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 UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 SPECIAL 
 COLLECTIONS 
 
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 1878 
 
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LEE 
 
 The Centennial Celebration, 
 
 Centennial History 
 
 TOWN OF LEE, MASS. 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 REV. C. M. HYDE, D.D 
 
 AND 
 
 ALEXANDER HYDE. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY VOTE OF THE TOWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD. MASS.: 
 CLARK W. BRYAN & COMPANY. PRINTERS 
 
 1878. 
 

CONTENTS. 
 
 PAET I. 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. PAOE - 
 
 Introductory — High School Reunion — Mr. Rice's address — Prof. Bar- 
 low's address— Mrs. Frissell's poem — Miss Holder's hymn — Reunion 
 dinner and speeches — Alumni association, ..... 3 
 
 CENTENNIAL DAY. 
 
 Mr. Garfield's greeting— Mr. Canning's ode— Mr. Taylor's address of 
 welcome — Response of Mr. Hyde— Miss Holder's anthem — Mr 
 Chamber lin's historical address — Mr. Palmer's poem — At and after 
 the dinner — Mr. Babcock's poem — Incidents of the day — Mr. Foote's 
 letter — List of visitors, 39 
 
 PART II. 
 
 HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Prefatory note— Topographical description — Early settlements in 
 Berkshire — Indian occupants — Hoplands — Hartwood — The Grants ; 
 Williams, Larrabees, Glass-works — Incorporation — Gen. Lee — 
 First settlers — Organization — Revolutionary period — Shays' rebel- 
 lion — War of 1812 — Development of manufactures — War of seces- 
 sion — 37th regiment — 49th regiment — Incidents of the war — 
 Changes in business — Memorial Hall — Social life in early days — 
 Social life in middle of century, 107 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 Congregational Church— Church edifices — Congregational parish — 
 Church at South Lee— Methodist Church— African Church — Bap- 
 tist Church— St. George's Church— St. Mary's Church, . . .206 
 
 EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 
 
 Common schools — Lee Academy — High School— Grammar School — 
 
 Hopland School Corporation, ........ 252 
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE. 
 
 Roads and bridges— Repairing highways— Turnpikes— Pittsfield and 
 Stockbridge railroad — Lee and New Haven railroad — Lee and Hud- 
 son railroad — Town poor — Cemetery — Fire district, . . . 261 
 
 °) o \ n \ 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 INDUSTRIAL. page. 
 
 Early industries — Paper manufacturers — Samuel Church — W. W. & 
 C. Laflin— John Nye & Co.— Whyte & Hulbert— J. & L. Church— 
 Platner & Smith — Smith Paper Co. — Owen & Hurlbut — Hurlbut 
 Paper Co. — Harrison Garfield & Benton Brothers — Chaffee & Ham- 
 blin— E. & S. May and S. S. Rogers— P. C Baird— James Gillmor, 275 
 
 OTHER INDUSTRIES. 
 
 Rag-Engines — Water- Wheels — Marble — Lumber — Coal — Markets — 
 
 Merchants — Mechanics — Public houses, 301 
 
 PROFESSIONAL. 
 Lawyers — Physicians, 321 
 
 POST-MASTERS. 329 
 
 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Society for Promotion of Good Morals — First town Library — Lee 
 Bank — Savings Bank — Young Men's Association — Cornet Band 
 and Band Association — Fern Cliff Association — Library Associa- 
 tion — Farmers' Club — Free Masons —Hibernians, .... 330 
 
 OFFICIAL AND STATISTICAL. 
 
 List of town officers, representatives, etc. — State senators — County 
 commissioners — Justices of Police Court— Roll of honor — Popula- 
 lation, property and products — Conclusion, 337 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Rev. Alvan Hyde, D. 1)., ....... Frontispiece. 
 
 High School, 6 
 
 Residence of Harrison Garfield, ........ 40 
 
 Residence of William Taylor, 43 
 
 Residence of Wellington Smith, SI 
 
 Residence of Alexander Hyde, ........ 93 
 
 Memorial Hall, 183 
 
 Residence of Dewitt S. Smith, 195 
 
 Rev. Nahum Gale, D. D., 219 
 
 First Church— built in 1780, 226 
 
 Second Church— built in 1800, 230 
 
 Congregational Church. 236 
 
 Methodist Church, 241 
 
 Baptist Church, 245 
 
 St. George's Church (Episcopal), 249 
 
 St. Mary's Church (Catholic), 251 
 
 Residence of Elizur Smith, 291 
 
 Columbia Mill of Smith Paper Company, ...... 293 
 
 Paper Mill of Hurlbut Paper Company, ...... 296 
 
 Residence of F. S. Gross, . 304 
 
 Residence of Dr. C. C. Holcombe, 329 
 
 Residence of John Stallman 342 
 
PART I. 
 
 The Centennial Celebration 
 
THE LEE CENTENNIAL. 
 
 The idea of celebrating the Centennial Anniversary of 
 the incorporation of Lee, so far as is known, originated 
 with the late Rev. Nahum Gale, D. D., pastor of the 
 Congregational church, who said, with his characteristic 
 humor, to the editor of The Gleaner, " In 1877 occurs 
 the Centennial of Lee, and you must blow for it." The 
 editor obeyed the injunction of his pastor, and the 
 subject was duly ventilated in the village paper. As this 
 is an era of Centennials, it was not difficult to create a 
 public sentiment in favor of this local celebration, 
 though, we are sorry to add, the author of the idea did 
 not live to participate in the social Reunion of the town 
 of Lee, which he had anticipated with so much pleasure, 
 and of which, had his life been spared, he would have 
 been the soul. It is due to Doctor Gale to say, that the 
 enterprise was carried through substantially in the man- 
 ner in which he blocked it out, when he first made the 
 suggestion. 
 
 At the annual town meeting held in Lee, April 3, 
 1876, the following vote was passed on the article in the 
 warrant : " To see what action the town will take with 
 reference to the celebration of the hundredth anniversary 
 of the incorporation of the town." " Voted, that the 
 town celebrate its Centennial in an appropriate manner, 
 and that a Committee of Thirteen be appointed to make 
 all necessary arrangements to carry this vote into effect." 
 In accordance with this vote, a Committee of Three was 
 
4 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 named by the chair, to select the Centennial Committee. 
 This Nominating Committee reported the following 
 names : 
 
 Harrison Garfield, Charles Bradley, Edwin Sturges, 
 
 E. S. May, Nathan Gibbs, H. C. Hurlbut, 
 
 Henry Smith, John Branning, S. S. May, 
 
 Elizur Smith, Alexander Hyde, A. G. Hulbert, 
 
 William Taylor. 
 
 This report was duly accepted and adopted. 
 
 The Centennial Committee was subsequently organized 
 by the selection of Harrison Garfield as Chairman, 
 Nathan Gibbs, Secretary, and J. L. Kilbon, Treasurer. As 
 the hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the 
 town occurred late in the season, (October 18,) it was 
 voted that the celebration take place Thursday, Septem- 
 ber 13, and a Sub-committee, consisting of Harrison 
 Garfield, Alexander Hyde and William Taylor, was ap- 
 pointed to select a suitable person to deliver the histor- 
 ical address on the occasion, and prepare a history of the 
 town for publication. This committee made choice of 
 Rev. Charles M. Hyde, D. D., of Haverhill, Mass., as the 
 orator and historian, who accepted the appointment, and 
 soon commenced his investigations of the history of the 
 town. Doctor Hyde had covered, more or less perfectly, 
 over three hundred pages of historical notes, when he 
 was appointed, early in 1877, by the A. B. C. F. M., 
 President of the Pacific Theological Institute at Honolulu. 
 The acceptance of this appointment necessitated his 
 leaving the country, and the committee selected Hon. 
 Franklin Chamberlin, of Hartford, Conn., as Cen- 
 tennial orator, and Alexander Hyde of Lee, to complete 
 the history of the town, and superintend its publication. 
 Both these gentlemen accepted and fulfilled their ap- 
 pointments. 
 
 At the annual town meeting held April 2, 1877, there 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 was an article in the warrant, asking an appropriation 
 for the expenses of celebrating the Centennial of the 
 town, and the action on the article was as follows : Voted, 
 " To raise and appropriate eight hundred dollars for 
 printing and publishing the history of the town, and the 
 expenses connected therewith." As the law did not 
 authorize the assessment of a tax for the necessary inci- 
 dental expenses of the Centennial Celebration, the com- 
 mittee decided to defray these personally, the chairman 
 offering to advance the funds. We are happy to add 
 that all bills were promptly paid by Mr. Garfield, and 
 that the subscription for his reimbursement, on the part 
 of the committee and others, was cheerful and generous. 
 
 A circular was issued by the committee, March 1, 
 1877, giving notice of the celebration, and inviting all 
 former residents of the town and their descendants to be 
 present. A thousand copies of this circular were struck 
 off, and they were scattered widely but hurriedly, not as 
 systematically as they should have been, as the com- 
 mittee relied upon the community to send them to rela- 
 tions and former neighbors. By this mode of dissemination 
 some old residents received several invitations, and 
 others none. All however were invited to the Reunion, 
 by a standing advertisement in the columns of the Lee 
 Gleaner, and if any were neglected it was through in- 
 advertence. 
 
 Sub-committees on music, hospitality, etc., were duly 
 appointed, and all worked with a will, the community 
 co-operating cheerfully and liberally to make the occa- 
 sion a success. The Lee Cornet Band and the Congre- 
 gational choir, volunteered their services, and labored 
 indefatigably to make the music worthy of the Centen- 
 nial Celebration, in which they succeeded to such a de- 
 gree that compliments flowed from all mouths, and to 
 the Band a complimentary donation of fifty dollars was 
 
6 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 presented by three of the committee, Messrs. E. Smith, 
 H. Garfield and W. Taylor. 
 
 The caterers for the occasion, Messrs. Hall and Whip- 
 ple, of Young's Hotel, Boston, deserve honorable mention. 
 Their bill of fare was unexceptionable, and the tent, 
 table, and all the appointments were fully up to contract. 
 Every thing was done neatly and in order, and if every 
 one did not have his fill of fat things, the blame could 
 not be laid to the caterers, who were guaranteed pay for 
 only four hundred plates; but they calculated for six 
 hundred guests, and actually provided for nearly seven 
 hundred. The committee did not venture to guarantee 
 a larger number, as the public were slow in securing din- 
 ner tickets. The young gentlemen and ladies of the 
 town volunteered as waiters at the tables, and, dressed 
 uniformly with white aprons and simple but tasteful 
 caps, they did themselves and the town great credit : 
 " The post of service is the post of honor," was a favorite 
 maxim of their late pastor, Dr. Gale, which they well 
 illustrated. 
 
 THE HIGH SCHOOL EEUNION. 
 
 Prefacing the Centennial proper, and so intimately con- 
 nected with it, that the history of the one is incomplete 
 without some short account of the other, was the Reunion 
 of the former teachers and pupils of the Lee High School, 
 and its predecessor, the Lee Academy. This occurred 
 Wednesday, September 12, and the trysting place very 
 properly selected for it, was Fern Cliff, a rocky, well- 
 wooded eminence, at the base of which stands the High 
 School building. The view from the plateau on the 
 summit of this cliff, is one of the finest of the many fine 
 views in Lee and vicinity, and a comfortable carriage 
 road, thanks to the present proprietor, Thomas Heaphy, 
 makes access to it very easy. 
 
HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 7 
 
 The idea of this Reunion in connection with the Cen- 
 tennial was first suggested by one of the many distin- 
 guished alumni of the school, Prof. E. H. Barlow, of 
 Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, in a letter published in 
 The Gleaner. The suggestion was received with appro- 
 bation by all the graduates and by the community gen- 
 erally. A meeting of the ex-members and friends of 
 the High School was called, at which C. B. Bullard, S. V. 
 Halsey, Mrs. A. C. Sparks and Miss M. R. Hyde, were 
 appointed a Committee to make arrangements for the 
 Reunion. Mr. Bullard was chosen Chairman, and Mr. 
 Halsey, Secretary of this Committee, and Sub-committees 
 were selected from other resident graduates. A circular 
 was sent to every former member of the Academy and 
 High School whose address could be ascertained, and the 
 responses were so prompt and numerous as to encourage 
 energetic preparations. Prof. E. H. Barlow was very 
 naturally selected as the orator of the day, and Mrs. M. 
 M. Frissell of Kingston, N. Y., and Dr. W. Hall of 
 Brookfield, Mass., were asked to prepare poems for the 
 occasion. 
 
 The cordial co-operation of citizens generally in this 
 Reunion, showed the high estimation in which our princi- 
 pal literary institution is held, and a just appreciation of 
 the great service it has done this community. Too much 
 cannot be said in its praise, for it has enabled parents to 
 educate their children at home, who could not afford to 
 send them abroad, and the hundreds of its graduates who 
 are scattered all over the land, from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific, and who are most uniformly making their mark 
 in the world, testify to the capacity, fidelity, and high 
 moral tone of the instructors. As the history of this 
 Academy and High School, is the history of one of our 
 most important institutions, and is so well told in Pro- 
 fessor Barlow's address, that no apology is necessary for 
 
5 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 incorporating his complete address in this Centennial 
 Book. 
 
 Abner Rice, the accomplished Principal of the High 
 School since 1862, was the fitting person to preside over 
 the reunion, and the able manner in which this duty was 
 performed, gave satisfaction to all. The platform, on 
 which were seated the president of the day, the orator, 
 the former teachers of the School, the clergy and others, 
 was beautifully decorated with flowers and evergreens, 
 and a large audience of old and present pupils and citi- 
 zens, testified to the high estimation in which this insti- 
 tution is held. The music was furnished by a select choir, 
 composed of former pupils at the head of whom was 
 John Delaney, and the manner in which the music was 
 rendered, showed skill and thorough training. It may as 
 well be said right here, that singing has ever been a 
 prominent exercise in the Lee High School, and under 
 the present Principal a piano has been provided for the 
 school, and increased attention has been paid to the cul- 
 ture of music. 
 
 Promptly at 11 o'clock, Mr. Rice called the assembly 
 to order, when prayer was offered by President Andrews 
 of Marietta College, the first teacher of the Lee Aca- 
 demy. 
 
 MR. RICE'S ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, Teachers and Alumni of the Lee Academy 
 and High School : 
 This is the day of our Jubilee ; we meet as the members of one 
 great family. We have a history reaching back over a period of forty 
 years, and yet this, so far as I am informed, is our first family gath- 
 ering. I have no doubt that manjr of us are surprised to find, to how 
 large and to how respectably-looking a family we belong. After 
 having been so long and widely separated, we may find ourselves to- 
 day in the embarrassing predicament of the school-boy, who knew his 
 letters by sight, but could not call them by name. Some of us may 
 not even recognize the faces of our long-absent brothers and sisters. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. » 
 
 The place that om- Committee have selected for this meeting is the 
 very one, I am sure, that you all would have chosen. What is there 
 so intimately associated in your minds with your school-days in Lee 
 as the " Old Ledge ? " What other spot could awaken so many 
 memories of the past ? If we could give these rocks and trees 
 a tongue, how would the story that they would tell of other days, 
 thrill all our hearts ! 
 
 Many of you are familiar with the circumstances in which this Re- 
 union had its origin. For weeks and months, our Centennial Celebra- 
 tion has been one of the topics of special interest to the people of Lee. 
 While the preparations for this was going forward, it was suggested 
 that there could be no fitter time for a reunion of the former members 
 of the Academy and High School. This suggestion met with a ready 
 and hearty response. The sentiment expressed by some, was that the 
 contemplated celebration could hardly be complete without it. Cir- 
 culars were to be sent abroad inviting the absent sons and daughters 
 of Lee to the home of their childhood, to review together the history 
 of the town, and to renew and strengthen the friendships of other 
 days ; and on such an occasion, the friendships of school-days, among 
 the firmest and pleasantest of our lives, should not be ignored. 
 
 Besides, the influence of this institution, during the forty years of 
 its existence, in shaping the character of this community, has been of 
 sufficient importance to receive some formal recognition. While our 
 citizens may point with pride to what they have achieved in the de- 
 partment of manufactures and other industrial interests, they need not 
 be ashamed of what they have accomplished through their Academy 
 and High School, in giving to the world a nobler product — men and 
 women — the only true mission of every institution of learning. It 
 was believed that such a reunion would not end in a series of holiday 
 festivities, but that it would serve the higher purpose of impressing 
 this truth more deeply on our minds, of furnishing us with new 
 incentives to labor, and of awakening in us higher aspirations. There 
 is danger, too, that in this material age we forget how intimately the 
 real prosperity of any people is connected with their educational ad- 
 vantages, and where may we expect that the claims of education will 
 find advocates, if not among those who have shared these advantages ? 
 
 But you are not here to listen to any words of mine; I have a single 
 task to perform. It becomes my very pleasant duty to extend to all 
 of you who have come back to your Berkshire home to share in these 
 festivities, a cordial welcome. 
 
 To you, once instructors in this Institution, I may offer my con- 
 gratulations also, at witnessing the spectacle before you. There can 
 2 
 
10 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 be few occasions in the life of a teacher, as I believe, so replete with 
 genuine satisfaction, as when he sees, in some tangible form, the 
 result of bis work. The seed that lie sows is often of slow growth ; 
 there are few that understand better than he what it is to labor and 
 to wait. It is your fortune to see to-day, as the fruit of work long 
 since performed, the principles then inculcated, embodied in character. 
 What richer trophy, what more enduring monument can you desire ? 
 Although some of you have been called to higher departments of educa- 
 tional work, it is with no feelings of indifference, I am sure, that you 
 review the work which you accomplished here. Besides the satisfac- 
 tion which arises from a consciousness of fidelity in the discharge of 
 duty, you have the additional gratification of meeting many here, 
 now engaged in the active duties of life, who have a truer apprecia- 
 tion of your efforts for them in years past than they could have then. 
 On their behalf especially I may welcome you to this Reunion, and 
 from the kind words of you, so often on their lips, I can assure you 
 that your presence here is, at once, an inspiration and a benediction. 
 
 During the forty years of this school's history, there has been a 
 constant tide of emigration among its graduates. Many of the young 
 men have sought and found more promising fields of labor. They 
 are now occupying places of responsibility and trust in the homes of 
 their adoption. While they are winning life's prizes for themselves, 
 they are, at the same time, reflecting honor on their native town and 
 on the institution where they received, perhaps, the first impulse in 
 their upward career. We rejoice to see so many of this class with us 
 to-day. Gentlemen, we may well be proud of what you have achieved 
 for yourselves and of what you have done for us. You are tuelcome 
 here to-day. 
 
 Many of the young women, too, who have gone out from this School, 
 have found greater attractions elsewhere, and so we have seen them, 
 one after another, leave the old homestead, some of them for higher 
 institutions of learning, some of them as teachers, more still to the 
 responsible position that woman occupies in the household, all of them 
 to the vacant places that are waiting for them to fill. For these we 
 have a special greeting. Without their presence to grace this assem- 
 bly, this would not deserve the name of a Jubilee. It is no figure of 
 speech to say that without them, the charm and the poetry of this oc- 
 casion would he wanting. I may be permitted here to add my testi- 
 mony to the value of their refining and elevating influence in the 
 school as well as in the family and in social life. It will not be con- 
 sidered invidious for me to say to these ladies present, " We have for 
 you the most cordial welcome of all." 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 11 
 
 I hardly need to say to these resident graduates — to those of you 
 whose lot it has been, following either your own inclinations or the 
 call of duty, to remain at home, "to abide by the stuff" — that this 
 occasion is very largely yours. I occupy the place that I do at your 
 bidding ; these words of welcome that have been spoken are yours as 
 well as mine. 
 
 How closely you have become identified with the institution we rep- 
 resent to-day, how much of influence, of personal effort, and of mate- 
 rial aid you have contributed to the advancement of all that pertains 
 to the best interests of this community, you do not expect, indeed you 
 would hardly allow me to rehearse in this presence. It is, however, 
 but just that I should say, wherever plans are to be devised, or meas- 
 ures adopted for the promotion of the public weal, you always find a 
 welcome. 
 
 Accept then — one and all — the greeting we bring you to-day, teachers, 
 alumni, patrons and friends. 
 
 I have only to say, that I believe that this Eeunion will not be 
 simply an occasion to be enjoyed to-day, but one on which we shall 
 look back with satisfaction and delight, and that we shall receive from 
 it an inspiration that will make us better men and women. 
 
 PROFESSOR BARLOW'S ADDRESS. 
 
 " Historic truth," says the imperial biographer of Csesar, " ought to 
 be no less sacred than religion." To-day, historic truth is all about 
 us. The air is not more redolent with the sweet and satisfying odors 
 of ripening grain and luscious fruit, than it is fragrant with the mem- 
 ories of other days, — memories which come like a flood as v?e gather 
 in these familiar places. The opening Autumnal month, with its 
 fulfilment of Summer's promise, fitly symbolizes the jo}^ which, in 
 the fruition of our hopes we are permitted to know this day. All 
 human speech is feeble in the presence of such a tide of recollections 
 as must bear sway in minds of many now before me. It would seem 
 more fitting that the silence should be unbroken, in order that the 
 golden eloquence of memory, as it is busy with the past, might be the 
 only guide and interpreter of the thoughts of the hour. 
 
 But we are met to rehearse the lessons of days "lang syne." Some 
 of us stand here after an absence of forty years, others of a quarter of 
 a century, very many for the first time since they left these scenes of 
 early and delightful instruction and association. I fancy the tones 
 of yonder bell, never fell on the ears of pupils more ready to respond 
 to its call than they did to-day. When the summons came that 
 
12 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 school "would begin again" for ns, we made haste to be read}', and 
 we have quickened our pace that none of us should be tardy at the 
 roll-call. We meet, the largest number of pupils and of teachers that 
 ever assembled at the opening of a term. Indeed, for the first time, 
 the old house is too small. We come to register our names, to claim 
 our membership, to relate the story of our vacation to see what les- 
 sons shall be assigned us for the coming years, to pledge our fidelity 
 to our Avork, and to be assured of the sympathy of our teachers and of 
 each other. 
 
 Since school " was out " for us, we have had varied experiences. 
 Along the highways and the by-ways, we have enjoyed many a play, 
 and have met not a few rough tumbles and some serious falls and 
 bruises. Ah, how these experiences of life have sobered and steadied, 
 and sometimes startled us. I suspect that meeker pupils never came 
 together than are here met. With our arrogance all beaten out of us, 
 we are willing to confess that indeed we know little. But we miss 
 the faces of some whom we expected to see. A part of these send 
 kindly greetings, and assure us that their hearts are with us. But 
 the other part are forever dismissed from earthly association. They 
 have gone by scores, to enter that school where all sit, to learn, at the 
 feet of Him who was meek and lowly in heart. It is a happy thought 
 that their training here was such a preparation as to gain them 
 abundant entrance there. 
 
 Let us fix our eyes 
 On the glorious skies, 
 
 Like them, let us watch and pray, 
 Till we all shall go 
 From the school below 
 
 To the school of endless day. 
 
 We are come like children who return to the family hearthstone for 
 a Thanksgiving reunion. Those of us who went out early, will be 
 glad to hear that the time of our absence has been a time of prosperity 
 and joy. Those who went out later as well as those who still remain 
 under the roof-tree, will like to learn the story of the early days. We 
 will all rejoice in the performance of the past and the promise of the 
 future. What has been done is an earnest of still better things. If 
 we shall succeed in rekindling the flame of early love and devotion, 
 and in adding fresh fuel, thus keeping bright the altar fires of our 
 Penates and Lares, we shall carry hence renewed zeal in all the labor 
 and service of our daily lives, and shall foster the purpose for which 
 this institution was founded, — the cause of sound learning, the 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 13 
 
 development of manly and womanly character, and the exemplification 
 of pious principles and religious truth. Among the many excellences 
 which the pupils and friends of this school love to recount as belong- 
 ing to it, there is none, it seems to me, more characteristic than the 
 generous, unselfish, public sentiment, which was always manifest 
 whenever a fellow-pupil attained any high degree of merit and honor. 
 I never knew of a bitter rivalry or an unworthy ambition. 
 
 And so I deem it extremely probable that the most delightful part 
 of this, the most delightful occasion in the history of this School, will 
 be the tales of by-gone days and deeds, the boyish and girlish recol- 
 lections of joj's and hopes, of labors and loveSj of tender sentiments 
 and glorious imaginings of future possibilities, and of dreams which 
 were none the less real and delightful, because impossible of realiza- 
 tion in the very nature of things. 
 
 But all these reminiscences belong to after-dinner speeches, and 
 private knots of contemporaneous school-mates, rather than to the 
 theme of historical matter, and plain statistics of general public in- 
 terest. 
 
 If ever the complete history of the School shall be written, what a 
 mine of information would be discovered and developed by such re- 
 unions ! How busy our memories would be in unearthing the long 
 buried treasures of the daily unwritten records of school-life, and how 
 fruitful the search would prove, must be obvious to all without de- 
 monstration or argument. I bespeak, therefore, in the interest of 
 future pupils and future friends and patrons of this institution, some 
 thoughtful labor on the part of every one who has shared in giving or 
 receiving instruction, that all of the interesting events may be made 
 a matter of permanent record, before they shall be gone beyond re- 
 call. 
 
 For the first sixty years of the town's existence under its charter, 
 it had only the opportunities for instruction afforded by its district 
 schools. That these possessed considerable merit is amply shown by 
 the recognized intelligence and virtue of the inhabitants of the town, 
 most of whom received in them all, or nearly all, of their school- 
 training. But these schools were necessarily limited in the range of 
 subjects taught, and in the extent to which any branch might be 
 pursued. Yet they inspired a love of learning which made higher 
 attainments possible. They laid a solid foundation on which to rear 
 the superstructure of academic advantages and college culture. 
 
 The immediate forerunner of the Academy was a private school 
 opened in May, 1835, by Mr. Alexander Hyde, Avho was graduated 
 the year before at Williams College. After teaching this school for 
 
14 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 two years, he transferred it to Mr. (afterwards Rev.) Chester Fitch, 
 of Lenox, who kept it for a short time. Mr. Hyde meanwhile opened 
 a school at his residence, which was continued uninterruptedly for 
 thirty years, to the great advantage and credit of the town. The 
 Academy was organized in the year 1837, and the building erected the 
 same year. Mr. (now Rev. Dr.) Israel Ward Andrews just graduated 
 at Williams College, with high honor, was engaged as its first Princi- 
 pal. He began his labors, Oct. 16, 1837, and concluded them in 
 Dec. 1838, teaching five terms. Miss Jerusha Perry, afterward Mrs. 
 Rev. Francis Le Clerc, became his assistant, and continued till the 
 end of the fourth term, Sept. 1838, when she resigned and was suc- 
 ceeded by Miss Judith Pierce. 
 
 Mr. Andrews remained the Principal for two years, when he was 
 called to the Professorship of Mathematics in Marietta College — which 
 call he accepted and which position he continued to fill till 1855, 
 when he was chosen President of the college. This office he has hon- 
 ored by eminent learning and ability 1 - for twenty-two years. May his 
 usefulness be long spared to the college and to the youth of the land ! 
 
 When Mr. Andrews left the Academy in 1839, he was succeeded 
 for one term by his brother, Samuel J. Andrews, and he, by Rev. 
 Samuel Mathews, who was recommended by Pres. Humphrey of 
 Amherst College, where he was graduated in 1829, as " a teacher of 
 seven years' experience." He remained for one year, assisted by 
 Miss Lucy Kimball, who was hired at a fixed salary, and who re- 
 signed " because the school did not pay expenses." 
 
 The next year, April 1, 1840. Mr. Alonzo Kimball, a graduate of 
 Union College, became the Principal and remained in charge until 
 June, 1845. When he began his term of office the school had but a 
 small income. He relieved the Trustees of all financial responsibility. 
 The average attendance was from 25 to 30 pupils each term. Mr. 
 Kimball was assisted by Miss Weston. 
 
 Mr. Eli A. Hubbard, A. M., a graduate of Williams College, class 
 of '42, Avas next elected to the principalship. He entered upon his 
 duties Sept. 1, 1845. He taught the School with great acceptance, a 
 period of six terms, until March 1, 1847, when he resigned to take 
 charge of the High School in Northampton. His assistants during 
 this time were Mrs. Hubbard, Air. (afterwards Rev.) Charles Ball, 
 Miss Sarah M. Bradley (Airs. S. S. Rogers), Miss Martha Chamber- 
 lain (Airs. M. C. Uhler), and Afiss Eliza Edwards (Airs. William B. 
 Fid ton). 
 
 When Air. Hubbard left, Air. Charles Ball took charge of the school 
 for the rest of the year. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 15 
 
 The next Principal, who was the last one chosen for the Academy, 
 and during whose administration of the school it became the High 
 School, and who was its first Principal, was Rev. Thomas Amory Hall, 
 a graduate of Williams College of the class of '38. He began his 
 term of service in the Fall of 1847, with Mrs. Hall as his assistant. 
 The change to the High School was made in accordance with the 
 state law, familiar to you all, under which the School is now carried 
 on. Mr. Hall rendered valuable aid in the inauguration of the High 
 School project, arranging its entrance examinations and courses of 
 study. Miss Mary Ann Smith (Mrs. Elizur Smith), was engaged to 
 assist Mr. and Mrs. Hall, as the number of pupils was, at one time, 
 too large for two teachers. 
 
 In the Spring of 1853, Mrs. Hall's health failing, Miss Hattie N. 
 Fletcher of the Normal School at Westfield, was invited to assist Mr. 
 Hall. 
 
 In the Spring of 1854, Mr. Hall, after seven years of continuous 
 labor, resigned his position and removed to Otis to resume his pas- 
 toral work. 
 
 Mr. Henry Ellsworth Daniels, A. M., of the class of '53, Williams 
 College, next became the Principal, entering upon his duties in the 
 Summer of 1854. He taught successfully for two years, and resigned 
 to engage in the study and practice of law. Miss Fletcher con- 
 tinued as assistant while Mr. Daniels taught, and resigned at the end 
 of the Fall term, 1855. 
 
 Before Mr. Daniels left, he secured by his recommendation, the 
 services of Mr. Richard Knight Adams, a graduate of Williams Col- 
 lege, class of '54, to finish the school year. Miss Goodrich was his 
 assistant. 
 
 At the end of the school-year, the school committee found it neces- 
 sary to look again for teachers. They were so fortunate as to secure 
 Mr. (now Rev. Dr.) Ephraim Flint, of the class of '51, Williams Col- 
 lege, as Principal, and Miss Phcebe A. Holder, a graduate of the Nor- 
 mal School at Westfield, as assistant. They began to teach June 
 30, 1856. Mr. Flint continued to teach until Sept. 10, 1862, when he 
 resigned to take charge of the High School in Lynn. Miss Holder- 
 taught until Dec. 1861, when she resigned to engage in teaching in 
 another school. 
 
 During the last two terms of Mr. Flint's principalship, Miss Louisa 
 B. Brown and Miss M. Eliza Gibbs rendered valuable assistance in- 
 teaching some of the classes. 
 
 The present Principal, Abner Rice, A. M., of the class of '44, Yale 
 College, entered upon his duties in connection with the School in Sept. 
 
16 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 1862. His term of service Las been the longest of any teacher, and 
 his work is the best known to many of my audience to-day. For the 
 first four years he conducted the School without help. In April, 1866, 
 Miss Charlotte G. Rice was engaged as assistant and continued to 
 teach lor five years. Miss M. Eliza Gibbs was engaged April 10, 
 1871, and taught for two terms. After her, the place was filled by 
 Miss Isabella S. Wight, a graduate of the Normal School at Lraming- 
 ham, who taught two years, and was succeeded by Miss Lizzie S. Bran- 
 ning who taught about a year and a half. She in turn was followed 
 by Miss Wight, who is still in service. 
 
 Such are the few recorded facts of chronological interest. The 
 story is simple, but when the final record shall be made, and when 
 the " books shall be opened " and it shall be known how the lives 
 and destinies, the condition and the characters, of the pupils commit- 
 ted to the care of these worthy men and women, who have taught and 
 trained for time and for eternity, have been influenced for good — how 
 magnified will all this appear. Therefore it seems fit to say, that 
 this record is both history and prophecy. The past is secure, and 
 hope cannot cease for the future, for children will always keep the 
 world from growing old. Schools are everywhere improving. New 
 methods, while they do not discover any royal road to learning, do 
 wonderfully improve the old highway. Looking back to the text- 
 books of fifty years ago, and to the popular estimate at that time of 
 what is called the education of the people, and considering what 
 changes have been made during that time, what may we not confi- 
 dently hope and expect during the school-life of some of this 
 audience. 
 
 You will doubtless expect me to say something of the lives and labors 
 of this goodly number of teachers to whom has been entrusted for 
 forty years the educational and moral training of the youth of this 
 town. But of the living, many of whom we are glad to have with us 
 to-day, I must not speak by name. The}' all have earned and enjoy 
 the gratitude of those who knew their sterling ability and faithful 
 devotion, their kindly sympathy and dear companionship. 
 
 If teachers could see far enough into the future to know how their 
 pupils would thank them for their earnest and loving counsels and 
 hearty, helpful spirit of self-sacrifice, it would bridge over many a dark 
 chasm which at the time seemed impassable, and would strengthen 
 .the courage which was so near to failing, to renewed patience over 
 dullness, and reviving faith in perverse and incorrigible boys and 
 thoughtless girls. 
 
 Of the twenty-eight regularly appointed Teachers, eleven Principals 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 17 
 
 and seventeen Assistants, the great majority have been spared for long 
 lives of usefulness. Four are gone to join the Great Teacher. 
 
 Of Mr. Mathews I can give no definite information. 
 
 Eev. Mr. Hall, who died in Monterey, Sept. 17, 1871, at the age of 
 fifty-eight, was for seven years an able teacher. His scholarship was 
 of a high order and his services were acceptable to the patrons of the 
 school. His teaching was of the old order of academic hearing of 
 recitations, and he knew whether a pupil had learned his lesson. As 
 a preacher he was earnest, convincing, and sincere. His loss was 
 deeply mourned by those who knew his worth. 
 
 Mr. Daniels fell a victim to consumption, Oct. 16, 18G6, at the early 
 age of thirty-six. He came to his work well fitted. His methods 
 were modern, and his teachings imparted an impetus to the school 
 activity which is felt to-day. Admired by his pupils for his brilliancy 
 and thoroughness, he will remain for many the model teacher and 
 gentleman. When the tidings came of his death it seemed as if one 
 of the brightest stars in the firmament had set. His influence was 
 left behind permanently impressed upon those who were so fortunate 
 as to have had such a teacher. 
 
 Mr. Charles Ball, who assisted Mr. Hubbard, and who had charge 
 of the school for one term, was well known in this town. One of the 
 brightest and most promising boys, one of the most reliable and 
 earnest young men, he was an honor both to the school and to the 
 town. By his zeal in every good work, and his thorough devotion to 
 his calling, his presence was an inspiration. As a preacher he was 
 greatly liked, and his early death seemed an inscrutable providence. 
 But he neither lived nor died in vain. His mission was fulfilled, his 
 character complete. 
 
 What shall I say further? Your own grateful hearts will supply 
 what I have left unsaid, as memory runs back to grasp again the 
 warm hand or to look into the dear eyes, long since closed to earthly 
 scenes, and laid aside from earthly activities. In after years may it 
 be pos-ible for our friends to recall us, as we to-day, recall these whom 
 we love and reverence. 
 
 Of the many friends of the school who have been its faithful adher- 
 ents and warm supporters, and who are here to rejoice in its success 
 to-day, I cannot find fit phrases to tell their merits, true, and tried. 
 Yet I must mention the name of one who for more than forty years 
 has been the able and loyal friend of education ; one who has had for 
 this whole period one of the laboring oars, and to whom, I doubt not, 
 this school not only, but this town, is indebted, more than to any 
 other man, for hard, faithful, long-continued service. May his activity 
 3 
 
18 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 in the gootl work never cease. You all know this can be no other 
 than Alexander Hyde 
 
 Of the friends of the School whose counsels can never be ours again, 
 and whose loss we mourn as we celebrate their triumphs to-day, there 
 is one man, I think, deserving both by his prayers and his efforts for 
 tli is School, of the highest honor and the deepest regard in the heart 
 of every graduate. Whenever any trial or discouragement or diffi- 
 culty arose, all eyes were turned to him and never turned in vain. 
 No sacrifice of time in the midst of an active business life, no measure 
 of responsibility while beneath the heaviest loads of care, no amount 
 of labor when weighed down under toil, was thought too great, if by 
 it he could serve this School. In town meeting, in the social circle, in 
 the legislature, in the street, in the School itself, in every place, he 
 talked and he worked for, and he was well and honorably known as the 
 friend of, education, and of public schools. His reputation needs no 
 words of praise, but I feel I owe him a personal debt. Every boy and 
 girl who ever studied within the walls of this institution is happier 
 and wiser to-day because of his toils and sacrifices. I know that all 
 who felt his influence in the earlier days of the school, when such in- 
 fluence as his was needed, will be glad to honor 'his memory. I need 
 not tell you that I refer to Samuel Augustus Hulbert. One such man 
 as he in a community is a tower of strength. Upon whom has his 
 mantle fallen ? 
 
 There are other names which should be mentioned. The older 
 pupils remember Ransom Hinman, with his pleasant talks on grammar 
 and penmanship and good manners; in all of which he was a model 
 worthy of imitation ; Alexander P. Bassett, who served so many years 
 on the Committee, and who was ready and abb; when teachers failed, 
 to lend a helping hand ; Dr. Gale, so long and so firm a friend and 
 advocate, in school and out of it, for the highest intellectual, moral and 
 religious culture ; a man who has left his impress on the town for 
 good, in so many wa3 r s never to be effaced, — these, and man}- who 
 should be mentioned did time permit, we will hold in honor and ever- 
 lasting gratitude. 
 
 The Academy building was erected by a stock company in 1837. 
 The shares were $25, and 120 in number. In 1865 there had 
 been transferred to the town sixty-four of these shares, representing 
 $1,600. The land on which this building stands was donated by 
 the American Bible Society. The house may now fairly be regarded 
 as owned by the town, for it controls a majority of the shares of 
 stock, and the few surviving stockholders are well disposed to the 
 school. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 19 
 
 The average attendance of the school has heen very even. 
 
 Under Principal Andrews it was 54 ; Hubbard, 66 ; Hall, 62 ; Dan- 
 iels, 52 ; Flint, 67 ; Eice, 70. 
 
 The number of teachers averages 2. The rate of tuition (as an 
 Academy) was four to six dollars per quarter. 
 
 The appropriation (as a High School), for the last twenty years, av- 
 erages for the school at the Center, $ 1,500; for the school at South 
 Lee, $250; making a total of $1,750. This divided by 70, the aver- 
 age number of pupils, gives $25 per pupil for the four quarters of the 
 year. This, in the riumber of dollars, equals the rate of tuition in the 
 Academy. But as the purchasing power of a dollar was then at least 
 twice what it is now, the school costs at present but one-half what it 
 used to cost,, and the poor man sends his boys and girls. This great 
 gain is matter of public congratulation. 
 
 I must not fail to mention the Branch High School, which for many 
 years has been sustained at South Lee during the Winter months, for 
 the accommodation of pupils who could not conveniently attend the 
 school at the Center. The teachers and the pupils have done faithful 
 work, and this school may now be considered as established on a per- 
 manent foundation. 
 
 I am aware that what I have given of the history of the school is 
 known to many of you as well as, or even better than, it is known to 
 me. I am sure my account is incomplete. I trust, however, it is not 
 inaccurate in any important particular. I have made careful examin- 
 ations of records, many of them too brief to tell all the story ; I have 
 endeavored, by extended inquiry and correspondence, to get additional 
 information, and I hope I have found sufficient to encourage some one 
 to undertake the task of writing a complete history. 
 
 While the standard of attainment has always been high, the effi- 
 ciency of the school has steadily increased under its present able ad- 
 ministration, until it is considered, I am assured by competent judges, 
 as second to no similar institution in this section of the State. Since 
 1872, there has been a regular course of study, on the completion of 
 which, the graduate receives a diploma. 
 
 But while the school is so well managed and taught, its possible 
 usefulness is verj' much impaired by the lack of desirable necessary 
 apparatus in Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the general sciences. 
 Would it be amiss for me to suggest that those graduates who are able 
 to do so, should, in return for what the school has done for them, see 
 that this want is speedily supplied? Will you pardon me if I further 
 urge your attention to the condition of the grounds, which may be 
 improved at small expense, and beautified by shrubbery, flowering, and 
 
20 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 other ornamental plants, and a well cut lawn. I am sure there are many 
 who will be glad to contribute towards placing this new department of 
 aesthetics among the educational forces of this excellent institution. 
 
 The friends of this School have always been ready to do battle for 
 it on all occasions. The rich and the poor, who know the blessings of 
 free universal education, have joined hands in its support. I well re- 
 member the pride with which many a boy listened in town meeting 
 to the speeches made by its friends, for the necessary money to carry 
 it on another year. I seem to see, as if it happened yesterday, a poor 
 man, abjectly poor, rise to his feet and tell the voters what the school 
 had done for him in his poverty; how his children had been taught 
 year by year, as if he had untold wealth at his command; how they 
 had been fitted for stations in life far better than the one to which 
 they had been born ; how, by the blessed influence of this education, 
 he looked hopefully to coining years, feeling that he could lie peace- 
 fully down in the silence of the grave, thanking God for nothing bet- 
 ter for those he loved than the advantages of such instruction. When 
 he sat down, the vote was passed by a good majority. I remember, 
 too, on another day, when the law was cited that the town was liable 
 to a heavy fine if the school should not be sustained according to the 
 provisions of the statute, and a man of some influence had said that 
 "nobody would enter a complaint," that he "would stand between the 
 town and all harm," a man of another stamp, who was accustomed 
 to do what he promised and whose children had enjoyed the advanta- 
 ges of the school and who prized it highly, rose to his feet and said, 
 " Mr. Moderator, I wish to give notice that if this vote is not passed, 
 I will enter a complaint against the town before to-morrow night." 
 The vote was passed that time, too. 
 
 Indeed, I think there has never been a year when the town has 
 failed to do its duty. In its earlier years, the fate of the school used 
 to tremble in the balance, but the sterling sense of its many support- 
 ers, backed by the strong arm of wise statutes, has turned the scale in 
 its favor at last. 
 
 The great money-making machine of Massachusetts is not her fac- 
 tories or her mills, but her public school sj^stem. It is this which has 
 given her wealth and capital ; it is this which has given her such ad- 
 vantages in controlling the industries of the country. The larger the 
 sum she expends for education, the richer she grows. 
 
 It is a well known fact, that the development of the brain power of 
 a country pays the largest return, not only in refinement and culture, 
 hut in dollars and cents. Intelligent -labor of all kinds is always in 
 demand. The efficiency of the educational system of a country is the 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 21 
 
 index of national prosperity. Ideas rule the world. Brains own and 
 control muscle not less than they rule the elemental forces of Nature. 
 Happily for all who reap the advantages of public school education in 
 this town, the value of this highest department is known and admitted 
 by those whose duty it is made by the wisdom of the State, and whose 
 privilege it is considered by themselves to provide for its support. 
 While the course of study here has always been adapted to fitting boys 
 for college, it has not sent a large number thither. Its chief work 
 has been done in giving a good academic training for business and so- 
 cial life. It has always had a goodly number of pupils in proportion 
 to the number of inhabitants of the town, and whenever it has sent 
 boys to college they have not disgraced their course of preparation. It 
 has had, without exception, teachers of ability, of good character, of 
 pious lives, who have trained their pupils by precept and by example, 
 in both human and divine wisdom. The many questions of education 
 which have vexed other schools have not affected it. It has taught 
 science and religion, and discovered no conflict between them. It has 
 gone quietly on its way reading the Bible and asking God's blessings 
 on its pupils in their labors, as if it were a right and proper thing to 
 do. It has abolished corporal punishment because the occasion for it 
 disappeared when the law of love appeared. 
 
 The outcome of such a course of training under such influences, is 
 most fortunate. The graduates of such a school must be imbued with 
 good principles and devoted to good deeds. They must grasp and set- 
 tle for themselves, and perchance for others, some of the most impor- 
 tant problems that can confront the human understanding. They are 
 called on as citizens of a free republic, to consider and decide questions 
 of political economy, of t-'tate rights, of international equity, of statute 
 law, of public morality, and of Christian ethics. These are but a 
 small part of the task set before the boy and girl who steps out across 
 the threshold of the High School. 
 
 What evidence is there that this preparation is ample? In what 
 has there been shown a fitness to discharge such high duties? If we 
 look beyond the ordinary responsibilities of good citizenship and faith- 
 ful domestic life, I think that the most satisfactory answers can be 
 found when we consider the sacrifices made by the graduates of this 
 school, who were engaged in our late civil war, and who must have 
 prepared for such a conflict while peacefully studying the principles 
 of good government, of law and order, of sound morality and political 
 justice. It is the high reward of those who die in defense of their 
 native land, that their names are forever sweet in the mouths of those 
 for whom they died. Their title to nobility none shall ever dispute. 
 
22 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 The men who, in the simple devotion of heroic citizen soldiery gave 
 themselves to the dangers of the camp and the battle-field that the na- 
 tion might not die, were permitted, as few have been in their mortal 
 career, to bear a most important part in making one of the grandest 
 chapters of history the world has <?ver known. "Events are not his- 
 tory. Behind the events is the law and behind the law is an immuta- 
 ble and a just Jehovah. All history is a growing up into the light." 
 Above the wail and the shout and the shock of battle, Truth strikes 
 out the key-note of a sublimer conflict, and ever and anon "there steps 
 out grandly from the Infinite " one who gives victory to the right. 
 The mission God gave this country, is the lofty ideal of an exalted 
 humanity, the right of men everywhere under the broad canopy of 
 Heaven to become what God made them to be, " heroes and sons of 
 God," working out His eternal purposes in the light of reason and 
 loyalty. Before such a mission all bow in glad and willing homage, 
 for though its approach may be hindered by the darkness of ignorance, 
 though kings may scoff at it and statesmen deride, jet the nations 
 stand on tiptoe waiting for its glorious appearing, and it will come at 
 last crowned with might and majesty. In honoring these men there 
 is no desire to perpetuate the memory of civil strife, or to keep alive 
 sectional animosities, but to show our appreciation of all knightly deeds. 
 The rough school of war taught not only the soldier, but every Amer- 
 ican, to lay aside local prejudice and bigotry when it brought him 
 face to face with the stern realities of loyalty and brotherhood and 
 equal rights ; to entertain a humbler estimate of himself, and a 
 juster one of his own and other countries when it showed him the 
 price at which national blessings must ever be secured and maintained. 
 That government alone is safe and strong which lives in the virtuous 
 homes of its citizens. The heart, and not the head, is the fountain of 
 patriotism. The heroic affections of a people are the strongest polit- 
 ical cords of a nation. In these affections are involved honor and 
 magnanimity, justice and charity. He who loves his home with his 
 tenderest passion, will love his country with like steadfast devotion. 
 The brightest light which can guide, and the most genial warmth 
 which can cheer a human soul, radiate from a happy hearth-stone. All 
 that is dear to us in our social life is strengthened and perpetuated b}' 
 a righteous government, and that national policy is suicidal which 
 does not shine into the humblest cottage, to awaken in the loving bo- 
 soms of its inmates unbounded trust and unstinted assistance. I care 
 not what section of country a man may claim and glorify as his own, 
 if he have faith in human fellowship and believes in fervent prayers. 
 No labor or sacrifice will be too great for him to perform that he maj r 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 23 
 
 help to make the condition of the civil and religious life of all "God's 
 creatures as free and as strong and as happy as he finds or fancies his 
 own to be, when his heart is filled with the joys which cluster around 
 his own quiet fireside. Ah, fortunate America, whose radiant homes 
 are a perpetual pledge and inspiration to high national privileges and 
 a beneficent government ! 
 
 The honor of being patriot soldiers we cannot all claim ; but we can 
 claim, as citizens of the republic of letters, an interest in their deeds 
 beyond that wbich he feels, whose calling does not need the undis- 
 turbed quiet of the peaceful reign of law. All literary pursuits are 
 fostered by freedom. In the interest of patriot scholars, therefore. I 
 thank our patriot soldiers for compelling and making possible the 
 continuance of that peace which gives leisure and opportunity for in- 
 tellectual labor. None owe them a greater debt of gratitude than do 
 the men of letters, and, happily, they can partly pay this debt. The 
 pen records the achievements of the sword, and keeps green the name 
 and fame of him who wields it. Cicero uttered a significant truth for 
 nations and for individuals, when he declared that bat for the Iliad the 
 same grave that held the body of Achilles would also have entombed 
 his name. But let it never be forgotten that while the student trim- 
 med his lamp the soldier lighted his camp fires; while the scholar 
 preached truth and freedom, the soldier practiced and defended them ; 
 while the former threaded the academic walks, the latter marched 
 along the valley of the shadow of death. Recorded honors cluster 
 over their graves, and every place in which a soldier's dust reposes 
 has been consecrated forever and ever to the country for whose gov- 
 ernment and liberty he gave up his life. And until years shall cease 
 to roll and human hearts to beat, there will never be a man, in what- 
 ever rank of life you find him, who, with the memory and the glory of 
 the brilliant achievements of the Army of the Republic before him, 
 will not gird and guide himself with a higher sense of the spirit and 
 power of truth, of justice, of humanity and of right. Our companions 
 "are lost to human sight, but not lost to the Omniscient eye, not lost 
 in the august reckoning in which institutions and persons will be 
 called to account, not lost in the distribution of palms, not lost in the 
 award of crowns and jewels." 
 
 This hour belongs both to the living and the dead. It goes back 
 along the track of noble lives, and it points forward to heights yet un- 
 attained. What need I say more? If such lives and such deeds and 
 such deaths are possible as the fruit of the intellectual and moral and 
 religious instruction to be had without distinction and without price, 
 by every child in the land, the problem is solved and the claims of 
 education must be acknowledged. 
 
24 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 It remains for us patriots, all, whether scholars or soldiers or citi- 
 zens, to highly resolve to welcome and to divinely entertain the pure, 
 sweet spirit of Liberty. 
 
 "Who cometh over the hills, 
 
 Her garments with morning sweet, 
 
 The dance of a thousand rills 
 
 Making music before her feet? 
 
 Her presence freshens the air, 
 
 Sunshine steals light from her face. 
 
 The leaden footstep of Care 
 
 Leaps to the tune of her pace, 
 
 Fairness of all that is fair, 
 
 Grace at the heart of all grace ! 
 
 Sweetener of hut and of hall, 
 
 Bringer of life out of miught, 
 
 Freedom, oh, fairest of all 
 
 The daughters of Time and Thought!" 
 
 "Tell me, .young men, have ye seen 
 
 Creature of diviner mien, 
 
 For true hearts to long and cry for, 
 
 Manly hearts to live and die for '.' 
 
 What hath she that others want ? 
 
 Brows that all endearments haunt, 
 
 Eyes that make it sweet to dare, 
 
 Smiles that glad untimely death, 
 
 Looks that fortify despair, 
 
 Tones mure brave than trumpet's breath; 
 
 Tell me, maidens, have ye known 
 
 Household charm more sweetly rare ? 
 
 Grace of woman ampler blown '.' 
 
 Modest}' more debonair? 
 
 Younger heart witli wit full-grown ? 
 
 Oh, for an hour of my prime, 
 
 The pulse of my hotter years, 
 
 That I might praise her in rhyme 
 
 Would tingle your eyelids to tears, 
 
 Oar sweetness, our strength, and our star, 
 
 Our hope, our joy, and our trust, 
 
 Who lifted us out of the dust 
 
 And made us whatever we are ! " 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 25 
 
 " Maiden half mortal, half divine, 
 We triumphed in thy coming; to the brinks 
 Our hearts were filled with pride's tumultuous wine : 
 Better to-day who rather feels than thinks: 
 Yet will some graver thoughts intrude 
 And cares of nobler mood : 
 
 They won thee : who shall keep thee ? From the deeps 
 Where discrowned empires o'er their ruins brood, 
 And many a thwarted hope wrings its weak hands and weeps, 
 I hear the voice as of a mighty wind 
 From all Heaven's caverns rushing unconfined, — 
 ' I, Freedom, dwell with knowledge : I abide 
 With men whom dust of faction cannot blind 
 To the slow tracings of the Eternal Mind; 
 With men, by culture trained and fortified, 
 Who bitter duty to sweet lusts prefer, 
 Fearless to counsel and obey : 
 Conscience my scepter is, and law my sword, 
 Not to be drawn in passion or in play, 
 But terrible to punish and deter, 
 Implacable as God's word, 
 
 Like it a shepherd's crook to them that blindly err. 
 Your firm-pulsed sires, my martyrs and my saints, 
 Shoots of that only race whose patient sense 
 Hath known to mingle flux with permanence, 
 Rated my chaste denials and restraints 
 Above the moment's dear-paid paradise : 
 Beware lest, shifting with Time's gradual creep, 
 The light that guided shine into your eyes : 
 The envious Powers of ill nor wink nor sleep ; 
 Be therefore timely wise, 
 
 Nor laugh when this one steals and that one lies, 
 As if your luck could cheat those sleepless spies, 
 Till the deaf fury come, your house to sweep ! ' 
 I hear the voice and unaffrighted bow.: 
 Ye shall not be prophetic now, 
 Heralds of ill, that darkening fly 
 Between my vision and the rainbowed sky, 
 Or on the left your hoarse forebodings croak 
 From many a blasted bough 
 On Igdrasil's storm-sinewed oak, 
 That once was green, Hope of the West, as thou. 
 4 
 
26 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Yet pardon if I tremble while I boast, 
 For thee I love as those who pardon most. 
 
 " Away, ungrateful doubt, away ! 
 
 At least she is our own to-day ; 
 
 Break into rapture, my song, 
 
 Verses, leap forth in the sun, 
 
 Bearing the joyance along 
 
 Like a train of fire as ye run ! 
 
 Pause not for choosing of words, 
 
 Let them but blossom and sing 
 
 Blithe as the orchards and birds 
 
 With the new coming of Spring ! 
 
 Dance in your jollity, bells, 
 
 Shout, cannon, cease not, ye drums, 
 
 Answer, ye hill-sides and dells, 
 
 Bow, all ye people, she comes. 
 
 Radiant, calm-fronted as when 
 
 She hallowed that April day : 
 
 Stay with us ! Yes, thou shalt stay, 
 
 Softener and strengthener of men, 
 
 Freedom, not won by the vain, 
 
 Not to be courted in play, 
 
 Not to be kept without pain ! 
 
 Stay with us ! Yes, thou wilt stay, 
 
 Handmaid and mistress of all, 
 
 Kindler of deed and of thought, 
 
 Thou, that to hut and to hall 
 
 Equal deliverance brought! 
 
 Souls of her martyrs, draw near, 
 
 Touch our dull lips with your fire, 
 
 That we may praise without fear 
 
 Her, our delight, our desire, 
 
 Our faith's inextinguishable star, 
 
 Our hope, our remembrance, our trust, 
 
 Our present, our past, our to be, 
 
 Who will mingle her life with our dust 
 
 And make us deserve to be free ! " 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 27 
 
 Mrs. M. M. Frissell of Kingston, N. Y., being intro- 
 duced read the following poem, prepared at the request 
 of the Committee : 
 
 The pilgrims of this century, 
 
 In this new land of ours, 
 Might vainly search for classic shrines, 
 
 For antique mounds or towers ; 
 Or measure gifts with those who cross 
 
 The sea to offer gems, 
 And golden gifts with ardent prayers, 
 
 To papal diadems. 
 Yet shrines we know, with spell as strong 
 
 To summon pilgrim feet, 
 As those in legends held or sung, 
 
 Since faithful lips repeat 
 Dear names of home, of church, of school, 
 
 Trio to us infallible ! 
 
 Laden with memories of these, 
 
 We therefore come to keep 
 A loving festival, near by 
 
 Where our forefathers sleep. 
 Along these streets, on these fair hills, 
 
 By Housatonic's shore, 
 Happy the few of us who find 
 
 Our old homes' welcome door ! 
 The more pass on as strangers pass, 
 
 And strangers ask the name 
 Of many a one, whose fathers here 
 
 Once dwelt secure in fame. 
 'Tis the old tale ! but we must turn 
 
 To find our mustering place ; 
 Where is the old church of our youth ? 
 
 Altar of faith and grace, 
 Where even Summer birds found rest 
 
 Beneath her sheltering eaves ; 
 To children of her covenant 
 
 Much more she welcome gives ! 
 Alas ! alas ! " burned up with fire," 
 
 Gone for this many a year ! 
 And though another, fairer house 
 
 With worshippers sincere, 
 
28 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Stands where it stood, and where they met, 
 Who made those courts so blest, 
 
 On us a cold, gray shadow falls, — 
 This place is not our rest. 
 
 Old homes and church alike are gone 
 
 Still must our pilgrim quest go on. 
 
 Now seek we still some Unchanged spot, 
 
 With bated breath and fears, 
 Lest touch of time by man or fate, 
 
 In thirty, forty years, 
 Hath made familiar places strange, 
 
 Us old — once young together. 
 Broken forever youthful ties, 
 
 And left us doubting whether 
 Some common loves and tastes remain, 
 That call us to one place again. 
 
 Ah ! there's the old Academy, 
 We greet it, roof and wall ! 
 
 There, there it stands beneath the cliff, 
 So plain, " so natural !" 
 
 The very same where first it stood 
 Full forty years ago. 
 
 Mature, yet not infirm in age, 
 Strong still its work to do. 
 
 Within we note some changes slight, 
 Like wrinkles in a face 
 
 That used to wear but dimples bright, 
 Have dared to claim a place ; 
 
 We yield us to the old-time spell, 
 The place we sought this answers well, 
 
 'Twas part and parcel of that age, 
 That, in their honest way, 
 
 Our fathers builded, like themselves, 
 This plain Academy. 
 
 They " builded better than they knew,' 
 
 Those self-denying sires, 
 Living or dead their plan we praise, 
 
 While it our theme inspires. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 29 
 
 Utility to them seemed meet : 
 
 For them the classic lines 
 Of Art and Beauty had not shaped 
 
 Fair models to their minds. 
 Unto their simple, untaught eyes, 
 
 No wood outmatched the pine ; . 
 No inlaid floors, no frescoed walls 
 
 Did taste and skill combine ; 
 They only sought a plain, strong tower, 
 
 Whence learning's lamp might shed 
 A steady ray, unquenched in years, 
 
 When they, less taught, had fled 
 This lower life, elsewhere to find 
 
 Reward of service to their kind. 
 What cared tue then for plenishings ? 
 
 Our school-rooms seemed complete, 
 Maidens' and youths' dear company 
 
 Made lessons doubly sweet. 
 Then emulation wrought its charm, 
 
 Curbed by the tie that springs, 
 When sex with sex seeks mastery 
 
 In tasks which learning brings. 
 Co-educators then were we, 
 
 Without the thought of harm, 
 That later rose to vex the schools, 
 
 And raise a brief alarm ; 
 Because sex-fellowship in knowledge 
 Aspires to step from here to college ! 
 
 How dear are they whose names with ours, 
 
 Answered the call of school ! 
 Their forms, their laugh, come back again, 
 
 As soothing breezes cool, 
 As evening airs that fan the brow 
 
 At thoughtful twilight hour, 
 While we forget the weary day, 
 
 And care's perplexing power : — 
 We think of them, we speak their names, 
 
 Dear school-mates loved in truth, 
 Bright tablets in our memories 
 
 Hold these immortal youth, 
 
30 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 With tears we, whispering softty, say, 
 Dead school-mates, every one, 
 
 Come fill your place with us to-day, 
 'Tis empty else and lone ! 
 
 We long have mourned your youth and love, 
 
 Ye mourn not in that world above ! 
 
 Brimming with life and zeal and hope, 
 
 We all looked forth together 
 On the great world behind, before, 
 
 The scholar's best endeavor ; 
 That world of learning boundless grew, 
 
 And we young dreamers then 
 Caught glimpses of far-beckoning lives 
 
 Awaiting earnest men; 
 Of broader, fuller, happier ways, 
 
 All narrow ones we scorned, 
 Reward of patient student days, 
 
 As each his task performed, 
 We know some found the goals they sought ; 
 
 Some but a tether, strong, 
 To quiet, useful, homely lives, — 
 
 As worthy praise in song 
 As they who touched the ideals of youth, 
 
 Happy in fulfilled dreams, 
 When passing years fresh honors brought, 
 
 And joy's renewed beams. 
 To highest teachings constant now 
 
 Most blest are they who here 
 Can trace their later, steadfast lives, 
 
 To influence of some year 
 When teacher's counsels wrought a spell 
 
 Upon a wayward mind ; 
 And friendly comrades, healthful sports, 
 
 Their saving help combined. 
 
 Beyond the added honors given 
 
 To teachers honored here 
 By worthy pupils, — worthier grown, 
 
 As nobler grew their sphere, — 
 We now recall, with calm delight, 
 Those crowned with fellowship in light. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 31 
 
 How wise they seemed, those old school-teachers, 
 Whether as school-men or as preachers ! 
 
 Dare we approach them here and dream 
 We are more nearly peers, 
 
 Than in the years we have recalled. 
 Our ignorant young years ? 
 
 We will not drag our idols down, 
 Nor yet presume to he 
 
 Equal to those who helped us climb 
 Aloft, toward the sky ! 
 
 Teachers and school-mates, ever kept 
 In memory sweet and green, 
 
 Linked with this old Academy, 
 Like fragrance hid, unseen, 
 
 Within the homes whereto we turn, 
 Dwellers by mount and sea, 
 Our hearts towards schooldife scenes will yearn, 
 Ever most faithfully. 
 
 We greet thee, old Academy, 
 With true loving loyalty ; 
 As pilgrims kneel the shrine before, 
 As children hail the household door, 
 We old-time school-mates will implore 
 Blessings alway on thee ! 
 
 The following Reunion Hymn, prepared for the occasion 
 by Miss P. A. Holder, a former teacher of the School, was 
 then sung : 
 
 MISS HOLDER'S REUNION HYMN. 
 
 From o'er the hills a glad voice calls, 
 On waiting hearts its welcome falls ; 
 Our year of jubilee has come, 
 And bids our scattered band come home ; 
 Come home, to rest from toil and care, 
 Come home, in love and joy to share, 
 Come home, and on this festal day 
 Gain strength to tread life's onward way. 
 
 We gladly come, we gladly come, 
 To greet within this dear old home 
 
32 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 The friends beloved of other days. 
 On hallowed scenes again to gaze, 
 To tread once more the classic ground, 
 Where purest pleasures we have found. 
 To brighten still Love's golden chain, 
 And strengthen broken links again. 
 
 A joyful song, a joyful song 
 
 We raise, and still the strain prolong, 
 
 And lift our hearts in grateful praise 
 
 To Him whose love hath crowned our days, 
 
 Who leads us through green pastures fair, 
 
 Where streams of crystal waters are, 
 
 And still guides all who seek His love, 
 
 To perfect peace and rest above. 
 
 Soft voices sweet, soft voices sweet, 
 From hours flown by on swift-winged feet, 
 Of memories tender whisper low, 
 And thrill our trembling spirits now ; 
 Still may this treasured love of old, 
 Our hearts in sympathy enfold, 
 Until in Jesus' love complete, 
 As one in His dear home we meet. 
 
 THE REUNION DINNER AND SPEECHES. 
 
 After the exercises on " Fern Cliff," a procession was 
 formed, and under the direction of Chief Marshal, T. L. 
 Foote, marched to the dinner tent headed by the Lee 
 band. There were exactly 279 in the procession as it 
 passed down Main street. This number was increased by 
 the addition of those who had not gone to the " Cliff," 
 so that at the tables 358 were seated. After the viands 
 had been thoroughly discussed, the speaking was opened 
 by Pres. I. W. Andrews, of Marietta College, Ohio, the 
 first Principal of the Lee Academy. He told the circum- 
 stances of his call to his first position ; how, four weeks 
 before his graduation at Williams College, Squire Porter, 
 President of the Board of Academy Trustees, rapped at 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 33 
 
 his door one morning and offered him the place, which he 
 accepted. When the Academy was dedicated, he, the 
 first Principal, made the dedicatory address, and that was 
 his first essay in educational literature. On his roll for 
 the first year were 110 names; he had found about a doz- 
 en of those pupils here. He then spoke of some of his 
 old pupils who have since passed from earth — of Charlotte 
 Porter, one of the most brilliant girls he ever knew ; and 
 Charles Hulbert, whose noble qualities and manly char- 
 acter made his death so deeply felt. The first day of his 
 second year at Lee he received a call to Marietta. He 
 went, and there he had stayed. Only two — Stephen 
 Thatcher and Leonard Church — are living, of the men 
 who composed the Board of Trustees when he was princi- 
 pal. Since his connection with Marietta College, citizens 
 of Lee had been especially liberal towards it, — giving 
 $5,000 within a short time after his going there, and add- 
 ing some fifty per cent, to that amount since. He could 
 not but rejoice that his life-work had been begun in Lee, 
 and that he w r as able to come back to so interesting a cel- 
 ebration. 
 
 The next speaker was E. A. Hubbard, now agent of the 
 Massachusetts Board of Education, who became Principal 
 of the Academy in 1845, and remained for six terms. 
 He was married, he said, in '44, and with his wife started 
 West. They had got only as far west as Lebanon Springs 
 when their funds gave out, and so they began to work 
 there. They opened a school, but had continued it only 
 three months when they were burned out. He then re- 
 ceived and accepted an invitation to come to Lee. Mr. 
 Hubbard told, with good effect, of a skillful bit of diplo- 
 macy he indulged in at the close of his first term. He 
 had only 41 scholars, and as he was running the school as 
 a private venture, he was naturally anxious to increase 
 the number. So when the examination drew near, he 
 
34 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 told his scholars they needn't expect to be questioned on 
 what they knew, but rather on what they ought to know, 
 and cautioned them all, if they couldn't answer his ques- 
 tions, to say, promptly and loudly, "I don't know." The 
 plan worked to a charm. The "I don't knows" came 
 thick and fast during the whole examination, and his pat- 
 rons, when they saw how ignorant their children ap- 
 peared, at once determined to give them another term of 
 instruction. Lee pride was aroused ; the people wouldn't 
 have their children so ignorant, and in consequence Mr. 
 Hubbard opened his second term with seventy-seven pu- 
 pils, nearly double the number of the first. From Lee 
 he went to Northampton, as High School Principal there. 
 He thought he had gained the affection of some of his 
 pupils, at least, for when he came back on a visit, a few 
 months after, one of them threw her arms around his 
 neck and kissed him, and she had done the same thing 
 to-day. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard's speech w r as followed by music, after 
 which an interesting "memorial poem," written by Miss 
 P. A. Holder, and addressed to the High School pupils 
 from 1856 to 1862, was read by Rev. Dr. Flint, who sup- 
 plemented the reading with some words of his own. He 
 alluded, as one of the sweetest things coming to his mem- 
 ory at this time, to the late S. A. Hulbert, whose grand 
 character he warmly commended. Dr. Flint read a letter 
 from Merced, Cal., giving some facts about the Houghton 
 family, the younger members of which w r ere his pupils, 
 and full of reminiscence of the old school days. 
 
 Ptev. Dr. Edward Taylor of Binghamton, N. Y., intro- 
 duced as the " pioneer bell-ringer of the Academy," made 
 one of his characteristically happy speeches which have 
 given him a wide fame as a brilliant after-dinner speaker. 
 It w r as true, he said, he was the " pioneer bell-ringer." 
 The earlier teachers had told how committees had waited 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 35 
 
 on them to secure them for their position ; he had no 
 committee to wait on him. He wanted to be the janitor 
 and to ring the bell, that thus he might get his tuition 
 free. He sought the office, it didn't seek him. It was 
 hard work for him, but the instruction that President 
 Andrews gave was worth all it cost. When he was jan- 
 itor he had a way of hiding the key in a place he thought 
 nobody knew. But he used to find evidences of some- 
 body's having been in the building before he got there in 
 the morning. He puzzled over it for a long time, and it 
 never was quite clear to him how the key's hiding place 
 was found, till, that very morning, some one said to him at 
 the door of the Academy, " You hid it under the steps," 
 and the fellow's name was D wight Thatcher. While he 
 was janitor, he used sometimes to get notes from Principal 
 Andrews. One in particular he recalled. It was in rela- 
 tion to the fact that the floor had not been as thoroughly 
 swept as was desirable. He would take this opportunity 
 to say to Dr. Andrews that lie had received his "little 
 note." He recalled how scared he and " Liph " Wright 
 were once to receive a billet, signed " I. W. A.," to the 
 effect that they had better make less disturbance in school. 
 He knew they had acted like angels, and so he went to Dr. 
 Andrews about it and found that, after all, he was not 
 the writer. Dr. Taylor then told how Deacon Hyde had 
 started him for college, as he had so many others, and he 
 felt deeply indebted for that first impulse. He wanted 
 the town to do more and more for public education. 
 
 The next called upon was Rev. Dr. E. W. Bentley of El- 
 lenville, N. Y. He first entered the Academy, he said, on 
 the 4th of March, 1841, the day of President Harrison's 
 inauguration, and most of his school exercises that day 
 occurred in the belfry. He remembered attending, in 
 those early days, a laughing-gas exhibition in the Acad- 
 emy building, and how "Jim" Wakefield, under the 
 
db CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 influence of the gas, pitched into jolly Dr. Welch, and how 
 Edward Taylor tried to jump over the stove but didn't. 
 Of his old associates in the Academy, nearly all were 
 gone. He could see but three or four faces here that he 
 recognized. He was sorry his old teacher, Mr. Kimball, 
 whom he loved from the bottom of his heart, was not 
 here to speak for himself, on this very pleasant occasion. 
 Mr. Bentley told several good stories, and made a very 
 enjoyable speech. 
 
 Franklin Chamberlin of Hartford, the Centennial-day 
 Orator, thought not enough had been said of the first 
 Teacher who made the Lee Academy possible — Alexan- 
 der Hyde. Such an impulse was given to education by 
 the starting of Mr. Hyde's School, that it was perfectly 
 impossible for the town not to provide better public in- 
 struction for its children. To Mr. Hyde was very greatly 
 due the great progress Lee has made in education within 
 the last forty years. The speaker accounted for his 
 present lack of hair, by accusing Mr. Hyde of having 
 pulled it out in those early days ; but, if he did, its want 
 was more than supplied by the ideas he put into the head 
 beneath it. 
 
 Mr. Hyde was then called upon to defend himself 
 against the hair-pulling charge. He pleaded "not 
 guilty," though he admitted once taking his youthful 
 pupil by the hair — and he thought he deserved it. He 
 spoke briefly of some of his early scholars — of Charles 
 Hulbert, Addison Hunt, Charles Bassett, too early remov- 
 ed ; Addison Laflin, Mansfield Lovell, the brilliant Caro- 
 line Laflin, of Charlotte Porter, and others. 
 
 W. J. Bartlett said he represented the stay-at-home 
 class, having had energy enough not to go away from 
 Lee. He was a member of the Academy from 18o7 to 
 1843, graduating in the latter year as valedictorian of his 
 class. He presented an old exhibition programme, with 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. o7 
 
 an original tragedy, comedy, etc., acted by himself and 
 others, and also original essays, which he thought then 
 were unsurpassable. Mr. Bartlett stated, that he was dis- 
 tinguished as perhaps the only boy who had been under 
 the instruction of both Mr. Hyde and Dr. Andrews. 
 
 Wellington Smith spoke, as a citizen of Lee, of the 
 feeling in which the High School is held. The town is 
 proud of it. In the course of instruction it gives, it is 
 fully equal to the College of forty years ago. The citi- 
 zens all mean to sustain it and have no fear of its declin- 
 ing in usefulness or influence. 
 
 The speaking then came down to the younger gradu- 
 ates, the first called up being Charles May, who said that 
 instead of the " grog " the fathers would have felt called 
 upon to tender their guests, he would give a good strong 
 decoction of " brag." The High School had good ground 
 for bragging. The valedictorian of '68, at Williams, was 
 one of its graduates; the man who led the Williams 
 class of '71, during Freshman year, when preparation 
 especially tells, and who graduated with high honor, was 
 also one ; honor men at Williams and Trinity Colleges in 
 '73, went from here, as did also the valedictorian at 
 Brown in '74 and at Williams in '75. Such remarkable 
 success was due to the conscientious faithfulness and the 
 scholarly ability of the present Principal. 
 
 H. R. Gibbs of Boston, spoke pleasantly of his connec- 
 tion with the school, and of the many pleasant hours he 
 had spent there. Pie happily excused himself from mak- 
 ing a lengthy speech, by quoting the Latin sentiment, 
 E pavvulo par vum, which he freely translated, " From a 
 little man a little speech." 
 
 C. B. Bullarcl, Chairman of the Executive Committee 
 that had arranged for the Reunion, spoke briefly of the 
 pleasure it gave the resident graduates to see so many 
 former members of the Academv and High School at this 
 
38 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Reunion, and expressed the hope that they would find it 
 thoroughly enjoyable. 
 
 The President of the Day then said, that of course the 
 graduates would be pleased to hear of the present condi- 
 tion of the school, and he would call upon James W. 
 Sutherland, one of the present members, to represent it. 
 Mr. Sutherland made a handsome showing for the school, 
 and his remarks were received with hearty applause. 
 
 Letters of regret were read from J. E. Bradley of Al- 
 bany, N. Y., Judge Tourgee of North Carolina, and George 
 F. Perkins of New York City. In the way of business, 
 the following plan for a permanent organization was pre- 
 sented by C. B. Bullard, and was unanimously adopted, 
 together with the list of officers proposed : 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE LEE HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI 
 ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Article 1. — This Association shall be called the Lee High School 
 Reunion Association. Its object shall be to cultivate social intercourse 
 among its members. 
 
 Art. 2. — The officers of this Association shall be a President, five 
 Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Executive Committee 
 of nine, and shall be chosen annually. 
 
 Art. 3. — All persons whose studies at the Lee Academy or High 
 School have been completed, may become members of this Association 
 by subscribing to the Constitution. 
 
 Art. 4. — There shall be an Annual Meeting of the Association, at 
 such time and place and with such exercises as the Executive Com- 
 mittee may determine. 
 
 Art. 5. — This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote 
 of the members present at any regular meeting. 
 
 The list of officers chosen under this Constitution was 
 as follows : President, Wellington Smith ; Vice-Presidents, 
 A. C. Sparks, E. H. Barlow, D. W. Allen, John Delaney, 
 Charles May ; Secretary, S. V. Halsey ; Treasurer, H. C. 
 Phelps ; Executive Committee, C. H. Sabin, T. L. Foote, 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 39 
 
 B. H. Taintor, H. H. Garfield, Charles D. McCarthy, Mrs. 
 A. C. Sparks, Mrs. G. F. Bradley, Mrs. William May, Miss 
 Mary R. Hyde. 
 
 Dr. W. F. Holcombe of New York, called attention to 
 the fact that the High School, while provided with able 
 teachers, was not furnished with a philosophical appara- 
 tus. Such teachers should have all available appliances 
 to aid in their labors, and he offered to be one of twenty- 
 five to give twenty-five dollars each for the purchase of 
 apparatus. He made this offer, he said, because of the 
 kindness shown him in this town, when he was a medical 
 student here, especially by Mrs. T. A. Hall, wife of the 
 Principal of the High School, and herself a teacher in the 
 school. This generous offer of Dr. Holcombe drew out a 
 response from our large-hearted citizen, Mr. Elizur Smith, 
 who said he was not aware of the deficiency of the school 
 in this respect, and promised to aid in remedying the de- 
 fect, a promise he fully redeemed Centennial Day, by a 
 donation of five hundred dollars. Thus happily ended 
 Reunion Day, a fitting prelude to the Jubilee of the Cen- 
 tennial. 
 
 CENTENNIAL DAY. 
 
 The morning of Centennial opened bright, and at an 
 early hour the crowd began to assemble to witness the 
 procession of fan tastics, representing the aboriginal owners 
 of the soil, and the costumes and customs of the first 
 white settlers, mingled with some grotesque negroes and 
 other characters, partly historical and partly fabulous. 
 This part of the program the Committee were not re- 
 sponsible for, but winked at it for the humor of the thing 
 and the gratification of the multitude. Mr. H. N. Horton 
 was master of these ceremonies, and the manner of their 
 execution did great credit to his genius and executive 
 ability in this line. It had been arranged that this pro- 
 cession should move at 8 o'clock, and should be heralded 
 
40 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 by the ringing of all the bells in the village and the 
 blowing of the steam-whistles of the several mills. The 
 bells and whistles were on time, and made the hills to 
 echo and re-echo with their clangor. Heading the parade 
 was a detachment of special police. 
 
 Then came the Water Witch drum corps, followed by 
 a troop of mounted Indian warriors. Succeeding these 
 was a company of plantation darkies seated on a stu- 
 pendous ox-cart, followed by a number of grotesque fig- 
 ures on horseback, among them the Father of his Coun- 
 try with his beloved Martha and the rotund FalstafF. 
 Next in the procession, was a log cabin of the olden time, 
 with the aged sire peaceably smoking his pipe, while his 
 ancient companion plied the busy needles. Then came 
 a collection of spinning wheels, worked by dames in the 
 costumes of the past century. Another detachment of 
 masked horsemen, of jolly negro minstrels, several wag- 
 ons of old etc., w T ith a pair of wagon wheels conspicu- 
 ously labeled " The first wagon wheels used in town," 
 brought up the rear. In front of Memorial Hall the pro- 
 cession halted, on its course down Main street, and C. E. 
 Tucker delivered an elaborate and highly-finished oration 
 — bright, witty, and full of taking local hits. 
 
 At ten o'clock, the hour appointed for the literary ex- 
 ercises of the day, the Congregational Church, with a 
 seating capacity for twelve hundred, was filled as it was 
 never filled before. Every seat was occupied and the 
 aisles were crowded. Hon. Harrison Garfield presided and 
 called the assembly to order, prefacing the exercises with 
 the following introduction : 
 
 GREETING OE MR. GARFIELD. 
 
 Fellow Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 The hour lias arrived to which we have invited you to join with us in 
 celebrating this hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of this town. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 41 
 
 An act of the General Assembly of Massachusetts Bay, on the 
 eighteenth day of October, 1777, was passed incorporating several 
 grants of land that had been made to individuals and corporations, 
 into the town of Lee, giving it a name, place and standing among 
 the towns that surround us, the youngest of them all. 
 
 In view of the approaching Centennial of its incorporation, the 
 inhabitants of the town, in town meeting assembled, in April, 1876, 
 voted unanimously to notice, in an appropriate manner, this event, 
 and to have collated and published an authentic history of the town, 
 and chose a Committee of thirteen of its citizens to take in charge 
 this matter. 
 
 In pursuance of these instructions of the town, the Committee 
 entered upon their labors, and fortunately secured the Rev. Dr. 
 Charles M. Hyde, a grandson of our late greatly beloved and long- 
 time pastor, the Rev. Dr. Alvan Hyde, to engage in these labors. 
 Mr. Hyde entered upon this work with much energy early in the 
 year 1876, searching the records of this town and in the State 
 Department at Boston, and in all places where scraps of information 
 could be found, prosecuting his labors nearly to completion, up to 
 February last, when he received an appointment from the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to take charge of the 
 Pacific Theological Institution, at the Sandwich Islands. It was 
 expected that Dr. Hyde would give the Historical Address. The 
 Committee, however, were brought to no extremity in thus being 
 called to part with him, but fortunately secured the Hon. Franklin 
 Chamberlin, of Hartford, Conn., who was a long-time resident of 
 this town, to give this address. 
 
 This history is now nearly completed, and is in preparation for the 
 press, and, when published, we believe will be an authentic history of 
 this town. 
 
 These remarks I make that you may know what action the town 
 has taken in this matter, preliminary to engaging in the further 
 exercises of this occasion, as set forth in the printed programs that 
 have been distributed among the audience. 
 
 To you, former residents and descendants of former residents of 
 Lee, many of whom have come long distances to be with us on this 
 to us most interesting occasion, we tender our congratulations upon 
 being with us, and can only say that our hearts and homes are open 
 to you, and we hope you will make your stay with us as long as it 
 shall be your pleasure to do so, and enjoy our hospitalities. 
 G 
 
42 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 At the close of Mr. Garfield's remarks, the Lee Cornet 
 Band, under the direction of Capt. A. V. Shannon, 
 played a greeting overture, and President Hopkins, of 
 Williams College, led the assembly in prayer. The fol- 
 lowing ode, by E. W. B. Canning, Esq., of Stockbridge, 
 was then sung by the choir : 
 
 ME. CANNING'S ODE. 
 
 'Tis not the trump of war, 
 
 Or noise of deadly fray, 
 That summons from afar 
 
 Old Berkshire's sons to-day ; 
 
 But peaceful hosts 
 
 Kejoicing come, 
 And songs of praise 
 
 Displace the drum. 
 
 In hope and faith our sires, 
 
 The precious seed to sow, 
 Here lit their altar fires 
 
 One hundred years ago. 
 
 With life and cheer 
 
 The desert rang, 
 And homes amid 
 
 The forest sprang. 
 
 How hath the weak and small 
 
 To wealth and honor grown ! 
 How hath the least of all 
 
 Become a mighty one ! 
 
 So to the hrave 
 
 And good 'tis given, 
 And toil obtains 
 
 The smile of Heaven. 
 
 Ye exiles who afar 
 
 Have sought another home, 
 To greet the eastern star 
 
 With willing feet ye've come. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 43 
 
 The mother's call 
 
 Ye still obey, 
 And welcome glad 
 
 She speaks to-day. 
 
 0, wander as we will 
 
 O'er fairest scenes of earth, 
 One place is dearest still — 
 
 The spot that gave us hirth. 
 
 No sky so bright, 
 
 No fields so fair, 
 No friends so dear 
 
 As childhood's are. 
 
 May He whose hanner led 
 
 Our fathers in the past, 
 His constant blessing shed 
 
 While centuries shall last. 
 
 And be these hills 
 
 And vales the home 
 Of thrift and peace 
 
 Long years to come. 
 
 ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY HON. WILLIAM TAYLOR, 
 OF LEE. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 When this town of Lee was incorporated, a century ago, not more 
 than 150 persons resided within its limits, and nearly, or quite, half 
 of its able-bodied men were in the Revolutionary army. 
 
 Dense forests covered most of its soil ; few highways had been 
 opened ; bridges did not then span our streams ; the dwellings of the 
 early settlers were rudely constructed, and rudely furnished, and all of 
 the earlier town and religious meetings were held in the dwellings or 
 barns of these settlers. 
 
 What changes in a hundred years ! Of the early fathers and moth- 
 ers, not one remains. The same grand old mountains and hills encir- 
 cle us, and the same valleys are spread beneath our feet, but now " the 
 pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys, also, are covered over 
 with corn." The same bright streams still "to the ocean run," but at 
 the bidding of intelligent enterprise they now bring to us the hum and 
 
44 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 reward of well directed industry. Then no church edifice or school 
 house had been erected here. Now the structures which you here see, 
 speak for themselves. 
 
 And to these pioneer fathers, we are largely indebted for our present 
 prosperity. Amid poverty and great privation, " in weakness which 
 became strength," they patiently and perseveringly labored and prayed, 
 and we have entered into the fruit of their labors. They opened the 
 forests ; they cleared and cultivated these fields ; they trained up 
 Christian households; they planted the Church and the school; and 
 in Christian faith and hope, they laid deep and strong the foundations 
 of our best institutions. Honor, everlasting honor, to their memory. 
 
 In reviewing the history of their faithful labors, we find the names 
 of Yale and Ingersoll and Bradley ; of Bassett and Thatcher and 
 Foote, and others of like spirit, who wrought valiantly and faithfully, 
 and with wise forecast, to secure privileges which have made us indeed 
 a favored people. And in this good work, they were for more than 
 forty years led by their sainted pastor of precious memory, Bev. Dr. 
 Alvan Hyde, " whose record is on high." 
 
