USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 8
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[1800-1810.]
Charles Goodrich-Woodbridge Little-Rev. Thomas Allen-Dr. Timothy Childs-David Campbel !- Henry Van Schaack-Oliver Wendell-Henry H. Childs-Thomas Allen, Jr .- Jonathan Allen-Rev. William Allen- James D. Colt-Samuel D. Colt-Jolin B. Root-Oliver Root-Lemuel Pomeroy - Phinehas Allen - Jason Clapp-John W. Hulbert - Ezekiel Bacon-The generation as a whole-The town epitomized.
T. THE year 1800 found, still prominent among the citizens of Pittsfield, many who had been active in its affairs during revolutionary and provincial times, and who generally retained the characteristics which had marked their earlier career.
Capt. Charles Goodrich, who in 1752 became the first settler of note in Poontoosuck plantation, and whose peculiar, but large and honorable part, in the earlier history of the town, we have chron- icled, was in 1800, at the age of 81, as resolute, as energetic, and as combatant in his federal leadership, as he had been in 1776-81, when we knew him as the champion in doubly-rebellious Berk- shire, of the government at Boston which, with the banner of revolt and independence in one hand, clung desperately with the other to that broken reed of legitimate rule, a mutilated and forfeited royal charter.
Woodbridge Little, still, at 59, in the full vigor of his intel- lect, with the pen and the living voice, displayed the same ability in his advocacy of federalism, and the same dread of popular power, that he exhibited when he plead the cause of the tories and the conservative whigs against the violent radicalism of the revolutionary committees of Berkshire. Mr. Little's abhorrence of change was constitutional, and extended to lesser matters as well as to politics. A curious illustration of this trait in his char- acter occurred in his later years. The roads from north-eastern
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Berkshire, including the great Boston highway through Windsor and Dalton, reached East street, then the principal business section of Pittsfield, by a road which ran directly south from a point near Mr. Little's house, to Elm street ; a very circuitous route. In the year 1806 a proposition was made in town-meet- ing to open what is now known as Beaver street in a direct line from Mr. Little's house to the foot of East street, affording a very great convenience to himself and the public. But it broke up the old order of things, brought him a little more in contact with the world as it was-a very small corner of it, then, to be sure-and disturbed a little the old form and dimensions of his farm ; and, true to his conservative instincts, he opposed the new avenue with the bitterest vehemence, and was able to postpone its construction until 1811.1
Mr. Little died in 1813, retaining his resentment to the last, and leaving directions that his funeral-procession should pass over the old road, and by no means over the new avenue, which he had never used in life; neither winter's storms nor summer's suns having ever once driven him to deviate from the true con- servative route to church and post-office ; although he had been compelled by stress of circumstances to accept the new federal- republican government, as a tolerable substitute for royal rulc.
In considering those days of absorbing political strife, politi- cal classification naturally first suggests itself, and another lead- ing federalist whose connection with public life, although in 1800 he was but forty-seven years old, dated back to revolution- ary times, was John Chandler Williams. A little eccentric in manner, as it seems to have been thoughit good for dignitaries to be, but revered for much professional learning, for the sound- est wisdom and the most incorruptible integrity in matters both great and small, Mr. Williams transacted his business as a law- yer and magistrate in the quaint and dusty office in the north- west corner of his gambrel-roofed mansion, where he began the practice of his profession in 1782, and where he continued it until his death. Taking an active, earnest and decided part in all classes of public affairs, he of course met many earnest, active, and decided opponents ; but few, if any, continued their hostility to him after the passion of the conflict had subsided.
1The final vote to build the road passed in 1810, but it was not opened until 1811.
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Prominent among the magnates of the town, was Thomas Gold. This gentleman, a son of Rev. Hezekiel Gold of Cornwall, Con- necticut, was born in 1760, graduated at Yale college in 1778, and commenced the practice of the law at Pittsfield in 1782. Like most of the graduates of Yale who early became residents of Pittsfield, he was a man of elegant culture and refined tastes. As a lawyer he was able and shrewd to a marked degree. In matters of public as well as of private business, he was enter- prising, discreet and clear-headed. We shall find him occupying positions of great responsibility in the town and in public insti- tutions, with advantage to his constituents. As a politician he was active and ambitious, but the voters did not implicitly trust him, and he was more successful in acquiring property than in obtaining office. We have noticed his early escapade as a par- ticipant in the Shays rebellion; but growing years had taught him conservatism, and in 1800 he ranked with the most decided federalists.
