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flMIDDLlPIELD BMNIAl MEMORIAL,

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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
Edith and Maude Wetmore
in memory of their father
George Peabody Wetmore
B.A. 1867

A MEMORIAL

ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE
Town of Middlefield
AUGUST IS 1883
CONTAINING THE
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE BY PROF EDWARD P SMITH
OF WORCESTER
WITH THE ADDRESSES AND LETTERS

PUBLISHED BY THE TOWN
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

At the March town-meeting of Middlefield in 1883, it
was voted to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the
incorporation of the town. But, as its incorporation fell
on the 1 2th of March, and that would be, in all respects,
a most unfavorable season for the celebration, it was
decided to have it at some time in the summer ; and a
committee was appointed to consider the matter. This
committee reported to a special meeting of all the citizens
on July 4, at which it was determined to have the cele
bration on the fifteenth day of August. The subject was
discussed with much interest and practical unanimity, A
Committee of Arrangements was chosen, consisting of
M, J, Smith, Matthew Smith, Charles Wright, Hiram Tay
lor, and George S. Bell,
The same meeting also appointed as President of the
day, Metcalf J. Smith ; as Chief Marshal, Arnold Pease ;
and organized the town into one vast committee on
supplies for the collation, while special committees were
appointed for the reception of guests, for superintending
the preparation of the supplies and for distributing them,
and for whatever else was to be done. Prof, Edward P,
Smith, of Worcester, was invited to deliver the historical
discourse; several persons, mostly former residents of

4 Middlefield Centeriiiial
Middlefield, and representatives of the adjoining towns
which originally contributed of their territory to help form
the new town, were invited to speak on special topics ; and
Myron L, Church was appointed to provide suitable music.
Invitations were sent to all surviving former residents
of Middlefield and to all descendants of Middlefield, so far
as their addresses could be learned, to be present on this
interesting occasion.
A tent capable of holding twenty-five hundred persons
was procured, and pitched on the summit of the High
land Agricultural Society's grounds, a point from which
nearly the whole of Middlefield can be seen, as well as
all the surrounding towns.
The people of the town entered heartily and generously
into the spirit of the occasion. For the time, they gave
up all else for the celebration. They all worked together
harmoniously and efficiently. So far as was possible,
their many hands made light work of the preparations to
do the town honor. And they had their reward. The
success of the celebration was complete. The day was
perfect. The attendance was large, but not crowded, and
included very many, though too few, of the old residents
and descendants of the town, and a multitude of friendly
visitors from neighboring towns. The music, by the
Huntington band, was appropriate, excellent, and not
obtrusive ; the vigilance and tact of the marshal and his
aids secured good order ; the arrangements for the collation
and its service were so carefully adjusted that everybody
was amply supplied and without any friction ; the President
had planned the programme so well that everything was

Introductory Note 5
done just at the proper moment ; the Historical Discourse
was so full, so interesting, and so adequate to the occa
sion, that it was listened to with eagerness and urgently
demanded for publication ; and the other addresses were
so satisfactory that they also were deemed worthy of
preservation. The writer of this Note, a descendant of Middlefield
but not now a resident, ventures, in behalf of those who,
though scattered far and wide, still love Middlefield as
the home of their youth or of their ancestors, to thank
the good people of the town for inviting them to partici
pate in this celebration, and to congratulate them on its
appropriate character and its perfect success, A, S,
Boston, September, 1883.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME
BY METCALF J. SMITH, PRESIDENT OF THE DAY.
Ladies and Gentlemen, — We are met, under most auspicious
surroundings, to celebrate an important event in the history of
the town of Middlefield, And by no plan or purpose on our
part, but through that mysterious, providential ordering of human
affairs, by which men build better than they know, we meet upon
the grounds, indeed in sight of the very spot, where, in all proba
bility, the first settler upon these hills built his home,
A century in the life of any community does not pass without
witnessing many changes in the manners and customs, even in the
very life, of that community, nor yet without retaining much that
characterized the preceding generations. Especially must this
last fact be true where the families are continuous, where, as in
several instances in this goodly town, the family tree has struck
its roots so deep that homesteads have descended from sire to
son, and not only lineal descendants, but those of the same name
to-day dwell in these homes established by our fathers one hundred
years ago.
The Blushes and Churches, the Dicksons, Inghams, and Love-
lands, the Macks and McElwains, the Peases and Roots, the
Robbinses, Smiths, and Taylors, with others that might be named,
all represent families intimately associated with the early history
of the town, and families which to-day, reinforced by no less
worthy stock but of later planting, largely comprise the character
and influence of the town.

8 Middlefield Centejtnial
The setting apart of the human race into families we recognize
as of divine appointment. The sacred and hallowed associations
of the home, the family, that oldest and best of God's institutions,
we tenderly cherish.
The reunion of the scattered members of the same household,
drawn together by mutual love and strong attachment for the
place of their birth, is a blessed sight and privilege. As families,
we cannot too strongly cement the ties of friendship and kindred
by such reunions, hallowed as they must be by memories of the
dear departed ones. The reunions, now quite common, of groups
of families bearing the same name, the multiplication of genealo
gies as our town grows older, — all bear witness to the power and
influence of the family name.
This centennial celebration is a reunion, not only of families
but of a group of families, having essentially the same purpose ;
aiming to do for the town, as a whole, what the family reunion
does for the family, — emphasizing that sentiment of patriotism
and love for the place of one's birth so eloquently expressed in
those lines by Scott, familiar to us all : —
" Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land !
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As hortie his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand ? "
We, the dwellers in Middlefield now, acknowledge that we
have "a goodly heritage." We remember to-day that this town
is what it is because of the sterling worth and character of the
generations that have gone before. We also desire to be im
pressed with the truth that the Middlefield of the future will be
largely what we of the present generation are making it. And,