 We, the sons and daughters of Lee, should be grateful that so rich 
 an inheritance is ours, and we should guard it well. Should we not 
 lovingly commemorate the virtues and cherish the memory of these 
 heroic, God-fearing fathers and mothers, and tread reverently the soil on 
 which they labored and died; the soil of our birth and of their burial? 
 
 You, the returning children of Lee, may in yonder cemetery find a 
 greater number of familiar names, "than you will see of familiar faces, 
 in our homes and in our streets ; but these revered ancestors still live 
 in our memories and in the blessed influence of institutions of educa- 
 tion and religion which they founded and fostered, and in the good 
 example which they left to us. Thus, though dead, they yet speak to 
 us. Nor is the influence of their example and their lives limited to 
 the place of their labors. You have all felt more or less of its mould- 
 ing power, and every community in which your lot has been cast, has 
 been in some measure impressed by it. 
 
 And now, on this beautiful day, with the stars and stripes floating 
 in (he breeze, and all around us, in behalf of the Committee of Arrange- 
 ments for celebrating this Centennial of the Incorporation of this town 
 of Lee, and of all its citizens, I extend a cordial welcome to all who 
 have come to aid and cheer us by their presence and by their kindly 
 interest in these reunion services. 
 
 To you, our brother, the orator of the clay, and to her, whom in life's 
 younger days you here chose to be your partner for life, I extend a 
 glad and hearty welcome. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 45 
 
 We rejoice that in our opening Invocation we were led by that pil- 
 lar of strength to Williams College and the Church, Rev. Dr. Hopkins, 
 to whom the town of Lee should he grateful for training her cultured 
 sons who all love him as a father, at whose feet many educated men 
 have sat, as did Paul at the feet of Gamaliel. 
 
 Under the date of September 26th, 1776, (one year before the incor- 
 poration of the town,) we find the record of the first marriage which 
 appears on the records of the town, to wit : that of " Capt. Josiah 
 Yale to Ruth Tracey." We rejoice to see in this audience, a son of 
 this first recorded marriage, our venerable former townsman, Mr. Jo- 
 siah Yale, and his two daughters, and his grandchildren and great- 
 grandchildren, thus presenting to us, in a goodly group, every link 
 (from childhood up) of a living, present, close connection with one of 
 the earliest and best of the households of the town. 
 
 Returning sons and daughters of Lee, welcome, thrice welcome to 
 you all ! May God bless you, every one. We welcome you to this 
 dear old home, around which cluster such tender memories. We wel- 
 come you to this spot, made sacred by the fond remembrance of a fa- 
 ther's love, of a mother's unceasing care, and of the affections of 
 brothers and sisters. We welcome you to this your native soil, which 
 is hallowed in holding the precious dust of loved ones who have gone 
 before us to their everlasting rest. We cordially welcome you to our 
 hearts, to the hospitality of our homes, and to all the festivities of this 
 thanksgiving-day — not of a year, but of a century. 
 
 And w r e not only welcome, but thank you for coming from your 
 widely scattered homes, to join us in this family gathering at the 
 " Old Homestead," that we may here renew former friendships ; that 
 we may here join hands in mutual love ; that we may, from your own 
 lips, learn of the way in which God has led you ; that we may here 
 encourage and strengthen each other in all worthy endeavor ; that we 
 may, in this consecrated place, unite in thanks for mercies past, and 
 in petition for blessings to us and to those who shall succeed us in all 
 time to come. Bound to you, as we are, by the fond memories of 
 early days, and by the ties of blood and of affection, we rejoice in your 
 prosperity and honor. 
 
 Life passes rapidly away. We cannot again all meet on earth. 
 May this reunion be to each of us a type and presage of an immortal 
 union in that better land of eternal life, and light, and joy. There 
 may we all, as members of the " household of faith," be greeted by 
 the songs of angels, and by our Divine Master and Savior to a blessed 
 "Welcome Home! " 
 
46 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 RESPONSE BY HON. WILLIAM HYDE, OF WARE. 
 
 There is nothing more pleasant than a cordial welcome. To return 
 to the home of our youth seems to be a natural desire. One of our 
 sweetest poets who began in his boyhood to chant the smoothly flow- 
 ing numbers of " Thanatopsis " near the sources of the Agawam, and 
 in his early professional life on the banks of the Housatonic, sang of 
 " Green River," and of " Monument Mountain," returns in his green 
 old age to his paternal acres to bless the dwellers in that secluded 
 mountain town, with the material for their mental and social culture. 
 To those of us who went out from you in the morning of life, it is 
 pleasant to feel that the place where we were born and reared is one 
 to which we can refer with pride. We have never heard the question, 
 " Can any good thing come out of her ?" Good things have been 
 expected, and many good men and women have gone from Lee to bless 
 all parts of the land and of the world. But the good did not all go. 
 We see around us evidence that not all of the energy and enterprise 
 has sought other fields. The new comers have perhaps more than 
 made good your losses. We have watched your growth, and have 
 rejoiced in your prosperity. The blessings of Heaven have been 
 sought, and not in vain. The church has kept pace with your busi- 
 ness enterprise. Your schools have been carefully watched. Your 
 leading men have been on the side of good order and of the institutions 
 of piety and religion. Few places can show a more healthy growth, 
 or present a more cheerful and thrifty appearance. 
 
 My lot has been cast not far from you, and for fifty years my visits 
 have been more than that number. The changes do not appear so 
 great to me as to those who come back after a long absence. The 
 first paper mill was built here the year of my birth. The slow 
 process of dipping the mould in the pulp and laying each sheet on the 
 felt was carefully watched by me when a boy. Twenty years ago, Lee 
 was said to produce more paper than any other town in the United 
 States. Other places may do more now. Your population has quad- 
 rupled, and your business has done much more than that. It is not 
 with your material thrift that the deepest interest is felt. We turn 
 back to-day to the men who early came here and gave form and char- 
 acter to society. Some of us seem to stand as connecting links 
 1 ictween those men and the coming generations. 
 
 During the war of 1812, when the election of governor was on the 
 first Monday in April, when the mud was deep and the snow banks 
 prevented moving on wheels, I saw coming down Howk's hill by my 
 father's house a venerable man seated in an arm-chair in a large 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 47 
 
 sleigh, drawn by two horses. His hair was white, he wore a cocked 
 hat and gray overcoat, and leaned upon his staff for support as the 
 sleigh was drawn across the bridge up to the front door of the church, 
 where the town meetings were then held. Two strong men, his 
 grandsons, lifted the chair and its occupant from the sleigh and bore 
 him up the broad aisle to the deacon's seat, where he deposited his 
 vote for Caleb Strong for Governor. This must have been in 1814 
 or '15, when politics ran high between the Federals and Democrats. 
 That man was William Ingersoll, the moderator of the first town 
 meeting, chairman of the first Board of Selectmen, and of the "Com- 
 mittee of Correspondence," the first Town Treasurer and Highway 
 Surveyor, and whose name stands first as a member of the Congrega- 
 tional Church, organized in 1780. His farm bordered on the Housa- 
 tonic from the quarry on the Van Deusen farm, nearly around to 
 South Lee. His house stood opposite the bend of the river, on the 
 brow of the hill just east of the brick house of Mr. Langdon. He 
 was the owner of about 1,000 acres of excellent land, and planted his 
 seven sons, Moses, Aaron, David, Elijah, Jared, William, and Calvin, 
 around him. His descendants of the sixth generation are here 
 to-day, inheriting the blessings of a pious ancestry. 
 
 As Mr. Taylor has said, the first marriage recorded upon the town 
 records is that of Capt. Josiah Yale and Ruth Tracey, September 26th, 
 1776. For twenty years he was selectman, and represented the town 
 in the Legislature six years. Modest and retiring in his manners, 
 his wisdom and discretion gave him great influence in the town and 
 in the Church. He was a healer of difficulties, and to him was the 
 town greatly indebted for the church building erected in 1800. His 
 descendants of the fifth generation appear and are the same as the 
 sixth of William Ingersoll. I name these two as representative men. 
 
 The town has been greatly blessed in its ministry. It does not 
 become me to speak fully of the long and faithful services of Dr. 
 Hyde. He came here at the age of 22, when there were but 21 males 
 in the Church. The records show 110 additions in eighteen months, 
 and more than 700 during his ministry. He feared God and loved 
 this people. He was really the first one to act as pastor. The 
 weekly conferences in the seven school districts in rotation, when he 
 would propose a subject and ask each one present to express his 
 views, and sum up the case himself, brought him in close connection 
 with the people and gave him great power and influence. One who 
 did not sympathize with him in his religious views once said to him 
 that " Lee was Hyde bound." It was in the family that I have the most 
 occasion to remember him. The morning and evening prayers, the 
 
48 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Saturday evening Biblical and catechetical lessons and songs of 
 praise, are among my most hallowed remembrances. There were 
 eleven of us children. We could all repeat the Assembly's Shorter 
 Catechism, the questions being asked without a book and the slightest 
 mistake corrected. A good man's influence is perpetuated after he is 
 gone. 
 
 Of Dr. Gale I might speak more freely. His first pastorate of 
 nine years was over my own church. He came to you with a rich 
 experience, a love for his work, and for this people, which endured to 
 the end. We were always fast friends, and counselled together in 
 matters pertaining to Christ's kingdom to the time of his death. He 
 has so recently passed away I will not enlarge. You have honored 
 yourselves in honoring his memory. These pastors died in office, and 
 their graves are with you. 
 
 In all the changes that have taken place here in fifty years, noth- 
 ing is more marked than in the drinking customs of the people. I 
 am not inclined to say, " The former days were better than these." I 
 see progress all around. When Dr. Hyde was settled here in 1792, 
 with a salary of sixty pounds, ($200,^ to aid him in building a house, a 
 subscription of thirty pounds was made payable in materials and 
 labor. The first and largest sum, by the principal merchant, was 
 fifteen shillings " in nails, glass or cider." In my boyhood, the use 
 of intoxicating drinks was almost universal. There were seven 
 taverns and as many stores that sold them in a population of 1,200. 
 Cider-brandy distilleries were frequent. When the Berkshire Asso- 
 ciation of thirty Congregational ministers was to meet here, I was 
 sent to the store for two quarts of Santa Cruz and two quarts of 
 Jamaica spirits, one dozen of pipes and two large papers of tobacco. 
 The clergy used both spirits and tobacco. It was thought inhospita- 
 ble not to offer them on all occasions. I have attended weddings, 
 where " cider-brandy sling" came around in pint tumblers, from which 
 all drank, the bride and groom first, then the minister. These 
 customs were fearful. The church records will show repeated 
 confessions of its members who were overcome. The American 
 Temperance Society was formed in 1826. The ministers and leading 
 men took hold of the work in earnest. The blessing of God followed. 
 Many were saved whose feet had well nigh slipped. Are not these 
 better days ? What minister or church member, or any other man, 
 has any standing who indulges an appetite for strong drink ? Who 
 that loves his fellow men will now sell it ? 
 
 I could indulge without limit in reminiscences that might be 
 interesting, but I leave them for the orator and the historian. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 49 
 
 At the close of Mr. Hyde's address, the choir sang 
 the following Anthem, prepared for the occasion by Miss 
 P. A. Holder, formerly the Assistant Principal of the Lee 
 Hi^h School : 
 
 ■o" 
 
 On the dial of the ages, 
 
 Marked by path of rolling years, 
 See the hand majestic pointing 
 
 Where a cycle full appears. 
 Pause — its hour sublime is sounding 
 
 From the minaret of Time, 
 Answering bells in silver chorus 
 
 Ringing out our Century's chime. 
 
 Circling on, the clear vibrations 
 
 Through our peaceful valley sweep, 
 While the listening, waiting mountains 
 
 Echoing, give responses deep. 
 Catch the strain in swelling choral, 
 
 Eoll the full, deep tide along, 
 Raise our Century's lofty anthem 
 
 On the voice of sacred song. 
 
 While the fathers sleep, their children 
 
 Welcome this auspicious day, 
 Live to see the light and glory 
 
 Shining o'er the Century's way. 
 Standing on this mount of vision, 
 
 Wondrous things our eyes behold, 
 Life grows nobler, richer, purer, 
 
 Precious joys the years unfold. 
 
 God, who sitteth in the heavens, 
 
 Throned amid eternal spheres, 
 In whose sight an era mighty, 
 
 Like a passing day appears. 
 God, our God, we bow before Thee, 
 
 Gratefully, adoring fall, 
 Thou hast crowned the years with goodi 
 
 Thou hast blest and given all. 
 
 7 
 
50 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY FRANKLIN CHAMBERLLN, 
 Esq., OF HARTFORD. 
 
 Stretching from the southern boundary of Vermont on the north, 
 to the north line of Connecticut on the south, and. hounded on the 
 west by the State of New York, and on the east hy our counties of 
 Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin, is an uneven tract of about 950 
 square miles, which constitutes the western section of Massachusetts, 
 and which (having previously belonged to the old county of Hamp- 
 shire,) was, in the first year of the reign of George III., made a dis- 
 tinct county, and in honor of the pleasant inland county of " Berks," 
 in old England, was called "Berkshire." The county is of unequal 
 breadth, being, on the line of Vermont, only about fourteen miles, 
 while upon the southern boundary it is about twenty-four miles wide. 
 Its surface is pleasantly broken by high hills and deep valleys. On 
 the east, we have a continuation of the Green Mountains chain from 
 Vermont, southward into Connecticut, and this range is graduated 
 from its summit westward, by two or three ranges of hills of less ele- 
 vation, till we come to the valley of the Housatonic river; and even 
 through this valley, there are distinct ranges of elevated land, which 
 have been so broken by the attrition of the centuries, as to appear to 
 a traveler like distinct and isolated hills. Along the western bound- 
 ary is the Taconic range of mountains, which extends by its easterly 
 spurs from one to four miles, toward the center of the county. The 
 elevation of several points in the east (the Green Mountain) range, is 
 about 1,800 or 2,000 feet abovo the valley, and its general summit 
 level may be taken as about 1, 600 feet. " Saddle Mountain," lying be- 
 tween Williamstown and New Ashford, on the west, and Adams and 
 Cheshire on the east, is considered as belonging to the eastern range. 
 Its highest summit, "Greylock," nearly west of the village of Adams, is 
 2,600 feet above the level of the valley at Williams College, and about 
 3,580 feet above tide-water at Albany, being the highest point in the 
 Commonwealth. The Taconic Range is much more elevated and 
 broken in the south part of the county than in the north. Its gen- 
 eral elevation, below the middle of the county, is about 1,200 to 1,400 
 feet. It is considerably higher in Egremont, and its highest summit, 
 called sometimes "Mount Washington," and again " Mount Everett," is 
 about 3,150 feet above tide-water of the Housatonic. 
 
 THE RIVERS OF BERKSHIRE. 
 
 Among these hills and mountain peaks, the chief of the valleys, are 
 the Housatonic and the Hoosac valleys. The first is formed and fer- 
 tilized by the river which gives it its name; and the last is watered 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 51 
 
 and beautified by the Hoosac and its tributaries. The Housatonic 
 has two principal sources, the eastern, rising in Windsor and passing 
 south-westerly, through Dalton (where it is increased by a consider- 
 able stream from Hinsdale), to Pittsfield, at which place it is joined 
 by the western branch, which mainly originates in the beautiful lake 
 lying on the west side of the road leading from Pittsfield to Lanes- 
 boro, and pleasantly covering a part of the dividing boundary of those 
 towns, by its mile and more of length and breadth. In addition to 
 the Housatonic and the Hoosac, which are its principal streams, Berk- 
 shire has numerous other small streams, tributary to those rivers and 
 to the Deerfield, the Connecticut and the Westfield rivers, and is 
 beautified in its numerous valleys by a multitude of little lakes ; some 
 of which are gems of beauty. From its valleys, one gets many bold 
 and beautiful presentments of 
 
 THE SURROUNDING HILLS AND SCENERY. 
 
 In Spring and Summer, the wealth of vegetation in the valleys and 
 the luxuriance and numerous colors of the forests on the hills, fill the 
 eye with beauty and gladden the whole nature of the cultivated trav- 
 eler with delight ; while in the Fall, these same hills and forests pre- 
 sent, in their ripened foliage, a brilliancy and glory, and variety of 
 color, which cannot be surpassed, and can hardly be equalled in the 
 entire world. This grand display of Autumnal foliage is to be attrib- 
 uted, of course, to the great variety here gathered, of the gems and 
 species of our American trees and shrubs, — as to which the late Pro- 
 fessor Dewey cites the Frenchman Mirbel, as saying that the species 
 of the oak alone, in America, were more numerous than all the species 
 of trees in Europe. Standing upon " Greylock," or upon " Mount Wash- 
 ington," and stretching the vision north from Washington, or south 
 from " Greylock," the eye of a lover of natural beauty is filled with won- 
 der and delight; and those who have traveled somewhat widely will 
 enjoy it most, as it cannot fail to recall to them Scotland and Wales ; 
 the lake country, and Derbyshire, and Devon, in old England, and the 
 most beautiful — of course not the most grand — scenery in Switzerland. 
 As you stand upon either of these high points, your eye, after resting 
 awhile upon the opposite peak at the other extreme of the county, 
 wanders from one to another of the lower hills and the pleasant val- 
 leys ; from beautiful lake to swiftly-running or quietly-winding 
 stream, and the whole seems like a vast and charming park, with its 
 cultivated fields and gardens, its hills and groves, and its hundreds of 
 miles of driveways, stretching along by the rivers, or winding among 
 the hills, or skirting the borders of the quiet and lovely lakes. 
 
52 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 lee's fortunate location. 
 In the center of this vision of beauty, six miles long by about five 
 miles broad, flanked on the east by the high hills of Washington, and 
 shut in on the south by the grand pile of hills called " Beartown," lies 
 our goodly town of Lee. Nestling among the foot hills of these 
 mountain ranges ; midway between old " Greylock " on the north, and 
 "Mount Washington " on the south, and divided by the swiftly-flowing 
 Housatonic, (a river beautiful in name and in all its bed and border, 
 from its source in lake and mountain spring, down among its wooded 
 hills and pleasant valleys, to its outlet in the iSound,) Lee has enough 
 of beauty to satisfy the desires of its children, while they remain at 
 home, and to be a pleasant memory when they are away. It furnishes 
 few, if any, splendid or exceptional illustrations of grandeur or of beauty, 
 or of highest cultivation, but from its center to its utmost circumfer- 
 ence, it exhibits intimations and possibilities of beauty and of culture, 
 which its busy citizens have, till recently, found little leisure, taste, 
 or wealth, to cultivate or develop. One hundred years ago, it was a 
 wilderness, almost unbroken by the hand of civilized man. To-day, 
 its pleasant homes, its cultivated farms, its factories and shops, its 
 stores and counting-houses, give food, shelter and employment, to a 
 prosperous and intelligent community of about 4,000 people. Its 
 churches and schools, its farms, its mechanical, manufacturing and 
 mercantile establishments compare fairly with those of any other 
 place of similar population and pursuits in the broad world. Its quiet, 
 steady growth from that to this, it is our privilege and pleasure to 
 contemplate in this hour. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF A CENTURY. 
 
 Standing thus between the living and the dead, upon this Centen- 
 nial uplift, we would review the past, glance rapidly at the present, 
 and. perhaps, endeavor to forecast a little that future, which as to any 
 certainties, is all unknown to us. We must proceed, with rapid sketch 
 and vision, taking in only a few of those historic facts which have 
 special local or family interest, and which are carefully and well gath- 
 ered for future reference and use, in the brief sketch contributed by 
 the late Dr. Alvan Hyde to the " History of Berkshire," in the fuller 
 " History of Lee," contained in the lecture of Rev. Armory Gale; in 
 the address of the late Dr. Nahum Gale at the laying of the Corner 
 Stone of 3'our Congregational Church ; in the address delivered at the 
 Scmi-Centennial of the Congregational Sunday-school; and finally, 
 and much more fully, by the son and the grandson, of the best of good 
 men and true, who have ministered to the wants and the growth of 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 53 
 
 the moral and spiritual elements of the people of Lee, in the historical 
 notes which will be published in some convenient form in connection 
 with the doings of this Centennial Day. The harvests there garnered 
 will afford valuable and interesting materials from which you and 
 your children may, and will, pleasantly gather and glean, in your quiet 
 hours for the century which is before you, but could not be collected 
 and compressed so as to be presented in the brief space which should 
 be taken by this Address. 
 
 THE TOWN'S INCORPORATION. 
 
 Lee is one of the modern towns of this quite modern Common- 
 wealth, and its memories are all fresh, vivid and easily called up. 
 One hundred years and more had elapsed after the landing of the 
 pilgrims, (December 21, 1620) before Western Massachusetts began 
 to be settled, and the deed by which — in consideration of £460, three 
 barrels of cider, and thirty quarts of rum, the southern half of Berk- 
 shire County was conveyed by the Indians, was dated April 25th, 1724. 
 From this territory, known at first as the " upper and lower Housa- 
 tonic townships," Sheffield, and afterward Great Barrington and other 
 towns, were set off and incorporated. Stoekbridge was chartered in 
 1739, as an Indian town, six miles square ; and Richmond and Lenox 
 followed a few years later. The whole territory surrounding Lee had 
 been settled and occupied before Isaac Davis built his farm-house 
 near John McAllister's, and it was not till October 21, 1777, that Lee 
 became an incorporated town. Five different special grants, 
 " Hoplands," " Watson's," " Williams," " Larrabees," and " Glass 
 Works," were in whole or in part included in the township. These 
 grants are quite fully referred to by Dr. Charles M. Hyde in the 
 " Historical Notes." 
 
 THE HOPLANDS AND WATSON'S GRANTS. 
 
 " Hoplands," somewhat inconveniently known from its separate 
 school fund, is a strip of land extending nearly across the southern 
 portion of the town, and including six school districts — the two at 
 South Lee, the one near the Charles Hinckley homestead, the two in 
 Water street, and the one at East Lee. This tract belonged to Great 
 Barrington prior to 1777, but was included in this town at the time 
 of its incorporation. 
 
 Watson's Grant comprised a large tract originally purchased by 
 Robert Watson of Sheffield (assisted by a tory lawyer named David 
 Ingersoll) of the Indians in 1757, which constitutes to-day the town 
 of Washington, and parts of the towns of Middlefield, Hinsdale, 
 
54 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Lenox and Lee. This land, before it became incorporated into the 
 several townships with which it is now connected, passed through a 
 number of hands, and was known by the successive names of Watson- 
 town, Greenock, Hartwood and Monnt Ephraim. 
 
 HOW COL. WILLIAMS " GATHERED IN " 4,000 ACRES. 
 
 There seems to have been in the "Williams" Grant (or Minister's 
 Grant, as it is frequently and quite significantly called,) some features 
 which, as showing some characteristics of the times, and of the 
 leading and probably the best men of that day, — and perhaps as 
 confirming the opinion that "there is no new thing under the sun" — 
 may well receive our passing notice. This grant formed the north- 
 west corner of the town, and contained about 4,000 acres. It seems 
 to have been made by the General Court, January 21, 1740, to Col. 
 Ephraim Williams and six associates. In the sketch of Lee, con- 
 tributed by Dr. Alvan Hyde to the History of Berkshire, published in 
 1829, this grant is merely noticed as " Williams' Grant." In the 
 History of Lee, by Eev. Amory Gale, (compiled and delivered as a 
 lecture to the Young Men's Association of Lee, March 22, 1854,) it is 
 mentioned as embracing about 650 acres in the northwest corner of 
 the town, and in explanation of its origin, Mr. Gale says : " Col. 
 Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College, was an efficient 
 soldier in the second French war, who fell in his country's service, as 
 commander of a regiment, on the 8th of September, 1755, near the 
 shores of Lake George, when only about 41 years of age. As a 
 testimony of the high estimation in which he was held, the authorities 
 granted him, before his death, this tract of land, for many years 
 known as the " Williams' Grant." There are probably two errors in 
 this explanation, which are easily accounted for by those who know 
 how such histories are usually compiled by those who have little 
 leisure, small means to expend in research, and little or no compensa- 
 tion for services. The quantity of land, instead of 650 acres, was 
 about 4,000 ; and the grant, having been made to Williams at the 
 earl}' age of 20 years, was before, and not in consideration of, the 
 special services which afterwards called attention to him. He had 
 followed, in his early years, a sea-faring life ; had visited England, 
 Spain and Holland, where he is said to have "acquired graceful 
 manners, and a considerable stock of useful knowledge." The first 
 war in which he distinguished himself, was that between France and 
 England, from 1744 to 17 IS. several years after this grant had been 
 made. He is spoken of in the History of Berkshire (page 166) as 
 "graceful and easy in address, and pleasing and conciliating in his 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBHATION. 55 
 
 manners," and it is added, " He was employed in advancing the 
 settlements in some of the towns in the county, and had an uncom- 
 mon share of influence at the General Court." Having these facilities 
 for obtaining a grant, he seems to have presented, on May 3, 1739, a 
 memorial to the General Court, in which it is represented that he and 
 his associates had a piece of meadow which the Stoekbridge Indians 
 would like to own, and which the memorialists proposed to have 
 given to them, the General Court granting Williams and his asso- 
 ciates an equivalent in the unappropriated lands of the province. 
 This memorial was signed by two of the Indians, and there is 
 attached to the registry, a memorandum that Williams and partners 
 gave £450 for the land. In response to this memorial, a grant of 
 these 4,000 acres was made to Williams and his associates as an 
 equivalent for this " meadow which the Indians would like," and for 
 which it is said Williams and his associates, to extinguish an 
 adverse claim of another Indian family, paid £15. Col. Williams 
 had connected with himself as "associates," Timothy Woodbridge, of 
 Stoekbridge, the school-master, Rev. Stephen Williams and Samuel 
 Hopkins, of Springfield, Rev. Peter Raynolds, of Enfield, Rev. 
 Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton, and Rev. Nehemiah Bull, of 
 Westfield, deceased, represented by Mr. Oliver Partridge, of Hatfield. 
 Oliver Partridge seems to have surveyed this parcel February 18, 
 1739, and it is described in his report as " adjoining westerly and 
 southerly the Indian township on Housatonic river." The surviving 
 widow of this Rev. Mr. Bull had been, before her marriage, Miss 
 Elizabeth Partridge, of Hartford. 
 
 In the Springfield Registry of Deeds (vol. "M," p. 525) is a 
 record of articles of agreement' and division, dated January 20, 1742, 
 between these " associates," with which is connected a plan of the 
 land ; from all of k which it appears that Col. Williams had in the 
 division 900 acres, lying around Laurel Lake. The ministers, 
 following along northward, had each a lot of 400 acres, while flanking 
 the last three, ministers' lots, Mr. Partridge, or Rev. Mr. Bull's estate 
 had a lot of 700 acres. Woodbridge sold his in 1746, to Isaac 
 Williams, of Goshen, Ct., for £280, and it was called 510 acres. In 
 the Pittsfield and Springfield Registers and in papers in the Massa- 
 chusetts Archives, this grant is called the Ministers' Grant, and there 
 seems to be some reason to believe that the prevailing consideration, 
 for the grant may have been the number and eminent respectability 
 of the grantees. Dr. Edwards seems to have exchanged 240 acres of 
 the Ministers Grant for the same quantity of land in Stoekbridge in 
 1750, and in August, 1769, Timothy Edwards sold his father's 
 
56 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 remaining right therein to Joseph Woodbridge, for £328. Most of 
 this land was added to Lenox, hut that which was assigned to Capt. 
 Williams in the division, was included in the township of Lee. Dr. 
 C. M. Hyde, after a careful and thorough examination of records and 
 papers, in which were preserved and embalmed this grant and its acces- 
 sions and surroundings, intimates that the transaction was a " pecu- 
 liar one, and reveals the shrewdness of the benevolent persons who 
 took such good care of the affairs of the Stockbridge Indians;" and we 
 may add that, unexplained and read by the light of the comments of 
 partisan journals, it would have seriously shadowed the prospects of a 
 batch of presidential candidates, in the year of grace, 1876.* 
 
 THE TWO OTHER GRANTS. 
 
 Larabee's grant was to John Larabee, tbe officer then in command 
 of the single fort, " Castle Williams," which was thought to afford suffi- 
 cient protection to the Harbor of Boston. Upon his memorial, which 
 sets forth seventeen years of special services, a large and dependent 
 family, a small and inadequate compensation, the Legislature, in June, 
 1739, voted to grant him £175, and 500 acres of the unappropriated 
 land of the Province. This grant, located east of the Williams Grant, 
 and duly reported to the Legislature, was confirmed to Lieut. Larabee 
 and his heirs and assigns. He seems to have been a faithful officer, 
 for in 1762, (the year following his death,) a grant of £50 was made to 
 his heirs, by the General Court, in testimony of his faithful services. 
 
 The "Glass Works" Grant covered tbe center of the town — the 
 present village — and was made in 1754, by the General Court, to 
 John Franklin and his associates. It was designated "A Grant of 
 Money to Encourage the Making of Potash ; " and consisted of 1,000 
 acres of land. Certain parties seem to have been engaged at Brain- 
 tree, now Quincy, in the attempt to manufacture " potash, cider, glass 
 and cloth," in which they were pecuniarily unfortunate, and after va- 
 rious attempts to acquire, first monopolies, and then indemnities, they 
 seem to have obtained in 1757, in addition to the former Glass Works 
 grant, assistance "by way of lottery," which the General Court au- 
 thorized them to enjoy, and voted them the use of the Hall of Repre- 
 sentatives, as a convenient place in which to " draw " it. 
 
 NATURAL PRODUCTS. 
 
 In the early settlement of the town, the bear, the wolf, the moose, 
 and the deer, were occasionally seen, and in going through the woods 
 
 *In the above account of the Williams' Grant, the very natural mistake is made 
 of confounding Col. Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College, with his 
 father, Col. Ephraim Williams of Stockbridge, the patentee of this grant — Editor. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 57 
 
 at night it was customary to carry torches to scare away the wolves. 
 The birds, natural and spontaneous vegetation and mineral, were much 
 the same as now. Marble, of firmness and strength, which will sus- 
 tain a pressure of 20,000 pounds to the square inch, while Italian mar- 
 ble crushes at 13,000, and most of our American marble at 12,000 
 pounds, is the most valuable mineral yet found in Lee. It is, in sev- 
 eral important respects, the best building material in the world; but it 
 was, for many years, quite unknown to the early settlers, though crop- 
 ping out in so many prominent and extensive ledges, and when John 
 Winegar built his second dwelling house, the oldest now in town, and 
 near Royce & McLaughlin's mills, the nearest place where he could 
 find stone for his cellar, was on Pixley mountain. This must have 
 been about fifteen years after Davis built the first frame house, and 
 there were then living here a considerable number of families. 
 
 THE ANCIENT WORTHIES OF THE TOWN. 
 
 Of those first settlers ; of Isaac Davis and his house, upon what is 
 now the John McAllister farm ; of Reuben Pixley, who gave his name 
 to Pixley mountain, and who also built on the Hoplands, near where 
 Harrison Garfield's farm-house now stands ; of John Coffy, the Irish- 
 man, and of Hope Davis from Tyringham; of Aaron Benedict and 
 George Parker ; of William Charter, the Quaker ; of Lemuel Crocker 
 and of Asahel Dodge ; of Samuel Stanley, the tanner ; of John Col- 
 traine of Tolland ; of John Winegar and Jonathan Foote ; of Richard 
 Howk, whose large Dutch barn gave to his homestead the name of 
 " Howk's Barracks ; " of Josiah Yale of Wallingford, who bought a 
 portion of the Williams or Minister's Grant, where the old Yale house 
 now stands, and who was among the first and foremost men of Lee in 
 public spirit and enterprise, giving his crowbar in those early days 
 when good tough iron was not plenty, for a crank to the meeting-house 
 bell, because " he knew that was good iron," and purchasing at full 
 price three pews in the meeting-house, because buyers were few and 
 money scarce ; of Jesse Bradley of New Haven ; of Ball, Bassett, 
 Backus, Barlow, Gifford, Hamblin, Jenkins, and of the families driven 
 from Cape Cod, by the distress brought to that locality by the Revo- 
 lutionary War, and its closing days of large debts and taxes and paper 
 currency ; and of their early struggles with obstacles of every kind, 
 till by untiring perseverance, economy, and industry, they changed 
 the wild wilderness into productive farms, and replaced the small log- 
 houses upon the mountain-side, by comfortable homes, and made pass- 
 able roads, hard and worked, instead of simply following among bushes 
 and tangled under-growth, the marked trees of the first settlers ; of 
 
58 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 the bridges over which carts and wagons could be safely driven, instead 
 of the felled trees which, for a time, served for crossing when the 
 streams were too deep to be safely waded; of the weary journeys 
 from " the Cape " by ox-cart or on horseback — husband and wife, or 
 mother and son upon a single horse, — you will find full, and interest- 
 ing variations in the compilations and historical notes to which I have 
 referred. 
 
 THE FIRST TAVERN AND MEETING-HOUSE. 
 
 " Cape street," with its narrow valley and its convenient hill-sides 
 for the homes of the early settlers, was at first the most populous part 
 of the town, and there it was proposed to build the meeting-house, but 
 Cornelius Bassett and Nathan Dillingham in 1778, built the "Red 
 Lion " tavern on what is now the Pease lot, which was occupied as a ho- 
 tel till 1833, and remained as a landmark and memento of earlier days 
 for some years after the more modern hostelry, built where the Memo- 
 rial Hall now stands, took its place as the hotel. It was the first two. 
 story house built in Lee, and it is said that the first store, to which Job 
 Hamblin brought from Boston by a forty days' journey, a load of salt, 
 was kept in its buttery. This imposing and important establishment 
 had, of course, a centralizing tendency, and aided in drawing popula- 
 tion and the " meeting-house" to the present center. 
 
 THE EARLY TOWN MEETINGS. 
 
 The first town meeting was held at Peter Wilcox's homestead (a 
 log house of one story and with only one room), Dec. 22, 1777. It is 
 supposed the population was then about two hundred. In 1780 the 
 meeting was adjourned "for eight minutes, to meet in Peter Wilcox's 
 barn," indicating probably an increase of population which made the 
 one room of a log house inconveniently small. The next place of 
 meeting was Major Dillingham's tavern, and after that, the meeting- 
 house for many years. Notices of town meetings were posted on the 
 whipping post, near the meeting-house, and at the two grist mills. 
 
 lee's part in the revolution. 
 
 Although the town was not incorporated at the beginning of the 
 Revolutionary war, and though after its incorporation the records 
 were quite imperfectly kept, it is certain that the men of Lee did 
 their full share in supporting the Government in that birth-struggle 
 of our national life ; and of their names and services in the raising of 
 men, of money, of provisions and horses, and other needed supplies, 
 you will find honorable mention in the historical notes. In 1841 
 there were Revolutionary pensioners living in Lee whose names and 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 59 
 
 ages were : Joseph Wilder, 82 ; Beuben Marsh, 78 ; Nathaniel Bas- 
 sett, 84; Joel Hayden, 78; Cornelius Bassett, 79; and Levi Bobin- 
 son, 78. All have long since passed away, hut their patriotic example 
 and blessed memory will live as long as each returning Fourth of 
 July reminds us of those who fought and suffered, that we might have 
 freedom and peace. 
 
 GROG AT SIXTY DOLLARS A BOWL. 
 
 Of some of the distressing circumstances and conditions which 
 pressed upon our fathers in those days, we can form no true idea 
 from any of the experiences of this generation. In the war of seces- 
 sion we knew something of depreciated currency, and we are to-day 
 suffering from its effects and influence. But our currency was not 
 sufficiently depleted to give us any true conception of the baseness of 
 that Continental currency, the worthlessness of which gave rise to the 
 expression, " Not worth a continental." We have good illustrations 
 of it, however, in two incidents connected with citizens of Lee. 
 One is related of Cornelius Bassett, whose prize money as a privateer 
 was £100, which he invested in this depreciated currency ; he after- 
 wards exchanged his currency for a watch and finally gave his watch for 
 the land where the " Bed Lion " was afterwards built ; and the other 
 of Capt. Amos Porter, who was active in both the French and Bev- 
 olutionary wars, and expended a large share of his property in the 
 support of his company, and, when peace was declared, led his com- 
 pany of sixty-four men up to Toucey's and treated each of them to a 
 bowl of grog at $60 a bowl, making a total of $3,840. 
 
 lee's part in shays' rebellion. 
 
 In the long-protracted struggle, the people had neglected their pri- 
 vate affairs ; their farms aud buildings had gone to barrenness and 
 decay ; business was ruined, and debts (contracted for the support of 
 their families), were increasing in amount by the accumulation of in- 
 terest, which the debtors found it impossible to pay. The private 
 consolidated debt of Massachusetts was nearly four and a half million 
 dollars, besides nearly one million due to officers of their line of the 
 army ; while the State's proportion of the Federal debt was about five 
 millions; making more than ten millions of dollars of public debt 
 pressing upon a people impoverished to bankruptcy in their own pri- 
 vate affairs. How all this was to be paid, might well cause solicitude 
 in the firmest minds. The paper currency, already depreciated, as we 
 have seen, was still diminishing in value, and very little specie was in 
 the country. The markets for produce were closed or greatly lessened, 
 
60 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 and all means for resuming foreign trade were to a great degree want- 
 ing. Meantime, taxes were levied, and the courts, which in many 
 places had heen long suspended, met again and rendered judgments 
 and issued executions, and creditors prepared to enforce collection of 
 debts, by sale of property, at sacrifices quite ruinous to the debtor 
 classes, who constituted nearly the whole people. 
 
 In these distressing circumstances were concealed the real causes 
 of the unfortunate and ill-starred insurection, to which its leader, 
 Daniel Shays, gave name. It had, as we have seen, as its basis some 
 serious troubles, and perhaps some real grievances, but like most other 
 popular uprisings, and especially like the extensive and disastrous 
 strike of railroad and some other laborers, so fresh in our memories, it 
 was so conducted, as to do immense harm and no good, and became 
 the most unhappy and disgraceful affair which ever troubled Massa- 
 chusetts, and at one time it threatened the whole State with anarchy. 
 The part taken by some of the citizens of Lee in the matter seems to 
 have been not much to the advantage of their reputation for discre- 
 tion or courage ; but to-day we can well afford to forget the more 
 serious and unpleasant memories originating in that transaction, 
 and to speak only of such ludicrous incidents as the wild retreat of 
 Gen. Patterson's Government veterans before Mother Perry's " yarn 
 beam " mounted upon wheels, as the ignited tarred rope was swung 
 in the air, and the voice of Peter Wilcox gave the order to fire ; or the 
 arrest of Jenkins and Taylor by Lovice Foot and Sarah Ellis, as clad 
 in gentlemen's coats aud hats, with unloaded guns, these bold and res- 
 olute girls compelled the timid fellows to dismount and enter the 
 house, thus revealing themselves to their captors ; while we place 
 quite in the background the subsequent arrest of Peter Wilcox and 
 the imprisonment from which he escaped to give name to " Peter's 
 Cave " at the foot of our beautiful " Fern Cliff," as his hiding place, and 
 the death of his son, Ozias Wilcox, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, 
 shot at Sheffield in an encounter between the mob with which he was 
 acting and the government troops, and of the men of other towns, 
 killed and wounded in the same encounter, and the general sundering 
 of ties of brotherhood and of neighborhoods, of towns and of churches, 
 which was caused by this unhappy and disgraceful affair. 
 
 CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 
 
 Let us pass on a quarter of a century, and look in passing for a brief 
 moment at the national growth. The Articles of Confederation were 
 approved July 9, 1778, in the third year of our independence. They 
 were entitled " Articles of Confederation and Ferpetual Union," and 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 61 
 
 were approved and ratified by delegates who were thereto empowered 
 by the Legislatures of the several States. It was not till about twelve 
 years after the Declaration of our Independence that the sovereignty 
 of the states was merged in the higher and grander sovereignty of the 
 nation created by the constitution. Although the second clause of 
 the concluding article of the confederation closed with the high- 
 sounding declaration, " the articles shall be invioably observed by the 
 states, and the Union shall be perpetual," their looseness and insuf- 
 ficiency was soon felt, and they came to be spoken of as a " rope of 
 sand." It is difficult to realize how provisional everything then was. 
 The Continental Congress, deputed by the states to assume the gen- 
 eral control, "raised armies, appointed generals, levied taxes and 
 negotiated foreign loans and treaties." "It had no legally established 
 constituency, but one, in fact, existed, which they did not fail to rec- 
 ognize, and for which they boldly assumed to act." They settled and 
 adjusted the conflicting claims of the different States to the title of 
 the land in the almost unexplored territory of the North-west, and 
 adopted for its government the compact between the original states 
 and ' the people " that were to be (of the new Territory), generally 
 known as the ordinance of 1787. This compact was a very important 
 bit of legislation, consisting of six articles. The first provides for 
 entire religious freedom; the second for trial by jury, the writ of 
 habeas corpus, and other important rights ; the third for the encour- 
 agement of schools and good faith towards the Indians ; the fourth 
 places new States which may be created out of the territory, on the 
 same footing as the old thirteen; the fifth authorizes division of the 
 territory into states, to be not more than five nor less than three, each 
 to be admitted when it should contain sixty thousand inhaitants, and 
 the sixth contains the famous " anti-slavery proviso ; " that there shall 
 be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, in any of the said States, 
 other than in the punishment of crime, of which the party shall have 
 been duly convicted. 
 
 Our birth, and struggle for complete national existence, cover a 
 period of thirteen years, and are marked by four great State papers, of 
 which any nation might be justly proud, the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, the Articles of Confederation, the Ordinance of 1787, and the 
 Constitution of the United States. They are not all equally admi- 
 rable. The first and the last greatly transcend the others, and not- 
 withstanding the modern disposition in some quarters to decry and 
 belittle them, each of these two is in its turn a document of rare and 
 unequaled excellence, and they severally mark in this great struggle 
 the beginning, with the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, 
 
62 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 and the ending, with the adoption of the Constitution and the inau- 
 guration of Washington as first President, April 30, 1789. We cele- 
 brated the Centennial of our national life July 4, 1876 ; but not till 
 April 30, 1889, shall we have completed a century of national consti- 
 tutional government. 
 
 THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 Almost immediately after the close of our Revolutionary war, the 
 infant republic began to feel the heavy hand of the Algerine pirate, 
 and before the expiration of the thirteen years of our birth-struggle 
 the oppressive acts of Great Britain entirely overshadowed in the 
 enormity of their offence and outrage those acts of 1774-5 which had 
 called forth the declaration of the first war for independence, and by 
 force of these events two wars were thrust upon the young nation, to 
 secure to her real use those blessings to which she had so boldly as- 
 serted her "inalienable right." The contest with the Algerines was 
 rendered glorious by the bravery of the gallant Decatur, and the 
 United States has properly the credit of having initiated the deliver- 
 ance of the Mediterranean from the tyranny of those pirates. Our 
 last war with Great Britain was as truly a war of independence as 
 was the first. That proud and arrogant "Mistress of the Seas " had, 
 for the purpose of keeping up and recruiting her navy, allowed her 
 press-gangs in the streets of London, and in the other English cities, 
 to seize American citizens, and carry them on board her vessels and 
 compel them to serve as common sailors ; and this had been continued, 
 in spite of our remonstrances, till the number of Americans so cap- 
 tured and enlisted in British service was officially reported to be 
 between four and five thousand. It was not till the pride of the nation 
 was touched by the boarding and search of the "Chesapeake, " under the 
 orders of a British admiral in a British frigate, that we could be nerved 
 to a declaration of war ; but when once commenced the war was prose- 
 cuted with vigor. Our seamen proved able to cope successfully with 
 the veterans of the English navy, and we established, as the result of 
 some bold and successful sea-fights, our full independence of British 
 interference upon the sea, as well as upon the land. Its direct effect 
 did not extend far inland ; but some of the families of Lee, who had 
 emigrated to Ohio and settled near the shores of Lake Erie, had 
 packed their household goods, and made themselves ready for instant 
 removal, if the issue of the famous battle of September 10, had not 
 resulted in the "Victory of Lake Erie" for our sailors and soldiers 
 under Commodore Perry. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 63 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS NOT EAGER FOR THE FRAY. 
 
 In the war of 1812, the patriotism of the men of Massachusetts did 
 not reach fever heat. The enslaving of our fellow-citizens by British 
 tyranny did not affect our pockets unfavorably, and the destruction of 
 our infant commerce surely would ; and the bringing of war ships 
 upon the growing sea-port city of Boston was undesirable. Gov. 
 Strong refused to allow the militia of Massachusetts to be marched 
 out of the State for national defense or protection, and the fourteen 
 men drafted from Lee, who joined a company of which the late John 
 Nye was captain, did no heavier or more dangerous duty than to pass 
 from dinner to drill, during six weeks of monotonous service in the 
 Boston barracks and upon the parade ground. 
 
 THE OLD TRAINING DAYS. 
 
 The militia service, and the days of "general training," for some 
 years after the Revolution, were matters of personal pride and pleas- 
 ure, and a vigorous rivalry was kept up in Lee, between the North 
 company of 112, and the South company of 113 men. The parade 
 ground was the then open field north of the meeting-house, the Barna 
 Adams lot. The men were refreshed with pails full of liquor, fur- 
 nished at the expense of the officers, and the offices being sought as a 
 means of political preferment, such abuses soon crept in as brought 
 the whole system into disrepute. The trainings became occasions for 
 drunkenness and buffoonery, and the whole business became so dis- 
 tasteful that all who could do so, evaded the duty. It is believed that 
 the last muster in the neighborhood of Lee was held at Stockbridge 
 in 1830. On that occasion, the North Lee company was commanded 
 by Capt. Thomas E. M. Bradley, with Seth D. Graves as lieutenant. 
 South Lee trained under Zach Winegar, who, being detailed that day 
 to act as major, deputed Lieut. Henry Smith to act as captain, who 
 was assisted by Sergeant Harrison Garfield and by Corporal Barnabas 
 Hinckle}-, while William P. Hamblin was lieutenant of a cavalry 
 company. 
 
 THE FIRST CHURCH AND ITS CONFESSION OF FAITH. 
 
 The First Church and parish in Lee were co-existent in action and 
 in territory with the town, and may properly find mention here. It 
 was on May 25, 1780, that the professors of religion in Lee, being 
 about thirty in number, assembled, and, with the aid of Rev. Daniel 
 Collins of Lanesboro, were organized into a church. As the basis of 
 their union, they adopted a Confession of Faith which, with the ex- 
 
64 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 punging of the single word " unpromised " from the eleventh article, 
 is acknowledged by their successors in the same church to-day. It 
 included those statements of belief which were even then called "the 
 hard doctrines," and stated with the usual fullness and amplification, 
 that man is born, according to God's holy and wise constitution, "in 
 a state of sin and guilt;" that he is "wholly corrupt and an enemy 
 to God and the Gospel ; " that he will not be sinless until brought 
 to a perfect obedience to God's law, which none attain to in this life, 
 but are sinfully defective in all their holy exercises and actions ; " 
 that "as all the promises of the Gospel are made to truly holy 
 exercises, and none but such ; none can have any evidence of their 
 interest in Christ, but by a consciousness of their own holy exercises, 
 and by coming to a certain knowledge of these, as they may, 
 they can obtain an assurance of their salvation." It also asserts in 
 the clearest manner the sovereignty of God, as " having mercy on 
 whom He will have mercy ; and leaving whom He will to blindness 
 and hardness." 
 
 This was then the only church in Lee, and it is not surprising that 
 Dr. Alvan Hyde in his Centennial Discourse (preached December 22, 
 1820,) should have had occasion to speak of the former disputes of 
 the people on what were called the " hard doctrines," and of many 
 who had taken " their stand in opposition to the church and the dis- 
 tinguishing doctrines of grace." Nor will it seem surprising to most 
 persons at the present day that there should have been difficulty in 
 settling a minister. Referring again to Dr. Hyde's Centennial Dis- 
 course, we find that on the 8th of June, 1780, the council called to or- 
 dain and install Mr. Abram Fowler, moved by a remonstrance in 
 which many of the town united, declined to ordain him. It was more 
 than three years afterwards, July 3, 1783, that a council was again 
 called for the purpose of ordaining Mr. Elisha Parmelee, to whom there 
 was similar opposition ; but as Mr. Parmelee consented to be ordained, 
 the council proceeded " to set him apart to the work of the ministry 
 in this place." He is spoken of by Dr. Alvan Hyde as " sound in 
 the faith, amiable in disposition, distinguished for his talents and 
 acquirements, and eminent for his piety," but his health almost im- 
 mediately failed, and he died in 1784, while journeying in Virginia. 
 
 AN EIGHT YEARS' EFFORT TO GET A MINISTER. 
 
 We cannot desire a better photograph of the condition of this small 
 but earnest community as to their spiritual state, than again to recur 
 to the language of Dr. Alvan Hyde, who says that the church, 
 "though small, was happily united; but the town was in a very 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 65 
 
 divided state." "Attempts were made for eight years to settle a min- 
 ister without success ; in which many candidates were employed." 
 " Whenever the church could unite in giving one a call to he their 
 teacher and spiritual guide, a formidable opposition would arise in the 
 town and disappoint their hopes." Finally, after eight years and more 
 of this ineffectual struggle, the church and people hecame happily 
 united in the settlement of Alvan Hyde, then a young and earnest 
 minister, whose qualifications and fitness for the work no one hut him- 
 self ever questioned. His own sense of the greatness of the responsi- 
 bility, and of his personal weakness, and the earnestness with which 
 he sought help from the highest source, are shown in a letter to his 
 father, written hy him the day before his ordination, in which, after 
 stating the terms of his settlement, he adds : 
 
 " But my thoughts are more employed about the greatness of the 
 work in which I am about to engage, than the manner in which I 
 shall be supported. The work of the ministry appears greater and 
 greater to me. I am sometimes almost ready to sink under it, and so 
 cry, 'Who is sufficient for these things?' but these words, 'My 
 grace is sufficient for thee,' are sometimes comforting. The burden 
 on my mind at the present time is very great. To-morrow is ap- 
 pointed for my ordination, and I have solemn and affecting scenes 
 before me. It is a great thing to take the pastoral office over a 
 church, and to be set as a watchman. I need the prayers of all God's 
 people. I hope you, sir, will remember me at the Throne of Grace." 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIRST MINISTER. 
 
 Mr. Hyde was a remarkable man. Without genius and without 
 uncommon talents, he, nevertheless, united and combined those quali- 
 ties, acquirements and capacities which constitute the truest great- 
 ness. He was earnest and pertinacious in purposes, and was at all 
 times pervaded with a sense of the greatness of the work which rested 
 upon him, and was overshadowed in all his life by a consciousness of 
 the presence and power of God. Tor many years he was the central 
 figure of this town, as well as the shepherd of his particular flock. 
 Everything which affected his people affected him, and no man was, 
 more than he, careful and conscientious in the discharge of every duty. 
 All the schools in the town were under his constant supervision, and 
 he visited each of the Summer and Winter schools near their com- 
 mencement and near the close, making four annual visits to the 
 school of each district in the town ; and it is the witness of some 
 who remember those visits, that lie always left " a salutaiy and en- 
 during influence behind him." It was not till 1814, that a committee 
 9 
 
66 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 was appointed to co-operate with him in this work. His activity was 
 constant and unvarying from the beginning to the end of his long 
 ministry, and the results attest its high and continual faithfulness. 
 The year of his settlement (1792) was the year in which commenced 
 "that series of revivals in America," of which Dr. Griffin said in 
 1828: "It has never been interrupted, night or day, and never will 
 be until the earth is full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover 
 the sea." Dr. Hyde had part in two revivals that year, and it is 
 probable that the first of those two was the earliest of the series. In 
 1828, when he had been settled thirty-six years, he had occasion to 
 take a retrospect of his ministry and its results ; six hundred and 
 twenty-four of his flock had died, of whom forty-six had passed eighty 
 years : he had received of members six hundred and thirty-four, and 
 the number of communicants at that time was about three hundred 
 and fifty-five. 
 
 Dr. Hyde was an educated and conservative man, but was not big- 
 oted in any narrow or bad sense. Writing of him, soon after his 
 death, his biographer says: "Perhaps it is an act of justice to the 
 memory of a man whose theological tenets have been much spoken 
 against, to say that the Articles of Faith in the church in Lee were 
 drawn up by Dr. Hopkins ; " but if the biographer could have fore- 
 known that they would have remained unchanged for more than forty 
 years, and be to-day the statement of faith and belief of the First Con- 
 gregational Church of Lee, which is certainly one of the most intelli- 
 gent churches in Berkshire county, he would, perhaps, have deemed 
 such apology unnecessary. 
 
 Dr. Hyde did not fear fair and candid discussion. He was too 
 fully convinced of the absolute verity of the doctrines which he be- 
 lieved and preached to fear to talk of them ; and in 1794 (two years 
 after his settlement), he writes to a fellow-clergyman : " Our differ- 
 ence of opinion on some doctrinal points, is so far from giving birth to 
 the least desire in me to drop the correspondence that it is a real motive 
 in my mind for its continuance. From a man of reading and thought, 
 who differs from me, I shall be more likely to receive benefit than 
 from one who walks exactly in my path." It goes far to nullify criti- 
 cism of his doctrines in reference to points and propositions, before 
 which human wisdom becomes weakness and folly, and as to which he 
 is perhaps the wisest man and truest disciple who has come to a 
 dawning consciousness <d his ignorance and incapacity, to remember 
 that, in a parish containing less than two thousand inhabitants, his 
 church embraced during many years near four hundred members, and 
 that during a ministry of about forty years, he admitted to his church 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 67 
 
 about seven hundred communicants, who, as also their descendants, 
 became and remain a sober, temperate, self-restrained people, loving 
 and standing by good order and obedience to law ; conservative and 
 yet progressing, having a steadfastness which may be relied on, and a 
 will of their own, and never having parted with practical wisdom and 
 common sense, nor from the religion of common honesty and payment 
 of debts. The secret of his great usefulness lay in his devoted and 
 earnest piety, in his good sense, exact mechod, punctuality and dili- 
 gence ; all of which he constantly cultivated, by the reading of the 
 word, by prayer, and by labor for the good of others, so that in all 
 the relations he sustained, his life-work tended continually to elevate, 
 to purify and to bless. He aided in gathering one of the first Sunday- 
 schools, and in 1831, more than four hundred youth and children were 
 present on one occasion, who were connected with the school. 
 
 THE GOOD MAN'S TROUBLES IN HIS LAST DAYS. 
 
 The death of Dr. Hyde came in good time for his comfort ; for the 
 course of events during the last few years of his life was an increas- 
 ing annoyance to him. He was specially opposed to some of the 
 means then made use of " to awaken interest in the churches." In 
 1828, he says in a letter to a friend: "A faithful, praying, exemplary 
 minister is clothed with salvation; his best aid at all times, is a pray- 
 ing and active church. The plan of sending out evangelists as revival 
 men when there are settled pastors, is no part of the wisdom which is 
 from above, it comes from a bad source." Again, the next year, he 
 says : " The flood-gates are now open, and the desolating evils which 
 I have long expected, are beginning to be realized;" and yet again 
 in 1830: " I notice with much trembling the progress of error in this 
 land and in the churches of New England. The New Haven scheme 
 of theology is a broad step-stone to Arminianism. The doctrines of 
 sovereign grace are more and more discarded." And in 1828 he says : 
 "To gather converts into the church has been a great work, far 
 greater than after any former revival, especially to lead them to acqui- 
 esce in that part of the Confession of Faith adopted by the church 
 which makes the sinner wholly dependent on the sovereign mercy 
 of God." 
 
 SOCIETY SIXTY YEARS AGO. 
 
 Social life in Lee, during the earlier days of Dr. Hyde, was rather 
 simple and primitive. The children of those days made a good sup- 
 per and breakfast of mush and milk ; pork and beans and boiled beef 
 and cabbage were the principal dishes in the farmer's family, while 
 ham and eggs, hulled corn and johnny cake were occasional delicacies. 
 
G8 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 The Bible and the almanac and one or two standard volumes of 
 English literature were the common library, to which was added in 
 some families, as the years passed on, the weekly newspaper, and 
 sometimes, though rarely, a magazine. The daily newspaper was not 
 in the earl}' part of Dr. Hyde's ministry, known in this small town, 
 but the news was gathered at the store, or the "Red Lion," and few 
 who have any memory of the coarse or gossiping talk — of the well 
 worn stories, and the rough practical jokes which frequently preceded 
 and followed the flip or egg nogg — would care to exchange our present 
 habits of social life for those of that earlier da}'. The tailoress and 
 dressmaker and shoemaker went round from house to house, to assist 
 the family in making the changes and preparations from Fall to Win- 
 ter and from Winter to Spring. The common method of traveling 
 was upon horseback, the women riding upon side-saddles or upon 
 pdlions, during the first half of Dr. Hyde's ministry. The people 
 being of social nature, lost no opportunity for pleasant talk, and going 
 to meeting, for a family who had been shut in to themselves all the 
 week, was prized for its opportunities of social intercourse by all, and 
 probably by some who cared little for its devotional opportunities. 
 Toddy and flip were the common beverages, and pipes and liquor 
 were always furnished at the meetings of the ministers of the county 
 at Dr. Hyde's. Dr. Gale tells us that in the erection of the meeting- 
 house which preceded this one, Elisha Crocker is credited with one 
 barrel of rum, $40.00, and Seth Backus, by attending three carpen- 
 ters' meetings, and expending for liquor each time seventy-five cents. 
 Even after a change was brought about, it is said that some people 
 could never believe that Dr. Hyde's voice was quite so sonorous and 
 musical as before he gave up taking a little Jamaica before he went 
 into the pulpit. 
 
 TOWN REGULATION OF CHURCH SUPPORT. 
 
 The town meeting in New England has always been a source of 
 business training and special education. The subjects for discussion 
 and disposal were broad and various, and in Lee, till 1830, they em- 
 braced the regulation of ecclesiastical as well as lay affairs ; even 
 the hours of public religious worship being settled in town meetings. 
 At the April meeting in 1806, the town voted to reject a proposition 
 that there should be but one preaching service through the ensuing 
 Winter, and a town committee was appointed to wait on Dr. Hyde 
 "to see if it will be agreeable with him to have the intermission one 
 hour, through the ensuing year." The tax for support of worship was 
 then territorial and embraced all residing within the parish, unless they 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. G9 
 
 had certificate of membership in some other society, and contributed 
 to the support of the gospel in that "order." In 1820, there was an 
 article in the warrant, " to see if the town will determine whether 
 non-resident proprietors of land who do not lodge such certificates 
 with the town clerk, shall be exempt from being taxed for the support 
 of the Gospel." 
 
 THE TOWN MEETING ORATORS. 
 
 The town meetings afforded an excellent opportunity for develop- 
 ment in knowledge of general business, in the elementary rules which 
 govern parliamentary bodies, and in the art of public speech. From 
 the drafting of the warrant with its brief and orderly setting forth 
 in distinct articles of each separate matter to be considered, down 
 through all the business to its final ends, it is, in many respects, one 
 of the best possible schools for the training of men for public work, 
 leadership and influence. At these meetings in Lee, I remember well 
 in my younger dajs, the quiet and logical manner in which, as a well- 
 disciplined lawyer and logician, Mr. Porter was accustomed to state 
 his views; Mr. Tremain of South Lee was one of the best of the de- 
 baters ; the committee reports of Walter Laflin were good specimens of 
 minute accuracy of detail ; and there were many men, of capacity much 
 above the average, who used to figure in the business and speech of 
 those meetings, some of which (held till 1836 in the audience room of 
 the- Congregational church) were long and stormy, ran far into the 
 evening, and sometimes continued and closed with rude and boisterous 
 uproar. Clear above all, I seem to hear the trumpet tones of the 
 clear, ringing voice of the late Samuel A. Hulbert, as (generally in 
 the stormiest moments of the wordy war) he stated his opinion and 
 with a zeal which sometimes amounted to vehement and stormy elo- 
 quence, urged his views upon his fellow-townsmen. I have heard 
 bursts of eloquence in town and society meetings from Mr. Hulbert, 
 which in magnetic power and force, were not inferior to the best 
 efforts of the greatest of the many eloquent men whose public speech 
 it has been my occasional good fortune to hear. Among the men of 
 Lee whom I have known, Mr. Hulbert had the most dominant person- 
 ality, and was the most liberally freighted with brain and heart and 
 force of will and vehemency of nature. He was at all times and 
 everywhere, a power in whatever direction he gave himself with a 
 will, and, with the training which Dr. Hyde ami Mr. Porter had en- 
 joyed, would have filled a large place outside of and beyond the com- 
 paratively narrow circle in which he was known here. 
 
70 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 PAPER MILLS AND OTHER INDUSTRIES. 
 
 The earliest mills in Lee, as in other new settlements, were saw and 
 grist mills. There were also powder mills and a fulling mill at an 
 early day. The powder mills frequently blew up, and the one in the 
 Center was abandoned by Laflin, Loomis & Co., after the disastrous 
 explosion of 1824; the one on "Powder Mill brook" at South Lee 
 has since been abandoned. Ball, Bassett & Co.'s woolen factory in 
 North Lee, and one in South Lee, at one time did considerable busi- 
 ness, but both have been superseded by other mills. The Bassetts 
 (Thomas and Cornelius), and before them, Fenner Foote and Chap- 
 man, and Leishman, used to get out chair stuffs, and send away 
 $8,000 to $12,000 a year. Paper, for many years the leading manu- 
 facture of Lee, was started where Owen & Hulbert's mills were after- 
 wards located at South Lee, in the early years of this century, by Sam- 
 uel Church, who came to Lee from East Hartford. Mr. Church after- 
 wards built a mill near where the Eagle Mills now stand. This 
 business increased rapidly, and in 1851 there were twenty-five paper 
 mills in Lee, with an annual product of nearly $2,000,000. W. & 
 W. C. Laflin built where the Housatonic Mill now stands, a mill, 
 which, in its day, was deemed a marvel of extent and capacity. The 
 mills of Owen & Hurlbut at South Lee, of the Mays (formerly Inger- 
 soll & May), of Benton & Garfield, of Ives, Sturgis & Co., of Phelps 
 & Field, and of Whyte & Hulbert, and other mills still owned and 
 managed by well-known and honored citizens; the long-continued and 
 well-managed carriage manufactory of S. & A. Hulbert, the cotton 
 factory of Beach & Royce, and the machine shop of Tanner & Perkins, 
 are all too fresh in memory, or in observation, to need more than a 
 mere mention here. Full statements as to all of these, will be found 
 in the historical notes. No business in Lee has probably ever been 
 conducted with the vigor, enterprise and energy which result in the 
 twenty tons a day of paper, that can now be produced by the Smith 
 Paper Company ; but our smaller mills, our stores and banks of dis- 
 count and of saving, have been generally prudently and energetically 
 conducted, and some of them have been models of prudent manage- 
 ment and fair and honorable dealings and results. 
 
 LOCAL POSSIBILITIES FOR THE NEXT CENTURY. 
 
 Another Centennial will undoubtedly find some changes of which we 
 do not now dream ; but without disturbing our present self-compla- 
 cency, we may hope to see the general prosperity considerably in- 
 creased, and showing itself in many more of the beautiful homes, 
 which in some respects are models of taste and of comfort ; with addi- 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 71 
 
 •tional evidence, in well-selected and well-worn libraries, of that in- 
 creased intelligence which should wait upon added wealth and leisure ; 
 with memorial hall filled with curiosities and mementoes ; with some 
 tastef id works of art in sculpture, and in painting, and with maps and 
 charts and an increased number of well selected books. The roads 
 and bridges in all your valleys and over your beautiful hills, we may 
 hope will all be as well hardened, as some specimens of your best 
 roads now are ; and let us hope that your beautiful " Fern Cliff " will 
 have been secured as a place of pleasant resort, to which all shall have 
 a right to go, and its enjoyment not be dependent on the kindness 
 of any single citizen. 
 
 Your schools have progressed from the smallest beginnings in teach- 
 ing and a maximum quantity of flogging, to a government by moral 
 influence and a teaching which fits a young man for college ; your 
 school houses from mere barn-like places of shelter, with little warmth 
 in Winter and abundant heat in Summer, have been transformed to 
 rather comfortable buildings, but neither are in all respects and in all 
 parts of your town up to your ideal ; nor are thejr quite all they should 
 be, in a wealthy and prosperous community, and when exceptional 
 and excessive taxes for other and more questionable purposes, shall 
 have been wiped out and forgotten, (and perhaps before,) we ought to, 
 and therefore probably shall see, further progress in that always safe 
 direction, in preparation for the next Centennial. 
 
 PROGRESS IN PEACE. 
 
 When we extend our vision beyond our own narrow bounds, and be- 
 hold the universal progress, we see that Lee has no more than kept 
 step to the music of the universal procession, which bears along our 
 town, our country, and the world. Progress during the last century 
 has been universal and rapid. In agriculture the plow, the hoe, the 
 scythe and the sickle, are still used, but greatly as they are improved 
 from those used by our grandfathers, they are quite eclipsed by the 
 reaper, the mower, the planter and the thresher, even as the wheat 
 fields of 30,000 and 50,000 acres, owned by a single proprietor, eclipse 
 the narrow strips of the golden grain, which a century since were scat- 
 tered among the girdled trees or blackened stumps of the New England 
 farmers' wheat fields. 
 
 PROGRESS IN WAR. 
 
 In war. the old shot gun of the Revolution, which in time of war 
 was all too slow, and in time of peace : 
 
 " Though well aimed at duck or plover, 
 Steered wide and kicked it's owner over," 
 
72 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 has been superseded by the revolver, the breech-loading rifle, and the- 
 needle gun: while the old-time cannon (well imitated by Mother Per- 
 ry's yarn beam) has given place to the rifled cannon ; and the Mitrail- 
 leuse, the huge columbiad, the improved torpedo, and other ingeniously 
 and fearfully terrible weapons, improvements in which, we may hope, 
 will, before our next Centennial, render war .impossible by securing 
 the certain annihilation of both hostile parties, whenever it is at- 
 tempted. We need not multiply illustrations from telegraphy, from 
 steamboats, railroads and locomotives, from improved printing presses 
 and bank locks, of this universal progress. 
 
 PROGRESS IN USEFUL INVENTIONS. 
 
 Our nation has had its full share in it all, and, more than an}- other, 
 has compelled genius and science to adapt themselves to the practical 
 uses of man. The telegraph was used as a plaything for the amuse- 
 ment of princes and nobles in Spain, doing small duty in a circuit of 
 300 feet, three centuries ago, but it was reserved for our Morse to in- 
 vent and give to mankind an instrument which binds the earth 
 in electric net-work by which distant seas are crossed and continents 
 bound together; by which war in all its details, is directed from 
 the office of the strategist, by which distant diplomacies are regulated 
 and the commerce of the world is kept in perfect and instantaneous 
 communication. Shakespeare's Puck would girdle the earth in forty 
 minutes, but the poetic inspiration of Shakespeare has been distanced 
 in real life, by the splendid achievements of the telegraph, and "every 
 electric click, that flashes upon the thousand wires its messages over 
 the land and under the seas all round the globe, proclaims to all peoples, 
 and shall perpetuate the memory of Morse." 
 
 Egypt knew of, and in certain limited ways, employed the steam 
 engine, fifteen centuries ago ; but it was reserved for our own Fulton 
 to make it useful on the seas and by it, — almost to annihilate distance ; 
 while our English-speaking brother, was at the same time, harnessing 
 it to the iron horse, and compelling it to perform like duty on the 
 
 land. 
 
 THESE TIMES BETTER THAN THE OLD TIMKS. 
 
 With this wide-spread and manifest progress in that which dimin- 
 ishes human labor, and facilitates in countless ways the inn 
 wealth and of seeming prosperity, has there been concurrent advance- 
 ment in the highesl type of civilization, refinement, religion and 
 higher education'.' Are the people more virtuous and more intelli- 
 gent V 1 answer, unhesitatingly, ifes. Beginning with the average 
 household, compare it with that of a hundred years ago. AYho doubts 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 73 
 
 that it is wiser, broader, purer and more intelligent ? The material 
 for thought, has grown silently, and sometimes without appreciation. 
 There is in the average home less whisky and more books and news- 
 papers and journals and chromos and engravings, all of which are 
 silent workers toward the higher life. Instead of spending the even- 
 ing at the tavern or the store, the average American of to-day is prob- 
 ably reading what was clone last week or yesterday, in Turkey or 
 some other center of present thought or interest. 
 
 THE NATIONS HERE UNITED. 
 
 There has never before been such a gathering together and admix- 
 ture of the races of the earth as in our country, and while this has its 
 dangers for the future and its inconveniences in the present, the aug- 
 mentation of freedom, of breadth, of human charity and of the highest 
 and best philanthrophy, is great beyond our computation. I well re- 
 member that in my boyhood one of the chief prayers of the church at 
 all missionary meetings of concert for prayer was that God would 
 "open wide and effectual doors," by which our teachers of Christianity 
 might go in and enlighten the dark places of the earth. How has 
 God answered these prayers ? Has he not sent of the men of all these 
 divers nations to our doors that we may find, ever ready to our hand, 
 the highest and best work waiting to be done ? How shall we receive 
 the Mongolian ? Surely, unless we would turn the clock of the cen- 
 turies backward, as we have received the other nations of Caucasian 
 race, and in these last days the African. 
 
 AMERICA FORETOLD OF OLD. 
 
 Is not ours the land which Ezekiel saw in vision ? "Between two 
 seas — whose people were gathered out of the nations of the earth — the 
 land where the stranger hath an inheritance ; the land of unwalled 
 towns and villages — the land of broad rivers and streams," and whose 
 people Jeremiah represents as "gathering themselves together and 
 appointing to themselves one head; a people whose nobles shall be of 
 themselves and whose governors shall proceed from the midst of them ? " 
 Thus has God gathered this people of whom he spake aforetime by 
 his prophets, in this " glorious land which blooms between the seas," 
 from the northern borders of it, where God's perpetual bow of peace 
 glorifies Niagara's cliffs, to the sea-girt southern line, where God's 
 gifts make the earth almost an Eden of fragrance and beauty, and from 
 the rock-bound Atlantic, where the eastern song of the sea begins its 
 morning music, to the far off Pacific, where the western waters mur- 
 mur their benedictions to our land, as the tide goes out through the 
 10 
 
/4 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Golden Gate beneath the setting sun : here for an hundred years, has 
 this nation, holding in trust the largest hopes for freedom and human- 
 ity, endured and prospered. Prom an area of less than one million 
 square miles, we have increased our territory to nearly four millions, 
 and from 3,000,000 of people we have increased by our own growth 
 and our ingathering from the nations, till we are more than 40,000,000. 
 
 A GENUINE SOCIAL PROGRESS. 
 
 In all this material increase the moral and intellectual growth of our 
 town and of our nation has not lagged behind, and whatever may be 
 said of creeds and of man-made formulas of faith, there has never been 
 in this country so much of practical Christianity as tiiere is to-day; 
 never so high a sense of man's stewardship in the disposal of his 
 wealth (notwithstanding occasional and notorious exceptions) ; never 
 so high a recognition of the rights and dignity of labor; never was 
 man as man and woman as woman of such worth as to-day. In all our 
 history, there has not been a period when the brain of the whole peo- 
 ple has teemed with such fertility as in the last twenty-five years. 
 As it has been in Lee, so has it been (perhaps in higher average, for 
 you are a conservative people) throughout our country. The brain 
 and moral nature of the people have been subsoiled by anti-slavery 
 and temperance discussions ; by discussions of human rights and the 
 powers of the government ; and by the red-hot ploughshare of civil 
 war, which, driven by steam and the telegraph, has furrowed our 
 land in all its length and breadth, burning out by its terrible fires, the 
 mortal leprosy of slavery, and educating the people to a higher patriot- 
 ism, and creating a nation in which central power may be harmonized 
 with local independence; and the largest personal liberty may co-exist 
 with perfect submission to imperative and controlling law. We have 
 come forth from the terrible contest, our Hag still floating in its 
 beauty, with no star erased, and our good ship of state is floating 
 upon the bosom of a new century. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 And now, God of our Fathers, if darkness and the tempest are still 
 before us, give us honest and fearless pilots who can weather the storm, 
 and when kings and emperors and their crowns and scepters shall 
 have passed away, or shall l»e retained (as now in our mother-land), 
 only as the convenient and time-honored forms and pageantries, by 
 which the peoples of the earth shall conduct their public national af- 
 fairs, grant tha't our republic may still endure, purified and lifted to 
 higher life by the buffetings of adversity, strengthened by time, and 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 75 
 
 by the reverent affection of a grateful and united nation, loving and 
 exemplifying liberty under law ; and may the dear old flag still wave 
 on land and on sea, fit emblem of a people, who by the example of a 
 regulated, rational and enduring constitutional liberty, shall have 
 earned yet higher right to be represented by admiring Frenchmen in 
 the harbor of New York, by the statue about to be erected of " Liberty 
 enlightening the world." 
 
 " As it floated long before us, 
 Be it ever floating o'er us, 
 
 O'er our land from shore to shore ; 
 There are freemen yet to wave it, 
 Millions who would die to save it, 
 
 Wave it, save it, ever more." 
 
 Mr. Chamberlin held the large audience in close atten- 
 tion during the delivery of his long address, and at its 
 close the band played an exquisitely rendered piece. 
 
 William Pitt Palmer, Esq., of New York, the poet of 
 the day, was next introduced as Lee-born but Stockbridge- 
 bred. Mr. Palmer prefaced the reading of his poem with 
 the following remarks. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladles and Gentlemen : 
 
 When the Continental March of sylvan destruction, which began at 
 Plymouth in 1620, reached this far inland valley, it must have pre- 
 sented a scene unsurpassed for beauty in the whole Temperate Zone. 
 It was formed on just the right scale to satisfy the taste of a lover of 
 nature, to whom the sublime in scenery is not an indispensable requi- 
 site to its perfect enjoyment. If to the simple inhabitants, the leafy 
 world around them ever suggested any artificial change in its confor- 
 mation, they were destitute of all mechanical appliances for effecting 
 i f xlie landscape, therefore, remained, year after year, just as it had 
 existed for untold ages. Spring and Summer draped it, as of old, in 
 their green mantle ; Autumn, in vesture more gorgeous than ever 
 adorned the tiring-chamber of Kings ; and Winter folded in its gra- 
 cious ermine the feeble life in death, so soon to rejoice in another 
 vernal resurrection. From lateral ridge to ridge, all was one un- 
 broken forest, save where the benignant river had blessed its dusky 
 children with treeless intervales, to which even their impotence of the 
 proper instrumental means, could give the semblance of agricultural 
 life. 
 
76 
 
 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Into this primitive solitude, came our hardy ancestors some seven 
 score years ago, bringing with them the wants and habits of civilized 
 society ; and if perchance they also brought a taste for natural beauty, 
 it must have been smothered or quite extinguished, by the hard neces- 
 sities of their surroundings. For, to the pioneer, bread is the staff of 
 life also and most especially, and to win it from the wilderness, his axe 
 must first dispel its " boundless contiguity of shade," and let rain and 
 sunshine find free access to the dark, dank soil, never yet glorified by 
 the golden footprints of Ceres. So the primitive beauty of the Berk- 
 shire Hills had to give place to the stern necessities of the sturdy pio- 
 neers, who established in the heart of the Housatonic Valley the 
 famous Indian Mission, of which Old Stockbridge became the central 
 point. 
 
 In the verses I shall have the honor to read, I have sought to sketch 
 merely the three local aspects above indicated — the aboriginal sylvan 
 beauty ; the blotches and blemishes, the rawness, roughness, and gen- 
 eral disfigurement of what I venture to call the Stump Age; and 
 lastly, the loveliness that now smiles upon us from every side, as if 
 our Alma Mater were complacently conscious of her peerless charms. 
 How much these may be heightened, and what new ones added, 
 during the lapse of another century of continued improvement under 
 the fostering care of "Laurel Hill," " Fern Cliff," and like associations 
 throughout the County, the eye of imagination only can now dimly 
 discern. When village, and hamlet, and isolated farm-house, shall all 
 have been touched by the wand of refined taste, our Berkshire will be 
 so charming, that the mere thought of its beauty makes one feel that 
 he was born too soon, and wish, with Franklin, that he might be per- 
 mitted to revisit his native land, after each hundred years' slumber in 
 her maternal bosom. 
 
 MR. PALMER'S POEM. 
 
 THE MODEL VALE. 
 
 Kind friends, if idle fame has raised 
 
 The pleasing expectation, 
 That rhymes of mine were like to lend 
 
 One charm to this occasion ; 
 Pray do not blame the simple bard 
 
 For his compliant ditty, 
 But charge the disappointment all 
 
 To your insane Committee ! 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 77 
 
 They feared no lack of racy "prose," 
 
 Both joyous and pathetic ; 
 But even that would please the more, 
 
 If pranked with foil poetic ; 
 And, therefore, have I greatly dared 
 
 To face your focal glances, 
 While ray decrepit lyre intones 
 
 A tale of rhythmic fancies : — 
 
 The scene was Nature's model vale, 
 
 Where, after long reflection, 
 Like Zeuxis, she had grouped and posed 
 
 Each borrowed charm's perfection — 
 The fairest hills, the gayest meads, 
 
 The clearest lakes and fountains — 
 And set the living picture in 
 
 A frame of graceful mountains. 
 
 But sons of that first woeful pair 
 
 Who brought the curse of toiling, 
 Descried the wonder, and began 
 
 Their round of Eden-spoiling ; 
 They felled the warbling groves, and gashed 
 
 The mountain's sylvan towers ; 
 And with the mattock, scythe and share, 
 
 Laid low the friendless flowers. 
 
 The Wood-nymphs and the Oreads, shocked 
 
 At such dire desecration, 
 Caught up their blackened skirts and fled 
 
 Their ancient habitation ; 
 And left the spoilers to pursue 
 
 Their chopping and their charring — 
 Complete, in short, their perfect work 
 
 Of universal marring ! 
 
 But, by and by, when things were grown 
 
 Almost beyond enduring ; 
 And Nature's wounds seemed past all hope 
 
 Of stanching, much less, curing ; 
 There came a Fairy to the Vale, 
 
 Of most enchanting presence, 
 And softly stole a gracious spell 
 
 Upon the artless peasants. 
 
78 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Her smile was like the purple sheen 
 
 That plays on lake and river, 
 When laughing ripples glance the shafts 
 
 From Morning's rosy quiver ; 
 Her voice as sweet as sweetest harp's, 
 
 The Summer wind just kisses ; 
 And witching as the lays that charmed 
 
 The comrades of Ulysses. 
 
 She taught them that the moiling swain 
 
 May find sufficient leisure 
 To nurse a sense of outward grace 
 
 To thrill with inward pleasure ; 
 And', that in all the walks of life, 
 
 It is our hounden duty, 
 So far as in us lies, to veil 
 
 A blemish with a beauty. 
 
 They heard and heeded well the words 
 
 That clearest truth reflected, 
 Whose simple logic rarely fails 
 
 To make her laws respected ; 
 And soon the outraged vale began 
 
 To show a smart improvement ; 
 For manly vigor followed up, 
 
 As woman led the movement. 
 
 To blots and blemishes anon 
 
 The change proved comi-tragic — 
 Old eye-sores vanished from the scene, 
 
 As if by force of magic ; 
 The barn no longer with the home 
 
 Stood elbowing for precedence ; 
 But meekly showed its* sense of right, 
 
 By complaisant recedence. 
 
 The stable stole behind the barn, 
 
 Remoter still, the swine-} r ard ; 
 The door-yard spurned its farther use 
 
 Of chopping-place and kine-yard : 
 While cart, sled, buggy, kennel, coop, 
 
 Decorum's hardened scorners, 
 Turned tail, and hid themselves away 
 
 In proper holes and corners. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 70 
 
 At last the Old House rubbed its eyes, 
 
 And blushed to see how shabby 
 It needs must look in gabardine 
 
 So threadbare, torn, and drabby ; 
 And thereupon it set to work 
 
 With earnest perseverance, . 
 
 Like tattered beau resolved to show 
 
 A downright spruce appearance. 
 
 Old clapboard lesions straight were healed, 
 
 Old shingles sloughed their mosses; 
 New panes, instead of scarecrow hats, 
 
 Made good the window's losses ; 
 And where the sun's rude eye till then, 
 
 Had glared it's bold intrusion, 
 Green blinds their welcome shadows drop 
 
 Upon the dear seclusion. 
 
 And vines were planted by the door, 
 
 The woodbine or clematis, 
 To curtain in the rustic porch 
 
 And drape the airy lattice ; 
 And trees of graceful form and leaf 
 
 Soon waved along all highways, 
 And sent their verdant juniors forth 
 
 To farthest lanes and by-ways : 
 
 So well, that e'en at highest noon, 
 
 When June's keen solstice blazes, 
 And not a Sylph in all the sky 
 
 Her silvery sun shade raises ; 
 From end to end of that fair vale, 
 
 Where'er one's promenadings, 
 He threads long arbors fresh and cool 
 
 With elm and maple shadings. 
 
 Yon stream that makes our native vales 
 
 A rival land of Goshen, 
 Erst gathered in its myriad rills 
 
 And bore them back to ocean, 
 Unused in all its willowy course 
 
 By groves of pines and beeches, 
 Save where the Indian's birch canoe 
 
 Went idling down the reaches. 
 
80 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 But now, where near-confronting hills 
 
 Oppose their jutting shoulders, 
 Or rended crags have lined the shore 
 
 With dam-inviting boulders ; 
 Behold, the valemen's cunning hands, 
 
 The struggling Samson binding, 
 Bend his blind strength to countless tasks 
 
 Of spinning, forging, grinding. 
 
 And what a nobler triumph still, 
 
 When from the full-urned mountains 
 
 They won for garden, park and lawn, 
 The flash and plash of fountains ; 
 
 And bade the boon, for rich and poor, 
 Exhaustlessly upwelling, 
 
 A pure and sure Bethesda bide 
 In every village dwelling ! 
 
 And whereas, erst, no careless soul 
 
 In all those mangled bowers, 
 E'er waked to give one kindly thought 
 
 To Eden's exiled flowers ; 
 There's scarce a cotter now, but will, 
 
 By dint of harder toiling, 
 Find time to cherish these dear waifs 
 
 Of Adam's garden spoiling. 
 
 Nor has his home parterre engrossed 
 
 His hard earned leisure solely ; 
 Eondly he helps to dress the scene 
 
 By kindred dust made holy ; 
 Till mid the verdure and the bloom 
 
 That veil life's last dark portal, 
 He almost smiles to view the bourne 
 
 Twixt mortal and immortal. 
 
 And lo ! how fair the public taste, 
 
 To match the general brightness, 
 Has robed the village church near by, 
 
 In stole of saintly whiteness, 
 Which, thus arraved, may well beseem 
 
 To eyes of pensive weepers, 
 The earthly tent of angels sent 
 
 To guard the silent sleepers — 
 
RESIDENCE OF WELLINGTON SMITH. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 8] 
 
 Thus Grace and Dryad came again, 
 
 And with them came the Muses, 
 Whose blessed office is to teach 
 
 That life's true aims and uses, 
 Are not best shown in heaping gold, 
 
 Or multiplying acres, 
 Nor lending sacrilegious hands 
 
 To Beauty's image-breakers, 
 
 But in the culture of the mind, 
 
 The soul's divine emotions, 
 Love, faith, peace, sympathy with all 
 
 Heroic self-devotions ; 
 With reverence for genuine Avorth, 
 
 No matter what the station 
 Of him who lifts a human heart 
 
 To angel aspiration. 
 
 And just as nature's face inproved, 
 
 Improved her votaries faces, 
 Grown faithful mirrors to reflect 
 
 Her humanizing graces; 
 While gentle manners so prevail, 
 
 They force the fond conviction, 
 That here, at least, the Golden Age 
 
 Is no poetic fiction ! 
 