Ashbel Strong, a lawyer of ability and a man of scholarly tastes, was a federalist of some note. He was born at New Marl- . boro, January 19, 1754, the son of Rev. Thomas Strong, the first minister of that town, who was a native of Northampton and a graduate of Yale. Ashbel graduated at Yale in 1776, having been admitted to the Berkshire bar two years before. In 1792 he married Mary, or as the town-record has it " Polly," daughter of Major Israel Stoddard, and granddaughter of Hon. Israel Williams of Hatfield. He represented Pittsfield in the legisla- ture of 1799 and was appointed county-attorney in 1802. Hav- ing no children of his own, he educated in his family two neph- ews and a niecc. He died in 1809.
Another man long of note and influence in town, was Capt. David Campbell. Captain Campbell was the grandson of Rev. John Campbell, a Scottish divine, who having received a classical and theological education at Edinburgh, emigrated to America in 1717, and in 1724 became pastor of the church in Oxford, Mass. His grandson removed to Pittsfield about the year 1790. He was a man of large and varied information, of a genial and generous temperament; active, but cool and of the shrewdest judgment, in his business-affairs. It can hardly be said of such a man that he was fickle in his pursuits ; but he certainly made frequent changes in them, being by turns, farmer, trader, tavern-
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keeper and manufacturer. There is a tradition, of suggestive exaggeration, that there was not a desirable piece of real-estate in Pittsfield that he did not at some time own. In politics he was a federalist. In person those who knew him late in life describe him as portly, dignified and commanding.
Last, but far from the least, of the federalists of the eldest generation, was Henry Van Schaack, who still loved to descant on the virtues of Washington and Adams to his neighbors; to the lawyers who at every adjournment of the court at Lenox flocked to his hospitable mansion; the trustees of Williams col- lege, who made it their rendezvous on their way to commence- ment ;1 and to the magnates of the federal party, who, including Hamilton, were from time to time his guests, and with whom it was his greatest pleasure to share his rich wines and sparkling cider.
Mr. Van Schaack had been a very thorough and intelligent student of the federal constitution, and appears to have been more perfectly satisfied with its guaranties of stability in govern- ment than were many of his fellows in politics, who, although they had never been tories, yet distrusted the new order of things as without sufficient powers of self-preservation. Mr. Van Schaack was, however, not a mere politician. He had become a scholar of fair attainments in many branches of learning, without the aid of schools ; but he did not undervalue their advantages, and was the ardent friend of educational institutions of every grade. We have already described his strong interest in relig- ious affairs, and his arduous exertions in behalf of the equality of all denominations before the law. In business, although his
1It was the custom for the Rev. Mr. Judson of Sheffield, the trustee in the county who lived farthest south, to pick up his colleagues along the route, so that they arrived at Williamstown in a body. The southern members, on reaching Pittsfield invariably partook of the good cheer of their associate, Mr. Van Schaack; and under the influence of his cider and madeira, many a solemn witticism and grave joke were perpetrated. Mr. Judson, the only democrat on the board, was subjected to much good-humored banter for liis politics' sake ; but the shafts of wit which were aimed at him could not have been very fatal, since it was considered a brilliant sally when, the host having asked Mr. Judson whether he would have federal or democratic cider, and he answering, as was expected, that he preferred the democratic, received a glass of a particularly hard beverage ; while the rest of the party were smil- ing over that which " equalled the best champagne."