. Address of Welcome g
fellow-citizens, impressed with some just sense of our responsi
bility to those who shall come after us, be it ours to transmit to
our children this goodly heritage, not only unimpaired, but still
further enriched and ennobled by our own manly, Christian
living. And now, in behalf of the citizens of Middlefield, I welcome
you, one and all, to this centennial celebration. To all these
sons and daughters of Middlefield, who have come from far or
near, from a long or a short wandering from the old hearthstones,
we extend our most cordial greeting and welcome. Bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh, you are one with us to-day. Most
heartily do we thank you for the honor you have reflected upon
Middlefield in your wide-spread fields of duty and service. We
thank you for the special honor you bestow upon us by your
return and presence to-day.
We bid friends and neighbors from the adjoining towns a hearty
welcome to a participation in this celebration. Fitly do you join
us to-day, since, in the early history of your towns, Middlefield
was part and parcel with you. Again, we welcome you, one and
all, to this celebration. We welcome you to the entertainments
and hospitalities of the day, we welcome you to our hearts, we
welcome you to our homes.

lo Middlefield Centennial
After the address of welcome, the audience united in singing,
to the tune of " Boylston," the following
ORIGINAL HYMN,
BY REV. JOHN C. MARTIN, OF MICHIGAN,
Formerly of Middlefield.
We thank thee, Lord, to-day,
For wonders thou hast wrought ;
The glories of these later years,
And the advancing thought.
With grateful hearts we own
The debt we owe our sires,
Who on these hillsides built their homes
And raised their altar fires.
With willing hands they toiled,
And practiced frugal ways ;
And spoke their simple, earnest thought
In homely, kindly phrase.
Lord, help us all to join
That band which nobly strives
To honor those who gave us birth,
By living useful lives.
Rev, J, M, Rockwood, pastor of the Baptist church in Middle-
field, offered prayer and thanks for the blessings of a hundred
vears.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

PROF, EDWARD P, SMITH
OF WORCESTER.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
Mr. President, Citizens of Middlefield, Ladies and Gentlemen : —
This occasion admits of but one theme. Its satisfactory treat
ment is difficult. To give in forty-five minutes an adequate re
view of what a town has been and done in a hundred years is a
severe task. Selection is imperative. Good writing largely " con
sists in knowing what to leave in the ink-bottle,'' The merit of this
address must, to a great extent, lie in knowing what to leave un
said. Many facts and documents of interest, appropriate in a full
history, must be omitted here. To traverse the wide field with the
aid of existing records, and with all the help tradition can aiford ;
to read between the lines where acts alone appear, till in historic
imagination the actors become visible and avow the motives of
their deeds ; to harmonize conflicting oral accounts ; to give con
nection, form, and proportion to the materials gathered ; to place
the whole in just perspective, and animate it with warmth and
color, so that the past may live again while you listen, — this is
what your centennial orator should do. But I should indulge in a
strange delusion, were I to suppose I could do all this in the fort
night that has been given me for the work I present you. Facts,
not fancies ; causes, not conjectures, are what you desire. But
facts cannot be rightly interpreted apart from their causes, and of
these the greatest are the actors. In dealing with records which
omit quite as much truth as they contain, there is a subtle tempta
tion to supply facts, invent hypotheses, and introduce actors from
one's imagination. But the history of Middlefield for the century

14 Middlefield Centennial
of its corporate existence is, as Prof, Park used to say of the
doctrine of the Trinity, " a subject about which one must be care
ful not to know too much," I frankly confess at the outset to an
infinitude of ignorance, and for whatever omissions, errors of fact or
judgment, may occur, crave your kindly indulgence and your gener
ous criticism, while I give you not what I would, but what I can. The
defects in the work spring from my ignorance, not from my heart.
That beats warmly with love for my native town and townsmen.
Whatever my deficiencies for the honorable duty you have assigned
me, I cannot deny such fitness as one may possess who was born
and lived here till his majority, who has frequently revisited these
familiar scenes, who, where'er he roams, whatever lands to see,
turns fondly with untravelled heart to his native home, and in
whose veins flows the blood of the Metcalfs, the Roots, and the
Peases, the Annables, the Macks, the Churches, and the Smiths,
The centennial of Middlefield occurs later than that of her
adjacent sister towns. Their limits had been fixed, their lands
settled, before ever there was a thought of Middlefield. Middle-
field was an afterthought; not a mistake, but one of those second
thoughts which are best. After Deacon Mack for several years
had on Sunday gone on foot six miles to Chester meeting-house,
or, in the winter, with ox-sled had carried the members of his own
and other families thither and back, a Sabbath day's journey
indeed ; and after he had many times travelled down into the
valley of the western branch of the Westfield River and out of it,
climbing a series of hills to reach the place of town-meeting in
Becket ; and after his neighbors in the south part of Peru, the
north-east corner of Becket, the north of Chester, and the south
west corner of Worthington, had labored under similar difficulties
and inconveniences in reaching their religious and business
centres, it was natural that their thoughts should be directed to
some more excellent way of satisfying their needs. In the midst