 CONCLUDING EXEBCISES IN THE CHUBCH. 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Palmer's poem, the audience 
 were invited to unite with the choir in singing " America," 
 which was rendered with a will. Mr. Wellington Smith, 
 the marshal of the day, then announced the order of pro- 
 cession to the dining tent, and the assembly was dismissed 
 with the benediction pronounced by Rev. Lyman S. Row- 
 land, of Lee. So complete were the arrangements of the 
 marshal and his assistants, that there was no hitch in 
 transferring the large assembly from the church to the 
 tent. Six hundred and seventy-six guests were seated at 
 the well-spread board of Messrs. Hall & Whipple, and 
 were waited upon by seventy of the young ladies and 
 11 
 
82 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 gentlemen of Lee. who, with their festive regimentals and 
 polite attentions, added grace to the occasion and honor 
 to the town. 
 
 AT AND AFTER THE DINNER. 
 
 After the well-filled tables had been pretty thoroughly 
 cleared, and the company put in good humor for the 
 intellectual feast, President Garfield introduced the speak- 
 ing with a few well-chosen words. The responses were 
 nearly all made to formal sentiments, the first of which 
 was as follows : 
 
 The United States — May her influence among the nations be equal 
 to her domain ; may her sons remember that righteousness exalteth a 
 nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. 
 
 To respond to this, Senator Henry L. Dawes of Pitts- 
 field was called upon. He briefly alluded to the growth 
 of the city during the past hundred years, to its vast 
 increase in territory and population, and laid the founda- 
 tion of this unparalleled development in the " town organ- 
 ization " principle. The town meeting is to liberty, what 
 the primary school is to science. So far as the growth of 
 the city has outstripped the township, it cannot but 
 give alarm to every sincere and candid patriot. " I hope 
 for one," said the speaker, " there will never be another 
 city in the commonwealth." Then turning to national 
 affairs, he spoke of the necessity of reconciling and unit- 
 ing the lately conflicting sections of our common country. 
 In our republic there is no room for conquered states. 
 The demand of the hour is for another great character in 
 history. As Washington was the Father, Lincoln the Pre- 
 server, and Grant the Defender of the country, so now 
 another is needed who shall combine all these elements 
 with Pteconcilation. When such a one comes, over 
 his head will be written the grand title, " Pacifiator 
 of States." 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 83 
 
 Massachusetts, by birth or adoption our venerable and respected 
 mother — We cherish her memory with heartfelt regard. May she 
 never be disgraced by those of her sons whom she has delighted to 
 honor. 
 
 To this Richard Goodman of Lenox responded, in a 
 bright little speech, saying that whoever spoke for Massa- 
 chusetts ought to be a descendant of the " May Flower." 
 Unhappily, the Goodman who came over in that vessel, 
 and who ought to have been his progenitor was eaten by 
 bears while a bachelor, so that he himself was only an 
 adopted son. While Massachusetts was a good mother, 
 she was also an excellent mother-in-law. 
 
 The County of Berkshire — May the morals of her sons and daugh- 
 ters be as pure as her mountain streams, their aspirations as lofty as 
 her hill-tops ; their integrity as immutable as her rocks. May her pub- 
 lic men, her clergy, her lawyers, her physicians, emulate the bright 
 examples that have gone before. 
 
 Gen. William C. Plunkett of Adams, responded in a 
 speech full of pleasant reminiscence of the early days of 
 the county when factories were unknown, and linsey- 
 woolsey was the common wear. He spoke of the great 
 progress the county had made in manufacturing, and of 
 the advance in education as well. Of Williams college in 
 particular he spoke highly. Fewer men, he said, grow 
 up, vegetate and die at this college than at any other of 
 the United States. Gen. Plunkett told several stories 
 of Dr. Hyde and of the early worthies of Lee, and in clos- 
 ing spoke of the " Berkshire Jubilee " in 1844, inviting 
 all present to attend its repetition sixty-seven years 
 hence. 
 
 The next sentiment was a volunteer one, offered by 
 Amos G. Hulbert: 
 
 The Orator of the Day — Born a gentleman, happily not spoiled in 
 making up; Excelsior his motto. In youth and early manhood a 
 
84 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 first-class carriage trimmer, later a safe counselor, an able advocate, an 
 honest lawyer, a genial friend. J I is wife the better-half. God bless 
 them both ! 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain acknowledged the compliment very 
 handsomely, speaking of Jiis early life in Lee, and the 
 assistance he got from his employers, the Hulberts. After 
 graduating at Harvard law school, where he was a class- 
 mate with President Hayes, he tried to get Mr. Dawes to 
 open a law office with him in Springfield. But Dawes 
 didn't go, and so their paths in life had diverged. He 
 told several capital stories, and left his hearers wishing 
 for more when he sat down. 
 
 The Town of Lee. 
 
 Alexander Hyde, introduced as a gentleman who had 
 energy enough to stay in Lee " to strengthen the things 
 that remain," responded that Lee needed no orator to 
 speak her praises. Her sons and daughters assembled 
 to-day are living witnesses of her character. Our chief 
 glory is in the work our churches and schools have done 
 and are doing. He spoke particularly of the High School 
 and the education it afforded to all. He alluded to the 
 late Samuel A. Hulbert, to whom the town was in a great 
 measure indebted for its High School, its Railroad and other 
 public institutions. 
 
 The Judiciary — A necessary and indispensable department of our 
 Government. While a praise to all that do well, yet a terror to all 
 of us. 
 
 President Garfield, in a few happy words, introduced 
 Congressman Robinson of Chicopee. Mr. Robinson ex- 
 pressed his gratification at being present on such a pleas- 
 ant occasion. Born at Lexington, he had, in his boyhood 
 days, walked and talked with the men of '75, and the 
 work of the Fathers was therefore of especial interest to 
 him. Massachusetts, he said, was highly favored in the 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 85 
 
 character of its judges, who were all honorable and up- 
 right men. Mr. Robinson's speech was attentively lis- 
 tened to, and he made a very favorable impression on his 
 hearers. 
 
 Rev. Dr. E. W. Bentley, of Ellenville, N. Y., was the 
 next speaker. He said that though he was not born 
 in Lee, he knew nothing till he came here. He spoke 
 of the changes time had made since he first knew the 
 town, and of some of the old residents and their pecu- 
 liarities. 
 
 Emigrants from the old Hive. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Ingersoll of Brooklyn, in responding spoke of 
 the feelings of the returning emigrants, and how, wherever 
 they went, they never forgot the old home. To them, as 
 well as to those who stay at home, Lee is the center and 
 all the rest is circumference. Dr. Ingersoll was intro- 
 duced as a great grandson of the second white inhabitant 
 that settled within the limits of this town, long before 
 its incorporation, and of whose descendants, three genera- 
 tions continue here. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Edward Taylor, the next speaker, told a lot 
 of funny stories about " Uncle Joe Chadwick," who, to 
 him was " a bigger man than Old Grant," and other old 
 citizens whose names and memory had been recalled. 
 He kept his hearers in a roar of laughter, and made a 
 capital, unreportable speech, which was richly enjoyed. 
 
 Our Adopted Fellow Citizens. 
 
 To this sentiment, J. W. Ferry of this town made a 
 capital response. He had an advantage, he thought, 
 over the natives of the town, inasmuch as he became a 
 citizen by choice, and they, by accident. He came to 
 Lee more than a score of years ago, and has never been 
 sorry that he stayed here. Nowhere are there better 
 
86 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 associations than in America, nowhere better laws or a 
 better chance to help make them. The adopted citizens 
 of the land can be relied on to do all in their power to 
 maintain the republic. In closing, he said he wanted to 
 impress upon all his hearers that the adopted citizens of 
 the United States were determined to maintain the laws and 
 to do in all respects as well as if born on the soil. Mr. 
 Ferry's speech was received with hearty applause. 
 
 The author of the following verses, H. S. Babcock, Esq., 
 of Providence, R. I., was prevented by business engage- 
 ments from being present at the Centennial, and they 
 were read at the dinner table by Prof. E. H. Barlow : 
 
 T. 
 
 The god of day leaps from his rudely bed 
 
 To guide his golden chariot through the sky ; 
 His amber locks he crowns with roses red, 
 
 Whose blushes stain the East with crimson dye. 
 His watchful eye beholds each woody height, 
 
 Each mountain peak clad in eternal snow, 
 Each smiling vale in gladsome verdure dight, 
 
 Each noble river wauling still and slow, 
 Each spot of earth where beauty reigns a queen 
 
 And rules her subjects with imperious sway, — 
 But shows to none more gracious, loving mien, 
 
 Than where we see his favoring smile to-day. 
 
 II. 
 The purple mountains rise on either hand, 
 
 A frontier guard that ever watchful keeps ; 
 A gently flowing stream divides the land, 
 
 On whose green banks the golden sunshine sleeps ; 
 Ear stretch the level meads whose fruitful soil 
 
 Yields bounteous harvests to the hand of care, 
 Rewards the farmer for his lengthened toil, 
 
 Of garnered wealth makes him the worthy heir. 
 There rise the hill-sides crowned with noble trees, 
 
 Where oft, too oft, the choppers axe resounds, 
 Whose fatal stroke, borne on the tell-tale breeze, 
 
 Makes mournful music mid the sweeter sounds. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 87 
 
 And there the busy mill-wheel constant turns, 
 
 The faithful servant of industrious men ; 
 The swarthy furnace brightly glowing burns 
 
 And yields a product fit for poet's pen. 
 
 III. 
 
 Adown the hill-sides glide the murmuring brooks, 
 
 Whose lapping waters lend a cooling sound 
 And teach far better than old musty books 
 
 That all the earth is consecrated ground. 
 A siren sings beneath those waters sweet 
 
 In flute-like tones that win the listening ear ; 
 The wavelets dancing at your weary feet 
 
 Give back the song in music silvery clear. 
 O'er-arching trees afford you grateful shade, 
 
 The merry breeze laughs in their waving boughs, 
 The feathered songsters lend their voices' aid, 
 
 At Nature's shrine you pay your heartfelt vows. 
 
 IV. 
 Your feet now tread the well-kept streets 
 
 Where reigned the silence of the darkling wood ; 
 Your eyes behold the thrifty homes of men 
 
 Where once the cruel Indian's wigwam stood ; 
 Your ears drink in the music of the forge, 
 
 The rattle of the mill, the engine's scream, 
 Where once the savage war-whoop echoed loud, 
 
 The welcome answer to the red man's dream. 
 Peace smiles upon this highly favored land, 
 
 And Plenty empties out her bounteous horn, 
 Industry lends to each a helping hand. 
 
 And Love and Happiness these homes adorn. 
 
 V. 
 
 And this, to-day, is Lee. A hundred years 
 
 Have borne a golden harvest large and fair, 
 We reap with smiles what erst was sown in tears, 
 
 In joy the well-eared sheaves we homeward bear. 
 And this, to-day, is Lee. A hundred years 
 
 Upon her brow imperial gently rest, 
 The fathers long ago, with many tears, 
 
 Were laid to sleep upon her loving breast. 
 
88 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Her sons and daughters live, grow old and die, 
 
 But she knows nol the meaning of old age; 
 Eternal youth laughs in her glancing eye, 
 
 And scorns Time's direful threats and powerless rage. 
 And this, to-day, is Lee. A hundred years 
 
 Our plant has grown in sunshine and in shade, 
 To-day we cull the blossom, freed from fears. 
 
 The past secure, the future surely made. 
 Let joy prolong this gladsome festal day, 
 
 The crowning blo.-som of a century past, 
 While over all Love sheds his golden ray 
 
 And makes its memory brighten to the last. 
 
 Dr. M. M. Frissell of Kingston, N. Y., spoke pleas- 
 antly of the great benefit he was to the town during his 
 three months' stay some years ago. He disseminated 
 knowledge among the people, he brought them into 
 communication with distant sections, he helped the manu- 
 facturers to large sums of money, he knew he was a 
 public benefactor — for he was deputy postmaster, and all 
 the mail matter of the village passed through his hands. 
 He spoke of the recent celebration at his home, and of 
 how the native Dutchmen had found it necessary to call 
 upon the Yankees to help them through with it. 
 
 The following sentiment was then offered by Amos G. 
 Hulbert, who prefaced it by saying : In looking over 
 this interesting audience I see many on whose heads the 
 almond tree has flourished, and to those I offer the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 The Aged who have borne the heat of the day — Inpatience 
 ye your souls. Your days are numbered but not finished ; may those 
 that remain be your brightest and best. 
 
 Gird up 3'our loins with all your might, 
 
 And keep your Christian armor bright, 
 
 And when the Master calls, fear not to launch away ; 
 
 The dear ones on the other side 
 
 Are more than are here to-day. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 89 
 
 And now to all, to you I say, 
 
 As this Centennial Day on earth to us much joy hath given ; 
 
 With joy unspeakable and. pure, 
 
 May we spend the next in Heaven. 
 
 William Hyde, of Ware, was called upon to respond. 
 He spoke of the fathers and mothers of the town, and of 
 the old times and customs. He showed to the company 
 several interesting relics, among others his mother's 
 wedding slippers and a sermon on " Regeneration," 
 preached by his father in 1789. 
 
 A vote of thanks to the Lee Band was moved, in be- 
 half of the emigrants, by Rev. Dr. Ingersoll, and, after 
 being seconded in behalf of the citizens by William 
 Taylor, was heartily adopted. The exercises closed at 
 fifteen minutes before six, with a few words from the 
 President of the Day who, for the town, thanked the 
 returning residents for their attendance and trusted they 
 had enjoyed the reunion — and though no formal response 
 was made, it was easy to see in their beaming faces that 
 they had. 
 
 The private expression of the returning exiles was 
 unanimous in testifying to the great satisfaction which 
 the occasion had given, and this feeling was fully recipro- 
 cated on the part of the citizens of Lee. Old friendships 
 were revived, new ones formed, family ties were strength- 
 ened, and all felt that it was good once more to meet 
 in the church and around a common table. The old 
 town was universally commended as having made great 
 improvements in her agriculture, architecture, roads, 
 bridges, schools, churches and the comforts of life gene- 
 rally, and as still the abode of peace, plenty and right- 
 eousness. 
 
 12 
 
90 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 INTERESTING INCIDENTS OF CENTENNIAL DAY. 
 
 The Congregational Church in which the Centennial 
 exercises were held, w T as decorated by the ladies with 
 excellent taste. Flowers and evergreens adorned the 
 altar and walls, and over the pulpit was an evergreen 
 scroll with this inscription in large evergreen letters: 
 " 1777 Welcome 1877." On the right of the pulpit hung 
 the portrait of Dr. Alvan Hyde, and on the left that of 
 Dr. Nahum Gale, with the dates of their long pastorates. 
 
 Conspicuous among the decorations in the village was 
 a large flag suspended over Main street, and bearing the 
 motto : " Lee Welcomes her Children." Another large 
 banner floated in front of William Taylor's store. F. M. 
 Pease's store and residence were handsomely draped with 
 bunting, as was also the bank. Wellington Smith's resi- 
 dence was noticeable with flags at every projecting point. 
 Exchange block was decked with a profusion of small 
 flags, while E. Wright & Co., B. H. Taintor, and numer- 
 ous others along the street, honored the day with a liberal 
 display. 
 
 The Centennial was ushered in at East Lee by a rous- 
 ing salute, fired from the old Jackson cannon, that 
 patriotic old veteran, which, since the days of Old Hick- 
 ory, has rendered such good service, and never failed to 
 belch forth its rejoicings on every anniversary of our inde- 
 pendence. Even if touched by no human hand, the old 
 powder-blackened war-dog would, we almost believe, 
 have blazed away of itself at the Centennial. Thanks to 
 the " boys" who so gallantly manned it. 
 
 One pleasant feature of the celebration was the knowl- 
 edge it brought to many of distant and long-parted 
 friends. One case in particular is worthy of notice : A 
 Lee lady had lost all trace of her grandmother, living 
 somewhere in the West, but where she did not know. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 91 
 
 As it happened, one of the visitors to the Centennial came 
 from the very town where this grandmother lived, and 
 brought to the granddaughter the first tidings she had 
 had for many years of her venerable relative. 
 
 Among the visitors from a distance was Mrs. Harriet 
 Nesbett, of Elyria, 0. Mrs. Nesbett is youngest of the 
 family of Maj. William Ingersoll, Jr., who left Lee in 
 1816, and secured homes for his seven sons in the un- 
 broken forest, then known as No. 4, in range 16, of the 
 Western Reserve, or " New Connecticut." No other 
 representative of that pioneer family was present. Mrs. 
 Nesbett is also the youngest granddaughter of William 
 Ingersoll, who died in 1815, leaving 149 living descend- 
 ants. Of that large number, only two joined in the 
 festivities of this occasion — Mrs. Nesbett and Jared Inger- 
 soll, of Saratoga, N. Y. 
 
 Among the old residents called for, but who were not 
 in the tent, or at least did not respond, were William 
 Howk and Mr. Whiting of Wellington, 0., and Marshall 
 Wilcox of Pittsfield. 
 
 Though the rush of visitors was somewhat greater than 
 had been expected, yet the Committee had made such 
 ample provisions for any contingency, that many more 
 might have been accommodated if necessary. 
 
 The attractiveness of the dinner was greatly enhanced 
 by the white-aproned young men and coquettishly-capped 
 young ladies, sons and daughters of citizens who had 
 volunteered as waiters upon the company. They thus 
 exemplified a favorite maxim of their late pastor, Dr. 
 Gale, " The post of service is the post of honor." 
 
 The town appointed a large force of special policemen, 
 but there was little for them to do. The thousands 
 thronging the streets were very orderly and well-behaved, 
 and only one arrest was made, and he a stranger in the 
 town. 
 
92 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Dr. Andrews and Dr. Bentley, Centennial visitors, re- 
 mained and preached at the Congregational church Sun- 
 day, and in the evening the pastor gave an extra Centen- 
 nial sermon. 
 
 It was a good joke on the part of the leader of the 
 band, while the guests were quietly waiting for the first 
 course at the Centennial Dinner, to order the playing of 
 " The Sweet By and By." 
 
 Among the returning old residents was Oliver West, of 
 Pittsfield, Ohio, who left Lee in 1832, and in all these 
 forty-five years, had not visited his old home. " 0, how 
 changed ! " was his exclamation, as he stood at the south 
 door of Memorial Hall and looked at the beautiful gem 
 of a park occupying the site of the old church in which 
 he used to worship, the Hall itself standing near where 
 the church horse-sheds once stood. When he was a lad 
 the name of West was common in Lee ; now, not one is 
 left to bear up the once honored name. He desired to 
 be quartered among the old neighbors of his father, the 
 late Joshua West, and he was assigned by the committee 
 to the care of Mr. J. B. Freeman, and among the farms 
 and families of that vicinity he felt more at home. 
 Moral : Old residents should not stay away so long if they 
 want to find friends, acquaintances and old landmarks. 
 
 Among the many pleasing incidents of the Centennial 
 were the reunions of families long and widely scattered. 
 At the hospitable home of Mr. H. Garfield, were gathered 
 his sisters, Mrs. Carey from Keokuk, Iowa, and Mrs. 
 Waite from Chicago, with numerous other friends and 
 relatives ; no brother, however, of the originally large 
 number being left to join the happy circle. At Mr. 
 A. G. Hulbert's were congregated, besides his own children 
 and grandchildren, the Ingersolls and Chamberlins, a 
 housefull, and all hearts overflowing with love and pleas- 
 ant reminiscences. At Mr. William Taylor's, were his 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 93 
 
 brothers Charles, Horace, Edward and Frank, accom- 
 panied by their wives and one sister, Sophia ; the health 
 of the two other sisters, Mrs. Churchill and Mills, not 
 permitting them to be present. At the old parsonage of 
 Dr. Hyde, now occupied by his youngest son, Alexander, 
 were William Hyde of Ware, and his family, Mrs. Marsh 
 of New York, Dr. Andrews of Marietta, Ohio, Dr. Bentley 
 of Ellenville, N. Y., and others. Here were to be found 
 four generations, reckoning Mrs. Hyde's mother, Mrs. 
 Hull, as one. The latter, a lady of 86 years, entered 
 into the occasion as heartily as any one, ascending " Fern 
 Cliff" to hear Professor Barlow's oration, and after listen- 
 ing to the address of Mr. Chamberlin, spending the 
 afternoon of Centennial Day in the tent, that she might 
 enjoy the flow of soul in the post-prandial feast. At the 
 mansion of the brothers, E. S. and S. S. May, were con- 
 gregated a large circle of friends and relations, including 
 their sons from New York ; the Parkers from Dunbarton, 
 N. H., and the Ingersolls from Ohio. At Mr. Nathan 
 Gibbs', w T ere his son Edward and family from Norwich, 
 Conn., Dr. and Mrs. Flint from Hinsdale, Miss Holder 
 and others. 
 
 Much regret was expressed at the non-appearance at the 
 Centennial of the Hon. Asahel Foote, of Williamstown, a 
 septuagenarian descendant of one of the first settlers of 
 Lee. When, during the previous week it was ascertained 
 that Mr. Foote was not expecting to be present, some of 
 his friends wrote, urging him to come. The following 
 letter explains his absence, and contains so many pleasant 
 reminiscences of the Foote family, and so much of his- 
 torical interest, that we publish it entire : 
 
 Williamstown, September 20, 1877. 
 Dear Sir: — On the 8th inst., I took my week's mail from the post 
 office, and not anticipating anything more from that quarter for a few 
 days, and being still under the influence of a slight bilious attack, by 
 
94 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 which my strength had been considerably reduced, I did not again 
 visit the street until Tuesday, the 12th, when I was surprised to find 
 three different communications from Lee, inviting me to a participa- 
 tion in the social feast of the two days immediately to follow. I need 
 not undertake to tell you how many and how strong and immortal are 
 the ties that bind my heart to the place of my birth ; for there you, 
 too, can visit the graves of the mother on whose bosom you nestled in 
 infancy, of the father who guarded and guided your childhood, of 
 brothers and sisters who were the participants of all the joys and sor- 
 rows of your early years, and of many others on whose graves you 
 could not help but drop regretful tears when they were laid away from 
 your sight forever. Though 54 years have kept their obliterating 
 fingers busily at work since I was a resident of Lee, my memory still 
 travels back even to the "great total eclipse" of 1806, (of which I 
 have yet a very distinct impression,) and often entertains me with 
 scenes that I witnessed myself in those "former days," and with 
 storied events that had transpired on the same ground previous to my 
 birth ; among which latter I might mention the scene of the bear 
 attacking and destroying a large porker in the highway running east 
 from the village, at a point nearly opposite the burying-place of the 
 first occupant of the Cemetery, no gun being procurable in the neigh- 
 borhood, and the blowing of horns and shells being insufficient to 
 frighten him from his prey. The killing of an infuriated bear with a 
 knot caught up after the attack, on the southern border of the town, 
 by a man of the name of Hewlett; whence the name of " Beartown 
 Mountain." The slaughter of 124 rattlesnakes on the southwest slope 
 of Pixley mountain, on a Sunday morning, by two brothers Ingersoll, 
 who were in quest of their horses to take the family to church. The 
 battle of my uncle David Foote with a moose of the largest dimen- 
 sions (I used to see his immense horns in my early childhood), that 
 attacked him (likewise on a Sunday morning, and while hunting up his 
 horses), at a point about 100 rods east of T. L. Foote's residence, on 
 a stony piece of ground, thick set at the time with large girdled trees. 
 During the contest, the enraged animal repeatedly scaled, with ease, a 
 high log fence, and drove the assailed party from tree to tree, behind 
 which he sought refuge, until at last he caught one of his fore feet fast 
 between two logs that with others had been rolled together for burn- 
 ing. This afforded a good opportunity for the effective employment 
 of the "hard heads" that abounded in the locality, and so vigorously 
 did my uncle hurl them directly at the animal's forehead, (he had 
 previously used the same weapons, but not with such advantage,) that 
 when after a time the foot became disengaged, he turned to the east, and 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 95 
 
 walking, with difficulty, as far as "The Hamlin Spring," thence drank 
 his fill, and tying down was no more aide to rise. So he hecame my 
 uncle's trophy. Ahout the same period, there was got up a great wolf- 
 hunt ; every man that owned a gun in the town of Lee, Lenox and 
 Richmond being invited to put in an appearance at a given point in 
 the latter town, for the purpose of surrounding a certain swamp, (per- 
 haps that over which the A. and B. R. R. now passes on an under- 
 ground embankment seventy feet deep,) where several wolves that had 
 recently made great havoc with the little flocks in the vicinity, had 
 taken shelter. The swamp was duly surrounded and the wolves 
 dislodged, but not taken. The sequel of course was a great wrestling- 
 match, in which, though not a practiced wrestler, my father came 
 off champion. In the primitive days of Lee, the meal consumed by 
 its inhabitants was obtained in this wise (repeatedly by my father, 
 as he used to tell me) : a sack of corn, as large as could be thus trans- 
 ported, was placed across a horse's back, and the horse led by 
 " blazed " trees, down the valley of the Housatonic to a mill in Connec- 
 ticut, (I cannot name the town with certainty,) some thirty miles 
 distant ; whence, after being converted into " breadstuff," it (minus 
 the " toll") was returned in like manner, to the anxious, expectant 
 family. 
 
 The Cave in " The Ledge," north-east of your village, may still, for 
 aught I know, be visited as one of the ancient notorieties of Lee. Here 
 my uncle Fenner Foote's wife (Sarah) secreted and fed, for some 
 time, her brother, Peter Wilcox, who was one of the Shays refugees, on 
 whom the Government wished to lay its hands. A brother of his was 
 slain in a rencontre between the two parties, somewhere in the 
 town of Sheffield. I cannot say, without referring to the history of 
 the times, whether he was not the only man slain in that famous war. 
 One more Foote anecdote, and I will "hush up" on that name. In 
 1770, my father at the age of sixteen, became a "soldier of the Revo- 
 lution," and served, at two different enrollments, an aggregate of 
 twelve months, — six at Schoharie and six at West Point; at 
 which latter place he was present at the laying of the " great chain" 
 across the Hudson to stop the upward progress of the enemy's ships. 
 There he was personally reviewed by Washington. At the close of 
 his West Point campaign, he returned home on horseback, reaching 
 Lee in the middle of a very dark night. The next morning there was 
 quite a sensation produced in the village by the discovery that during 
 the night a horse had passed over the Housatonic, at the point where 
 the bridge now stands, (near the residence of Alexander Hyde, Esq.,) 
 on a single stringer. The bridge had been taken up for repairs. 
 
96 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Throe stringers had been placed upon the abutments, the second lying 
 on the first, and the third by the side of the latter. On this third 
 stringer, my father had safely ridden over the river, in entire ignorance 
 of his true relations to the watery element beneath him, — certainly a 
 great compliment to the circumspection of his horse. I must say one 
 thing more about the Footes, after all, and that is that my uncle 
 Fenner Foote was also a Revolutionary soldier ; that he was in the 
 terribly bloody battle of Stony Point, and accompanied Benedict 
 Arnold in his frightful Winter march to the St. Lawrence. Both 
 David and Fenner Foote reached the age of 94 years. 
 
 In early times, the mountains on the east and north-east of Lee 
 were well supplied with deer, and its streams, especially those which 
 drained the Green-water and Goose ponds, were abundantly stocked 
 with trout. I have heard my father say that when a boy he could at 
 any time take as many trout from this " great brook," by an hour's 
 angling as he cared to trudge home with. In my childhood a single 
 specimen was taken from the old "Winegar dam" that weighed five 
 pounds ; and I have myself seen numbers drawn from the same stream 
 that would weigh from one to three pounds. 
 
 How changed the physical geography of Lee from what it was 
 seventy-five years ago ! The revolution in the manners and customs 
 of its people has been no less remarkable. In those days, shoes and 
 stockings were associated almost wholly with the rigors of Winter — 
 especially so far as the young people were concerned, and nothing was 
 more common than to see well-to-do people wending their way to 
 church on the Sabbath bare-footed. But though one should meet a 
 hundred lads and lasses passing in this condition, he would not fail to 
 receive from each one of them a respectful bow or courtesy. 
 
 In dress and equipage there was a primeval simplicity little dreamed 
 of by the present generation. Wool and tow were carded and flax 
 hatcheled, and all of them spun into yarn, on the appropriate wheels, 
 and afterwards woven into cloth by the female members (yes, by the 
 ladies /) of every farm-house, and the cloth often dyed, too, in the 
 domestic dye-tub ; and when the fabrics were ready, a tailor, or tai- 
 loress, was called in and employed by the day to furnish the household 
 with the necessary garments for the season. In like manner, the 
 "cordwainer" (shoemaker) was called in, as the cold season 
 approached, to furnish the family with shoes and boots from the hides, 
 which the paterfamilias had taken care to have tanned for that 
 purpose. 
 
 As to modes of conveyance, but two were ordinarily emplo}*ed by 
 the common people ; the horse with a saddle for one rider, and a saddle 
 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 97 
 
 and pillion for two. A full load, however, commonly consisted of a 
 father in the saddle, a mother on the pillion, and the youngest child 
 in the arms of the latter. The second mode was hy means of a one or 
 two-horse lumber wagon, furnished with a substantial splint-bottomed, 
 double arm-chair for the old people, and the requisite number of good, 
 nicely planed soft boards, laid across the sides of the wagon, for the 
 juveniles. Besides these, the two-wheeled shay was to be seen occa- 
 sionally ; and " once upon a time," a cart and oxen made their appear- 
 ance before Dr. Hyde's church door, on a Sabbath morning, and to 
 the unbounded astonishment of all the beholders, was then and there 
 relieved of its load, consisting of a mother and several children, by 
 being unkeyed and " tipped up," as if it was only being delivered of a 
 load of pumpkins, by the ungracious husband and father, who took 
 this mode of punishing his family for the sin of insisting on going to 
 a religious meeting. The name of this " lewd fellow of the baser sort," 
 was Sam Winegar, (Vinegar should have been his name, to correspond 
 with his reputed disposition,) an uncle of the late Zaccheus Winegar, 
 known to most of your present population. 
 
 The modes of lighting and warming houses in those early times, 
 (i. e., dwelling-houses, for meeting-houses were not warmed at all,) 
 were very diverse from those of the present day, " tallow-dips" being 
 exclusively used for the former purpose, and large, open " fire-places," 
 (with chimneys almost as large, though not as tall as our factory 
 " stacks,") capable of receiving at a single firing-up, a fair-sized mod- 
 ern wood-pile, for the latter. Often have I seen these fire-places fed 
 with logs that required two men to handle them ; and often have I 
 heard how, in. still earlier times, the big beech and birch and maple 
 logs were hauled to the fire-places, in the first "log-houses," by horse- 
 power. 
 
 Here, I "guess" I will "haul up." When I penned the first sen- 
 tence in this communication, my simple purpose was to acknowledge 
 the receipt of your very kind letter, and acquaint you with the reasons 
 of my non-appearance at your Centennial ; but my thoughts posted off 
 in the direction which you see they have taken, and I just let them 
 run — " at random," I fear you will be tempted to add. 
 
 As to my failure to put in an appearance at your festival, I was, in 
 the first place, in such a state of health, as in the opinion of my 
 family, to render it imprudent for me to leave home ; and in the second 
 place, my water supply having failed, I was engaged, with several 
 men in laying a new water-pipe, a distance of sixty rods — the super- 
 vision of which I could not abandon. 
 
 Most sincerely yours, A. Foote. 
 
 13 
 
9S 
 
 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 It is but justice to the Centennial Committee to say, in 
 concluding this account of the celebration, that their 
 labors were indefatigable to make the occasion one of 
 pleasure and profit, and one that would redound to the 
 credit of the town. Great harmony prevailed in all their 
 sessions, which, for six months previous to the Centennial, 
 were held once a fortnight, and the latter part of the 
 time once a week, and sometimes oftener. Neither time, 
 labor or money were spared to ensure success, and in the 
 results they feel amply compensated. 
 
 The reception committee, Messrs. W. J. Bartlett, C. H. 
 Sabin and J. W. Bassett, kept a register of the names 
 of the former residents of Lee, and of the husbands, 
 wives and descendants of the same, who returned to the 
 Centennial, with parentage and present place of residence. 
 From this register we compile the following list : Possi- 
 bly some were present whose names failed to be put on 
 the register. The whole number registered was 270, of 
 whom the following is a list. Parentage not given when 
 not of Lee descent. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Allen, Augustus 
 Allen, Mrs. J. A. 
 Allen, Mrs. Ann M. 
 Ames, Wm. H. 
 Ames, Isabel M. 
 Ames, John H. 
 Ames, Wm. H. 2d. 
 Ames, J. H. 
 Andrews, J. W. 
 Avery, W. L. 
 JBaldwin, Wm. C. 
 Bancroft, James 
 Bancroft, Minerva 
 Barlow, Elisha H. 
 Barlow, Mrs. E. H. 
 Barlow, Annie M. 
 Barlow, A. H. 
 
 PARENTAGE. 
 
 J. B. Allen, 
 Jones Strickland, 
 Moses Culver, 
 
 W. H. Ames, 
 W. H. Ames, 
 J. H. Ames, 
 J. H. Ames, 
 
 Wm. H. Baldw: 
 
 Setli Barlow, 
 
 Seth Barlow, 
 Wm. Barlow, 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCE. 
 
 Boston. 
 Springfield. 
 Boston. 
 New York. 
 New York. 
 Stamford, Conn. 
 Stamford, Conn. 
 Stamford, Conn. 
 Marietta, Ohio. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Falls Village. 
 East Hartford. 
 East Hartford. 
 Easton, Pa. 
 Easton, Pa. 
 Northampton. 
 North Adams. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION. 
 
 99 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Barnes, Edward E. 
 Barnes, Mrs. E. E. 
 Bartlett, Harry H. 
 Bartlett, Mrs. B. F. 
 Bassett, A. H. 
 Bassett, Mrs. A. H. 
 Bassett, Joseph H. 
 Bassett, Isaac 
 Bassett, Mrs. Isaac 
 Bassett, Wm. W. 
 Beadle, Mrs. M. R. Y. 
 Bentley, E. W. 
 Bidwell, Charlotte 
 Beardsall, Mrs. B. 
 Beardsall, Cora 
 Blake, J. W. 
 Blake, Mrs. J. W. 
 Blake, Wm. E. 
 Black, Geo. N. 
 Birge, Mrs. 
 Birge, Mr. 
 Birge, Miss 
 Birge, Miss 
 Bond, Wm. B. 
 Bond, Mrs. W. B. 
 Boss, Mrs. C. D. 
 Bradley, Mrs. H. D. 
 Bradley, Cornelia 
 Bradley, Chauncy B. 
 Bradley, William 
 Buckley, J. C. 
 Buckley, G. L. 
 Burt, G. W. 
 Burt, Mrs. G. W. 
 Burt, Sarah V. 
 Burt, Harry P. 
 Burt, Mary A. 
 Brook, William 
 Brook, Mrs. Wm. 
 Carey, Mrs. Lucy G. 
 Chamherlin, Franklin 
 
 PARENTAGE. 
 
 Seymour, 
 
 Hubhard Bartlett, 
 Rufus Hewitt, 
 Isaac Bassett, 
 
 Joseph Bassett, 
 Nathaniel Bassett, 
 Asahel Foote, 
 Isaac Bassett, 
 Cyrus Yale, 
 Wm. Bentley, 
 
 Wm. Blake, 
 
 Enoch Cobb, 
 J. W. Blake, 
 William Black, 
 Bufus Hewitt. 
 
 Noah Sheldon, 
 J. H. Royce, 
 Elisha Dodge, 
 
 Geo. T. Bradley, 
 Wm. Bradley, 
 Geo. C. Buckley, 
 Geo. C. Buckley, 
 
 Geo. H. Phelps, 
 G. W. Burt, 
 G. W. Burt, 
 G. W. Burt, 
 
 Silas Garfield, 
 Joseph Chamberlin, 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCE. 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 Great Barrington. 
 Norwalk, Conn. 
 Lenox. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Stockbridge. 
 Stockbridge. 
 Stockbridge. 
 Burlington, Vt. 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 Ellenville, N. Y. 
 Great Barrington. 
 Boonville, N. Y. 
 Boonville, N. Y. 
 Monterey. 
 Monterey. 
 Monterey. 
 Springfield, 111. 
 Torringford, Conn. 
 Torringford, Conn. 
 Torringford, Conn. 
 Torringford, Conn. 
 New Braintree. 
 New Braintree. 
 New London, Conn. 
 Stockbridge. 
 Stockbridge. 
 Stockbridge. 
 Wellington, Ohio. 
 Cbicopee. 
 Hol} T oke. 
 Clayville, N. Y. 
 Clayville, N. Y. 
 Clayville, N. Y. 
 Clayville, N. Y 
 Clayville, N. Y. 
 North Adams. 
 North Adams. 
 Keokuk, Iowa. 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
100 
 
 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Chamberlin, Mrs. F. 
 Chamberlin, J. P. 
 Chase, Mrs. J. L. 
 Cobb, Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Comstock, 8. W. 
 Comstoek. Mrs. S. W. 
 Conant, C. L. 
 Condit, J. W. 
 Condit, Mrs. J. W. 
 Condit, Jennie W. 
 Crosby, Cyrus 
 Culver, John F. 
 Culver, Mrs. J. F. 
 Culver, Charles 
 Culver, Walter, 
 Crane, Mrs. Z. M. 
 Clark, Mrs. Mary A. P. 
 Cranston, Wm. H. 
 Cranston, Mrs. W. H. 
 Cone, Samuel 
 Day, Mrs. Alma 
 Drake, Mrs. Lucy T. 
 Drew, J. H. 
 Drew, Mrs. J. H. 
 Drew, E. Bassett, 
 Dresser, Chas. E. 
 Doane, Mrs. Harriet T. 
 Flint, Ephraim 
 Fairchild, Mrs. A. W. 
 Fessenden, Stephen 
 Foote, Edward 
 Foote, Mrs. Edward 
 Ford, Michael 
 Ford. Michael W. 
 Fraleigh, Mrs. Addie 
 Fraleigh, Gilbert 
 Fuller, J. W. 
 Freeman, E. P. 
 Freeman, Mrs. E. P. 
 Frissell, M. M. 
 FrisselL Mrs. M. M. 
 
 T A RENTAGE. 
 
 Wm. Porter, 
 Joseph Chamberlin, 
 W. It. Brown, 
 
 I. M. Taylor, 
 
 Stephen Bradley, 
 J. W. Condit, 
 Abner Crosby, 
 Wm. L. Culver, 
 
 J. F. Culver, 
 J. F. Culver, 
 Winthrop Laflin, 
 James Pierce. 
 
 Gilbert Cone, 
 Erastus Hall, 
 Rowland Thatcher, 
 
 Wm. Ingersoll, 
 J. H. Drew, 
 David Dresser, 
 Nathaniel Tobey, 
 
 Wm. A. Stone, 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCE. 
 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 Unionville, Conn. 
 Dal ton. 
 North Adams. 
 Stockhridge. 
 Stockbridge. 
 Saint Louis. Mo. 
 Orange, N. J. 
 Orange, N. J. 
 Orange, N. J. 
 Monterey. 
 Ellington, Conn. 
 Ellington, Conn. 
 Ellington, Conn. 
 Ellington, Conn. 
 Dalton. 
 Springfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Northampton. 
 Northamjiton. 
 Ogden, N. Y. 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 Leominster. 
 New Bedford. 
 Hinsdale. 
 South Hadley Falls 
 
 Cornelius T. Fessenden,Genoa, N. Y. 
 
 Lyman Foote, 
 
 Michael Ford, 
 
 Benjamin Fuller, 
 Elisha Freeman, 
 Isaac Ball, 
 
 Henry Smith, 
 
 Boston. 
 
 Boston. 
 
 Becket. 
 
 Becket. 
 
 Pine Plains, N. Y. 
 
 Pine Plains, N. Y. 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 New York. 
 
 New York. 
 
 Kingston, N. Y. 
 
 Kingston, N. Y. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 101 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Gould, Mrs. Mary 
 Gould, Edwin T. 
 Gibbs, Edward N. 
 Gibbs, Mrs. E. N. 
 Gibbs, Herbert E. 
 Gibbs, Mrs. H. B. 
 Graves, Miles W. 
 Graves, Mrs. A. E. 
 Hale, Henry 
 Hale, Mrs. H. 
 Hazen, Mrs. S. A. 
 Hess, Amil 
 Hess, John E. 
 Heebner, Chas. F. 
 Heath, L. E. 
 Heath, Mrs. L. E. 
 Houghton, Eose 
 Hollister, Mrs. Frank 
 Hollister, Nellie 
 Howk, Wm. 
 Howk, Eli B. 
 Howlancl, Harry 
 Howland, Mrs. H. 
 Hinckley, L. T. 
 Hubbard, E. A. 
 Hubbard, Mrs. E. A. 
 Howard, Mrs. Samuel 
 Hunter, Emma 
 Hill, Frank W. 
 Hill, Mary J. 
 Hulbert, Lewis 
 Hulbert, H. C. 
 Hulbert, Mrs. H. C. 
 Hulbert, Susie C. 
 Hulbert, Carrie B. 
 Hull, J. B. 
 Hull, Mrs. J. B. 
 Hyde, William 
 Hyde, Mrs. W. 
 Hyde, Hattie S. 
 Hyde, Susie B. 
 
 PARENTAGE. 
 
 Isaac M. Taylor, 
 
 Nathan Gibbs, 
 
 Franklin W. Gibbs, 
 
 Seth D. Graves, 
 Timothy Thatcher, 
 
 Anthony Goodspeed, 
 Isaac C. Ives, 
 Ferdinand Hess, 
 Amil Hess, 
 Edmund Heebner, 
 
 Benjamin Osborn, 
 Thomas Houghton, 
 Joseph Bassett, 
 Frank Hollister, 
 John Howk, 
 David Howk, 
 James Howland, 
 
 Benjamin Hinckley, 
 
 C. B. Nye, 
 Eobert Hunter, 
 Wm. H. Hill, 
 
 Nathan Hulbert, 
 A. G. Hulbert, 
 Wm. Porter, 
 H.C. Hulbert, 
 H. C. Hulbert, 
 
 E. P. Tanner, 
 Alvan Hyde, 
 
 Wm. Hyde, 
 W. S. Hyde, 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCK. 
 
 Stockbridge. 
 
 Stockbridge. 
 
 Norwich, Conn. 
 
 Norwich, Conn. 
 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 Goshen, Conn. 
 
 Enfield, Conn. 
 
 Enfield, Conn. 
 
 South Hadley Falls 
 
 Tyringham. 
 
 Tyringham. 
 
 New Marlboro. 
 
 Wilbraham. 
 
 Wilbraham. 
 
 Wellington, Ohio. 
 
 Wellington, Ohio. 
 
 Dalton. 
 
 Dalton. 
 
 Stockbridge. 
 
 Springfield. 
 
 Springfield. 
 
 Springfield. 
 
 Huntington. 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 Windsor, N. Y. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Stockbridge. 
 
 Stockbridge. 
 
 Ware. 
 
 Ware. 
 
 Ware. 
 
 Ware. 
 
102 
 
 centp:nnial celebration. 
 
 i- \i;|-,\tai;k. 
 
 Ingersoll, Mrs. S. B. 
 Ingersoll, Mrs. E. B 
 Ingersoll, E. P. 
 Ingersoll, Jared 
 Ingersoll, Mrs. J. 
 Ives, Henry 
 Ives, Mrs. H. 
 Ives, Henry C. 
 Ives, Sarah L. 
 Johnson, Alonzo S. 
 Johnson, 
 Johnson, 
 Johnson, James 
 Johnson, Mrs. J. 
 Johnson, Mrs. 
 Kidd, E. 
 Manley, A. B. 
 Markham, Miss A. J. 
 Markham, Mrs. M. 
 Markham, Mrs. Charles 
 
 Ansel Bassett, 
 Wm. Ball, 
 Wm. Ingersoll, 
 Jared Ingersoll, 
 Stephen Thatcher, 
 Isaac C. Ives, 
 Josiah Yale, 
 Henry Ives, 
 Henry Ives, 
 J. W. Johnson, 
 
 Timothy Johnson, 
 
 Anthony Goodspeed, 
 
 Merrill, Edgar S. John S. Merrill, 
 
 Merrill, Mrs. E. S. 
 
 Merrill, William, Frank Merrill, 
 
 Merrill, Mrs. Wm. M. 
 
 Merrill, Harry Wm. M. Merrill, 
 
 McClaren, Mrs. S. John Bickley, 
 
 McClaren, J. G. 
 
 McClaren, Ida 
 
 Marsh, Mrs. E. H. Alexander Hyde, 
 
 May, Mary S. 
 
 May, Chas. E. S. May, 
 
 May, S. S. Jr. S.S.May, 
 
 Murray, Wm. H. 
 
 Murray, Mrs. W. H. Horace Hatch, 
 
 Murray, Ella W. H. Murray, 
 
 Miller, Mrs. Lewis Bufus Hewitt, 
 
 Moore, Thorn 's .1. 
 
 Moore, Mrs. T. J. Patrick Tullv. 
 
 Nesbitt, Mrs. Harriet J. Wm. Ingersoll, 
 
 Nettleton, L. J. 
 
 Northrop, L. 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCE. 
 
 Oberlin, Ohio. 
 Grafton, Ohio. 
 Brooklyn,' N. Y. 
 Saratoga, N. Y. 
 Saratoga, N. Y. 
 Now Milford, Conn. 
 New Milford, Conn. 
 New Milford, Conn. 
 New Milford, Conn. 
 West Springfield. 
 Westfield. 
 Westfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Springfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Suffield, Conn. 
 Suffield, Conn. 
 Great Barrington. 
 Berkshire, N. Y. 
 Berkshire, N. Y. 
 North Adams. 
 North Adams. 
 North Adams. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Whately. 
 New York. 
 New York. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 PittsHeld. 
 Torringford, Conn. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Elyria, Ohio. 
 Great Barrington. 
 New Milford, Conn. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 103 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 PARENTAGE. 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCE. 
 
 Northrop, Mrs. L. 
 
 J. L. Drake, 
 
 New Milford, Conn. 
 
 Northrop, Carrie 
 
 L. Northrop, 
 
 New Milford, Conn. 
 
 Parker, Dan'l H. 
 
 
 Punbarton, N. H. 
 
 Parker, Mrs. D. H. 
 
 Ansel Bassett, 
 
 Dunbarton, N. H. 
 
 Peck, Gilbert H. 
 
 
 Bloomfield, N. J. 
 
 Peck, Mrs. G. H. 
 
 Cornelius Barlow, 
 
 Bloomfield, N. J. 
 
 Peck, Chs. 0. 
 
 G. H. Peck, 
 
 Bloomfield, N. J. 
 
 Phelps, G. A. 
 
 G. H. Phelps, 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 
 Phelps, Mrs. G. A. 
 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 
 Phelps, Helen 
 
 G. A. Phelps, 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 
 Pinney, Mrs. Frances 
 
 Wm. H. Brown, 
 
 Winsted, Conn. 
 
 Platner, Win. 
 
 
 Newark, N. J. 
 
 Platner, Mrs. Wm. 
 
 Sam'l Ball, 
 
 Newark, N. J. 
 
 Porter, Mrs. Wm. 
 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Pitkin, Mrs. Lucy T. Y 
 
 '. Cyrus Yale, 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Richards, Mrs. K. C. 
 
 Winthrop Laflin, 
 
 Dalton. 
 
 Eoberts, Mrs. Abby J 
 
 . Wm. Ingersoll, 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 Eoss, Chas. E. 
 
 Luther Ross, 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 Ross, Geo. A. 
 
 Luther Ross, 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 Royce, J. A. 
 
 
 Lanesboro. 
 
 Royce, Mrs. J. A. 
 
 
 Lanesboro. 
 
 Royce, Rubert S. 
 
 J. A. Royce, 
 
 Lanesboro. 
 
 Royce, Jesse 
 
 J. A. Royce, 
 
 Lanesboro. 
 
 Remann, 
 
 Wm. Black, 
 
 Springfield, 111. 
 
 Rice, Isabel 
 
 
 Rockville, Ct. 
 
 Sabin, Jno. F. 
 
 Henry Sabin, 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 
 Sabin, Mrs. J. F. 
 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 
 Sexton, Edson 
 
 Timothy Sexton, 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 
 Sarle, J. F. 
 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Sarle, Mrs. J. F. 
 
 Wm. Cone, 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Sarle, Jennie B. 
 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Sexton, Lottie 
 
 Isaac Bassett, 
 
 Kendall, 111. 
 
 Sexton, Charles 
 
 
 Kendall, 111. 
 
 Smith, Mrs. John 
 
 
 Kingston, N. Y. 
 
 Smith, Kitty 
 
 John Smith, 
 
 Kingston, N. Y. 
 
 Spaulding, J. R. 
 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 Steele, Francis 
 
 Evelin, 
 
 Honesdale, Pa. 
 
 Steele, Clara 
 
 Evelin, 
 
 Honesdale, Pa. 
 
 Sprague, Wm. 
 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 Sprague, Alida 
 
 Anthony Goodspeed, 
 
 Pittsfield. 
 
 Sumner, Jno. J. 
 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 
104 
 
 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Suinner, Mrs. J. J. 
 Sturges, Henry 
 Sturges, Mrs. Henry 
 Strong, F. W. 
 Strong, Mrs. F. W. 
 Sexton, Emeline M. 
 Stevens, Mrs. Edward 
 Stevens, E. E. 
 Starr, Watson 
 Starr, Sarah B. 
 Taylor, Horace 
 Taylor, Mrs. Horace 
 Taylor, Charles 
 Taylor, Edward 
 Taylor, Sophia 
 Taylor, F. G. 
 Taylor, Mrs. F. Gr. 
 Taylor, Emma 
 Thomas,Mrs.Mahahi B. 
 Tyler, D. W. 
 Tyler, Mrs. D. W. 
 Tuttle, Chauncey 
 Tuttle, Ira N. 
 Tuttle, Frank W. 
 Tuttle, Fred B. 
 Tyrrell, Horace 
 Tyrrell, Mrs. Melissa 
 Videto, Chas. J. 
 Videto, Mrs. C. J. 
 Van Bergan, Mrs. G. 
 Waite, Mrs. Jane E. 
 Wickes, Mrs. Loretta 
 West, Oliver 
 West, Mrs. Oliver 
 Way, Mrs. Jane 
 West, N. B. 
 West, Mrs. N. B. 
 Wilcox, Marshall 
 Wilcox, Mrs. M. 
 Warren, Joseph 
 Warren, Mrs. J. 
 
 •ABENTAGE. 
 
 Thomas Sturges, 
 
 E. Parker, 
 
 Josiah Yale, 
 Edward Stevens, 
 Win. Bradley, 
 Wm. Bradley, 
 Abner Taylor, 
 
 Abner Taylor, 
 Abner Taylor, 
 Abner Taylor, 
 Abner Taylor, 
 
 Stephen Fessenden, 
 
 James Brown, 
 Jonathan Tuttle, 
 Chauncey Tuttle, 
 Ira N. Tuttle, 
 Ira N. Tuttle, 
 
 Asa Gleason, 
 
 Abijah Merrill, 
 Sam'l Clarke, 
 Silas Garfield, 
 D. B. Whiton, 
 Joshua West, 
 
 Lewis Beach, 
 Timothy West, 
 
 Wm. Bradley, 
 Pientiss Chaffee, 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCE. 
 
 Great Barrington. 
 Dalton. 
 Dalton. 
 Hinsdale. 
 Hinsdale. 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 Saratoga, N. Y. 
 Saratoga, N. Y. 
 Penfield, Ohio. 
 Penfield, Ohio. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Englewood, N. Y. 
 Binghamton, N. Y. 
 New York. 
 Newark, N. J. 
 Newark, N. J. 
 New York. 
 Genoa, N. Y. 
 Dalton. 
 Dalton. 
 
 New Marlboro. 
 New Marlboro. 
 New Marlboro. 
 New Marlboro. 
 New Boston. 
 New Boston. 
 Tyringham. 
 Tyringham. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Chicago, 111. 
 Troy, N. Y. 
 Pittsfield, Ohio. 
 Pittsfield, Ohio. 
 Suffield, Conn. 
 Allegan, Mich. 
 Allegan, Mich. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Pittsfield. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 105 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Whiton, Walter 
 Whiton, Loomis 
 Wood, George 
 Wood, Mrs. G. 
 Whiting, Isabella G. 
 Wordin, William 
 Wordin, Mrs. Wm. 
 Yale, Josiah 
 Youngs, Mrs. S. A. 
 14 
 
 PARENTAGE. 
 
 Milo Whiton, 
 J'no. M. Whiton, 
 
 David Baker, 
 
 Wm. Ingersoll, 
 Josiah Yale, 
 Seth Handy, 
 
 PRESENT RESIDENCE. 
 
 Troy, K Y. 
 Wellington, Ohio. 
 Sandisfield. 
 Sandisfield. 
 Great Barrington. 
 Ridgeville, Ohio. 
 Ridgeville, Ohio. 
 Saratoga. 
 Stochbridsre. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF LEE 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 It was the original intention of the Committee that the 
 Centennial Address should present in a popular form an 
 Outline History of the town. The time allotted to the 
 speaker on the anniversary day would allow him to pre- 
 sent only the prominent characteristics of each period, 
 and the points of greatest personal interest. The follow- 
 ing notes were gathered by Dr. Charles M. Hyde, as the 
 surveyor jots down in his field-book the memoranda from 
 which he afterwards constructs his plat of the survey. 
 They are intended to be full and accurate statements of 
 all facts of general interest in the growth and progress of 
 the town for the first century of its history. More like 
 an artist's sketches than an elaborately finished picture, 
 they are of practical value for reference in the form in 
 which they are now presented, if not so attractive and 
 interesting as if they could have been presented with a 
 rhetorician's skill and an orator's fervor. After Dr. 
 Hyde's appointment as President of the Theological 
 Seminary at Honolulu, which necessitated his departure 
 from the country before the time appointed for the Cen- 
 tennial Celebration, he put into the hands of the Com- 
 mittee the notes that he had made, that the Orator chosen 
 in his place might have the benefit of his historical 
 researches. Though arranged substantially as now pre- 
 sented, some topics were not fully treated. The Com- 
 mittee therefore requested Alexander Hyde to complete 
 and prepare these notes for publication, particularly the 
 ecclesiastical and industrial history of the town, and 
 
110 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 biographical sketches, for which Dr. Hyde had had time 
 to collect only a few memoranda. In the preparation of 
 the notes, free use was made of the sketch of Lee written 
 by Rev. Dr. Alvan Hyde for Dr. Field's History of Berk- 
 shire County, published in 1829 : Rev. Amory Gale's His- 
 tory of Lee, an address delivered before the Young Men's 
 Association, March 22, 1854, and published at that time: 
 Rev. Dr. Nahum Gale's address at the laying of the cor- 
 ner stone of the Congregational Church, July 21, 1857 : 
 and his Historical Address, delivered at the Semi-Centen- 
 nial Celebration of the Sunday-school, December 23, 
 1869: the files of the Berkshire County Eagle, and of 
 the Valley Gleaner, published respectively at Pittsfield 
 and at Lee, have been examined ; and besides the records 
 in the Town Clerk's office, those in the Register's office 
 at Great Barrington, Pittsfield and Springfield, as well as 
 the documents on file in the State House at Boston, have 
 been consulted and copied. For the report of the dinner 
 speeches on Centennial Day, credit must be given mainly 
 to the Valley Gleaner. It was the original design to add 
 fuller notices of some of the early settlers and distin- 
 guished citizens, than can be given in current history ; 
 but after collecting many facts and data for these biogra- 
 phies, it was found that they would swell the work to a 
 large size, especially as when once started in this direc- 
 tion, the historian would not know where to stop. 
 
Topographical, Scenograpkical, Geological, Etc. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Alt an Hyde wrote for Field's History of 
 Berkshire County, the following description of the town : 
 
 " The town is six miles in length and five in breadth, 
 and presents a very diversified appearance. It forms a 
 part of the interval which lies between the Taconic and 
 Green Mountain ranges. The Green Mountain range, 
 which rises to a moderate elevation, runs partly within 
 the eastern limits of the town, presenting a very pictur- 
 esque appearance. These mountains are for the most 
 part of gentle acclivity, and are cultivated in some places 
 quite to their summits. From the base of these moun- 
 tains, the surface is rather uneven, occasionally rising into 
 hills of considerable height, but generally descending 
 until it reaches the plain upon the banks of the Housa- 
 tonic." West of this river, the land is everywhere 
 undulating in its appearance, inclining towards the south. 
 Beartown Mountain is a large and grand pile of hills on 
 the south-east of Stockbridge, north-east of Great Bar- 
 rington, forming the North-west part of Tyringham, and 
 the south-west part of Lee. Deerhorn Corner, the name 
 given to the point at the angle of the two town lines, is 
 so called from the fact that a deer's horn was fastened 
 here to mark the spot. 
 
 Washington Mountain, chiefly in Washington, extends 
 south to Lee, and forms the east boundary of the Housa- 
 tonic valley for several miles. East Mountain extends 
 into and from Becket on the east side of the town. 
 
 The Housatonic river divides the town into two nearly 
 
112 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 equal parts. Its course is southerly where it first enters 
 the town, but before reaching South Lee it turns sharply 
 to the West. At this place it is 831 feet above tide water 
 at Derby, Conn. In its passage through the town the 
 Housatonic receives the waters of Laurel Lake, formerly 
 called Scott's Pond. The outlet of this lake empties into 
 the river at the North end of the village. Two streams 
 come down from Washington Mountain and empty into 
 the Housatonic near Bradley street. 
 
 Through Cape street, flows the outlet of Green Water 
 Pond in Becket, which unites in Water street, with the 
 outlet of Lake May and Long Pond, two natural reser- 
 voirs artificially increased, lying partly in Lee, and partly 
 in Tyringham. These two streams both before and after 
 their union, furnish power for numerous mills. 
 
 Hop Brook' flows down from Tyringham, and was so 
 named from the abundance of wild hops in the low land 
 through which it flowed. Smaller streams generally bear 
 the name of the owners of the land through which they 
 flow, with every change of owners changing also their 
 names. 
 
 In the early settlement of the town, such wild animals 
 as the bear, the wolf, and the deer, were occasionally seen. 
 Some young men coming home from church saw a moose 
 at the spring near Cornelius Hamblin's. In going through 
 the woods at night, it was customary to carry torches to 
 scare away the wolves. When one of the early settlers, 
 one morning, looked out of his log-house to the new frame 
 the carpenters had put up, he was startled to see a 
 bear eyeing him, deliberately standing on his haunches. 
 Before he could get his gun and take a sight at the 
 bear, bruin had disappeared. Uncle Joel Bradley would 
 tell many bear stories ; for along the hills these huge 
 creatures had their dens, and gave great trouble to the 
 first settlers by the havoc they made in the corn field. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 113 
 
 Lemuel Crocker is said to have suddenly met a bear, 
 and killed him with no better weapon than a knot of 
 wood. 
 
 The birds are such as are commonly found in Western 
 Massachusetts, and the similar statement may be made in 
 regard to the insects, reptiles, and fish. When the first 
 survey was made of what is now Bradley street, the pur- 
 chasers were told that they need not fear that they 
 would suffer from any want of meat; the brooks were 
 full of trout that would furnish ample supply the whole 
 year round. The fisherman of these days finds these 
 brooks pretty much dry in Summer, and the trout few in 
 number and small in size. 
 
 Prof. Dewey gave in Dr. Field's History of Berkshire 
 County, a list of various wild plants, that have their 
 habitat in this region, together with the dates of their 
 inflorescence. It is hoped that in the course of a few 
 years, the pupils of the Lee High School will have made 
 out a complete list of the rare plants to be found, and the 
 localities where the lover of Botany may find them. 
 This whole region was well-timbered, and the early set- 
 tlers had great trouble in disposing of the abundant sup- 
 ply of wood. Much of it was made into charcoal : much 
 burned in rude tar kilns; the hardier varieties, birch, 
 beech, maple, were made into chair stuff. As manufac- 
 turing increased, the forests were leveled to furnish fuel 
 for the paper mills, and steam for drying paper and driv- 
 ing machinery. Since the introduction of coal as fuel, 
 both into mills and private houses, the amount of wood- 
 land has increased. By nature's rotation of crops, white 
 pines are taking the place of maples and other hard 
 woods, and it is hoped that the climate of this region 
 will be ameliorated by their influence. 
 15 
 
314 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 
 
 The mountains on the east of the town are of mica 
 slate. Two or three eminences of quartz rock in the 
 valley project their ragged elevations. ''Fern Cliff" has 
 quartz rocks at the base, (not auriferous,) and gneiss on 
 the summit, in which are frequent crystals of iron pyrites. 
 In the slaty rocks above the quartz, are numerous tourma- 
 line crystals. But limestone is the principal rock to be 
 found rising from the low-land. If it will not take a 
 polish, it is not fit for use as marble, nor is it fit for cut- 
 ting if it contains fibrous and bladed crystals of tremolite, 
 such as are to be found south-west of Gross' quarry. In 
 Hitchcock's Geology of Massachusetts, is a detailed de- 
 scription of the geological strata of this County, and a 
 figure is given, illustrating Dr. Hitchcock's theory of the 
 manner in which the strata have been distorted between 
 the Hudson and the Connecticut by upheavals. Erosion 
 next removed the softer parts and gave the present 
 topographical outline. In Lyell's Antiquity of Man, is a 
 sketch of the courses of erratic boulders traced from 
 Canaan, N. Y., across the ranges of hills south-east to the 
 Housatonic valley. 
 
 Limestone is readily obtained in various parts of the 
 town. Much that is not valuable as building material, is 
 suitable for making lime, and the production of lime has 
 ever been one of the industries of the place. In former 
 times, the limestone was burned in temporary kilns, and 
 when a kiln was burned the fire was permitted to go out. 
 Remains of these old kilns are found in all parts of the 
 town, and as no lime is known to have been exported in 
 the early times, it is supposed that lime was burned as it 
 was wanted by an individual or a neighborhood. About 
 the year 1840, Wm. L. Culver commenced burning lime 
 in a patent self-feeding kiln, the fire of which is kept 
 burning for months, the limestone being put in at the top 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. ]15 
 
 of a chimney lined with fire-brick, and the lime taken out 
 at the bottom as fast as burned. Lee lime has quite a 
 reputation, and finds its principal market in this and 
 the neighboring towns, much of it being used for bleach- 
 ing rags in the manufacture of paper. 
 
 "Marble is the most valuable mineral in Lee as yet 
 discovered. The supply is inexhaustible. It is easy of 
 access, and for a generation, at least, it will be easily 
 quarried, as some of this marble lies 120 feet above the 
 river. The marble is of a superior quality. Prof. Hitch- 
 cock says that it is ' a pure crystalline double carbonate of 
 magnesia and lime.' It is therefore dolomite marble, 48 
 per cent, carbonate of lime, 49 per cent, carbonate of 
 magnesia. Much of it is pure white and is susceptible of 
 a very fine polish. It will also work a perfectly square 
 arris. This renders it a desirable material for chimney- 
 pieces, furniture, &c. Frost and heat produce little 
 change in size and weight. It will sustain a pressure of 
 2G,000 pounds to the square inch, while Italian marble 
 crushes at 13,000 lbs, and most of the American mar- 
 ble will crush at 12,000 lbs. By some of the severest 
 tests to which marble can be put, by the chemist and 
 architect, Lee marble was decided to be the best in the 
 world for a building material ; hence a Congressional 
 Committee decided that this should be the marble to be 
 used for the enlargement of the Capitol at Washington." 
 
 Among the mineralogical specimens to be obtained 
 may be mentioned marl, peat, micaceous limestone, mica, 
 quartz, gray limestone, augite, bladed tremolite, radiated 
 actinolite, dolomite, sphere. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 The average temperature for the county is stated by 
 Prof. Dewey to be 46°; ranging from 22° to 102°. The 
 wind is from the north-west 150 days in the year. The 
 
]16 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 average rain-fall yearly is 34 inches. The Winter of 1780 
 was very severe. The storm of September 22 and 23, 
 1815, was accompanied with very high winds. A tor- 
 nado in 1809 did damage in Stockbridge, and a whirlwind 
 in Lee and adjoining towns a few years later. In 181G, 
 there w T as frost every month in the year. In February, 
 1836, it snowed every day in the month. The Housatonic 
 valley is much sheltered from the prevailing north-west 
 wind, and as the river flows rapidly through the town, 
 there is comparatively little fog and miasm. No destruc- 
 tive epidemic has ever prevailed, except in the year 1813, 
 when typhoid pneumonia spread through this and neigh- 
 boring towns. 
 
 LANDMARKS AND NOTEWORTHY POINTS OF VIEW. 
 
 On the west side of the Hoosac range of mountains 
 that bound Lee on the east, there is abundant evidence 
 in the terraces and sand-hills that most of the town was 
 once under water, in fact that a great lake covered much 
 of its territory, the Housatonic being dammed by the 
 rocks and hills at the west end of South Lee. As the 
 water deepened its channel at this outlet the lake gradu- 
 ally subsided. The table lands near Lenox Furnace and 
 the sand-hills near the stone factory, in Water street, are 
 evidently the result of the action of water in large body. 
 The eminences in Lee, as in all the towns of Berkshire, 
 afford views of surpassing beauty. Those around Laurel 
 Lake are seldom excelled. Other towns may be more 
 famous, but nowhere does the landscape present more 
 varied and charming views, and nowhere are the drives 
 more attractive. 
 
 BOUNDARIES. 
 
 The boundary lines of the town, as found in the records 
 of the various perambulations required by law, do not 
 always correspond exactly with each other, nor with those 
 
TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 117 
 
 mentioned in the act of incorporation. Some are given 
 with great minuteness of detail. Others show unaccount- 
 able deficiencies of necessary figures. The line on the 
 West, the dividing line between Lee and Stockbridge, is 
 S. 7° 30' W. about 1,550 rods. Great Barrington line on 
 the South is E. 7° S. 757 rods. Tyringham line on the 
 South-west corner has one re-entrant angle, and running 
 from the corner made with Great Barrington, extends N. 
 37° E. 628 rods, to Deer-horn Corner, where it turns and 
 extends E. 2° S. 1,072 rods. At this south-east point of 
 the township it forms a corner with the Becket line, 
 which runs N. Sk° W. 376 rods. Here is met the Wash- 
 ington town line, which runs N. 29° W. 580 rods, then 
 makes a sharp turn on line of Lot No. 63 of the old 
 township, S 63° W. 246 rods, then takes the same course 
 as first given N. 29° W. 1,236 rods, to the uppermost cor- 
 ner of the town on the East bank of the Housatonic River. 
 From this it follows down the line of the river 1,106 rods, 
 then across the river, enclosing a little strip between the 
 river and a line running S. 8° W. 162 rods. Then it 
 crosses the river again, and runs in general course W. 
 6|° N. 563 rods. Here the line makes a double jog like 
 two steps downward N. 6° E. 48i rods, S. 85£ c E. 52 rods, 
 N. 10° W. 34! rods, S. 84° E. 122 rods, till it strikes the 
 Stockbridge line. 
 
Early Settlements in Berkshire County. 
 
 One hundred years, and more, elapsed after the Land- 
 ing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, 1620, December 21, be- 
 fore Western Massachusetts began to be settled. The 
 rush of immigration to New England ceased about 1640. 
 About 1636, the settlement of the Connecticut River 
 towns began, and they continued along the river to grow 
 for 30 years ; but for nearly half a century the new set- 
 tlements moved no farther westward than the foot of Mt. 
 Tekoa. During this period the population of New Eng- 
 land increased only by the natural increase of families. 
 The wars of the European monarchies involved the Amer- 
 ican colonies of France and England in the turmoil and 
 horrors of sanguinary strife. The opening of new settle- 
 ments, or plantations, as they were sometimes called, was 
 delayed by the necessities of the military service de- 
 manded of the colonists, and by the dangers of exposure 
 to the predatory and bloody incursions of a savage foe. 
 The Indian tribes of southern New England were so thor- 
 oughly subdued in King Philip's war, as it is called, 1675 
 and 1676, that very little trouble was experienced from 
 them after that period. But in the first French war, 
 1690-1697, or King William's, the Indians that were in 
 alliance with the Canadian military authorities made va- 
 rious attacks upon the frontier settlements, as they did 
 also in the second French war, or Queen Anne's, 1702 — 
 1713. Besides this hindrance to settlement from fear of 
 the Indians, other obstacles presented themselves in the 
 uncertainty in regard to the boundary between Massa- 
 
TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 119 
 
 chusetts and New York ; and in the broken, mountainous 
 character of the region. 
 
 1722, January 30, Joseph Parsons and 115 others, 
 Thomas White and 59 others, inhabitants of Hampshire 
 county, petitioned the General Court for two townships 
 of land situated on the Housatonic river, at the south- 
 western corner of the Massachusetts Patent. The peti- 
 tion was granted, and a committee appointed 1722, June 
 29, to lay out two townships, each seven miles square. 
 This committee were authorized to make grants of the 
 land to actual settlers, each grantee paying the committee 
 30s. for every 100 acres. This sum was to be used in 
 buying Indian titles, and paying expenses of surveying. 
 The. remainder was to be " improved in building meeting- 
 houses in said townships." The Indians, whose home was 
 at Stockbridge and in that vicinity, sold for £460, three 
 barrels of cider, and thirty quarts of rum, their title to 
 what is now the southern half of Berkshire county. The 
 deed, dated 1724, April 25, included part of what is now 
 the town of Lee (the Hoplands). The western boundary 
 of the whole territory purchased was the New York Colony 
 Line ; the southern, the dividing line from Connecticut ; 
 the eastern, four miles from the Housatonic, extending 
 northward " in a general way ; " while the northern line 
 was " to the Great Mountain," now known as Rattlesnake 
 mountain. This territory, known at first as " the Upper 
 and Lower Housatonic Townships," was surveyed into lots 
 for settlement. In 1731, the boundary lines were estab- 
 lished, and settlers began to pour in. Liberal grants of 
 land were made by the General Court to individuals. 
 Many public men were voted such gratuities. In Jan- 
 uary, 1733, the lower township was incorporated by the 
 name of Sheffield. This was the first town settled and 
 incorporated in what is now Berkshire county. The up- 
 per township was set off 1742, January 13, as the North 
 
120 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Parish in Sheffield, and incorporated as a town under the 
 name of Great Barrington, 1761, June 30. 
 
 In 1735, a road was cut from Westfield to Sheffield, 
 and was for fifty years the traveled road from Springfield 
 to the Housatonic and the Hudson. 1735, January 15, 
 the General Court ordered that four contiguous townships 
 should be laid out upon this road, and joining either Shef- 
 field, or the Suffield Equivalent. This last was so named 
 originally from its being the territory granted to the pro- 
 prietors of Suffield, Conn., for land taken from them in 
 establishing the dividing line between Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut. It was afterwards called Glasgow, but when 
 incorporated, 1741, April 10, received the name of Bland- 
 ford. The four townships were for a long time designated 
 numerically. Tyringham was Number One; New Marl- 
 borough, Number Two; Sandisfield, Number Three; 
 Becket, Number Four. 
 
 It will be noticed that the territory surrounding Lee 
 was settled thirty years before any settlement was made 
 in this town. Stockbridge was incorporated 1739, June 
 22, as an Indian town, six miles square, taking off a strip 
 770 rods in width from the north line of Great Barring- 
 ton, or the Upper Housatonic Township, as it was then 
 called. Lenox and Richmond originally (1765, June 20) 
 constituted one town to the north of Stockbridge, with a 
 considerable territory intervening; that is, the southern 
 line of Lenox was originally much farther north than the 
 present. The western and eastern sections of Richmond, 
 bought by Samuel Brown, Jr., of Stockbridge, in 1760, of 
 two Stockbridge chiefs, Ephraim and Yokun, before its 
 incorporation under the name of Richmond, were called 
 respectively Mount Ephraim and Yokuntown. The east- 
 ern section, or Yokuntown, was incorporated as the dis- 
 trict of Lenox, 1767, February 20, and was so called from 
 the familv name of the Duke of Richmond. The west- 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 121 
 
 ern part, or Mount Ephraim, of the original purchase, 
 retained the original name of the town, Richmond. 
 Mount Ephraim was not the name of the territory of Lee, 
 or any part of it. What is now included in the township 
 was " The Hoplands," originally the north-eastern part of 
 Great Barrington ; the western part of Hartwood, now 
 Washington ; the Glassworks Grant ; a part of Larrabee's 
 Grant ; and a part of the Ministers' Grant, or Williams 1 
 Grant, as it is variously called. 
 
 INDIAN" OCCUTANTS. 
 
 The Indian claimants to this whole region can hardly 
 be called occupants or owners. They were of the Mohegan 
 race, or in the Indian pronunciation, the Mu-h-he-ka-new, 
 " the people of the waters that ebb and flow," indicat- 
 ing their proper home along the shores of the Hudson 
 and the Connecticut. They are also designated the Stock- 
 bridge tribe, from the English name of their principal set- 
 tlement ; or the Housatonic tribe, from their residence in 
 the valley of the Housatonic, " the river among the 
 mountains." One of the earliest of the many forms of this 
 river's name is that given by Hubbard, " Ausotunnoog," 
 in his Narrative of Indian Wars. Smith, in his History 
 of Pittsfield, Vol. i, p. 20, gives a Dutch origin to the 
 name of the river, as if Housatonic were an Indian 
 variation of " Westenhock," or West corner. In the 
 Pittsfield Registry, Vol. ii, p. 12, is a deed from " Masin- 
 amake, alias Solomon, one of the Maheckander Indians," 
 1738, Sept. 11, to Jacob Wendell, of land "10 miles 
 above the Hoplands in the upper town at Housatonic, on 
 both sides of Westenhock, alias Sheffield River." In 
 Vol. ii, p. 172 of the Pittsfield Registry, is a deed, dated 
 1763, Jan. 12, in which, for £1,«00, the title to all land 
 in Berkshire County not covered by previous purchases, 
 is sold to the General Court by " Benjamin Kohhka- 
 16 
 
122 TI1E HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 wenaunaut, Chief Sachem of the Mohheknnnuck River 
 Indians, or Housatonic tribe " and others named " In- 
 dian Hunters and claimers of the Lands lying in the 
 Western part of the said Province of Massachusetts Bay 
 from the Great River called Hudson River on the West 
 part and a river called Westfield River in the East part." 
 (See also Council Records at Boston, Vol. xxiv, p. 603, 
 1703, Feb. 17.) 
 
 At the time of the first settlements in what is now 
 Berkshire County, the Indians had been, as is supposed, 
 greatly reduced from their former numbers. There were 
 only about ninety in all in 1736. Some of the Mohawk 
 tribe from New York were induced to come to Stock- 
 bridge in 1750, for the sake of the school and other 
 advantages offered to them. They numbered 200 in 
 1747 ; 420 in 1785. At the close of this year last named 
 they all removed to New Stockbridge, New York, on the 
 Oneicla reservation. Afterwards, in 1822, they went still 
 farther West to Green Bay, Wisconsin ; and in 1839, a 
 portion of the tribe removed West of the Missouri, near 
 Fort Leavenworth. 
 
 The war paint and feathers, blanket and moccasins 
 had long been laid aside for the dress of the pale-faces, 
 when the territory of Lee was opened to settlement. 
 The manners and customs of the Indians, the success of 
 the methods adopted for their localization and elevation, 
 are told with interesting details by Miss Jones in her His- 
 tory of Stockbridge. They claimed as theirs by right of 
 possession, a wide extent of territory, though they were 
 few in number and did little more within the limits of 
 their domain than hunt when the danger of starvation 
 compelled them to exert themselves. Their claim to 
 ownership was treated by the first settlers and by the 
 Provincial authorities as valid. The Indian titles were 
 extinguished by compensation paid and deeds of sale 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 123 
 
 signed and recorded. It would seem, however, that 
 though there was no permanent Indian village, some few 
 of the tribe visited the region now occupied by this vil- 
 lage every Spring, and built here their rude wigwams, 
 while for four or six weeks they made maple sugar from 
 the trees in this neighborhood ; probably from the maple 
 orchard that only a few years ago was to be seen just 
 south of where the trotting park is now located. Capt. 
 Enoch Garfield, grandfather of Hon. Harrison Garfield, 
 when a boy came from Tyringham, where his father 
 (Isaac Garfield first settled in Tyringham) then lived, to 
 a five acre lot which had been cleared and mowed. He 
 came four miles to look after cattle that were foddered 
 from the hay which they had gathered and stacked. 
 Having no cart they used a tree-top on wdiich to draw 
 the hay. Sundays they came only to fodder the cattle, 
 not to spend the day chopping. Seeing smoke arising 
 in this direction, young Garfield, then fourteen years old, 
 came down to find an Indian wigwam just south of 
 where the park now is. The old squaw, its sole inmate 
 at the time, welcomed him hospitably and brought out 
 from beneath her blankets some maple sugar and gave 
 it to him. Crossing the river on a tree that had been felled 
 to make a bridge, he found another wigwam near where 
 the marble quarry now is. This is the first account we 
 have, even in tradition, of this particular locality and of 
 the first occupants of the present village. Mr. Garfield, 
 when twenty -three years old, moved into the place and 
 built a log-house where Mr. Nathaniel Bassett afterwards 
 lived. 
 
 But before passing to the history of the first settlers, it 
 may be well to complete what brief allusion remains to 
 be made to the Indian race, and the tribe that once called 
 this territory their home. 
 
1^4 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 " There was a time when red men climbed these hills, 
 
 And wandered by these plains and rills, 
 
 Or rowed the light canoe along yon river, 
 
 Or rushed to conflict armed with bow and quiver; 
 
 Or 'neath the forest leaves that o'er them hung, 
 
 They council held, or loud their war-notes rung." 
 
 About the time Lee was settled, the number of the 
 Indians had very much decreased. They fought on the 
 side of the English colonists in the old French and Indian 
 wars. At the battle of White Plains a full company of 
 Indians took an active part, and then served all through 
 the Revolutionary war. Another company acted as ran- 
 gers near Boston. At Gen. Washington's order, a feast 
 was given them at Stockbridge after the war closed. 
 
 " The Indian hath gone to his lonely grave, 
 He slumbers in dark decay ; 
 And like the crest of the tossing wave, 
 Like the wail of the blast from the mountain cave, 
 Like the groan of the murdered with none to save, 
 His people have passed away." 
 
 THE HOPLANDS. 
 
 " The Hoplancls " is the territory in the south part of 
 the town which was originally a part of Upper Housa- 
 tonic Parish, or Great Barrington. Its southern line is 
 the south line of the town. "The northern line com- 
 mences near the Stockbridge boundary, about half a mile 
 north of William Blake's, running a little north of T. M. 
 Judd's,and thence nearly with the road to the town-house 
 and John Baker's in Cape street ; thence southerly to the 
 Tyringham line." William Ingersoll owned about 1,000 
 acres in this tract, which was enough to furnish himself 
 and each of his seven sons with a farm of no mean dimen- 
 sions. The name, Hopland, is derived from the great 
 quantity of hops that formerly grew wild upon the 
 banks of the river which Hows down from Tyringham. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 125 
 
 Hopbrook, or North Tyringham, was left unsettled for 
 more than twenty years. It appears from a Memorial pre- 
 sented to the General Court, 1773, June 15, (Mass. Ar- 
 chives, 143 : 77,) that through the malfeasance of David 
 Ingersoll, whom the proprietors of Upper Housatonnuck 
 Township had chosen clerk, their records were in utter 
 confusion. A committee was ordered to proceed to 
 Great Barrington, ascertain the facts, and recommend 
 measures to remedy the difficulty. This committee ar- 
 ranged, so far as possible, the records which they found 
 of divisions of lands. These, with some changes they rec- 
 ommended to the General Court, should be confirmed as 
 valid. (Mass. Archives, 143 : 32). Forty Proprietors' 
 Rights, owned bj^ fourteen persons, covered the whole of 
 the area of the upper township (22,120 acres). One 
 right was allotted the first minister, one for the ministry, 
 another for the school. David Ingersoll, father of Wil- 
 liam Ingersoll, had five rights, or one-eighth of this quan- 
 tity. The papers of the Committee were destroyed or 
 burned. 1749, July 18, the Hoplands were laid out and 
 the meadows divided, one right being set apart for 
 schools. 1750, April 12, there was another division, and, 
 as before, land was set apart for school purposes. 1771, 
 February 1, the school lands in this particular district 
 were set apart for the benefit of people residing in the 
 district. There were six different allotments of land, 
 ranging from ten to forty acres at a time. The school 
 rights reserved amounted in all to about 170 acres, 
 which by the vote, mentioned above, became the exclu- 
 sive property of the inhabitants of this district. Ensign 
 William Ingersoll was a prominent man among the peo- 
 ple of this district. His house was the work-house of 
 Great Barrington from 1761 to 1769. The road from 
 the Glassworks Grant, passing by Matthew Van Deusen's, 
 passed Ingersoll's house 42 rods north-west of the river, 
 
126 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 and .after crossing this, passed Reuben Pixley's about 
 84 rods west from the crossing. (See Great Barrington 
 town records, 1771, May 27.) A road was laid out at 
 the same time from Isaac Davis' to the Stockbridge 
 line. In 1761, May 18, Thomas Willcocks and John 
 Hamblin were chosen petit jurors — immediately after 
 the incorporation of Great Barrington. Reuben Pixley 
 was a petit juror in 1765, and Matthew Van Deusen a 
 collector in 1768. These names will be recognized as 
 the names of the first citizens of Lee. In 1770, March 
 21, the people of the Hoplands very modestly requested 
 of Great Barrington to be relieved " from paying Minis- 
 terial Rates, School Rates, and Highway Rates." The 
 town records of Great Barrington, from 1771 to 1777, 
 were not entered on the book, and the papers on which 
 they w r ere minuted, if they w r ere minuted at all, are not 
 to be found. But in the Massachusetts Archives, in con- 
 nection with the pnpers relating to the incorporation of 
 Lee, it is stated that the people of Great Barrington in 
 town meeting, 1773, December 29, made no objections to 
 the petition of the people on the Hoplands for incorpora- 
 tion as a town. 
 
 HARTWOOD OR WASHINGTON. 
 
 The eastern section of the present township of Lee was 
 taken from what is now the town of Washington, pre- 
 viously called Hartwood. In 1757-8, Robert Watson, of 
 Sheffield, aided and abetted by David Ingersoll, acting as 
 his Attorney, claimed to have purchased of the Indians a 
 tract of land now comprising the town of Washington, 
 and part of the towns of Middlefield, Hinsdale, Lenox, 
 " and Lee." The portion set off to Lee is marked on 
 the east by the present town lines ; on the west it may 
 be traced, following a line beginning at the south-east 
 corner of the Hopland district, running northerly to John 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 127 
 
 Baker's, thence westerly to near the present Town Farm, 
 and thence northerly, following the road from the Town 
 Farm to the Housatonic River. 
 
 The land was ostensibly purchased of Benjamin Kohk- 
 ke-wau-naut, John Pop-hue-hou-au-wah, and Robert 
 Nung-hau-wot, chiefs of the Stockbridge tribe of Indians. 
 It is said that a part of the consideration was to be in the 
 "fire-water" of that day. This territory was called at 
 first Watsontown, after the name of its purchaser. 
 
 Soon after this purchase, Mr. Watson sold his title to 
 this grant to a company of sixty men, the most of whom 
 resided in Hartford, Conn. This company divided their 
 land into sixty-three shares, one for each of 60 propri- 
 etors, one for schools, one for the ministry, and one for 
 the first settled minister. They also changed the name 
 to Greenock, in memory of the Scotch town of that name, 
 as Blandford, near by, was for a similar reason called 
 Glasgow, by the Suffield company. 
 
 These proprietors soon found that Watson was insolvent 
 and in jail, and had failed to fulfill the obligations to the 
 Indians ; and the Indians threfore retained their right to 
 the territory of Greenock. The Company re-purchased 
 it of the Indians 17G0, July 10, paying them £1713 in 
 money ; and then applied to the Governor of the Prov- 
 ince to establish their title to their property. 
 