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early life had been spent in mercantile pursuits, and although he was not dependent on the product of his farm, he was a skillful, enthusiastic and industrious practical farmer, in which connec- tion a characteristic anecdote is told of him. One Jones, a neigh- bor whose passion for talking federal politics knew no bounds, nor distinction of time or place, ealled upon him while he was at work in his potato-field, and began upon his favorite theme. "Yes, yes," interrupted Mr. Van Schaack impatiently, “ Yes, yes, neighbor Jones, I know all that well-very well. Adams and Pitt are great and good men-very great and good men ; and Tom Jefferson and Napoleon are rascals, very great rascals ; no doubt about it, neighbor Jones. And democracy is going to be the ruin of the country, and federalism is the only safe and sound doctrine ; no doubt about it at all. I know all that, neigh- bor Jones, well, very well,-but potatoes must be hoed !" And, that being the duty which just then lay nearest to him, he set about it with a vigor which utterly discomfited poor Jones, and sent him away with a budding suspicion as to the faithfulness of his veteran leader.
A devoted ally and highly-prized counselor of the Pittsfield federalists, although only a summer-resident, and not a voter in the town, was Judge Oliver Wendell of Boston. Judge Wendell took a deep interest in the political conflict which raged in Pitts- field with exceptional bitterness even in that era of bitter politi- cal strife, and as his patriotism was long-tried and unquestioned, his name was of great value to the cause which he espoused.
Passing to the democrats of the earliest generation, Rev. Thomas Allen is first met ; as energetic, as earnest and as uncom- promising as a leader of the Jeffersonian republicans, as he had been of the radical revolutionary whigs. He loved democracy, as under some name he had always loved it, as the very perfect flowering of Christianity; and he hated federalism, as he had always hated the royalty, which he firmly believed that he detected under its mask. If he contended against this half-dis- guised foe with too little charity for those who differed from him, it must be said also, that it was with utter disregard of his own comfort and pecuniary interests. If he gave up to party too much of the energies and talents which, we conceive, might have been better employed in behalf of religion, education, or the merely material affairs of the town, we must remember that it was to
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contend for principles whose triumph, he honestly believed, was essential to any wholesome and permanent development of those great interests.
But, deep as was his concern in political affairs, and devoted as his labors were in behalf of Jeffersonian doctrines, it is to be doubted whether he, to any very censurable degree, neglected for them, any of his more immediate duties. In the heated discus- sions of the day he was charged with giving the time which ought to have been spent on his sermons to indite political arti- ticles for the Sun ; but it seems clear that the style and substance of his pulpit-labors were acceptable even to those who objected to " the introduction of affairs of state" in them, and it is likely that the opportunity afforded of expressing his views in the col- umns of a newspaper, often counteracted the temptation to interlard a sermon with them. As to other pastoral labors, even the children of federal families retain a loving memory of his tender and sympathizing manner in performing them. His regard for common schools, which he so generously manifested when a scantily-paid young minister, continued to the last. It is evidence of his faithful parental care that in the year 1800, he was surrounded by sons, to all of whom he had given a good- and to two of them a classical-education, and all of whom by his aid entered upon active life under favorable auspices. Nor was he less regardful of his daughters. Indeed, his story is full of incidents showing the warmth of his parental love. Let these features in the character of the man and the minister, be remembered when we are called upon to relate the part which his views of right compelled him to take in the heated political conflict which divided the town and the church into two hostile parties.
Another leading man, quite as decided in his political opinions, but rather less emphatic and energetic in their defense, was Dr. Timothy Childs, who, at the age of fifty-two, was at the head of his profession in Pittsfield, although not so exclusively its physi- cian, as when in 1775 the town-meeting requested him "to return from the army, as it was very sickly here." We have already sketched his character.
Col. Joshua Danforth still kept his store on East street, but, the federalists being in power, had lost his office of postmaster, which probably did not tend to mollify his political feeling.