Historical Discourse 15
of these people so seriously incommoded were some even more
destitute of privileges than they. The residents upon Prescott's
Grant had no political centre, for that Grant did not as yet form
a part of any existing town. The necessities of the case, there
fore, gave birth to the scheme of forming a new town, with Pres
cott's Grant as its nucleus, with such additions as the surrounding
towns might give, and of securing its incorporation by the author
ity of the General Court, David Mack was the leader in the en
terprise of organization. He undertook the work of a survey and
of an application to the Legislature, with the agreement to pay his
own expenses if the project should fail. The plan was successful ;
and on the 12th of March, 1783, the act of incorporation was
passed,* The new town was thus the result of a rearrangement of other
townships. To this territory, central to them all and belonging
about equally to Hampshire and Berkshire Counties, was appropri
ately given the name of Middlefield,
To represent more vividly the way in which the township was
formed, Miss Carrie E, Church has kindly made a map of Mid
dlefield. t Prescott's Grant, the nucleus of the town, appears as a
large quadrilateral, containing more than a thousand acres in the
north and west part of the town. Who the Prescott was to whom
the grant was made is not known, further than that he must have
been some one who had rendered military or other services to
the State, That he was the Prescott who commanded at Bunker
Hill is, indeed, possible ; but, as the grant was probably made
before the Revolutionary War, that supposition seems hardly tena
ble. Worthington, as the map shows, contributed the lion's share.
The portion she gave was a natural one to convey to the new
town, having the middle branch of the Westfield River for its east
ern boundary and the line between Worthington and Chester for
its southern. The southern boundary and the western boundary
* See Appendix A, t See next page.

i6

Middlefield Centennial

(which was also the eastern side of Prescott's Grant) meet a little
to the southeast of the former residence of Mrs. Selden Root.
The portion ceded by Chester consisted of the north part of the
town, lying between the middle and the western branches of the

MAI- OF MIDDLEFIELD

Westfield River, The line between the Chester and Becket por
tions meets the southern boundary of the Worthington cession at
a point a little above the former residence of Mr. Asher Pease,
The portion given by Becket was next in size to that ceded by
Worthington, and extended from the Chester line, with the west-

Historical Discourse 17
ern branch of the Westfield River as its south-western boundary,
to the point where Becket, Washington, and Prescott's Grant cor
nered. The gore given by Washington was apparently for sym
metry rather than from any felt necessity such as existed in the
other towns. Peru contributed a parallelogram from her southern
border, embracing two sections of land. She did not wish to dis
turb her already settled lines by the passage of a new one, and
chose to remain symmetrical herself rather than to make Middle-
field so. The centre of the town, where we are now assembled,
falls within the part ceded by Worthington.
Having noticed the way in which the township was composed,
let us next glance at some of the sixty-eight families living in
Middlefield at the time of its incorporation.
Ten years before, in 1773, Mr. Rhodes had settled in the Den,
on the farm now owned by Clark B, Wright, and John Taggart on
the Factory Stream, on land now covered by the reservoir. Little
is known of either of these men, but they are said to have been
the first settlers. This claim is challenged by both the Taylor
and the McElwain families. Papers in the possession of the
McElwain family indicate that their ancestor came here in 1771,
but the actual date of settlement seems to have been much later.
When we reach the Taylor claim, we touch solid ground, Samuel
Taylor, great-grandfather of our well-known townsman Hiram Tay
lor, was the first settler on the hill, near the centre, on land now
owned by Matthew Smith, Mr, Taylor was one of the original
settlers of Pittsfield in 1752, One day, while he was absent from
home at work, Mrs. Taylor saw Indians coming toward the house.
She caught her infant child Samuel in her arms, mounted the
horse, and rode for her life. She escaped, and was soon rejoined
by her husband. They abandoned Pittsfield, and came to the
mountains, where there were no Indians, This must have been
at least as early as 1773, Mr. Taylor erected the first frame

1 8 Middlefield Centennial
building in Middlefield, which stood till taken down a few years
ago, by Byron Haskell.
The same year is also given as the date when David Mack
purchased his place. In 1774 he came to the town, cleared two
acres, sowed them to wheat, and built a log cabin preparatory to
bringing his family. While thus engaged, he boarded with Mr.
Taylor, worked for him two days in the week for his board, and
the other four days upon his own land. In 1775, he removed with
his family from Hebron, Conn. Mrs. Laura Root, the youngest
of his thirteen children, now eighty-eight years of age, whose
presence gives the day its crowning grace, says that when her
father settled there were eight families in Middlefield. Beside the
families of Rhodes, Taggart, and Taylor, already mentioned, the
other families were probably those of a brother of Mr. Rhodes,
of Enos and Thomas Blossom from the Cape, of Josiah Leonard,
and of Aaron Eggleston.
From 1775, the date of David Mack's coming, till the incor
poration of the town in 1783, — that is, during the Revolutionary
War, — notwithstanding the civil commotions, hardy pioneers were
pushing their way into the unsettled regions of the Green Moun
tain range, which were then to the people of the East and South
the New West and North-west. In their zeal to secure homes,
they did not forget their country's need. The following citizens
of the territory of Middlefield were in the Revolutionary War,
whether before or after their settlement is not known : Timothy
McElwain, Lewis Taylor, John Smith, Elijah Churchill, Solomon
Ingham, Erastus Ingham, Amasa Graves, and Thomas Durant.
Though settlers came from various sections, the greater
number were from Connecticut. What fears of Indians or what
conditions of their native towns impelled them to depart, what
hopes of improved condition lured them to these then unbroken
wilds, we do not know, Connecticut has been said to be a good