 Action on the above petition, presented 1762-3, Jan- 
 uary 13, was delayed till 1763, February 8, when the 
 Governor and Council granted the petition, and changed 
 the name of the town to Hartwood. The conditions of 
 the grant " were that within the space of five years there 
 should be sixty settlers residing in said Township, who 
 shall each have a dwelling-house of the following dimen- 
 sions : 24 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 16 feet posts ; and 
 have seven acres of land well cleared and fenced, and 
 brought to English grass, or ploughed." They were also 
 
128 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 to settle " a learned Protestant Minister of the Gospel 
 in said Township within the time aforesaid." The 
 proprietors met at Hartford, 1760, October 23, and 
 authorized Dr. Norman Morrison, of Hartford, and Samuel 
 Brown, Jr., of Stockbridge, to enclose with a possession 
 fence, the north-west corner of the town land, now the 
 northern part of the town of Lee. In 1761, the pro- 
 prietors met at the house of Mr. Hezekiah Colyn, Jr., of 
 Hartford, and rights were duly recorded. Besides resi- 
 dents of Hartford, others from Tolland, Wethersfielcl, 
 Windsor, Enfield, and Suffield, appear as proprietors. 
 1762, June 29, they met at Springfield, at the inn of Luke 
 Bliss, and accepted the report of the Committee for laying 
 out the new plantation. 1763, March 28, John Walker, 
 of Hartford, sold (Pittsfield Registry 2:105) one-third of 
 Greenock, alias Hartwood, to Robert Henry of Albany, 
 for £90. 1768, February 28, at the proprietors' meeting 
 in Hartwood, the second division of the land was made. 
 Subsequent business meetings of the proprietors were 
 held in Lee. In accordance with their petition, 1808, 
 April 8, their records are to be kept in Lee, and are now in 
 the Town Clerk's custody. The old records were tran- 
 scribed by Ransom Hinman, in 1853. One record, show- 
 ing the vagueness of many of the titles is to the effect, 
 that 1788, April 14, as the line of Larrabee's Grant was 
 not known, a Proprietors' Committee was authorized to 
 •give certain persons a quitclaim deed of land lying west 
 of a certain definite line, said owners giving the Com- 
 mittee a quitclaim deed to all lands lying east of said 
 line. The people of what is now Lee, seem to have been 
 the first to ask for incorporation as a town. Their 
 petition to that effect, 1774, January 6, was ordered by 
 the Legislature to be communicated to the people of 
 Hartwood. This had the effect of brinonn^ out a counter 
 petition from them 1774, May 25, asking for incorporation 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 129 
 
 as a town, with the boundaries as given in the original 
 grant. The boundaries given in the act of incorporation, 
 1777, April 12, would indicate that they succeeded in 
 securing this from the General Court. The original 
 Western boundary of Hartwood as given in the petition, 
 (see Holland's Hist. Western Mass. Vol. 2, p. 602) is u the 
 east side of Glassworks Grant 550 rods to the north-east 
 corner of said Grant, and east side of Housatonic River." 
 But the petition of the Lee people seems to have been also 
 granted, and by the boundaries given in their act of incor- 
 poration a few months subsequently, a part of Washington 
 became a constituent part of the present town of Lee. 
 
 THE GRANTS : WILLIAMS', LARRABEE'S, GLASS-WORKS. 
 WILLIAMS' GRANT. 
 
 Three different special grants, or parts of them, were 
 also taken by the act of incorporation of the town to 
 constitute the township. The Williams' Grant, more com- 
 monly called the Minister's Grant, forming the north- 
 west corner of the town, was a grant of about four thou- 
 sand acres, made by the General Court, 1740, Jan. 21, 
 to Col. Ephraim Williams of Stockbridge and partners.* 
 
 * The Col. Williams mentioned above as the grantee of the Williams' Grant was 
 not the founder of Williams College, as stated by Mr. Amory Gale in his History of 
 Lee, but his father, one of the first four white settlers of Stockbridge. The mistake 
 is a natural one, for both father and son had the same name and military title. 
 Ephraim Williams, Jr., was born in Newton, near Boston, in 1715, and at the time of 
 this grant, had done nothing in the way of public service which should entitle him to 
 such a favor. In early life he followed the seas, but at the breaking out of the war 
 against France and England in 1740, the year in which the Williams' Grant was 
 made, he joined the army and distinguished himself as the commander of a company 
 in the Canada service. At the close of the war (1748), he resided for a short time 
 at Stockbridge, but never was much identified with Southern Berkshire. In 1750, 
 the General Court, in consideration of his services, granted him two hundred acres 
 of land in East Hoosack, now North Adams. On this srant was soon afterwards 
 erected Fort Massachusetts, located between the villages of North Adams and Wil 
 liamstown-<-then called West Hoosack, — and the head-quarters of Col. Williams 
 after he was assigned to the command of the forts west of the Connecticut River. 
 He was shot through the head the 8th of September, 1755, while heading a scout- 
 ing party against the French and Indians near the south end of Lake George. 
 17 
 
130 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 The whole transaction is a peculiar one, and reveals the 
 shrewdness of the benevolent persons who took such 
 o;ood care of the affairs of the Stockbridge Indians. 
 1739, May 3, (Mass. Archives, xxxi, 238,) a memorial 
 was presented to the General Court, representing that 
 there was a piece of meadow owned by Williams and 
 partners which the Indians would like to have. Williams 
 offered to give it to the Indians if the General Court 
 would grant him an equivalent* in the unappropriated 
 lands of the Province, but the number of acres bought 
 is not specified. In 1739, June 15, a grant was made 
 accordingly of 4,000 acres of land, which had been sur- 
 veyed Feb. 10, 1739, by Oliver Partridge, "adjoining 
 Westerly and Southerly on the Indian township on Hous- 
 atonic River." 
 
 There must have been some surprise about the quan- 
 tity of this " equivalent," but it was represented that 
 the land consisted of very valuable meadow land, and 
 the four thousand acres were wild. Besides this, it 
 appears that Col. Williams had some partners in this 
 transfer, five ministers, and Mr. Timothy Woodbridge, 
 the schoolmaster of Stockbridge. In the Springfield 
 Registry (Vol. M : 525) are articles of agreement and 
 division, 1742, Jan. 20, between Mr. Williams and Mr. 
 Woodbridge of Stockbridge, and Rev. Stephen Williams 
 of Springfield, Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Springfield, Rev. 
 Peter Raynolds of Enfield, Rev. Jonathan Edwards of 
 Northampton, Rev. Nehemiah Bull of Westfield, deceased, 
 represented by Oliver Partridge of Hatfield. (Miss Eliza- 
 beth Partridge of Hatfield, was married in 1728, Feb. — 
 to Rev. Mr. Bull. He died 1740, April 12, aged 38.) A 
 very goodly array of names, a very respectable " ring " 
 for those days or these days. A plan of the land is 
 
 * The Stockbridge Indians affirmed that it belonged to the Shawanose. Wil- 
 liams and Woodbridge paid these Indians ,£15 for their title. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 131 
 
 given in connection with the articles of agreement, from 
 which it appears that Col. Williams had for his portion 
 900 acres lying around Laurel Lake. The ministers fol- 
 lowing along in order northward had each a lot of 480 
 acres, while flanking the last three ministers' lots, Mr. 
 Partridge had a lot of 700 acres. In the Springfield 
 Registry (Vol. M : 420), 1741, Nov. 3, Timothy Wood-, 
 bridge of Stockbridge, school-master, deeds his lot, which 
 then measured 510 acres, to Isaac Williams of Goshen, 
 Hartford Co., Conn., '• Husbandman alias Shoemaker," for 
 £280. It had grown in value and in size very quickly. 
 In the same volume (M : 475) is the deed of Williams and 
 his partners, 1741, Jan. 21, in return for the " 4,000 acres 
 granted by the General Court," of 280 acres of land in 
 Stockbridge to Paul Umpeckhow, Nicholas Uwaanmut and 
 other Indians. In various papers in the Massachusetts 
 Archives (118 : 132) as also in the old deeds of the 
 Springfield and Pittsfield Registries, this " Williams' 
 Grant" is called " the Ministers' Grant." 1750, Oct. 24, 
 Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton sold 240 acres of 
 the Ministers' Grant to Elizer Dickinson of Stockbridge, 
 Joiner, in exchange for the same amount of land in 
 Stockbridge. 1769, Aug. 25, Timothy Edwards sold all 
 his father's remaining right in the Ministers' Grant to 
 Joseph Woodbridge for £328. Most of this grant was 
 annexed to Lenox, 1770, Nov. 20. That belonging to 
 Col. Williams is the part that was taken to help form the 
 present township of Lee. 
 
 (2.) Larrabee's Grant was located in the neighborhood 
 of Lenox Furnace. A long controversy was waged with 
 the town of Lenox in regard to the rightful boundaries of 
 this tract terminated, 1818, May 4, by a vote of Lee that 
 Lenox should have it, if the town should see fit to agree to 
 the proposition made. The Legislature, 1820, Feb. 7, 
 established what has now been the boundary line for about 
 
132 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 fifty years. John Larrabee was the officer in command 
 of" Castle Williams," the one fort which was supposed to 
 afford sufficient protection to Boston harbor. In 1739, 
 May 30, after a service of seventeen years at the fort, he 
 petitioned the General Court for special addition to his 
 pay. He had a family of six persons dependent upon 
 him. His wages had been barely sufficient for his 
 own subsistence. He had not been able to provide 
 for his children. The Legislature, 1739, June 22, voted 
 him £175 and a grant of 500 acres of the unappropri- 
 ated land of the Province. 1740, Jan. 11, the plan of 
 this tract, drawn by John Huston, Surveyor, in Dec. 
 1739, was presented to the General Court, accepted, and 
 the land duly confirmed to Lieut. Larrabee, his heirs and 
 assigns. He was a brother of Capt. Benjamin Larrabee, 
 who had command of a fort at what is now Brunswick, 
 Maine. John Larrabee died in 1761, and in 1762, 
 Feb. 19, the General Court granted his heirs an addi- 
 tional £50 in testimony of his faithful services. The 
 original petition is to be found in the Massachusetts 
 Archives, Vol. xlvi : 108. The plan of the land shows its 
 location on the east line of the grant made to Ephraim 
 Williams and Company. Lenox was incorporated as a 
 district, 1767, Feb. 26. Its southern boundary was 
 changed 1770, Nov. 20, before Lee was incorporated. In 
 very ambiguous phrase the Legislature annexed to Lenox 
 all the lands and persons living on the south line of Lar- 
 rabee's Grant as protracted west of the Housatonic River, 
 and also Samuel Whelpley and his farm, jutting south 
 of this grant and the Stockbridge line. (Deacon Samuel 
 Whelpley was the father of Rev. Samuel Whelpley, a 
 Presbyterian minister, the author of a " Compend of An- 
 cient and Modern History" and the "Triangle," a cele- 
 brated theological treatise on the three points of old school 
 Calvinism.) These facts account for the irregularity of the 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 133 
 
 line between Lenox and Lee. Lenox claimed east of the 
 River to the south line of Larrabee's Grant. Lee claimed 
 that the River was the boundary fixed by the Act of 1770. 
 1820, March 6, the selectmen were instructed to petition 
 the General Court to fix the bounds of Lee and Lenox, 
 near Lenox Furnace, as agreed upon by the committees 
 of both towns. That agreement, as recorded, 1818, May 
 4, reads : 
 
 " Beginning at reputed S. E. corner of Lenox about 18 
 rods west of the Housatonic River: thence northerly a 
 parallel line with the west line of Larrabee's Grant until 
 the line shall reach the middle of the said river above 
 the furnace : thence northerly in the middle of the said 
 river as far as the north line of said grant." 
 
 (3.) Before its incorporation, the present territory of 
 Lee village was commonly designated Glassworks, or 
 Glassworks Grant. This was a tract of land, in what is 
 now the center of the town, granted by the General 
 Court, 1754, January 16, to John Franklin and Company, 
 of Germantown in Braintree, now Quincy, Mass. It 
 appears from the Suffolk Registry, (Vol. 80 : 169) that in 
 1750, August 8, Col. John Quincy leased to a company 
 consisting of John Franklin, merchant, Norton Quincy, 
 merchant, Peter Etter, stocking-weaver, Joseph Cullins 
 and Isaac Winslow, merchants, of Boston, 100 acres of 
 land on Shed's Neck, at 10s per acre. They proceeded 
 to lay out streets and building lots, and to begin what 
 we would now call a manufacturing village. A company 
 of Germans, skilled artisans, were induced to emigrate to 
 this country, and to locate on this land, the proprietors 
 holding out inducements for the establishment of various 
 industries. They called their estate Germantown, and in 
 1752, August 24, Joseph Palmer and Richard Cranch, 
 card-makers of Boston, (see Suffolk Registry, 81 : 109) 
 leased seventeen lots on Hanover Square, Hague, Zurich, 
 
134 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 and Manheim Squares at a yearly rental of 5s for each lot. 
 1750, April 12, and June 6, (see Mass. Archives, 50 : 355) 
 William Bowdoin and Nathaniel Holmes of Boston, peti- 
 tion for a grant of land if they begin glass-work in five 
 years. 1752, November 27, Isaac Winslow, for himself 
 and his partners, asked of the General Court, assistance 
 to enable them to carry on the manufacture of glass at 
 Germantown. They had leave to prepare a bill, granting 
 them the monopoly of glass-making for twenty years. It 
 is to be found in Mass. Archives, Vol. 59 : 376. The Gen- 
 eral Court, however, did not see fit to enact the bill, when 
 presented, 1752, December 1. The next move was a 
 petition, 1753, December 19, of John Franklin and Com- 
 pany, for " a grant of money to encourage the making 
 Potash." 1754, January 16, the petitioners were granted 
 1,000 acres in any part of the unappropriated lands of the 
 Province, provided that they carried on the manufactories 
 at Germantown for the space of seven years from the 
 date of this vote. Twelve of their workmen were to be 
 exempted from military duty or other public service. 
 The manufactories named were weaving, making cider, 
 glass-making, pottery, and as appears from a petition of 
 Josiah Quincy, of Braintree, 1752, December 12, also, 
 " refining Sperma Coeti, from the Oyl, and making the 
 same into Candles." In the Mass. Hist. Soc. Library is 
 a History of Quincy by George Whitney, published 1827. 
 On page 28, he says : " Had they met with no discour- 
 agement, and been permitted to continue, there is good 
 reason to believe the place would now have been thickly 
 settled and in a flourishing'condition. Continual impedi- 
 ments to their success were thrown in their way." Most 
 of the Germans left and went to " Broad bay Plantation, 
 incorporated 1773, as the town of Waldboro," Me. Here 
 they were imposed upon anew, and when by their pa- 
 tient industry the town had taken form and they began 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 135 
 
 to feel at home, they learned that they had no valid title 
 to the land they occupied. Again, they were obliged to 
 abandon house and land. It is said in the History of 
 Waldboro, that most of them went to North Carolina. 
 1756, May 28, Joseph Palmer petitioned the General Court 
 for assistance " by Way of Lottery," in view of the losses 
 and embarassments in connection with the manufactories 
 at Germantown. (See the New Englander, 1839, Janu- 
 ary, for an interesting account of Gen. Palmer.) 1757, 
 January 25, the council voted to dismiss the petition, but 
 the House of Representatives was in favor of granting it, 
 and 1757, February 12, the bill legalizing the lottery was 
 passed to be enacted, and permission was given for the 
 use of the Hall of Representatives for the purpose of 
 drawing the lottery ! Truly, an accommodating Legisla- 
 ture. When the Glassworks Company made a survey for 
 their grant, they selected the then unappropriated land 
 between the Ministers' Grant and the Hoplands, extend- 
 ing up along side of the Ministers' Grant and beyond it. 
 They modestly asked that as the plat surveyed included 
 about 64 acres more than the 1,500 voted to them, 
 that the whole tract surveyed might be confirmed to 
 them, which was done 1755, January 9. They bought 
 the Indian title 1757, April 27, of two Indians of Stock- 
 bridge, John Pop-hue-hou-au-wah and Robert Nung-hau- 
 wot. As James Bowdoin of Boston owned one-sixth of the 
 Upper Housatonic Township, it was probably through 
 information given by him, that the grant was located as 
 it was. just north of the Hoplands. (Spfd. Reg. 1: 25.) 
 Of this grant, Pelatiah West and Joseph Hatch, of Tol- 
 land, Conn., became large, if not sole owners. 1769, Jan- 
 uary 22, they bought (Pittsfield Register, 8 : 118) of James 
 Bowdoin, Isaac Winslow, and Thomas Flucker, fifteen- 
 twenty-fourths (|$) of the Glassworks Grant for £520 16s. 
 A plan of the tract of 1,564 acres is given showing that 
 
136 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 it extended from Stockbridge line east of the Hou.satonic 
 to the western line of Hartwood. and lay south of the 
 Ministers' Grant and Larrabee's Grant and north of the 
 Hoplands. Eleazer West also owned a part, according to 
 a deed dated 1768, March 23 (Pittsfield Register, 6 : 202). 
 One-sixth of the Glassworks Grant was bought 1771, June 
 6, by Pelatiah West, and Joseph Hatch, of Norton Quincy, 
 of Braintree. 
 
 INCORPORATION. 
 
 1 774, January 6, the people living on the Hoplands, 
 and on a part of Hartwood (now Washington) and those 
 on the Glassworks Grant, and the Williams' Grant, peti- 
 tioned the General Court to be incorporated as a Town 
 or District. (Mass. Archives 118:742.) 1774, Feb- 
 ruary 18, the General Court voted that the petitioners 
 should notify the Hartwood people of their desires. 1773, 
 December 29, Great Barrington in town meeting had 
 voted that they would raise no objections. But 1774, 
 May 25, Hartwood people petitioned for an act of incor- 
 poration keeping what they called " the original bounds." 
 Hartwood was not incorporated till 1777, April 12. Oc- 
 tober 17, 1777, a Bill was introduced incorporating the 
 town of Lee, in accordance with the boundaries originally 
 given. Some amendments were introduced, and the Bill 
 was passed to be enacted. It was signed by the Governor 
 the same clay, and Lee became a town 1777, October 21. 
 It is said that the two towns had the choice of the two 
 names, Washington and Lee. Gen. Lee was at the time 
 thought to be the best officer in the American army, and 
 the people of Lee desired to have the new town named 
 in honor of one from whom so much was anticipated. 
 
 NOTE ON GENERAL CHARLES LEE. 
 
 General Charles Lee was born in 1731, in Devonhall, 
 Cheshire, England. He was the youngest son of Col. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 137 
 
 John Lee, of the 44th Regiment. He is said to have 
 received a commission when eleven years old ; at twenty 
 years of age, as Lieutenant in the 44th, he came to 
 America, and in Braddock's campaign had his first experi- 
 ence of war. He became a Major in the 103d, and in 
 1772 was a Lieutenant Colonel on half-pay. He served 
 under Burgoyne in Portugal in 1762, and distinguished 
 himself in a night attack on a Spanish port. He was not 
 promoted as fast as he thought he deserved, and became 
 one of the aides of the King of Poland, and in 1769 a 
 Major General in the army. He led for three or four 
 years a roving life in Southern Europe. Returning to 
 England he wrote newspaper articles against the ministry. 
 He came to America, in October, 1773. Here he talked 
 and wrote against the measures of the English Court. 
 He was present at the session of the first Continental 
 Congress, and in 1775, Congress, under the impression of 
 his supposed military ability, appointed him 2d Major 
 General, a rank which placed him next but one to Wash- 
 ington. Only providential interposition prevented him 
 from betraying the cause he had professed to espouse. 
 It seems as if he wanted only an offer of money and 
 position under the English Government corresponding to 
 the high rank he had sought in the Continental Army. 
 Congress undertook to indemnify him for any supposed 
 loss in the resignation of his position in the English Army 
 by a donation of $30,000, and sent him to the Southern 
 States as Chief Commander in that department. His plans 
 when in command, all proved disastrous failures. He 
 was taken prisoner while dawdling away his time in a 
 tavern, though he had always boasted he would never be 
 taken alive. He was exchanged in May, 1778, for Gen- 
 eral Prescott. His insubordination to General Washing- 
 ton is well known, and Washington's indignant rebuke 
 of him for his ordering a retreat instead of a charge 
 18 
 
138 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 at the battle of Monmouth. Tried by a Court Martial, 
 he was suspended from his command. An insolent letter 
 that he wrote to Congress was followed by his dismission 
 from the service ; and soon after this he died in Phila- 
 delphia, 1782, October 2. At the time Lee was named in 
 his honor, the gallant defence by Moultrie, of the harbor 
 of Charleston, S. C, June 28, was erroneously attributed 
 to General Lee, and put in unfavorable contrast with the 
 defeats on Long Island and White Plains, where Wash- 
 ington had command. 
 
 There are eight or ten other towns in the United States 
 bearing this name, and four or five counties, but none so 
 named by emigrants from this town in honor of their 
 former home. Lee was the twenty-first town incorpor- 
 ated in Berkshire County. Those incorporated at an 
 earlier date, were, Sheffield 1733, Stockbridge 1739, Great 
 Barrington 1742 (as a parish), New Marlborough 1759, 
 Egremontl760 (district), Pittsfield 1761,Tyringhaml762, 
 Sandisfield 1762, Becket 1765, Richmond 1765, Lanes- 
 borough 1765, Williamstown 1765, Lenox 1767, Peru 
 (Partridgefield) 1771, Windsor (Gageborough) 1771, 
 Alford 1773, Otis (Loudoun) 1773, West Stockbridge 
 1774, Hancock (Jericho) 1776, Washington 1777, Lee 
 1777. At the session of the General Court in May, 1761, 
 the western part of old Hampshire County was set off 
 as a new county, after 1761, June 30, to bear the name 
 of Berkshire. The Courts of Common Pleas and General 
 Sessions were held at the Upper Parish (now Great Bar- 
 rington) and at Pontoosuc (now Pittsfield). County build- 
 ings were erected at Great Barrington, but in 1784, it 
 was ordered that the Courts should be held at Lenox. 
 But the County buildings were not erected at Lenox, 
 without opposition, and not completed till 1790-1792. 
 Numerous efforts were made to change this location, Lee 
 every time voting against it, in 1813, 1824, 1825, 1855. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 139 
 
 In 1875 the attempt was finally successful, and new 
 County buildings were erected at Pittsfield, where also 
 now the Courts are held. Joseph Whiton, of Lee, was 
 one of the Associate Justices of the Court of Sessions, 
 1814-1817,. and 1819-1828. 
 
 THE FIRST SETTLERS AND TnEIR LOCATION. 
 
 The territory south of Lee had been settled thirty 
 years ; Stockbridge, on the west, twenty years, before 
 any English settlement on the land within the present 
 township lines of Lee. In 1760, Isaac Davis came from 
 Tyringham. He located himself quite in the south part 
 of the town on the banks of Hop Brook, and built the 
 first frame house in town, on the farm now owned by 
 Henry McAllister. He died at Chenango, August, 
 1801. Reuben Pixley, son of Jonathan Pixley of 
 Great Barrington, also located in the Hoplands, and 
 gave his name to Pixley's Mountain. He built where the 
 late Deacon Nathan Bassett lived, on the farm now owned 
 by Hon. Harrison Garfield. John Coffey, the Irishman, 
 settled on the farm lately occupied by James H. Royce. 
 Hope Davis, from Tyringham, located in the old orchard, 
 about 46 rods east of Messrs. May's paper mill. Aaron 
 Benedict and George Parker settled near him. 
 
 William Chanter, the Quaker, had been a Quaker 
 preacher on the Cape, but silenced for some irregularity. 
 He lived on what is now called the Snow farm, adjoining 
 Deacon Culver's. He died September 10, 1806, aged 82 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Atkins took up his abode nearly opposite the old 
 Shaylor tavern in Cape street. Lemuel Crocker, from 
 Barnstable, found a home where Wm. Perry now resides. 
 Asahel Dodge located north of the old Barlow house. 
 He was a blacksmith, and the stone he used for an anvil 
 is now part of a stone wall near the site of his shop. 
 
140 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Samuel Stanley was a tanner and currier, and had his 
 shop in a lot now belonging to Marshall Foote, which 
 Stanley bought in 1779, June 16, of John Coltraine, of 
 Tolland, Conn., who had bought the 114 acres of John 
 Baker, Jr., of Tolland. 
 
 When John Winegar came into town in 1770, he found 
 only thirteen families living on this territory. He bought 
 1771, April 4, of Pelatiah West and Joseph Hatch, 50 
 acres on the west side of the Housatonic River. Peter 
 Wilcox, at whose house the first town meeting was held, 
 lived in "a log-house with only one room in it, and that not 
 so large as some of our parlors." It was on what is now 
 Main street, corner Franklin street, where now stands the 
 house owned by Elizur Smith, and occupied by Thomas 
 Wilson. 
 
 Jonathan Foote* occupied a rude structure where 
 
 *In the Foote " Genealogy " and in Gale's History of Lee, it is stated that 
 Nathaniel Foote, the grandfather of this Jonathan Foote, put Charles the Second, 
 King of England, into an oak to shield him from his pursuers. Afterwards, when 
 the King was iu a situation to do so, he remembered his preserver, and granted 
 him a tract of land in Connecticut. The Foote family have for their coat of arms, 
 a design representing an oak and Charles the Second, and Nathan Foote endeavor- 
 ing to assist Charles into the oak. There is a well remembered couplet in the old 
 Primer : 
 
 " The Royal Oak, it was the tree, 
 
 That saved his Royal Majesty." 
 
 The story of the oak is pleasant and plausible, but Mr. H. W. Taft of Pittsfield 
 himself a descendant of the hero of the story, and an expert antiquarian, desires 
 that we should refute it, and we can do no better than insert his letter : 
 
 Pittsfield, August 31, 1877. 
 My Ikar Sir : — Won't you try to put an end to that absurd and impossible story 
 about the Foote emigrant ancestor, helping King Charles into the oak, etc. At 
 least see to it that it don't get into the Lee History, and so start out on a new tour. 
 I think it is dead sometimes, and then it starts off as good as new, to my infinite 
 disgust, for he was my ancestor, and I don't want him made game of, and history 
 turned into fable. Here are two or three reasons why it can't well be true: 
 
 1. Nathaniel Foote, the emigrant and ancestor of the Lee Footes, was in Water- 
 town before September, 1634, and never returned to England. 
 
 2. Charles 2d, the oak tree man, was born May 29, 1680. Put these two facts 
 together. 
 
 3. Nathaniel Foote died in Weathersfield, in 1644, when Charles was about 14 
 years old. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 141 
 
 Theron L. Foote now lives. Elisha Freeman owned the 
 farm where his grandson, John B. Freeman, now lives. 
 Two rude log huts stood near William Bartlett's present 
 residence. In and around the present village site there 
 were not five acres of cleared land. A log tavern, six- 
 teen feet square, was erected about this time. 
 
 1771, April 4, Pelatiah West and Joseph Hatch sold to 
 Richard Howk, of Kinderhook, 170 acres of land for £270. 
 He afterwards bought other pieces till at one time he owned 
 1,000 acres. His son, Isaac Howk, resided on the place 
 lately owned by John C. Stevens. His large Dutch barn 
 gave to his homestead the name of the " Howk Barracks," 
 and it served as a sort of landmark in this region. 1774, 
 June 1, Josiah Yale, late of Wallingford, Conn., bought of 
 William Andrus, of Lenox, 50 acres of the Williams' or 
 Ministers' Grant. 1773, December 20, Jesse Bradley, of 
 New Haven, Conn., bought of Melatiah Hatch, of Hart- 
 wood, 24 1-2 acres with 1-4 of the saw r -mill on the river 3 
 near Bradley street. Elisha Bradley, also, of New 
 Haven, bought land in Stockbridge. 1774, May 25, Wil- 
 liam Ingersoll sold to Aaron Wormer, 45 acres in the 
 Hoplancls. Other names of those who came to town dur- 
 ing this period are Ball, Backus, Barlow, Bassett, Gifford, 
 Hamblin, Jenkins. 
 
 " When John Winegar was living at Crow Hollow, he 
 was persuaded by an Indian to accompany him upon the 
 mountain to hunt deer. The Indian soon left Mr. Wine- 
 gar alone, and for three days in mid-winter, with the 
 thermometer below zero, he wandered without fire or food, 
 unable to find his home. When found by his friends, his 
 
 4. Tlie Battle of Worcester {after which Charles hid in the oak), was fought 
 September 3, 1651, when Nathaniel Foote had been dead seven years. 
 
 5. Nathaniel was a Puritan, and if he had been alive and in England, would have 
 been on Cromwell's side and not with Charles. 
 
 There are a great many more reasons, but perhaps these will do. 
 
 Yours truly, Henry W. Taft. 
 
142 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 feet and other parts of his body were so badly frozen as 
 to cause him to be a cripple for life. He however 
 recovered sufficiently to attend to his ordinary business." 
 He was 29 years old at the time. He lost both his feet, 
 and his constitution was shattered : yet he lived to be 55 
 years old, dying 1798, March 14. 
 
 " John Winegar built the first grist mill. It was 
 erected a few rods above the Columbia paper mill. His 
 log house, the eleventh log house in Lee, was built against 
 a perpendicular rock on the east side of the road as we 
 pass around the cove beyond the mill. That rock served 
 as the back part of the house and chimney, which was so 
 constructed that the wood could be drawn up on the hill 
 in the rear, and precipitated down the chimney to the 
 place for the fire. This process saved the time and labor 
 of cutting and splitting the wood. Mr. Winegar five 
 years after built another grist mill, were John McLaugh- 
 lin's machine shop now stands, and he also erected the 
 dwelling-house lately standing in front of it, which is the 
 oldest building in town. When Mr. Winegar built this 
 house, the nearest place that he could find stone for the 
 cellar was on Pixley Mountain. The leaves and moss in 
 the forests probably concealed the stone from public 
 view." 
 
 FAMILIES FROM CAPE COD. 
 
 The Revolutionary War brought peculiar distress to 
 the population of Cape Cod. Not only did they suffer 
 the burdens of the war, such as fell upon the whole state, 
 the drain of men and money, but their principal occupa- 
 tions, fishing and coasting, were almost entirely broken 
 up. With the loss of all ordinary means of livelihood, and 
 the constantly depreciating currency, they were com- 
 pelled to seek some other location, where willingness to 
 work and persevering diligence would be in themselves, 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 143 
 
 resources more valuable than money. Yet some money 
 they seem, to have had. 1780, May 2, John Crosby, 
 of Barnstable, bought of Prince West, for £100 silver 
 money, Lot No. 2 in Hartwood, 150 acres at the north- 
 west corner of Sylvanus Gilford's land. 
 
 Marvelous stories, transcending any fish stories, had 
 been carried to Cape Cod in regard to the fertility of the 
 soil of the new lands on the Housatonic. It was averred 
 that the soil was so rich that a sod hung up in the sun 
 would drip grease: that hogs fattened so quickly that 
 they ran around, squealing, " kill me ! kill me ! " 
 
 But the reality, was a hard and trying experience of 
 obstacles and difficulties which only undaunted persever- 
 ance, strong arms and stout hearts could overcome. The 
 snows were deep and lay long on the hill-sides. It was no 
 easy matter to travel any distance, even with the aid of 
 snow shoes. 
 
 When James Goodspeed came in sight of the log house 
 where his Uncle Hamblin lived, he asked " Whose 
 hog-pen is that with a chimney to it?" "Be quiet," 
 was the reply ; " that is where your uncle lives." The 
 children were so thoroughly tanned by exposure to wind 
 and sun, that he took them at first to be Indian pappooses. 
 Many are the family traditions, still handed down, 
 though now known only to a few, in relation to these 
 Cape Cod fishermen, and their perils by sea and land. 
 The grandfathers of those who are now the grandfathers 
 of this generation, told fifty years ago many grandfather's 
 tales, that had for the young hearers of those days, and 
 for all hearers in all time, that incommunicable charm 
 which belongs to all first experiences. How they laughed, 
 as with every narration, there came up the vivid remem- 
 brance of Joe Crocker, blown off by the gases from the 
 dead whale into which he had thrust his spade, or the 
 appearance of this region as they first visited it in the 
 
144 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 hard Winter of 1780, and walked on snow shoes over 
 snow eight feet deep. 
 
 The name of Cape Street was given to the eastern 
 section of the town, because so largely occupied by people 
 from Cape Cod. Capt. Joseph Crocker, who settled on 
 the William Cone farm, moved his family from Cape Cod 
 in an ox cart. He and his aged mother came in advance 
 of the rest of the family, both riding upon the same 
 horse. 
 
 The people lived in small log houses, mostly located 
 upon the sides of the mountains. Marked trees served 
 for roads, and a tree felled so as to fall across the river, 
 served for a bridge, where such a contrivance was nec- 
 essary or convenient. 
 
 When the later settlers came in, they adopted the easier 
 method of sending their household articles by vessel to 
 Hudson, N. Y., whence they could be transported with 
 less time and fatigue to the new country. The first burial 
 in the cemetery was of a child of Mr. Handy, who fell from 
 a load of furniture. In crossing the river, the jolting of 
 the cart as it struck a stone, threw her off. She fell on 
 the stones, and was instantly lulled. Some of the furni- 
 ture brought from the Cape, is still in existence. Some 
 of it has been put to strange uses ; most of it has long 
 ago been put out of the way. Grandmother Crosby would 
 hardly recognize her old spinning wheel, or its rim, now 
 honored in Mr. Henry Smith's house as a picture-frame 
 for a photograph of one of Thorwaldsen's celebrated bas- 
 reliefs, "Night and Morning." 
 
 Cape Street was for a time the most populous part of 
 the town. Here lived the blacksmith, shoemaker, tanner 
 and currier. Here it was proposed to build the meeting 
 house. But " Dodgetown," as this section was then 
 called, has seen a change come "o'er the spirit of its 
 dream." The homes that once were established in loving 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 145 
 
 neighborhood on the hill- top. have now disappeared, or 
 all fallen into ruin, save two or three. The roads that 
 led to them, or led past them, have been discontinued. 
 The unfrequent traveler over the mountain road is seldom 
 seen, while the iron horse whizzes through the valley, and 
 large manufactories afford employment to hundreds that 
 the barren hill-sides could not feed. 
 
 Cornelius Bassett and Nathan Dillingham, in 1778, 
 built the " Red Lion" tavern on what is now Mr. Pease's 
 lot. It was occupied as a tavern stand till 1833. This 
 was the first two-story house built in Lee, and in it was 
 the first store, kept in the buttery. Job Hamblin went to 
 Boston to get a load of salt, and it required forty days to 
 make the journey. 
 
 Barlow and Bassett had together bought a farm in 
 Sandwich, on a part of which is now the establishment of 
 the Sandwich Glass Company. Through some chicanery 
 they found themselves without any legal title to the 
 property for which they had paid, as they supposed, a 
 fair equivalent. Abandoning their old home, they came 
 to this newly opened territory and built in this wilder- 
 ness region. John Crosby, who came during this period, 
 was the " house-wright and joiner," for the community 
 generally. Some of the frames he put up are still stand- 
 ing. Timber was abundant, when rafters as commonly 
 made, were seven inches in width by nine in depth. 
 
 John Freese, who married Desire Williams of Stock- 
 bridge, and was thus allied to "the blue blood " of Berk- 
 shire County, was a tailor and tavern keeper in Egre- 
 mont, in 1776. He came to this town during the 
 Revolutionary war and became a very large landholder. 
 The house he first occupied stood near the present brick 
 school-house of the first district in the Hoplands. He 
 afterwards lived on the spot where is now Mr. Henry Smith's 
 house. He owned that farm, and south across the river 
 19 
 
146 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 to the top of Beartown Mountain. The road from South 
 Lee to the present village then came up from the river 
 as far west as the brick school-house. The Freese family 
 were of Dutch descent, among the early settlers of 
 Lunenburgh, now Athens, N. Y. With real Dutch fore- 
 thought, and quaint ideas of propriety, they brought with 
 them from the old country, mahogany coffins and satin 
 grave-clothes. The family name has entirely disappeared 
 fron the town, since their removal in 1814, to Brunswick, 
 Ohio. Miss Sarah Goodspeed is the only immediate 
 descendant left. 
 
 David Baker, long known as the shoemaker of the 
 town, came into the place in 1783, from Barnstable. He 
 had there done military duty in the early part of the 
 Revolution. He married Sylvia Crocker, and on land 
 given her by her father, John Crosby built a house for the 
 newly-wedded pair. He lost largely by the Continental 
 money. He gave a hundred dollars in bills for half a dozen 
 cups. 
 
 James Percival, who came from the Cape, and built the 
 lower part of the house where Captain Bradley once lived, 
 went to Hudson on horseback by marked trees. The bag 
 of pork he carried with him he exchanged for a bag of 
 shad. The people from the Cape hankered after the 
 fish, so long their customary food, and never relished the 
 flavor of game. Job Childs came with Anthony Good- 
 speed from Barnstable, and spent the first night on the 
 Crosby farm, where Mr. Gousset now lives. He worked 
 at first for Mr. Van Dusen. Finally he bought of Reuben 
 Pixley the farm, of which he sold half to Cornelius 
 Bassett. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN. 
 
 It was not till two months after the act of incorpora- 
 tion, that in accordance with its provisions, the first town 
 meeting was held 1777, December 22, at the house of 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 147 
 
 Peter Wilcox, a log-house with only one room. What 
 the population was at that time cannot now be stated 
 with any certainty; 45 signed the petition for incor- 
 poration, but between that date, 1774, Jan. 26, and 
 the organization of the town in 1777, many others had 
 doubtless come into town. Judging from the votes for 
 governor, recorded during the first years, the number of 
 persons resident in the place and qualified to vote, could 
 not be much more than 40. There was, perhaps, a total 
 population of about 200. William Ingersoll was Moder- 
 ator of the first town meeting. Prince West was chosen 
 Clerk. These two, with three others, Jesse Bradley, Oli- 
 ver West and Amos Porter, were chosen Selectmen. 
 William Ingersoll w r as chosen Treasurer ; Reuben Pixley, 
 James Penoyer, Constables ; Daniel Church, Job Hamblin, 
 John Nye, William Ingersoll, Highway Surveyors; Abijah 
 Toinlinson, Samuel Stanley, Tythingmen ; Samuel Stan- 
 ley, Leather Sealer; William Ingersoll, Jesse Bradley, 
 Oliver West, Committee of Correspondence. 
 
 1780, June 15, we find a record, indicating, probably, 
 an evident increase in the voting population of the town. 
 Having met according to the warrant, the first vote 
 passed was to adjourn for eight minutes to meet in Peter 
 Wilcox's barn. The next place of meeting selected was 
 Major Dillingham's tavern, and then "the meeting-house" 
 (the Congregational Church). 
 
 The twenty-five offices named in the records of the 
 first meeting were intrusted to twelve officials, offices now 
 more desirable, though not perhaps any more eagerly 
 sought, are in much smaller proportion to the number of 
 office-seekers. But here were enough to give the town, 
 from the start, a thorough organization, after the usual 
 fashion of Massachusetts towns. The records of the first 
 meetings do not show any very great literary skill, or 
 knowledge of official routine. Not till 1814, is the 
 
148 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 warrant for calling any town meeting entered upon record. 
 It is often a matter of as much interest to know what 
 business was proposed, as what was transacted. Meetings 
 were first notified by posting a notice on the whipping 
 post (near the meeting-house), chosen because of its lo- 
 cation ; not because of suggestive appropriateness in the 
 post itself. Notices were to be posted also at the two 
 grist mills in the town. Not until 1816, is the giving no- 
 tice of town meeting on the outside of the meeting-house 
 and at the inn of Win. Merrill, at the south part, suffi- 
 cient. The cost of managing town affairs was ridicu- 
 lously small, as compared with the present expenditures. 
 1783, March 3, voted to choose a constable by bidding 
 downwards. Peter Wilcox, for £8, agreed to take the 
 office. The chief duty was not the arrest of criminals, 
 but the collection of the taxes. As money was scarce, 
 and tax paying was no more agreeable then than now, 
 the collection of the " rates " was not a specially desira- 
 ble undertaking. The constable was personally respon- 
 sible for the whole amount he was instructed to collect. 
 Assessments were made for the different taxes at differ- 
 ent seasons of the year. Farm laborers, engaged only for 
 the Summer months, were disposed to slip out of town 
 with their poll tax unpaid. It was no easier matter then 
 than now, to adjust the proportionate share of public 
 expenditures so that no class or no individual should pos- 
 sibly escape paying their proper proportion. 
 
 PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 The appointment of a Committee of Correspondence, 
 so called, or more fully designated, of Correspondence, 
 Inspection and Safety, at the first town meeting, indicates 
 that the organization of the town was at the beginning 
 of the Revolutionary period of our national history. The 
 battle of Lexington, the opening scene in this drama, was 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 149 
 
 fought 1775, April 19, two years and a half before the 
 incorporation of the town, but the men of the Glassworks 
 Grant were equally ready with those of the Hoplancls, 
 of Hartwood, and the incorporated towns of Berkshire 
 county, to do their full share of military service. Many 
 of them had taken active part in the French and Indian 
 war from 1754 to 1703. 
 
 1780, June 19, the town voted " to come into a way to 
 raise the men now called for." Each one was to have in 
 hand £12 hard money. £108 were assessed, to be paid 
 before January 1st. As a committee to raise the nine 
 men required, the three commissioned officers of the mi- 
 litia company were chosen. July 11, two men to serve 
 six months, were to have the same bounty other six 
 months men had received. The three months men were 
 to have 40s. per month hard money, in addition to their 
 wages, or a " grain equivalent." This was to be raised 
 i; by way of fines" [on those who would not volunteer], 
 and if the amount thus raised fell short, the town was to 
 make up the deficiency. When, in connection with this, 
 we take the fact that the whole vote cast for governor at 
 this meeting numbered only 30, we can have some con- 
 ception of the extent of the sacrifices our fathers were 
 willing; to make to secure for themselves and their chil- 
 dren the priceless boon of liberty. 
 
 1780, November 2, under a requisition from the State 
 authorities, demanding from each town a certain number 
 of pounds of beef for the army, it was voted to raise for 
 this purpose £55 in silver money. The straits to which 
 the people were driven appear evident from the fact that 
 in 1781, January 20, the three months men and six 
 months men were to receive orders on the Treasurer for 
 their bounty. £6,818 were to be assessed, but grain was 
 to be received in payment at fixed prices. Wheat was 
 valued at 47s. per bushel, rye 40, Indian corn 26, oats 27. 
 
150 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 The depreciated Continental money had almost ceased to 
 have any value. As General Washington is reported to 
 have said, it took a wagon load of money to purchase a 
 wagon load of provisions. So grievous were the burdens 
 that it was voted to send a petition to the General Court, 
 seeking some redress. 
 
 1781, July 14, five men were to be enlisted from this 
 town as its quota for reinforcing the Continental army. 
 The town, for this purpose, was divided into four classes, 
 each class to raise one man, and the fifth man to be raised 
 by the town at large, to have the rank of sergeant. Af- 
 ter a similar fashion, the town voted to comply with the 
 requisition made for beef for the army ; six classes were 
 each for themselves to provide their equal proportion of 
 beef. August 28, it was voted to raise £42 to pay for 
 three horses bought by the selectmen, for the use of the 
 State. 
 
 From the Revolutionary Muster-Roils in the Secre- 
 tary's Office at Boston, it appears that all through the 
 period of the war the men of Lee were often called out 
 for duty as soldiers in the militia, and a goodly number 
 served a three years' enlistment in the Continental Army. 
 In Col. Patterson's Regiment, under Capt. W. Goodrich 
 and Ensign Isaac Davis, 6 men from Glassworks, and 1 
 from Hoplands served 8 months from May 5, 1775, (Roll 
 15 : 14), Nathan Bennett, Jesse Clark, Fenner Foote, 
 Josiah Root, Benjamin Fuller, John Percival, from Glass- 
 works : and Nathan Davis from the Hoplands. In 1776, 
 May 4, in the list of officers of the militia, in Berkshire 
 County, we find Capt. Jesse Bradley and Lieutenants Levi 
 Nye and Elisha West, with 20 men from Glassworks. 
 (Roll 42 : 177). The only instance of reluctance to render 
 ready service at the call of the authorities, is when under 
 Col. Simonds, of Williamstown, a detachment of Berk- 
 shire Militia were ordered to reinforce the Northern 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 151 
 
 Army, May 1, 1777. There were 8 privates from Glass- 
 works who refused to march. (Roll 42 : 202.) 
 
 They were not in this, acting in any very singular man- 
 ner : for the militia were called out just at planting time, 
 and food for their families was as pressing a duty as 
 the country's call in its hour of need. Out of 345 
 men called out, 60 refused. There were others who 
 went, whose names appear in Capt. Aaron Rowley's Com- 
 pany. Later in the year. 1777, July 8, in Capt. Job 
 Wooclbridge's Company that marched from Stockbridge, 
 are the names of several men from Glassworks. A whole 
 company, not all from Lee, under Capt. Jesse Bradley, 
 were mustered into service 1777, July 20, in Col. John 
 Brown's Regiment. Still others are to be found in Capt. 
 Oliver Belden's Company, who enlisted 1777, September 
 21. It will be remembered that it was about this time 
 the Battle of Bennington was fought, 1777, August 16. 
 The Berkshire Militia constituted no small part of Gen. 
 Stark's forces on that occasion. They participated also 
 in the hardships and perils of the campaign that ended so 
 gloriously in the surrender of Burgoyne, 1777, October 
 17. In the list of officers under date of 1778, April, Jesse 
 Bradley appears as Captain, Amos Porter, First Lieuten- 
 ant, and Theophilus Mansfield, Second Lieutenant. The 
 names of men from Lee are given also in the pay-roll of 
 Capt. Enoch Noble's Company, who served at Peekskill 
 N. Y., 8 months from May 15, 1778. In this year there 
 was, 1778, August 16, an alarm at Bennington, and the 
 militia were ordered out to defend their homes against a 
 supposed invasion. Lieutenant Ezekiel Crocker was the 
 officer in command. In 1779, April 1, a committee ap- 
 pointed by the Legislature report 9 men from Lee in the 
 Continental Army. 1779, July 16, the muster-master at 
 Springfield acknowledges three men from Lee, whose de- 
 scriptive list gives their names and ages, as Jedidiah 
 
152 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Crocker 18, Braddock Williams 20, John Ellis 17. These 
 were in Capt. Bradley's Company, in Col. Rossiter's Regi- 
 ment. 1780, January 4, the Selectmen of Lee, Jesse 
 Bradley, Amos Mansfield, and Josiah Yale certify the pay- 
 ment of 11 men for G months' service from date. 1780, 
 August 29, nine others are registered as belonging to the 
 new levies for 6 months. So peremptory was the demand 
 for men, that the Legislature passed a law, 1780, June 22, 
 to raise immediately 4,726 men. If any man was drafted 
 who could not pass muster, he was to hire some able- 
 bodied man to take his place, or pay a fine of $150.00 
 within 24 hours. 1780, October 18, there was another 
 false alarm in Berkshire, and Capt. Amos Porter's Com- 
 pany of 25 men started out with ready courage to ward 
 off the supposed peril. In 1781, enlistments grew to be 
 so infrequent that in accordance with an act passed 1780, 
 December 20, the town was divided into 4 classes, (1781, 
 June 1,) each class to raise its quota by bounties offered, 
 or by volunteers. These four classes raised, as the select- 
 men certify, £240, hard money. In the same volume are 
 the receipts of men who had received the bounty offered. 
 Six of them joined Capt. Porter's Company, in Col. 
 Rossiter's Regiment. Agjain alarm came from the north- 
 ward, from near Stillwater, and the militia companies 
 (Roll 23 : 186) of Lee and Lenox marched at once under 
 Capt. Josiah Yale on what proved to be another false 
 alarm. Others marched also with equal promptness, 
 enlisted in Capt. John Bacon's Company : others still 
 (Roll 21: 175) enlisted in Capt. Thomas Ingersoll's 
 Company. 
 
 Nathaniel Bassett was born at Sandwich, January 27, 
 17">7. At the age of 17 he joined a Volunteer Company 
 of 50 in his native town, who hired some one from Bos- 
 ton, at their own expense, to teach them military tactics. 
 The troubles with England were then evidently coming 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 153 
 
 to a crisis, and young Bassett ardently espoused his 
 country's cause. When the news of the battle of Lexington 
 reached Sandwich, the company were soon on their way 
 to Boston. They had not gone far before news came 
 that the British had retreated, and the company returned. 
 Their services were soon needed for the defence of the 
 coast. Their duties were performed voluntarily, without 
 compensation. In the course of the year, young Nathaniel 
 Bassett entered the regular service under Captain Elisha 
 Nye. He was stationed on Dorchester Heights, and was 
 in the first boat-load under Major Sprout to take posses- 
 sion of the fort abandoned by the British. He shipped on 
 board the privateering brig " Cobbett," but to escape the 
 British ship " Milford," the brig was run ashore on the coast 
 of Nova Scotia. The shipwrecked crew suffered great 
 hardships in making their escape, but Bassett finally 
 reached home only to enlist at once in the army. He 
 was stationed at Boston and Providence in '77, under 
 Captain Palmer. In '80, the urgent necessity of his 
 country once more called him to military duty. He had 
 been up the Hudson and across the country to Berk- 
 shire County, and here hired out to a blacksmith Learn- 
 ing of his knowledge of the military art, his employer* 
 offered to give him his time if he would enlist. He was 
 ordered in the first place to Great Barrington, thence to 
 Claverack, and finally to West Point. He was so much 
 better acquainted with tactics than his captain was, that 
 he acted as prompter as well as drill-master. In pursu- 
 ance of Arnold's plan to scatter the troops and thus 
 weaken the place, he was sent one of a company of sixty 
 men under Lieutenants Walker and Tafts to Verplanck's 
 Point. Here Mr. Bassett with a few comrades, dragged a 
 cannon through the woods to the river's brink, and com- 
 menced firing on the British ship " Vulture," which had 
 brought Andre from New York to consult with Arnold. 
 20 
 
154 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 This caused the vessel to drop down the river, and so 
 necessitated Andre's crossing the river and attempting to 
 reach New York by land in disguise. His capture fol- 
 lowed and Arnold's flight. Mr. Bassett saw Arnold as he 
 passed in a boat to embark on the " Vulture." About 1780, 
 Mr. Bassett became a resident of Lee, and in his death 
 (1845) all felt that they had lost one devoted to the 
 public good and interested in the highest welfare of the 
 community and of individuals. 
 
 Lemuel Barlow, who came to town in the Spring of 
 1775, went in July as a soldier, but did not serve long 
 enough to secure a pension. Captain Jesse Bradley was 
 his captain. Captain Bradley's papers were burned after 
 his death, and the record of many important facts was 
 destroyed. 
 
 John Percival is remembered as another Revolutionary , 
 soldier ; Fenner Foote was one who shared the privations 
 and perils of the disastrous expedition to Canada, in the 
 Winter of 1776-7. A part of Colonel Patterson's com- 
 mand at Dorchester Heights, volunteered for the expedi- 
 tion to Quebec, under Arnold, up the Kennebec and 
 through the wilderness. Fenner Foote used to say that 
 he suffered more in this expedition than to have died 
 twice. 
 
 " Cornelius Bassett was for a time engaged in privateer- 
 ing- He succeeded in capturing a prize, which brought 
 him £100, and so desirous was he to keep up the credit 
 of the State, that he invested the whole of this sum in 
 the depreciating Continental money. Afterwards he 
 exchanged it for a watch, which he gave for the place 
 now owned by Sheriff Pease." 
 
 " Captain Amos Porter was a resolute man. He was 
 active in both the French and the Revolutionary wars. 
 He expended a large share of his property in the support 
 of his company ; and when peace was declared, he led his 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 155 
 
 Company of sixty-four men up to Toucey's, and treated 
 them each with a bowl of grog at $60 a bowl, making a 
 bill of $3,840." 
 
 " Josiah Bradley (14 years of age), enlisted under Col- 
 onel Brown, and was at the battle of Fort Stanwix. In the 
 confusion of the defeat, an Indian chased him for several 
 miles, until at length he turned and fired in the direction 
 of the Indian. Not being troubled any more with his 
 pursuer, Mr. Bradley, through life, looked back to the 
 event with some compunctions of conscience, fearing that 
 he might have killed a man." 
 
 When Asahel Foote left the Revolutionary Army, he 
 was a young soldier 16 years old and of a daring spirit. 
 When he came to the bridge over the Housatonic River 
 on West Park Street, only the string-pieces of the bridge 
 were in place, but not a plank on them. In the darkness 
 of the night he rode his horse safely over one of the 
 string-pieces unconscious of the danger. 
 
 Joseph Handy served on the quota of Pittsfield in Cap- 
 tain Stoddard's Company, Colonel Vose's Regiment, three 
 years from April 11, 1777. He enlisted on the quota of 
 Lee, July 26, 1781, to serve three years. His widow was 
 the first person supported by the town. 
 
 In 1841 there were six Revolutionary pensioners living 
 in Lee whose names and ages were : Joseph Willis 82, 
 Reuben Marsh 78, Nathaniel Bassett 84, Joel Hayden 78, 
 Cornelius Bassett, 79, Levi Robinson, 78. All have rtow 
 departed, but they still live in the example of courage 
 and patriotism which they furnished posterity. 
 
 The Tories in Lee were few, and perhaps we ought to 
 let their names rest in oblivion, but one incident so well 
 illustrates the spirit of the times that we chronicle it. 
 William Bradley, a brother of Captain Jesse Bradley, 
 moved to Lanesboro. He was a Tory. When Captain 
 Bradley went with his company to Bennington, he came 
 
156 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 to his brother William's about dinner time, and the Tory 
 was compelled to furnish dinner for the company, with 
 the threat of pulling down his fence if the dinner was 
 not promptly served. 
 
 THE SHAYS REBELLION. 
 
 By the long-continued war and the constant drain upon 
 the energies and resources of the country, the people had 
 become impoverished. The laws then in force unduly 
 favoring the creditor, not as now the debtor, were addi- 
 tional causes of the general distress. The passage of the 
 " Tender Act," 1782, July 3, only increased the evil it 
 was designed to remedy, by making neat cattle and other 
 articles a legal tender. In Lee, there was especial embar- 
 rassment arising out of the complications in the methods 
 adopted towards the close of the war, in raising men by 
 classes, and paying the large bounties demanded. The 
 people of Berkshire had been the first at the out- 
 break of the Revolution to close the courts. There had 
 been " no Probate Courts from 1774 to 1778, and during 
 the last two of these years no deeds were recorded." Not 
 till 1779, did Berkshire County people consent, and then 
 only by a small majority of the convention, to have this 
 legal machinery put in operation. When the Courts were 
 re-opened and the severities of the law began to press 
 heavily upon the people, a spirit of discontentment and 
 revolt was easily fomented. Daniel Shays, who had been 
 a Captain in the Continental Army at West Point, but 
 involved in some questionable pecuniary transactions and 
 dishonorably dismissed, put himself forward as a ring- 
 leader in the disturbances. He has given his name, but 
 no enviable fame to the series of acts of mob violence 
 and misguided opposition to law, known in our history as 
 the Shays Rebellion. Mr. Gale tells the story of the part 
 taken during this period by some of the people of this 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 157 
 
 town, not to the advantage of their reputation for moral 
 sense or courage, but the great majority of the insurgents 
 were doubtless honest men. The war had demoralized 
 society in a measure, and poverty goaded them on to acts 
 of violence on which, in other circumstances, they would 
 have frowned. 
 
 In the Autumn of 1786, early in September, a party of 
 the insurgents, 800 in number, assembled at Great Bar- 
 rington, broke up the Court and opened the jail. Major 
 Gen. Lincoln was put in command of a body of 3,000 
 militia ordered to rendezvous at Worcester. 1787, Janu- 
 ary 19, 1,200 militia under Gen. Shepard, assembled at 
 Springfield at the same time. Lincoln finding no occa- 
 sion for delay at Worcester, pushed on to Springfield, 
 dispersed the insurgents collected there under Shays, 
 January 25, and scattered in flight from Petersham, Feb- 
 ruary 4, the small remnants that rallied there. Then he 
 pushed on to Berkshire County. Eli Parsons had 400 
 Berkshire malcontents under his command. February 
 15, he issued a circular calling upon his fellow-sufferers to 
 resent unto relentless bloodshed, but the men who re- 
 sented paying taxes or their honest debts, because they 
 were so burdensome, were equally reluctant to part with 
 any of their own blood in defence of their property. 
 When the Lee men under Parsons saw the rabble that 
 constituted the bulk of Shays' forces at Springfield, they 
 were ashamed of their company, and immediately left for 
 home. While Lincoln was on his march, 250 insurgents 
 collected in the town of Lee to stop the Courts. "This 
 company finally concentrated their forces on the Perry 
 Place, on Cape street, now owned by Moses Culver. Gen. 
 Patterson at the head of the Government forces came 
 from Stockbridge, and took his position upon Mr. Ham- 
 blin's hill, on the opposite (the north) side of the Green- 
 water river. This hero had engaged Dr. Sargent, witli a 
 
158 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 company of assistants as the surgeons of his army. They 
 occupied Lyman Foote's house : and while the army was 
 preparing for battle, the surgeons were tearing up sheets 
 and other linen for bandages for the wounded, preparing 
 tables, blocks, and other necessary things pertaining to 
 their work. Gen. Patterson's men had cannon, but the 
 Shays' men had none. To supply this deficiency, they 
 put Mrs. Perry's yarn-beam upon a pair of wheels, and 
 drew it up back of the house. The ramrod and other 
 appendages for cannon in actual service, were exhibited 
 to their opponents in the most impressive way. The 
 ignited tar-rope was freely swung in the air, and the men 
 were running in every direction to put everything in 
 order for battle : and when Peter Wilcox, their leader, 
 with a stentorian voice, heard by their enemies, gave the 
 order to fire, the gallant Patterson with his men fled for 
 life before Mrs. Perry's old yarn-beam." This tradition 
 must be received with some discount. In Dr. Field's 
 history it is said, that the Shays' men dispersed under 
 assurance from Gen. Patterson, that those indicted should 
 be tried in their own county. Tradition affirms that Dr. 
 Lewis of Stockbridge, who was present to act as surgeon, 
 went freely from one party to the other, and acted as the 
 ambassador of peace. Gen. Patterson was a brave and 
 judicious man, and managed the affair with the purpose 
 and hope of preventing any bloodshed. 
 
 " Peter Wilcox and Nathaniel Austin were arrested for 
 treason, and cast into our County prison, where they lay for 
 several months. Their wives were allowed to visit them 
 occasionally, and carry to them articles of food. On one 
 occasion, these women carried to their husbands a loaf of 
 bread in which was concealed the saw used in amputating 
 the frozen feet of John Winegar. Early the next morn- 
 ing, Wilcox and Austin having saw T ed off the irons upon 
 their feet, passed out of prison, dressed in their wives' 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 159 
 
 clothes. When the jailor carried in breakfast to his 
 prisoners, the men were gone, and in their place were 
 the wives, in their husband's clothes. The women were 
 soon after this released. Peter Wilcox repaired to a cave 
 on Henry Bowen's farm, in the rear of the Academy, 
 where his friends fed him till the civil authorities with- 
 drew the prosecution. The cave to this day is known as 
 " Peter's Cave." 
 
 Still another ludicrous affair has been commemorated 
 in local tradition, and is told at length in Gale's History : 
 "The house now occupied by T. L. Foote, was the head- 
 quarters of the Shays party for sometime after " Mother 
 Perry's victory." Most of the Lee people sympathized 
 with that party. The court party was strong in Stock- 
 bridge, and scouting parties from Stockbridge frequented 
 the farm of Mr. Foote for the purpose of arresting those 
 who had driven them from Hamblin's Hill. This became 
 intolerable to the Shays' party, and they were determined 
 to stop it. Lovisa Foote and Sarah Ellis, two young 
 ladies of Lee, put on gentlemen's coats and hats, and with 
 guns in hand, sallied forth in the first of the evening, 
 when they saw two gentlemen riding upon horseback. 
 On their arrival these girls ordered them to dismount : 
 they refused at first, but on the presentation of the unloaded 
 guns in the ladies' hands, with the assurance that if they 
 did not obey, they should receive the contents of their 
 guns, the gallant fellows dismounted. They were or- 
 dered to enter the house, and there it was ascertained 
 that they were Ebenezer Jenkins, Jr., and Crocker Tay- 
 lor, two young bucks of Lee, and intimate acquaintances 
 of their captors. The Shays men were molested but lit- 
 tle after this." 
 
 February 26, a numerous company of insurgents under 
 Capt. Perez Hamblin, entered Berkshire County from 
 New York, and the next day reached Stockbridge. There 
 
160 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 they indulged in indiscriminate pillage. A portion be- 
 came too drunk to proceed farther. The remainder 
 began their march for Great Barrington with the pris- 
 oners they had taken. The debtors in the jail were all 
 released. But the militia company of Sheffield had col- 
 lected under Lt. Goodrich, and joined by the Great Bar- 
 rington company, pushed on towards Egremont in pursuit, 
 as they supposed, of the insurgent force. It turned out, 
 however, that they themselves were the pursued, not the 
 pursuers. When the fact was ascertained, a halt was 
 ordered, and an attempt made to form in order of battle. 
 But the insurgent forces came up in the temporary con- 
 fusion, and opened fire. After a brief engagement, the 
 insurgents turned and fled. Thirty of them were wounded ; 
 two killed outright. One of them was probably Ozias 
 Wilcox, a son of Peter Wilcox of Lee, and a soldier of the 
 Revolution, worthy of a better fate. He is said in the 
 town records to have been killed at Sheffield, March 26, 
 1787. 
 
 This was the last display of force ; in fact, the only 
 actual fight during the Rebellion. The adjoining States 
 took prompt measures for the suppression of any at- 
 tempted mob violence, and for the apprehension of fugi- 
 tives from Massachusetts. The Legislature of this State 
 passed a law excluding from the jury box any guilty of 
 favoring the Rebellion. Three Commissioners were ap- 
 pointed to grant indemnity to all concerned on their sub- 
 scribing the oath of allegiance, excepting only those par- 
 ticipants who had fired upon or killed any citizens. The 
 Supreme Judicial Court, for the County of Berkshire, 
 found six persons guilty of high treason and condemned 
 them to death. One of these was Peter Wilcox, Jr., 
 of Lee. None suffered the execution of the sentence. 
 Four were pardoned. The punishment of the others 
 was postponed, and finally remitted. An act of general 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 161 
 
 indemnity passed, 1788, June 13, is the final record of the 
 extirpation of all rebellious sentiment. The names of 
 several are recorded on the town books as having taken 
 the oath of allegiance. It is said that when John Ellis, 
 who lived at the Ingram place, was cited before Judge 
 Walker, he turned the whole thing into a farce, repeat- 
 ing after the judge's administration of the oath, " You 
 will say," etc, {i You will say," "I solemnly swear," etc., 
 " Solemn affair." 
 
 CONSTITUTION MAKING AND MENDING. 
 
 The State Constitution recommended by the Legisla- 
 ture of 1778-9, was rejected by the people. 1779, March 
 9, the town " voted that we hold ourselves bound to sup- 
 port the Civil Authority of this State for the sum of one 
 year and Bound to obey the laws of this State." Sep- 
 tember 1, 1779, a Convention of Delegates elected by 
 the people to make a Constitution and Frame of Govern- 
 ment, met at Cambridge, and completed their labors 
 1780, March 2. The people ratified their work, and 
 adopted the Constitution which has from that time been 
 the organic law of the State. 
 
 At the Convention in Boston, 1788, January 9 to Feb- 
 ruary 7, the United States Constitution, as adopted by 
 the Convention which met at Philadelphia in May, 1787, 
 was discussed and ratified. Capt. Jesse Bradley was the 
 delegate from Lee. 
 
 In 1820, upon the separation of Maine from Massachu- 
 setts, a second State Constitutional Convention met at 
 the State House in Boston, November 15, to make such 
 a revision as was then rendered necessary. Of the four- 
 teen amendments proposed, nine were ratified by popular 
 vote. The town voted against the Convention, 8 to 57. 
 The Convention proposed by the Legislature of 1851, was 
 negatived by the popular vote, of 63,000 Yeas, and 
 21 
 
162 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 60,000 Nays. The Convention which met May 4, 1853, 
 proposed various amendments, all of which were rejected 
 by the popular vote. At this Convention, Lee was ably 
 represented by Hon. Samuel A. Hulbert. Under the 
 provision of the Constitution, as revised in 1820, the 
 Legislature has from time to time proposed various 
 specific amendments which have been ratified by the 
 people. 
 
 The union of the several States in the prosecution of 
 the war for Independence had been authoritatively 
 effected by the Articles of Confederation, adopted by a 
 Congress of Delegates, 1777, November 15, though not 
 ratified by all the States till 1781, March 1. The evils 
 incident to so imperfect a bond of union became intoler- 
 able, and a Constitutional Convention was called to per- 
 fect a better national organization. After a session of 
 four months, its work was completed, 1787, September 
 17. Massachusetts adopted the Constitution after care- 
 ful deliberation, by a Convention of Delegates at Worces- 
 ter, 1788, February 6. Rhode Island, last of all, voted in 
 favor of its adoption, 1790, May 29. By its terms it 
 went into operation in 1789, April 30, when General 
 Washington was inaugurated the first President. Those 
 who favored the centralizing spirit of the Constitution 
 became known as Federalists. Those preferring a fuller 
 recognition of State Sovereignty were called Republicans. 
 The Federalists at first took office; but in 1800, Jefferson, 
 the Republican candidate, was chosen President. He 
 and his party favored the French, as the Federalists did 
 the English. These two parties continued till 1820, Avhen 
 Monroe, the candidate of the Republican party, received 
 every electoral vote but one. During these years Lee 
 was one of the strongholds of Federalism. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 163 
 
 THE WAR OF 1812. 
 
 The growing importance and success of the mercantile 
 and commercial enterprises of our people, after the adop- 
 tion of the Constitution, brought them into collision with 
 the English domineering spirit and English commercial 
 interests. The right of impressment was claimed by 
 English naval officers wherever English subjects were to 
 be found, and with a view, perhaps, to checking Irish em- 
 igration and to provoke a contest which the English min- 
 istry arrogantly presumed would speedily end in the 
 re-subjugation of the revolted colonies. Vessels were 
 continually searched, and men carried off, with all the 
 petty wanton indignity a British naval officer was dis- 
 posed to inflict. In 1806 and 1807, the Milan decrees 
 of Napoleon, and the orders in council of the English 
 Government, mere paper blockades, made the commerce 
 of the United States subject to seizure and confiscation. 
 Added to these difficulties, the embargo laid by Congress 
 upon American ships in port and the consequent total 
 destruction of our commerce, caused great losses and 
 distress. 
 
 Party feeling ran very high, especially in the years 
 preceding the war of 1812, and during that war. 'Squire 
 Ingersoll (William) in 1812, then 89 years old, was car- 
 ried to the meeting-house to vote. Seated in an arm- 
 chair, he was put upon an ox-sled and brought to the 
 meeting-house, and deposited his ballot while seated in 
 his chair. At the presidential election in 1812, the vote 
 of Lee stood 180 for the Federal candidates to 14 for the 
 Democratic. 
 
 1812, June 18, a Proclamation of War against Great 
 Britain, was passed by a large majority in Congress. 
 Though the war was not a popular measure, and the peo- 
 ple were not prepared for it, it was carried on with spirit, 
 for it was felt that Great Britain's arbitrariness and 
 
164 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 aggressions could no longer be endured. Some Lee fam- 
 ilies had emigrated to Ohio, and it is well remembered 
 yet by some, how eagerly they waited news of Perry's 
 defeat or victory on Lake Erie. Goods were all ready to 
 be carted away, and houses abandoned, if his bravery 
 had not made him triumphant in the famous naval battle 
 of September 10, 1813. President Madison, in 1814, 
 July 4, called for 93,500 militia ; 10,000 from Massachu- 
 setts. Governor Strong refused to send them out of the 
 State. Great fears were entertained for the safety of 
 Boston, when it was supposed that a British fleet could 
 do to that city what was done at Baltimore and at Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 Fourteen men were drafted from the two militia com- 
 panies of the town as its quota, 1814, September 10. 
 They were mostly from the North Company ; they joined 
 with others to form a Company, of which John Nye was 
 chosen captain. * There was great alarm felt for the 
 safety of those compelled to enter a service which was 
 regarded by many in New England as an unjustifiable 
 and odious mismanagement of the nation's resources. 
 But the six weeks spent in Boston harbor, in monotonous 
 drill, were quite as devoid of interest as of danger. Ma- 
 jor General Joseph Whiton, of South Lee, was the com- 
 manding officer. He maintained good discipline. On 
 one occasion, having gone to Boston, it was late at night 
 when he returned. A guard had been stationed on the 
 Neck and would not let him pass without the countersign. 
 Colonel Dwight went two miles to get it. The soldier 
 was from Williamstown, and General Whiton commended 
 him for his fidelity. 
 
 *The others names were Thomas E. M. Bradley, John Olmsby, Samuel D. Stur- 
 gis, J. M. Remeley, Silas Garfield, John Norcort, Eben C. Bradley, Horace Treat, 
 John Woolly, John Ilowk 3d, Benjamin G. Osborn, John Allen, Arthur Perry and 
 Keith. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 165 
 
 THE OLD MILITIA AND TRAINING DAYS. 
 
 The laws of the State required the organization of the 
 citizens capable of doing military duty, for the purpose 
 of enrollment and training. It was distinct from the po- 
 litical or municipal organization, and few allusions to the 
 militia appear on the town records. A vote was passed 
 1784, March 8, not to divide the militia company, but as 
 no one can tell what a town-meeting will do, it is not sur- 
 prising that the next year, 1785, May 18, the Selectmen 
 and militia officers were instructed to divide the town 
 into two companies. The old line of the Hoplands, as far 
 as Mr. Howk's, was taken as the dividing line of the town, 
 and from thence the middle of the road east to Becket. 
 So exact was this geographical division of the population, 
 that there were 112 men in the North Company, 113 in 
 the South Company. Capt. David Porter was the captain 
 of the North Company at this time. Capt. Thomas 
 Crocker commanded the South Company. These two 
 companies continued thus to divide the town, and a gen- 
 erous rivalry was the natural result. 
 
 In 1810, it was found necessary to re-organize the mi- 
 litia system of the State. But about this time, also, ap- 
 pear physician's certificates, at $2 each, which released 
 the holder from the duty of training. The war of 1814 
 revived, in a measure, the military spirit in the commu- 
 nity, but 10 years brought about such social changes that 
 the Selectmen were ordered to sell all the powder on hand, 
 secure the other military stores in casks, and deposit 
 them for safe keeping under the stairs in the meeting- 
 house. 
 
 Twice a year, the active militia were warned out to gen- 
 eral training. It was a day of excitement to the boys, 
 who gathered from far and near to see the "doings." If 
 any boy had a penny to spend, it was as much as he ex- 
 pected, and a sixpence was enough in his opinion to 
 
166 TIIE niSTORY OF LEE. 
 
 make him feel as rich as Croesus. The parade ground 
 was the then open field north of the church, Barnabas 
 Adams' ten-acre lot. There was not often "a general 
 muster " at Lee. There was company drill in the morn- 
 ing, dinner at twelve, dress parade and battalion drill in 
 the afternoon. During the arduous duties of the day the 
 men were refreshed with pailsful of liquor furnished at 
 the expense of the officers ; and at the close of the train- 
 ing, a few words of compliment were expected from the 
 captain. Election to military office was sought in those 
 days as a means of political preferment ; but gradually the 
 system became not only inefficacious in drilling soldiers, 
 but odious from the abuses which crept in. Training day 
 was a day of drunkenness and confusion. It was difficult 
 to find any who would consent to take office. Vote after 
 vote would be taken, but no one would accept. Jep- 
 thah Kellogg's speech, when he was elected, has been 
 handed clown as an example of the prevailing feeling : 
 " I don't thank you, and I won't serve you." 
 
 All the idlers of the community gathered on training 
 day for a gala time. Booths were built, and cider and 
 ginger-bread, sold to the thirsty and hungry : sometimes 
 articles mysteriously disappeared without being sold, as 
 on one occasion when a huckster's back was turned, a 
 horseman rode up to the stand, stuck his sword through 
 the pile of cakes and carried them off as a trophy. It 
 must be confessed that a military display, the horses and 
 feathers of the cavalry, the uniforms, and glittering bayo- 
 nets of the infantry, the martial music, and the roar of 
 cannon, have something in them bewitching to the com- 
 mon mind ; but the training days occupied much time, and 
 were accompanied with so much drunkenness and rowdy- 
 ism, that the best men in the community came to regard 
 them as a nuisance, and these gala seasons became obso- 
 lete about the year 1830. 
 
TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 167 
 
 The interest of the community in military drill could 
 not long be maintained, when assured peace at home and 
 abroad made military duty obnoxious, because useless, 
 and worse than useless. The trainings of the militia 
 became occasions for drunkenness and degenerated finally 
 into such disgraceful buffooneries that their suppression 
 was effected none too soon. The system not only did 
 not train good soldiers, it made bad men of many of them. 
 Sometimes ramrods, in some awkward fellow's haste, 
 would be left in the musket, and when fired, pass 
 through some poor unfortunate's body. " The last mus- 
 ter in this vicinity was at Stockbridge, in 1830. The 
 North Lee Company w T as commanded by Captain Thomas 
 E. M. Bradle} 7 , with Dickinson Graves as Lieutenant ; South 
 Lee Company trained under Captain Zach. Winegar, 
 detailed that day to act as Major, leaving his command to 
 Lieutenant Henry Smith, assisted by First Sergeant Har- 
 rison Garfield, and Corporal Barnabas Hinckley. William 
 P. Hamblin was Lieutenant of a Cavalry Company." 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 
 
 With the close of the War of 1812, began a new era of 
 prosperity, with manifold changes in the whole system of 
 manufacturing. Instead of every house being a work- 
 shop, the introduction of cotton and woolen factories, 
 changed the whole social life and habits of the people, as 
 did in another way the introduction of railroads and the 
 consequent change of business centers. The rapid fall of 
 the Housatonic as it passed through Lee, gave this town 
 great facilities for manufacturing, but the water power 
 was at first principally used for saw and grist mills, lum- 
 ber and breadstuff being the great wants of the early 
 colonist. In 1806, Samuel Church, a practical paper- 
 maker, came from East Hartford to South Lee, and 
 erected a small paper mill near where the large mills of 
 
168 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 the Hurlbut Paper Company now stand. This was the 
 nucleus of the present great industry of the town, paper- 
 manufacture, an account of which will be given in con- 
 nection with the firms which are now so extensively en- 
 gaged in this business. 
 
 PUBLIC ACTION ON MORAL AND POLITICAL QUESTIONS. 
 
 Though the action of a town meeting in Western Mas- 
 sachusetts now has no such importance as it had in the 
 Revolutionary period of our history, it is gratifying to 
 know how uniform has been the sentiment of the town 
 in favor of righteousness and so of peace. 1854, it was 
 "Resolved, That we as a town desire hereby to record our 
 vote against the passage of the so-called Nebraska Bill, 
 regarding it as iniquitous in conception, and the violation 
 of a solemn compact." On the question of temperance, 
 the public sentiment of the town has uniformly been in fa- 
 vor of suppressing tippling shops. The subject has often 
 been discussed in town meeting, and the arguments and 
 the votes have testified to the high moral tone of the 
 community on this point. 
 
 The question of slavery was, from the first, a discord- 
 ant element in our national polity. The attempt fre- 
 quently made to divest it of power by one compromise 
 and another finally and signally failed. The election of 
 Abraham Lincoln as President for the term beginning 
 
 1861, March 4, was soon followed by the firing on Fort 
 Sumter, April 11. April 15, President Lincoln issued 
 his call for 75,000 troops ; May 4, 64,000 additional. 
 
 1862, July 1, 300,000. 1864, February 1, draft ordered 
 for 300,000 additional. Lee responded cheerfully and 
 promptly to all these calls, and said by its acts, " We 
 are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand 
 strong." 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 169 
 
 THE WAR OF SECESSION. 
 
 The first action of the town, on record, in reference to 
 the outbreak of the War of Secession, is in connection 
 with the town meeting called May 4, 1861. Prayer was 
 offered by Rev. Dr. Gale. On motion of Marshall Wil- 
 cox, Esq., it was voted, " That it is the sense of this meet- 
 ing that there be a company of at least 64 men enrolled in 
 this town to hold themselves in readiness for a call into 
 active service." Resolutions, offered by Mr. Wilcox, were 
 also adopted as " the unanimous expression of the feel- 
 ings of all the citizens of the town : " 
 
 Resolved, That the inhabitants of Lee deem it important that the 
 Government of the United States should have the hearty and earnest 
 encouragement and active assistance of every loyal citizen in suppress- 
 ing the treasonable Rebellion which aims at the overthrow of our laws 
 and the Constitution of the land, and that as citizens of Lee, actuated 
 by a love of our country and of universal liberty, we are ready to share 
 in the common effort of sustaining the Government; and as a town, 
 we assure those of our citizens who shall enter into the service of the 
 Government as volunteer soldiers, that their families dependent upon 
 them shall be well and honorably provided for, and sustained during 
 their entire absence. 
 
 Voted, That the Selectmen be authorized to borrow $3,000, if so 
 much shall be necessary, under the Resolution adopted by the town. 
 
 Voted, That the Selectmen be authorized to procure a suitable room 
 for a drill-room for the volunteers. 
 
 Voted, That a committee of four be appointed who shall have charge 
 of the funds in connection with the Selectmen, and said committee of 
 seven shall have entire control of the disbursement of the money, and 
 the following persons were appointed as said Committee : Selectmen, 
 W. G. Merrill, Edward Morgan, S. S. May. Committee of Four, Isaac 
 C. Ives, William Taylor, Harrison Garfield, John Branning. 
 
 Meetings for drill were held at once. A company was 
 organized, and called the " Valley Guards." Nearly a 
 hundred joined. A public meeting was held May 21, and 
 $140.00 raised to* procure uniforms, gray pants with black 
 cord stripe, and fatigue jacket. Hon. John Branning 
 22 
 
170 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 was elected Captain, and Luther Bradley, Lieutenant ; but 
 the Governor declined to accept them and the company 
 disbanded. At this time, Colonel Lee's (10th Regiment) 
 was mustering, and 22 joined Company A. Some went 
 to New York and joined Duryea's Zouaves; others went to 
 Boston, and joined the 2d Mass. Regiment (Colonel Gor- 
 don's) ; two or three went into New York Cavalry Regi- 
 ments. Early in October occurred the first soldier's fu- 
 neral. Charles Bassett, youngest son of Nathan Bassett, 
 had enlisted as a musician in the 6th Michigan Regiment, 
 in which his brother Chauncey was Captain, He died at 
 Baltimore of typhoid fever, aged 23 years, Oct. 20, 1861, 
 and his body was brought to Lee for burial. 
 
 The ladies were busy making and collecting such arti- 
 cles as the soldiers needed, and in November sent off 
 boxes of good things to the Hospitals at Washington and 
 Philadelphia, — shirts, drawers, pillow-cases and pillows, 
 stockings, towels, sheets, and various little conveniences 
 and comforts for sick soldiers. Nor were those in camp 
 forgotten, and from family friends as well as from the 
 Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society, almost every week the Ex- 
 press Company carried to the army some grateful tokens 
 of loving remembrance. 
 
 The Valley Gleaner for Feb. 20, published a list of sol- 
 diers connected with various regiments: 2d, 10th, 21st, 
 27th, 31st Mass. ; 5th, 6th, 18th, 24th New York ; 7th 
 Conn. ; 45th Illinois. Lieut. Luther Bradley and 25 with 
 him from Lee were in Company E, 27th Regiment ; 
 Lieut. B. A. Morey and 14 others in Company I, 31st 
 Regiment. William T. Fish was for a time Sutler of the 
 2nd Mass. Regiment. 
 
 At a town meeting held 1862, July 21, the following 
 resolutions were submitted and unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas, the President of these United States has called upon the 
 several States to raise 300,000 men to put down the Rebellion; and 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 171 
 
 Whereas, the quota of men to be furnished by this town of Lee is 37, 
 which number ought to be, if not already, promptly secured b} r volun- 
 tary enlistments : 
 
 Therefore, it is voted by the inhabitants of Lee, in town meeting 
 assembled, to pay a bounty of $100.00 to each person who shall enlist, 
 or who has enlisted, to make up the quota of men required of this 
 town, and that the same be paid when the men have been accepted 
 and mustered into the service of the United States. 
 
 Voted, That the Selectmen take steps to raise $3,700.00 in such 
 mode as they deem best, and appropriate the same to the payment of 
 the above bounty ; and we hereb}- pledge the honor, credit, reputation 
 and resources of this town to the Selectmen in the raising and appro- 
 priating of said money as aforesaid, and to any and all persons who 
 shall or may aid them by advancing on the credit of the town any 
 sum or sums of money whereby the Selectmen shall be enabled to 
 raise the said sum of $3,700.00. 
 
 Voted, That when the Selectmen shall have raised the money, they 
 pay the same into the hands of the Treasurer of the town, and the 
 same be paid out by the Treasurer for the purposes aforesaid to the 
 several persons who enlist to make up the 37 men, on the order of the 
 Selectmen and not otherwise. 
 
 July 26, Camp Briggs was established at Pittsfield for 
 the purpose of mustering and drilling troops. Here the 
 37th Regiment, as recruited, was stationed, till Sept. 7, 
 when they left, 975 strong, for Hudson, and thence to 
 Harper's Ferry, Va. The Regiment made for itself a most 
 honorable record. The officers and men from Lee in the 
 24 battles through which they fought their way, gained a 
 deserved renown as brave and steady soldiers. 
 
 A company was started to be commanded by Capt. 
 F. W. Pease, Lieut. G. H. Hyde, and Lieut. P. W. Mor- 
 gan, to join the 37th Regiment. Captain Pease and 
 Lieutenant Morgan took charge of the men in the Camp 
 at Pittsfield, while Lieutenant Hyde was recruiting. Col- 
 onel Edwards, in Lieutenant Hyde's absence, commis- 
 sioned T. F. Plunkett of Pittsfield, Lieutenant of the com- 
 pany. But after some effort and remonstrance, Lieuten- 
 ant Hyde received a commission in another company, 
 
172 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 and in the course of time was assigned to a position in the 
 company from Lee, of which he finally became captain. 
 
 August 24, when the President had issued his call for 
 volunteers for nine months, a mass meeting was held in 
 the park, and meetings were held also Monday, Tuesday, 
 and Friday evenings. A company, mostly from Lee, vol- 
 unteered under Capt. A. V. Shannon ; and others under 
 Capt. B. A. Morey. 
 
 August 31, the officers of the Lee company in the 37th 
 Regiment were presented with swords by the contribution 
 of friends ; and the officers in the 49th received, Nov. 6, 
 a similar expression of regard. 
 
 1862, Aug. 28, it was voted, that we, the town of Lee, 
 do hereby authorize the Treasurer upon the order of the 
 selectmen of this town to pay to each volunteer who shall 
 be mustered into the service under the call of the Presi- 
 dent for 300,000 men for 9 months, the sum of $100.00, 
 to be paid in manner provided for by the following reso- 
 lution, to wit : 
 
 Resolved, That the proper authorities of the town of Lee give to 
 each volunteer who shall he mustered into the service of the United 
 States, a note at 9 months date for $100.00 with interest. Should 
 any of the volunteers thus raised by said town of Lee he dishonorably 
 discharged, the said note or notes to be void. 
 
 October 11, when it was ascertained that such notes 
 were not negotiable, this action was rescinded, and imme- 
 diate payment directed except in case of transfer of note. 
 
 November 6, a draft was to have taken place to fill 
 up the quota demanded, but was postponed from Thurs- 
 day to Monday. Saturday evening a public meeting was 
 held. Individuals subscribed enough to offer $30.00 each 
 in addition to the $100.00 bounty voted, and seven men, 
 the number needed, promptly volunteered. 
 
 1863, July 25, the selectmen were authorized to bor- 
 row money to pay for the support of volunteers' families. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 173 
 
 Sept. 26, the town voted an appropriation of $7,247.52 
 to equalize bounty money paid. 
 