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Still, earnest and well-defined, as his opinions were, his knowledge of mankind, acquired in the army and by business-contact with many classes, had taught him a toleration unknown to his asso- ciates. It had also been his good fortune to meet the enemies of his country. only in open conflict on the battle-field, while they had grown morbidly vindictive towards, and distrustful of, all political opponents, in the more rancorous encounters of pen and tongue ; as well as by a constant, jealous watch of the machina- tions of the concealed adherents of Great Britain : many of whom they still found arrayed against them under a new name. The soldier was enabled to preserve a generous trust which cankered in the politician.1
Among the most influential and able leaders of the democrats, was Simon Larned, who was born in 1756, at Thompson, Conn. He was an officer of merit in the revolutionary war, and at the close of that contest, he removed in 1784 to Pittsfield. From 1792 to 1812 he was high sheriff of Berkshire, and in 1804 was elected to congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. Thomson J. Skinner. In town-affairs he took a leading part. He is described as "a man of few words, deep judgment, and of rare wit and humor."
While so many of those whose services extended back into the past century were thus in the full vigor of life, several young men, natives of the town, began about the year 1800, to take an active part in its affairs.
Dr. Childs and Rev. Mr. Allen were especially happy in sons who inherited their political and religious opinions, and defended them with ardor and ability. We briefly sketch the early life of those afterwards most prominent in town-affairs.
Thomas Allen, Jr., was born in 1769, graduated at Harvard in 1789, and was admitted to the bar in 1792. He commenced prac- tice at Sheffield, but soon removed to his native town. In his profession, he is represented to have been "skillful, learned and eloquent;" " and also," adds his eulogist, "just and merciful." No meaningless praise in times when mercy, at least, was far from the chief attribute of the law. His temper, by nature placid and not easily ruffled, was fiery enough when roused : placable and forgiving when the immediate cause of irritation was
1 By a typographical error in the first volume of this work, Col. Danforth's birth-place was given as " Weston." It was Williamstown.
Par Alen
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removed. Earnest, unwavering and uncompromising in his political faith and conduct, a forcible and persuasive speaker, of agreeable figure and address, it is no wonder that he was the idol of the democratic party of his vicinity, who had few representa- tives in the legal profession. Still he was no bigot of party, and had qualities of head and heart which won him the esteem and friendship of the best among those whom he most strenuously opposed in public affairs, as was emphatically shown at the time of his death. He was elected representative in 1805, and died at Boston, while serving a second term, March 22, 1806. His last illness, which was very painful, lasted twenty-three days, during which his bedside was watched by leading men of both political parties. His funeral services were conducted by Rev. Dr. Baldwin, an eminent Baptist divine of Boston, and the most conspicuous champion of the voluntary system of supporting public worship. His pall-bearers were his classmates, Rev. Dr. Kirkland, President of Harvard University; Rev. Wm. Emerson, D. D., pastor of the First Church in Boston, and Geo. Blake, Esq., together with Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, speaker of the House, Perez Morton, who had been the democratic candidate for speaker, and Hon. John Wells, a prominent member. Among the carriages in the funeral-procession was that of the democratic governor, Sullivan, and the remains found rest, where they still repose, in the tomb of the federal Wendells in King's Chapel burial-ground.
Jonathan Allen was born in March, 1773, and passing his boy- hood amid the turmoils of the revolution and the internal troubles which followed, he received such education as could be obtained from the village-schools, and from his father, who, it will be recollected, was a scholar of more than ordinary attain- ments in classical and historical lore, and moreover a diligent stu- dent of political and moral economy.
With such preparation, Jonathan Allen began his business life, about the year 1795, by opening a store in the small gam- brel-roofed building on the south-west corner of the Allen home- stead lot. He was a man of active mind and versatile talents, which led him into various enterprises, public and private, and involved him in the varying fortunes which are the usual results of such a temperament. But he possessed in an eminent degree the family traits of energy, perseverance and elasticity of pur-
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pose, which carried him safely through, or over, every difficulty. Hon. Henry Hubbard, who knew him long and intimately, described him as " sedate, but cheerful, of great liberality, im- partiality and fortitude, and as exerting always a considerable, and sometimes a leading, influence in the state-legislature, of each branch of which he was several times a member." "He was one of those," added Mr. Hubbard, " who, although too young to be an actor in the scenes of the revolution, were yet molded by it in character." The opinions and feelings thus formed were intensified, by the contest in which, from his earliest youth, he saw his father engaged, against those whom, under various names, he deemed the enemies of his country's liberties. It thus hap- pened that, although a young and busy merchant, he was early found deeply engaged in the Jeffersonian politics of the day.