Historical Discourse 19
State to emigrate from. Whatever the scepticism of our day may
deny, tradition says Middlefield was a good place to emigrate to.
We know the men who came from Connecticut were good men
to emigrate to any region. David Mack was followed from
Hebron by Malachi Loveland, Solomon Ingham, and Erastus
Ingham, while his brother-in-law, Daniel Chapman, came from
Glastonbury. From Colchester came John Newton, Benjamin
Blush, and Joseph Blush, From Granby came the Aldermans ;
from Somers, the Meachams and Thomas Root, the ancestor of
the numerous Roots; from Enfield, Dan Pease, with his father
and his brothers; from East Windsor came Timothy McElwain
and Timothy Allen who settled northeast of the centre, side by
side, and called the road passing their homes Windsor Street,
The town of East Haddam alone furnished the families of Job
Robbins, James Dickson, Matthew Smith, Calvin Smith, Uriah
Church, William Church, John Spencer, Cyrus Cone, and Ebenezer
Emmons, Some came from other towns in Massachusetts, Of these,
Samuel Jones, the Wrights, the Churchills, the Combses, came
from Chester, the Graveses from Williamsburgh, John Ward
from Shrewsbury, Thomas Durant and Thomas Ward from
Boston, and John Metcalf from Herkimer County, N.Y. As the
above list shows, from Connecticut came the greater part of the
best known families whose history is so inseparably linked with
that of the town, and whose descendants have from its beginning
formed so large a part of the population of Middlefield,
But their names are of far less interest to us than their char
acters. These must be determined from their deeds. Wendell
Phillips says a man never gets over the atmosphere of his birth.
Some of these families, like the Macks and the McElwains, had
their origin in Scotland ; others, like the Smiths and the Roots,
in England ; and a few, like James Dickson, in Ireland. The

20 Middlefield Centennial
peculiarities due to their diverse origin doubtless lingered about
these families while in Connecticut, and even when settled in
their newer homes in Middlefield, To state that they were from
Connecticut is but another way of saying they were Puritans to
the core. Their Puritan inheritance appears in the first town-
meeting, held April 24, 1783, as soon as practicable after town
officers had been chosen. What were the great needs of this
infant town, those for which at that first meeting they appropri
ated money ? Religion and education. Thirty pounds were
voted for preaching and ten pounds for schooling. Provision
was, indeed, made for the repair of roads and for the construc
tion of new ones, and a committee was appointed to find the
centre of the town ; but the centre of the town was to be found
because it was proposed to locate the church there, and roads
were to be made and repaired, not simply to facilitate business
and travel, but still more that church and school might be more
easily reached.
These men were not perfect : they differed in judgment often
and persistently, as the town records show. In their spirited de
bates on Church and State, they doubtless "fought like brothers."
They had not yet mastered some principles of toleration that seem
to us self-evident; and probably they sometimes thought they were
doing God service, when it was plain to outsiders that they were
bent on having their own wills. But, when all the charges which
severe truth can make are entered, it must be conceded that these
were heroic Christian men, who served their God and their genera
tion, and who, however they might err in the means they used, had
the great ends of intelligence and righteousness at heart.
At the side of each of these noble men stood a woman as
worthy as he, the mother of the large, well-trained, and contented
family that filled and blessed their home. She had given herself to
her husband in his weakness to make him strong, and with him

Historical Discourse 21
she bore the brunt of life's hard battle. If in the conflict he
failed, she went down with him, and clung to him for all he had
been and was and might still become. With him she rose and
shared a twofold joy in a success which was the reward of their
common perseverance and the token of their consolidated love.
If he became a power in society, it was because he moved with the
strength of two hearts combined. These fathers and mothers laid
the foundations of a free and virtuous community so firmly that
their work still stands, and their grateful children reverently arise
to-day and call them blessed.
Foremost among these men stands David Mack, whose Chris
tian character has been set forth in the tract " The Faithful
Steward," and is fresh in the memories of many who hear my
voice. I shall enter upon no eulogy of Deacon Mack. His record
is before you, and it is beyond my power to add to or detract from
it. His prominence in the first half century of the town's history
was due to his business, his wealth, his religion, and, above all,
to his native force of character. He could not, of course, have
accomplished what he did without the aid of others who were his
peers in business talent, and perhaps his superiors in intelligence.
Some things which did happen would never have occurred but for
him. It was the Nemesis of his fate that some of his most strenu
ous efforts contributed to the success of enterprises he sought to
stifle. He was undoubtedly more facile in conviction than in
conciliation, but no sketch of Middlefield would be at all complete
that should not assign him a conspicuous place. The man whose
only property, on coming to Middlefield, was his farm, a poor
horse, his axe, his wife and child, and who in his career as farmer
and merchant amassed a fortune, and was, moreover, the cause
that certain other men became wealthy, was a successful business
man. He paid his debts promptly, and expected others to do the
same, He showed his knowledge of the value of wealth by his

22 Middlefield Centennial
use of it, and his great good sense by entirely settling his estate
before his death. The man whose townsmen constantly elected
him to offices of trust and honor was a public-spirited man. As
has been said, he was the leader in organizing and incorporating
the town. He was not less active in securing preaching and school
ing. These blessings he did not desire for others alone, but for
himself as well. The man who in 1784 went to school with
his own children and spelled in the same class with his six-
years-old son was a wise man, for he understood at least his
own ignorance. This is an amount of knowledge some never
attain. The man of but six weeks' schooling previous to his
marriage, whose mind so expanded that he became the friend and
patron of learning, who gave Mary Lyon $500 for Mt. Holyoke
Female Seminary at a time when it was not generally conceded
that women could and should be educated, that they would be more
womanly, more everything desirable, if they had education, — this
man was a man of progress. The man in whose barn, kitchen,
and large chambers town and church meetings were held for
several years ; who was constant in his attendance on worship,
and sat for fifty-four years in the same pew in that meeting-house
he had done so much to erect; who gave more than $18,000 in
large sums to benevolent enterprises, and as much more in smaller
offerings ; who by his contributions made himself a life-member of
twelve benevolent societies, and at one time gave $1,000 to foreign
missions ; who left to the church and society he loved a fund of
$3,000 for the support of the gospel in all coming time ; whose
interest and zeal in the religious welfare of his children and chil
dren's children were constant and successful, — this man was surely
a religious man.
That he was patriotic, his conduct at the time of Shays' insurrec
tion shows. Middlefield's incorporation nearly coincided with the
close of the Revolutionary War, The return of peace found the