 When at the close of 1862, General Butler inaugurated 
 the policy of forming negro regiments, Chauncey F. Bas- 
 sett of Allegan, Mich., but a native of this town, received 
 a commission as Major of the First Louisiana Native 
 Guards. 
 
 The draft for this district for men to fill the quotas of 
 the various towns occurred at Springfield, 1863, July 14 ; 
 84 men were drafted, but on examination, Aug. 7, only 
 21 were accepted. Some had joined in leagues to pay for 
 any one of the membership the substitute money ($300) 
 required by the Government. Two of the six sons of 
 Mrs. Warren, a widow living at East Lee, were drafted ; 
 the other four sons had volunteered early in the war and 
 were then serving in the army. 
 
 1864, June 6, the selectmen were authorized to borrow 
 money necessary to pay each volunteer $125.00 bounty ; 
 and again, Dec. 13, had general authority to borrow 
 money to secure volunteers in anticipation of further calls. 
 Five of the citizens of Lee, at their own expense, sent 
 substitutes into the army. Sept. 1, an enthusiastic mass 
 meeting was held to promote enlistments. A committee 
 secured a subscription of $3,000.00, so that they offered 
 $175.00 bounty in addition to the $125.00 offered by the 
 United States, and $20.00 a month' paid by the State. 
 
 1863, Oct. 17, the President called for 300,000 more 
 troops. The quota of Lee was 42, and strenuous efforts 
 w r ere made to secure this number by volunteers before 
 the day fixed for a draft, Jan. 5. A recruiting office was 
 opened. The bounties offered were unprecedently large ; 
 $402.00 from the United States Government in addition 
 to the $325.00 from the State. Soldiers in the old regi- 
 ments re-enlisted, many of the 31st Massachusetts Volun- 
 teer Militia entering a cavalry regiment. The draft was 
 
174 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 postponed, but Feb. 1, 1864, a call was made for 500,000 
 men. May 12, it was announced that Lee must furnish 
 38 men to make up deficiencies. A draft of that number 
 brought only 9 accepted men, who paid their substitute 
 money. 29 others volunteered or agreed to go as substi- 
 tutes. When the list of drafted men was put up in the 
 Post Office some wag wrote beneath the list : 
 
 " Why should we mourn conscripted friends, 
 Or shake at war's alarms ? 
 'Tis but the voice that Abraham sends 
 Which bids them shoulder arms.'' 
 
 1865, April 3, the selectmen reported that large ex- 
 penditures had been necessary to secure recruits. 91 men 
 had been obtained in Boston. After the close of the war 
 the selectmen reported that 295 men in all had been sent. 
 But as the town sent 14 men in excess of its quota, the 
 Adjutant General says that 400 men must have been sent. 
 It is a matter of regret that the town records are so mea- 
 gre, deficient and imperfect, that no more accurate and 
 just account can be given of the part taken so creditably 
 by the town in the measures and movements of the four 
 years' war of secession. 
 
 Under the President's last call for 300,000 troops, it 
 was found that Massachusetts' quota was only 805, so 
 largely in excess had' been the soldiers credited to her 
 under former calls. 
 
 When the news reached town. Monday, April 10, that 
 Gen. Lee had surrendered, the excitement was intense. 
 The bells were rung, cannon fired, the operatives rushed 
 out of the mills to hear the particulars, to cheer, and to 
 congratulate each other at the final cessation of the long 
 and mournful struggle of the past four years. 
 
 Exclusive of money contributed by individuals and 
 paid by the town for what was called State aid to 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 175 
 
 the families of volunteers, the town raised and paid 
 $21,654.56. The money expended for State aid, for 
 which the town was reimbursed, was $20,776.46. 
 
 No record was kept of the contributions, by the ladies, 
 of articles for the comfort or necessities of the soldiers. 
 The Christian Commission received in all $1,005.17 in 
 money, $470.10 of this being a special contribution from 
 the ladies. Many boxes, whose aggregate value cannot 
 be given, were sent to the soldiers in camp and in hos- 
 pital. The ladies raised by a fair or festival, $289, and 
 by membership fees in the Soldiers' Aid Society, $172. 
 
 37th regiment. 
 
 The 37th Regiment was recruited in Berkshire County, 
 and under command of Col. Oliver Edwards, Jr., left the 
 State, 1862, September 7. It was attached to the Army 
 of the Potomac, and reached its destination in time to 
 take part in the battle of Fredericksburg. Company B 
 of this Regiment was mainly composed of soldiers from 
 this town, at first under the command of Capt. Franklin 
 W. Pease, who died of the wounds received in the hard 
 fought battles before Spottsylvania Court House, May 14, 
 1864, and was succeeded by Capt. George H. Hyde, who 
 continued in command till the close of the war. The fol- 
 lowing brief sketch of the history of this Regiment is 
 mainly taken from the report of the Adjutant General : 
 
 Leaving camp at New Baltimore, November 13, 1862, 
 the Regiment marched first to Stafford Court House, 
 thence to White Oak Church, and December 11, to the 
 Rappahannock at Franklin's Crossing below Fredericks- 
 burg, being the first regiment to cross at that point. 
 Guarded the bridges the next day ; were then posted on 
 the extreme left, and on the retreat of the army were the 
 last to recross. Remained in camp at Falmouth, where 
 the Regiment, with only three axes to a Company, built 
 
176 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 in a week 160 log-houses, 12 feet long, 7 feet high, 9 feet 
 wide, with a fire-place to each and a floor of pine poles. 
 April 28, crossed the Rappahannock again, and until May 
 4, the 6th Army Corps engaged nearly the whole of Lee's 
 Army. May 6, recrossed the river. Virginia mud inter- 
 fered with well-laid plans ; a more insuperable obstacle 
 than Secesh soldiery. June 13, took up the line of inarch 
 northward, crossing the Potomac at Edwards' Ferry, June 
 27, protecting the rear. July 2, after a forced march of 
 34 miles, reached the battle-field of Gettysburg. The 
 heat was intense, and in the marching at double quick 
 from point to point on the line, some twenty fell from 
 sunstroke ; at one time, 3 p. m., passing through a terrific 
 shell fire and losing 23 men killed and wounded. July 
 4, took position in the center on the front line. July 5, 
 the enemy having retreated, followed in pursuit. The 
 severities of the inarching are indicated by the fact that 
 when Middletown was reached, July 9, 180 men were 
 without shoes. Advanced, July 15, to Williamsport, but 
 Lee's Army had all recrossed the river. Marched down 
 the east side of the Blue Ridge to Warrenton, Va. July 
 30, detailed to do guard duty and provost duty in New 
 York City, in connection with the draft. October 14, 
 were ordered to report at Washington ; reached Warren- 
 ton October 20. November 7, marched to Rappahannock 
 Station, and November 26, crossed the Rapidan. Decem- 
 ber 2, fell back to the north bank of the Rapiclan cross- 
 ing at Culpepper Ford. December 3, went into camp at 
 Brandy Station. 
 
 In the campaign of 1864, the 37th Regiment bore a 
 conspicuous part. The following is the report of the ad- 
 jutant-general, of its conduct in the second day's fight, in 
 the battle of the Wilderness. " No regiment displayed 
 greater gallantry than did the 37th on the 6th of May. 
 It was on the right of the Gordonsville road, in the third 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 177 
 
 or fourth line of battle, as a support to the lines in front. 
 The front lines at last gave way, passing over the Regi- 
 ment in a complete rout. The enemy, flushed with ap- 
 parent success, pressed hard on. The order was given for 
 the 37th to advance. At the word, every man moved 
 forward under a withering fire, and hurled the enemy^s 
 lines back one upon another, for the distance of one- 
 fourth of a mile, and held the position till the line in rear 
 had time to reform. Being here exposed to a terrible 
 musketry fire from the front and both flanks, it was or- 
 dered to fall back, which movement it executed without 
 confusion." In the battles of the Wilderness, the Regi- 
 ment lost about 150 men, among whom were two brave 
 Lee lads, George Phinney and George W. Coope. 
 
 In the several engagements near Spottsylvania Court 
 House, the 37th bore itself with the same gallantry. In 
 the Adjutant-General's report for 1865, we find the fol- 
 lowing account of the " Battle of the Angle," fought on 
 the 12th of May, in which the 37th supported an attack 
 made by the 2d Corps. a The enemy was completely 
 surprised, and their works successfully carried. Then 
 ensued a hand-to-hand struggle for their possession. 
 The enemy in our immediate front, occupied one side of 
 the captured works and we the other, each party keeping 
 up a continuous fire on the parapet. Thus we fought 
 from sunrise till midnight, when the enemy relinquished 
 the field." 
 
 In this engagement, Capt. Pease and Lieut. A. C. 
 Sparks, both of this town, were wounded, the former fa- 
 tally. At Coal Harbor, Petersburg and Winchester, the 
 37th did the country service and itself honor. 
 
 From January to April, 1865, the Regiment was in 
 
 camp engaged in the usual routine of guard and picket. 
 
 February 5-7, it was held in reserve in the engagements 
 
 at Hatcher's Run and Dabney's Mills. March 25, six 
 
 23 
 
178 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 companies were deployed as skirmishers at the capture of 
 Fort Stedman. April l,in the assault on Petersburg, the 
 skirmish line was composed entirely of men detailed from 
 the Regiment, which occupied the front line of battle 
 in the brigade. The Rebels fired their last volley as 
 the colors of the Regiment, first in the division, were 
 borne by the gallant troops over the Rebel works. Sev- 
 enty miles advance was made in the marching and coun- 
 termarching of the next four days. On the morning of 
 the 6th, after marching 25 miles, eight miles on the 
 double quick, rushing across Saylor's Creek, with water 
 up to the arm-pits, the Regiment dislodged the enemy 
 from the opposite bank, and drove them over the crest of 
 the hill. But the regiment on the right gave way ; the 
 brigade on the left failed to advance. The Rebels massed 
 to the attack in heavy columns, but the fire from the 
 Spencer rifles was so terrific, that they threw down their 
 guns, held up their hands, and implored a cessation of the 
 battle. Yet on the flank of the Regiment, there were 
 many instances of hand-to-hand conflict and great per- 
 sonal bravery. Captain Hopkins commanded the Regi- 
 ment in the engagements of the 2d and 6th of April, and 
 was twice breveted for his gallantry in battle. After the 
 battle of Saylor's Creek, the Regiment followed the track 
 of Lee's Army until its surrender on the 9th near Appo- 
 mattox Court House. April 13, the Regiment returned to 
 Burkesville and rested a few days. April 23, ordered to 
 Danville, made the march of 100 miles in four days. 
 May 3, left Danville for Wilson's Station, a few miles 
 below Petersburg, and there guarded the railroad. May 
 18, started on the homeward march, were reviewed in 
 Richmond May 24, reached Washington June 2, partici- 
 pated in the Grand Army Review June 15, left for Mas- 
 sachusetts June 22, and were discharged at Readville 
 July 1. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 179 
 
 The 37th Regiment received a most gratifying ovation 
 when they returned home, 300 out of 975. In the cam- 
 paign of the Wilderness, the Regiment charged alone on 
 Longstreet's Corps, losing 100 men in 15 minutes, but 
 cutting the Rebel Corps in two. It is said that at Spott- 
 sylvania, each man fired 400 rounds of ammunition ; and 
 in the War Department at Washington is shown the 
 stump of a tree, cut in two by their bullets. At Win- 
 chester, they captured the flag of the 1st Virginia, the old 
 battalion of " Stonewall " Jackson. 
 
 the 49th regiment, 
 
 Under the command of Capt. W. F. Bartlett, of 20th 
 Mass. Reg., who had lost a leg before Yorktown, the 49th 
 Regiment of Mass. Vols, for Nine Months, was mustered 
 at Camp Briggs, Pittsfield. They were after a time re- 
 moved to Worcester where Capt. Bartlett was commis- 
 sioned as Colonel, S. B. Sumner of Great Barrington as 
 Lieut. Col. ; C. T. Plunkett, Major. This Regiment was 
 mainly composed of Berkshire men, and was recruited in 
 the Summer and Fall of 1862, the recruits from Lee and 
 vicinity generally joining Companies F. and H. 
 
 1862, September 27, at Camp Briggs, Company H. made 
 choice of officers as follows, viz. : Capt., A. V. Shannon 
 of Lee ; 1st Lieut., B. C. Deming of Sandisfield ; 2d 
 Lieut., DeWitt S. Smith of, Lee'; the whole number of 
 votes cast being 74. Company F., in which many from 
 Lee served, was commanded by Capt. B. A. Morey of Lee. 
 The Regiment was sent first to New York City, and kept 
 for several weeks doing provost guard duty. Their bar- 
 racks were at " Camp N. P. Banks," Long Island, 'near the 
 Union Course. So excellent was the discipline, so relia- 
 ble the men, that the department commander made 
 strenuous efforts to retain them at New York for their 
 whole term of service. But in 1863, January 24, they 
 
180 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 were sent in the steamer "Illinois" to New Orleans. Thence 
 they were sent to Carrolton, and to Baton Rouge, and 
 formed part of the 1st Brigade, Augur's Division. March 
 14, they were engaged in a feigned advance to Port Hud- 
 son ; and on their return did provost duty at Baton Rouge. 
 In May they constituted part of the expedition to Port 
 Hudson. May 21, they were engaged in the battle of 
 the " Plains Store," having five men wounded. May 27, in 
 the first assault on Port Hudson, they lost 76 killed and 
 wounded. Col. Bartlett was shot in the wrist and in the 
 heel ; Lieut. Col. Sumner was wounded in the shoulder ; 
 Lieuts. Judd and Deming were killed. In the feigned 
 attack of June 14, there were 18 killed and wounded. 
 They were kept at the front till Port Hudson surrendered, 
 July 9. On the 13th, having marched four miles up a 
 bayou to Donaldsonville. they were suddenly attacked 
 by the enemy, but by a circuitous march of three miles, 
 they escaped what seemed almost certain destruction. 
 Soon after this, they came up the Mississippi en route for 
 home, and arrived at Pittsfield, August 21. There went 
 from PittsHeld 947 officers and men ; 715 came home. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Major Adam Miller started off at the first call for 
 volunteers with B. A. Morey, E. W. Lewis, and two or 
 three others, to join Duryea's Zouaves in New York. 
 Not liking their style, they went to Boston and joined the 
 2d. Mass. Vol. Militia. In the battle of Cedar Run Moun- 
 tain, a minnie ball struck Miller on his right cheek, 
 glanced along the bone, going under his nose, and 
 coming out through the socket of his left eye. It made 
 a ghastly wound and deprived him of an eye, but he is 
 still living and engaged in active business at Foxburg, 
 Pa. 
 
 Capt. Peletiah Ward (20th New York Volunteers), was 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 181 
 
 from 1848 to 1850 the pastor of the Methodist Church in 
 Lee. At the outbreak of the war he was stationed at 
 Ellenville, N. Y. He was killed at the battle of Manassas 
 in 1862. Finding himself wounded, yet seeing the color 
 bearers repeatedly shot down, he staggered forward, 
 grasped the colors himself, only to be again wounded 
 more severely. 
 
 Capt. Thomas S. Bradley, (9th Co., N. Y., State Sharp- 
 shooters,) a native of Lee and a graduate at Williams 
 College in 1848, for a time pastor at Wilton, Conn., 
 while acting pastor of the church at Lebanon Springs, 
 N. Y., enlisted with a company mainly from his own 
 congregation. He was stationed at Suffolk, Va., where 
 he contracted a fever of which he died June 28, 1863. 
 His body was brought to Lee for burial. 
 
 Capt. F. W. Pease was wounded in the right shoulder 
 at the battle of Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864. He was 
 put into an ambulance to be taken to Fredericksburg, 
 but died on the journey and was buried by the roadside. 
 
 1864, July 31, Dr. George McAllister, a native of South 
 Lee, was brought there for burial. He was a Surgeon of 
 Sickles' Excelsior Brigade, and afterwards was appointed 
 by Gen. Hooker to locate and inspect hospitals in his de- 
 partment. His health failed, and coming North, lie died 
 at the Ashland House, New York City. 
 
 Eldad E. Moore, enlisted from this town in the 27th 
 Regiment, September 19, 1861. In a foggy morning, 
 May 16, 1863, before Fort Darling, the. regiment was 
 surrounded and 270 taken prisoners. With others, Moore 
 was sent to Andersonville, Ga., and lived through the 
 miseries of that horrible prison pen. In fear of Sher- 
 man's raid, the prisoners were removed to places of 
 greater security. Sent from Andersonville, September 
 26, Moore jumped from the cars, when they had gone 
 about 10 miles, and started of in a north-west direction 
 
182 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 for Atlanta and freedom. When he had traveled about 
 75 miles he was re-captured and sent to Columbus, Ga. 
 He exchanged clothes with some Southern soldiers, and 
 escaped by walking out of the prison as if one of the 
 guard. He reached Atlanta, and received new clothes 
 and a pass for the North. The train in which he left 
 Atlanta was captured by bushwhackers, but he escaped 
 from them and went to Atlanta for a fresh start. He 
 finally reached Washington and Boston, where he was dis- 
 charged, having been in service 3 years and two months. 
 Charles Gates, a minor son of William K. Gates of East 
 Lee, wished to enlist early in the war, but his parents dis- 
 approved. They sent him one day to drive the cattle to 
 a mountain pasture. He attended to this duty, and then 
 pushed on to the army rendezvous, and enlisted in the 
 10th Regiment. After fulfilling his term of service as a 
 soldier without a furlough, he arrived at Springfield, 
 1864, June 25. Leaving the cars at Bccket, he came 
 over the mountain to the pasture, and about the usual 
 time in the afternoon, drove the cattle home, where the 
 belated cow-boy was received with joyous welcome by 
 parents and neighbors. 
 
 CHANGES IN BUSINESS. 
 
 The war which was in the opinion of many to bring 
 ruin to the manufacturing interests of New England, in 
 fact brought prosperity such as was never known before. 
 Paper stock indeed was very scarce, and rags rose from one 
 cent a pound to five. Cotton mattresses were sold at a 
 great profit. But currency, such as it was, postal cur- 
 rency at first, and then greenback and fractional, was 
 very abundant. Large bounties were paid and generally 
 spent freely, though some were provident enough to invest 
 their money profitably. The 7-30 bonds of the Govern- 
 ment were eagerly taken, and the interest money paid on 
 
MEMORIAL HALL. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 183 
 
 these, stimulated many to invest in these securities. The 
 Government resorted to an internal revenue tax to meet 
 its extraordinary expenditures ; but this draft on the re- 
 sources of the people was cheerfully met. Mr. Elizur 
 Smith paid the largest internal revenue tax paid in this 
 county, over $4,000 monthly. The business prosperity 
 of the place continued on, receiving no check till 1873. 
 In that year the flush times culminated. It was a time 
 of general expenditure in building, repairing, and other 
 improvements. It is estimated that $350,000 were spent 
 that year in this town for such purposes. 
 
 Lee, with other manufacturing towns, felt the impulse 
 to enlarge business. New blocks were put up, new mills 
 built, and old mills enlarged. A desire had long been felt 
 to have a new avenue for the transportation of the prod- 
 ucts of the town, and the importation of the raw material 
 required in our mills. As the Housatonic railroad had 
 practically a monopoly of transportation, our manufact- 
 urers could not compete successfully with those of 
 Holyoke and other places whose goods were transported 
 at lower rates. The Lee and New Haven and Lee and 
 Hudson railroads were therefore projected. The history 
 of these roads is given in another place. 
 
 MEMORIAL HALL. 
 
 In 1869, April 5, the project of building a Memorial 
 Hall was first brought before the town. The design was 
 to have in such a structure not only some fitting testimo- 
 nial by grateful fellow-citizens to those who went out 
 from our homes to fight the battles of Liberty and Union, 
 but to combine with this consecrated memorial some pro- 
 vision of special advantages for the social needs of such a 
 community as Lee had now grown to be. A large hall 
 for public use was a pressing want. Offices were to be 
 provided for the varied administration of the town's 
 
184 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 affairs. In 1858 the selectmen had petitioned the town 
 for rooms for their exclusive occupancy, and also for a 
 fire-proof safe, as now required by law. The Post Office 
 could have special accommodations for its use. But be- 
 yond all, a Public Library could be secured, which would 
 be the supplement of the present system of school in- 
 struction, and furnish free education to every citizen. 
 At the annual town meeting, April 7, 1873, a committee 
 was appointed to consider the whole subject and report 
 plans at a future meeting. April 26, of the same year, 
 this committee reported that individuals had generously 
 subscribed $3,200.00 for the purchase of a site, on condi- 
 tion that the town would erect upon it, a suitable building 
 to serve as a memorial for the soldiers of the town in 
 the late war, and also for a town hall, library and other 
 public purposes. The committee further recommended 
 that the donation be accepted, and that a Memorial Hall 
 be erected upon the site proposed, the corner of Main 
 and North Park streets. The report of the committee 
 was accepted and adopted, and $22,000.00 was appro- 
 priated for the erection of the Hall. Messrs. Elizur Smith, 
 John Branning, Charles Bradley, Thomas O. Hurlbut and 
 William Taylor were appointed a committee to carry this 
 vote into execution. At a subsequent town meeting, 
 held Jan. 19, 1874, the committee were instructed to fin- 
 ish off the basement into rooms suitable for renting, and 
 $1,500.00 was appropriated to defray the expense, and 
 $1,000.00 additional was appropriated for providing suit- 
 able furniture for the Hall and town offices. In March 
 following, the committee were still further instructed to 
 prepare Memorial Tablets to be placed in the Hall, and 
 to contain the names of the soldiers from this town who 
 had sacrificed their lives in the late struggle for the integ- 
 rity of the Union, and $650.00 was placed at their dis- 
 posal for this purpose. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 185 
 
 This committee executed their trust faithfully, in no 
 instance exceeding the appropriations, and defraying from 
 their own pockets the many extra expenses which are 
 always incurred in the erection of such a building, and 
 which can not well be detailed in the contract. The 
 who]e cost of the Hall, including the donation for the 
 site, furniture, tablets, etc., was about $29,000.00. 
 
 Everything being finished, Memorial Hall was dedi- 
 cated with appropriate ceremonies, May 30, 1874, Rev. 
 Dr. Gale delivering an address which contained a pretty 
 complete military history of the town. This building, 
 while serving the original purpose of a memorial to the 
 Lee soldiers, is a great ornament to the town, and fur- 
 nishes commodious rooms for town meetings, town offices, 
 library and post office. 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE EARLY DAYS. 
 
 In this connection, it mny be well to fix in mind the 
 general condition of things in the commmunity, the occu- 
 pations and habits of the people, and the appearance of 
 the village. During the first ten years of the settlement 
 of the town, that is from 1760 to 1770, only thirteen 
 families had pitched their dwellings here. These all 
 lived in small log-houses, most of them on the mountain 
 sides, as the early settlers regarded the valley of the 
 river as marshy and unhealthy. No roads or bridges had 
 then been built. Travelers were guided on their course 
 by marked trees, and streams were forded, or crossed by 
 a fallen tree that served for a bridge. In 1770, John 
 Winegar came into town and built his log-house by the 
 side of the rocks near the site of the present Columbia 
 Mill. The rock served as the back side of his house, and 
 also as one side for his chimney down which he put his 
 wood to the fire-place. Near his dwelling Mr. Winegar 
 24 
 
186 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 built the first grist mill in town. At this time (1770), the 
 location of the few families in town was as follows : 
 Isaac Davis was living on his farm, now the McAllister 
 place near South Lee. Reuben Pixley lived on what is 
 now H. Garfield's farm, about a mile east of Mr. Davis. 
 John Goffe. an Irishman, lived a mile north of Mr. Pixley 
 on the J. H. Royce place ; Hope Davis lived a mile east 
 of Goffe on the hill a little east of Messrs. May's mill. 
 Near him, lived Aaron Benedict, George Parker and Wil- 
 liam Chanter, the latter a quaker and called " friend 
 William." Jonathan Foote occupied a log-house on the 
 farm now owned by T. L. Foote. Mr. Atkins lived in the 
 extreme east part of the town, near the old Shailer 
 tavern, now occupied by Mr. Belden. Elisha Freeman 
 pitched his house on the farm now owned by his grand- 
 son, J. B. Freeman, and a little north of him lived Lt. 
 Crocker, and a mile east on the mountain lived Mr. 
 Dodge ; and around him afterwards there was quite a set- 
 tlement, called Doclgetown. Here lived the blacksmith, 
 the shoemaker and the tanner, and here it was at first 
 proposed to build the church. In* and around the village, 
 there were not five acres of cleared land. Kunkerpot, an 
 Indian chief, had a wigwam in what is now the Park, and 
 several other Indian huts were in the vicinity. 
 
 During the next ten years, from 1770 to 1780, many 
 valuable citizens settled in town, among whom were 
 Nathaniel and Cornelius Bassett, Nathan Ball, Jesse 
 Gifford, Jesse Bradley, William Ingersoll, Timothy 
 Thatcher, Oliver and Prince West, Arthur Perry, Samuel 
 Stanley, Amos Porter, Josiah Yale, Ebenezer Jenkins, 
 Nathan Dillingham, Job Hamblin, and others. They 
 were men of intelligence, and generally of religious char- 
 acter, and have left their impress for good on succeeding 
 generations. Their dress and mode of living were simple 
 in the extreme. They lived amid poverty and war, but 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 187 
 
 were industrious, patriotic, and public-spirited. Very little 
 money was in circulation, and most payments were made 
 "by barter." Corn, wheat, leather, .etc., were the me- 
 diums of exchange. Many were the turns made to bring 
 about a balance of accounts. On the records of the build- 
 ing committee of the Congregational Church is the follow- 
 ing entry : " Nathan Dillingham, Cr. By settling with 
 sundry carpenters, making many turns, 50 cents." He 
 doubtless earned his money. Wheeled vehicles were 
 unknown, and the horse's back furnished the only means 
 for transportation. Women rode behind their husbands 
 on pillions attached to the saddles. Major Dillingham, 
 the first merchant, brought his teas, spices and dry 
 goods on horseback from Hudson, the nearest market 
 town. His store was in the buttery of his house. Great 
 friendliness prevailed among neighbors, and there was 
 much social visiting, and a general spirit of hospital- 
 ity. Rye and Indian bread was the staple article of diet. 
 This was made of two-thirds corn meal, and one-third 
 rye. 
 
 The condition of our New England communities at the 
 beginning of this century was in many respects most 
 enviable. " Nobody was rich, or poor : all were well-to- 
 do. The church bell was within sound, and the district 
 school-house within reach of the entire population. The 
 families were generally large. A dozen children was the 
 standard number. Everybody worked, everybody read 
 and studied. The men worked hard all through the 
 Summer, and thought hard all through the Winter. 
 None of the energies of life were prostituted to the greed 
 of gain, and none of the powers of the mind frittered 
 away in vain attempts to outdo one another in extrava- 
 gance of expenditure." 
 
 As indicative of the crude and tentative condition of 
 affairs in this period, allusion should be made to the 
 
188 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 entries on the town records in regard to inoculation for 
 the small-pox. That was the contagious disease most to be 
 dreaded in that time of general ignorance of any scientific 
 method of treatment. 1785, March 7, the town voted to 
 put this matter in charge of a committee appointed for 
 the purpose. No person was to be inoculated without 
 their permission. And the fact of recovery was to be 
 certified after careful examination, by a physician to be 
 appointed for this purpose by the committee. Some still 
 living, remember the pest-houses, rude cabins where those 
 duly inoculated, some half dozen at a time, were cared for 
 by nurses who had themselves passed safely through the 
 disease. 
 
 One indication of the predominance of agricultural 
 interests in the early history of the town, is the frequent 
 entry by the town clerk of the " marks of creatures," as 
 chosen by the different farmers. Nathan Ball's, for 
 instance, was " a hollow crop in end of left ear, and a 
 happeny cut on the upper side the wright ear." He 
 chose this, which was formerly Prince West's, when West 
 moved out of town in May, 1792. 
 
 One of the marks of a primitive period, was the right 
 claimed to pasture swine and cattle in the streets. The 
 hog-reeve, whose duty it was to see that swine running at 
 large were duly ringed and yoked, and to impound all 
 stray cattle, was as recognized an important official as the 
 shire-reeve, (sheriff). Not till 1816, do we find a record 
 to the effect that " swine should not run at large at any 
 rate," and not until 1859 was the right to pasture cattle 
 in the highway abridged by vote of the town in accord- 
 ance with authority conferred by the State law. The 
 hog-reeve's occupation from this time forth was pretty 
 much a nullity. The office was continued, and was 
 usually conferred as a joke on some recent benedicts. 
 With the disappearance of cattle from the highway, the 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 189 
 
 town pound also disappeared, and more recently the cus- 
 tom of fencing by the road-side was found to be a useless 
 expense, and is slowly becoming obsolete. 
 
 To the rude log-houses of the first settlers succeeded 
 such small framed houses as the terms of the grants 
 required should be built. The house in which Fenner 
 Foote lived may be regarded as a representative of this 
 style, and ought, on that account, to be preserved for the 
 instruction of future generations. As wealth increased, 
 say from 1790 onwards, a better style of farm-house, 
 generally one story high, came into fashion. Of late 
 years these have been extensively altered, repaired, gener- 
 ally raised another story, and remodelled ; but such a house 
 as John Bowen's will afford a good specimen of the old 
 style. The front door had a massive knocker and latch 
 handle. It opened upon a hall, or stairway rather, which 
 had doors opening on either side to the front rooms. On 
 one side the best room, seldom opened : on the other, the 
 sitting-room. The stairs twisted steeply upwards, with 
 square turns and landing places. A huge chimney occu- 
 pied the center of the house. Beneath the roof, this was 
 built of stone : above the roof, it was topped with brick, 
 and stood squarely solid, giving an air of stability and 
 strength to the whole house. Across the rear of the 
 house, back of the chimney, extended the kitchen. From 
 one end a part was taken off for the cellar stair way and 
 the back stairs above, adjoining which was the passage way 
 to the side-door. On the other end of the kitchen was a 
 bed-room or buttery. Beyond the kitchen was the milk- 
 room with the cheese-room. Beyond this, the wood-house 
 came, and next the carriage-house, if any ; or these would 
 be set at right angles to the main building. These houses 
 large and roomy, were built beyond the means of the 
 owners to finish at once. As the ability and size of the 
 family increased, one room after another was finished. 
 
190 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Sometimes the children slept in chambers not plastered 
 nor ceiled. The stars could be seen twinkling in the sky 
 at night, or the coverlet in the morning would be white 
 with the snow that had drifted down. The children in 
 one family had the measles at a time when the gable end 
 of the house, of loose boards, fell in before a driving 
 storm : but as plenty of fresh air was recommended in 
 sickness of this kind, the children went through the 
 troublesome malady all right. The chambers were cold, 
 and the warming-pan was an indispensable requisite to 
 make one comfortable for the night. The high four- 
 posted bedstead with tester and valance, and curtains of 
 copper-plate chintz, gave the impression that sleeping was 
 considered a part of the serious business of life, for which 
 most formidable preparation must be made. Feather- 
 beds, piled halfway to the ceiling, and covered with snow- 
 white tufted spreads, suggested a resemblance between 
 going to bed and ascending some Alpine summit. 
 
 The great kitchen fireplace was the center around 
 which the household work revolved the greater part of 
 the year. Sometimes the huge back log would be drawn 
 in by the old horse. More frequently it was rolled into 
 its place with a cant hook. The floor timbers would 
 shake with the jar every time the log was rolled over. 
 
 No " patent medicine " almanacs, or agricultural news- 
 papers, bewildered our grandmothers with recipes for jel- 
 lies and salads, sauces and soups. Milk and mush made a 
 most excellent breakfast or supper for the children in 
 these primitive homes. Johnny-cake twice a week, and 
 rye doughnuts as often, furnished all the variety thought 
 needful. The farmers' dish of pork and beans, or the 
 boiled dish of salt beef and cabbage, called " potluck," was 
 heartily relished by the men whose work called for long 
 protracted muscular toil. Hulled corn was a delicacy. 
 In the proper season, ham and eggs formed a favorite 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 191 
 
 dish. Fresh meat was a luxury. Butcher's carts did not 
 commence to carry meat till about 1828. 
 
 The kitchen furniture was very simple. The table was 
 of cherry, or there were two tables that could be put end 
 to end when there was company to be entertained in ad- 
 dition to the usual number of the family. Hooks driven 
 into the ceiling, supported poles on which hung strings 
 of dried apples, or rings of ripe pumpkins. The " dress- 
 er," or open cupboard, displayed an array of burnished 
 pewter plates and cups, and also the wooden trenchers, 
 articles of daily household use. The china cups, if the 
 family had any, were kept in the closet in the best room, 
 and when company was entertained were brought out 
 with much ceremonious apologizing and moving of chairs 
 away from the cupboard or dining-room door. The 
 kitchen mantle-piece was adorned with candlesticks and 
 snuffers, a well smoked Bible and a well thumbed almanac. 
 
 About 1820, wooden clocks began to be introduced 
 from Connecticut. Previous to that time, the long cased 
 clock was as much a badge of family respectability as the 
 piano-forte is now. Between the windows hung a mirror 
 in a gilt frame, and on the lamp-stand beneath was stored 
 the pile of weekly newspapers, and the literature of the 
 family. Around the walls were ranged the chairs of 
 wooden or of splint bottoms, and room was found also 
 for a chintz-covered lounge. Before the days of the 
 present chromo-civilization, the only specimen of the pic- 
 torial arts that adorned the walls was generally some 
 mortuary memento, or the lithograph portrait of some 
 one of the Presidents. 
 
 The best rooms had no carpets before 1820. Those 
 first used were made of pieces of cloth sewed together, 
 with figures of different hues and devices sewed on after 
 some simple pattern ; later came in the rag-carpet, woven 
 in the old hand loom, out of strips of cloth cut and dyed. 
 
192 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 What endless talk went on with the planning, cutting and 
 weaving of these home-made carpets, till they challenged 
 the admiration of every visitor by the firmness of their 
 texture, or the splendor and clearness of their dyes ! The 
 paneling around the room was simplicity itself, compared 
 with the high wooden mantel-piece most elaborately 
 ornamented with joiner work that baflles description. 
 " Gingerbread ornamentation" it has been named. Fid- 
 dle-back chairs, straight and high, were ranged in sym- 
 metrical order around the room. 
 
 The people of Richmond, in those days, considered 
 themselves quite aristocratic, and regarded Lee people as 
 exceedingly plain and altogether too democratic to con- 
 stitute the finest society. But refined society does not 
 depend wholly or chiefly on style of household living or 
 of personal attire. The style of dress during the Revolu- 
 tionary period, was that which had been customary for 
 nearly a century. It was supplanted by the less pictur- 
 esque, if more comfortable fashion of modern male apparel. 
 Knee breeches and short clothes passed out of date. The 
 ruffled shirt and the swallow-tailed coat maintained their 
 place longer among the essentials of a gentleman's ward- 
 robe. Such style of apparel was not common among the 
 farmer folk of Lee. They were a frugal, hard-working peo- 
 ple. The leather apron was almost universally worn by 
 the men and boys. Blue checked linen aprons were worn 
 by the women and girls. For head-gear, the men wore on 
 grand occasions tall, stiff", beaver hats; one was expected 
 to last a lifetime. Round wool hats were the ordinary 
 covering. The mothers made the cloth caps the boys 
 wore in Winter, and braided the coarse straw hats for 
 Summer wear. Sun-bonnets nicely starched, were the 
 girls' simple covering, who had no thought of such hide- 
 ous deformities as modern fashions have imposed upon 
 the women of our time. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 193 
 
 The tailoress and dress-maker went from house to 
 house every Spring and Fall to help in fitting the family 
 for the change from Summer to Winter garments. The 
 shoe-maker carried his kit in like manner from house to 
 house. This was commonly called " whipping the cat." 
 Each family furnished the stock for boot and shoe mak- 
 ing, and in every town there was needed a tanner's and 
 currier's shop to prepare the leather. Three years' soak- 
 ing in the vats was considered none too long to secure a 
 serviceable article. When David Baker and Ben. Brown 
 were the shoe-makers, engaged from year's end to year's 
 end, in the sacred mysteries of their craft, their fashion was 
 to leave home Monday morning to fulfil their engage- 
 ments, and return Saturday evening. Night and day the 
 work was going on, and the weekly wages of six dollars 
 was thought ample pay. When the measure of the foot 
 was taken, the custom was to stand against the wall of 
 the house, with the heel firmly held against the mop- 
 board. The sharp knife that looked as if it would take 
 off a piece of the toe, was stuck in the floor. " Now, 
 stand aside," was the next direction given, and then with 
 a splint or twig, the length of the foot was noted. Care 
 was taken to make the shoe or boot broad enough, but 
 whether it was broad-toed, or square-toed, or round-toed, 
 w T as not a question of much importance. When the peo- 
 ple walked to church, they often would carry their shoes 
 till within the last half mile ; then wear them to " meet- 
 ing," with the sweet consciousness of having saved unnec- 
 essary wear of shoe-leather. 
 
 The women found their hands and hours fully occupied 
 in providing within doors for the varied wants of the 
 household, while the men were kept busily at work in the 
 labors of the field. 
 
 There was no better school for the training of the 
 young to diligence and enterprise, than was furnished by 
 25 
 
194 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 the varying experience of New England farm-life. Each 
 day had its regular work, hut that work was so varied as 
 to demand, almost moment hy moment, the exercise of 
 sound judgment in deciding what was to he done, and 
 how it was best to do it. There must be planning and 
 contrivance to make the most of the limited resources 
 of the household. With this constant need of fore- 
 thought, it is not at all surprising that the farmers of the 
 town were so generally fore-handed and thrifty. The 
 farmers' wives had no time to spend in bemoaning their 
 nervousness and taking drugs for various weaknesses ; 
 yet neither were they so overburdened with work, as to 
 be only drudges, rather than companions and counselors 
 for husbands and children. 
 
 The common method of traveling was on horseback. 
 There were side-saddles for the women, but most fre- 
 quently they rode on a pillion behind the husband, or 
 brother, or beau chevalier. Children would sometimes 
 be taken by the father to school on horseback, two riding 
 behind him, two in front, and one held in his lap. Dr. 
 Hyde's chaise was the first one owned in town. 'Squire 
 Yale's made its appearance about the same time. 'Squire 
 Whiton had for his family, a four-wheeled covered car- 
 riage with thorough-braces. Dr. Sergeant rode in a gig ; 
 Dr. Bartlett on a buck-board. 
 
 A stranger coming to Lee at the commencement of the 
 present century, would have seen little to lead him to 
 anticipate the closely packed, intensely busy community 
 of the present day. There was not even a sufficiently 
 large cluster of houses around the meeting-house to indi- 
 cate the center of a thriving farming community. Not a 
 house of any kind was then on the west side of Main 
 street, and on the east side only the one-stoiy house, long 
 known as the Barna Adams place, now owned by Elizur 
 Smith, on what is now the corner of Franklin street. 
 
RESIDENCE OF DeWITT S. SMITH. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 195 
 
 'Squire Jenkins, who had first lived on the hill east of 
 John B. Freeman's present residence, moved into the vil- 
 lage, and lived, where DeWitt S. Smith now lives, in a one- 
 story house. Cornelius Bassett, a mason by trade, occu- 
 pied a one-story house on the corner of Main and West 
 Park streets, and the cellar walls now form a substantial 
 foundation for the beautiful residence of Wellington 
 Smith. Indeed, the timbers of the first story of the 
 present mansion are the same that were in the house of 
 Mr. Bassett. Cornelius T. Fessenden, the merchant, occu- 
 pied a small house on the corner east of the Park, which 
 now constitutes the rear of the house standing on this 
 corner. Nathaniel Bassett, the blacksmith of this part of 
 the town, lived where Mr. E. A. Moore, who married his 
 granddaughter, now lives, and Maj. Nathan Dillingham, 
 the hotel-keeper and business man, occupied the old " Red 
 Lion," as his tavern was called, from its being painted red 
 and having the figure of a lion for its sign. 
 
 Dillingham and Fessenden kept store in the building 
 which is now the residence of William Bartlett. The 
 store was the place to hear the news. Either there, or 
 at the " Red Lion " tavern, the men gathered to talk over 
 village politics, or tell tales of former experiences, or re- 
 hearse the traditionary lore of family or community. 
 They amused themselves often in playing upon each 
 other rough, practical jokes. The newspaper did not 
 then bring to every man's door the knowledge of all 
 events of interest, near and far, within each preceding 
 twent}^-four hours. No persons made it their business to 
 furnish entertainment for other people. Yet fun they 
 had, rather boisterous and rude, it must be confessed. 
 Diversions of some kind are a necessity of human nature. 
 Amid all the austerities and rigidities of those days, hal- 
 lowed to us by veneration for the right principles of con- 
 duct and character maintained by our New England 
 
196 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 ancestry, relaxations were sought in modes which now 
 would be considered low-toned. 
 
 Every occasion for social enjoyment was eagerly im- 
 proved. Going to meeting was desirable for its opportu- 
 nity for social intercourse, as well as for the exercises of 
 public devotion to which the sanctuary was consecrated. 
 The town meeting was an opportunity for development 
 of powers of thought, expression, and leadership. It was 
 a principal element in the formation of the New England 
 type of character, thoughtful, independent, sensitive to 
 public opinion, yet conscious of individual responsibility 
 in the maintenance of correct and honorable public senti- 
 ment. A large class, of course, neither appreciated nor 
 desired mental and moral qualities and powers, so much 
 as they did the manifestation of physical strength, and 
 indulgence in hilarious merriment. 
 
 One Winter evening, Messrs. Porter and Goodspeed 
 bad been boasting in Dillingham's store of the merits of 
 their horses. The clerk, Nat. Backus, slily fastened a 
 coil of rope to the hitching post and to the sleigh ; then 
 urged them to show the speed of the old mare which 
 stood waiting for them at the door. He backed the 
 sleigh up to the post, handed them the reins, and at the 
 word " Go," off they started. The old horse sprang for- 
 ward, went about two rods, and then stopped with a sud- 
 den jerk that sent the men out of the sleigh over the 
 dasher. A second trial resulted in a similar spill, when 
 suspecting the trick, Goodspeed jumped out, cut off the 
 rope at the post, threw it into the sleigh, and without a 
 word of inquiry or reprimand drove off, undoubtedly 
 thinking he had the best of the joke. 
 
 Major Dillingham was the village poet, and some of 
 his humorous versification is still handed down in the 
 older families, as reminiscenes of old-time ways. Mr. 
 Daniel Foote, having lost an umbrella, put up a notice of 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 197 
 
 his loss in the post-office, but in such a crabbed style of 
 hand-writing, that Major Dillingham was tempted to per- 
 petrate a piece of friendly criticism : 
 
 " Daniel read the writing on the wall and gave the interpretation, 
 Bnt never a Daniel since the fall could read such a notification." 
 
 The Sabbath was a day of abstinence as complete as it 
 could be made, from all ordinary household work. Reck- 
 oning it as beginning, according to the old Jewish cus- 
 tom, from sunset Saturday, it was the custom to have 
 all work cease about an hour previous. Clothes were to 
 be mended, and clean ones laid out in readiness for the 
 Sabbath ; even shaving was all done Saturday that there 
 might be no unnecessary infringement on holy time. 
 The Bible was brought out, and all noise sternly prohib- 
 ited. The Sabbath day dinner of baked beans, and baked 
 Indian pudding, was kept hot in the oven, waiting the 
 return of the f amity from church. Family prayers were 
 duly observed on the Sabbath day, if they had small time 
 alloted them on week-clays. The sermon — text, heads, 
 applications, — was rehearsed, more attention being paid 
 to what Avas said than, as now, to the manner of saying it. 
 
 The vices and faults of the olden time were such as be- 
 long to a ruder, a less artificial state of society, than our 
 present social surroundings. There was general friendli- 
 ness of feeling ; kindly interest in one another. If a 
 neighbor wanted the loan of a horse to go to meeting or 
 to mill, to attend a funeral or to make a visit, such a fa- 
 vor was freely proffered. In case of family troubles, the 
 neighbors would come in to talk over the affair, and to 
 tender their advice as well as sympathy and help. Quar- 
 rels there were in neighborhoods and churches, often over 
 very trivial matters, and kept up with persistent infatua- 
 tion. But the average sentiment of the community was 
 sturdily and steadily on the side of right and justice. 
 
198 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Poverty was not so much of a bar, as it is now, to posi- 
 tion and welcome in general society. Tricks to defraud 
 creditors, or to inveigle the unwary, were not so common 
 as in these days of mad, reckless haste to be rich. There 
 was no such opportunity as now, for the embezzlement of 
 trust funds, and the gigantic stealing of railroads, by the 
 very magnitude and audacity of the operation to dazzle 
 the public into forge tfulness of the crime. Industry, 
 honesty, energy, and economy, were regarded as the 
 main reliance for the accumulation of wealth. There 
 were distinctions and grades in society, and for a time, as 
 in the old practice of " seating the meeting-house," and 
 " dignifying the seats," an attempt to estimate and fix by 
 some arbitrary standard, each person's social worth and 
 rank. But such an attempt was contrary to the anima- 
 ting spirit of our social and political institutions, and it 
 was abandoned as irritating and impracticable. The min- 
 ister, as the one trained thinker of the community, made 
 upon the people the impress of a higher life than earthly, 
 a deeper life than the life of appearance, a power in right- 
 eousness to direct and govern the life, just as the church 
 edifice, differing from and towering above the ordinary 
 buildings, was a constant, silent witness for God and for 
 the reality of His higher law. " The divine sovereignty " 
 was a favorite topic in the religious talk of those clays, as 
 prominent as the modern scientist's disquisitions on the 
 uniformity of the laws of nature. Dr. Shepard used to 
 say of Dr. Hyde that "he was a born minister." Never 
 was he unmindful of his high calling to a spiritual leader- 
 ship. Duty was inculcated in the daily conduct of life, 
 as earnestly and persistently as was the fundamental doc- 
 trine of the Gospel that for the attainment of life's great 
 cud there must be personal consecration to Christ as the 
 only and all-sufficient Divine Redeemer. No one, young 
 or old, could be absent from church, and expect that Dr. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 199 
 
 Hyde would overlook it. " I did not see you in your 
 place last Sabbath. Were you sick ? " would be an in- 
 quiry sure to be made before another Sabbath came 
 round. No event of marked importance could transpire 
 in the family history, that the faithful pastor did not 
 make an occasion for pertinent religious exhortation. 
 Yet it was all done in such a spirit of kindly considera- 
 tion and of personal interest, that no offence could be 
 taken. 
 
 Strong drink was the cause of most of the thriftlessness 
 of those days, as it is of the pauperism and crime of the 
 present. All classes drank. Stimulants were supposed 
 to be undeniably necessary. Farmers could not believe 
 that their work would be better done, or clone at all, 
 without some "white-face," New England rum, or some 
 " black-strap," rum sweetened w r ith molasses. Toddy 
 and flip were common beverages. Everybody drank, and 
 only when manners and morals grew steadily worse, did 
 any one recognize in the prevailing drinking usages of 
 society, the source and head of the direful evils with 
 which society was cursed. When Dr. Field came over 
 from Stockbridge to attend some extra meeting in the 
 East Lee school-house, he stopped at some house near 
 by, to take something warm. Those that attended meet- 
 ing, thought the preacher's eyes were brighter, and his 
 tongue more glib, because of the extra good liquor that 
 had been furnished him. At every meeting of the neigh- 
 boring ministers at Dr. Hyde's, pipes and tobacco, glasses 
 and the wine bottle were to be provided for the com- 
 pany. When John B. Perry, a son of the minister in 
 Richmond, kept store in Lee, one of Dr. Hyde's sons was 
 sent to get the bottle filled. "Seems to me," snid the 
 storekeeper, " those ministers drink a great deal." " Yes, 
 they do ; " was the reply, " there's one old codger by the 
 name of Perry, that's a regular old soaker." It was 
 
200 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 through the ministry and the pulpit, however, that the 
 people were convinced of the evils of intemperance, and 
 incited to take measures to put a stop to it. After the 
 truth began to be recognized, old social customs were 
 abandoned, yet not before many had gone down to the 
 drunkard's grave, and irreparable injury had been done 
 to children and to children's children. 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTUEY. 
 
 BY BEY. E. W. BEXTLEY, D. D. 
 
 The interior life of Lee was moulded by two forces ; first, the char- 
 acter and circumstances of its founders and earl}- settlers ; ami sec- 
 ondly, by tlic Puritan idea of the supremacy of the church over the 
 State. The early inhabitants <>f the town, for the most part, stood on 
 a social and financial equality. None were very rich and few were 
 very poor. And in education and general intelligence none towered 
 much above the general level. The great majority of them were trained 
 to industrious habits, and expected to get on in the world by honesl 
 and earnest hard work. Labor was in high repute among them, for by 
 means of it alone could they conquer success in the strife for wealth 
 and honor. Hence a man's industry was a large factor in computing f lie 
 problem of his social position. And industry again was rated by the 
 morality and intelligence which made it effective. Starting thus, and 
 going forward side by side, those early neighbors kept well abreast of 
 one another, and no great social distinctions grew up among them. If 
 some succeeded better than others, there were yet few who failed alto- 
 gether. They were at first mainly farmers, wdio coaxed and wrested 
 their living from the grudging hands of their mother earth. In a 
 neighborly way they helped one another, the man of many acres using 
 the surplus labor of the smaller farmers, and they in turn, eking oul 
 their deficient harvests from the superabundance of the larger. And 
 thus there grew up between them a sense of mutual dependence and a 
 community of good feeling which kept down ambitious strifes and 
 petty alienations. As for jealousies between crafts and tradesmen, 
 there were too few of them, ami one was too much beholden to another 
 to admit of any great competition. The professional men who came 
 among them were accepted for what they proved to be worth; and 
 the\ fortunately had the good sense to put on no airs. Conceding to 
 the law that all labor is equally honorable, chey arrogated nothing of 
 superiority for head-work over hand-work. Hence the farmer and 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 201 
 
 lawyer were on social good terms, and the doctor and the blacksmith 
 greeted one another with mutual respect. 
 
 Nor did this state of things change essentially as the "Center" 
 grew, and the two phases of society, village life and farm, or country 
 life stood side by side. The extremes of style and fashion never took 
 deep root in the village ; and in the essentials of culture and refine- 
 ment the farmers' families never allowed themselves to fall far below 
 the standard in the village. Hence there was never any " great gulf 
 fixed" between the " country " and the "town." Social intercourse 
 between them was constant. In all matters of public concern, they 
 usually managed to see eye to eye. The farmer's jealousy of the vil- 
 lager, and the villager's impatience with the farmer, influences which 
 have marred the development of more than one New England town, 
 never attained to any formidable strength in Lee. There was always 
 some compromise at hand to bridge over any differences of judgment 
 between them. The entire population of tbe town were therefore held 
 well together, and no local feuds or divisions existed among them. 
 They had no men of great wealth to wield the money-power over them. 
 They had no aristocratic "first families 1 ' who prided themselves on 
 their "blue blood"' and the long life of their genealogical tree. They 
 had no famous names which overshadowed all other names, and super- 
 seded all other cards of introduction to places of honor and influence. 
 On the contrary, they measured each other by a rule of positive worth, 
 and leadership fell, as a general thing, to the most deserving. 
 
 The social life of Lee, as I knew it forty years ago, was exceedingly 
 simple, and very little restricted by forms and ceremonies. Any 
 man of known good character and an average common sense, found 
 little difficulty in working his way into any circle. The larger and 
 more formal "parties'' — "receptions" were then unknown — or were 
 not of frequent occurrence ; since in the estimates of the more staid 
 and sober, they savored of " worldly vanity." The givers of them 
 were credited with a desire either to imitate "an ungodly world," or 
 else to outshine their neighbors, which was an offense quite as intol- 
 erable. Yet when such a thing did occur, there was usually no lack 
 of guests, the uncharitable ones being especially anxious to confirm 
 their suspicions by oceular proof. But upon the more informal gath- 
 erings, no such restriction was laid. The young people met and 
 mingled with great freedom. On these occasions the chief means of 
 warding off stiffness and stupidity were the old-fashioned games of 
 " Copenhagen," ••'button, button," "forfeits," and the like. Dancing 
 was ruled out by public opinion, and they who were bold enough to 
 engage in it. seldom cared to boast of their courage. Cards, and all 
 2G 
 
202 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 games of chance were strictly banned, being looked upon as the devil's 
 own tools, and no respectable hands cared to touch them. In the 
 country neighborhoods the nine o'clock bell was tbe usual signal for 
 dispersion. For lovers, Sabbath evening was the day of the week for 
 which all other days were made. Sunday began at the going down of 
 tbe sun on Saturday, a custom which left the swain free to worship at 
 the shrine of Cupid, unhampered by any fear of breaking the fourth 
 commandment. And besides this, was be not, having "been to meet- 
 ing'" during tbe day, ready dressed for tbe service *.' As a result of 
 tins use of Sunday nights, there commonly appeared, sooner or later, 
 beside the church door a brilliantly illuminated poster reading some- 
 how thus: ''0 yes! yes! Mr. Blank of this town and Miss So- 
 and-so of this (or some other) town intend marriage. Attest, Ransom 
 Hinnian, Town Clerk." Never again will there shine forth such 
 splendid "Publishments" as issued from the hand of that prince of 
 penmen, Ransom Hinnian. I recall a lady friend of those days, who 
 said she was induced to name an earlier day than she bad at first des- 
 ignated, by a sly suggestion of her "intended," that Mr. Hinman's 
 term of office was about to expire and he might not be re-elected. 
 
 Among neighboring women, afternoon visits were much in vogue. 
 They took their sewing or knitting with them and began their session 
 as early as half-past two, or three o'clock: continuing it till "'chore- 
 time." The subjects discussed at these sittings took a wide range, from 
 "New Measures" to "Navarino bonnets,'* and from the last Sunday's 
 sermon to the virtues of " opedildoc " in cases of croup. The sup- 
 pers — they had no "teas'' — on these occasions, were models of house- 
 wifely skill and ingenuity, the hostess seeming to take it for granted 
 that she was on trial before a jury of her peers. Sometimes the pur- 
 pose of the visit was a "quilting," to which the older girls were also 
 invited and stayed into the evening, when the boys were expected to 
 come in and " assist " in their peculiar fashion. These not being full- 
 dress occasions, calico gowns predominated with short waists and great 
 puffed-out sleeves from the shoulders to the elbows. To these were 
 added a " vandyke," and white lace caps with a border broad or nar- 
 row, according to tbe wearer's taste. The cloaks of these days hung 
 straight from head to foot and were of a Scotch plaid pattern, with all 
 the colors of the rainbow, and some that were nut. crossing each other 
 at right angles. The bonnets were of the "coal-scuttle" variety — 
 although then no mortal could tell what a coal scuttle was like. — in- 
 terspersed with the green -calash.'* which opened and shut like a 
 modern carriage top. "Mitts,'" a sort of cross between a mitten and 
 a glove, covered the hand and about an inch of each linger. Fashion, 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 203 
 
 no less imperious then than now, was still less fickle. Her moods — 
 or modes — could then be predicted for the next six months with toler- 
 able exactness. 
 
 The women of that day were notable workers. Modern Bridget- 
 ism had not tried their patience and unstrung their nerves ; they were 
 not tormented by sewing-machines and patent wringers ; nor " worried 
 to death " by dress-maker's blunders, and twelve-buttoned gloves. And 
 hence they found time and strength to spin their daily " run,"'" to 
 weave the Winter's need of homespun, and then to do much, if not all, 
 the cutting and making of it into the Winter's family-wear. How 
 they found time for social intercourse, for self-culture, and for charita- 
 ble work, must ever remain a mystery to the modern advocates of 
 female suffrage. It suits the orators of to-day to praise the " Fathers 
 of New England," but whatever they were their mothers made them. 
 Blowing aside a good deal of froth and foam it is possible to get at a 
 deep residuum of substantial fact in what has been written and de- 
 claimed about New England influence and the soundness and worth of 
 New England principles ; but I venture to say that for what is char- 
 acteristically good and distinctively influential in the "down East" 
 nature and work ; the world is indebted quite as much to New England 
 mothers as to New England fathers. 
 
 The moral and religious life of Lee was shaped in a great measure 
 by the other force which I have named. The old Puritan idea of a 
 Commonwealth was a confederation of independent sovereignties. It 
 made the town — an autonomy in itself — the basis of the State. In 
 this system a town was a territory some six miles square, more or less, 
 with a '• meeting-house " in the geographical center of it : no matter 
 if that center came upon the top of the highest rock in the township. 
 And that meeting-house was the nucleus around which all interests in 
 the town crystallized ; and the center whence radiated all the influen- 
 ces that determined the town character and life. In it, or in close 
 proximity to it, all public business of the town was transacted ; and 
 to it all residents of the township were expected to go up as regularly 
 as the Sabbaths returned. And in Lee this pre-eminence of religious 
 over secular concerns, was early established and long maintained. 
 There may have been in it, or about it, a lingering relic of the old 
 " Half-way covenant " notion, that a man must be conformed to the 
 church in morals at least, if he would be qualified for preferment in 
 the State, but certainly there was nothing of that in the theology 
 that was preached. That was Calvinistic through and through. For 
 nearly fifty years there was no competing creed in town ; at least any 
 that took on organic form. Whatever of dissent, disbelief, or unbe- 
 
204 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 lief there was did not collect its forces and challenge public recogni- 
 tion. Hence the Congregational Clinic]], under the continuous and 
 systematic leadership of Dr. Hyde, went on with its work unmolested, 
 and gave unquestioned law to public sentiment. Fortunately, Dr. 
 Hyde was an honest man. He believed what he preached, and 
 preached what he believed. He taught the faith that was in him. and 
 taught it in such a way that bis people knew it was in him. Accord- 
 ingly they took in all that lie gave them, doctrine, metaphysics, exe- 
 gesis and all. Dr. Hyde trained up a townfull of theologians. Men, 
 women and children discussed original sin and fore-ordination. And 
 with honest Dr. Hyde, faith without works was dead ; theory that did not 
 lead on to practice was a mere tinkling cymbal. Lee people in those 
 days were not literary; they did not multiply books and papers; and 
 therefore, Dr. Hyde's teachings were not overlaid and smothered by 
 imported facts and notions. They had, or took, time during the week 
 to examine and store away right side up, the lessons of the Sabbath, 
 and as a general rule they put religion and moralit\ r in alternate lay- 
 ers. All practical subjects took on a moral, if not a religious, aspect. 
 The question of expediency seldom went before, but usually followed 
 after that of right and wrong. It was so in politics, in all matters of 
 moral reform, and usually so in all business transactions. Certainly 
 all violations of this practice were followed by a severe penalty. The 
 man who did not go to meeting lost caste ; a dishonest man was de- 
 spised ; a profane man or a hard drinker, was converted into an 
 "awful example " and used " to point a moral or adorn a tale." In 
 politics Lee was largely of one mind. All good children were born 
 whigs, and it took a deal of other kinds of goodness to compensate 
 for the sin of being a democrat. There may have been in those days 
 political corruption in town affairs, but if so. it must have had a 
 growth like that of plants in the dark. A man stained in character 
 was rarely named for office ; and if he was, he usually needed more 
 votes than he got, to elect him. To indicate publicly any anxiety for 
 an office always lessened one's chances; and to electioneer for one's 
 self insured his defeat. The principle assumed and applied was that 
 if the town wanted a man's services the town would elect him ; and 
 hence upon his nomination the candidate usually went home and kept 
 silence. If he did not want the otHce he had but to hint to his neigh- 
 bors that he would like to have them vote for him ; and he was pretty 
 sure not to be burdened with it. 
 
 But it was not altogether by his sermons that Dr. Hyde held the 
 town together. His office itself gave him great strength. The min- 
 istry in those days was a divine institution, and not a mere device to 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 205 
 
 help men while away an otherwise idle hour on Sabbath morning. 
 And Dr. Hyde magnified his office out of the pulpit as well as in. 
 Directly or indirectly, he touched all town life and work. All rev- 
 erenced him, all confided in him, all looked to him for sympathy in 
 sorrow, and advice in trouble. In family visitation he came in con- 
 tact with the children, and then " catechised " them in the district 
 schools. And thus, after all, his pastoral work was his great work. 
 
 The Sabbath, in Lee, was scrupulously observed. Even those who 
 did not go to meeting, spent it mainly within doors. But almost 
 everybody attended public worship. The modern close-communion 
 buggy, with its little too much room for one and not quite enough for 
 two, had not then begun its devil's work of thinning out the churches. 
 In all the outlying districts some one or more of the farmers had their 
 large-boxed, lumber wagons in which they gathered up their carriage- 
 less neighbors, so that, "I couldn't go afoot,"' was no excuse when Dr. 
 Hyde — as he was sure to do — came during the week to find out the 
 reason for non-attendance. These side streams of wagons, emptying 
 their drift into the larger channels, and these again into the main 
 river, dashed a flood of worshippers around the old meeting-house at 
 the second ringing of the bell on Sunday mornings. The services 
 which ensued were simple and sober. The psalm or hymn was from 
 Watts' version. The prayer was systematic, earnest, but slow and 
 minute, and therefore long, measured by the modern standard. Spe- 
 cial requests were often interpolated, now for some one sick and nigh 
 unto death, then for some one in trial, and anon for some adventurous 
 family about to undertake the perilous journey to the " Holland Pur- 
 chase " or the far off ; " Western Reserve."' The choir was large and 
 backed by Capt. Lander's huge bass-viol, filled the great room with 
 sonorous melody. Then was Mr. Hollister. the leader, wrapt into 
 ecstacy and his whole person rose and fell with the cadences of the 
 tune, like a waif on the billows of the sea. Sometimes Major Wilson 
 came down from Lenox, and then the old fugue tunes roared and rat- 
 tled, and the different parts chased one another up and down and 
 played tag among themselves in a most bewildering way. Such in- 
 spiriting song ! No wonder the small boy of the period who tenanted 
 the gallery, got excited now and then, and needed to be soothed by a 
 touch of ''Uncle Joe'" Chadwick's horn-tipped rattan. The sermon 
 was methodical aud unadorned, but clear and pointed ; and always 
 closed with some definite instruction concerning the sinner's way to 
 Christ. 
 
 After the morning service, the congregation resolved itself into a 
 Sabbath-school. For many years Dea. Nathan Bassett superintended 
 
206 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 it, and did his work grandly. Old and young, male and female, were 
 formed into classes. My mother was in one, my father in another and 
 myself in a third. Gray-headed men were in one pew, and spectacled 
 old ladies in another ; and all were engaged in a common work. I 
 have never seen another such Sabbath-school since. The half-hour 
 between the school and the afternoon service, was devoted to " dinner ''" 
 and talk. The Orthodox dinner on these occasions consisted of 
 " cookies " well spiced with caraway seed ; these being about the only 
 kind of victuals that could be trusted in the pockets of the Sunday 
 coat. At this time, also, in Winter, the foot-stove was replenished, its 
 morning fire having succumbed to the length of the sermon, or to a 
 want of draft. Meantime a diligent discussion was going on ; some- 
 times of the sermon, sometimes of the Sunday-school lesson, and 
 sometimes of some secular affair of general interest. 
 
 The afternoon sermon was usually upon some "lighter"' topic than 
 that of the morning ; and if the morning discourse was upon a doc- 
 trinal subject we sometimes had the practical use of it set forth in the 
 afternoon. The home-going was done staidly yet cheerfully, and the 
 dinner, bountifully provided for on Saturday, was encountered by an 
 appetite decidedly secular. 
 
 I had something in mind about the two great political Sundays — 
 Fast and Thanksgiving days — which our governors used to give us in 
 the Spring and Fall ; but I pass them by. Great changes, I pre- 
 sume, have come over the town since the times of which I have 
 spoken. Other churches, other ministers, other men and other forces 
 have met and mingled there where the Puritan spirit, and Puritan 
 ideas once reigned supreme and reigned alone. The interior life of 
 Lee has doubtless grown broader and noisier, but I question if it has 
 grown deeper and purer. If my view of it shall seem too rose-colored 
 to be real, I have only to say thai perhaps the haze of time may have 
 dimmed the darker hues without shading at all the brighter ones. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 The poverty of the people, the sparseness of the popu- 
 lation, the drain made by the war in the early history of 
 the town, were evident obstacles to the religious progress 
 of the community. Various traditionary stories perpetu- 
 ate these characteristics of the primitive days. 
 
 " Old Mr. Swift visited the Bassetts soon after their 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 207 
 
 settlement here, and as he looked around him, exclaimed 
 to his friends, " I think that you are very highly favored 
 in this town." When asked " Why so? " he replied, "I 
 have noticed that ministers and other good men always 
 pray for the desolate parts of the earth, and I have no 
 doubt but that you share in their prayers." 
 
 When David Baker left the Cape in 1780, he was a 
 young man, and so desolate was this region then con- 
 sidered, that his pious mother remarked as he left her 
 home, " David is going to Mount Ephraim, and he will 
 never hear another sermon." 
 
 The act of incorporation did not require of the inhabi- 
 tants as a condition of enjoying the " power, privileges 
 and immunities " of other such incorporated towns, that 
 they should settle a " Godly, learned, and Orthodox minis- 
 ter within three years." This crowning characteristic of 
 the old Massachusetts town system was long delayed, 
 though it was an almost constant item in the warrants 
 for the town meetings, the business of the church being 
 at that time transacted by the town. This intimate con- 
 nection of church and town continued through the first 
 half century of the town's history, and as most of the 
 inhabitants were Congregationalists, no other church 
 being established at the Center till after the death of 
 Dr. Hyde in 1833, no apology is necessary for the promi- 
 nence given to the Congregational Church in the early 
 annals of the town. The history of the one is inseparably 
 interwoven with that of the other. 
 
 The first sum of money which the town voted to raise 
 was "for preaching the Gospel." The whole business 
 transacted at the second town meeting 1778, January 8, 
 was the vote " to raise the sum of £30 lawful money, to 
 be laid out in preaching the Gospel. Voted, to choose 
 three men for a Committee, to employ a preacher, and to 
 pay him the above money that is voted — Jesse Bradley, 
 
208 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Oliver West, and Job Harablin." The first religions 
 meeting was held in Deacon Oliver West's barn, which 
 stood where a barn now stands upon the old Wakefield 
 place, near the burying-gronnd. The hay-mow consti- 
 tuted the orchestra. That old barn echoed in sweetest 
 melody, with the divine songs sung by that choir in 
 which the children of Jonathan Foote were the principal 
 performers. In view 7 of this fact, Nathan Dillingham, the 
 then poet of Lee, perpetrated the following : 
 
 ■•David and Ase sing bass ; 
 Jonathan and Fenner sing tenor : 
 'Vice and Sol beat them all." 
 
 1780, April 7, the town was in favor of securing a 
 " Prispeartering Minister, and voted to settle Mr. Fowler, 
 offering him £50 yearly for a " sallery," and £180 for 
 a " settlement/' not to be paid in coin, however, but in 
 " country produce," prices to be good as money was in 
 1774. June 15, 1780, a committee was chosen to hire 
 preaching for three months. It was " voted to raise 
 £24: silver money, or the equivalent value thereof in 
 Continental money to be assessed, and paid in before 
 August 1, next, and if any man refuses to be assessed, he 
 is to apply to the assessors, and they are not to assess 
 him." It must be remembered that this was during the 
 very darkest period of the Revolutionary War, when the 
 people seemed almost wearied out with a fruitless strug- 
 gle, and no hope of speedy and triumphant issue had yet 
 begun to dawn. There can be no doubt of the " liber- 
 ality" of the religious sentiment that was ready to pass 
 such a vote. There must have been from the mv.it 
 variety of origin and character in the first settlers, a great 
 variety of religious sentiment. 
 
 A Congregational Church was organized 1780, May 25, 
 very independently, as appears from the record. No 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 209 
 
 council seems to have been called. " The Professors of 
 religion in the town of Lee, met and formed themselves 
 into a church, the Rev'd Mr. Daniel Collins of Lanes- 
 borough being present at their request to assist in form- 
 ing them." They numbered 38 members, 14 men, and 
 24 women. After being organized, they appointed a 
 committee to invite a council to attend the ordination of 
 Mr. Abraham Fowler, as Pastor, June 8. The churches 
 invited were Sheffield, Egremont, Stockbridge, Lenox, 
 Pittsfield, Lanesborough and Williamstown. But the 
 church was doomed to a great disappointment, from 
 which it did not apparently recover for a long time. So 
 many in the town enlisted in a remonstrance against Mr. 
 Fowler, that the council refused to ordain him. 
 
 1780, December 27, the town voted to raise money for 
 preaching to be paid Mr. Catlin. 1781, May 18, £40 
 raised to pay Mr. Kirkland for preaching. A vote passed 
 in April, 1780, "to exempt all the Churchmen and 
 Baptists, and the Quakers from settling and supporting a 
 Presbyterian minister in town," was renewed at this time. 
 It indicated the heterogeneous character of the com- 
 munity, and the difficulty of united action in religious 
 matters in the town meetings. 1782, February 5, a com- 
 mittee was chosen to " apply to Mr. Elisha Parmelee to 
 come and preach to us." November 29, voted to hire 
 preaching till March l,and the committee were instructed 
 to apply to Mr. Catlin, if he could not be obtained " to 
 use their Dischression." 1783, May 12, when the ques- 
 tion was put in regard to granting the request of a peti- 
 tion against supporting Mr. Parmelee, 19 voted in favor 
 of doing this, 39 against it. After a few records of ad- 
 mission and baptism we read, " 1783, July 3, Mr. Elisha 
 Parmele was ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry 
 and pastoral charge of this church." A paper protest- 
 ing against this action and signed by 21 persons was 
 27 
 
210 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 presented to the council, but Mr. Parmele's views in regard 
 to future punishment were pronounced scriptural and 
 right. The objections made by believers in universal 
 salvation were adjudged to be groundless, but the council 
 thought best to ordain him. July 5, £60 voted to hire 
 preaching. 
 
 1784, May 18, the church voted leave of absence to 
 Mr. Parmele, whose health had failed. He proposed to 
 take a journey to Virginia, It was mutually agreed that 
 Pastor and church might enter into new engagement if 
 opportunity offered. Mr. Parmele was sound in the faith, 
 amiable in his manners ; highly respected for his piety 
 and talents. But from the failure of his health, his 
 ministry was of short duration. While traveling in pur- 
 suit of health, he met death with hardly a moment's 
 warning, when in Virginia at the country-seat of Col. 
 Abraham Bird, August 2, 1784, when nearly 100 miles 
 short of the place he intended to reach. He was only 29 
 years old. 
 
 For eight years the church was without a pastor ; 
 many candidates employed ; many attempts unsuccess- 
 fully made to settle some one as pastor. 
 
 1784, November 23, the Committee were instructed 
 " to agree with Mr. Storer to preach as long as he will 
 agree for." 1785, March 28, Mr. Hatch was to be em- 
 ployed still longer, six Sabbaths if possible. £60 voted 
 to procure preaching. 1785, August 14, Mr. Kirkland 
 preached. 1785, October 30, Mr. Lord was " applied 
 to," to preach. November 17, those present at the 
 meeting were equally divided as to whether he should 
 preach longer. 1786, March 13, the Committee were 
 instructed to apply to Mr. Warren. 1786, June 25, Mr. 
 Monson, the minister of Lenox, preached. July 14, it 
 was proposed to send to Mr. Haskell, but no vote was 
 taken. July 18, Dr. Beebe was invited. July 31, Mr. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 211 
 
 Haskell was asked to preach ''while he conveniently can." 
 September 21, when the vote was taken, there was a 
 division of opinion, 56 being in favor of Dr. Beebe, 23 in 
 favor of Mr. Haskell. November 1, Dr. Beebe was asked 
 to preach " a spell longer." November 20, Mr. Haskell 
 was invited to preach 4 Sabbaths. 1787, September — 
 the Committee was instructed to send for Mr. Mills. 
 September 25, they were instructed to secure Mr. Calvin 
 White "as long as they can." November 30, the town 
 voted to unite with the church in giving a call to Mr. 
 White. 1788, February 11. the Committee were to apply 
 to Mr. Collins "to preach with a view to settle." April 
 0, Mr. Avery preached, the minister of Alford, and after- 
 wards of Tyringham. May 7, £50 voted for preaching. 
 1788, September 8, the committee were to apply to Mr. 
 Holt. This application resulted in the town's voting 50 
 affirmative, 1 negative to concur in calling Mr. Holt. 
 The terms offered were £80 yearly salary, and £200 
 settlement. 
 
 In January, 1789, the town voted to apply to Mr. Wil- 
 liam Miller. March 1, there was a unanimous call voted 
 to Mr. Miller as also by the Church March 16, on the 
 same terms as those offered to Mr. White. 1789, May 
 11, either Mr. Pratt, was to be engaged for six Sabbaths 
 more, or Mr. Crocker of New Haven. 1790, January 4, 
 Mr. Lee of Salisbury was to be asked to preach. May 4, 
 Mr. Mead, after his journey to Boston, was to be secured 
 to preach. 1790, September 23, the town appointed a 
 committee to treat with regard to making some altera- 
 tions in the Church covenant — a most unusual instance of 
 a town's interference with what is now considered the 
 special province of every church or society. 1790, Sep- 
 tember 27, in answer to a communication from the town, 
 the Church voted to "give Up or lay by their covenant, 
 and take the Bible alone for their rule of government," 
 
212 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 but voted also, that " grace is a necessary qualification for 
 communion." The Church had excommunicated Deacon 
 Bradley, 1788, June 26, for denying eternal punishment, 
 and sent a committee, 1790, July 29, "to converse with 
 Mr. Penoyer respecting his ideas of all mankind's being 
 
 finally happy." 1791, March , Mr. Abel Jones was 
 
 called, on the same salary as had been offered to others. 
 July 25, Mr. Stephen Williams was engaged for four 
 Sabbaths. A vote to give him "a call" was passed, 76 
 for it, 5 opposing. The salary offered was £60 the first 
 four years, then £80. A settlement of £200 was to be 
 paid in grain, cattle, or bar-iron. Or he might have 
 £100 a year with no settlement. Or, he was offered, 
 £90 annual salary, with the improvement of a parsonage 
 containing convenient lands and buildings within a suita- 
 ble distance from the meeting-house, so long as he shall 
 continue to be our minister. It may be noted here that 
 Dr. West of Stockbridge, in 1775, had a salary of £80, 
 yet such was the pressure of poverty, that during the 
 war he was one year not paid at all. 
 
 1791, December 19, it was voted, 82 affirmative, 3 
 negative, that the Committee should apply to Mr. Hyde 
 to preach longer. He had been introduced to the peo- 
 ple by Rev. Mr. Williams of Dalton, at whose house he 
 was visiting. 1792, February 23, the Church met and 
 voted unanimously to give Mr. Alvan Hyde a call to 
 the pastoral charge. 1792, March 5, the town voted to 
 call Mr. Hyde, "85 to 29 neuters and against, including 
 other persuasions;" 1'200 settlement was offered, £50 
 yearly for four years. £60 salary the first year to be 
 increase! £5 yearly till the salary should reach £80. 
 May 8, William Ingersoll, Esq., Dea. Oliver West, John 
 Nye, Levi Nye, Nathan Dillingham, Capt. Josiah Yale, 
 were appointed a Committee " to provide articles for the 
 ordination of Mr. Hyde." June 5, the council met. Dr. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 213 
 
 West of Stockbridge was moderator, Dr. Backus of Som- 
 ers preached the sermon. It would seem that the 
 Church was not suitable or not large enough. The rec- 
 ord reads, "June 6, 1702, the council proceeded to a 
 convenient stage erected for the purpose, and solemnly 
 consecrated Mr. Hyde to the sacred office." 
 
 The Committee above named, were requested to con- 
 sult Mr. Hyde on the subject of purchasing land for him. 
 With the advice of this Committee, the young pastor 
 bought of Mr. Abraham Howk 54 acres, and commenced 
 building the house which he occupied during his long 
 pastorate of forty-one years. His salary of £60 ($200) 
 would not seem to justify the enterprise, but he had se- 
 cured the affections of the people, and they encouraged his 
 building, and contributed liberally in lumber and other 
 material. Capt. Nathan Ball said to him, " We will all 
 help you, and I will bring you a little honey every year," 
 a promise which he never failed to keep. Money was a 
 scarce article in those days, and a little went a long way. 
 The house was not completed for several years, and when 
 he moved into it with his bride in 1793, his bed-room 
 was well ventilated, as it was open up to the rafters. 
 
 It is painful to any one who has familiarized himself 
 with the early history of our New England towns, to see 
 how much of the time of ministers and people was spent 
 in unpleasant controversies. While the Congregational 
 polity fostered independence of thought and feeling, its 
 freedom from ecclesiastical rubrics opened wide opportu- 
 nities for unreasonable and fractious spirits to hinder 
 what they did not wish to help. When, as was the case 
 in Lee, there was no community of sentiments and of in- 
 terest, the wonder is, not that any unity of action was so 
 long delayed, but that any united action was at any time 
 possible. The young preacher had no nattering pros- 
 pects before him, when he began his work as pastor of a 
 
214 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 feeble church and a heterogeneous community. But 
 with God's blessing, discouragements and difficulties were 
 overcome. Patient continuance in well-doing brought 
 about at last a different condition of affairs. The church 
 and the community felt the gentle, steady pressure of the 
 moulding hand. " We have been very Shaysy here," 
 said Mr. Cornelius Basset to the young pastor, "and 
 you'll have to be wise as a serpent to keep the peace 
 among us." Peace, however, was maintained between 
 pastor and people, and the dissensions among the latter 
 gradually decreased. Mr. Hyde preached the truth in 
 love, and a powerful revival of religion soon after his or- 
 dination, greatly strengthened the church, and tended to 
 harmony in society generally. This was the beginning 
 of a series of revivals, which continued all through Dr. 
 Hyde's ministry, and made his church at the time of his 
 death, one of the largest in Western Massachusetts. The 
 little " meeting-house " soon became too strait for the in- 
 increasing congregation, and in 1800, the large and, for 
 the times, beautiful church edifice, which lasted till 1857, 
 was erected. A more particular account of the church 
 edifices is given elsewhere. 
 
 Dr. Hyde's father was Joseph Hyde, a farmer in Frank- 
 lin. Conn., originally called Norwich Farms. He was 
 born in that town February 2, 1768. His mother died 
 when he was six years old. When he was 14 years 
 old he began to prepare for College. His pastor, Rev. 
 Dr. Nott, was his teacher. He entered Dartmouth Col- 
 lege in 1784, and graduated in 1788. In 1786 he united 
 with the College Church. He taught school one year in 
 Northampton, and then commenced the study of theology 
 under Rev. Dr Backus at Somers, Conn. He was li- 
 censed to preach by the Tolland County Consociation, 
 June. 1790. Part of the two following years he studied 
 theology under Rev, Dr. West, of Stockbridge. He was 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 215 
 
 ordained pastor of the church in Lee, June 6, 1792. He 
 was married April 25, 1793, to Miss Lucy Fessenden, of 
 Sandwich. She was a sister of Mrs. Nathan Dillingham, 
 of Lee. When some rumors of the approaching marriage 
 began to be whispered, one of the sisterhood in the 
 church undertook to inquire of Dr. Hyde whether the 
 report was true. " I know it's none of my business," 
 she began, " but I should like to know." " If it is not 
 your business," was his reply, " why do you make it 
 your business? " 
 
 The first year of his pastorate here was a general 
 revival of religion, and 110 were added to the church. 
 This brought into the membership most of the leading 
 men in the town, and throughout the forty years of his 
 ministry, the weight of social influence was on the side of 
 the church. There were 21 male members at the time 
 of his settlement. From being small and feeble and 
 divided, the church grew to be one of the largest and 
 and strongest in this part of the State. He died, as he 
 had desired to do, in the midst of his usefulness. After 
 he had preached a Thanksgiving Sermon, November, 
 1833, an attack of pneumonia prostrated him, and he 
 never entered the pulpit again. His illness made rapid 
 progress, and December 4, 1833, "he fell asleep," aged 
 sixty-five years, ten months, and two days. 
 
 Years before he died, Dr. Hyde was commonly spoken 
 of as "venerable." He was naturally sedate; in tem- 
 perament, a marked contrast to his life long-friend and 
 neighbor, Rev. Dr. Shepard, of Lenox. His whole de- 
 meanor conveyed the impression of eminent spirituality 
 and sanctity. He was a prudent man in his measures, 
 and of well balanced judgment. As a preacher, he was 
 not oratorical, but simple and solemn. When the truth 
 he uttered was evidently taking effect, he would say, "1 
 pause " — and many a sinner has had solemn thoughts 
 
21 <'» THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 during these pauses. While not demonstrative, he was 
 searching. In the times of special religious interest, 
 which were frequent under his ministry, his pungent di- 
 rectness brought the truth very close to his hearer's con- 
 science. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
 from Dartmouth College in 1812. He was invited often 
 to attend ecclesiastical councils, where, as in the ordi- 
 nary association meetings, his opinion was valued as the 
 expression of a discriminating and deliberate judgment. 
 
 He was several times urged to stand as a candidate for 
 the Presidency of Williams College, and to take a pro- 
 fessorship of theology. But his sympathies and his judg- 
 ment bound him to the people and the pastorate in Lee. 
 Between thirty and forty young men pursued their studies 
 for the ministry under his care. Both young and old 
 were strongly attached to him, regarding him with loving- 
 reverence as one worthy of all respect and confidence. 
 He was of medium height, and of substantial build, in his 
 countenance and demeanor conveying an immediate im- 
 pression of solemnity and benignity, which became the 
 abiding impression of all who knew how affectionate and 
 sympathizing was his heart, what propriety and consist- 
 ency there was in his conduct in all his domestic and 
 social relations. 
 
 1 834, May 2, the church voted to call Rev. J. N. Dan- 
 forth. The council for his installation met June 17. 
 Rev. Dr. Shepard, of Lenox, was chosen Moderator, and 
 he also preached the sermon. Rev. James Bradford, of 
 Sheffield, was the Scribe. The council met on Tuesday, 
 organized, and then examined the pastor elect. Wednes- 
 day morning they met for a season of prayer, and in the 
 afternoon the installation services were duly performed. 
 This custom of taking two days for the installation of a 
 pastor, was kept up in this part of the state, and was the 
 arrangement when Dr. Gale, in 1853, was installed. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 217 
 
 When Mr. Danforth was installed, the charge to the Pas- 
 tor was given by Dr. Field, of Stockbridge ; the Eight 
 Hand of Fellowship, by Rev. Edwin W. Dwight, of Rich- 
 mond ; the Address to the People, by Rev. James Brad- 
 ford, of Sheffield. Soon after Mr. Danforth's installation, 
 and agreeably to a vote of the church, an eight days' pro- 
 tracted meeting was held, October 16-24. That was a 
 new measure in those days, as novel an arrangement as 
 the Tabernacle meetings of Messrs. Moody and Sankey 
 in Boston. The strong Calvinistic expressions of the old 
 creed of the church, seemed to some to require modifica- 
 tion and the 11th article in which the grace of God, 
 which was described originally " as a free, unpromised, 
 sovereign gift," was, to meet their wishes, amended by 
 the omission of the epithet " unpromised." After a pas- 
 torate of four years, Mr. Danforth resigned, 1838, March 
 7, and was dismissed with cordial testimonials to his fidel- 
 ity and success, by a council which met 1838, March28. 
 