Throughout his life he continued devoted to the same princi- ples, and many of his happiest intellectual efforts were made in political addresses, either from the voice or pen, during the many years in which he was chairman of the democratic county-com- mittee. In these addresses, as well as in those before the agricul- tural society and on like occasions, he displayed singular clearness and vigor of thought and expression, and a very wide range of knowledge. The large influence which he enjoyed was legiti- mately acquired, and judiciously exercised.
William Allen was born in January, 1874, and graduated at Harvard in 1802. In his later years he was widely known as professor in Dartmouth, and president of Bowdoin college, and as the author of several literary works ; the most valuable of which was his " Biographical Dictionary," the first of its class in Amer- ica, and a volume displaying very industrious research. Earnest in his convictions and little tolerant of adverse opinions, he fav- ored strong, if not arbitrary, measures in the repression of what he considered error. With less knowledge of human nature than his brothers, he often failed of carrying his points by pressing them, not so much too strenously as with too obvious stress. But few men excelled him in conscientious regard for duty, in genu- ine benevolence, in love for right and hatred of wrong, as he saw them. As a writer, his style, although somewhat prolix, was pure and scholarly. As a preceptor, he was one of the most learned in the country, in his time ; but he failed as the governing-head of a college by attempting to enforce too strictly the letter of the
Eng by HB Hall & Sons 13 Barclay StNY
your'- affecty Chiles
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law, relying too little on the better traits of student character. As a clergyman, adhering strictly to the orthodox Congregational church, he preached its doctrines and administered its discipline faithfully. In 1800, he was only sixteen years old, but we shall find him a few years later defending his father in a very able pamphlet.
Henry Halsey Childs, son of Dr. Timothy Childs, and grand- son of Col. James Easton, was born in 1783, and graduated at Williams college in 1802 ; manifesting at his graduation qualities which continued to distinguish him through life.
At that time all the faculty and, with one exception, all the trustees, were federalists, and very earnest ones. Young Childs was quite as strenuously of the opposite party, and the com- mencement oration, which he submitted to the president for approval, was filled with the rankest Jeffersonian democracy : little short of blasphemy in the judgment of the academic critics while his laudations of the new president, whom they regarded as an infidel in religion and a Jacobin in politics, were profuse. Of course this odious heresy was strictly interdicted. But on con- mencement day when Childs mounted the stage, instead of the harmless sentences which had been substituted and approved, out came the condemned heresies, trebled in force by the resentment of the young politician. "Childs ! Childs !" exclaimed the aston- ished president. But those who knew the speaker in his later days will readily believe that no presiding officer could silence Henry Childs, with words, when he was bent upon talking. The orator went on to the end, amid mingled applause and hisses ; for though his sympathizers were few on the platform, they were many on the floor.
We relate this incident simply as very characteristic of one who afterwards filled a marked place in the history of the town. A bold, self-reliant and impulsive man, it would have been strange had he not sometimes erred. Energetic, enthusiastic and generally practical, thoroughly devoted to whatever he undertook, he was for the most part successful.
We have already mentioned J. D. & S. D. Colt as commencing, in 1799, a prosperous mercantile business. Both were also men of strong personal qualities, interested and influential in town and other public affairs, and decided, although not violent, politi- cians of the federal school. James Denison Colt, Jr., the senior
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partner, born in 1767, had in 1800 already occupied places of trust in the town-government, and won an enviable reputation, which he retained through life, as a man of sound intellect and the most correct principles both in business and in morals. Sam- uel Dickinson Colt, born in 1779, was in 1800 barely twenty-one years old. He was only the half-brother of his partner, being the son of Capt. J. D. Colt by his second wife, Miriam, daughter of Col. Wm. Williams ; from whom he inherited a lively and mer- curial disposition with somewhat of that " magnificent spirit," which, according to his epitaph, distinguished his maternal grandfather.1
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