Historical Discourse 23
nation burdened with heavy taxation, industry paralyzed, and trade,
in the absence of aught that could with justice be called a cur
rency, even more depressed. The people of Western Massachu
setts, writhing under the pressure of public and private debts for
which no means of payment existed, attributed to the government
the evils from which they suffered, clamored for issues of paper
money, and sought to stay the courts from granting writs to which
they could not respond. Middlefield's sympathy with these un
fortunate debtors is evident from this language in a call for a town
meeting in November, 1786, to choose delegates to a county con
vention in Hadley for the following very necessary purposes : "To
choose a committee to confer with committees from other counties
on the pressing distressful condition of our public affairs. Secondly,
to choose a committee to prepare a nervis petition to the Honor
able General Assembly, with such justness, perspicuity, and suit
able address as may not fail to be effective of our public relief."
The grievances, though greatly magnified, were real. This
conference and petition were entirely lawful. When, however,
under the lead of Day and Shays, insurgent plans were formed,
and the attempt made to disperse the courts and arrest the en
forcement of legal process altogether, insurrection had begun.
In this state of affairs, a requisition was sent to Captain David
Mack to appear with a certain number of his men at Springfield,
and join the State forces. He drafted his men, gave orders for
their appearance at his house the next morning, prepared to
march. During the night, the company appointed new officers,
declared for Shays, and in the morning surrounded and entered
Captain Mack's house, and declared him prisoner. The loyal cap
tain clearly saw the peril of the step that had been taken. To his
utmost, he exhorted his men to abandon their course of folly and
treason. His plea was in vain. As a prisoner, he requested a
furlough of three days, which was granted. At their request, he

24 Middlefield Centennial
wrote the furlough; and, having procured the signatures of the
newly appointed officers, among whom were Samuel Jones, Eliakim
Wardwell, and Mr. Meacham, he put the document in his pocket,
hastened to Springfield, at once reported himself to General
Shepard, to whom he exhibited his furlough. After examining it,
General Shepard said : " Well, Captain Mack, as you have no men
to fight with you, you may go home. We shall immediately attend
to the men who have signed this paper." At that exciting period,
the house of Samuel Jones, now owned by George Bell, was the
head-quarters of the Shays men in this vicinity. There the Shays
leaders were arrested, after Captain Mack's visit to Springfield,
and lodged in Northampton jail. In their distress, they humbly
and earnestly besought Captain Mack to use his influence in
securing their release. He magnanimously exerted himself in
their behalf, and secured their pardon.
When Shays' followers fled from Springfield after their repulse
before the arsenal, one company gathered at the Bell place. The
State forces, under General Tupper, surrounded the house. The
men showed fight even after their leader, Captain Luddington of
Southampton, had yielded ; but resistance was useless. Fifty-nine
of them went from Middlefield prisoners of war. This was in
January, 1787. In April following, this entry was made in the
town records : — April 10, 1787.
Berkshire, ss.
Then personally appeared Solomon Ingham, and took and sub
scribed the oath of allegiance required by the Commonwealth of Mas
sachusetts, before Nathaniel Kingsley, Justice of Peace.*
Five others had taken this same oath in March, and fourteen
more did so in June of that same year. This oath was to serve as
a tonic to the loyalty of those who had engaged in Shays' insur
rection ; and it enforced the lesson that disgraceful event had
* See Appendix B.

Historical Discourse 25
taught, that the rebellion of a people against a government estab
lished by themselves is not justifiable even in e.xtreme cases.
Nothing more signally showed the inability of Congress under the
Articles of Confederation to promote domestic tranquillity. In less
than four months from the surrender of the Shays men, at the
Bell place in Middlefield, the Federal Convention had met at Phil
adelphia, At a meeting in December, 1787, "the town voted the
Constitution of the United States to be good." Nothing more
forcibly makes us realize the distance that separates us from the
first citizens than this vote of the town upon our national con
stitution, the votes given in successive years for John Hancock
and Samuel Adams for Governors of Massachusetts, and the
names of the electors who voted for the first presidents of the
United States,
Middlefield was strongly Federal. A meeting was called July
13, 18 1 2, "that the town may have an opportunity in a public
manner to manifest their opinion concerning the late declaration
of war by the government of the United States against Great
Britain," The town voted the war inexpedient, with only seven
dissenting votes. The well-known public sentiment of New Eng
land could scarcely permit any other result, but the seven who
thought it right to stand by the government and patriotically voted
so are worthy of mention : Matthew Smith, Esq,, William Skinner,
William Church, Green H. Church, Warren Church, Lieutenant
Alexander Dickson, and Deacon John Newton, When, in 18 14,
Governor Strong called for troops. Major (afterward General)
Mack, Lieutenant Matthew Smith, Captain Solomon Root, Abel
Cheeseman, and probably others, went to the defence of Boston,
Middlefield was later as pronouncedly Whig in politics as she
had previously been Federal, The anti-slavery movement found
stanch and able supporters, who lived through denunciation and
reproach to see the triumph of the principles for which they had