 Joshua Noble Danforth was the son of Hon. Joshua 
 Danforth, of Pittsfielcl, who was an officer in the Revolu- 
 tion ; his mother was a daughter of Hon. David Noble, of 
 Williamstown. Born in Pittsfield, 1792, young Danforth 
 fitted for college at Lenox Academy, and graduated at 
 Williams in 1818. After completing the course of theo- 
 logical study at Princeton, his first settlement in the 
 ministry was at Newcastle, Delaware, and his next at 
 Washington, D. C. He had left this and was acting as 
 Agent of the Colonization Society, when he received the 
 call to succeed Dr. Hyde. After leaving Lee, he became 
 pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, at Alexandria, 
 Va. He resigned this, and became a second time an 
 agent for the Colonization Society, continuing in this till 
 just before his death, which occurred at Newcastle, Del., 
 November 14, 1861. He received the degree of D. D., 
 in 1855 from Newark College, Del. 
 28 
 
218 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 During the year 1839, the church voted, though un- 
 successfully, to call Rev. Robert McEwen, and then with 
 like ill success, Rev. IL N. Brinsmade, of Pittsfield, Rev. 
 Laurens P. Hickok, of Hudson, Ohio, Rev. Leonard E. 
 Lathrop, of Auburn, N. Y. They voted, 1840. January 
 24, to call Rev. W. B. Bond, and the call being accepted, 
 the council for his installation met March 18. Rev. Dr. 
 Shepard, was Moderator : Rev. T. S. Clarke, of Stock- 
 bridge, Scribe ; the sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. 
 Osgood, of Springfield ; the charge was given by the 
 Moderator: and the Right Hand, by Rev. Mr. Brinsmade. 
 After a 6 years' pastorate Rev. Mr. Bond resigned 1846, 
 March 18, and was dismissed April 8. Mr. Bond is still 
 living, and is pastor of the church in New Braintree, 
 Mass. He has many warm friends in Lee, and was pres- 
 ent at the Centennial Celebration. 
 
 1846, October 23, the Church voted to call Rev. Ralph 
 Smith of Curtisville, and the council for his installation 
 met December 8. Rev. T. S. Clarke of Stockbridge, was 
 Moderator, and preached the sermon ; Rev. E. B. Andrews 
 of Housatonic, the Scribe, gave the Right Hand ; Rev. J. 
 W. Turner of Great Barrington, gave the Charge ; and 
 Rev. Henry Neill of Lenox, the Address. Rev. Mr. Smith 
 resigned 1850, November 8, and was dismissed December 
 4. and died at Saugerties, N. Y., November 2, 1867, aged 
 57. 
 
 Ralph Smith was born on Long Island, November 24, 
 1810; graduated at Williams College, 1830, and then 
 studied medicine at New Haven; was ordained pastor of 
 the church at Curtisville, June 26, 1844. After leaving 
 Lee, he preached at Milton, Conn. From September, 
 1851, till May, 1855, he was pastor at Cornwall, Conn.; 
 then stated supply at Trumbull, Conn. ; pastor at Wol- 
 cottville, from April. 1856, to September, 1857; at New 
 Canaan, from May, I860, to April, 1864. Mr. Smith was 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 219 
 
 a man of more than ordinary ability. He was an orig- 
 inal thinker and a close observer of men and things, but 
 not a systematic student. Some of his sermons showed 
 genius of a high order, but he often neglected prepara- 
 tion for the Sabbath till Saturday evening, and as a con- 
 sequence his pulpit performarices were not always up to 
 his own standard. As a pastor, also, he failed in some 
 essential particulars, but his most intimate friends cherish 
 his memory with great respect. 
 
 1851, February 14, the Church invited Rev. Sereno D. 
 Clarke to become their pastor, and he was installed by a 
 council that met June 10, 1851. Rev. Heman Humph- 
 rey, D. D., was Moderator, and preached the sermon ; 
 Rev. W. H. Phelps of Curtisville, Scribe; Rev. Samuel 
 Harris gave the Right Hand ; Rev. Dr. Todd, the Charge ; 
 Rev. Henry Neill, the Address. At the first anniversary 
 of his installation, June 11, 1852, the pastor tendered his 
 resignation, and was dismissed by council, June 22. Mr. 
 Clarke was a scholar, a good preacher, and faithful pas- 
 tor, but for some reason never seemed to feel at home in 
 Lee, and though during his pastorate there was unusual 
 religious interest, he did not incline to stay long enough 
 to harvest the fruit of his labors. He is still living, de- 
 voting much of his time to literary pursuits. He writes 
 a strong magazine article, and has published several works 
 that reflect credit upon their author. 
 
 1853, July 4, a unanimous call was extended to Rev. 
 Nahum Gale, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the 
 Theological Institute at East Windsor, Conn. The coun- 
 cil for his installation met, 1853, August 31. Rev. Dr. 
 Field was Moderator, and gave the Charge ; Rev. W. H. 
 Phelps, Scribe ; Rev. Dr. Tyler preached the Sermon ; 
 Rev. Mr. Harris of the South Church, Pittsfield, gave the 
 Right Hand ; and Rev. Dr. Todd the Address to the Peo- 
 ple. Dr. Gale's pastorate continued till his death, which 
 
220 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 occurred September, 18, 1876. The outline facts of Dr. 
 Gale's life are as follows : Born at Auburn, Mass., March 
 0,1812; removed to Worcester in early life, where he 
 was apprenticed to learn the carpenters' trade ; becoming- 
 interested in religion, he determined to get an education 
 and be an ambassador for Christ; fitted for college at 
 Phillips Academy, Andover ; graduated at Amherst Col- 
 lege in 1837 ; taught the Amherst Academy two years ; 
 graduated from East Windsor Seminary in 1841 ; was or- 
 dained at Ware, Mass., June 22, 1842 ; married Mar- 
 tha Tyler, daughter of Rev. Dr. Bennett Tyler, August 
 10, 1843 ; became professor in East Windsor Theological 
 Seminary in 1851, and was installed pastor of the Con- 
 gregational Church in Lee, September 1, 1853. 
 
 Dr. Gale was no ordinary man. His intellect was nat- 
 urally vigorous, and he strengthened it by diligent study 
 and by intercourse with intelligent society. He had the 
 rare executive faculty of making the most of himself and 
 of all by whom he was surrounded. His long pastorate 
 of twenty-three years in Lee, left an impression on the 
 church and society, second only to that of Dr. Hyde. 
 His forte, as he said himself, was in the pulpit, and not 
 in parochial visits. When stimulated by congenial soci- 
 ety, his conversational powers were of a high order. He 
 had a wonderful store of facts and anecdotes in his memory, 
 and could recall those pertinent to the occasion and the 
 topic under discussion. This rendered his conversation 
 brilliant and humorous. This humor, however, never 
 cropped out in the pulpit. There he was always grave. 
 His preaching was logical rather than emotional. To the 
 cause of missions he was ardently devoted ; was a cor- 
 porate member of the American Board of Commission- 
 ers for Foreign Missions, and seldom, if ever failed 
 to be present at the annual meetings. Education also 
 received from him its due share of attention. At the 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 221 
 
 time of his death, he was a Trustee of Williams Col- 
 lege, and had been for fifteen years. He died in the 
 midst of his usefulness, sincerely mourned by his church 
 and congregation, who erected a fitting monument to his 
 memory. 
 
 February 13, 1877, the church and parish united very 
 harmoniously in extending a call to Rev. Lyman S. Row- 
 land of Saratoga, N. Y., to become their pastor. The 
 call was accepted, and he was installed April 5. Presi- 
 dent Seelye of Amherst College, preaching the installa- 
 tion sermon. Dr. Gale was so able a preacher, and held 
 so prominent a place in church and society, that it was 
 feared it would be difficult to find a successor to fill the 
 position, but Mr. Rowland received an unanimous call, 
 and has steadily gained in the affection and respect of his 
 people since his installation. 
 
 BENEVOLENT OPERATIONS. 
 
 1797, April 4, the church voted that it would be expe- 
 dient to do everything in their power to encourage and 
 forward the design of the New York Missionary Society, 
 and that a contribution should be proposed the next Sab- 
 bath. The sum collected, April 16, was $32.50, a liberal 
 contribution for those times, which was forwarded to the 
 New York Missionary Society. Contributions continued 
 to be made occasionally to the Foreign Mission Cause, 
 gradually increasing in amount, till the organization of 
 the American Board in 1810, when more systematic ef- 
 forts took the place of spasmodic contributions. 
 
 The Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society was 
 formed 1798, February 21, and up to 1829, its collections 
 amounted to $13,776.03. Of this sum, Lee contributed 
 $708.73. The Church, after this time, sents its contri- 
 butions directly to the American Home Missionary Soci- 
 ety. Of this latter organization, Lee has ever been a 
 
222 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 faithful auxiliary, the annual contributions* for Home 
 Missions through this channel, now amounting to over 
 six hundred dollars. 
 
 The Berkshire Bible Society Avas organized, 1817, June 
 17, one year after the institution of the American Bible 
 Society, and Lee has ever been one of the foremost of its 
 auxiliaries, though the contributions of late years have 
 not increased in the same ratio with those to Foreign 
 and Home Missions, indeed, they have decreased. The 
 annual donations for the past few years have amounted 
 to about $100. 
 
 1825, June 15, the Berkshire Missionary Society was 
 formed, auxiliary to the American Board of Commission- 
 ers for Foreign Missions, with auxiliaries in the sev- 
 eral towns of the county. Lee took an active interest 
 in the cause of missions at an early day, the young 
 men forming an association to work for its support. 
 The plan was to take a piece of land and raise corn 
 upon it, the proceeds of which were devoted to the 
 cause of missions. After the establishment of the Lee 
 Auxiliary Missionary Society, the mode of raising funds 
 by personal solicitation was adopted, and solicitors, both 
 male and female, were appointed in each school district. 
 The result was a large increase in the amount of contri- 
 butions, and the flow of benevolence in this direction was 
 still further augmented when Dr. Gale became pastor of 
 the Congregational Church. The amount now annually 
 contributed to Foreign Missions by the united effort of 
 the gentlemen and ladies' associations, does not vary 
 much from $1,000. Smaller sums are also annually con- 
 tributed to the American Missionary Association, the 
 American Tract and Education Societies, the Congrega- 
 tional Union and the Congregational Publishing organiz- 
 ations. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 223 
 
 COLONIZING A NEW CHURCH. 
 
 1811, June 2, the Church, in giving letters te Jedediah 
 Crocker and wife, Mrs. Moses Hall, and Mrs. Abijah Crosby, 
 about to remove to Ohio, expressed their opinion that it 
 was expedient for them to settle near those going from 
 Lenox, and form themselves into a church. Such a 
 church was actually constituted in this town — a part of 
 the members connected with the Congregational Church 
 of Dover, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, having been till then 
 members of the Church in Lee. 
 
 THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 
 
 The Lee Congregational Sunday-School w r as organized 
 about the time when the interest of the Massachusetts 
 churches was first aroused in the question of providing 
 public religious instruction on the Sabbath for the young. 
 Tn Dr. Hyde's hand-writing in the Church records, we 
 read: — "June 10, 1819, at a Church meeting, the pastor 
 introduced the subject of Sabbath-Schools, and after free 
 conversation it was voted to establish one in this town. 
 The following brethren were chosen a Committee to 
 make arrangements for that purpose, viz. : Josiah Yale, 
 Deacon David Ingersoll, Oliver Kellogg, Asahel Foote, 
 Ephraim Sheldon, Jarecl Ingersoll, and Josiah Spencer." 
 The School was organized soon after, at the Center 
 School-house ; and when the classes were formed, marched 
 in procession to the Church. Deacon Josiah Spencer, 
 who removed to the West in 1832, was the first Superin- 
 tendent. The recitations of the scholars were their own 
 selections from the Bible, and from Dwight's hymn book. 
 The second Summer, Hannah Crosby (now Mrs. Henry 
 Smith) recited 6,000 verses, and received a prize. The 
 number of scholars was 60 to 70, mostly between the age 
 of eight and fifteen. Deacon Spencer soon established 
 a branch school at South Lee. For several vears a 
 
224 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Committee was annually appointed to revive the Sabbath- 
 School, which was suspended during the Winter season- 
 In 1826, June 9, " the Church voted to become the Sab- 
 bath-School Society of Lee, and to be an auxiliary to the 
 Massachusetts Sabbath-School Union." 1829, April 17, 
 when the School numbered 230, and 70 more were in 
 Bible classes, Deacon Nathan Bassett was chosen by the 
 Church, Sunday-School Superintendent ; William Porter, 
 Esq., Secretary and Treasurer; Abner Taylor, Librarian. 
 The Church had voted, 1824. September 9, that some part 
 of the semi-annual collection for the American Education 
 Society be appropriated to the purchase of books and 
 tracts for the children belonging to the Sabbath-School. 
 
 Committees some years appointed to bring in scholars 
 would largely increase the numbers in spite of interrup- 
 tions occasioned by the death or removal of pastors. 
 When Deacon Caleb Belden was chosen Superintendent, 
 special efforts were made to furnish clothing to any poor 
 children. In 1853, when Dr. Gale became pastor, the 
 library was small, the different classes had different lessons, 
 the children were fewer than now, the singing was chiefly 
 by adults, and the Sunday-school concerts were seldom 
 attended by the children. In 1801 and 1862, class-books 
 were kept, and the number of verses learned, marked. 
 New books were added to the library of a higher grade, 
 and a new system of library registration adopted. Christ- 
 inns was observed with festivities appropriate for children. 
 In the Spring of 1867, many of the scholars felt the 
 breathings of a better life. Seventy-five from the school 
 during the period of five years preceding and including 
 this, connected themselves with the church. Benevolent 
 contributions increased year by year. Previous to 1857, 
 the amount annually collected, averaging $50.00. With 
 increasing experience the management of the Sunday- 
 school improved, and this was seen not only in the mode 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 225 
 
 of instruction, but also in better question-books, and an 
 enlarged library. The Semi-Centennial of the school was 
 celebrated with appropriate exercises, 1869, December 23. 
 Dr. Gale's address and the other proceedings, so far as 
 they could be made a matter of record, were published by 
 vote of the church. The school has for some years past 
 supported a teacher among the freedmen, making its do- 
 nation through the American Missionary Association, by 
 whom the teacher is appointed. At no period of its 
 history was the Sunday-school doing better work than 
 under its present management. 
 
 SINGING IN CHURCH. 
 
 In addition to what Dr. Gale has said of the arrange- 
 ments for singing in the old meeting-house, special credit 
 should be given to the people of those early days of 
 poverty and struggle, who yet were determined not only 
 to build a meeting-house second to none in the county 
 for elegance and convenience, but also to secure as good 
 instruction as the times could afford for the better per- 
 formance of the service of praise. 1802, November 1, 
 $40.00 were voted to support singing under the direction 
 of the Selectmen. Their varied duties and responsibili- 
 ties made their office no sinecure To be " Musical 
 Director " in these days is supposed to require some 
 knowledge of the art : but perhaps this putting responsi- 
 bility upon officials brought out latent talent as giving 
 everybody the right of suffrage, is supposed to develop 
 good qualities as citizens. 
 
 1783, July 18, the church "chose Mr. David inger- 
 soll, choriester." The town afterwards made special 
 appropriation for singing, as for instance, in 1812, May 4, 
 voting for this purpose $60.00. Alvan and William 
 Ingersoll, sons of Deacon David Ingersoll, were promi- 
 nent singers and leaders. Among others remembered as 
 29 
 
226 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 prominent in the service of song in the earlier days, are 
 Abncr Taylor, Sylvanus Foote, Ebenezer Bradley, Gurdon 
 J. Hollister, and Capt. James Landers. 
 
 The only instrumental accompaniment for many years, 
 — and even that was regarded by many as an abomination 
 when first introduced, — was the bass viol, which for more 
 than a score of years was played by Capt. Landers. He 
 guarded it as carefully as he would a favorite child, 
 bringing it with him every Sabbath from his home, and 
 arousing approving admiration by his masterly handling 
 of the well-rosined bow. Capt. Hollister occasionally 
 played the flute, but the bass-viol was for a long period 
 regarded as the all-sufficient accompaniment to the voices 
 of the singers as they led in the choral harmonies of Old 
 Hundred and Duke Street, or in the different parts chased 
 each other in the favorite fugue tunes of 'Northfield or 
 Lenox. In 1852, an organ was placed in the church at 
 an expense of $1,300, which amount was raised by sub- 
 scription, many members of the church and parish object- 
 ing to praising God with wind instruments. This organ 
 was burned with the church in 1857, but was replaced by 
 a larger and better one the following year. 
 
 CHURCH EDIFICES. 
 
 " The first religious meeting, as has been said, was held 
 in Deacon Oliver West's barn. The meeting was after- 
 wards held in Peter Wilcox' barn, which stood in the 
 rear of what is now Dr. Wright's house on Main street. 
 The meetings were held in Mr. Wilcox' barn, and in the 
 unfinished chamber of Lyman Foote's house, until 1780, 
 when they were held in the meeting-house, then first 
 built. The town voted, 1778, November 10, "to build a 
 meeting-house, 48 by 36, and that £700 be raised to 
 defray the expense." This vote was not carried into 
 effect, for the next year, December 7, 1779, the town 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 227 
 
 passed the following votes : " To build a meeting-house in 
 and for the use of the town, of 50 feet long, and 36 feet 
 feet wide. That Hope Davis, Job Hamblin, Oliver West, 
 Peter Wilcox, Levi Nye, Samuel Porter, Prince West, 
 Daniel Church, and Noah Crocker, be a committee to 
 build a meeting-house, where the town shall agree to set 
 it, and sell the pew spots at a public vendue, except the 
 town will agree to pay them some other way." " Voted, to 
 set the meeting-house where the last committee set the 
 stake." 
 
 The building committee were required to give bonds to 
 the town, probably that they would build according to 
 the votes The various contradictory motions passed 
 1781, August 28, will show the tribulations and perplexi- 
 ties of a building committee, aggravated by a more than 
 ordinary amount of human perversity in the people of 
 the town. 
 
 " A motion made to see if the town will take the 
 meeting-house of the committee, and pay their cost ; 
 passed in the negative." 
 
 " Motion made, to see if the town will sell the seat 
 ground, to pay the cost of finishing the meeting-house, 
 passed in the negative." 
 
 " Motion to see if the town will raise any sum of money 
 to lay out on the meeting-house, passed in the negative." 
 
 The town voted, 1784, January 13, to chose a "com- 
 mittee to take into consideration the affairs of the build- 
 ing the meeting-house, and see whether the former 
 committee have fulfilled their agreement. This investi- 
 gating committee either did not find affairs to their mind, 
 or the town had no mind to discharge them from their 
 unfinished trust, for in March, there was " no vote to give 
 up the bond to the committee, who built the meeting- 
 house." 
 
 The next year, May, 1785, the town " voted to choose 
 
228 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 a committee of three men, to settle with the committee 
 that built the meeting-house." After appointing this 
 settling committee, questions came up respecting " the 
 bond," " alterations in the inside," and selling the pew 
 next to the pulpit stairs. " At an adjourned meeting, the 
 meeting-house was accepted, the bond given up, and the 
 committee allowed to sell ' pew-spots,' according to their 
 contract with the town. At the same meeting, the town 
 raised £18 to pay for a pew and pew spot, next the 
 pulpit stairs, and gangway leading into the west porch." 
 The word gangway, here applied to an aisle of a church, 
 indicates that seamen's language was brought to these 
 mountains from " the Cape." The pew was bought for 
 the use of the minister, when the town should have one; 
 and as they had no minister at this time, two of the peo- 
 ple were allowed to " improve the pew " at the cus- 
 tomary rent till it should be wanted. 
 
 When the proposition was made, a fortnight later, that 
 the town " purchase the whole of the meeting-house," it 
 was negatived, nor would the town vote to raise £-50 " to 
 finish the meeting-house." Yet in November it was 
 " voted to raise £50 for flaging the meeting-house and 
 building seats in the same." 1789, May 11, the town 
 " voted to raise £i) to pay Peter Wilcox for the land on 
 which the meeting-house stands." The question of finish- 
 ing the meeting-house, and even of enlarging it, came up 
 very often for the next eight years. 1796, April, it was 
 voted that individuals shall have the privilege of building 
 pews in the porch alleys, and selling them toward defray- 
 ing the expense. It is doubtful if any one took advant- 
 age of this vote to speculate in church property, for the 
 question of building a new meeting-house took the place 
 of all questions pertaining to the old one. 
 
 The location of the first church is fixed by the site of 
 the well dug near it. It was built on the east side of what 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 229 
 
 is now the park, and faced the south. The road as it 
 turns the corner, east of the park, passes over the old 
 well. There was no steeple, nor tower, nor bell. The 
 sides were sheathed up with wide unpainted boards. 
 There was a projection or porch in front, 8 feet wide, ex- 
 tending over one-third the width of the building. Simi- 
 lar projections were put up over the other doors on the 
 east and the west ends. For several years, the meeting- 
 house had no glass windows, no stationary seats, no door- 
 step, and never was lathed. The style of architecture, 
 says Dr Gale, was " of the composite order, a combina- 
 tion of what may be called the square box and primitive 
 Gothic." The frame, composed of massive timbers, rough 
 as the woodman's axe left them, was all exposed from the 
 floor to the ridge pole. Through the triangles made by 
 the braces, staging poles were inserted, and on this roost, 
 spanning the room, a daring boy is known to have 
 perched on the Sabbath, remaining there through the 
 afternoon service. The square pews occupied the larger 
 part of the floor. There were galleries on three sides : in 
 the front of each gallery was one long seat : back of this 
 seat in the side galleries were four square pews ; in the 
 rear of the seat in the end gallery, three such. pews. 
 The singers stood in the front seat, with their leader. 
 On one side of the only door of entrance sat Daniel San- 
 tee, the negro, with his long cane in hand, and Betty, his 
 wife, sat on the other side of the door. Daniel faithfully 
 kept the unruly dogs out of the church, and was a terror 
 also to all roguish boys within. In a plain pulpit, fast- 
 ened to the north end of the house, midway from the 
 floor to the plates stood the young minister. Over the 
 pulpit was the indispensable sounding-board, for in those 
 days it was thought that the voice of the preacher would 
 not descend to the pews, if there was not something over 
 his head to prevent the sound from rising. No cushions 
 
230 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 relieved the discomfort of the rude seats; no stove 
 quieted the chattering teeth during the cold Berkshire 
 winters. Such was the place in which for twenty years 
 our fathers worshipped God." 
 
 THE CHURCH BUILT A. D. 1800. 
 
 The story of the building of the new meeting-house 
 has been told with all needful fullness of detail by Rev. 
 Dr. Gale, and can be only briefly summed up in this his- 
 torical review. 
 
 The question of building a new church edifice came 
 up as early as 1796 ; but year after year, found it diffi- 
 cult for the people to agree how this should be done. 
 One method, adopted in 1799, was to "class the pews,", 
 dividing them into five classes, of different values, $25 to 
 $75, each subscriber agreeing to pay for a pew of a cer- 
 tain class. But the amount raised, $3,475, was not what 
 had been desired. Then it was voted to vendue the pews. 
 56 individuals bought 58 pews. No pew brought less 
 than $50. Ebenezer West gave $99.50 for one pew. 
 Josiah Yale bid off four for $268.50. A building commit- 
 tee was chosen, Josiah Yale, Joseph Whiton, Seth Backus, 
 Nathan Dillingham, Nathan Bassett. The committee 
 were to assign each man's lot of material for the pur- 
 pose of building. In May, 1800, the plan of venduing 
 the pews, was abandoned, the town voting to build by 
 subscription if $4,000 can be raised. The raising took 
 place, July 4th, 1800. It was a day of great interest. 
 Under an awning, the ladies furnished breakfast for 100 
 men. Cannon were fired, the drum and fife were played. 
 There was no religious service, at the laying of the cor- 
 ner stone, but Dr. Hyde offered prayer at the raising, and 
 came down every morning to conduct family worship at 
 Mr. Foote's for the men who were at work. At the rais- 
 ing, a stick of timber eight inches square, stood eight or 
 
SECOND CHUKCH.— Built in 1800. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 231 
 
 ten feet above the frame. Many tried to climb to the 
 top but could not succeed. Rowland Thatcher went up, 
 stood on the scanty space, and after swinging a junk 
 bottle, gave it a toss, which threw it unbroken, into the 
 the meadow now De Witt Smith's garden. There was a 
 rush for it ; it was picked up, and long treasured as a 
 sacred relic. It was carried to Genoa, N. Y., by Corne- 
 lius Fessenden. It was used for many years as an ink 
 bottle. At length one very cold night, the ink froze, and 
 the bottle was broken. John Hulett was the master car- 
 penter, or architect and builder, as we should say. He 
 built the meeting-houses in Richmond and in Lenox. 
 The Lee meeting-house was like that in Richmond, ex- 
 cept that it was one foot shorter. Richmond, at this 
 time, was considered an aristocratic place, compared with 
 Lee, where people lived and dressed more plainly. Capt. 
 Alvan Foote, one of the hundred, who helped at the rais- 
 ing, remembers that Mr. Hulett always asked a blessing 
 at the table. The house was to be built by the people 
 " among themselves," and the work of finishing it went 
 on slowly. The carpenters were dismissed in haying and 
 harvest. Available funds were not abundant, and there 
 was no agreement as to the best method of paying for 
 it. The people furnished materials and labor, and the 
 workmen were paid in country produce contributed, so 
 little money was there in circulation. Skilled mechanics' 
 wages were $1, common laborers 67 cents per day. 
 Butter was reckoned at 13| cents a pound, corn 50 
 cents a bushel. Among those who were engaged in the 
 construction of the building, the committee's account book 
 gives the names of John Hulett, wages $82 : Samuel Por- 
 ter, $258 : Benoni and Henry Lewis received for paint- 
 ing, $108 : Abijah Merrill $20 for hooks and hinges, and 
 window-springs : Nathaniel Basset for blacksmithing and 
 making scrapers, $0 : Samuel Couch $20 for the vane, 
 
232 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 spire, and letters : Squire Stone $12 for turning the urns 
 and ball : Nathan Bassett $3 for " Sampson's mallet." 
 Squire Yale was active and generous in his desire to se- 
 cure for the worship of God a sanctuary that would be 
 commodious, convenient, and creditable to the peo- 
 ple. It is told to his honor, that when iron was needed 
 for the bell, the common bog ore making brittle iron, he 
 offered his iron bar, saying that he knew that to be good 
 The house was one of the first class. It was 04 by 50 
 feet. The porch or entrance hall took off 8 feet in front, 
 leaving the audience room 56 feet by 50. Over the porch 
 was the end gallery. The side galleries were of generous 
 proportions, and each had five wall pews 11 feet long. 
 The broad alley in the center was six feet wide. The 
 48 body pews were 7£ feet long, and 3 \ feet wide : the 
 four on either side of the pulpit were 7 feet long. The 
 tower projected 8 feet in front: the three pews in this, 
 back of the choir, were 9 feet long and 6 feet wide. The 
 dedication took place, it is said, on Tuesday of Thanks- 
 giving week, 1801. Dr. Hyde, preached from II Chron. 
 6 : 18. All that the town, as a town, had paid for the 
 new meeting-house, was £50, in May, 1800, for the land on 
 which it stood. The question of ownership was not set- 
 tled for several years, and occupied the attention of the 
 people at every town meeting, jointly with the perpetual 
 buying of plank for bridges. Difficulties in connection 
 with seating the meeting-house, dignifying the seats, and 
 assigning them to individuals, were perpetually arising. 
 In 1802 a committee often was chosen to grade the ground 
 and remove the stone. In 1805, when the qustion of own- 
 ership was brought up in town meeting, 42 voted that the 
 house is in the hands of individuals, and 24 that it is in 
 the hands of the town. The building committee's ac- 
 counts were not settled for many years, and it is said that 
 Squire Yale, and Major Nye, sold their cattle to satisfy a 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 233 
 
 demand of some $300. The accounts were kept with 
 scrupulous exactness. Interest was charged for subscrip- 
 tions not paid, claims were sold and transferred, even as 
 assets of estates. At last it was voted to vendue the 
 pews, and the sale March 27, 1810, brought $5,905. 
 The highest price paid for one of the long pews, was $140, 
 the lowest $31. The "show-boxes," as the pews each side 
 of the pulpit were called, were at this time considered the 
 most desirable. In the course of time they came to be 
 considered the least valuable, for fashion rules in the 
 high places of the church, as strongly as in the courts 
 of kings. 
 
 The final report of the building committee was made 
 March 3, 1817, and from that date church affairs ceased 
 to have much prominence in the town records. In 1830, 
 the parish was formed, and the town affairs as such, have 
 since then been kept entirely distinct from the parish. 
 In 1836 the parish notified the town that they were un- 
 willing any longer to have the town meetings held in the 
 audience room of the church. The town then agreed to 
 fit up the basement, if the parish would allow the use 
 of it for town meetings. This was agreed upon ; the 
 expense of fitting was $500. It was used for town meet- 
 ings till the building was destroyed by fire : but it never 
 was pleasant, the room being low between joints, and one 
 half of it below the surface of the ground. In 1833 with 
 the view of affording a suitable building spot for a tern 
 perance hotel, then projected, a subscription of $1,500 was 
 raised and the meeting-house moved back from its orig- 
 inal location about 200 feet to the North. 
 
 A committee of the parish was chosen in 1836 to obtain 
 the consent of the proprietors to proposed alterations. 
 Nothing was done until 1841, when a committee was 
 appointed to report. During the next year sixteen parish 
 meetings were held to determine the extent and pay the 
 30 
 
234 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 cost of the alterations, $2,400. The society had previously 
 bought the house of the pew holders at $3,102. When 
 the repairs were finished, the pews were appraised for 
 enough to cover both these sums. The choice money 
 was $628 ; the whole amount $6,130. The remodeled 
 house contained 110 pews on the lower floor, where pre- 
 viously there were only 66. 
 
 But the audience room would not accommodate all 
 desirous of seats, and in 1848 an addition was made of 20 
 feet, in the rear, giving 44 pews, while at the same time 
 the galleries, which had been lowered too much, were 
 raised. These repairs cost $2,300. To secure it, most of 
 the pews had been relinquished at the price paid in 1841. 
 At the sale Dec. 14 and Dec. 25, the choice money was 
 $2,233.50; the whole amount $8,503.50. This not only 
 paid all expenses, but left some hundreds of dollars in the 
 treasury. The length of the church without the tower 
 was 84 feet. The aucfience room was 68 feet long and 48 
 feet wide. It would seat 700 below, 300 above. The 
 seats were comfortable and the church every way pleasant. 
 
 Until 1852 the choir was accompanied by a variety of 
 musical instruments. In that year an organ, made by 
 Mr. Johnson, of Westfield, was placed in the church. 
 
 The bell, bought in 1848, was the fifth that had been 
 hung in the church. Its weight was 1,732 lbs. : cost 
 $519.60 : makers Meneely and Sons, of West Troy. 
 The four previous bells w r ere disabled successively after 
 longer and shorter services. The first bell, bought in 
 New Haven, lasted 25 years, the second only two years : 
 the third, of most musical tone, from 1828 to 1847, broken 
 by the boys on the "Fourth." The fourth bell lasted 
 less than a year. All were bought by subscription. 
 The bell that perished with the church, gave the alarm 
 of lire on the eventful morning of Jan. 23, 1857, about 
 1.30, and fell soon after striking 3 o'elock. Part of it 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 235 
 
 melted in the heat, and was ibund in the ashes in the 
 form of shot. 570 lbs were recovered by washing the 
 ashes after the fashion of the California gold hunters. 
 
 The fire which destroyed this building so hallowed by 
 many sacred associations with past precious privileges, 
 originated in Church and Sedgwick's block 100 yards 
 north-west of the church. The night, Jan. 23, 1857, was 
 intensely cold, and the water froze as it fell from the fire 
 engine. A high wind carried up a blazing shingle and 
 lodged it on the roof of the cupola above the bell. It was 
 impossible with the means at hand to stop the progress 
 of the flames. So thoroughly was the building burned 
 that not a shingle or a square foot of timber could be 
 found, which w r as not charred over, two or three cords in 
 all: the rest was in ashes. Very little furniture was 
 saved from the burning building, and at 5 a. m. " the holy 
 and beautiful house where our Fathers praised," was a mass 
 of smoking ruins. 
 
 Among the losses in the burning of this church was 
 that of the town clock which had three years previously 
 been placed upon its tower by the liberality of Mr. Joel 
 Bradley. Shortly after the clock struck three, tolling its 
 own age, the bell and clock fell from the tower. 
 
 A chapel, that stood by the church, was also a prey to 
 the devouring flames. It was built by subscription in 
 1854, and given to the parish to be used solely for parish 
 purposes. The building was 50 by 32 ; posts 16 feet 
 high. The audience room was about 37 by 30 : 12 feet 
 off the north end being teCken for business rooms. It was 
 built at a cost of about $2,000. 
 
 THE PARSONAGE. 
 
 The parsonage was saved only by the most strenuous 
 exertions. It was built in 1851 at an expense of about 
 $3,000. Previous to this time the clergymen had lived 
 
236 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 in their own hired houses, except Dr. Hyde, who being 
 settled for life, bought a far: 
 to the custom of those times 
 
 settled for life, bought a farm and built a house according 
 
 THE HORSE SHEDS. 
 
 Those useful, if not elegant, appendages to our New 
 England meeting-houses, the horse sheds, must not be 
 overlooked in this record of " the courts of the Lord's 
 house." The first public mention of them is the vote of 
 the town July, 1800, "to appoint a committee of three 
 men, to attend to applications of persons, who may want 
 land to erect sheds upon, or any other buildings." In 
 1813 the town bought more ground of Messrs. Foote and 
 Bradley " for the purpose of shed ground and common." 
 On the town records is a plot showing the location of 36 
 sheds. When the meeting-house was moved in 1833, 
 changes were made in the " shed spots," and still others 
 in 1848, when the meeting-house was enlarged. 17 new 
 sheds were built, making about 40 in all. When the 
 present church edifice was built these convenient and 
 necessary appendages were re-arranged, and increased, so 
 that few churches in the land were better supplied with 
 "complementary means of grace," as horse sheds have 
 been called. 
 
 THE PRESENT CHURCH AND CHAPEL. 
 
 The present spacious and stately church building was 
 erected by the parish at a cost of about $30,000. 
 
 The corner stone was laid 1857, July 21. Dr. Gale 
 delivered then a historical address, giving in greater full- 
 ness of detail the facts embodied in the preceding sketch. 
 The building was dedicated by an eloquent sermon by 
 Dr. Gale, and by other religious services, September 1, 
 1858. The accompanying cut will give the reader a good 
 idea of the exterior of the building. The main audience 
 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
THE HISTOKY OF LEE. 237 
 
 room has a seating capacity for over a thousand. In the 
 rear is a pleasant chapel of a semi-octagonal form with 
 seating accommodations for two hundred. This church 
 was built at a time of great financial depression, and too 
 much credit cannot be given to the building committee 
 for carrying the enterprise through so successfully. 
 
 SEXTONS AND SERVICES. 
 
 The town in its early history not only claimed to hold 
 a title to the church building, and to be under obligation to 
 pay the minister's salary, but made it its business to look af- 
 ter the cleanliness of the building. Every year the duty of 
 opening the doors, sweeping the floor, and ringing the 
 bell, offered at vendue to the lowest bidder, was a part of 
 the transactions of the town meeting. This was at first 
 a matter of special appointment as when 1785, March 28, 
 Hope Davis was duly elected " to take care of sweeping, 
 and shut the doors and windows of the meeting-house, 
 and to be allowed what it shall be worth at the year's end." 
 1789, March 1, Nathaniel Bassett was chosen and allowed 
 18 shillings. 1812, it was voted that the bell should be 
 rung at 9 P. M. six months when the nights were longest ; 
 the other six months at noon. Nathaniel Bassett will be 
 remembered by the older people as for nearly two score 
 years the sexton who for sixteen dollars a year took 
 care of the meeting-house and rang noon and night the 
 bell that marked for the community the great divisions 
 of each day. A special committee was chosen 1812, May 
 4, to collect fines, 50 cents each, for any window pane 
 that might be broken. 1814, April 11, the town voted 
 that the meeting-house floor should be sanded after its 
 washing in May. 
 
 The hours of religious service also came under the pur- 
 view of the town meeting. 
 
 The town voted to reject a proposition made that there 
 
238 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 should be but one preaching service through the Winter. 
 1807, April 6, a committee was appointed to wait on Dr. 
 Hyde and see if will be agreeable to him to have the in- 
 termission one hour through the ensuing year. 
 
 A still more striking instance of the town's interference 
 in what is now considered the special province of every 
 religious church or society, is the vote 1790, Sept. 23, 
 appointing a committee " to treat with regard to making 
 some alterations in the church's covenant." 
 
 PARISH EXPENSES. 
 
 The assumption of such a variety of cares by the town, 
 is in striking contrast to the limitations now fixed by 
 statute to the interests which properly and legally may 
 come within the scope of town action. In the report of 
 a committee, adopted 1788, Jan. 3, in regard to the 
 abatement of taxes which the constables for various 
 years had not been able to collect, it is bewildering to 
 note the variety of objects for which specific taxes had 
 been laid. There was the minister's tax, distinct from 
 the town and from the county tax. Besides these were 
 the State tax No. 5, and the Continental tax. No. 2. 
 Work on the meeting-house, and glazing the meeting- 
 house were to be paid for by taxes specially levied for 
 the purpose. As late as 1822, March 4, the town meet- 
 ing listened to a report of a committee, specifying 
 minutely what repairs it was needful to make, and what 
 would be the probable cost. It was not until 1830 that 
 the Siamese-twin connection of church and town were 
 severed, and the parish freed from the abnormal and 
 worrisome dependence upon the supervision of the 
 town. 
 
 The main argument relied upon in assessing and col- 
 lecting the minister's tax was that the church was open 
 to all. They could have a seat if they chose. Rev. Dr. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 239 
 
 Marsh (father of Dr. Marsh the secretary of the Am. 
 Temperance Society), used this argument with a barber 
 who was duly assessed though he never put his foot 
 within the church doors. Dr. Marsh, by the way, never 
 patronized this barber, but sent his wig to Hartford to be 
 dressed. Soon after the constable had made his annual 
 rounds, the minister was surprised by receiving a bill from 
 the barber for dressing his wig. " How's this ? " he ex- 
 claimed. " I've never had . any wig dressed by yon." 
 "But you might have had it done," was the reply. The 
 Doctor saw the point, and paid the bill, the exact 
 amount of the barber's minister tax. 
 
 THE CONGREGATIONAL PARISH. 
 
 In 1830 the parish system for the management of the 
 secular affairs of the church was adopted. The parish 
 consisted not only of the members of the church but of 
 all others who were willing to unite with it and share 
 the responsibility for the support of the gospel. Hereto- 
 fore the law required every man to be taxed for the 
 benefit of some ecclesiastical society, giving him the 
 choice to which his assessment should be paid. Hence- 
 forth all religious societies were voluntary organizations, 
 not even church members being required by law to con- 
 tribute toward their support. This was a great revolu- 
 tion and many old and wise heads thought it would 
 result in the ruin of the country. In this town the plan 
 of supporting the gospel by a tax on the property of the 
 parish, was adopted and continued in operation long after 
 almost every town in the state had given it up. Indeed 
 the Congregational parish still raises its funds mostly by 
 taxation, property and pews being taxed for about an 
 equal amount. 
 
240 THE niSTORY OF LEE. 
 
 THE CHURCH AT SOUTH LEE. 
 
 " In 1805 Rev. Mr. Garrison began holding religious 
 meetings in the school-house in the east end of the vil- 
 lage of South Lee. One service was held on the Sabbath 
 for several years. The preachers were itinerant, but 
 most generally lived in town. Among the first was Rev. 
 William Ross, a native of Lee. A complete list of the va- 
 rious preachers cannot be given. Among them are re- 
 membered with affectionate respect Rev. Messrs. Wool- 
 sey, Cook, Rice, Hibbard, Jacobs, Clark, Smith, Bangs. 
 
 In 1827 a Baptist church was organized at Tyringham 
 in connection with the labors of Elder Ira Hall. About 
 the same time he extended his labors to South Lee, 
 preaching in the adjacent school-house No. 2, in the Hop- 
 land district. The religious interest awakened led to 
 an effort to build in South Lee a meeting-house suitable 
 for religious purposes. As no denomination felt strong 
 enough to undertake the work alone, it was wisely deter- 
 mined to combine the different religious interests in the 
 erection of a house to be used by each under such regu- 
 lations as might be agreed upon. The first meeting with 
 this object in view was held at the school-house in South 
 Lee, May 14, 1827. A half acre of land having been 
 purchased from Gen. Joseph Whiting, a constitution was 
 drawn up, subscriptions collected, and the building begun. 
 The dedication took place August 21, 1828. The consti- 
 tution provided for the occupancy of the house in these 
 terms : " The First Baptist Society in said town [known 
 as the Tyringham and Lee Baptist Church] and the 
 Methodist Episcopal Society shall have the occupancy of 
 said house on the Sabbath when they have appointments 
 for that purpose ; but when the two societies have no ap- 
 pointments, the house shall be opened at all times to the 
 Congregationalists and other religious societies." For 
 the purpose of vesting the control of the house in a 
 
METHODIST CHURCH.-Fern Cliff in the Rear. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 241 
 
 definite body, it was further provided that all subscribers 
 to the building fund to the amount of five dollars should 
 be entitled to one vote and one sitting, and in the same 
 proportion for all additional sums. 
 
 For a considerable number of years, worship was sus- 
 tained by Baptists and Methodists on alternate Sabbaths. 
 The Baptist ministers who succeeded Ira Hall were Alex. 
 Bush, Geo. Phippen, and Forris Moore. The Methodist 
 ministers in whose circuit South Lee was included were 
 too numerous to mention. Subsequently Rev. Mr. Brad- 
 ley, a Congregationalist, was settled here a few years. 
 
 After this field had been in a large measure abandoned 
 by the three denominations interested in the erection of 
 the house, the Episcopalians established worship, and 
 have maintained it with little interruption to the present 
 time. 
 
 In 1862 the house was repaired at an expense of nearly 
 $450.00. Through the liberality of the Episcopal church 
 in Stockbridge, a very serviceable pipe organ was placed 
 in the church in 1867. Three years later the house was 
 again put in thorough repair, many alterations made and 
 a belfry and a bell added to its exterior, involving alto- 
 gether an expense of over $1,300.00. 
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY 
 OF LEE. 
 
 BY REV. A. OSTRANDER. 
 
 Previous to 1831 the Methodists in Lee held occasional meetings 
 in various district school-houses. In that year, Revs. David Holmes 
 and Thomas Sparks established regular services, and Lee became a 
 Conference Missionary station, remaining such until 1838. Meetings 
 were still held in school-houses, especially those in Water street and 
 at the Center, until 1839. In January of that year, Frederick A r an 
 Tassel, Cyrus Shaw, Ackley Fuller, Reynolds White, John Sturges, 
 Asa Stebbins, Amos Barnes and Amos Maxfield made a petition to 
 Hubbard Bartlett, Esq., Justice of the Peace, to issue a warrant in 
 the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to call a meeting of 
 31 
 
242 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 the Methodist Episcopal Society of Lee. The meeting was held ac- 
 cording to warrant, in the Center school-house, January 16, 1839. 
 Organization was effected hy the election of Lorenzo D. Brown as 
 Chairman, and \Y. II. Hill (now of Lenox), Clerk. The first Trustees 
 were Amos Haines, Thomas Hulett, Asa Stebbins, M. I). Field and 
 John Sturges. At this meeting, a committee was appointed to raise 
 money by subscription for the erection of a church edifice, and a 
 Building Committee was appointed, consisting of M. D. Field, Albert 
 M. Howk, L. D. Brown, John Sturges and Wm. H. Hill. Funds were 
 secured, and a building 40x55 feet was erected, costing $2,381.81. 
 It was dedicated January 25, 1840, the sermon being preached by the 
 Rev. Jacob C. Shaw of Tyringham. In 1846, the land on which the 
 church and parsonage are built was quit-claimed to the Trustees by 
 the American Bible Societ}', for the use of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. In 1849 the building was enlarged by the addition of twenty 
 feet to its eastern end. During the pastorate of Rev. L. W. Wals- 
 worth, 1864-67, the front of the church was re-modeled and improved, 
 and the steeple erected. During the same period the indebtedness of 
 the society was paid. 
 
 The parsonage was built in 1852 under the administration of Rev. 
 Z. K Lewis. 
 
 In the Fall of 1876, the gallery of the church which had long been 
 unused, was so re-constructed and enlarged as to form a commodious 
 chapel, thus supplying a long-needed want. 
 
 At the present time, the Society enjoys the possession of a substan- 
 tial church and parsonage property valued at $20,000, entirely free 
 from debt or incumbrance of any kind. From 1831 to 1843 Lee 
 formed part of a circuit, sharing the services of the appointed preach- 
 ers with Lenox and other points. .Since 1843 Lee has been a sepa- 
 rate station, receiving its pastors by appointment of the New York 
 Annual Conference, each year, without interruption. The following is 
 believed to be a correct list of the pastors from 1831 to 1878 : 
 
 is;;]. Holmes and Sparks. 1844-46. John A. Silleck. 
 
 1832. Julius Field. 1846-48. J. X. Shaffer, 
 
 is:;.".. T. Sparks. L848-50. Pelatiah Ward. 
 
 L834-35. J. B. Wakeley. 1850-51. J. Z. Nichols. 
 
 L836. Denton Keeler. ' L851-53. Z.N.Lewis. 
 
 1837. Keder and Warner. L853-54. Luther W. Peck. 
 
 L838. ML Van Deusenand A. Nash. 1854-56. Wm. Ostrander. 
 
 is;;:). M". Van Deusen and Shaw. 1856-58. Marvin R. Lent. 
 
 L840 I-. \V,„. Gothard. 1858-60. Z. X. Lewis. 
 
 L842 II l has. C. Keys. L860 61. IF. C. Humphrey. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 243 
 
 1861-62. Alexander McLean. 1871-73, Clark Wright. 
 
 1862-64. Thos. E. Fero. 1873-75. Winslow W. Sever. 
 
 1804-07. L. W. Walsworth. 1875-76. H. B. Mead. 
 
 1867-69. Wm. Hall. 1876-78. A. Ostrander. 
 
 1869-71. Wm. Stevens. 
 
 By this record, it appears that this Church has had thirty pastors 
 during forty-seven years. Generally they have heen men of zeal, full 
 of love for their Master, and untiring in their efforts to win souls to 
 Christ and to build up the Church. Under their ministry the Church 
 has enjoyed frequent revival seasons, one of the most noteworthy 
 being that during the pastorate of Rev. C. C. Keys, of whom his 
 biographer says : 
 
 "His term of service in Lee, Mass., was crowned with remarkable 
 displays of grace. In midsummer his church was thronged by anx- 
 ious listeners to his word, while the crowd outside, unable to find en- 
 trance, often extended to the street." 
 
 Rev. J. B. Wakeley became one of the most prominent and popular 
 men in the Church, both in pulpit service and literature. 
 
 Rev. Pelatiah Ward entered the army as a captain during the Re- 
 bellion, and fell while gallantly leading his men at the battle of Ma- 
 nassas in 1862. 
 
 Rev. J. Z. Nichols was removed at the end of his first year to be 
 made Presiding Elder of Rhinebeck District. 
 
 Rev. Z. N. Lewis is the only pastor who has served the Church a 
 second term, having been recalled by petition in 1858. 
 
 Of the pastors previous to 1840, only three — Messrs. D. Keeler, 
 M. Van Deusen and A. Nash — are known to be living ; while of the 
 twenty-one since that date all are living except Messrs. Keys, Silleck, 
 Ward, Fero and Hall. 
 
 Prominent among the early members of the Church were Wm. L. 
 Culver, Jesse Chene} r , Hosea Allen, Jr., James Reed, Robt. Thomson, 
 Kenaz Clark and David Baker. Of these the last alone remains, and 
 is now the oldest male member of the Church. 
 
 Among the trustees, the names of Albert M. Howk and Caleb Ben- 
 ton are prominent as life-long and staunch supporters of the Church. 
 
 The present number of communicants in the Church is 211. 
 
 The following is the list of the Official Board of the Church for the 
 present Conference year (1877; : 
 
 Pastor. — Rev. A. Ostrander. 
 
 Stewards. — H. M. Bradley, A. C. Sparks, Daniel Pultz, H. Hard- 
 ing, E. H. Saunders. Wm. H. Hill, Theo. D. Holmes. H. Couch, J. 
 Campbell. 
 
244 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Leaders.— H. M. Bradley, W. H. Hill, Theo. D. Holmes, Mrs. 0. 
 E. Crowl. 
 
 District Steward. — A.. C. Sparks. 
 
 Recording Steward. — E. II. Saunders. 
 
 The Officers of the Society are : 
 
 Trustees. — J. F. Benton, Daniel Pultz, E. L. Melius, Chas. A. 
 Childs, L. E. Hard. 
 
 Treasurer. — A. C. Sparks. 
 
 Collector. — Daniel Pultz. 
 
 The last named officer died on the 8th of August, 1877. His love 
 for the Church and his untiring efforts for its welfare place him in 
 the foremost rank of its friends and supporters. 
 
 AVe are indebted for most of the material of this sketch to E. H. 
 Saunders, Esq., the present Clerk of the Society ; for thirty 3'ears a 
 member, and nearly as long an officer of the Church. We close with 
 his devout words : 
 
 "For what God hath prospered us, 
 To Him shall be all the praise. Amen ! " 
 
 THE AFRICAN CHURCH. 
 
 In 1844 Albert Marie came into town and visited the 
 colored people. He preached to them in school-houses 
 and private dwellings and organized a church. Previous 
 to this time the few colored people in the town had 
 worshiped in the other churches and some of them were 
 exemplary professors of religion. In 1852 a church 
 edifice was erected by the colored people, aided by be- 
 nevolent individuals in the other congregations. This 
 organization is styled, the African Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and has had many preachers and many exhorters 
 but no records can be found of its early history. The 
 present pastor, or rather preacher, is Rev. L. H. Cloyd, 
 a faithful man, who is sustained in part by the Berkshire 
 and Columbia Missionary Society. The whole number 
 of colored persons in town is less than one hundred. 
 The number of communicants with the African church is 
 twenty-four. 
 
BAPTIST CIIURCIT. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 245 
 
 THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN LEE. 
 
 BY REV. P. A. NORDELL. 
 
 As the population of the town of Lee increased, Baptist families 
 moved in. Those living in the southern part of the town found 
 church privileges in the Tyringham church or in the branch at South 
 Lee. Those living in the central and northern parts of the town 
 attended worship in the Congregational or Methodist churches. 
 
 In the Spring of 1850 the Rev. Amory Gale visited Lee for the 
 purpose of ascertaining whether the number of Baptists in town was 
 sufficiently great to warrant the organization of a church. The first 
 meeting was held July 2, and it was resolved to establish Baptist 
 preaching at once. Further action was delayed until a sufficient 
 number had obtained letters of dismission from their respective 
 churches. On the 14th of Sept. 1850 the church was organized with 
 twenty constituent members, Articles of Faith were adopted, Mr. M. E. 
 Culver chosen deacon, a prudential committee appointed, candidates 
 for baptism received, and a unanimous call extended to Rev. A. Gale 
 to become the pastor. A council summoned to recognize the new 
 church met Oct. 8th. The sermon was preached by Rev. Bradley 
 Miner of Pittsfield. The recognition service, through the courtesy of 
 the Congregational brethren, was held in their church. 
 
 The following Summer a lot suitable for the erection of a house of 
 worship was secured and building was begun. By the Fall of 1852 
 the work had progressed sufficiently to permit the dedication of the 
 house. The basement remained unfinished for a considerable time. 
 
 Sometime after the organization of the church, Mr. Eli Taintor was 
 elected to the office of deacon. July 29th. 1852 the number of dea- 
 cons was increased to three by the election of Mr. Hosea Codding. 
 
 The first two years were marked by a rapid growth. A strict 
 discipline, without which no church can prosper, was vigilantly main- 
 tained. Notwithstanding losses by death and exclusion, the church 
 reported a membership of 101 at the meeting of the Berkshire Bap- 
 tist Association, Sept. 30th. 1852. During the next few years the 
 growth though not so marked was encouraging. 
 
 The general prosperity of the town and its promise of rapid in- 
 crease in population, tempted the young church to the building of a 
 larger and more expensive house of worship than the needs of the 
 congregation demanded either at that time, or subsequently. The im- 
 mediate consequence was a large debt, which might soon have been ex- 
 tinguished if the prosperous times had continued. Even during the few 
 years of business activity which continued after the organization of 
 
246 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 the church, much difficulty and discouragement were experienced from 
 the floating character of the population out of which the church Lad 
 been built up. Tins proved to be a serious obstacle in the way of re- 
 moving the debt, which with unpaid interest amounted in Nov. 1855 
 to $4,528.38. In addition to (bis, there was an annual delicit of 
 nearly three hundred dollars. A committee appointed by the associa- 
 tion to examine the condition and prospects of the church, unanimously 
 advised the other churches of the association to render aid, if possible, 
 to the extent of $2,500, toward the extinguishment of this debt, 
 provided the remainder be raised by the church. No further action 
 seems to have been taken in the matter ; the burden remained a 
 source of anxiety, and a grave binderance to the temporal and spiritual 
 advancement of the church. 
 
 In the Summer of 1856, the newly organized Episcopal society 
 secured the use of the house for divine service at such times as would 
 not interfere with the worship of the Baptist congregation. This 
 arrangement was continued a number of months. 
 
 The following January, a disastrous fire occurred in the village 
 which consumed with other buildings the Congregational meeting- 
 house. The use of the Baptist house was immediately tendered to 
 the Congregational church, until such time as they might be able to 
 erect another house. The offer was accepted and the two congrega- 
 tions worshipped together till April 25th, 1859. As the only church- 
 bell in town was destroyed at the burning of the Congregational 
 church the want of one was felt immediately. A new bell weighing 
 1,329 lbs. on the hey of F sharp, was therefore purchased by public 
 subscription and placed in the steeple of the Baptist church, where it 
 still remains. 
 
 Rev. Amory Gale who had been the beloved pastor of the church 
 nearly seven years, being called to labor in the West with the pros- 
 pect of greatly enlarged usefulness, resigned his charge of the church 
 to take effe t the first of June, 1857. By his Christian zeal and large- 
 minded interest in whatever pertained to the welfare of the public he 
 greatly endeared himself not only to the church for which he had la- 
 bored, Imt to the community in which he had lived. After eighteen 
 years of faithful labor in the West, he was obliged to give up active 
 work through failing health. In quest of health he was induced to 
 go abroad, but died in Syria in November 1874. There he will rest 
 in soil made sacred by the tread of the Divine Master to whose service 
 he so patiently and joyfully gave the strength of his life. 
 
 The Church was suffering at this time, no! only from the burden of 
 its distressing debt, but from the Joss of many of its best members, 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 247 
 
 compelled to remove from Lee by the utter prostration of business. 
 Only 93 members were reported t<> the Association in 1857. Never- 
 theless, it was deemed best to secure a pastor as soon as possible, and 
 on the tenth of August, a unanimous call was given to Kev. Ealph H. 
 Bowles of Brandford, Conn. Under his ministry the Church pros- 
 pered greatly in respect to accessions to its membership, 130 being 
 reported in 1859. But there was no relief from financial distress. 
 After numerous ineffectual appeals to the Association for aid, it be- 
 came apparent that the property must be surrendered to pay the debt. 
 Mr. Bowles resigned his charge of the Church August 18, 1861, and 
 September 28th, the Church voted to assign its property to its credi- 
 tors. They were not exacting, however, and, in hope that a way out 
 of the difficulty might be devised, the sale was defeired about two 
 years. In February, 1862, Kev. Charles W. Potter began preaching 
 as a supply, but was engaged as pastor the following September. 
 This engagement was brief, for he resigned June 5, 1863. 
 
 The 15th of May, 1863, was truly a dark day in the history of this 
 struggling Church. The evils which had so long threatened, and 
 which the Church had striven so persistently to ward off, culminated 
 in the alienation of its property at public sale. It was apprised at 
 $7,000.00, and sold to Mr. S. V. B. Daniels of Pittsfield, for $2,325.00. 
 Unexpectedly the Lord opened a light in the darkness, for Mr. Dan- 
 iels very generously offered to let the Church occupy the house so 
 long as it might remain in his hands. In the course of a couple of 
 weeks, measures were taken for re-opening the house. For a number 
 of months, preaching was furnished by temporary supplies, but Octo- 
 ber 4th, a very hearty invitation was extended to Bev. Asa Bronson 
 of Fall Biver, to become its pastor, which call he accepted. 
 
 On the first of November, a meeting was held to consider the expe- 
 diency of disbanding the church organization. The reasons given 
 were, that the membership of the Church had become very much 
 scattered, and the present residence of a large number of the members 
 was unknown ; and that the Church had heretofore labored under 
 many embarrassments which had brought it into more or less disfavor, 
 all of which rendered it desirable that the old organization should be 
 disbanded. This was accordingly done, and letters of dismission were 
 issued to all members in good standing. 
 
 At the same meeting, and by subsequent effort, thirty-four names 
 were secured of those desiring to organize a new Baptist interest in 
 Lee. This was done November 22d, 1863, and the new organization 
 received the name of "The Bethel Baptist Church and Society in 
 Lee." From this, it appears that it was deemed expedient to combine 
 
248 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 with the church organization proper, a society, a relic of the former 
 unholy alliance between Church and State, from which nearly all 
 Baptist Churches in the Commonwealth had disencumbered them- 
 selves. Rev. Asa Bronson became its pastor, Brother J. A. Boyce, 
 clerk, and Brethren Hosea Codding and Wm. A. Brown, deacons. 
 The growth was encouraging. Nevertheless, Mr. Bronson tendered 
 his resignation September 4th, which was accepted, and Bev. H. A. 
 Morgan of Becket, elected his successor. In 1SG5, the possession 
 of the house was transferred from Brother S. V. R. Daniels to the 
 Berkshire Baptist Association, and its use offered to the Church 
 on very easy conditions. A number of needed repairs were made 
 by the Church, and a new carpet purchased, involving an expense of 
 $1,726. During the pastorate of Mr. Morgan, the Church enjoyed 
 a steady, quiet growth, and many improvements were made. He 
 offered his resignation and preached his farewell sermon, November 
 29, 1868. 
 
 During the next four months, preaching was maintained by irregu- 
 lar supplies. A call was then extended to Bev. Ralph H. Bowles, 
 their former pastor, and he began his labors April 4, 1869. This pas- 
 torate was brief, Mr. Bowles resigning his charge of the Church, 
 March 20, 1870. 
 
 Two months after this, Bev. Joseph H. Seaver of Salem, became 
 pastor of the Church. He remained only a year, and was succeeded 
 by Bev. Stephen Pillsbury of Newton, who entered upon his work 
 June 1, 1871. The Church reported this year a membership of 68. 
 His labors extended over a period of three years, and promoted the 
 spiritual and temporal interests of the Church. Some old debts were 
 paid, furnaces introduced, and other improvements made. During the 
 Winter of 1873-4, a gracious revival was experienced, from which 
 much fruit was reaped by the Church. He closed his labors in Lee 
 March 29, 1874, and was followed, May 3d, by Bev. P. A. Nordell of 
 Rochester, N. Y. During his pastorate, repairs and improvements 
 were made on the house. A new and substantial carpet was pur- 
 chased, a large chandelier and other lamps procured ; the roof was 
 reshingled, and the dingy appearance of the interior relieved by fresco- 
 ing the ceiling and walls ; all the pulpit appointments were remodeled. 
 Efforts were made to place the Church upon a firm financial basis, 
 which would have been easily accomplished but for the protracted 
 financial distress which followed the panic of 1874. A number were 
 added by baptism and letter. The present membership is 112. It is 
 to be hoped that this Church, which lias so long and so patiently 
 struggled against adversity and discouragement, will witness, at no 
 
ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH. (Episcopal.) 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 249 
 
 distant day, abundant temporal and spiritual prosperity. After a 
 pastorate of nearly three years and a half, Mr. Nordell terminated his 
 labors with the Church, September 1, 1877. 
 
 HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, LEE, MASS. 
 
 BY REV. W. R. HARRIS. 
 
 Occasional services of the Episcopal Church were held in Lee, by 
 clergymen from Lenox and Stockbridge, previous to the year 1855. 
 No attempt, however, was made to organize a parish until about that 
 time. On the 17th of May, 1856, an application was made to the 
 Hon. Lester Filley, Justice of the Peace, by several residents of the 
 Town, requesting him to issue a warrant, calling a meeting of them- 
 selves, with others, for the purpose of organizing a parish of the Prot- 
 estant Episcopal Church, and to appoint a time and place of meeting. 
 
 The warrant was issued on May 27th, and 4 o'clock P. M. of the 4th 
 day of June next ensuing was appointed as the time, and the Police 
 Court Room the place for said meeting. 
 
 Pursuant to the above call, the friends of the movement assembled 
 at the time and place appointed, when the Hon. Lester Filley was 
 chosen chairman and Edward Foote clerk of the meeting. 
 
 The permanent officers elected were : 
 
 Wardens, Lester Filley and William T. Fish ; Vestrymen, James 
 A. Weed, Amos Fish, John Evans, Benjamin F. Bosworth, and W. 
 L. Davies. 
 
 Early in June of the same year, the Rev. George T. Chapman, 
 D. P., an elderty but distinguished presbyter of the Church, assumed 
 the charge of the Parish as its first Rector, a position in which he 
 labored faithfully and successfully for three years. Immediate steps 
 were taken toward the erection of a church edifice. In September, a 
 lot of ground situated on Franklin street was purchased of Benjamin 
 F. Dean for the sum of $625.00. Mr. Elizur Smith also conveyed 
 to the Parish for "good will," a narrow strip adjoining the lot which 
 was necessary to afford access to it. The work of building began 
 in 1857, and a neat and churchly frame' edifice was completed early 
 in the following year at a cost of about $7,500.00. The first service 
 was held in it on January 31, 1858, Dr. Chapman preaching an 
 appropriate discourse. 
 
 At Easter, 1859, Dr. Chapman, owing to advanced age and in- 
 
 preasing infirmities, resigned the charge of the Parish. He removed 
 
 to Newburyport, where he resided, honored and esteemed by all who 
 
 knew him, until his decease, which took place in 1872. He was 
 
 32 
 
250 TITE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 succeeded in the Rectorship by the Rev. John F. Spaulding, now (1877) 
 Bishop of Colorado. His pastorate, however, continued only for fifteen 
 months. During this time the attendance on the services increased, 
 and the Parish prospered. After Mr. Spaulding's resignation, which 
 took effect October, 1860, there appear to have been several clergymen 
 in charge of the Parish, in frequent succession, either as rectors or 
 temporary supplies. On Christmas eve, 1861, the church with all it 
 contained was destroyed by fire. This was a severe loss, as after all 
 liabilities had been met there was but a small balance remaining to 
 the Parish. For a time nothing was done toward rebuilding and no 
 services were held. After some delay, however, it was decided to 
 erect a new edifice, to be built of stone. Mr. Charles Heebner, the 
 owner of the marble quarries, furnished the material and contributed 
 largely toward the work. The progress of rebuilding was slow, the 
 new church was not completed until April 1865, nor wholly furnished 
 with bell, chairs, lamps, etc., until four or five years later. After all 
 was done, considerable encumbrance remained upon the property, 
 which was not entirely removed until 1873. In Lent of this year an 
 effort was made which proved successful, to raise sufficient funds to 
 liquidate the whole indebtedness of the Parish. The mortgage was 
 canceled in September, and on the 7th of October the Rt. Rev. Ben- 
 jamin F. Paddock, D. D., the Bishop of the Diocese, consecrated the 
 church under the name and title of St. George's Church, to "the ser- 
 vice of Almighty God, the Blessed and Undivided Trinity, according 
 to the provisions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
 States of America, in its Ministry, Doctrine, Liturgy, Rites, and 
 Usages." 
 
 In June, 1875, a very nice organ of eight stops was presented to 
 the church by the Rev. William Gill, a former parishioner. The 
 Rectors during this period were : 
 
 The Rev. Gustavus Murray, . . . 1864 to 1866. 
 
 The Rev. E. R. Bishop, 1866. 
 
 The Rev. W. C. Winslow, .... 1867 to 1870. 
 The Rev. W. R. Harris, . . 1871 (present incumbent.) 
 
 This is the history of the outward and the visible. The history of 
 tin' inward and the spiritual, which is the true history of a church, 
 can not be written. The story of children new born to God, of godly 
 lives begun, of faith increased, of souls strengthened and refreshed 
 and purified by prayer, by sacraments, by the reading and preaching 
 of God's Word — this, the most precious part of the church's life, 
 running through a long period of years, the Last Day only can reveal. 
 
ST. MARY'S CHURCH. (Catholic.) 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 251 
 
 The statistics of the Parish, taken from the last annual report to 
 the Convention, for the year 1876-77, are : 
 
 Bnptisms, ......... 3 
 
 Confirmed, ......... 5 
 
 Communicants, . . . . . . . .56 
 
 Families, ......... 54 
 
 S. S. Officers and Scholars, (about) 40 
 
 HISTORY OF ST. MARY'S CHURCH (CATHOLIC). 
 
 The first settlements in Lee were made almost exclu- 
 sively by Protestants, generally Congregationalists. Dur- 
 ing the first half century after its incorporation, as we 
 have seen, the history of the Congregational church was 
 almost identical with the history of the town. At the 
 time of Dr. Hyde's death (1833) the Congregational was 
 the only church organization in the center of the town. 
 There was scarcely a Catholic resident here, and the num- 
 ber was small till the building of the Housatonic railroad 
 in 1849. The construction of this road brought in large 
 numbers of Irishmen, mostly Catholics, many of whom 
 remained and sought occupation in the mills and on the 
 farms. To minister to this population, Rev. P. Cuddihy 
 came down from Pittsfield occasionally, and under his 
 direction St. Mary's Church was built in 1856. Rev. Pe- 
 ter Eagan was assigned to the pastorate of this church in 
 October, 1857, and continued in charge till his death, 
 which occurred in 1864. During his ministry, the Catho- 
 lic population of the town increased rapidly, and the at- 
 tendance at his church was larger than at any other, many 
 coming from the neighboring towns. 
 
 Rev. George H. Brennan succeeded Mr. Eagan, and is 
 the present pastor. Under his ministry the attendance 
 at St. Mary's has steadily increased, except for a short 
 period in 1869-70, when, owing to the stoppage of work 
 in the quarries and some other changes in business, many 
 Catholics left town. The present attendance is larger 
 
252 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 than ever before, being about 2,000. The Sunday-school 
 is also flourishing, numbering some 500 children. Mr. 
 Brennan found the church deeply in debt, but during his 
 pastorate this has been paid and mission churches have 
 been established in Stockbridge and West Stockbridge. 
 
 It is noticeable that the number of marriages and bap- 
 tisms in the congregation worshiping at St. Mary's is far 
 greater than in any other, and probably larger than in all 
 the others. This speaks well for the industry and purity 
 of our Catholic population. The number of marriages sol- 
 emnized at St. Mary's in the 20 years since it was opened 
 for religious services, is 469, and the number of baptisms 
 in the same time is 2,471. 
 
 St. Mary's is the largest church edifice in town, and the 
 attendance there is probably larger than at all the other 
 churches. The work of the pastor is so arduous that for 
 some years he has had an assistant. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 
 
 The first public school was established in Lee, April, 
 1784. The town then voted "to raise £40 the present 
 year to be laid out in schooling, and to choose a commit- 
 tee to divide the town into districts for schooling." This 
 committee consisted of Joshua Wells, Amos Mansfield, 
 Deacon Jesse Bradley, Deacon Oliver West, Simon Call, 
 Lemuel Crocker, Elisha Crocker. The rate was fixed at 
 38s. on the £100. " Voted to accept report of committee 
 on school districts, and that every district draw money to 
 pay for the schooling according to the ratable estates." It 
 would seem that four districts were at first established, 
 though the town chose five men as agents — Capt. Thomas 
 Crocker, Capt. David Porter, Lieutenant Church, Esquire 
 Jenkins and Ozias Strong. 1785, May 9, £40 raised, but 
 the plan of dividing the town into districts with the money 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 253 
 
 divided also, was rejected. 1786, the town refused to 
 raise any money for schools. 1791, £40 were to be dis- 
 tributed according to number of children between 4 and 
 14 years of age. The Committee to take the number. 
 1792, £40 to be divided according to amount of taxes in 
 each district. 1793, £20 additional. 1794, £40 voted, 
 to be divided according to the number of scholars. The 
 agents this year were John Nye, north-east district; 
 Aaron Benedict, south-east ; Captain Dillingham, Cen- 
 ter ; Captain Garfield, south-west ; Captain Gale, north- 
 west. 
 
 The town was at first (1785) divided into four districts. 
 The first embraced all included south of the roads running 
 from the Park to Stockbridge and Tyringham, taking in 
 the families of James Gardner, Reuben Pixley, 'Squire 
 Ingersoll, Jeremy Warner and others, but excluding Mr. 
 Ebenezer Swift. The second embraced all that were left 
 upon the west side of the river except Ashbel Lee and 
 James Penoyer. The third included all east of the river 
 not included in the first as far east as Freeman's and 
 Stanley's, and so on to the northern line. The fourth 
 included all that were left in the eastern part of the town. 
 The four districts were sub-divided till there were twelve 
 in all. 
 
 By the State law of 1789, June 25, no master or mis- 
 tress was allowed to keep school without a certificate from 
 the Selectmen or School Committee, and the minister, if 
 any there be, of the town. Dr. Hyde used to examine 
 the teachers, and for many years gave them all the in- 
 struction they ever had in grammar. Not till 1814, 
 March 7, do we find a committee appointed to inspect 
 schools with Rev. Dr. Hyde. This first visiting committee 
 consisted of Nathaniel Bassett, Dr. H. Bartlett, Hon. Jo- 
 seph Whiton, Rollin C. Dewey, John Winegar. After 
 this time such a committee was annually appointed. 
 
254 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 The money appropriated has varied from time to time, 
 according to the wishes and circumstances of the com- 
 munity. In ] 795, £40 was the appropriation to be di- 
 vided according to the valuation. This was exclusive of 
 the Hopland district, which, in 1791, was incorporated so 
 as to hold funds and manage schools in that section of the 
 town separately : 1797, $150 ; 1799, $225; 1801, $150; 
 1804, $200; 1818, $300. 
 
 These figures indicate the irregular and yet progressive 
 rate of expenditure for this most important object. The 
 method of distribution has been as variable as the amount 
 of expenditure. At first, the appropriation was allotted 
 to each district according to its valuation list; and after- 
 wards, partly by valuation, partly by the number of schol- 
 ars ; then each school had the same fixed sum, and the 
 remainder was allotted according to the size of the 
 school. 
 
 The number of the districts has varied as the popula- 
 tion has increased or changed. In 1801, October 19, 
 Cape street was set off as a district. In 1806, a commit- 
 tee was appointed to divide the school district in the 
 north part of the town. 
 
 The practical operation of this subdivision of the edu- 
 cational interests of the town was found to be disastrous 
 rather than beneficial. The Legislature of 1862 required 
 each town to vote whether the system should be retained 
 or not. 1869, March 24, the Legislature abolished the 
 school districts. The building and care of the school- 
 houses, and hiring of teachers, formerly at the expense 
 and under the control of each district separately, are now- 
 entrusted to the charge of the general school committee 
 of the town. The old records of the several school dis- 
 tricts have been destroyed, or were so imperfectly kept 
 that it is impossible now to tell when each school-house 
 was built. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 255 
 
 The present school-houses are a great improvement on 
 the olden time, but some of them are not as good, nor as 
 well furnished as they should be in this wealthy and pop- 
 ulous community. The difficulties in the way of an equi- 
 table and generous management of the whole system of 
 common school education are by no means small. The 
 old district system, and the methods of eking out the ap- 
 propriation by " boarding round," by furnishing fire-wood, 
 or by a subscription school, were to be tolerated when no 
 better way seemed possible, but a business-like and eco- 
 nomical management of the whole system requires that 
 the location and building of the school-houses, and the 
 superintendence of the schools, should be a town respon- 
 sibility. Districts once populous are now almost deserted. 
 The tendency is to settle around business centers, and 
 here the school-houses are wont to be overstocked, while 
 the remote schools have not sufficient pupils to excite a 
 generous emulation among themselves and keep the en- 
 ergies of the teacher up to concert pitch. Since the abo- 
 lition of the district system, all the public schools, the 
 Hopland district excepted, are taught the same length oi 
 time, and all the children of the town, so far as is possi- 
 ble, receive equal advantages for an education. 
 
 The whole genius and tendency of the Massachusetts 
 system of public instruction has been to furnish the best 
 possible training for all the youth in the State. The bare 
 rudiments of education have not been deemed all-suffi- 
 cient, but as the ability and circumstances of each town 
 warranted the increased expenditure, the needful facili- 
 ties for higher education have been required. In 1851 a 
 special committee was appointed by the town to report 
 on the advisability of establishing a Grammar School of 
 higher grade, and then came up the question of establish- 
 ing a High School, as required by law, in every commu- 
 nity numbering 500 families. 
 
256 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 THE LEE ACADEMY. 
 
 This brief summary of the educational history of the 
 town would not be complete without giving prominence 
 to the establishment of the Lee Academy, which was 
 afterwards merged in the High School. In the Spring 
 of 1835, Alexander Hyde then a recent graduate of Wil- 
 liams College, was induced by the friends of education in 
 Lee, prominent among whom were William Porter, Sam- 
 uel A. Hulbert, and Walter Lafiin, to open a select school 
 in the upper room of the Center school-house. This he 
 did and continued teaching there for two years, attracting 
 to his school some pupils from other places. He then 
 left it to open a boarding-school at his own residence, 
 but a public school of a high grade was now felt to be a 
 necessity, and a meeting of the friends of education was 
 called in February, 1837, at which William Porter pre- 
 sented a plan for the organization of the Lee Academy 
 Association. This was a stock company, the shares 
 reckoned at $25. and each share entitling the owner to a 
 vote. Seventy-five persons took stock in this company 
 and committees were appointed to procure a site and 
 plans for the Academy building. The committee on a 
 site, reported the one on which the High School now 
 stands, but the title to the land was in dispute between 
 the American Bible Society, (to which it had been willed 
 by Mrs. Tammy Adams,) and her heirs. The association 
 purchased a quit-claim deed from the heirs and proceeded 
 to build. The courts afterwards decided that the title 
 was equitable in the Bible Society, but this Society 
 freely relinquished all claim to so much of the Adams 
 estate as was occupied by the Methodist Church and the 
 Academy, in consideration of the buildings being occu- 
 pied for the cause of religion and education. 
 
 The Academy building was completed in the Summer of 
 1837, and was formally dedicated Oct. 10, by an address 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 257 
 
 from I. W. Andrews, who had been selected as principal 
 of the school, at a salary of $400 and his board. With 
 him was associated as assistant teacher, Miss Jerusha L. 
 Perry. This school was conducted with varying success 
 on its original plan as an academy, charging tuition for 
 all pupils, both from the town and abroad, till 1851, when 
 after a long struggle the High School was established and 
 the building was leased to the town for a free public 
 school. For a more minute history of the Academy, its 
 teachers and results, see Prof. Barlow's address at the 
 Reunion of the pupils at the time of the Town Cen- 
 tennial. 
 
 THE LEE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 Prof. Barlow, has given so full an account of the High 
 School in his address, that the following brief summary 
 must suffice for this history, giving some points on which 
 he did not dwell. The town had for some years con- 
 tained the number of families (500) which the statute 
 required for the establishment of a High School, but the 
 inhabitants dwelling on the Hoplands contended that for 
 all school purposes they were entirely a distinct corpora- 
 tion from the town, and under no obligation to support a 
 High School. There was much wrangling in town meet- 
 ing for a series of years over this question, and it was 
 not till Samuel A. Hulbert threatened to sue the town 
 for violation of statute, the penalty for which was twice 
 the amount the town ever raised in one year for school 
 purposes, that the matter was referred to two eminent 
 jurists, Messrs. Dewey of Williamstown, and Sumner of 
 Gt. Barrington. These gentlemen, after a thorough in- 
 vestigation of the law and the facts in the case, decided 
 that the town was liable to pay the penalty unless the 
 High School was established, and that the Hoplands 
 were under obligation to unite with the town for its sup- 
 port. Thus this long vexed question was finally settled, 
 33 
 
258 THE niSTORY OF LEE. 
 
 and in April, 1851, the Academy was converted into a 
 free Higli School, the trustees renting the building to the 
 town for this purpose, and the school committee employ- 
 ing Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Hall, the former teachers of 
 the Academy, to continue their labors. 
 
 The Academy Association however was still continued, 
 and the rents received from the town were applied to the 
 extinguishment of the debt of the corporation, and for 
 repairs on the building. This arrangement continued 
 till 18G4, when the town school committee asked the 
 Academy stockholders to transfer their stock to the town 
 on condition that the town should continue to furnish a 
 free High School. As no dividend had ever been paid 
 on this stock and none was ever expected, and as the 
 High School was successfully fulfilling the mission of the 
 Academy, most of the stockholders were glad to trans- 
 fer, and the town thus became possessed without expense, 
 of sixty-four shares (a majority) of the stock, and had a 
 controlling power over the building. A few stockholders 
 refused to transfer their shares, but these have mostly 
 died, and in no known instance has this stock been ap- 
 praised among their assets. The old Academy corporation 
 is still kept up, and the records are in the hands of the 
 clerk, Mr.Wm. J. Bartlett. From these it appears, that the 
 last meeting of the trustees was held June 20, 1866, so 
 that practically the High School building is owned and 
 managed by the town. That this school has done this 
 community a great service is patent to all, and was 
 specially manifest at the Centennial, when so many of 
 its graduates returned and acknowledged their obligations 
 to their alma metier. An alumni association was then 
 formed, which it is hoped will still further extend the 
 success of this institution. For a minute history of the 
 High School see Prof. Barlow's address. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 259 
 
 THE SOUTH LEE BRANCH OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 At the time of the establishment of the High School 
 (1851), it was objected that the citizens of South Lee, 
 while contributing to its support, lived too remotely to 
 be much benefited by it. The town, appreciating this 
 objection, voted to support a branch High School in South 
 Lee, to be taught each Winter as long as the appropria- 
 tion might last. Accordingly a room was hired in that 
 part of the town, and a Select School taught there each 
 Winter, generally for four months. The attendance at 
 first was small, often less than a score, but of late years 
 the number of pupils has increased, and the school is 
 proving a greater success. It is attracting some pupils 
 from Great Barrington (Beartown), and is furnishing 
 means for a higher education to many who otherwise 
 would not enjoy them. The only regret now is that the 
 schools in this part of the town are not graded, so as to 
 furnish facilities for instruction of a higher order through 
 the entire year. 
 
 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 
 
 The history of the Lee Grammar School is a short one, 
 for it was established in the Spring of 1876, and is not 
 yet two years old. It is noticeable that there was the 
 same opposition to the establishment of this institution 
 that so long hindered the town from having a High 
 School. For years, the school committee brought the 
 subject before the town and urged its necessity from the 
 crowded condition of the Common and High Schools, and 
 in consideration of the numbers that never attained to 
 the High School, but who ought to have better advantages 
 for education than the common schools generally fur- 
 nished. The Hoplands uniformly opposed the project, and 
 as the law did not require the town to support such a 
 school it was defeated year after year, till, finally, the town 
 
260 TI1E HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 voted in 1876 to establish a Grammar School separately 
 from the Hoplancls, and appropriated a thousand dollars for 
 fitting up the upper room of the High School building for 
 this purpose and for the pay of the teacher. The room 
 was new floored, furrowed out, plastered and furnished with 
 the best school furniture, for less than $500, and is decid- 
 edly the most commodious and pleasant school-room in 
 town. The committee were fortunate in procuring the 
 services of Mr. S. V. Halsey, a graduate of the High School, 
 who had proved himself a thorough teacher in the com- 
 mon schools, and six weeks had not elapsed after the 
 town had made the appropriation before he opened his 
 school. The Grammar School promises to be a permanent 
 and beneficial institution in the town. 
 
 THE HORLAND SCHOOL CORPORATION. 
 
 The town of Great Barrington 1770, January 22, voted 
 that the settlers in the Hopland division should have the 
 proceeds of the sales of land set apart in that section for 
 schooling.' 1782, March 18, on the Lee records is the 
 vote that the town will " take care of the school lands." 
 March 28 we read " the above land is voted to that part 
 of the inhabitants belonging to the said Hoplands." 
 
 1790, May 31, the town voted that they had no objec- 
 tion to the desire of the people of Hopland to be incor- 
 porated into a society for supporting schools. The Hop- 
 land district was incorporated March 7, 1791. An Ex- 
 planatory Act w 7 as passed 1797, March 11, forbidding 
 town assessments for school purposes on Hopland resi- 
 dents. Still further powers seem to have been needed, 
 and 1798, June 19, it was enacted that if the fund be in- 
 sufficient, the Hopland district should have authority to 
 levy taxes for such additional sums as might be needed 
 and voted. In 1830, February 12, authority was given 
 to divide the territory into school districts. The Hopland 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 261 
 
 fund, now amounting to $1,600, with an income of $96, 
 is still held separate, and managed by the Hoplancl peo- 
 ple. A proposition was made, 1808, March 7, for the 
 first time, and repeatedly since, that the town should 
 raise an equal amount, and that thereafter the schools and 
 school-houses in the Hoplands should be under the man- 
 agement of the town committee in the same way as are 
 the other public schools, but the proposition has never 
 met with favor by the Hopland corporation, and the anom- 
 aly remains of a town being divided against itself by arbi- 
 trary lines on the vital point of education. The district 
 system is by sufferance still retained on the Hoplands, 
 though abolished by the general statute of 1869. Within 
 the limits of this corporation are six districts, in which 
 agents are appointed to hire the teachers and take care of 
 the school property, but the Town Committee examine 
 the teachers and have a general superintendence of the 
 schools. 
 
 administrative: roads and bridges. 
 
 The laying out of roads was a frequent item of busi- 
 ness transacted at the annual and special town meetings. 
 The era of road making seems to have been about 1780. 
 Many of the first settlers built their houses simply with 
 reference to a convenient location for work on the land 
 they had purchased. As the thoroughfares for common 
 travel took direction, some of these original locations 
 were found to be very far one side from the generally 
 traveled ways. The town at first had not been very ex- 
 acting in regard to the location of the roads, but laid out 
 a highway wherever a family needed some such connec- 
 tion with the outer world. 
 
 The first road or path from Springfield on the Connec- 
 ticut to the Housatonic townships, was that used by 
 General Amherst and his army in 1759, on his way from 
 Boston to Albany. For many years after the Revolution 
 
262 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 this was known as the Great Road from Boston to Al- 
 bany, and was the only road between those places that 
 crossed the County of Berkshire. It passed through the 
 towns of Blandford, Otis, Sandisfield, Tyringham, Great 
 Barrington, and so on up to Albany. Burgoyne's army, 
 after the surrender at Stillwater, 1777, Oct. 17, passed 
 over this road on their way to Boston, and spent one 
 night in Tyringham. The turnpike from the Connecti- 
 cut line through Otis, Becket, Lee, Lenox, and so on to the 
 New York line, was granted in 1800. It was considered 
 so important an event that Dr. Hyde preached a sermon 
 on the occasion of its opening. It was given up as a 
 turnpike in 1820, from Whiton's Furnace in Lee to the 
 line of New York. 
 
 It was ordered by the House of Representatives, 1752, 
 January 25, " that Elisha Hawley, with the assistance of 
 the Stockbridge Indians, look out and mark out a horse 
 road from Northampton to the Westerly part of the 
 Government." Massachusetts Archives 46 : 324, 1753, 
 December 4, mention is made of a road lately cut from 
 Northampton to Albany. 
 
 The road to Lee branched off from the Great Road 
 above named, passed over the ledges known as the 
 Becket Stairs, and so on into the territory of Lee. It 
 was at first a rough bridle or cart path, rougher than 
 the wood roads of the present day through the timber 
 land. 
 
 Various roads, previously traveled, were accepted, 1780, 
 March 29, but as early as 1783, March 3, it was voted to 
 discontinue several of the roads. In those days, it would 
 seem that every one built his house where it seemed to 
 him most convenient in carrying on his farm. Then he 
 expected that the town would establish and maintain a 
 road to his door. It is no wonder that in a very few 
 years it was found necessary to abandon as needless, or 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 263 
 
 too burdensome, such an endless variety of roads, lanes, 
 highways and pent roads. 
 
