Burbank, twenty-two hundred dollars ; for the fence,
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built by Thomas G. Atwood, eight hundred dollars ; for track and roads, built by O. H. Beach, eight hundred and fifty dollars. Total, three thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars.
There has been since expended : for additional booths, seven hundred and fifty dollars; for dining-room and secretary's office added to the hall, six hundred dollars; for barn, eight hundred dollars ; for sheds, four hundred dollars ; for new gate and treas- urer's office, five hundred and fifty dollars. Total, thirty-one hun- dred dollars-making the grand total of expenditures on the grounds, except for ordinary repairs and some small items, six thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars.
Up to the year 1855, the cost of premiums and the small inci- dental expenses of the society were defrayed by the annual inter- est of the notes of members and the state-appropriation, with occa- sional private donations.1
The exhibitions of cattle and other stock, were made at first on the park, and afterwards upon the town-lot on First street, north of the Boston and Albany railroad. Household-manufactures, agricultural implements, vegetables, fruit and the like small arti- cles were displayed after 1832 until 1848, in the town-hall, and after the latter date in Burbank's hall, on North street. Both of these rooms were usually crowded to suffocation on the exhibition- days-as even the larger exhibition-hall on the society's grounds still is.
Prior to 1855, there was no charge for admission to any of the departments of the society's exhibitions, and it derived no income from the rent of booths; but from that date the receipts from rents and entrance-fees for four years were as follows: 1855, thirteen hundred dollars ; 1856, fifteen hundred and fifty dollars; 1857, seventeen hundred dollars; 1858, fifteen hundred and seventy-five dollars. In 1875, the receipts from these sources were seventeen hundred and twenty-four dollars.
The premiums awarded in the four years after the exhibition
1 These private donations were very rare after the state began to grant its aid to the society. Before that, they were an essential part of its income. In 1813, Allan Melville, brother of Major Melville, and father of Herman and Allan Melville, obtained a hundred and thirty-eight dollars for it from friends in Boston, and T. Storm, of New York, made it a donation of fifty dollars. It awarded, that year, three hundred and sixty-six dollars in premiums. In 1814, Major Melville obtained one hundred and twenty-five dollars from citizens of Boston, and the premiums amounted to five hundred and twenty-three dollars.
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was removed to the society's grounds, varied from nine hundred to eleven hundred and seventy-five dollars. In the four years ending with 1875, they were as follows: 1872, three thousand five hundred and twenty-two dollars ; 1873, three thousand four hundred and forty-six dollars ; 1874, three thousand two hundred and forty-five dollars ; in 1875, two thousand eight hundred and seventy-five dollars.
In 1855, also, a change was made in the basis of membership in the society. The practice of accepting the notes of members as an endowment of the institution, and the payment of the interest as an annual fee was done away with, and provision was made for two classes only : honorary and ordinary. The honorary members consist only of distinguished agriculturists, or eminent advocates of the agricultural interest, residing out of the county. They are elected by the executive committee, and may speak but not vote in the meetings of the society. Ordinary members become such either by the payment of one dollar annually, or the payment of ten dollars in advance, which constitutes them life- members. Ladies become life-members on the payment of five dollars. In 1875, the society numbered one thousand and fifty- one members, of whom four hundred and twenty-one resided in Pittsfield, and one hundred and six in Lanesboro. About half were members for life. The receipts from annual members in 1875, were four hundred and eighty-seven dollars ; from new life-members they were one hundred and twelve dollars. These figures will serve to show something of the growth of the society. Still other changes incidental to the purchase of the cattle-show grounds were the extension of the festival from two days to three, and increased encouragement for the exhibition of horses. At the cattle-show of 1853, there was only one division of this class of animals, and the premiums amounted to only sixty-six dollars. In 1854, there were two divisions-horses, mares and colts-and the premiums were seventy-one dollars. In 1855, the number of divisions be- came five, besides one for female equestrianism ; and one hundred and forty-one dollars awarded in premiums. In 1857, there were six divisions, and the premiums were one hundred and eighty-four dollars. Since then the policy of the society has varied in regard to the amount appropriated for the encouragement of trotting-horses.
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