26 Middlefield Centennial
contended. Middlefield became thoroughly Republican, and in
the war for the Union was alert to every demand of the National
Government, She contributed freely of her money, her supplies,
and her men. The war expenses paid were equal to $19 for every
citizen of the town. Generous contributions were privately made
for the various departments of patriotic work, and the ladies
united in making clothing for the soldiers. The town furnished
in all eighty-six men, a surplus of seven more than the govern
ment required. Of these, two were commissioned officers, and
fifteen died in the service of their country.
The Congregational church was constituted Nov. 16, 1783.
Even before its formation, a committee of seven was chosen to
find the most convenient and proper place for the meeting-house
to stand. The town accepted their report, — " to stand on the main
line between Mr. Joseph Blush's and Widow Ford's." For some
unknown reason, the project seems to have slumbered till revived
three years later ; and, early in 1787, it was voted " to set it on the
most convenient place nearest the centre of the town on the pub
lic highway," For the next five years, the most prominent ques
tions in the minds of the good people of Middlefield were the
location, the size, the expense, the erection, the finishing, and the
seating of that meeting-house. Not less than thirty town-meet
ings were held to settle these points, I do not suppose there was
a single person in the town who did not want a meeting-house,
and who did not consider the vote to set it in the most convenient
place perfectly reasonable and wise.
But what was the most convenient place ? Here was an
opportunity for a difference of opinion, and it was not neglected.
It is one of the mysteries still unsolved why the building of a
church edifice, which should be a work of union and peace so
often proves a signal for letting loose the waters of discord and
strife. Doubtless there were then as now and in apostolic days

Historical Discourse 27
men like Diotrephes who loved the pre-eminence, and who, lording
it over God's heritage, were signally successful in translating the
providences of God into the language of their own desires.
Human nature even in the saints is very much the same in all
ages. So great was the divergence in views that in November,
1787, the town chose Major David Mack, Lieutenant James Dick
son, and Ensign Matthew Smith as a committee to apply to the
General Court for a committee to fix the place for the meeting
house. The records give no account of the action of this committee.
To the taste of the Legislature, the titles this committee bore may
have savored too strongly of the Church militant. That body
was probably too much occupied with business resulting from
Shays' insurrection to be zealous in appointing a committee to fix
the site of a meeting-house for those who had actively engaged in
that rebellion.
The town next voted " to have Deacon Jonathan Brewster of
Worthington, Deacon Jesse Johnson of Chester, and Lieutenant
Scott of Norwich, a committee to repair to the town and fix the
spot of the meeting-house." There is no record of their action.
They were probably wise enough not to serve.
After futile efforts to agree upon a site, during the next year
the town voted in August, 1789, "to do something concerning
building a meeting-house, to raise ;^3,ooo for the same, to agree
to the report of the committee to set the church by a beech
staddle on the height of land near Oliver Blush's," where Mrs.
Newton at present resides.
The site thus arranged for, the town was at leisure to consider
the bigness of the " meeting-house," and voted that it should be
fifty-four by forty-two feet, with twenty-two feet posts. By this
time another competing site had been found ; and it was voted
"to set the church on the height of land near Cyrus Cone's

28 Middlefield Centennial
house." But the advocates of the site of the beech staddle were
not thus to be silenced. They rallied, and in January, 1790,
reconsidered all previous votes, and again voted the site of the
beech staddle ; and a committee of five was appointed " to go
with the selectmen, and set a stake for the meeting-house at or
near this place." Arrangements were now made with William
Church for six shillings per day as master-workman, and with
the other persons approved of as carpenters at five shillings per
day ; and, that there might be a definite understanding when
the day began, it was voted "that the persons that work on the
meeting-house shall be there by the sun one hour high in the
morning." But the question of the site was again raised, and a
meeting called June 30, 1790, "to see which of the two places
the town will direct the committee to set the meeting-house on,
at the beech staddle, as hath been voted by the town, or on
the rocks, as was agreed by the committee appointed for that
purpose." It was voted "to set the meeting-house on the ledge
south of Oliver Blush's, where the committee set the corners."
This was decisive. The church was founded on the rocks, and
the beech staddle did not prevail against it.
The meeting-house was raised by general invitation, and the
master-workman had " the liberty to pick the hands to go on the
frame to do the work aloft," The remainder of the work neces
sary to complete the house was provided and paid for in piece
meal fashion. The covering and painting were thus arranged for
by a committee; but in 1791, this committee having charge of
the expense of the meeting-house was called to account by the
town through its committee, James Dickson, Matthew Smith, and
David Mack, appointed for this purpose. Mr, Pelton's painting
and joiner work was voted unsatisfactory, and he was compelled
to repaint and renail, and directed "to nail cleats on the roof
where the snow drives through the same,"

Historical Discourse 29
Now came the question of seating the church, A committee
of nine wrestled with this problem ; but their report was rejected,
and a new committee appointed, consisting of the trio, James
Dickson, Matthew Smith, and David Mack, who seem to have
been called in to cut Gordian knots. They were instructed to
"dignify" the seats according to a compound ratio of the age and
valuation of the persons to be seated. Five years of age were to
be equal to £\. It is evident that, by this " dignification," — what
ever that was, — age and wealth would have seats on the broad
aisle. No settled order appears to have been followed in number
ing the seats. It is probable that a third unnamed factor, influ
ence, was quite as potent as either age or wealth in determining
where people should sit. In the record of the seats of the " di
vinely appointed heads," it is stated, "Wives are comprehended,"
The records also say, " The children to be seated shall be seated
according to their parents' list, and the four seats about the gal
leries shall be for the benefit of those that perform the singing to
sit in." For bachelors and spinsters no provision seems to have
been made, unless the gift of song was considered an invariable
accompaniment of single blessedness. The pulpit, a lofty struct
ure at the west side of the church, reached by long flights of steps
and surmounted by an octagonal, dome-shaped sounding-board
without visible means of support, seemed at an immense distance
from the people. From the square, unwarmed pews below, the
hungry sheep looked up to be fed by their distant shepherd. The
gambols of the sportive lambs in the pews in the galleries were
kept within bounds by tithing-.men.
The present house of worship of the Congregational church is
that first meeting-house, turned ninety degrees, repaired, improved,
and considerably remodelled. It is, therefore, one of the oldest
buildings in the town. Around no other do so many associations
cluster. For nearly thirty years after its erection, it was the only