 The surveyor would not now be considered " a skillful 
 artist," as the phrase was in those days, who, in locating 
 a public road, should not give courses and distances, but 
 such loose, general directions as " past Ben Smith's po- 
 tato hole," coining into " the old road leading through 
 Dogtown." The first road located by accurate measure- 
 ment, is the Stockbridge road, leading past Mr. Hyde's, 
 altered at that point in 1807. 
 
 REPAIRING HIGHWAYS. 
 
 In 1789, the town voted that the whole territory should 
 be divided into four districts for repairing highways, and 
 that a surveyor should be appointed in each district to 
 superintend repairs. 
 
 <£150 voted for repairing roads. 
 
 4s. a day allowed for labor till October 1st, after that, 
 2s. 6d., and the same for team and plow or cart. Boys 
 not 16 years old not allowed wages on the highway. 
 
 1799, $500 voted for highways. 
 
 1802, voted to buy 9 scrapers, one for each highway 
 district. 
 
 1804, Selectmen to attend to all roads having no regu- 
 lar record, make a survey and such alterations as they 
 think proper. 
 
 $1,000 to repair; 1805, $800; 1823, $800 and $50.0 
 to repair bridges. 
 
 1862, authority to Selectmen to keep walks in village 
 clear of snow. 
 
 1868, April 6, $1,305.56 were paid for macadamizing 
 Water street road. 
 
 $800 appropriated to macadamize Main street. 
 
 1869, not to remove earth for repairs of roads, except 
 in emergency, after September 30th. 
 
264 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 For many years past, the care of the roads has been in 
 the hands of the Selectmen, who have employed a com- 
 petent person to superintend the repairs. 
 
 TURNPIKES. 
 
 From 1787 to 1805, there was a mania for building 
 turnpikes, similar to the railroad mania of later years. 
 Turnpikes were everywhere, and the taxation of trans- 
 portation was universal, but that transportation tax was 
 not for many years felt to be a grievance. These roads 
 greatly facilitated access to markets, and in the same de- 
 gree increased the value of real estate on every route 
 through which they passed. It is but a few years since 
 the towns took them out of the hands of their proprie- 
 tors, and assumed their support at the public charge. 
 
 The Tenth Massachusetts or Farmington River Turn- 
 pike Corporation, was established 1800, June 16. The 
 road began at the point where the Farmington river 
 crosses the line between Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
 and thence passed through Sandisfield, Bethlehem, now a 
 part of Otis, Becket and Lee to Lenox Court House; 
 thence, over the mountain through Richmond and Han- 
 cock, to the New York State Line. The Tyringham and 
 Lee Corporation, established 1805, March 15. connected 
 points in these two adjoining towns. 
 
 In 1805, the town appointed a Committee to wait on a 
 Committee appointed by the General Court to explore a 
 route for a turnpike through this town — to show a better 
 route than the one contemplated, but to remonstrate 
 against any turnpike through the town. The remon- 
 strance did not avail, for the Housatonic Turnpike, from 
 Whiton's furnace at East Lee, through Stockbridgc and 
 West Stockbridge, was granted in 1806. 
 
 1813, turnpike granted to Joseph Bradley's. 
 
 1824, turnpike from Lee to Sandisfield. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 265 
 
 1855, the Tenth Massachusetts Turnpike was laid out 
 as a county road. 
 
 The mania for turnpikes has entirely passed away. 
 They doubtless did service in their day, opening high- 
 ways by means of corporations, when the towns were too 
 poor to incur the expense. The impression was also 
 prevalent that corporations, taking toll from travelers, 
 would keep their roads in better repair than the towns 
 would, and this, for half a century after the settlement 
 of this country, was probably the fact. Toll-gates, how- 
 ever, became in the course of time, a great nuisance, and 
 one turnpike after another was given up till all were 
 abandoned, and the towns assumed the entire responsi- 
 bility of the roads. Some old fogies predicted that the 
 highways would degenerate under town supervision, but 
 their prophecy has not been fulfilled. The roads have 
 steadily improved since turnpikes were abolished, and 
 more especially since the making and repairing of them 
 has been entrusted to some skillful roadmaker. When 
 the custom was to allow every man " to work out his 
 road tax," the roads had a very botched-up look. Turfs 
 and stones disfigured them, and mud impeded travel. 
 The material for road repairing was quite uniformly 
 taken from the side ditches, and was more fit for the 
 dung-hill than for a road-bed. Now, gravel is commonly 
 used for road-repairing, and never were the roads of the 
 town in so good condition as in this Centennial year. 
 
 The improvement in bridges has been as great as in 
 the roads. The first bridges were mere foot-paths, often 
 made by falling a tree across the stream. Horses and 
 vehicles were expected to ford the streams. The first 
 bridges were rude structures with log abutments and 
 piers, on which were stretched huge hemlock logs hewn 
 on one side so as to furnish a level surface for the 
 plank-floor. These bridges were short lived, and needed 
 34 
 
266 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 constant repairs. Stone abutments and piers were early 
 substituted for those built up of logs, cob-house fashion, 
 but it was not till the first half century of the town was 
 completed that the principle of the arch was applied to the 
 building of bridges in this town. The first truss bridge 
 was built across the Housatonic, at the upper end of the 
 village, at what was then called " The Huddle. It was a 
 poor affair compared with modern structures, but did not 
 shake with every passing vehicle as did the old bridges, 
 whose stringers were unsupported. The first iron bridge 
 in town was built over the Housatonic on West Park 
 street in 1876, and is a very substantial and handsome 
 structure. The cost of this bridge ($3,700) was partly 
 defrayed by individuals. 
 
 THE PITTSFIELD AND STOCKBRIDGE RAILROAD. 
 
 The Housatonic Railroad had been running several 
 years to Van Deusenville and State Line, before what is 
 now the main line of the road from Housatonic to Pitts- 
 field was constructed. The extension from Canaan, the 
 original terminus, to State line, was built in 1848. The 
 project of a railroad through Lee was pushed with great 
 energy by Samuel A. Hulbert, and others. The company, 
 which built the road, was incorporated in 1848, and on 
 the first of January, 1850, the road was opened. It is 
 22 miles long, and cost $440,000. It is operated by the 
 Housatonic Railroad Company, which pays for its perpet- 
 ual lease a rental of seven per cent, on the cost. 
 
 The opening of this road gave a great impulse to the 
 business of Lee. It enabled the manufacturers to trans- 
 port their raw material and manufactured goods, not only 
 at much less expense but in much less time and with 
 more certainty. Before the construction of the Housa- 
 tonic road, a journey from Lee to New York was a 
 tedious affair, especially in the Winter, when the Hudson 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 267 
 
 river was closed by ice. The route was commonly via. 
 Hudson City and thence down the river by steamboat. 
 Before the era of steamboats, the passage down the river 
 was as uncertain as the wind, sometimes occupying a 
 week or ten days. Goods and passengers were conveyed 
 up and down the river by sloops, and between Hudson 
 and Lee by horse-power, the farmers doing most of the 
 latter transportation. Railroads revolutionized all this ; 
 and though some of the farmers thought and said that 
 these roads would ruin the agriculture of the town, would 
 make horses useless and oats worthless ; the result proved 
 just the contrary. Agriculture, as well as manufactures, 
 received an impulse ; real estate rose rapidly ; farms im- 
 proved, and the material progress of the town was never 
 so rapid as for a few years after the extension of the 
 Housatonic road to Pittsfield. For this, the town is 
 greatly indebted to Hon. Samuel A. Hulbert, who threw 
 his mighty energy into the enterprise of constructing this 
 road, and carried it through, in spite of all obstacles, by 
 the force of his will, and indomitable perseverance. 
 
 LEE AND NEW HAVEN RAILROAD. 
 
 Public attention was early directed to the feasibility of 
 a railroad from Lee, up the outlet of Greenwater Lake to 
 West Becket, thence down the Farmington river to con- 
 nect at the Connecticut State line with roads leading to 
 Hartford and New Haven. As early as 1848, a company 
 was incorporated to carry this enterprise into effect. 
 The charter having expired without any thing being ac- 
 complished, it was renewed in 1864, and four years were 
 granted for the construction of the road. In 1867, the 
 Legislature extended the time for construction to 1870, 
 and in 1868, a State loan of $300,000 was authorized, on 
 certain conditions, to aid in its construction. In 1869, at 
 a special town meeting, held September 8, Lee voted to 
 
268 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 subscribe $75,000 to the stock of this road, and issue 
 bonds in payment therefor, but no subscription was ever 
 made though the vote was never reconsidered. In 1870, 
 fresh efforts were made to raise funds, and the towns of 
 Otis, Sandisfield and Tolland, subscribed $105,000 to its 
 stock, Otis and Sandisfield $40,000 each, and Tolland 
 $25,000. In this year, also, the time for the construction 
 of the road was extended to June 5, 1872, the time in 
 which the State scrip could be issued under the Loan 
 Act. The necessary funds were not raised at this time, 
 and again the Company went before the Legislature ask- 
 ing an extension of time for construction till June 5, 
 1875, which was granted, but nothing in the Act was said 
 about the extension of the State aid, the Chairman of the 
 Railroad Committee saying that an extension of time was 
 all that was necessary. September 20, 1872, subscrip- 
 tions to the stock having been made, sufficient in the 
 opinion of the directors to warrant it, a contract was 
 made with J. B. Davis & Co., for the construction of the 
 entire road from Lee to the Connecticut State line, a dis- 
 tance of 25 miles, for $600,000. Work under this con- 
 tract was commenced November 1, of the same year, and 
 pushed vigorously. In the meantime, some doubt having 
 arisen whether the Act, extending the time of construc- 
 tion, continued also the promised State aid, a bill was re- 
 ported by the Railway Committee, and passed in both 
 Houses in 1873, revising and extending the Loan Act of 
 1870. This bill was vetoed by the Governor, May 16, 
 1873. Strenuous effort was made to pass the bill over 
 the Governor's veto, but it failed, as also all endeavors 
 subsequently to renew the State Loan. Work on the 
 road ceased soon after the reception of the news of the 
 veto, but not till after the contractors had expended 
 nearly $100,000, and had been paid about $60,000. It 
 is still hoped that direct railroad communication between 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 269 
 
 Southern Berkshire and Hartford and New Haven may 
 be established, but there is no immediate prospect of it. 
 
 LEE AND HUDSON RAILROAD. 
 
 At the time of the construction of the Boston and 
 Albany railroad, a survey was made by John Morgan of 
 Stockbridge, of a route from Westfield via. Otis, Becket, 
 Lee, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge to the New York 
 State line, which was found to be some 13 miles 
 shorter than the route finally selected via. Pittsfield. 
 The hope has never been given up that the Boston and 
 Albany Railroad Co. would at some time shorten their 
 route by building a road on the line surveyed by Mr. 
 Morgan, and when the Lee and New Haven road was 
 likely to be built, a continuation of it to West Stockbridge 
 so as to intersect with the Boston and Albany at the 
 State Line, was deemed highly desirable. This enterprise 
 was favored by the directors of the Boston and Albany, 
 who gave encouragement that they would take a perpet- 
 ual lease of it and put on the rolling stock. The first 
 entry on the town records with reference to this road 
 occurs Sept. 28, 1869, when a committee was appointed 
 to make a cursory survey of a route from Westfield to 
 West Stockbridge via. Lee. This Committee reported 
 the route fully as feasible as Mr. Morgan had represented, 
 and in April, 1871, the Lee and Hudson Railroad Co. was 
 incorporated for building a road from Lee to West Stock- 
 bridge, there to connect with the Boston and Albany. 
 At a special town meeting Feb. 15, 1872, it was voted to 
 subscribe to as many shares of the stock of this company 
 as shall amount in dollars to five per cent, of the valua- 
 tion of the town, as reported by the assessors on the first 
 of May of that year, and to issue town bonds for the pay- 
 ment of the same. In pursuance of this vote a subscrip- 
 tion of $85,000 was made. The town of Stockbridge 
 
270 TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 also voted and subscribed $40,000 to the stock, and in- 
 dividuals in both towns took smaller amounts, so that the 
 directors felt encouraged to go on with the enterprise. 
 The road-bed had been pretty much completed, when 
 the general financial revulsion of 1873 occurred, paralyz- 
 ing all kinds of business, and especially diminishing the 
 income of railroads. The money of the company had all 
 been used, and the Boston and Albany Company declin- 
 ing to aid the enterprise, as had been the verbal under- 
 standing, the road with all its franchises was sold to pay 
 its debts, but not till it had accomplished its purpose of 
 reducing freights on the Housatonic road. 
 
 THE TOWN POOR. 
 
 In the early settlement of the town, the poor seem to 
 have been cared for by their neighbors without much 
 concert of action. The first record on the town books 
 with reference to the poor occurs Dec. 26, 1785, when 
 the selectmen were instructed " to provide for widow 
 Hanclee as they think best." In 1790 commenced the 
 plan of bidding off the keeping of the poor, vencluing 
 them as it was called, to the lowest bidder, though there 
 was at this time only one person, " old Mr. Howard who 
 was venduecl." In 1791 a committee was appointed to 
 investigate Mercy Baker's circumstances, and the select- 
 men were instructed to settle with Stephen Toby for 
 keeping her the past year, and to have a fatherly care 
 over other poor persons. In 1797 four were vendued 
 to be kept at Is. 3d. per week. In 1802 the town 
 refused to pay Dr. Partridge's bill ($156.52) for doctor- 
 ing a poor woman. Overseers of the poor distinct from 
 the selectmen were first proposed in 1816. The plan of 
 bidding off the poor to anyone who would keep them at 
 the lowest price was continued till 1854, when the pres- 
 ent town farm was purchased of Rev. J. N. Shaffer, and 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 271 
 
 a suitable person was hired to work the farm, board the 
 poor, have the care of the cemetry and look after the 
 roads, bridges, and general interests of the town. This 
 has proved a wise arrangement and a great improvement, 
 humanely speaking, on the old plan of " venduing." 
 
 THE CEMETERY. 
 
 The burial of its dead is one of the first cares of a 
 town, and accordingly in 1778, the year after the incor- 
 poration of Lee, the town appointed a committee to 
 select and purchase a " burying ground." The commit- 
 tee seem to have taken due time for deliberation, for no 
 further action was taken by the town on this subject till 
 the March meeting of 1785, when the report of the com- 
 mittee recommending the purchase of 100 square rods of 
 Levi Nye for a burying ground was accepted. This was 
 the eastern section of our present cemetery. Subse- 
 quently, in 1804, one half acre more was purchased of 
 " Deacon Nj^e," for $20. In this year also, the selectmen 
 were instructed to procure a pall, and a small lot, 30 
 square rods, with a right of way to same was purchased 
 of Wm. Ingersoll for a burying ground in South Lee. 
 In 1854 the town purchased of Kev. J. N. Shaffer the 
 present town farm and enlarged the cemetery lot. The 
 vault at the Center Cemetery was built in 1856, and the 
 one at South Lee in 1857. In 1862 the selectmen were 
 authorized to regulate the lots and remedy all infringe- 
 ments by individuals. The first person buried in the 
 cemetery was Matty Handy, sister of the late Seth Handy. 
 The whole number deposited in the Center Cemetery in 
 the first century is estimated at about 4,000, or the pres- 
 ent living population of the town. 
 
 MORALS OF THE EARLY TIMES. 
 
 It is customary to refer to the period of settlement as 
 one of great purity in morals, but the records of the 
 
272 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 church and town do not warrant this reputation. 
 Drunkenness, theft, profanity and licentiousness, evi- 
 dently prevailed more then, in proportion to the popula- 
 tion, than now. Liquors were sold in the stores and 
 taverns without restraint. Everybody drank, but all did 
 not drink to excess. Wines were furnished at all wed- 
 dings, liquors at " raisings," " bees," and other public 
 gatherings, and cider, as soon as the apple orchards were 
 started, was a common beverage. When a neighbor 
 called in for an evening visit, it was considered uncour- 
 teous not to bring forward a pitcher of cider. Even the 
 ministers drank at their gatherings. 
 
 The records of the church show that the cases of disci- 
 pline for drunkeness and licentiousness were frequent, 
 but it should be remembered, in reference to these that 
 discipline was strict in those times, and that in a sparse 
 population all violations of law and order are apt to be 
 known and much talked about. The Sabbath was kept 
 with great strictness, and all traveling on this day, ex- 
 cept for worship, was prohibited. There are records of 
 fines for violation of the Sabbath statute ranging from 
 $2.00 to $18.00. The penalty for profanity was less; 
 usually six shillings. 
 
 As early as 1825, the temperance reformation began 
 its work here. About this time, Dr. Hyde preached a 
 sermon on the wisdom of the Reehabites in their absti- 
 nence from wine and all intoxicating drinks. This ser- 
 mon was published and widely circulated. Dr. Hewitt 
 of Bridgeport, one of the early apostles of temperance 
 was invited to preach here, and did so to a very full 
 house. Public opinion soon banished the sale of liquors 
 from the stores, and at a meeting of the church in 
 August, 1829, it was voted to be the duty of all members 
 to abstain wholly from the use of ardent spirits for the 
 sake of example. From that day to this, it appears from 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 273 
 
 the records that the town has very uniformly voted in 
 favor of temperance measures. 
 
 FIRE DISTRICT. 
 
 With the increase of buildings, came increased expos- 
 ure from fire. The means at first relied upon for protec- 
 tion were the simplest possible. A long step in advance 
 was taken, when in place of precarious reliance on neigh- 
 borly sympathy and aid, a well organized fire company 
 volunteered to provide themselves with apparatus for ex- 
 tinguishing fires, and to discipline themselves so as to use 
 it most advantageously. In 1856, the " Water Witch" fire 
 engine was purchased by liberal individual subscriptions, 
 and this engine and the efficient company by which it 
 has been manned, has done notable service at various 
 fires. The "Water Witch " has ever been kept in good re- 
 pair, and the uniformed company is ready at a moment's 
 warning for work. 1856, July 9, the town voted to pur- 
 chase land near N. Gibbs, Esq., and build a house for the 
 " Water Witch" engine. A commodious building was ac- 
 cordingly erected with a hall in the second story fitted 
 up for the meetings of the company. At the annual 
 meeting in 1859, the town voted to establish a fire district, 
 in which was included the Center, North Center and 
 North-west School districts. This organization is kept up 
 with efficiency. About the time of the purchase of the 
 "Water Witch" engine, the "Forest Engine Company" 
 was organized in Water street, and an engine purchased 
 by subscription, the town erecting a suitable building for 
 housing it. This fire company has also done good ser- 
 vice, but its organization is not so efficient as that of the 
 " Water Witch" Company, as the latter is sustained by the 
 Fire District Corporation. 
 35 
 
274 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 FARMING AND FARMERS. 
 
 The difficulty of subduing the soil, and bringing the 
 wild lands into productive farms, was enhanced in the 
 time when Lee was first settled, by the clumsy imple- 
 ments then in use. The blacksmith was then one of 
 the most useful members of the community. Iron was 
 prized as highly as it is now in some of the South Sea 
 Islands. But the virgin soil yielded bountifully to the 
 hand of diligence. Abundant harvests of wheat, flax, 
 Indian corn, potatoes and hay, rewarded patient labor. 
 But at the commencement of the present century, the 
 imperfect system of husbandry, that knew not how to 
 make the most of natural resources, had so far reduced 
 its fertility, and the difficulties of remunerative cultiva- 
 tion of rocky hill-sides proved so great, that the wheat 
 lands of the Genesee Valley, the open prairies, or the 
 rich alluvium of the river bottoms of the far West, drew 
 heavily from the farming population of this town. 
 
 There are on each side of the Housatonic, extensive 
 plains of rich alluvial land of the first quality, easily tilled 
 and very productive. These lands vary in width from 
 the narrow swales in the northern section of the town to 
 the wide interval lands of the south part. The soil of the 
 uplands is a loam, interspersed with gravel and stones, 
 particularly on the east side of the river ; on the west side 
 there is more clay. Ground gypsum, one of the first 
 special fertilizers recommended, was used with very 
 good effect. Many of the farmers have learned to utilize 
 various waste products of the manufactories in the com- 
 post heaps which they use upon their lands. The farm- 
 ing community has been as liable, as the mercantile and 
 manufacturing community, to various manias. Legisla- 
 tion has been brought in to give fictitious importance to 
 particular products, as in the "morus multicaulis " fever, 
 when many thought to grow suddenly rich by raising mul- 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 275 
 
 berries and silk-worms. In 1840 the town paid a bounty 
 for raising wheat, but of late years farmers have been 
 better satisfied with what advantages they had, and studied 
 how most to profit by them. 
 
 The Berkshire Agricultural Society, the oldest in the 
 United States, was incorporated 1811. The farmers of 
 Lee, since the first cattle show at Pittsfield, have been 
 connected with this society. The Housatonic Agricultural 
 Society at Great Barrington, was originated in 1841, 
 though not incorporated till 1848. Designed for the ac- 
 commodation of the residents of Southern Berkshire, 
 some of the farmers of Lee have from the very first been 
 connected with it. 
 
 The soil of Lee, on an average, is not so rich, nor so 
 well adapted to farming as in the lower river towns of the 
 county. But the farmers of this town, owners of the soil, 
 eager for securing greater productiveness, have been dili- 
 gent in the pursuit of agricultural science as well as in 
 the accumulation of agricultural wealth. In 1828, one- 
 fourth of the people of the County were engaged in 
 farming. By the census of 1875, out of a total popula- 
 tion in the town of 3,900, only 285 are given as occu- 
 pied in Agriculture. 2,536 acres in tillage, (valued at 
 $206,678,) 85 in orchards, woodland 2,873, unim- 
 proved 3,108, unimprovable 162 ; total, 8,764 acres, in 57 
 farms, 15,046 acres are taxed ; 466 horses are reported, 
 44 oxen, 766 cows, 491 sheep, 235 lambs. Agricultural 
 products are valued at $116,682. 
 
 INDUSTRIAL. 
 
 THE EARLY INDUSTRIES OF LEE. 
 
 Agriculture was the leading occupation of the first set- 
 tlers of the town, and so continued for the first half cen- 
 tury. Mechanics of various kinds followed early in the 
 
276 TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 wake of farmers, for in those days almost every hamlet 
 had its blacksmith, shoe-maker, tailor, carpenter and wag- 
 on-maker, and every considerable village was expected to 
 furnish, besides the above-named, a merchant, a painter 
 and glazier, a hatter, a cabinet-maker, a cooper, a fuller, 
 a watch-maker and a tanner. The idea of making cloth 
 and clothing, boots and shoes, hats, caps, etc., in factories, 
 had not then been conceived. Cotton fabrics were almost 
 unknown. Wool and flax were spun and woven in 
 almost every farmer's family, and the woolen goods were 
 taken to the fullers to be fulled and dressed. Home- 
 made, or "hum-made," as it was called, was the rule for 
 men, women and children. Many families were almost 
 independent of mechanics and merchants, the husband, be- 
 sides attending to his husbandry, doing his own carpenter- 
 ing, cobbling and smithing, and the wife, — originally sig- 
 nifying a weaver, — besides attending to her ordinary 
 household duties, " minding the baby," etc., was also a 
 spinner, weaver, and seamstress. Thus David Baker, when 
 he first came to town, was a shoe-maker as well as a farmer. 
 In Winter, when farming business was not pressing, he 
 went around among his neighbors making and mending 
 their boots and shoes, they furnishing the leather, and 
 he working for a Yankee sixpence per hour, or six shill- 
 ings for a day's work of twelve hours. 
 
 The first pressing want of a new colony is lumber fur 
 houses and barns, and accordingly one of the first indus- 
 tries of Lee was the sawing of lumber, for which the for- 
 ests and streams furnished abundant facilities. The first 
 saw-mills were erected on the mountain streams that are 
 tributary to the Housatonic, and which at that time 
 flowed more evenly through the year than they have 
 since the forests have been leveled. At one time there 
 were half a dozen saw-mills in operation here, and lum- 
 ber constituted the chief article of export, the farmers 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 277 
 
 transporting it by horse-power to Hudson, and bringing 
 back salt, molasses, sugar and other groceries, Santa Cruz 
 and New England rum, w-e are sorry to add, being in- 
 cluded. 
 
 A grist-mill w r as another of the wants of the early set- 
 tlers, and was early supplied by John Winegar, who 
 came here in 1770, and built a grist-mill on the Housa- 
 tonic, just above the site of the Columbia Paper Mill, of 
 the Smith Paper Co. Mr. Winegar afterwards built an- 
 other grist-mill in Water street, on the stream that comes 
 from Lakes May and Green- Water. These, and the mills 
 afterwards built at the north-end of the village, and at 
 South Lee, did custom work, almost without exception 
 taking a sixteenth part of the grist as toll for grinding. 
 
 Tanning was another of the early industries of the 
 town. Every farmer expected to get his hides and skins 
 tanned, as much as he expected to take his grist to mill. 
 The boots and shoes of the men were mostly made from 
 cowhide, and those of the women from calf-skin. Hence, 
 in after time, when finer leather was introduced, the 
 farmers were styled " the cowhide gentry." Samuel 
 Stanley was the first tanner and currier. His establish- 
 ment was at the hamlet called Dodo;etown, a mile or more 
 east of Mr. John B. Freeman's. Levi Crittenden subse- 
 quently ran a tannery at East Lee, and in the early part 
 of the present century there were four tanneries in ope- 
 ration in this town, one in Bradley street, and one at 
 South Lee. These establishments were on a small scale, 
 doing mostly custom work. Tanning was a slow process 
 at that time, as the hides were allowed to lie in " the 
 liquor" two or three years. The tanner might say with 
 the old Grecian painter, I tan a long time and for a long 
 time, for the cowhide boots, with a pair of new taps and 
 possibly a cap or two, w r ere expected to last at least a 
 year, and " turn the water " all this time. 
 
278 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Before the introduction of silk hats and cloth caps, a 
 hatter was a necessary mechanic in every considerable 
 village. Mr. Amos Burchard was the hatter for Lee. His 
 shop stood on the corner east of the present residence of 
 Mr. Caleb Phinney. Here he made the stiff stove-pipe 
 hats of those times from fur and wool, feltiug them by 
 the tedious hand-bow process. Boys and laboring men 
 commonly wore wool hats, while older a*nd wealthier 
 farmers indulged in a fur chapeau, and the cocked-up hat 
 was reserved for the gentry. Neither a tanner's vat nor 
 a hatter's shop, is now to be found in Lee. 
 
 Another industry of the olden time, now extinct, was 
 the manufacture of pottery. This was carried on at 
 South Lee. The clay was taken from a bed near the 
 base of Beartown mountain, and was fitted only for the 
 manufacture of coarse articles. The clay is now used for 
 the manufacture of brick. 
 
 The first iron works in the town were started by The- 
 ophilus Mansfield, at South Lee, then called the Upper 
 Hoplands. Mr. Mansfield first built the grist-mill there, 
 and then, in connection with John Keep, the bloomer, and 
 Abijah Merrill, the blacksmith, erected a puddling furnace 
 long known as The Forge. This was a successful enter- 
 prise, and long continued the leading industry at South 
 Lee. but finally gave way to the still more successful 
 business of paper-making. Mr. Merrill, one of the lead- 
 ers in this enterprise, afterwards started the first iron- 
 works in Pittsfield. 
 
 This region, at the time of its settlement, was covered 
 with a dense forest, and tk clearing up " the land was the 
 first work of the farmers. The best pine trees, when 
 near a saw mill, were reserved for lumber, but the beech, 
 birch, maple and hemlock that constituted the bulk of the 
 forest trees, were felled in windrows and burned. The 
 value of ashes as a fertilizer was then little understood, 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 279 
 
 and many were gathered from these windrows and from 
 the enormous fire-places, and sold at a very low figure for 
 the manufacture of potash. Major Dillingham, among 
 his other enterprises, was the manufacturer of potash, 
 and sent a horse and wagon around from farm to farm 
 bartering tea, spices, etc., for ashes. His leach tubs and 
 kettles were set up in the rear of his hotel, the " Red 
 Lion," and some of his big kettles are still to be found in 
 the hog-pens of the farmers, now used for boiling swill. 
 This industry ceased early in the present century when 
 our forests were more highly appreciated for lumber and 
 fuel. It would have been better for the agriculture of 
 the town had potash never been manufactured here, for 
 it does not appear that the leached ashes were ever re- 
 turned to the farms. 
 
 A pot-furnace was early established, and continued for 
 many years at East Lee by James Whiton, who afterwards 
 took his sons into partnership, and finally went into the 
 paper business, which seemed destined to swallow up all 
 other industries here. Mr. Whiton is remembered as an 
 enterprising and enthusiastic man. As an evidence of his 
 enthusiasm, it is told that he prophesied that Lee was to 
 become a second Manchester. 
 
 A cupola furnace was also built in the early part of this 
 century, by Mr. Tarsus Botsford, in the north-east part of 
 the town, on a stream which comes down from Washing- 
 ton mountain, but it does not appear to have done much 
 business. 
 
 In the remains of old limekilns scattered over the town, 
 there is abundant evidence that limestone, the prevailing 
 rock on the west side of the Housatonic, was early used 
 for the manufacture of lime. It would seem from the 
 multitude of these old kilns that every farmer, when 
 about to erect a house, built a kiln in which to burn his 
 own lime. Certainly they were very temporary struc- 
 
280 TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 tures. The business of burning lime is now centered in 
 the large and well constructed kiln of Messrs. Gross and 
 Stallman, which is a self-feeder and is run continually 
 night and clay, turning out about 100 bushels of lime 
 each twenty-four hours. The market for this product is 
 mostly found in the local paper mills. 
 
 Another of the early industries which must not be ig- 
 nored, was the distillery business. To the credit of the 
 town be it said, that this was never carried on extensively 
 here, though at one time early in the century there were 
 two stills in operation, mainly for the manufacture of 
 cider brandy. When the temperance reformation com- 
 menced, about 1825, they were both abandoned, and the 
 worm of the still has not been seen here since. 
 
 Two fulling mills were early started in this town, one 
 in Water street and the other at South Lee. Nathan 
 Dillingham was part proprietor of the one in Water street, 
 and an amusing incident is told of him in connection with 
 this mill, illustrating his shrewdness and the simple mode 
 of administering justice in those days. Some cloth was 
 stolen from the mill one night, and in the morning, the 
 theft being known, the neighbors assembled together to de- 
 vise ways for detecting the thief and bringing him to jus- 
 tice. Major Dillingham, suspecting one of the company, 
 said, "Who knows but that the thief is right here among us? 
 I propose that we draw lots to see who he is." To this all 
 consented, partly in fun and partly in earnest, for there 
 was a little superstition lurking in the minds of the early 
 settlers. Accordingly the major prepared some straws, 
 all of even length, and proposed that the one who drew 
 the longest straw should be held as the thief. The man 
 whose conscience accused him thought to avoid suspicion 
 by shortening his straw, and when they compared the 
 lots his short straw revealed his guilt. The major fasten- 
 ing his sharp eye upon him said, "Thou art the man." 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 281 
 
 The thief broke down and confessed his crime. With 
 the era of woolen factories the fulling business disap- 
 peared. 
 
 The war of 1812 greatly stimulated the manufacture 
 of woolen goods in this country, and two of the young 
 men of this town, Isaac Ball and Lemuel Bassett, were 
 led to form a partnership and undertake the manufacture 
 of satinet. Under the firm name of Ball, Bassett & Co., 
 they built a small mill on the outlet of Laurel Lake, 
 near its entrance into the Housatonic. The business 
 prospered and they gradually enlarged their operations. 
 In 1828, they reported themselves as employing fourteen 
 hands, using 12,000 lbs. of wool annually, and manufac- 
 turing 12,000 yards of satinet, 1,000 yards of broadcloth, 
 and 300 yards of felting. In 1819, another woolen fac- 
 tory was started in South Lee, that employed ten hands. 
 This seems like a small business now, but in those days 
 these factories were regarded as important, and they cer- 
 tainly contributed not a little to the development of the 
 town. When the large establishments of Lowell and 
 Lawrence went into operation, the small factories of the 
 country found it impossible to compete successfully with 
 the capital and machinery there employed, and those in 
 Lee were sold and converted into paper mills. 
 
 Another industry of no little importance in the early 
 history of the town, was the manufacture of chair-stuff. 
 The forests abounded with large maple and beech trees, 
 which the farmers felled, sawed, split and shaved into 
 sticks of suitable size for chair legs and backs, and then 
 hauled them to the shops, where they were turned by 
 water-power, and thence sent to the large chair factories 
 in the cities, principally to New York. Fenner Foote, 
 Joseph Chapman and Robert Lischman, early in the pres- 
 ent century, commenced the manufacture of chair-stuff in 
 Water street, and afterwards Stephen Thatcher and the 
 36 
 
282 THE niSTORY OF LEE. 
 
 brothers, Thomas and Cornelius Bassett, started a still 
 larger turning shop on the Housatonic, in the north end 
 of the village, called at that time " the Huddle." In 1828, 
 there were four turning shops in town, that of Messrs. 
 Thatcher and Bassett employing ten hands, paying an- 
 nually $4,000 for lumber and exporting $8,000 worth of 
 chair-stuff. These turning shops, like most of the early 
 manufacturing establishments, were finally merged into 
 paper mills. 
 
 Mr. Thatcher is still living and is almost a centenarian, 
 having been born March 6, 1781. His years and the 
 important part he has played in the history of Lee, de- 
 mand more than a passing notice. He came with his 
 father, Deacon Roland Thatcher from Wareham to Lee, 
 when he was seventeen years of age. The journey of 150 
 miles, was made in the Winter on an ox-sled, and occupied 
 seventeen days. For three years he worked on the farm 
 which his father had bought a little north-east of the vil- 
 lage, now owned by Pliny M. Shaylor. Being of an en- 
 terprising turn of mind, farm-life seemed tame to him, 
 and he desired to become a sailor and see the world. 
 The whaling business was then coming into prominence, 
 and Hudson was fitting out some whaling ships. Thither 
 he went at the age of twenty with the intention of be- 
 coming a whaler, but not finding a situation to suit him, 
 he turned his attention to turnpiking, and worked as a 
 common laborer on the turnpike then being built between 
 Albany and Schenectady. He followed this business for 
 several seasons, part of the time as overseer, returning to 
 his father's in Lee to spend the Winters. During the war 
 of 1812, he started the manufacture of wire here on a 
 small scale, which he continued till the competition from 
 England, rendered it no longer profitable. The manu- 
 facture of chair-stuff was his next enterprise, and this he 
 continued till lumber became scarce and the style of 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 283 
 
 chairs was changed, when he turned his attention to 
 making paper, building a mill in Water street. In con- 
 nection with the paper business he also started the man- 
 ufacture of paper bonnets. The paper was made thick 
 and of a straw color, and was then stamped with a large 
 copper plate, giving it an impression which was a very 
 good imitation of Leghorn straw. This business had a 
 short run but was very profitable while it lasted, the 
 Navarino bonnets, as they were called, sometimes retail- 
 ing for five dollars when their actual cost was not five 
 cents. Mr. Thatcher continued in the paper business here 
 till 1S52, when he sold out and removed to Saratoga, N. 
 Y., where he lives with his son-in-law, Mr. Jared Inger- 
 soll. His mind is still active, and it was hoped that he 
 would be present at the Centennial, and contribute to 
 the pleasant reminiscences of the occasion, but his friends 
 thought him too feeble to«undertake the journey. 
 
 Among the manufacturing industries to which the war 
 of 1812 gave an impulse, w T as that of cotton fabrics. 
 During this war, a duck factory was started in this town 
 by Messrs. Elisha Foote and Ransom Hinman. A large 
 building was erected on Main street, opposite the block 
 now owned by P. C. Baird. For a time the business 
 was profitable. It was literally a manufacturing estab- 
 lishment, for the work was all done by hand power. Of 
 course such a factory could not stand the competition 
 with England, which the close of the war brought, to say 
 nothing of the competition from factories in our own 
 country driven by water, and more eligibly located for 
 transportation. After the failure of Messrs. Foote and 
 Hinman, the cluck factory stood idle for many years, and 
 was finally sawed in two parts, Mr. Abner Taylor pur- 
 chasing one for a cabinet shop, and the Messrs. Laflin the 
 other for a store. The remains of the old duck factory 
 may now be seen in the tin shop of Mr. Chauncy W. 
 
284 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Smith, and the cabinet shop of Messrs. Horton and 
 Taintor. 
 
 In 1817, Messrs. Winthrop and Walter Laflin, and 
 Riley Loomis, moved into town from Southwick, Mass., 
 and commenced the manufacture of powder at the north 
 end of the village, under the firm name of Laflin, Loomis 
 & Co. The Erie canal was at this time in the process of 
 construction, and the rock excavations in this enterprise, 
 furnished so good a market for Lee powder, that another 
 mill was soon started near South Lee, on a stream com- 
 ing down from Beartown Mountain, which has ever since 
 been called Powder-mill Brook. Messrs. Laflin, Loomis 
 & Co., were men of capital and enterprise, and their ad- 
 vent to this town gave a great impulse to its business. 
 The average quantity of powder manufactured by them 
 per day, was 25 kegs, and as they required but few 
 hands, and the raw materials, charcoal, sulphur and salt- 
 petre, were not expensive, the business proved lucrative. 
 The explosions however, were frequent, and the destruc- 
 tion of life and property was great. In 1823, November 
 28, Mercy Brown and Walter Quigly, were mortally 
 burned by the explosion of the mill of Messrs. Laflin, 
 Loomis & Co. In September of the following year, 
 Charles Targee, Thomas I. Beach and Jesse Sparks, were 
 instantly killed by the blowing up of the same mill, 
 while Edmund Hinckley survived the explosion two days. 
 In December of the same year, two men were killed by 
 the explosion of the mill in South Lee. The mill at the 
 north end of the village, was so near to other buildings, 
 that the explosion in September, at which time it was 
 estimated there were five tons of powder burned — dam- 
 aged many houses in the neighborhood, and produced 
 consternation throughout the town. Mr. Loomis was him- 
 self near the mill at the time of the explosion, and came 
 very near losing his life fi-om the falling timbers. There 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 285 
 
 was a general protest against rebuilding the mill 
 in the same locality, and in this opinion the proprietors 
 coinciding, this water privilege was sold for the manu- 
 facture of paper. The mill at South Lee was operated 
 some years longer, but the business was finally abandoned 
 here also. 
 
 In 1820, Messrs. Samuel A. and Amos G. Hulbert, 
 brothers and partners, commenced the manufacture of 
 carriages and sleighs at the north end of the village. 
 These gentlemen were skillful mechanics, young, ener- 
 getic and persevering, well adapted to supplement each 
 other, as Samuel A. was a blacksmith, bound to strike 
 hard blows, and make even iron bend to his strong will, 
 while Amos G. was a worker in wood, more gentle in his 
 ways, making the wood to bend to suit his taste by the 
 aid of steam and steady pressure. They commenced 
 on a small scale, each with one boy to assist him in his 
 department, and had made quite a number of sleighs and 
 wagons when their shop was burned. Insurance was not 
 customary in those days, and they were uninsured, except 
 in the esteem of their neighbors, which they had won to 
 a remarkable degree by their industry and manly bearing. 
 With the assistance of their neighbors, a new and larger 
 building was soon erected, and their business started off 
 with new life. One apprentice after another was taken, 
 and so systematically was the business managed, and so 
 thoroughly were the apprentices trained, both mechani- 
 cally and morally, that this carriage shop came to be con- 
 sidered one of the best schools in town, and the graduates 
 from it were regarded as having a diploma entitling them 
 to respect in any community. Certainly, with very few 
 exceptions, they proved to be good mechanics and good 
 men. The carriages of the Messrs. Hulbert had a high 
 reputation in all our cities, and orders for them came 
 from the other side of the Atlantic. At the time the 
 
286 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Housatonic railroad was projected, the company were em- 
 ploying from thirty to forty hands. The energies of Mr. 
 S. A Hulbert were now directed to the construction of 
 the Stockbridge and Pittsfield road, a branch of the 
 Housatonic, of which he was made president, and to his 
 indomitable energy and perserverance, the town is greatly 
 indebted for the successful prosecution of this enterprise. 
 The road, however, ran directly through the then exten- 
 sive shops of the Messrs. Hulbert, necessitating their re- 
 moval. The attention of the senior partner had become 
 so much enlisted in other matters, that he did not care to 
 continue the carriage business, and the partnership was 
 accordingly dissolved, and the business discontinued. 
 
 In 1828, Messrs. Lewis Beach and James H. Royce 
 came to Lee, and commenced the manufacture of carding 
 machines in Water street, under the firm name of Beach 
 & Royce. The business prospered and in addition to card- 
 ing machines, they soon added the manufacture of other 
 woolen machinery. In 1832, this firm built a stone cotton 
 factory located a few rods west of their machine shop. 
 In this they placed thirty looms, and employed forty-five 
 hands, manufacturing about 1,200 yards of sheeting per 
 day. In 1837, Messrs. Beach & Royce took in Mr. Ed- 
 ward P. Tanner as a partner in the machine business, and 
 gave their own attention principally to the cotton mill. 
 Mr Tanner came to Lee in 1835 from Kinderhook, a 
 thorough mechanic, first taking the position of a journey- 
 man in the machine shop, in two years becoming a 
 partner, and in five years more sole owner of this branch 
 of the business of Messrs. Beach & Royce. The latter 
 firm continued the manufacture of sheetings till 1850, 
 when they put in some machinery for weaving seamless 
 grain bags. The mill was run on this production till 
 1862, when Mr. Beach left the firm, and Mr. Royce con- 
 verted the factory into a mill for the manufacture of pulp 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 287 
 
 from the native white poplar, an article greatly in de- 
 mand during the war, taking the place of rags in the 
 manufacture of news and book papers. The inventor of 
 the machinery for the manufacture of pulp from wood 
 demanded so great a royalty, that the business was not 
 profitable when the war closed, and rags were cheap, 
 consequently its production ceased and the mill has stood 
 idle for some years. Messrs. Beach and Royce suffered 
 great vicissitudes in the course of their business career 
 in this town, but no one ever questioned their integrity, 
 and their memory is cherished for their enterprise, public 
 spirit, and the stimulus which they gave to the business 
 of the place. 
 
 Mr. Tanner, after buying out the machine business of 
 Messrs. Beach & Royce, continued it alone till 1848, when 
 he took in Mr. Timothy D. Perkins as partner, and for 14 
 years the business was conducted by the firm of Tanner 
 & Perkins, both of these gentlemen being skillful and in- 
 dustrious mechanics. Since 1862, Mr. Tanner has been 
 sole owner of the machine shop and the foundry connected 
 with it. During the war the demand for machinery 
 greatly increased, and prices were remunerative. Of late 
 years his son, James A. Tanner, has taken an active part 
 in the management of the business, and the shop has an 
 enviable reputation for turning out the best of paper 
 machinery, for the manufacture of which it is now mostly 
 devoted. The product of some years has amounted to 
 $140,000, and averages over $100,000. 
 
 In 1847, Messrs. E. A. Royce and the brothers Charles 
 A. and John McLaughlin, bought of Capt. Zacheus Win- 
 egar a good water privilege on the outlet of Lakes May 
 and Green-Water, with the grist-mill and saw-mill at- 
 tached, and in a part of the grist-mill building commenced 
 the manufacture of machinery under the firm name of E. 
 A. Royce & Co., at the same time continuing the business 
 
288 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 of grinding grain and sawing lumber. The McLaughlin's 
 afterwards bought out Mr. Royce, and finally the whole 
 business fell into the hands of John McLaughlin, who dis- 
 continued the grist-mill and enlarged his machine shop. 
 In 1863, he built a foundry on the site of the old Wine- 
 egar house, remarkable for being the oldest house in town, 
 which he removed and fitted up as a store-house for pat- 
 terns. We are happy to add that Mr. McLaughlin in- 
 tends to keep the old house in good repair as a relic of 
 the past. This machine shop employs ten men, and turns 
 out machinery valued on the average of years at $50,000. 
 The production of his saw-mill annually, is nearly half a 
 million feet of lumber. John McLaughlin is one of the 
 adopted citizens of Lee, having been born in Ireland in 
 1818. He came to this country at the age of 18, and not 
 liking New York had engaged his passage back to Ireland, 
 but was finally persuaded by his brother to visit Lee, 
 which he liked so well that he went to work in the ma- 
 chine shop of Beach & Royce. By his industry, skill and 
 energy, he rose step by step, till he became proprietor of 
 a saw-mill, machine shop and foundry. 
 
 PAPER MANUFACTORIES. 
 
 The leading business of the town is the manufacture of 
 paper, other industries, as has been noticed, being swal- 
 lowed in this. Under the old system of manufacturing 
 paper by hand, the rags, after being well washed, were 
 left in tubs for a number of days so as to be made more 
 tender. They were then pounded until the fibrous matter 
 became a pulp fine enough to spread evenly on the wire 
 sieve which was used to dip it up sheet by sheet. It took 
 20 mortars to reduce 100 pounds of rags in one day. In 
 other words, hand labor would accomplish only one-eighth 
 of what machinery can do. The engine with its revolv- 
 ing cylinder, fitted with plates of steel, will now convert 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 289 
 
 250 or 300 pounds of rags into pulp in about six hours. 
 The Fourdrinier machine with the endless vibratory wire 
 gauze, was invented in 1798 by Louis Kobert, of Essonne, 
 France, but improved by the Frenchman whose name it 
 bears. It was first manufactured in this country about 
 1830, by Messrs. Phelps and Spofford of Windham, Conn. 
 With the introduction of this machine began the rapid 
 development of this branch of industry. What once 
 took three months to accomplish, could with machinery 
 be done in one clay. Other improvements followed, such 
 as the use of chlorine in bleaching colored rags, steam to 
 scour them, calender rolls to give the smooth surface re- 
 quired for steel pens, the cylinder machine patented by 
 John Ames of Springfield, in 1822, the use of various 
 fibrous materials, etc. 
 
 SAMUEL CHURCH. 
 
 In 1806, Samuel Church removed from East Hartford, 
 Conn., to this town, and immediately commenced the 
 erection of a paper mill at South Lee, where the Hurlbut 
 Company's mills now stand. This was the first paper mill 
 built in the town, and among the first built in the county. 
 It was afterwards owned by Messrs. Brown & Curtis. 
 The work was all done by hand. The second mill was 
 built 1819, by Luman Church, on the site of the old For- 
 est mill, now owned by Hon. Harrison Garfield. In 1808, 
 by the strong solicitation of gentlemen living in this part 
 of the town, and the offer of liberal assistance in the erec- 
 tion of the building, Samuel Church was induced to set 
 up a paper mill near the spot where the Smith Paper 
 Co.'s Eagle Mill now stands. The paper business of the 
 town grew with amazing rapidity. In 1857, two years 
 before the first mill was built at Holyoke, now the lead- 
 ing town in paper manufacturing, there were were 25 
 mills in Lee, with an annual production of $2,000,000. 
 7 
 
290 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 This was the culminating point in the history of the paper 
 business in Lee, so far as the number of mills indicate its 
 extent and importance. 
 
 W. W. & C. LAFL1N. 
 
 In the Summer of 1826, Messrs. Walter, Winthrop and 
 Cutler Laflin built, where now stands the Smith Paper 
 Co.'s Housatonic Mill, a paper mill which was regarded 
 at that time as a marvel of enterprise. The race-way, 
 140 rods above and 30 rods below the mill, was excavated 
 in eight months' time. In 1850, when the property passed 
 into the hands of Platner & Smith, the race-way was ex- 
 tended further clown the river, below the bridge. Pre- 
 vious to this time the water, in freshets, worked its own 
 way across the road. The main building was 100 feet by 
 35, with wings 50 by 24, and 30 by 30. Its four machines 
 worked up 600 to 1,000 pounds of rags daily. 
 
 In connection with this mill, another was built three- 
 quarters of a mile up the river, at Crow Hollow, with a 
 daily production of 24 to 60 reams of printing paper. 
 This mill, burned some years after but rebuilt by the 
 Laflins, is now known as the Columbia Mill. Mr. Win- 
 throp Laflin was a personal friend of Horace Greeley. 
 Calling upon him as he was busy at the press, Mr. Gree- 
 ley expressed his desire to issue a daily paper if he could 
 procure the paper on three months' credit. Mr. Laflin 
 offered to furnish it, and thus began the publication of the 
 New York Daily Tribune. 
 
 The Laflins also engaged in the manufacture of paper 
 bonnets, made to resemble Leghorn straw by passing the 
 paper through a series of rollers. The business was com- 
 menced by Stephen Thatcher, but the Laflins were the 
 first to introduce them into market on a large scale. 
 Their shipments to the New York house of Arthur Tap- 
 pan, alone, amounted to 50 dozen per day. But there 
 
RESIDENCE OF ELIZUR SMITH. 
 
TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 291 
 
 was so much money in the business that others rushed 
 into the manufacture of these Navarino bonnets, and the 
 market was quickly glutted. The Laflins sold out their 
 business in Lee in '37, and Cutler Laflin went to New Or- 
 leans as head of the wholesale house of Laflin, Stevens 
 & Co. 
 
 WHYTE & nULBERT. 
 
 Mr. Samuel A. Hulbert, born at Wethersfield, Ct., No- 
 vember 6, 1796, at the age of 17 went to Salisbury, Ct , 
 to learn blacksmithing. He commenced business at Great 
 Barrington, but continued there only a short time. In 
 March, 1820, he started in Lee, with his brother Amos, a 
 carriage manufactory, and built up a large business. The 
 Stockbridge and Pittsfield Railroad, a continuation through 
 Lee of the Housatonic Railroad, running over the site of 
 the carriage factory, necessitated the removal of the shops, 
 and he gave up the carriage business. With Alexander 
 Whyte, a practical paper-maker, he bought the Columbia 
 Mill. But in 1857, the firm succumbed to the financial 
 pressure. Mr. Hulbert's sight and hearing had failed, 
 and he did not again enter into active business. He con- 
 tinued to reside in Lee and died here, 1875, January 16, 
 honored and respected for his uncompromising integrity 
 and his marked energy. His son Charles died soon after 
 (January 25), born in Lee, March 20, 1824, from 1842 
 to 1851 a partner in the well-known dry goods firm of 
 Plunkett & Hulbert of Pittsfield, and afterwards a mem- 
 ber of the firm of James M. Beebe & Co. of Boston. 
 Mr. Whyte, after the failure of the company, engaged in 
 the manufacture of paper at Richmond, Va., and died at 
 New York in 1873. 
 
 THE SMITH PAPER COMPANY. 
 
 Mr. Elizur Smith was born in Sandisfield, 1812, Janu- 
 ary 5. When he was 16 years old he cut his foot, and 
 
292 TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 was confined to the house for months. The books he 
 read and studied made him desirous of further knowledge, 
 and he went to Westfield Academy to pursue his studies. 
 In 1830, he came to Lee as clerk for John Nye & Co., at a 
 salary of $20 a year and his board. In 1834 he bought half 
 an interest of Ingersoll & Platner in their Turkey Mill 
 in Tyringham. The other partners carried on the manu- 
 facture of paper at the iEtna Mill in the village, located 
 just across the stream from the present Eagle Mill ; Mr. 
 Smith took charge of the Turkey Mill. In 1835 he 
 bought out Mr. Ingersoll's interest, and thus began the 
 partnership of Platner & Smith, for over thirty years iden- 
 tified with the paper manufacture of Lee. At first they 
 made only fine papers, and for years they had the honor 
 of being the greatest paper-makers in the country. The 
 crisis of 1837 was safely weathered by the new firm, 
 which soon afterwards bought of J. & L. Church the 
 Union Mill, and of Luman Church the Enterprise now 
 known as the Eagle Mill. At this time the only remain- 
 ing mill privilege in the " Huddle," as the north end of 
 the village was then called, was a turning-shop for wood- 
 work. This the firm also bought, and on its site built a 
 woolen mill, which however was profitable only in excep- 
 tional years In 1850, they bought the Housatonic Mill, 
 originally built by Laflin & Loomis, and enlarged it. 
 They bought also Ball & Bassett's satinet factory and 
 clothier's shop on the outlet of Laurel Lake, and con- 
 verted these into the Castle and Laurel Paper Mills. In 
 connection with his brother, Mr. Platner built a large 
 mill in Ancram, N. Y.. and Mr. Smith with his brother, 
 J. R. Smith, bought in Russell a paper mill in connection 
 with Cyrus W. Field. These outside ventures did not 
 prove specially successful, and were given up. In May, 
 1855, Mr. Platner died. Mr. Smith kept on with the 
 business under the old firm name. The war stimulated 
 
COLUMBIA MILL OF SMITH PAPER CO. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 293 
 
 production and brought great prosperity. In 1864, Mr. 
 Smith took in his two nephews, Wellington and Dew r itt 
 S. Smith, as partners, and organized the Smith Paper 
 Company, which is now the leading manufacturing com- 
 pany of the town. The capital originally was $220,000, 
 and is now $250,000. The stock is wholly owned by the 
 Smiths. The four mills in which they have concentrated 
 their paper machinery, are the Housatonic, at the south 
 end of the village, originally built by the Laflins; the 
 Eagle, which includes the old Union mill of J. & L. Church, 
 and occupies all the water power at the north end of the 
 village; the Columbia, half a mile further up the Housa- 
 tonic River ; and the Pleasant Valley Mill, still further 
 up and near the Lenox boundary, originally built by* 
 Thomas Sedgwick & Co. The capacity of the Eagle and 
 Pleasant Valley Mills is 9,000 lbs. of paper each per day, 
 while the Housatonic turns out 10,500 lbs., and the Co- 
 lumbia 12,500. The Eagle is devoted almost exclusively 
 to the production of manila paper, while the other three 
 mills produce news and book papers. The most approved 
 machinery is used by the Smith Paper Company, and 
 their business is conducted with such system and energy 
 as must command success. Steam is used in all their 
 mills to drive a part of the machinery, and in case of a 
 failure in the water-power, the boilers and engines are of 
 sufficient capacity to keep up the average production. 
 The wheels of these mills do not stop, night or day, ex- 
 cept on Sunday and for repairs. 
 
 In 1875 this company bought the factory formerly 
 used by the Lenox Plate Glass Company for polishing 
 glass, and converted it into a mill for the manufacture of 
 wood pulp, a fibrous material made by grinding up the 
 American poplar, and extensively used in combination 
 with rags for the production of printing papers. The 
 capacity of this pulp mill is 2,000 lbs. per day. 
 
294 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 In connection with their paper mills, the Smith Paper 
 Company also run a first-class machine shop, in which 
 their repairing is done and much of their machinery is 
 made. The number of hands employed by the company 
 in the several departments of their business is over 300, 
 who are paid regularly at the end of each month, and 
 the monthly pay-roll is $10,000. 
 
 For a few years past, Mr. Elizur Smith, the founder of 
 the company, has left the management of the mills to 
 his nephews, Wellington and Dewitt, and has given most 
 of his time to the conduct of his large farm. This is lo- 
 cated on the table-land just west of Laurel Lake, of which 
 beautiful sheet of water it commands fine views. In the 
 management of his landed estate Mr. Smith has exhibited 
 the same enterprise and system so characteristic of his 
 manufacturing. Improved machinery, thorough-bred 
 stock and great crops attest his energy in agriculture. 
 Much of his land was naturally wet, and this he has thor- 
 oughly under-drained, putting in over forty miles of drain 
 tile. The stones have been removed and placed in walls, 
 the " hard hacks " and other weeds been eradicated, 
 and fertilizers have been liberally applied, till his farm of 
 nearly 600 acres is one of the most productive in the 
 state. In the meantime the mills, under the conduct of 
 the young men, have been rendered more productive than 
 ever before. The present product of paper is about 
 twenty tons per day. 
 
 HURLBUT PAPER COMPANY. 
 
 In 1822, Messrs. Charles M. Qwen and Thomas Hurlbut 
 came to South Lee and began the manufacture of paper. 
 They employed four men and six women, and made ten 
 reams of letter paper a day. The sheets, made by hand, 
 were left in a rough state, edges untrimmed and quires 
 unstamped. The best qualities were hot-pressed, that is 
 
THE niSTORY OF LEE. 295 
 
 partially smoothed by being pressed between hot iron 
 plates. The reputation of the firm for producing a 
 uniformly excellent article of paper was such that the well- 
 known water-mark of 0. & H. was a guarantee of the qual- 
 ity. Their business integrity and high, standard of work- 
 manship gave a reputation to the town. They spared no 
 expense to secure any valuable improvements. As their 
 means increased they extended their business, purchasing 
 of Messrs. Brown and Curtis, Church's Mill ; then of Mr. 
 Billings Brown his grist mill, which they converted into 
 a paper mill. They also purchased the Forge on the 
 opposite side of the river, so as to control the whole wa- 
 ter privilege, and on the site of the Forge erected a flour- 
 ing mill. The mill farther down the river, at Housatonic, 
 was also built by the firm. In 1856, the old firm was dis- 
 solved, Mr. Hurlbut retaining the property at South Lee, 
 and Mr. Owen the mill at Housatonic. Both these gen- 
 tlemen were born in 1794, Mr. Hurlbut in Wethersfield, 
 Conn., and Mr. Owen in Windsor, Conn. Mr. Hurlbut 
 had been part owner of a paper mill in Suffield, Conn. 
 Mr. Owen's business experience had been acquired in a 
 country store. On dissolving partnership, each member 
 of the firm associated a son with him in the business, 
 which was conducted at Housatonic under the name of 
 the Owen Paper Company, and at South Lee by the 
 Hurlbut Paper Company. . 
 
 Messrs. Owen and Hurlbut were no common men. 
 Their business capacity was of the highest order. Com- 
 bining prudence, enterprise and strict integrity, the course 
 of the firm was steadily onward and upward. They passed 
 through the commercial storms of 1837 and 1857 without 
 even the shadow of a cloud resting upon their credit. 
 Mr. Hurlbut was a retiring man, finding his happiness 
 in his business and family, and caring little for honors 
 and offices. Mr. Owen was more ambitious, and early 
 
296 TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 acquired the title of Major in the military service, and rep- 
 resented the town in both branches of the Legislature, 
 and was also a member of the Governor's Council. Mr. 
 Hurlbut died at his home in South Lee in 1861, beloved 
 and lamented by all, leaving a widow, two sons and three 
 daughters, by whom the stock of the Hurlbut Paper 
 Company is mostly owned. The sons inherit the talent 
 of their father, and under their management the business 
 of the company has prospered and greatly increased. In 
 1872, they built one of the best paper mills in the state, 
 on the site of the old South Lee Forge. This mill is of 
 brick, with a stone basement, is three hundred and sev- 
 enty-three feet long, fifty feet wide, and including the 
 basement, and attic, four stories high ; having a capacity 
 for making 8,000 lbs. of fine paper per day. The whole 
 product of the Hurlbut Paper Company per day is 10,000 
 lbs., all of fine quality. Mr. Owen died at Stockbridge in 
 1870, no children surviving him. The business of the 
 Owen Paper Company is conducted by Mr. Henry D. Cone, 
 who married the widow of Edward H., son of Major Owen. 
 
 HARRISON GARFIELD AND BENTON BROTHERS. 
 
 Mr. Garfield, who is a native of Lee, born in 1810, and 
 is now the oldest manufacturer of writing paper in the 
 country in active business, began manufacturing in part- 
 nership with Caleb Benton, operating the old Forest Mill. 
 Previously, he had been three years in the meat business 
 with Capt. T. E. M. Bradley. The Forest Mill, which was 
 built in 1819 by Luman Church for the manufacture of 
 fine writing paper, was the third mill built in town, and 
 the first built on the Lake May outlet. Mr. Church not 
 succeeding in the business, the mill was run for several 
 years by Joseph and Leonard Church, and afterward by 
 James Whiting & Son, who sold to Jared Ingersoll and 
 Caleb Benton. Mr. Ingersoll sold his interest to his 
 
PAPER MILL OF HURLBUT PAPER 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 297 
 
 partner in 1835, and the firm of Benton and Garfield was 
 formed the following year. For nearly a third of a cen- 
 tury, these two veteran paper-makers worked together in 
 harmony, building up a large and flourishing business. 
 In 184G, they built the Mountain Mill, which they ope- 
 rated 7 or 8 years, and then sold to P. C. Baird. In '49, 
 they bought the Forest Grove Mill, built in L83G, but idle 
 till '40, when Mr. Joseph B. Allen began making coarse 
 papers. In '54 they built the Greenwood Mill. The 
 Forest Mill was burned in '52, but immediately rebuilt. 
 After the death of Mr. Benton in 1866, the business was 
 divided, Mr. Benton's sons, Charles G. and James F. Ben- 
 ton, under the firm name of Benton Brothers, taking the 
 Greenwood Mill, and Mr. Garfield retaining the Forest 
 and the Forest Grove Mills. Benton Brothers have one 
 of the best mills in the country, having an overshot wheel 
 with 30 feet fall. Only fine paper is made at these mills. 
 Mr. Garfield, besides caring for his paper mills, is presi- 
 dent of the National and Savings banks, carries on a store, 
 is largely engaged in agriculture, has one of the finest 
 private greenhouses and graperies in the county, is Pres- 
 ident of the Lee Library Association, and is ever ready 
 to give personal and pecuniary aid to all deserving public 
 and charitable enterprises. He has served the town faith- 
 fully as a Selectman, and represented her in both houses 
 of the Legislature. 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND MILL CIIAFFEE AND IIAMBLIN. 
 
 This mill was originally built by Church and Brown 
 in 1829, and under the name of Waverly Mill was bought 
 of Mr. Charles Ballard in 1855, by Messrs. Chaffee and 
 Hamblin. Mr. Prentiss Chaffee was born in Becket in 
 1809, and was a farmer there till, in connection with his 
 nephew, Mr. W. H. Hamblin, a native of Lee, born in 
 1832, he commenced this new business, of which neither 
 38 
 
295 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 himself nor his partner had till then any practical knowl- 
 edge. The water privilege is one of the best in Water 
 street, having sixteen feet fall, and the united streams 
 from Lake May and Greenwater Pond for supply. An 
 overshot wheel drives three rag engines, converting 1,600 
 pounds of rags daily into pulp. The number of hands 
 employed is 24, and the daily production 1,000 pounds 
 flat cap paper, used mainly for blank and writing books. 
 Pay son, Dunton & Scribner's writing books are made of 
 this paper. Messrs. Chaffee & Hamblin have built up an 
 enviable reputation for the manufacture of their peculiar 
 paper, and their success in business attests their industry, 
 integrity and talent. 
 
 E. & S. MAY AND S. S. ROGERS 
 
 The Messrs. May are natives of Putney, Vt. The sen- 
 ior partner, E. S. May, born in 1809, commenced his 
 business life as a woolen manufacturer in 1833, at Wal- 
 pole, N. H., removed his business to Granby Mass., in 
 1835, began the manufacture of paper in Lee in 1840. 
 His brother, S. S. May, younger by four years, served a 
 regular apprenticeship in paper manufacture, and came 
 to Lee in 1834 as foreman of the Columbia Mill, owned 
 at that time by W., W. & C. Laflin. In 1837, in connec- 
 tion with Jared Ingersoll, he bought an interest in a small 
 paper mill, the first one built on the Lake May stream. 
 In 1839, the mill was burned, and Mr. E. S. May bought 
 out Mr. Ingersoll's interest the following year, when the 
 mill was rebuilt. Lake May reservoir could originally be 
 drawn down only 18 inches, and was used solely for driv- 
 ing a saw-mill at its outlet. But the Messrs. May, in con- 
 nection with other manufacturers, have raised the dam at 
 the outlet so that 13 feet of water can now be drawn, the 
 reservoir being a mile and a half long and three-quarters 
 of a mile wide. In 1845, the May Brothers built the 
 
THE HISTOKY OF LEE. 299 
 
 Middle Mill, on a site above their original mill. Straw 
 wrapping paper was the manufacture of both mills till 
 competition reduced the profits, when, in 1848, the Mays 
 introduced the first Fourdrinier machine ever set up in 
 Berkshire county for the manufacture of fine paper. In 
 1853, the Mahaiwe mill was built, and the succeeding year 
 Mr. S. S. Rogers became a partner, the firm name being 
 May & Rogers. Mr. Rogers is a native of New Marlboro, 
 born in 1823, and for the first years of his business life 
 was a merchant. In the division of labor in the new firm, 
 Mr. Rogers had charge of marketing the production, 
 while the Mays attended to the manufacturing depart- 
 ment. The average daily consumption of rags varies from 
 3,600 to 4,000 pounds. The production of the three mills 
 is 2,500 pounds fine writing paper, largely used in the 
 Government offices at Washington. Their wash water, 
 so essential in the production of fine paper, is of excel- 
 lent quality, from a famous spring on the old Chanter 
 place, to secure which, they bought the whole farm of 180 
 acres. The firm of May & Rogers was dissolved in 1877, 
 the May brothers taking the two lower mills and Mr. 
 Rogers the Mahaiwe. Roth of the new firms are assisted 
 in their business by their sons. The Messrs. May have 
 given much time to the public, both having served faith- 
 fully as Selectmen and legislators, and Mr. E. S. May as 
 County Commissioner. Mr. Rogers was also honored with 
 the Presidency of the Lee and Hudson Railroad. 
 
 P. C. BAIRD. 
 
 Mr. Baird is the oldest son of the late Kendall Baird, 
 Esq., of Becket. He came to Lee in '53 with his cousin, 
 J. C. Chaffee, who was a jeweler, and through their en- 
 ergy and enterprise built up a large business. In '54 he 
 sold out to Mr. Chaffee, and bought of Benton & Garfield 
 the upper Forest Mill. In '59, he bought of the estate of 
 
300 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Couch & Clark the Congress Mill built by Bradford M. 
 Couch in 1852. In '61 the Forest Mill was burned and 
 never rebuilt. In '63 he bought of Linn & Smith the 
 National Mill, and of Mr. Orton Heath the Green water 
 Mill. Mr. Baircl makes collar paper ; can manufacture 
 about 3,500 pounds daily, and sells mostly in Boston and 
 New York. In '64, he began the manufacture of paper 
 collars. In all his enterprises his energy and persever- 
 ance have conquered a success. He has represented the 
 town in both branches of the Legislature. 
 
 BLAUVELT & GILLMOR. JAMES GILLMOR. 
 
 Blauvelt & Gillmor came to Lee in '64, to manufacture 
 twine from manila paper, occupying the mill farthest 
 East on Lake May brook, which was formerly owned by 
 Eldridge & Northrup. During the war, when all cotton 
 products were very high, the twine made from manila 
 paper proved an excellent substitute for cotton. The 
 value of the manufactured article has since Mien from 60 
 cents to 20 cents per pound. In '68, the twine factory 
 was removed to Lee from Paterson. In '72, October 25, 
 the mill was burned, and Mr. Blauvelt returned to Pater- 
 son. Mr. Gillmor rebuilt the mill, but it was burned 
 again 1877, March 1. Not discouraged, Mr. Gillmor re- 
 built in the Summer of 1877, and his mill is now in suc- 
 cessful operation. 
 
 In concluding this account of the leading industry of 
 Lee, it is due to the paper manufacturers to say, that they 
 have all stood the panic pressure of the last four years 
 with great firmness. None have failed, and the business 
 probably never rested on a surer foundation than it does 
 to-day. Imports from competing manufacturers in Eng- 
 land, France and Germany, have nearly ceased, and a 
 hopeful effort is now being made to supply these and other 
 foreign countries with many lines of American paper. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 301 
 
 SUBSIDIARY INDUSTRIES. 
 
 RAG-ENGINES. 
 
 In connection with the paper business, other industries, 
 aside from the machine shops already mentioned, have 
 sprung up that deserve notice. One of the first wants 
 of a paper mill is knives or rather bars, by which, fas- 
 tened into wooden cylinders, the rags are torn into pulp 
 without injuring the fibre. Each cylinder of a rag-engine 
 requires from forty to ninety of these bars, which are 
 made of one-fifth steel and four-fifths iron. Soon after 
 the manufacture of paper was started in this town, Mr. 
 Cornelius Barlow, a blacksmith, commenced making these 
 rag knives, as they were called, first at his shop which 
 was located in the nort-heast part of the town near w 7 hat 
 is now called the Tuttle Bridge. This shop burning down, 
 and the forging of these knives demanding more than 
 muscular power, he bought a water privilege at East Lee, 
 and began forging them by water-power. Mr. Barlow's 
 health failing, he sold out his shop to Henry Murray, who 
 took in John Dowd as a partner in 1847, and the busi- 
 ness was conducted for six years by the firm of Murray 
 & Dowd. In 1853, Mr. R. J. Dowd, a brother of John, 
 bought out Mr. Murray's interest, and the firm of J. & 
 R. J. Dowd was constituted. These gentlemen were na- 
 tives of Sandisfield. Both learned their trade of Mr. 
 Murray and by diligence and skill built up such a repu- 
 tation that their work was sought for from all parts of 
 the country. Their orders varied from year to year, as 
 the paper business ebbed and flowed, some years amount- 
 ing to $20,000, and others to only half this sum. In 
 the Spring of 1877, Mr. John Dowd bought out his broth- 
 er's interest, and is now assisted by his son, Mr. R. J. 
 Dowd removing to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he has estab- 
 lished a similar manufactory. 
 
302 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 WATER-WHEELS. 
 
 A very necessary adjunct of a paper mill run by wa- 
 ter, is a water-wheel. Mr. E. D. Jones, a wheelwright, 
 commenced the manufacture of turbine and other wheels 
 at East Lee in 1856. Mr. Jones was master of his busi- 
 ness, and established an enviable reputation and a snug 
 fortune in manufacturing wheels and building paper mills. 
 He took large contracts not only in this but in neighbor- 
 ing towns, and desiring a more central location, removed 
 to Pittsfield in 1866, selling out his establishment at East 
 Lee to Henry Couch and Freeland Oakley, who learned 
 their trade of him. Messrs. Couch and Oakley have con- 
 tinued the business successfully and are turning out work 
 from their establishment to the amount of about $12,000 
 per annum. 
 
 THE MARBLE BUSINESS. 
 
 From the early settlement of the town it was known 
 that extensive beds of limestone cropped out in the west- 
 ern half of the town, being a continuation of the lime- 
 rock of Vermont that extends through Berkshire County 
 into Connecticut. Most of the limestone of Lee is dolo- 
 mite, a compound of the carbonate of lime and magne- 
 sia, but much of it has a fine white grain, and can be cut 
 to a sharp edge and polished highly. The farmers on 
 whose land this rock cropped out regarded it as a nui- 
 sance, little thinking, that one day it would prove a source 
 of great wealth to the town. The marble of West Mock- 
 bridge was quarried and sent to market in the latter 
 part of the eighteenth century, but that of Lee was con- 
 sidered so remote from tide-water that the transportation 
 would be too expensive to allow of its being marketed 
 with profit. On the farm of David Ingersoll, where now 
 is the quarry of Mr. Warren P. Wilde, the stone lay in 
 strata near the surface, and these Mr. Ingersoll got out 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 303 
 
 in considerable quantity, but mainly for hearth and step 
 stones. The older inhabitants remember the two large 
 and beautiful specimens of marble from this quarry which 
 Mr. Ingersoll got out for the horse-blocks of the church 
 built in 1800. Many of the step-stones of the present 
 residences of the town were quarried by Mr. Ingersoll in 
 the olden time, and are fine specimens of marble. 
 
 But it was not till the Housatonic railroad opened 
 an avenue to market that the Lee marble gained a noto- 
 riety. It was about this time that Congress determined 
 upon an enlargement of the Capitol at Washington and 
 a commission was appointed to examine the marbles of 
 the country and decide which was best for building pur- 
 poses. The Lee marble was found to stand a much greater 
 pressure than any other, and also to be quite free from 
 iron and other impurities. Mr. Charles Heebner, an im- 
 porter and dealer in marble at Philadelphia, was active 
 in bringing the Lee marble to the attention of the com- 
 mission, and in 1 852 purchased the farm of William L. 
 Culver, near the village of Lee, made a contract with the 
 Government for furnishing half a million cubic feet for 
 the Capitol enlargement, and in connection with his part- 
 ners, Messrs. Rice and Baird, opened what has since been 
 known as the Heebner quarry, building a branch railroad 
 from the Housatonic into it, so that the marble could be 
 hoisted from the quarry directly upon the cars. Mr. 
 Heebner was the manager of the quarry and was a man 
 of great energy, strong will and good judgment. The 
 enterprise was a success. Twelve years were allowed in 
 the contract for the delivery of the marble at Washing- 
 ton, and during these years, Mr. Heebner employed about 
 a hundred men. He also purchased, in connection with 
 some parties in New York, a section of the farm of Mr. 
 C. K. Lanphier and the whole of the Van Deusen farm, 
 and opened what has been called the New York quarry. 
 
304 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Mr. Heebner lived to fulfill his contract with the Govern- 
 ment and at its expiration in 1865, he had delivered at 
 Washington 491,570 cubic feet of marble, receiving there- 
 for $865,043, besides furnishing stone for sundry smaller 
 buildings in New York and Philadelphia. The business 
 brought much money into town and was a great help to 
 the Housatonic road, down which the marble was trans- 
 ported to Bridgeport, and thence shipped to Washington. 
 Mr. Heebner died at Philadelphia in 1867, but the Heebner 
 and New York quarries were soon purchased of his estate 
 by Mr. Frank S. Gross, a nephew who had been trained 
 to the business by his uncle, and who still continues to 
 work them. Mr. Gross has introduced all the modern 
 improvements for quarrying, using eight channeling ma- 
 chines driven by steam, each of which does the work of 
 twenty men. He also runs a steam diamond-drill for 
 horizontal drilling, that bores a hole into a rock faster 
 than an auger penetrates wood. In the ten years during 
 which Mr. Gross has had possession of the quarries, he has 
 shipped between six and seven hundred thousand cubic 
 feet of marble, part of which went to Boston and New 
 York, but most of it to Philadelphia, where it has been 
 used for the enlargement of Girard College and more 
 especially for the erection of the City Hall, a magnificent 
 structure which will require years for its completion. 
 
 In 1871, Mr. Warren P. Wilde, who had been working 
 the quarries of Pleasantville, N. Y., and had a large con- 
 tract for furnishing marble for the Catholic Cathedral on 
 Fifth Avenue, New York, purchased the quarry originally 
 opened by David Ingersoll, and immediately commenced 
 shipping marble. This quarry works with great ease -as 
 the stone are so stratified, but the marble is not of the 
 finest quality, nor does it furnish such magnificent blocks 
 as are quarried by Mr. Gross. Mr. Wilde uses no steam 
 power but employs a dozen men and ships about 30,000 
 
RESIDENCE OE F. S. GROSS. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 305 
 
 cubic feet annually. There is no limit to the supply of 
 marble which this town can furnish, and the marble im- 
 proves in color and quality the deeper the quarries are 
 worked. 
 
 THE LUMBER BUSINESS. 
 
 Lumber, which in the early history of the town was 
 one of the chief articles of export, was pretty much ex- 
 hausted in the first half of the present century, the for- 
 ests being cut off not only for this purpose, but for mak- 
 ing charcoal, and more especially for furnishing firewood, 
 the paper mills using up large quantities for generating 
 steam. The neighboring towns, Washington, Becket, 
 Otis and Tyringham, supplied the demand here for com- 
 mon lumber, but for nice work resort was had to Albany ; 
 no regular lumber yard being established here till' 1850, 
 when one was opened by Mr. George F. Bradley. The 
 business was conducted on a small scale at first, but grad- 
 ually increased and proved a great convenience to the 
 town and the foundation of a small fortune to the pro- 
 prietor. Mr. Bradley's health failing, he sold out his 
 business in 1869 to Luther Ball, a grandson of Nathan 
 Ball, one of the original settlers of the town, and his 
 brother-in-law, William H. Baldwin. The new firm of 
 Ball & Baldwin sold, the first year, $15,000 worth of 
 lumber, and the business has steadily increased, amount- 
 ing in one year to $50,000, and in these dull times for 
 building averaging $30,000 at retail and $8,000 by car- 
 load. Most of their nice lumber is brought directly from 
 the saw-mills in Michigan and Canada. They keep on 
 hand a stock varying from $8,000 to $10,000 in value. 
 Much lumber is still brought to Lee from the neighbor- 
 ing towns. 
 
 THE COAL BUSINESS. 
 
 Coal was an article seldom seen in Lee in the first half 
 of this century. With the building of the Housatonic 
 
30G TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 railroad in 1850 came increased facilities for obtaining 
 this most condensed form of fuel, and it has gradually 
 supplanted wood both in mills and private dwellings. 
 Even farmers, owners of wood lots, find it cheaper to burn 
 coal than to haul, cut and store wood. The first dealers 
 in coal were John Ingersoll and William T. Fish. The 
 first regular coal yard in town was started by Messrs. 
 Benjamin Hull and David Dresser, under the firm name 
 of Hull & Dresser, in 1859. The business at first was 
 small ; the sales, the first year, amounting to only 200 
 tons, which were mainly used in private dwellings. The 
 paper mills soon substituted coal for wood in generating 
 steam, but the proprietors mostly bought directly from 
 the shippers by wholesale. Mr. Hull dying in 1863, was 
 succeeded in the coal business by Messrs. Piatt & Barnes 
 of West Stockbridge, and the firm name was changed to 
 Dresser & Co., and in this name the business is still con- 
 ducted, though Mr. Dresser and P. M. Shaylor now consti- 
 tute the company. The retail trade in coal of this firm 
 averages 1,500 tons annually. In 1872, Messrs. F. W. 
 Gibbs and A. M. Holmes started another coal yard here 
 which is still continued under the name of Perry, Hull & 
 Co. The sales of this yard also average about 1,500 
 tons. The whole amount of coal consumed in this town 
 annually is estimated at 12,000 tons, and the consumption 
 continues to increase. 
 
 THE MEAT BUSINESS. 
 
 So long as Lee was a substantially agricultural town, 
 there was no meat market here nor even a slaughter- 
 house. The farmers fattened and slaughtered their own 
 meat, furnishing the mechanics " by the quarter," mainly 
 in the way of barter, and keeping up a supply of " fresh " 
 among themselves by exchange with their neighbors. In 
 the summer, a calf or sheep was slaughtered occasionally, 
 
THE niSTORY OF LEE. 307 
 
 but the main reliance for meat at this season of the year 
 was on the beef and pork barrels, and " potluck " was the 
 staple dish for dinner. Much beef and pork found a 
 market at Hudson, and some was carried to Boston. 
 The price of meat was low in those days, beef selling for 
 five and six cents a pound by the quarter, and pork for 
 four and five. Nathaniel Bassett,- the blacksmith of the 
 village, did the "butchering" as it was called, for his 
 neighbors, and took his pay in a piece of meat, which he 
 sometimes sold. He was a very conscientious man, and 
 when meat began to appreciate he hardly dared to ask 
 the market price. Offering a nice cutlet of veal to Dr. 
 Hyde, he was asked the price. His reply was, " They 
 say veal is selling for six cents, but, good George!" a 
 favorite exclamation which he had learned in the days 
 of George the Third, " veal was never worth so much, 
 and you may have it for five cents." In 1830, Capt. 
 Thomas E. M. Bradley started a slaughter-house at the 
 upper end of the village, and commenced running a meat 
 cart from house to house. The first regular meat market 
 was established in 1852 by Messrs. Dyke and Babcock, 
 who were bought out by Messrs. James Bullard and C. E. 
 Hinckley in 1857. Another was started by Robert B. 
 Cheney in 1862, and these two firms still continue the 
 business. Their average sales for the past few years 
 have been $30,000 each. In war times they amounted 
 to $50,000. Much beef and pork are brought to these 
 markets from neighboring; towns, and in the Summer 
 most of the beef is purchased in Albany. 
 
 THE MERCHANTS OF LEE. 
 
 The name of the Lee merchants is legion, for there 
 have been many, and it is exceedingly difficult to trace 
 them through their many changes. Nathan Dillingham 
 was the first who, soon after the incorporation of the 
 
308 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 town, opened a small store in one of the rooms of his 
 hotel, the Red Lion, located on the lot which is now the 
 residence of Abiel H. Pease. Teas, spices, liquors, and a 
 few dry goods constituted the bulk of his goods, and the 
 trade was mostly by barter. The business increasing, he 
 erected a building purposely for trade and took in Corne- 
 lius T. Fessenclen as a partner. The firm of Dillingham 
 & Fessenclen seem to have had a monopoly of the mer- 
 cantile business here till nearly the close of the last cen- 
 tury, when John Howk, in connection with a Mr. Hall, 
 opened a store in a double log house formerly occupied 
 by his father, Richard Van Huyck, as the name was orig 
 inally spelled, and located west of the residence of the 
 late Albert M. Howk. About the same time, Mr. Eben- 
 ezer Jenkins, a well-to-do farmer living a mile east of Mr. 
 J. B. Freeman on what has been known of late years as 
 the Harteau place, becoming satisfied that the business of 
 the town would center around the church, sold out his 
 farm and built a house and store on the south side of the 
 park, on the site now occupied by Dewitt S. Smith. 
 
 Major Dillingham continued in trade till the war of 
 1812, and may be called the patriarch of Lee merchants. 
 He brought up a large family of children, most of whom 
 made their mark in the world. Two sons were educated 
 at Williams College, one of whom became a distinguished 
 lawyer and the other a prominent educator. Two inher- 
 ited their father's taste lor trade and became merchants, 
 one at Hartford, Conn., and the other at Columbus, Ga. 
 Two daughters were deaf and dumb, and these were edu- 
 cated at the Hartford Asylum, one afterwards assisting 
 her father as clerk, and the other becoming an assistant 
 matron at the Asylum. 
 
 The war of 1812 brought with it changes in the mer- 
 cantile and other business of the town. Thomas C. Du- 
 rant succeeded Messrs. Dillingham & ^essenden, and 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 309 
 
 Messrs. Elisha Foote and Ransom Hinman opened a store 
 in connection with their duck factory. This was located 
 on the site of the store now occupied by William Taylor. 
 John B. Perry, son of Rev. David Perry, of Richmond, 
 Mass., also bought out Mr. Jenkins, and continued in 
 trade here till his death in 1843, in the meantime erect- 
 ing a new store on the west of his house, and selling the 
 old Jenkins building which stood on the east side, and was 
 converted into the rear part of the residence of the late 
 Joseph Bassett. Mr. Perry was one of the most perma- 
 nent and successful of the Lee merchants. His business 
 was never large, but was conducted so prudently that he 
 escaped the wrecks which so many of his contemporaries 
 suffered. 
 
 Oliver Ives succeeded Foote & Hinman in 1817, and was 
 in turn succeeded by J. & L. Church in 1820, by Church 
 & Bassett in 1832, and by William Taylor, the present 
 occupant and the most permanent and, on the whole, the 
 most successful of the Lee merchants, in 1837. 
 
 In 1824, Messrs. Laflin, Loomis & Co., bought a part of 
 the old duck factory building and moved it to where 
 Chauncey T. Smith's tin shop now stands, and started a 
 store of more pretensions than had been customary in 
 Lee. This firm was succeeded by W., W. & C. Laflin in 
 1833, by John King in 1835, by Ranney & Boies in 1836, 
 by Laflin & Mills in 1840, and by L. L. Mills & Co. in 
 1845. 
 
 The same year in which the Laflins commenced the 
 mercantile business at the south end of the village, Messrs. 
 John Nye, Jr. & Co., built a new store at the upper end 
 on the site of the present block of Messrs. Sparks & Ca- 
 sey. This firm was composed of four partners, John 
 Nye, Jr., Messrs. Ball & Bassett, Thomas Bassett and Isaac 
 C. Ives, who were at this time running a paper mill, and 
 started the store as an auxiliary to their other business. 
 
310 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 Mr. Ives was the manager of the store, and the firm con- 
 tinued in trade till 1835, when it was succeeded by Ives, 
 Sturges & Co. William T. Fish afterwards occupied this 
 stand for a number of years, and was succeeded by Messrs. 
 Hitchcock & Bradley, and in 1871 by Messrs. Sparks & 
 Casey, the present merchants on this ground, who removed 
 the old store of John Nye, Jr. & Co., and put up the com- 
 modious block which bears their name. 
 