30 Middlefield Centennial
church in the town. For more than ninety years the gospel has
been proclaimed from its pulpit. Within its walls nearly all who
have lived in Middlefield have at some time, if not regularly,
gathered. There the fathers met, discussed and decided affairs
of Church and State, There, by actual management of their
local interests they learned how to govern themselves wisely, and
taught their sons to do the same. The walls of that church have
echoed with stormy debate and rung with eloquent pleas for lib
erty. They have witnessed times of revival and depression, they
have looked down on many scenes of joy and of sorrow. While
we treasure up precious memories of these in the inner temple of
our hearts and see how God wrought through man's want of
wisdom, may the review give us increased devotion to the duties
before us. The God of the fathers will be with the children,
" For this God is our God : he will be our guide even unto death."
Several ministers had officiated for brief periods before the
completion of the church. Efforts had been made to settle more
than one of them, but without success. Rev. Jonathan Nash, the
first minister, was settled in October, 1792, The church was
happily united in his settlement ; and for nearly forty years this
ministry continued with pleasant and helpful relations, till, at his
own request, he was dismissed on account of age and infirmities,
and his successor. Rev. Samuel Parker, was ordained the same
day. The next pastor. Rev. John H. Bisbee, who, if there were
such an officer, would be entitled to be the Bishop of the
Congregational Churches in Western Massachusetts, is fortunately
here to speak for himself, as is alsp his successor. Rev, Edward
Clarke, whose voice we shall be so glad to hear. Rev, Moody
Harrington and Rev, John Dodge have passed into the silent
land. Rev, Lewis Bridgman would gladly be here, but distance
forbids. Rev. Charles M, Pierce and Rev. Samuel Evans have
been invited.

Historical Discourse 31
For over thirty years the Congregational church was the only
one in the town. There were, however, individuals of other
religious views from a very early period. By statute law all
persons, of whatever religious sentiments, were taxed to support
the Congregational church of the standing order. Yet, only five
years after the incorporation, Ebenezer Babcock's rates were
abated from the time he joined the Baptist church in Chester
field, three years before. But this vote proved a precedent. In
1790 a petition signed by fifteen tax-payers was presented to
the town, stating that they attended upon the public instruction
of Rev. Eleazer Rhodes, a public teacher of piety, religion, and
morality, and of the Baptist persuasion, and requesting that the
sums they had severally paid toward the support of public
worship should be given to the minister of their choice. The
town did not grant the petition. The persons whose rates were
not thus abated seem to have been reluctant to pay their meeting
house tax, James Dickson was chosen " an agent to make
application to some able attorney for advice according to law with
regard to those people that call themselves Baptists with regard
to their minister and town rates," The vote by which Mr. Bab
cock's rates were abated was reconsidered. When a further effort
was made "to see if the town would abate the rates of those
that called themselves Baptists, or any part of them," this brief,
expressive vote was passed, " not to abate the rates or allow any
further time for the pa)Tnent thereof." At the next town-meeting
it was voted to hold the meetings in future at the meeting-house.
Tradition says this was to identify town and church rates still
more closely, and thus make them more binding upon the
Baptists, It is probable that these votes had an effect different from
what those who passed them intended. Priority, statute law, and
the power were on the side of the standing order ; and, doubtless,

32 Middlefield Centennial
they did not clearly distinguish between the preference for Bap
tist sentiments and the desire to escape taxation. The seizure and
sale of his cow to pay church rates were ill adapted to persuade a
Baptist to renew his loyalty to the standing order. The essential
justice of the request for the abatement of the rates of those who
were Baptists or Methodists is not questioned at this day. Their
abatement would have increased the pecuniary burdens of the
other members, but it would have disarmed the dissenters of all
the power they gained by being put in the attitude of martyrs.
A liberal policy would probably have left geography quietly to
turn the scale in favor of the standing order. The Baptists paid
the rates, but they felt that their enforced payment was a persecu
tion. From the date of the passage of those votes, the formation
of a Baptist church was only a question of time. In 1797 a Bap
tist church was formed in Hinsdale, and several from Middlefield
joined it. Its pastor included this town in the field of his labors ;
and, three years later, meetings were held every third Sunday
at the houses of the Baptist brethren in Middlefield. Not long
afterward, those who could procure certificates of actual member
ship in another church, or in a society organized to support a
church, were exempted from the tax to support the standing order.
In 1816 a house of worship was erected for the Baptist church in
Hinsdale, This strengthened the work there, and naturally led to
the formation of a Baptist church at Middlefield with twenty-nine
members, and the erection of a house of worship in 18 17. The
larger freedom allowed to women in the Baptist meetings was a
great aid to the new enterprise. Under the stimulating discourses
of able preachers, there was an accession of thirty members within
two years after the formation of the church. The first pastor.
Rev. Isaac Childs, helpless in this world's concerns, was a man of
great spiritual power, and gave a fervor and zeal to the new church
that long endured. His successor, Rev, Erastus Andrews, did