 In 1833, Messrs. Benedict & Chamberlin came to Lee 
 from Dalton and built the store now occupied by James 
 W. Ferry at the corner of Center and Mill streets. This 
 firm traded here only two years, and was succeeded by 
 Henry Sabin & Co. ; Messrs. S. & A. Hulbert being the 
 company. A prosperous business was built up by this 
 firm, and after a few years, Mr. Sabin bought out his part- 
 ners and continued trading at the old stand with only a 
 short interval, when the store was occupied by Messrs. 
 Platner & Porter till 1852, when he sold out to Charles 
 N. Couch, who soon after took in his brother-in-law Mr. 
 Theron Reed, as partner. The firm of Couch & Reed was 
 succeeded by Homer Hitchcock, and he in turn by the 
 present enterprising merchant, James W. Ferry, who has 
 enlarged and much improved the premises. 
 
 About the time of the erection of the store in which 
 Mr. Sabin traded so long and successfully, Mr. Milton J. 
 Ingersoll, a grandson of " Squire Ingersoll," built a store 
 on the west side of Main street, which he conducted a few 
 years in connection with the paper business. Mr. Inger- 
 soll was succeeded by Austin D. Moore, who remained 
 only a year or two, and was followed in 1837 by Messrs. 
 Phelps & Hill, soon after by Phelps & Field, and in 1841 
 by Messrs. S. & N. Gibbs. Mr. S. Gibbs soon retired from 
 the firm and was succeeded by Mr. John R. Smith in 
 1843, when the trade was continued in this store by the 
 firm of Gibbs & Smith till 1851, when Mr. Gibbs was sue- 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 311 
 
 ceecled by Mr. S. S. Rogers. The latter soon going into 
 the paper business with the Messrs.' May, was followed 
 by Edward Bosworth. The firm of Smith & Bosworth 
 continued till the death of Mr. Smith, which occurred in 
 1860, when Mr. Bosworth traded alone at the old stand 
 till 1869, and then he removed to Northrup's block at the 
 south end of the village, taking in George H. Tanner as 
 a partner in 1876. The firm of Bosworth & Tanner are 
 now doing the largest mercantile business ever done in 
 Lee, their sales amounting to $110,000 annually. 
 
 In 1846, Mr. George H. Phelps built a block of stores 
 and offices in connection with his tin shop, directly south 
 of the store erected by Milton J. Ingersoll. In this block 
 Messrs. Bostwick & Patterson commenced trading in 1847, 
 and were followed in 1849 by Messrs. Rogers & Mills, the 
 latter company dissolving in 1851, when Mr. Rogers 
 formed a partnership with Mr. J. R. Smith, and the block 
 has been mainly used since for clothing and millinery 
 stores. 
 
 In 1849, Messrs. J. & L. Church erected a block of stores 
 at the south end of the village, just north of the bank, 
 which was occupied in part by Messrs. Taylor & Averill, 
 Taylor & Eldridge, and Thomas P. Eldridge. The latter, 
 one of the most enterprising of the Lee merchants, re- 
 moved to New York city, there building up, in con- 
 nection with George Bliss & Co., a large business. This 
 block was burned in 1857, but was rebuilt the same year 
 by J. M. Northrup, who put up the present substantial 
 brick block in which Messrs. Bosworth & Tanner are doing 
 a large business, occupying two stores, the one for gro- 
 ceries and the other for dry goods, buying out for this 
 purpose the goods of A. G. Harding, who for a few years 
 occupied one of them. 
 
 The " Exchange " block on the other side of the street 
 was erected by Dr. Peabody in 1859, and was occupied 
 
312 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 at first as a drug store and for a milliner's shop, but T. 
 A. Oman, having purchased it, removed his dry goods 
 and groceries here from East Lee, where he had been suc- 
 cessfully trading for some years. Mr. Oman was suc- 
 ceeded in 1876 by Messrs. Albee & Sabin, and they by 
 the present firm of Albee & Moore in 1877. Morey's 
 and Baird's blocks, on the north of the Exchange, have 
 never been occupied for general mercantile business, but 
 for drugs, clothing, hardware, etc., as at present. 
 
 Besides the mercantile business done in the center of 
 the town, more or less goods have been sold since early 
 in the present century at East and South Lee. James 
 Whiton opened a store in East Lee, in connection with 
 his furnace, which was afterwards continued for many 
 years by Wm. P. Hamblin. T. A. Oman also traded in 
 East Lee for a number of years before his removal to the 
 Center. Mr. Oman was succeeded by R. R. Harder, and 
 he in turn by Wm. Avery the present occupant of the 
 Oman store. Messrs. Benton & Garfield started a store in 
 Water street at the same time, they commenced the 
 paper business there which is still continued by Mr. Gar- 
 field. At South Lee, Messrs. Owen and Hurlbut ran a store 
 for many years in connection with their paper business, 
 but finally sold this branch of their business to J. T. Mer- 
 rill & Co., and the store at the west end of the village is 
 now conducted by Charles G. Merrill. At the east end 
 Nathaniel Tremain early in the century opened a store 
 in connection with his hotel. For several years, Leroy S. 
 Kellogg has been the merchant in this part of the 
 village. 
 
 It is evident from the above brief sketch of the Lee 
 merchants, that the mercantile business here as every 
 where, has been a changeable and precarious one. It 
 probably never was on a better foundation than at 
 present. In the early history of the town, it was the 
 
TIIE niSTORY OF LEE. Old 
 
 custom of the citizens to go to Stockbridge to trade, as 
 the merchants there were early established and kept a 
 greater stock. The tide has turned ; Lee is now the 
 center of trade for most of the surrounding towns. The 
 largest dry goods merchants are, Bosworth and Tanner, 
 whose sales average $110,000 a year, Sparks & Casey, 
 $50,000, William Taylor, $30,000, James W. Ferry, 
 $30,000 and Albee & Moore, $30,000. In all, it is esti- 
 mated that the amount of goods now sold here annually, 
 including the dry goods, groceries, clothing, boots and 
 shoes, drugs, etc. must exceed half a million of dollars 
 
 It is curious to notice the division of trade that has 
 gradually grown up among the merchants. The first 
 traders kept regular country stores, dealt in dry goods, 
 groceries, drugs, jewelry, clothing, hardware, etc. Now 
 there are besides the dry goods merchants, three regular 
 druggists, two boot and shoe stores, three clothing stores, 
 two jewelry establishments, two tin shops, one hardware 
 merchant, two flour and feed stores, one tobacco dealer, 
 one book and variety store, one dealer in ladies' fancy 
 goods, and one fish and fruit market. 
 
 MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES. 
 
 Lee has ever been well supplied with good workmen 
 in almost every department of mechanical industry. 
 Ansel Bassett and John Crosby, were among the first 
 carpenters and joiners, and built many of the early dwell- 
 ings and barns. The farmers, however, in those days 
 were skilled, to a greater or less extent, in mechanical 
 trades, and did much of their work within themselves. The 
 Ingersolls, the Howks, the Bradleys, the Balls and others 
 had shops in which they kept a good supply of tools, and 
 did their own common carpentering and cobbling, and 
 sometimes made their own carts and wagons. 
 
 David Baker and Eli Bradley were the first shoe- 
 40 
 
314 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 makers, keeping no shops expressly for the business, but 
 going from house to house and working by the day, 
 charging a dollar for a day's work of twelve hours. 
 
 Clothing both for men and women, was mostly made 
 in the family, but sometimes a seamstress was employed 
 to aid in this department, and her regular per diem was 
 twenty-five cents. The first regular tailor was Simon 
 Sterns, who early in the present century started a shop 
 in the house first east of the Center school-house. He 
 afterwards opened a shop in the village over the cabinet 
 shop of Mr. Abner Taylor. 
 
 The first blacksmith was Nathaniel Bassett, whose shop 
 stood on the north side of East Park street, about where 
 High street now opens into Park. Mr. Bassett was born 
 in Sandwich, Mass., in 1757, and came to Lee in company 
 with his brother Cornelius in 1778. He lived at first in 
 the rear part of what is now the residence of Mr. E. A. 
 Moore, and afterwards built the two story front of this 
 house. He* did good service in the Revolutionary war 
 for which he received a pension from his grateful country. 
 He was a good mechanic, a useful citizen and an humble 
 Christian. He died in 1846 at the ripe age of 88, leav- 
 ing, among other monuments to his memory, some noble 
 elms, a row of these trees having been set out by him on 
 either side of Park street. 
 
 The first mason that settled in Lee, was Cornelius Bas- 
 sett, who came here with his brother Nathaniel in the 
 first year after the incorporation of the town. He built a 
 one-story house on the ground on which now stands the 
 residence of Mr. Wellington Smith ; in fact the same 
 timbers which Mr. Bassett used a hundred years since, 
 are now the frame-work of the first story of Mr. Smith's 
 house. That he was a good mason is manifest from the 
 mortar still remaining, which he put on many of the old 
 houses, and which is as hard as a stone. He was also a 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. dlO 
 
 good man, having a very humble opinion of himself, but 
 true to his God, and faithful to his fellow men. In ac- 
 cordance with the custom of most, if not all, masons of 
 his day, he took his bitters regularly at 11 o'clock a. m., 
 and 4 o'clock p. m., but gave up the habit cheerfully 
 when the temperance movement was started here in 
 1825. In his last sickness he was afflicted with running 
 
 o 
 
 sores. He bore the affliction with great fortitude, affirm- 
 ing that it was in consequence of the rum he had imbibed. 
 Showing his ulcerated limbs to his pastor, Dr. Hyde, he 
 remarked, " there are my four o'clock's which for so many 
 years heated my blood and are now boiling over." 
 
 The first cabinet-maker that settled in Lee was Abner 
 Taylor, who cama here in 1806, and by great industry 
 and frugality, aided by a very energetic wife, brought 
 up a family of eight children, giving them all a good 
 education, and sending one, Dr. Edward Taylor, to col- 
 lege. Mr. Taylor's first residence was a little east of the 
 village, where Mrs. Axander now lives, but in 1815 he 
 bought the house formerly occupied by C. T. Fessenden 
 on the corner of Main and East Park streets, which he 
 afterwards moved back and erected the residence which 
 constituted his home for the remainder of his life. Ready- 
 made furniture was a thing unknown when Mr. Taylor 
 settled in Lee. Everything, even to a coffin, was made 
 upon order, and it may be added, was made to do service. 
 Much cabinet work of Mr. Taylor's manufacture still re- 
 mains to testify to his skill and thoroughness. Having so 
 many children to educate, he took great interest in the 
 public schools and especially in the establishment of the 
 Lee Academy, and was abundantly rewarded by seeing 
 his five sons all making their mark in the world, four as 
 merchants and one as a clergyman. He was active in the 
 shop, the church, and all public interests till a few days 
 before his death which occurred in 1853, at the age of 
 
3] 6 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 G9. In looking over Mr. Taylor's account books, one is 
 astonished to find how cheap living and dying were in his 
 day. His charges for coffins were from §2.75 to §9.00. 
 The latter sum, the highest on the books, being charged 
 for a cherry coffin with extra trimmings for Dr. Hyde. 
 
 The painter's and glazier's trade seems not to have 
 been a distinct business here in the early days. Glazing 
 was done by the carpenters and joiners. Many houses 
 were left unpaintecl, a few were painted red or yellow, 
 and the brush in these cases seems to have been used by 
 the builders, or by some farmer's boy who had acquired 
 some little skill by practice in handling it. Benjamin Ful- 
 ler was the first who made painting a regular trade. He 
 came to Lee about 1820 and continued the business till 
 his death, and trained a number of others to aid and 
 succeed him. Scarcely a red house remains in town. 
 White succeeded red as the fashionable color, and now 
 the various stone colors are the prevalent style. 
 
 The wheel-wright trade was early practiced in Lee, 
 but the wheels made here by Josiah Spencer and others 
 were more for house than factory purposes. Almost ev- 
 ery family had its big and little wheel ; the former for 
 spinning wool and the latter for flax. These wheels were 
 often made quite elaborately, and some of the flax wheels 
 are now used for picture-frames. Water-wheels were also 
 made here as wanted, and this branch of the business in- 
 creased as the other diminished, as has been noticed in 
 the history of the manufactures. 
 
 Stone-cutting was early introduced into Lee by the 
 brothers, Thomas and William Sturgis, who carried on 
 distinct shops, the former at East Lee, and the latter on 
 the hill-road between East Lee and the Center. These 
 two establishments supplied grave stones and other cut 
 stone work for most of Southern Berkshire. Their mon- 
 uments are to be found in almost every grave-yard in 
 
TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 317 
 
 this vicinity. These brothers originated, as did all the 
 numerous Sturgis tribe of the country, from a good family 
 on Cape Cod. Thomas' skill in stone-cutting descended 
 to his son Edwin, who, though a septuagenarian, still car- 
 ries on the business at the old shop established by his 
 father early in the century. 
 
 For tin goods, Lee long depended upon the tin-ped- 
 dlers who came around bartering their wares for rags, 
 sheep-skins, old pewter, etc. The brothers, A. & E. Com- 
 stock, first started a regular tin shop in Lee in 1835, and 
 were bought out in 1837 by Mr. George H. Phelps, who 
 continued the business till his death, which occurred in 
 1875, succeeded by his son, Henry C , w r ho had for some 
 years been a partner with his father. Mr. Phelps, Sen., 
 was also for a short time associated with Matthew D. 
 Field in the paper business, and in 1862 was appointed 
 Deputy United States Assessor. He was a man of clear 
 head and positive convictions. He has left his monument 
 in town in the form of a numerous and much respected 
 family, most of whom are settled here. 
 
 The first harness-maker in the center of the town was 
 George Stillman, who came from Wethersfield in 1S25, 
 but remained only a few years. Previous to this time 
 the citizens went to the neighboring towns for their har- 
 nesses and saddles and repairs of the same. The tide 
 has turned and Lee now supplies the vicinity with goods 
 in this line, there being two harness shops at the Center 
 and two at South Lee. 
 
 Jethro Thatcher was the first cooper. The Thatcher 
 Genealogy states that he came to Lee soon after the mar- 
 riage of his oldest daughter (1796), " to enjoy the pas- 
 toral ministrations of Rev. Dr. Hyde," being dissatisfied 
 with the Unitarian influence which then prevailed in 
 Barnstable, his former residence. He purchased a farm 
 on the Williams' grant, being the one lately owned by 
 
318 TI1E HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 George Markham and now constituting a part of the 
 plantation of Mr. Elizur Smith. In connection with his 
 farm, he worked at his old trade of a cooper, and made 
 pails, churns, butter firkins and cider barrels for the town. 
 He was very deaf, and is remembered by some still on 
 the stage, as taking his seat in the pulpit on the Sabbath 
 with Dr. Hyde, and standing by his side during prayer 
 and preaching, with his ear trumpet directed toward the 
 minister, that he might catch every word that fell from 
 the lips of the divine whom he so much revered. Mr. 
 Thatcher died in 1826, and was succeeded in the business 
 by Joseph Chadwick, who is better remembered as a 
 tithing man, making himself almost as conspicuous in the 
 church by his loud reproval of naughty boys as his prede- 
 cessor was by his position in the pulpit. Mr. Chadwick 
 died in 1857, and with him died the cooper's trade in Lee ; 
 barrels, pails, tubs and all the work of this craft being 
 now more economically wrought in large establishments. 
 To give a detailed account of all the changes among 
 the mechanics in this town would swell this volume to 
 undue proportion. Suffice it to say, that each trade, the 
 cooper's excepted, has grown with the growth of the 
 town, and now Lee is supplied with craftsmen in almost 
 every department of mechanic art, ready to do the work 
 of this and neighboring towns. 
 
 PRINTING AND NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 Printing was one of the last mechanical arts introduced 
 into this town. In 1840, E. J. Bull opened a printing 
 office in the old store of John B. Peny, and soon after 
 commenced publishing The Berkshire Democrat, edited 
 by L. D. Brown. This paper had a short life here, and 
 was transferred to Stockbridge, and published there under 
 the name of The Weekly Visitor, but soon ceased to have 
 even a name to live. In 1851, a printing office was started 
 
THE HISTOEY OF LEE. 319 
 
 here by Messrs. Charles French and Josiah A. Royce, 
 two enterprising young men, masters of their trade, who 
 were occupied for a few years mainly in printing wrap- 
 pers for the paper manufacturers. In December 1856, a 
 prospectus was issued from the office of The Westfield 
 News Letter, announcing that The Lee Home Companion 
 would be published weekly in Lee, commencing on the 
 first of January, 1857. This stirred Messrs. French & 
 Royce to a similar enterprise, and on the same clay in 
 which appeared the Home Companion was also published 
 the first number of The Valley Gleaner. The former 
 proved to be a second edition of the Westfield News Letter, 
 with a local editor and a page devoted to Lee news and 
 advertisements. The Gleaner appeared on a small sheet, 
 18 by 24 inches, with only four columns on a page. At 
 the end of the first year the Companion ceased to exist, 
 and the Gleaner was enlarged to five columns on a page, 
 and still further enlarged to six columns at the commence- 
 ment of its fourth year (1860). In 1862, Mr. Royce 
 bought out his partner, and for twelve succeeding years 
 was both editor and publisher of the Gleaner, assisted the 
 latter part of this time in the editorial department by 
 Alexander Hyde, to whom and J. P. Clark, a practical 
 printer, he sold the office in 1874 ; in the mean time hav- 
 ing enlarged the paper to its present size. Mr. Clark re- 
 tired from the office the first of January, 1876, and in 
 1877, Mr. Hyde sold out to the present proprietors, 
 Messrs. Rockwell & Hill. 
 
 In 1868, The Central Berkshire Chronicle was started in 
 this town, and printed and published by Wm. H. Hill & Co., 
 and edited by James Harding, now of the Pittsfield Eagle. 
 This paper continued three years and then its subscription 
 list was transferred to the Eagle, Mr. Hill continuing his 
 job office in Lee. In 1876, the Chronicle was revived by 
 Mr. Hill, and continued for about a year when it was 
 
320 TIIE HISTOKY OF LEE. 
 
 united with the Gleaner. The latter paper has now a cir- 
 culation of over 1,100, and in its office most of the job 
 printing is done for this and neighboring towns, paper- 
 makers' wrappers being a specialty. 
 
 PUBLIC HOUSES. 
 
 The first house opened in town for the entertainment 
 of strangers was a small log-house, 16 feet square, that 
 stood in the hollow a little west of the present residence 
 of Mr. John Verrase. The second public house was 
 located in Cape street, near the saw-mill of the late Adan 
 Ingram, and was but a little improvement on the first. 
 The first house that deserved the name of hotel was the 
 " Red Lion," so named from a furious red lion painted 
 on the sign-board. This was built in 1778 by Nathan 
 Dillingham, and stood on East Park street, near the pres- 
 ent residence of Judge Pease. The " Red Lion " was 
 the only hotel in the village till 1834, when the Housa- 
 tonic House was built by William Cole, on the site of 
 Memorial Hall. The "Housatonic" was greatly enlarged 
 and improved by Mr. Hicks in 1865, and was burned in 
 1867 and not rebuilt. In 1854, George Van Deusen 
 opened a public house at the north end of the village, 
 called the Center Hotel. This house, greatly enlarged 
 and improved, is now well kept by Thomas Norton. In 
 1868, Mr. Edward Morgan opened the Morgan House in 
 the residence of the late William Porter, and afterwards 
 enlarged the premises to accommodate his increasing 
 custom. The Morgan House is now managed by H. C. 
 Winegar & Son. 
 
 In the days of stages and turnpikes, public houses 
 were numerous. In 1803, Jedediah Crocker opened a 
 tavern, as a public house was then called, in East Lee, 
 where John Moran now lives. In 1815, Pliny Shaylor 
 opened another a mile or two farther east, and in 1820, 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 321 
 
 Samuel Sturgis still another, the Sturgis House, now kept 
 by Watson Strickland. The two first named houses were 
 discontinued, when the travel centered in the railroad. 
 South Lee also, for a long time, had two hotels ; one kept 
 by William Morrill, and the other by Nathaniel Tremain. 
 Besides the above, the houses now owned by T. L. Foote 
 and Jared Bradley were used as public houses early in 
 the present century. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL. 
 
 [For an account of the Lee clergymen see the ecclesiastical history of the town.] 
 THE LEE LAWYERS. 
 
 For thirty years after the incorporation of Lee, and 
 nearly fifty years after the first settlements, there was no 
 law office in the town. Not that there were no crimes 
 here and no causes for civil action, for during and after 
 the Shays' rebellion there was much division of society, 
 much bitterness of feeling and many violations of law. 
 Fortunately about this time, Dr. "Hyde was settled as 
 pastor over the Congregational church here, and being 
 eminently a man of peace, his first mission was to cast oil 
 on the troubled waters. How well he succeeded, the 
 citizens of that time were fond of telling their children. 
 As Mr. Cornelius Bassett expressed it, "We were terribly 
 Shaysy when Dr. Hyde came to Lee, but the good man 
 melted us together by his kindness and sympathy." The 
 discipline of the church was parental but thorough, and 
 outside of the church, public opinion frowned upon all 
 injustice and dishonesty. Neighbors settled disputes 
 among themselves mainly by reference. What little liti- 
 gation occurred, was managed by Lenox and Pittsfield 
 lawyers. Thus things ran along till 1807, when Alvan 
 Coe, a native of Granville settled here as a lawyer. He 
 was a good jurist, but did not find the field an inviting 
 41 
 
322 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 one for his professsion, and after trying it two years, de- 
 cided upon studying theology, and was afterwards a pastor 
 at Sandusky, Ohio. Augustus Collins succeeded Mr. Coe, 
 and built an office on the south side of Park street, a lit- 
 tle west of the " Red Lion " hotel. Mr. Collins remained 
 two or three years and then moved to Westfield, 
 succeeded by Rollin C. Dewey of Sheffield, who also re- 
 mained but a short time, removing to Indiana. The first 
 lawyer who made his mark upon the town was William 
 Porter, son of Dr. William Porter of Hadley. Mr. Porter 
 graduated at Williams College in 1818, studied law with 
 Hon. George Bliss of Springfield, settled in Lee in 1817, 
 and here remained till his death in 1853. Probably no 
 layman has ever made a better impress on society here 
 than Mr. Porter. He was not brilliant nor eloquent, but 
 his whole make-up was so symmetrical that his counsels 
 in town and his pleas at the bar, carried great weight 
 with them. He was a safe leader, examined every subject 
 with candor, and had the courage to express his honest 
 convictions. In 1831-5, he represented the Berkshire 
 district in the State Senate. In 1834, he was chosen 
 trustee of Williams College and held this trust till his 
 death. For eight years he was also district attorney. It 
 was, however, in his family, church and social relations 
 that his noble nature found its most genial action. He 
 loved learning and did much to build up the educational 
 interests of the town. His widow and three children 
 survive him. One son is a professor in Beloit College, 
 Wisconsin, and the other is a paper maufacturer at 
 Union ville, Conn. One daughter died early, and the 
 other married the Hon. Franklin Chamberlin of Hart- 
 ford, Conn. 
 
 With Mr. Porter studied Edward V. Whiton, son of 
 Cen. Joseph Whiton, who, after his admission to the bar 
 in 1831, practiced law here a short time and then removed 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. OAo 
 
 to Janesville, Wis., where he rose to the high position of 
 Chief Justice of that State. 
 
 Franklin Chamberlin, a native of Dalton, also studied 
 law with Mr. Porter, married his daughter, and on his 
 admission to the bar in 1845, became a partner with 
 his father-in-law, and continued practice here till Mr. 
 Porter's death, when he opened an office in New York 
 city. 
 
 Marshall Wilcox, a native of Stockbridge and a gradu- 
 ate of Williams College, class of 1844, succeeded to the 
 business of Messrs. Porter & Chamberlin in 1853. Mr. 
 Wilcox studied law with Mr. Lester Filley of Otis, and 
 practiced with Mr. Filley in that town for three years 
 previous to his coming to Lee. He remained here six- 
 teen years, and rose to the front rank in the Berkshire 
 bar. While a resident of Lee, he represented the town 
 with honor in both branches of the Legislature. In 1869 
 he removed to Pittsfield, where law business seemed to 
 center after the removal of the Court House. 
 
 Franklin Sturgis, a native of Lee, son of William Stur- 
 gis, was admitted to the bar in 1830, and opened an of- 
 fice first at East Lee, and afterwards at the Center. Af- 
 ter some years of practice his health failed and he re- 
 moved to Lanesborough, where he died. 
 
 Lawson D. Bidwell, a native of Monterey and a gradu- 
 ate of Williams, class of 1814, studied law with Augustus 
 Sherrill of Stockbridge. He practiced for a short time in 
 his native town, and then opened an office in South Lee, 
 where he remained till 1851, then removing to Stockbridge 
 and giving his attention to agriculture. He died in 
 Stockbridge in 1863, aged 72. 
 
 L. D. Brown, a native of Lee, and lor a time a paper 
 manufacturer, was admitted to the bar in 1841, and prac- 
 ticed law here till 1850, when California presented a more 
 attractive field to his enterprising genius. He embarked 
 
324 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 in some commercial speculations at San Francisco, and 
 supposed he had secured a competence for life. He re- 
 turned to Lee in 1854, and died here in 1858, leaving a 
 wife and four brilliant daughters, all of whom have since 
 deceased. 
 
 J. F. Cook, N. W. Ayer, and T. M. Judd, have also 
 practiced law here for a short time. The members of this 
 profession now practicing here are John Branning, ad- 
 mitted to the bar in 1845, N. W. Shores, admitted in 
 1860, and Edward T. Slocum, admitted in 1874. Mr. 
 Branning practiced law in Monterey a few years before 
 coming to Lee, and represented that town in the Legisla- 
 ture. Since his residence in Lee he has legislated in both 
 branches of the General Court. All of Mr. Shores' pro- 
 fessional life has been spent in Lee. In 1875, he was 
 elected State Senator from the southern Berkshire district. 
 Mr. Slocum is a native of Grafton, Mass., graduated at 
 Amherst in 1871, at the Law School of the Boston Uni- 
 versity in 1874, practiced in Boston for three years, 
 and then came to Lee. 
 
 PHYSICIANS. 
 
 Little besides the names is known of the first two 
 physicians who practiced in Lee. Gideon Thompson was 
 the first, a native of Goshen, Conn. He was here only a 
 few years and removed to Galway, N. Y. Dr. Thompson 
 was followed by Dr. Rathburn. The first physician who 
 left much impress upon the place was Dr. Erastus Sar- 
 gent, Jr., son of Dr. Erastus Sargent, of Stockbridge, and 
 grandson of Rev. John Sargent, the first missionary to 
 the Stockbridge Indians. Dr. Sargent, Jr., was born at 
 Stockbridge in 1772, graduated at Dartmouth College in 
 1792, and came to Lee in 1794. He was a genial, well- 
 informed man, a skillful physician, and had an extensive 
 practice here, but being more faithful in administering 
 
THE niSTORY OF LEE. 325 
 
 medicine than in collecting his debts, never accumulated 
 much property. He died in Lee in 1832, leaving a wife 
 and six children, who afterward moved to Indiana. Mrs. 
 Sargent was a woman of culture, and the children all 
 made their mark in the world. The two sons were suc- 
 cessful business men in Indiana, the oldest daughter was 
 principal of a female seminary in Memphis, Tenn.; the 
 other three married, one a home missionary, the second 
 a physician and the youngest a lawyer. The first grand- 
 child, daughter of the home missionary, is now the wife 
 of Ex-Gov. Bagley, of Michigan. 
 
 Dr. Nathaniel Thayer, a native of Boston and a gentle- 
 man of culture, settled here soon after Dr. Sargeant, but 
 remained only a few years, removing to Westfield, 
 Mass., where he attained some eminence and died much 
 respected. 
 
 Hubbard Bartlett, a native of Richmond, Mass., who 
 studied medicine with Dr. Burghardt of that town and at 
 Dartmouth Medical College, settled in Lee as a physician 
 in 1810, and soon secured the confidence and respect of 
 this community, which continued and increased till his 
 death, which occurred in 1859, at the age of 77. His 
 professional career was interrupted by severe attacks of 
 rheumatism. To assist in earning a livelihood he accepted 
 the office of postmaster in 1818, and held it for 27£ years. 
 He also represented the town in the Legislature two 
 years (1825-6), was justice of the peace for 30 years 
 (1829 to 1859), parish clerk 26 years (1833 to 1859), and 
 deacon in the Congregational Church 30 years (1829 to 
 1859). He was also the first, and for many years the 
 only druggist in town, his little shop serving the triple 
 purpose of dispensing medicine, mail and justice. Here 
 Messrs. Porter and Sturgis tried their little cases, here 
 Mr. Chamberlin made his first plea, and here also occa- 
 sionally Messrs. Bishop of Lenox, Field of Stockbridge, 
 
326 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 and Sumner of Great Barrington, put forth their forensic 
 powers. In looking over Dr. Bartlett's books, it is curious 
 to notice the charges for medical services, the visits being 
 charged at 25 cents to 50 cents, medicine included, the 
 physicians of that time always carrying in their saddle- 
 bags a miniature apothecary store. In the matter of 
 postage the rates were higher than at present, being 6i- 
 cents for any distance under 30 miles, 12£ cents for dis- 
 tances between 30 and 100 miles, 18! cents between 100 
 and 500 miles, and 25 cents for any greater distance. 
 For these sums only one sheet could be carried. If two 
 pieces of paper were included, or even a bank-bill put 
 into a letter, the postage was doubled. Envelopes and 
 postal cards were things unknown. The income of Dr. 
 Bartlett from the post-office during the twenty-seven 
 years of his service ranged from $20 per annum to $450, 
 and this though his labors were more arduous than those 
 of postmasters at the present day, as the mails were 
 transported by stages, and often he was compelled to 
 arise twice in the night to receive and deliver them, and 
 bills were sent with each letter, and every package of 
 letters received was compared with the accompanying 
 bill, a record being kept of all that passed in and out of 
 the office. With such high rates of postage the mails 
 were comparatively small, but the letters were large and 
 full, foolscap sheets being commonly used, and every 
 available space on the paper filled. Few newspapers 
 were carried by mail. A daily paper was not then the 
 daily reading of countrymen, and the county papers were 
 distributed from house to house by carriers. As late as 
 1832 no daily paper seems to have been taken in Lee, 
 for among Dr. Bartlett's papers after his death was found 
 the following, which well illustrates the difficulty of 
 obtaining news before the advent of railroads and tele- 
 graphs : 
 
TI1E HISTORY OF LEE. 327 
 
 "Lee July. 6, 1832 
 Dr. H. Bartlett 
 
 Dear Sir Anxious to be informed daily of the 
 progress of cholera, we wish to have a Daily Paper taken by you 
 from New York for 3 or 6 months, and we will pay you for the privi- 
 lege of seeing the paper the sums set against our names 
 
 Signed 
 
 W. & W. & C. Laflin 
 
 75 cents 
 
 E. V. Whiton 
 
 25 " 
 
 J. & L. Church 
 
 50 " 
 
 Asa G. Welch 
 
 75 " 
 
 S. & A. Hulbert 
 
 25 " 
 
 Tho's Falls 
 
 25 " 
 
 Milton Ingersoll 
 
 25 " 
 
 William Cole 
 
 25 " 
 
 Ball, Bassett & Co 
 
 50 " 
 
 Isaac C. Ives " 
 
 25 " 
 
 Abner Taylor 
 
 25 " 
 
 Wm Porter Jr. 
 
 25 " 
 
 J. B. Perry " 
 
 25 " 
 
 The idea of four firms and nine individuals combining less 
 than half a century since, to take a daily paper for three 
 or six months, strikes the present generation with aston- 
 ishment, as the average citizen now considers a daily 
 paper almost as essential as his daily food. 
 
 It was as a Christian and citizen, that Dr. Bartlett was 
 most esteemed. For thirty years, he was a standard- 
 bearer in the Congregational church, and in this and all 
 the other offices of life he was faithful, ever ready to do 
 his full part in every enterprise that would advance the 
 common weal. He died as he had lived, an humble Chris- 
 tian with full confidence in his Redeemer. 
 
 Asa G. Welch, a native of Norfolk, Conn, came to Lee 
 in 1827, directly from Tyringham, Mass., where he had 
 been practicing medicine for thirteen years. He soon 
 secured an extensive practice here and retained it till his 
 death, which occurred in 1852 at the age of 61, leaving a 
 most estimable wife but no children. Dr. Welch was the 
 
328 the history of lee. 
 
 son of a' physician and inherited a tact for his profession. 
 He was tall and stout and his personal appearance such 
 as to command notice in any public assembly. His am- 
 bition was not satisfied with success in his chosen profes- 
 sion. He aspired also to prominence in political matters, 
 and in 1835-6 he represented the town in the Legisla- 
 ture, and in IS 51 was elected to the State senate. He 
 was also one of the original directors of the Lee Bank 
 and held the position till his death. 
 
 With Dr. Welch studied Corydon Guiteau, a native of 
 Norfolk, who received his diploma from the Berkshire 
 Medical College in 1830 and immediately' commenced 
 practicing here with his teacher. After a few years, Dr. 
 Guiteau opened a separate office and continued an ex- 
 tensive practice till his death in 1853. Dr. Guiteau was 
 of Huguenot descent and showed his French extraction 
 in his courteous manners. He was devoted to his profes- 
 sion, giving little attention to outside studies or business 
 matters, but most faithful to his patients whom he at- 
 tended with an untiring zeal and perseverance. Of warm 
 affections, his heart was broken by the death of his only 
 daughter and child in 1847. He lingered in feeble health 
 for six years after her death, often visiting patients when 
 he needed medicine and nursing more than they. His 
 widow still survives, living in Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 Dr. Guiteau was succeeded by J. B. Whiting, a grad- 
 uate of the Berkshire Medical College, who came here 
 from Wolcottville, Conn., and stepped into a good prac- 
 tice which he held till his removal to Janesville, Wiscon- 
 sin, in 1860, where he now resides. 
 
 John B. Gifford, a native of Lee and a graduate at 
 the Berkshire Medical College opened an office here in 
 1850 for the practice of Homeopathy. He also manufac- 
 tured the Homeopathic pillets extensively, and was quite 
 enterprising as a business man, securing also a good share 
 
RESIDENCE OF Dii. C. C. HOLCOMBE. 
 
TflE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 329 
 
 of practice as a physician. His health soon failed and he 
 died in 1866. 
 
 Besides the above, many physicians have practiced 
 here for a short time and removed to other places, leaving 
 no great impress on this community, but some of them 
 gaining celebrity in other fields. _ We must not however 
 omit to mention Dr. Charles McAllister who practiced for 
 many years in South Lee and then removed to Stock- 
 bridge. 
 
 The present physicians are Eliphalet Wright, who stud- 
 ied with Dr. Welch and has been in extensive practice 
 here since his graduation from Berkshire College in 1841, 
 except the few years he spent in Granville ; C. C. Hol- 
 combe, son of Dr. Vincent Holcombe of Granville, Mass., 
 who came to Lee in 1 854, and has an extensive ride in 
 this and neighboring towns; D. M. Wilcox, who settled 
 here in 1872, and has a good practice ; C. E. Heath, who 
 was for many years a practitioner in Monterey, and still 
 having an extensive ride in that and other neighboring 
 towns, opened an office in Lee in 1873 ; and C. W. Strat- 
 ton, who has been in the successful practice of homeopa- 
 thy here since 1868. 
 
 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 The first post-office in Berkshire County was estab- 
 lished in Stockbridge in 1792. Jedediah Crocker was 
 the first postmaster in Lee (1803), and kept his office at 
 his tavern in Cape street on the site of the house lately 
 owned by John Baker. Mr. Crocker was succeeded by 
 Richard Brush in 1811, who also kept a public house on 
 the same ground, and his bar-room served for a tailor's 
 shop as well as for dealing out letters and liquors. Rol- 
 lin C. Dewey succeeded Mr. Brush in 1816 and removed 
 the office to the Center. Mr. Dewey leaving town, John 
 B. Perry was appointed in 1817, but resigned after a 
 42 
 
330 TriE nisTORY of lee. 
 
 year's service in favor of his neighbor, Dr. Hubbard Bart- 
 lett, who held the office for 272 years, when L. D. Brown 
 took it, succeeded in 1849 by George H. Phelps, in 1853 
 by A. M. Howk, in 1861 by Nathan Gibbs, in 1863 by 
 Dr. E. Wright, and in 1874 by J. C. Chaffee, the present 
 incumbent. What the income of the post-master was 
 prior to Dr. Bartlett's day can not be ascertained, but 
 during the first year of his incumbency it was $20, and 
 at the end of his service it had increased to $450. The 
 income to Government for 1877 was, including box rent, 
 $3,364.27, and the salary of the postmaster is now $1,700. 
 In 1826, a post-office was established at South Lee, and 
 in 1848, one at East Lee. 
 
 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF GOOD MORALS. 
 
 Lee has ever been famous for associated and united 
 effort. Certainly this has been the case since the healing 
 of the breaches occasioned by the Shays' Rebellion. In 
 few towns has society been so little divided into what has 
 been termed the upper and lower crusts. If any aristoc- 
 racy has existed it has been one of moral worth rather 
 than of wealth. All classes of citizens have worked 
 together harmoniously for what would promote the com- 
 mon weal, and when associated effort was necessary all 
 have united, and as one put their shoulders to the wheel. 
 As an example of this may be instanced " The Society 
 for the Promotion of Good Morals," established here in 
 1814. It appears from the records of this society found 
 among the papers of the late Dr. Bartlett that intemper- 
 ance, Sabbath-breaking and profanity were at that time 
 making alarming inroads upon the community, and this 
 society was organized to combat these vices, for the sec- 
 ond article of the constitution reads: "The members of 
 
THE niSTORY OF LEE. ool 
 
 this society shall by their conversation and example en- 
 courage all virtuous conduct, and shall discountenance 
 vice generally, and particularly the vices of Sabbath- 
 breaking, intemperance in the nse of spirituous liquors, 
 and profaneness." In the third article, the members 
 pledged themselves to furnish the poor with employment, 
 " that indolence may not betray them into vice," and 
 also " to discourage by all wise and discreet measures 
 the unnecessary use of ardent spirits." The names of 
 nearly a hundred citizens, apparently all the leading men 
 of the town, are found appended to this constitution. 
 Dr. Hyde was made President and Dr. Bartlett Secretary 
 of this moral reform club, and the records show that 
 efficient work was done. After generations have doubt- 
 less reaped the fruit from the labors of this association. 
 
 THE FIRST TOWN LIBRARY. 
 
 Early in the present century, the leading men of the 
 town combined for the establishment of what was called 
 a " town library," but it was really a proprietors' library, 
 as none were permitted to draw books from it except 
 owners of stock. The records of this institution cannot 
 be found, but it is known to have done great service in 
 promoting the cause of education and good morals in this 
 community. The books, some 300 volumes in all, were 
 mostly of the staple kind, treating of history, biography, 
 travels, science and religion. Works of poetry were 
 scarce, and of fiction very scarce. Edward V. Whiton, son 
 of Gen. Joseph Whiton, was at one time librarian, and 
 being fond of reading perused most of the historical books, 
 and thus laid the foundation for the eminence in the legal 
 profession which he afterwards attained, becoming Chief 
 Justice of Wisconsin. When " The Young Men's Asso- 
 ciation of Lee " was organized in 1852, the books remain- 
 ing in this old library were transferred by the consent of 
 
661 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 the few remaining proprietors to this society, and formed 
 a nucleus for a new library. 
 
 THE LEE BANK 
 
 was incorporated 1835. June 10, George Hull, of San- 
 disfield, was chosen President; July 31, John C. Furber, 
 Cashier. The capital stock was $50,000, increased at 
 various times till it amounted to $300,000. In 1864 this 
 was reduced to $210,000, which is the present capital. 
 After four years' service, Mr. Hull resigned, and since 
 then there have served as President, William A. 
 Phelps, elected 1839 ; Walter Laflin, 1841 ; Leonard 
 Church, 1844 ; Thomas Sedgwick, 1856 ; Harrison Gar- 
 field, 1862. The Cashiers have been after Mr. Furber, 
 Thomas Green, chosen 1840, Edmund D. Chapin, 1848, 
 Edward A. Bliss, 1850; John M. Howk, 1862, John L. 
 Kilbon, 1868. This bank was never more successfully 
 operated than under the present administration. 
 
 THE LEE SAVINGS BANK. 
 
 This institution was chartered March 5, 1852, and 
 commenced business in June following. Hon. Harrison 
 Garfield has been the President, with the exception of 
 the first year, when William Porter Esq., was chosen. 
 The Cashiers of the Lee Bank have been also the Treas- 
 urers of the Saving Bank. There are now (1877), 1,479 
 depositors, and $483,335.59 on deposit. This Institution 
 has the entire confidence of the community. 
 
 YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION. 
 
 This society was organized in 1852 " for the purpose of 
 improving the moral and intellectual condition of the 
 young men by means of a library, reading-room, lectures 
 and debates." It was regularly chartered in 1853, and 
 for some years maintained a reading-room and a course of 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 333 
 
 lectures and had gathered a library of 400 volumes. The 
 reading-room and library were in a pleasant room in 
 Church's block, and were open at all hours of the day to 
 the public. The fire which destroyed this block and the 
 Congregational Church in 1857, burned also the books 
 and all the property of this Association and put an end to 
 its existence. The lecture system of education has never 
 been popular in Lee. Since the enterprise of the Young 
 Men's Association in this line, courses of lectures have 
 been attempted by individuals, but with only partial suc- 
 cess. 
 
 THE LEE BAND AND BAND ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The music of the early inhabitants of Lee was mostly 
 of the vocal kind. Singing schools were frequent and 
 well patronized, but in the first half century of the 
 town's history instrumental music was pretty much 
 tabooed. A fiddle was considered the instrument of the 
 Evil One, and when Captain Landers brought his bass- 
 viol into the church, many regarded it as sacrilegious. It 
 is within the memory of many now living when pianos 
 were introduced. The first band was organized in 1857, 
 by A. V. Shannon, then a youth just out of his teens, and 
 possessing a great talent for music, which he had well 
 cultivated. This band, called Shannon's Brass Band, was 
 cordially welcomed by the public and furnished with 
 uniforms. Out of this organization grew the present Lee 
 Cornet Band, which confessedly stands at the head of sim- 
 ilar companies in the county, having taken the first 
 premium in all competitive trials. In 1875, a beautiful 
 uniform was furnished the Band by an appreciative public, 
 and a Band Association was organized, consisting of 
 nearly one hundred citizens who agreed to be assessed, 
 not to exceed $3 each annually, to provide instruments 
 and pay the necessary expenses of the musicians. Mr. 
 Elizur Smith was the first President ol this Association, 
 
334 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 and was succeeded by Mr. Wellington Smith, the present 
 incumbent. At the annual meeting, the Band furnish a 
 free concert to the members and their friends. To Capt. 
 A. V. Shannon, who combines great executive ability 
 with musical talent, much credit is due for organizing 
 and directing this band without remuneration and at 
 much personal sacrifice. 
 
 THE LEE FERN CLIFF ASSOCIATION. 
 
 This village improvement society was instituted in 1873, 
 the late Rev. Dr. Gale taking an active part in organiz- 
 ing it, and becoming its first President. The objects of 
 the society as set forth in the constitution are, u To or- 
 nament and improve the public streets and squares by 
 planting shade trees, keeping the sidewalks clean and in 
 repair, and by other means by which the town may be 
 rendered beautiful, healthy and comfortable." On the 
 third Tuesday of August the association holds its annual 
 meeting on Fern Cliff, at which time the officers are 
 elected and an address delivered. At the first annual 
 meeting in 1874 Professor Tenney was the orator. The 
 orators in succeeding years have been Dr. George B. 
 Loring in 1875, Professor L. Pratt and Governor Rice in 
 1876, and Rev. Dr. H. M. Field in 1877. Among the 
 improvements inaugurated in the village by this associa- 
 tion may be mentioned the lighting of the streets, better 
 sidewalks, the removal of litter from the roads and ditches 
 clean lawns and tidy fences, and in some few instances the 
 abolition of fences. The Presidents since Dr. Gale have 
 been Elizur Smith, Rev. P. A. Nordell and Wellington 
 Smith. 
 
 THE LEE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 
 
 April 27, 1874 a meeting of citizens was called for the 
 purpose of organizing a Library Association and estab- 
 lishing a Public Library. Harrison Garfield was chosen 
 
THE niSTORY OF LEE. 335 
 
 Chairman of this meeting and John Stallman Secretary, 
 and a committee was appointed to draw up a constitution 
 and by-laws, and all necessary steps were taken to organ- 
 ize a corporation under the act of 1872 in reference to 
 the establishment of public libraries and reading rooms. 
 At an adjourned meeting May 4, the constitution was 
 adopted and a Board of Directors chosen, viz. : Harrison 
 Garfield, Elizur Smith, Nahum Gale, W. W. Sever, Na- 
 than Gibbs, Alexander Hyde and Abner Rice. At a sub- 
 sequent meeting of the Directors Harrison Garfield was 
 chosen President, Dr. Gale Vice-president, John Stallman 
 Clerk, and J L. Kilbon Treasurer. The town had previ- 
 ously voted to appropriate the dog-tax money for a pub- 
 lic library, and individuals had pledged liberal sums for 
 the same purpose, Messrs. H. Garfield and E. Smith of this 
 town $500 each, and Edward N. Gibbs of Norwich, Conn., 
 the same amount. A committee appointed to solicit fur- 
 ther subscriptions met with a cordial response from the 
 citizens and former residents. Among the largest donors 
 may be mentioned Wellington Smith $200, P. C. Baird 
 $100, W. H. Hamblin $100, W. B Wood of Boston $100, 
 G. F. Perkins of New York $100, Samuel and Julia Hebe- 
 ner of Philadelphia $100, Charles T. Lockhart of New 
 York $50, Charles Taylor of New York a set of Appleton's 
 Encyclopaedia, and H. S. Hulbert of New York a very 
 fine carpet for the library room. In all, over $3,000 
 have been contributed to this object and a library of 
 about 3,000 volumes, mostly a choice selection of books, 
 has been provided, which is open to theTree use of every 
 individual in town over twelve years of age. The town 
 has granted to the Association the use of two large 
 rooms in Memorial Hall, which have been furnished in 
 good style, mainly by gifts of citizens. The Library is 
 an educational institution of which the town may w r ell be 
 proud. The community generally appreciate its value, 
 
336 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 and the drawers of books now number about a thousand. 
 J. C. Chaffee has been the librarian from the start, and 
 the town usually appropriates, besides the dog-fund, some 
 $250 annually for the purchase of new books and the 
 salary of the librarian. 
 
 THE LEE FARMERS' CLUB. 
 
 This association was organized in 1862 by some thirty 
 of the leading farmers of the town and has maintained a 
 vigorous existence from that time to the present. The 
 object of this society is the advancement of agriculture 
 by means of lectures, essays, discussions and books. A 
 library of about 300 volumes consisting mostly of works 
 on agriculture, had been collected, when the town library 
 was started in 1874, and the club donated their books to 
 the latter institution. The meetings are held fortnightly 
 during the Winter and intermitted during the busy 
 months of Summer. Occasionally, social sessions are held 
 at the houses of members, when ladies are admitted. 
 The club has done good service to the agriculture of the 
 town, and incidentally has been of benefit by stimulating 
 thought and encouraging its expression, and by cultiva- 
 ting social and neighborly graces. Alexander Hyde was 
 the first President of the club, and John A. Decker is the 
 present incumbent of this office. 
 
 FREE MASONS. 
 
 The Evening Star Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons 
 was constituted in Lee by charter from the Grand Lodge 
 of Massachusetts, October 10, 1795, and has included 
 among its members many of the best citizens of this and 
 neighboring towns. Its first Master was Judge William 
 Walker of Lenox, whose name alone was sufficient to 
 give character to the Lodge. The present Master is 
 Alonzo Bradley. This association has a large and well- 
 
TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 337 
 
 furnished hall in Northrup's block, where its meetings 
 are held regularly with a good attendance. The Lodge 
 now numbers 80 members. 
 
 THE LEE HIBERNIAN SOCIETY 
 
 Was organized in 1860, auxiliary to the National Ancient 
 Order of Hibernians. Its purposes are social and benev- 
 olent. Over $200 have been expended annually in aid 
 of its poor members. The present membership is 80, 
 and its officers are : President, J. D. McCarthy; Secretary, 
 Thomas Norton. 
 
 THE LEE PLEASURE-PARK ASSOCIATION 
 
 Was organized in 1869 with a capital stock of $5,000 for 
 the purpose of purchasing a suitable plot of ground for a 
 race-course. Such a plot was bought on the banks of the 
 Housatonic, about a mile south of the village, and a 
 track, fences, sheds, etc. built. P. C. Baird was the first 
 President, and John Stallman the first Secretary and 
 Treasurer. The present officers (1877) are H. W. T. 
 Mali of Stockbridge, President, and George K. Baird of 
 Lee, Secretary and Treasurer. The par value of the 
 stock is $50 per share and 74 shares have been purchased. 
 This association is out of debt and has a small surplus in 
 the treasury. 
 
 For an account of the missionary and other benevolent 
 associations of the town see the Ecclesiastical History. 
 
 OFFICIAL AND STATISTICAL. 
 
 From the town records it appears, that our fathers be- 
 lieved in representation by representative men, rather 
 than in the modern doctrine of rotation in office. Eben- 
 ezer Jenkins was the first representative of the town at 
 General Court, elected in 1783, and re-elected the three 
 43 
 
338 THE HISTOKY OF LEE. 
 
 following years, and in all represented the town eight 
 years. From the time of incorporation (1777) to 1814, 
 only three gentlemen besides Mr. Jenkins were elected 
 to the Legislature, viz., Josiah Yale six years, Jared 
 Bradley seven years and Joseph Whiton nine years. 
 Since 1820 the town has been represented by almost as 
 many men as there have been years. In dispensing town 
 offices the same principle seems to have been observed. 
 Squire Yale served twenty years on the board of select- 
 men ; John Nye twenty-two ; Joseph Whiton ten. Prince 
 West was the first town clerk and served five years in 
 this office ; Nathan Dillingham served thirteen years ; 
 Daniel Wilcox twelve; Hubbard Bartlett fifteen, and 
 Ransom Hinman twenty-one. The following table gives 
 the names of the men whom the town has delighted to 
 honor with its most important offices, and also the votes 
 of the two candidates for Governor who received the 
 highest number : 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 339 
 
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 THE niSTORY OF LEE. 
 
 
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THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 341 
 
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342 TIIE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 STATE SENATORS. 
 
 The following Lee gentlemen have served as State 
 Senators : 
 
 Joseph Whiton, in 1813 and 1814. 
 William Porter, " 1834 " 1835. 
 Samuel A. Hulbert, in 1846 and 1847. 
 
 Asa G. Welch, 
 
 a 
 
 1851. 
 
 
 William Taylor, 
 
 <( 
 
 1856 " 
 
 1857. 
 
 John Branning, 
 
 (i 
 
 1858 " 
 
 1859. 
 
 Marshall Wilcox, 
 
 a 
 
 1868. 
 
 
 P. C. Baird, 
 
 a 
 
 1872 " 
 
 1873. 
 
 Norman W. Shores, 
 
 tc 
 
 1876. 
 
 
 Harrison Garfield, 
 
 ce 
 
 1877. 
 
 
 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 The following have been honored with a seat on the 
 Board of County Commissioners : 
 
 John Nye, 1846 to 1852. 
 
 Edward S. May, 1870 to 1872. 
 
 John Stallman, elected for three years in 1876. 
 
 L. D. Brown, 1855-6. 
 
 Isaac C. Ives, 1857 to 1875. 
 
 Moses H. Pease, 1875, present incumbent. 
 
RESIDENCE OF JOHN STALLMAN. 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 343 
 
 2 S 
 
 ^ I 
 o | . 
 
 r J 
 
 "3 
 
 o 
 <u 
 
 cS 
 
 New Orleans, La. 
 Morehead City, N. C. 
 Warren Station, Va. 
 Fort Wagner, S. C. 
 Fort Pike, La. 
 Ohantilly, Va. 
 Wilderness, Va. 
 Cold Harbor, Va. 
 Wilderness, Va. 
 Andersonville, Ga. 
 Andersonville, Ga. 
 Fortress Monroe, Va. 
 Stockbridge, Mass. 
 Annapolis, Md. 
 New Haven, Ct. 
 Readville, Mass. 
 Port Hudson, La. 
 Saylor's Creek, Va. 
 Port Hudson, La. 
 New Orleans, La. 
 Newbern, N. C. 
 Andersonville, Ga. 
 Gaines Mills, Va. 
 Petersburg, Va. 
 Fort Pike, La. 
 Cedar Mountain, Va. 
 Pittsfield, Mass. 
 
 a> 
 
 5 
 
 June 3 
 November 6 
 February 28 
 July 18 
 September 4 
 September 1 
 May 6 
 June 4 
 May 6 
 December 1 
 October 26 
 March 19 
 February 28 
 April 18 
 August 18 
 June 12 
 May 25 
 April 6 
 May 27 
 June 5 
 March 14 
 August 15 
 June 24 
 June 9 
 November 6 
 August 9 
 May 23 
 
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 co co co cc co co co 'CO 'CO co co co- X' x y. r. j. i j r_< y_> co co co co co oo 
 
 
 
 1862, October 28 
 1864, February 15 
 1864, September 2 
 
 1863, March 30 
 1861, November 18 
 
 1861, August 19 
 
 1864, January 25 
 
 1864, April 18 
 
 1862, August 30 
 
 1863, December 24 
 
 1863, December 29 
 
 1865, February 9 
 1862, September 2 
 1862, August 30 
 1862, October 28 
 1805, February 9 
 
 1861, November 20 
 
 1864, January 5 
 
 1862, October 28 
 1801, December 2 
 
 1861, September 20 
 1864, January 25 
 
 1862, August 30 
 1862, January 5 
 1861, May 25 
 1861, June 21 
 
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 Beach, Henry L., 
 Benedict, George H., . 
 Bliss, Quinton F., 
 Burgbardt, Henry F., 
 Burnick, Thomas, 
 Claflin, John R., 
 Collins, Henry A., 
 Combs, Edgar H , 2d Lieut 
 Coop, Edward W., 
 Dolan, Hugh, 
 Evans, Henry M , 
 Fisher, Hervey, . 
 Foley, William, . 
 Freeman, Charles W , 
 Fuller, John M., . 
 Gifford, Henry A., 
 Harrington, John, 
 Henderson, Wm H., . 
 Ingersoll, Eugene L , . 
 Ingram, Lyman J., 
 Jackson, Edwin A., 
 Jaquins. Egbert J , 
 Keily, Patrick, . 
 Keyes, Michael, . 
 Lemley, Horace, 
 Livingston, Asher I , . 
 Merrill, John H., 
 
344 
 
 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 5-o> *•*> §£ „> « 
 
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 10.-2 
 
 i-2 
 
 ej 0) r 
 
THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 345 
 
 POPULATION, PROPERTY AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 The following table shows the increase of population, 
 polls and property by decades as far back as the records 
 of the town give these statistics : 
 
 
 1791. 
 
 1800. 
 
 1810. 
 
 1820. 
 
 1830. 
 
 1840. 
 
 Population, . 
 
 1,170 
 
 1,267 
 
 1,305 
 
 1,384 
 
 1,825 
 
 2,428 
 
 Polls, . 
 
 
 
 
 310 
 
 372 
 
 611 
 
 Valuation, . 
 
 
 
 
 $283,369 
 
 $321,211 
 
 $594,796 
 
 1850. 
 
 Population, 
 Polls, . 
 Valuation, 
 
 3,220 
 794 
 
 $868,727 
 
 1860. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1875. 
 
 4,420 3,860 | 3,900 
 
 949 866 987 
 
 $1,807,191 #1,666,719 j$l,945,502 
 
 1877. 
 
 954 
 $1,892,098 
 
 The State census for 1875 gives the value of the prod- 
 ucts of manufactures of Lee for that year as $1,616,760, 
 and the agricultural products as $116,682. Of the pop- 
 ulation of the town 864 were foreign-born, 105 were 
 blacks, 8 were paupers, 285 were engaged in agriculture 
 and 687 in manufactures. The number of dwellings was 
 707, the number of families 858, and the number of 
 voters 821. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 This cursory review of the first century of Lee is full 
 of encouragement. The town, small in its beginnings 
 and of slow growth in the first decades of its existence, 
 has made for itself a name, not only as a place of busi- 
 ness enterprise, but for its social, literary and religious 
 institutions, and more especially for the high-toned 
 character of its citizens. " Men," it has been well said, 
 " are the chief product and the crowning glory of every 
 44 
 
346 THE HISTORY OF LEE. 
 
 place." Our fathers have bequeathed us a rich inheri- 
 tance in our churches, schools, library, and other appli- 
 ances for developing manhood, and it is the duty of the 
 present generation to transmit them unimpaired to the 
 next century. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Academy, History of, 256. 
 
 Adams, R K., 15. 
 
 Address of Welcome, by Mr. Rice, 8. 
 
 Address of Prof. E. H. Barlow, 11. 
 
 Address of Welcome, by Mr Taylor, 43. 
 
 Address by Wm. Hyde, 46. 
 
 Address of F. Chamberlin, 50. 
 
 African Church, 244. 
 
 Agriculture, 274. 
 
 Albee& Moore, 312-313. 
 
 Albee & Sabin, 312. 
 
 Andrews, Rev. Dr. I. W., 8-14-32-257. 
 
 Andrews, S J., 14. 
 
 Angles, Battle of, 177. 
 
 Anthem, Miss Holder's, 49. 
 
 Antique Procession, 39. 
 
 Appropriations for Poads, 263. 
 
 Associations, 330. 
 
 Austin, N , 158. 
 
 Ayre, N. W., 324. 
 
 Babcock, H. S., Poem by, 86. 
 
 Baird, P. C, 299-335. 
 
 Baker, David, 193-207-313. 
 
 Ball, Rev Charles, 14-17. 
 
 Ball, Bassett & Co., 281. 
 
 Ball & Baldwin, 305. 
 
 Ball, Nathan, 186-188. 
 
 Band, Lee Cornet, 5-333. 
 
 Band Association, 333. 
 
 Bank, Lee National, 332. 
 
 Bank, Lee Savings, 332. 
 
 Baptist Church, 245. 
 
 Barlow, Prof E. H., 7-11. 
 
 Barlow, Lemuel, 154. 
 
 Barlow, Cornelius, 301. 
 
 Bartlett, W. J., 36. 
 
 Bartlett, Col. Wm., 179. 
 
 Bartlett, Dr. H., 325-330. 
 
 Bassett, A. P., 18. 
 
 Bassett, Charles, 36-170. 
 
 Bassett, Cornelius, 145-154-314. 
 
 Bassett, Nathan, 152-237-314. 
 
 Bassett, Col. C. F., 173. 
 
 Beartown Mountain, 111. 
 
 Beach & Royce, 286. 
 
 Belden, Caleb, 224. 
 
 Bentley, Rev. Dr. E. W., 35-85-200. 
 
 Bennington, Battle of, 151. 
 
 Benedict, Aaron, 186. 
 
 Benevolent Operations, 221. 
 
 Benton Brothers, 296. 
 
 Benton, Caleb, 296. 
 
 Berkshire & Columbia Miss. Soc, 221. 
 
 Berkshire County, 50. 
 
 Berkshire Bible Society, 222. 
 
 Berkshire Agricultural Society, 275. 
 
 Berkshire Democrat, 318. 
 
 Bidwell, L. D., 323. 
 
 Birds, 113 
 
 Blauvelt & Gillmor, 300. 
 
 Bond. Rev. W. B., 218. 
 
 Bos worth & Tanner, 311-313. 
 
 Boundaries, 116. 
 
 Bounties, 172. 
 
 Bowles, Rev. R. H ., 247. 
 
 Bradley, Miss S. M., 14. 
 
 Bradley, J. E , 38. 
 
 Bradley, Josiah, 155. 
 
 Bradley, Capt. Jesse, 155. 
 
 Bradley, Wm., 155. 
 
 Bradley, Capt. T. E. M., 167-307. 
 
 Bradley, Luther, 170. 
 
 Bradley, Capt. T. S., 181. 
 
 Bradley, Joel, 235. 
 
 Bradley, Geo. F., 305. 
 
 Bradley, Eli, 313. 
 
 Branning, John, 169-324. 
 
 Branning, Miss L. S., 16. 
 
 Brennan, Rev. G. H., 251. 
 
 Bridges, 265. 
 
 Bronson, Rev. Asa, 247. 
 
 Brown, L. D., 323-330. 
 
 Brown, Miss L B., 15. 
 
 Brush, R., 329. 
 
 Buildings, County, 138. 
 
 Bull, Rev. N., 55. 
 
 Bullard, C. B., 7-37. 
 
 Bullard & Hinckley, 307. 
 
 Burchard, Amos, 278. 
 
 Burial, First, 144. 
 
 Business, changes in, 182. 
 
 Camp Briggs, 171. 
 Canning, E. W. B. 
 Cape Street, 144. 
 Carpets, 191. 
 
 Ode of, 42. 
 
348 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Carriage Business, 285. 
 
 Carding Machines, 286. 
 
 Cashiers of Lee Bank, 332. 
 
 Catholic Church, 151. 
 
 Cattle, Marks of, 188. 
 
 Cattle Restrained, 188. 
 
 Cemetery, 271. 
 
 Centennial, 3-39. 
 
 Centennial, Committee of, 4-98. 
 
 Centre Hotel, 320. 
 
 Central Berkshire Chronicle, 319. 
 
 Chadwick, Joseph, 318. 
 
 Chaffee, J. C, 330. 
 
 Chaffee & Hamblin, 297. 
 
 Chaffee, Prentiss, 297. 
 
 Chair-Stuff, 281. 
 
 Chamberlin, F., 4-36-84-323. 
 
 Chamberlin, Miss M., 14. 
 
 Chanter, VVm., 139-186. 
 
 Chapman, Rev. Dr. G. T., 249. 
 
 Chapel, Congregational, 235. 
 
 Cheney, R. B., 307. 
 
 Childs, Job, 146. 
 
 Church, Congregational, 208. 
 
 Church, Alterations of, 234. 
 
 Church Edifices, 226. 
 
 Church Bells, 234. 
 
 Church, J. & L., 309. 
 
 Church, Leonard, 33. 
 
 Church, Luman, 296. 
 
 Church, Samuel, 167-289. 
 
 Church, Connection of with Town, 68- 
 
 238. 
 Church of 1780. 228. 
 Church of 1»00, 230. 
 Church of 1857, 236. 
 Church at South Lee, 240. 
 Clark, Rev. S D., 219. 
 Clark, J. P., 319. 
 Climate, 115. 
 Clocks, Wooden, 191. 
 Coal Business, 305. 
 Coe, Alvan, 321. 
 Coffy, John, 57. 
 Cole, Wm., 320. 
 Collins, Augustus, 322. 
 Colonizing a New Church, 223. 
 Comstock, A. & E , 317. 
 Cone, H. D , 296. 
 Congregational Parish, 239. 
 Continental Currency, 59. 
 Constitution of State, 161. 
 Constitution of Alumni of High School, 
 
 38. 
 Conclusion, 345. 
 Contributions for Soldiers, 175. 
 Cook, J. F., 324. 
 Couch & Clark, 300. 
 Couch & Oakley, 302. 
 Couch & Reed, 310. 
 County Buildings, 138. 
 Creed of Congregational Church, 63. 
 Crocker, Jedediah, 329. 
 Crocker, Capt. Joseph, 114. 
 
 Crocker, Capt. T., 165. 
 Crosby, John, 143-145. 
 Cuddihy, Rev. P., 251. 
 Culver, W. L., 303. 
 
 Daily Paper, 327. 
 
 Danforth, Rev. J. N., 216. 
 
 Daniels, H. E , 15-17. 
 
 Dawes, H. L., 82. 
 
 Davis, Hope, 186. 
 
 Davis, Isaac, 53-57. 
 
 Delaney, John, 8. 
 
 Deming, Lt. B. C, 179. 
 
 Dewey'; R. C , 322-329. 
 
 Dillingham, N., 145-280-307. 
 
 Dillingham & Fessenden, 308. 
 
 Dinner Speeches, 32-82. 
 
 Distilleries, 280. 
 
 District School System, 254. 
 
 Diversions of Early Settlers, 195. 
 
 Dodgetown, 144-277. 
 
 Dowd, J. & R. J., 301. 
 
 Drafts of 1863-4, 173-174. 
 
 Dress, Style of, in Early Times, 192. 
 
 Dresser & Co., 306. 
 
 Drinking Customs, 199-272. 
 
 Duck Factory, 283. 
 
 Durant, T. C, 308. 
 
 Dwellings, Number of, 345. 
 
 Eagan, Rev. P., 251. 
 Earlv Settlements, 118. 
 Early Social Life, 67. 
 Ecclesiastical History, 206. 
 Educational History, 252. 
 Edwards, Hev. Dr. J., 55. 
 Edwards, Miss E., 14. 
 Eldridge, T. P., 311. 
 Eldridge & Northrup, 300. 
 Ellis, John, 161. 
 Ellis, Sarah, L59. 
 Emigration, 164. 
 
 Episcopal Church, 249 ; Rectors of, 250 
 Statistics of, 251. 
 
 Families, Number of, 345. 
 Family Traditions, 143. 
 Farmers' Club, 336. 
 Farm Life, 194. 
 Feather Beds, 190. 
 Federalists, 162. 
 Fern Cliff, 6. 
 
 Fern Cliff Association, 334. 
 Ferry, J. W., 85-310-313. 
 Fessenden, C. T, 195. 
 Fessenden, Miss Lucy, 215. 
 Field, M D., 317. 
 Fire District, 273. 
 Fire of 1S57, 235. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 349 
 
 First Representatives, 337. 
 
 Fish, VV. T., 310. 
 
 Fletcher, Miss H. N, 15. 
 
 Flint, Rev. Dr. E., 15. 
 
 Foote, Elisha, 309. 
 
 Foote, T. L., 32. 
 
 Foote, Jonathan, 57-140-186. 
 
 Foote, Asahel, Letter of, 93. 
 
 Foote, Fenner, 154. 
 
 Foote, Lovisa, 159. 
 
 Foote & Hinman, 283. 
 
 Forest Engine Co., 273. 
 
 Forest Mill, 296. 
 
 Forge, 278. 
 
 Forty-Ninth Regiment, 1 79. 
 
 Fowler, Rev. A., 209. 
 
 Free Masons, 336. 
 
 Freese, John, 145. 
 
 Fredericksburg, Battle of, 175. 
 
 French, Charles, 318. 
 
 French & Royce, 319. 
 
 Frissell, Mrs. M. M.. 7-27. 
 
 Frissell, Dr. M. M., 88. 
 
 Fuller, B., 316. 
 
 Fulling Mills, 280. 
 
 Furniture, 191. 
 
 Gale, Rev. A., 52-54-246. 
 
 Gale, Rev. Dr. N., 3-18-48-185-219. 
 
 Garfield, Captain E., 123. 
 
 Garfield, H., 4-40-296-335. 
 
 Gates, Charles, 182. 
 
 General Muster, 166. 
 
 Geology of Lee, 114. 
 
 Gettysburg, Battle of, 176. 
 
 Gibbs, N, 4-330. 
 
 Gibbs, Miss M. E., 15-16. 
 
 Gibbs, H. R., 37. 
 
 Gibbs, F. W., 306. 
 
 Gibbs, S. & N, 310. 
 
 Gibbs, E. N, 335. 
 
 Gifford, Dr. J. B., 328. 
 
 Gifford, Jesse, 186. 
 
 Gillmor, James, 300. 
 
 Glassworks Grant, 56-133. 
 
 Goodman, R., 83. 
 
 Goodspeed, A., 146. 
 
 Goodspeed, J., 143. 
 
 Goodspeed, Sarah, 146. 
 
 Gospel, Tax for, 239. 
 
 Grain, Value of, 149. 
 
 Grammar School, 259. 
 
 Greeting by H. Garfield, 40. 
 
 Grist-mill, First, 277. 
 
 Gross, F. S , 304. 
 
 Guiteau, Dr. C, 328. 
 
 H 
 
 Hall, Dr. W., 7. 
 
 Hall, Rev. T. A., 15-17-258 
 
 Hall, Mrs. T. A., 15. 
 
 Hall & Whipple, 6-81. 
 
 Halsey, S. V., 7-260. 
 
 Hamblin, Job, 145-186. 
 
 Hamblin, Captain P., 159. 
 
 Hamblin, W. P., 167. 
 
 Hamblin, W. H., 297-335. 
 
 Handy, Joseph, 155. 
 
 Harding, A. G., 311. 
 
 Harding, James. 319. 
 
 Harris, Rev. W. W., 249. 
 
 Hartwood, 126. 
 
 Heaphy, Thomas, 6. 
 
 Heath, Dr. C. E., 329. 
 
 Heath, Orton, 300. 
 
 Heebner, Charles, 250-303. 
 
 Heebner, S. & J., 335. 
 
 High School, 6-19-257. 
 
 High School, Branch of at S. Lee, 259. 
 
 Highways, 263. 
 
 Hibernians, Society of, 337. 
 
 Hill, W. H, 319. 
 
 Hinman, R., 18-202. 
 
 Historical Address, 50. 
 
 Hog-reeves, 188. 
 
 Holcombe, Dr. C. C, 329. 
 
 Holcombe, Dr. W. F., 39. 
 
 Holder, Miss P. A., 15-31-34-49. 
 
 Hollister, G. J., 226. 
 
 Holmes, A. M., 306. 
 
 Hopbrook, 112. 
 
 Hopkins, Rev. Dr. M., 42. 
 
 Hoplands, 53-124-260. 
 
 Horton, H. N, 39. 
 
 Horse-sheds, 236. 
 
 Housatonic River, 51-111. 
 
 Houses, Style of, 189. 
 
 Housatonic Agricultural Society, 275. 
 
 Housatonic House, 320. 
 
 Housatonic Railroad, 266. 
 
 Howk, Richard, 57-141. 
 
 Howk, William, 91. 
 
 Howk, Isaac, 141. 
 
 Howk, Abraham, 213. 
 
 Howk, John, 308. 
 
 Howk, A. M., 330. 
 
 Hubbard, E. A., 14-33. 
 
 Hubbard, Mrs. E. A., 14. 
 
 Hulbert, S. A., 18-69-266-285. 
 
 Hulbert, Charles, 33-291. 
 
 Hulbert, A. G., 88-92-285. 
 
 Hulbert, S. & A., 285. 
 
 Hulbert, H. C, 335. 
 
 Hulett, John, 231. 
 
 Hull, Mrs. George, 93. 
 
 Hull & Dresser, 306. 
 
 Hunt, Addison, 36. 
 
 Hurlbut, Thomas, 294. 
 
 Hurlbut Paper Co., 294. 
 
 Hyde, Kev. Dr. A., 47-65-198-212. 
 
 Hyde, William, 46-89. 
 
 Hyde, Alex., 13-18-36-84. 
 
 Hyde, Rev. Dr. C. M., 4-56. 
 
 Hyde, Miss M. R., 7. 
 
 Hyde, Captain G. H., 171-175. 
 
350 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Incidents of Centennial, 90. 
 Incorporation of Lee, 53-128. 
 Indian Occupants, 121-124. 
 Indian Titles, 119. 
 Indian Tribes, 118. 
 Industries of Early Times, 275. 
 Ingersoll, Rev. Dr. E., 85. 
 Ingersoll, David, 302. 
 Ingersoll, M. J., 310. 
 Ingersoll, William, 47-147-163. 
 Inscription on Tablets, 344. 
 Iron-works, 278. 
 Ives, I. C, 309. 
 Ives, Oliver, 309. 
 
 Jenkins, E., 308. 
 Jones, E. D., 302. 
 Judd, T. M., 324. 
 Justices, 342. 
 
 K 
 
 Kellogg, Jeptha, 166. 
 Kellogg, L. S., 312. 
 Kilbon, J L., 4-332. 
 Kimball, A., 14. 
 Kimball, Miss L., 14. 
 
 Labor, Wages of, 231. 
 
 Ladies' Soldiers Aid Society, 170. 
 
 Laflin, A. H., 36. 
 
 Lafiin, Miss C, 36. 
 
 Laflin, Loomis & Co., 284. 
 
 Laflin, W. W. & O, 290. 
 
 Landers, Captain J., 226-333. 
 
 Landmarks, 116. 
 
 Larrabee's Grant, 56-131. 
 
 Larrabee, J , 56-132. 
 
 Laurel Lake, 116. 
 
 Lawyers, 321. 
 
 Lee, Town of, 52-53-58-1 1 1-1 14-136- 
 
 139-146. 
 Lee, Gen. Charles, 136. 
 Lee Home Companion, 319. 
 Lee & Hudson Railroad, 269. 
 Lee & New Haven Railroad, 267. 
 Library, First Town, 331. 
 Library Association, 334. 
 Lime-Kilns, 279. 
 Limestone, 114. 
 Linn & Smith, 300. 
 Lockhart, C. T., 335. 
 Lottery, 135. 
 Lumber Business, 305. 
 
 Marshal of the Day, 81. 
 
 Marsh, Rev. Dr., 239. 
 
 McAllister, Dr. Charles, 329. 
 
 McAllister, Dr. George, 181. 
 
 McLaughlin, John, 288. 
 
 May, E. S., 298. 
 
 May, S. S., 298. 
 
 May, E. & S., 298. 
 
 May & Rogers, 298. 
 
 May, Charles, 37. 
 
 Matthews, S , 14. 
 
 Meat Business, 306. 
 
 Meeting House, 227. 
 
 Memorial Hall, 183-184-185. 
 
 Meomrial Tablets, 184. 
 
 Mechanical Industries, 313. 
 
 Merchants, 307. 
 
 Merrill, William, 148-321. 
 
 Merrill, C. G., 312. 
 
 Merrill, J. T. & Co., 312. 
 
 Methodist Church, 241-242-243. 
 
 Militia, 165-166. 
 
 Miller, Major Adam, 180. 
 
 Mineralogy, 114. 
 
 Minister's Grant, 55. 
 
 Morals, 168-271. 
 
 Morgan, Edward, 320. 
 
 Morgan, Rev. H. A., 248. 
 
 Morgan, Lieut. P. W., 171. 
 
 Morgan House, 320. 
 
 Moore, E. E., 181. 
 
 Morey, Captain B. A , 170-172-179. 
 
 Mountain Mill, 297. 
 
 Mount Ephraim, 120-207. 
 
 Murray & Dowd, 301. 
 
 N 
 
 M 
 
 Marble, 57-115-302. 
 Manufactures, 167. 
 
 National History, 60. 
 Nationalities, 73. 
 Natural Products, 56. 
 Neighborhood, 197. 
 Nesl.ett, Mrs. H, 91. 
 New England Mill, 297. 
 Next Century, 70 
 Nordell, Rev. P. A., 245. 
 Northrup, J. M., 311. 
 Norton, Thomas, 320. 
 Nye, John, 63-164. 
 Nye, John, Jr., 309. 
 
 Occupation of First Settlers, 276. 
 
 Ode by E W. B. Canning, 42. 
 
 Officials, List of, 339-340-341. 
 
 Officers, First, 147. 
 
 Officers of High-School Alumni, i 
 
 Old and New Compared, 72. 
 
 Oman, T. A., 312. 
 
 Orator of the Day, 83. 
 
 Organ, 226. 
 
 Ostrander, Rev. A., 241. 
 
 Owen, C. M.. 294. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Owen & Hurlbut, 295-312. 
 Owen Paper Co., 296. 
 
 Palmer, W. P., 75-76. 
 
 Paper Bonnets, 283. 
 
 Paper Mills, 70-288. 
 
 Parmelee, Rev. E., 64-209. 
 
 Parsons, Eli, 157. 
 
 Parsonage, 235. 
 
 Parish Expenses, 238. 
 
 Partridge, O., 55. 
 
 Party Peeling in 1812, 163. 
 
 Patterson, General, 157. 
 
 Pease, Capt. F. W., 171-175-177-181. 
 
 Percival, James, 146. 
 
 Perkins, G. F., 38-335. 
 
 Perry, Arthur, 186. 
 
 Perry, Miss J., 14. 
 
 Perry, J. B., 309-329. 
 
 Perry, Hull & Co., 306. 
 
 Peter's Cave, 60-159. 
 
 Petersburg, 178. 
 
 Pew Spots, 228. 
 
 Phelps, G. H., 311-317-330. 
 
 Phelps, H. C, 317. 
 
 Phelps & Hill. 310. 
 
 Physicians, 324. 
 
 Pierce, Miss J., 14. 
 
 Pillions, 187. 
 
 Pixley Mountain, 142. 
 
 Pixley, Reuben, 57-147-186. 
 
 Pittsfield & Stockbridge Railroad, 266 
 
 Platner, G. W., 292. 
 
 Platner & Smith, 292. 
 
 Platner & Porter, 310. 
 
 Plunkett, Gen. W. C, 83. 
 
 Poem, Mr. Palmer's, 76. 
 
 Poem, Mr. Babcock's, 86. 
 
 Police Court, 342, 
 
 Population, 345. 
 
 Porter, William, 322. 
 
 Porter & Chamberlin, 323. 
 
 Porter, Miss C, 33-36. 
 
 Porter, Capt. A., 152-154. 
 
 Porter, Capt. D., 165. 
 
 Postage, 326. 
 
 Postmasters, 329. 
 
 Potash, 279. 
 
 Potter, Rev. C. W., 247. 
 
 Pottery, 278. 
 
 Pot Furnace, 279. 
 
 Powder Mills, 284. 
 
 Prefatory Note, 109. 
 
 Presidents of Lee Bank, 332. 
 
 Printing, 318. 
 
 Probate Courts, 156. 
 
 Proprietors' Rights, 125. 
 
 Public Houses, 320. 
 
 Rag Engines, 301. 
 Rain-fall, 116. 
 
 Reception Committee, 98. 
 Records, Old, 128. 
 Red Lion Hotel, 58-145. 
 Regiment, 37th, 171-175. 
 Regiment, 49th, 179. 
 Representatives, List of, 339. 
 Republicans, 162. 
 Resolutions of, 1861-2, 169-170. 
 Reunion Address, 11. 
 Revolutionary Pensioners, 155. 
 Revolutionary Period, 148. 
 Rice, Abner, 8-15. 
 Rice, Miss C. G., 16. 
 Roads, 120-261. 
 Robinson, G. A., 84. 
 Rockwell & Hill, 319. 
 Rogers, S. S., 288. 
 Roll of Honor, 343. 
 Rowland, Rev. L. S., 221. 
 Royce, E. A. & Co., 287. 
 Royce, J. A., 319. 
 
 Sabbath, Observance of, 197. 
 
 Sabin, Henry & Co., 310. 
 
 Sargent, Dr. E , 157-324. 
 
 Savings Bank, 332. 
 
 Saylor's Creek, Battle of, 178. 
 
 Seaver, Rev. J. H., 248. 
 
 School Appropriations, 254. 
 
 School Committee, 253. 
 
 School Districts, 253. 
 
 School-Houses, 255. 
 
 Selectmen, List of, 339. 
 
 Sextons, 237. 
 
 Shannon, Capt. A. V., 172-179-333. 
 
 Shaylor, P. M., 306. 
 
 Shays' Rebellion, 59-156. 
 
 Shores, N. W., 324. 
 
 Show-Boxes, 233. 
 
 Singing, 225. 
 
 Slocum, E. T., 324. 
 
 Small-pox, 188. 
 
 Smith, Elizur, 4-39-291-335. 
 
 Smith, Lt. DeWitt S., 179-293. 
 
 Smith, Henrv, 167. 
 
 Smith, Miss M. A., 15. 
 
 Smith, J. R., 310. 
 
 Smith, Rev. Ralph, 218. 
 
 Smith, Wellington, 81-293-335. 
 
 Smith Paper Co., 291. 
 
 Smith & Bosworth, 311-313. 
 
 Social Life, 185-200. 
 
 Social Progress, 74'. 
 
 Society for Good Morals, 330. 
 
 Soldiers of the Revolution, 150-174. 
 
 Soldiers, List of those who Died, 343. 
 
 South Lee High School, 19. 
 
 Sparks, Mrs. A. C, 7. 
 
 Sparks, Lt. A. C, 177. 
 
 Sparks & Casey, 309. 
 
 Spencer, Josiah, 316. 
 
 Stanley Samuel, 186. 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 State Constitution, 160. 
 State Conventions, 161-2. 
 Statistics, 337-339-340-341-345. 
 Sterns, Simon, 314. 
 Stillman, George, 317. 
 Stockbridge Indians, 127. 
 Stone-Cutting, 316. 
 Sturgis, Edward, 317. 
 Sturgis, Franklin, 323. 
 Sturgis, Thomas, 316. 
 Sturgis, Samuel, 321. 
 Sturgis, William, 316. 
 Stratton, Dr. C. W., 329. 
 Subscription for Bounties, 173. 
 Sunday-School, 223. 
 Sutherland, J. W., 38. 
 Swords, Presentation of, 172. 
 
 Tailoresses, 193. 
 Tanner, E. P., 286. 
 Tanner & Perkins, 287. 
 Tanning, 277. 
 Taylor, Abner, 315. 
 Taylor, William, 4-43-309-31 l 
 Taylor, Rev. Dr. E., 34-85. 
 Taylor, Charles, 335. 
 Taylor & Averill, 311. 
 Temperance, 168-272. 
 Tender Act, 156. 
 Thatcher, Stephen, 33-282. 
 Thatcher, T D., 35. 
 Thatcher, Timothy, 186. 
 Thatcher, Roland, 231. 
 Thatcher, Jethro, 317. 
 Thayer, Dr. N., 325. 
 Thompson, Dr. G., 324. 
 Tories, 155. 
 Tourgee, Judge, 38. 
 Town Clocks, 235. 
 Town Clerks, List of, 339. 
 Town-Meetings. 58-69-233. 
 Town -Poor, 270. 
 Town Pound, 189. 
 Tracey, Ruth, 45. 
 Traditions, 143. 
 Trade, Divisions of, 313. 
 Training Days, 63-165. 
 Traveling, Mode of, 194. 
 Tremain, N, 312-321. 
 Turnpikes, 262-264. 
 Turning Shops, 282. 
 
 Valley Gleaner, 319. 
 Valley Guards, 169. 
 Van Deusen M., 126. 
 Visitors at Centennial, List of, 
 Volunteers, 173. 
 Voters. No. of, 345. 
 Votes for Governor, 339. 
 
 W 
 
 Ward, Capt. P., 180. 
 War of 1812, 62-163. 
 War of Secession, 169. 
 Warren, Mrs., Sons of, 173. 
 Water- Wheels, 302. 
 Water Witch Engine, 273. 
 Watson's Grant, 53. 
 Weekly Visitor, 318. 
 Welch, Dr. A. G., 327. 
 West, Oliver, 92-208. 
 West, P., 136. 
 West, E., 136. 
 Whelpley, Samuel, 132. 
 Whipping-Post, 148. 
 Whiton, Gen. Joseph, 164. 
 Whiton, James, 279-296-312. 
 Whiton, E. V., 322, 331. 
 Whiting, Dr. J. B., 328. 
 Whyte & Hulbert, 291. 
 Wight, Miss I. S., 16. 
 Wilcox, Marshall, 91-323. 
 Wilcox, Peter, 158. 
 Wilcox, Ozias, 160. 
 Wilcox, Dr. D. M , 329. 
 Wilde, W. P., 302-304. 
 Williams, Pol K., 54-129. 
 Williams' Grant, 54-129. 
 Winegar, John, 140-141-185. 
 Winegar, Capt. Z , 167. 
 Winegar, H. C. & Son, 320. 
 Wood, W. B., 335. 
 Woodbridsje, T., 55. 
 Wooden Clocks. 191. 
 Woolen Manufacturers, 281. 
 Wormer, A., 141. 
 Wright, Dr. E., 329-330. 
 
 Yale, Josiah, 45-47-57-152. 
 
 Yokun-town, 120. 
 
 Young Men's Association, 3