Historical Discourse 33
not give his hearers strong meat ; and those that were of full age
hailed with joy the labors of Rev, Cullen Townsend, who was soon
caught away by the Western fever. The ministry of Rev. Henry
Archibald, the Scotchman, whose knowledge of the Bible was pro
found, was full of blessed results to his charge. His successor.
Rev. Orson Spencer, was genial, popular, and deeply interested in
education. His conversion to Mormonism astounded everybody.
He made no effort to gain converts, nor did he state his views till
fully formed. Then he resigned his charge, and the church un
disturbed enjoyed for several years the ministrations of Rev,
Foronda Bestor. The eccentric Homer Clark and the beloved
Rev. Volney Church had each a short pastorate. During the
ministry of Rev. Orlando B. Cunningham, a large number were
added to the church. Rev, Lewis Holmes came at the close of
the great revival of 1857-58 ; and his successor, the much esteemed
Rev, Joseph M. Rockwood, is now in the nineteenth year of his
successful pastorate. Many revivals have occurred in connection
with this church, and it has at all times been noted for the liberal
ity with which it has aided the different objects of Christian
benevolence. At about the time the first Baptist meetings were held in Mid
dlefield there began, in the south-east part of the town, another
religious movement. Early in the century the Methodists formed
a class under the leadership of Mr. Falley and Mr. Cross. Mr.
Falley subsequently removed to Fulton, N.Y., and there founded
the flourishing Methodist seminary bearing his name. Thomas
Ward, who had been a sea-captain, overcome with grief at the
death of his wife, had, with Bible and hymn-book, gone forth from
Boston, scarce knowing whither he went. Settling in Middlefield,
he became an active Christian worker, conducting meetings in the
absence of the preacher, and known far and wide as Father
Ward. In his barn and in the Den school-house meetings were

34 Middlefield Centennial
held by various circuit-riders, till at last a church was formed,
which at length, with that at Washington and those at other
places, formed the Middlefield and Washington circuit. The new
ways and the unction of the Methodist preachers produced the
same results in Middlefield as elsewhere. In this church, woman
had even larger liberty than what was accorded her in the Baptist
church ; and a Miss Barnes is remembered as a preacher of
uncommon fervor. Under the powerful preaching of Peter C.
Oakley, Bradley Selleck, Cyrus Prindle, and others, there was an
extensive revival, for several years, in this church. In 1827 a
church building was erected in the Den, near the present residence
of George W. Howe, In 1853 it was removed to the centre,
south of the town hall. The society lost by the change. The
strong roots of its power were in the south-east of the town. It
was needed there : its necessity at the centre was not so obvious,
A large number of deaths and removals occurring a few years later
so weakened the society that services were discontinued, and the
building was sold to the Congregational church for a chapel.
Middlefield has never lost the impulse that led the town, at its
first meeting, to vote ;^io for schooling. While probably few,
even of the hill-towns of Western Massachusetts, have retained a
larger proportion of the Puritan stock, still fewer can show a
higher standard of intelligence and morality among its inhabi
tants during the century. The stable structure of Middlefield's
social life has rested on the solid basis of a general education of
all the citizens, almost as much as upon the corner-stone of a
gospel ministry. At first there was probably but one school. Six
years after the formation of the town, the selectmen were directed
to divide the town into districts ; and, four years later, it was voted
that every district should build its own school-house, £2\o were
voted, ;^4o for each of the six districts ; and this sum was to be
assessed upon each district, according to its polls and real estate.

Historical Discourse 35
Later the number of districts was increased to eleven ; and
the management of its school affairs by each district was an im
portant element in training the citizens to self-reliance, wise
action, and quiet submission to self-imposed laws. In time, how
ever, this individuality needed a check, and the district system
was abolished. It produced better workers than co-workers.
Schools were then established, where there were not only a school-
house and a teacher, but where there were also scholars in suf
ficient numbers to form a school. Able teachers have been
employed from the first. At intervals, select schools of a high grade
have been maintained; while many persons have pursued their
studies further at academies, seminaries, and colleges. Large
numbers of men, in all walks of life, have gone from the Middle-
field schools, achieving usefulness and fame on the foundations
there laid. A town which has produced such men as Ebenezer
Emmons and Lyman Coleman, may well have a just pride in the
successful efforts of the pioneers to lay deep and strong the
foundations of education.
Middlefield has produced many men of eminent business talent.
Among others that might well be mentioned are the Durants
and the Newtons that went to Albany; Azariah Smith, who was
a most eminent manufacturer and merchant in Manlius, N.Y. ;
General David Mack, who was for many years a most successful
merchant in Middlefield, and later removed to Amherst ; his son,
Samuel Mack, who was a merchant in St. Louis ; Edmund Mor
gan, who, though not a native, first displayed in Middlefield that
mercantile talent so fully developed in Cleveland ; William F.
Church, who organized Ohio's department of insurance, of which
he was the commissioner for several years; Russell M. Little,
president of an insurance company at Glen's Falls, N.Y. ; Frank
lin Smith, a merchant and manufacturer at Hazardville, Conn. ;
J. Smith McElwain in the Parsons Paper Company at Holyoke,

36 Middlefield Centennial
and his brother Edwin McElwain, a well-known merchant in
Springfield. Edward King, the author and noted journalist, a
great-grandson of Calvin Smith, was born in Middlefield, Dr.
Azariah Smith, the missionary to the Aintab Mission in Syria,
and Dr. William M, Smith, Professor of Medical Chemistry, Syra
cuse University, were grandsons of Matthew Smith; and Andrew
Dickson White, President of Cornell University, is a great-grand
son of Lieutenant James Dickson. Many young ladies have
studied at Mt, Holyoke Female Seminary, several of whom have
graduated. One has graduated from Oberlin. More than a dozen
young men have taken a college course. Alvan Nash, Lyman
Coleman, Samuel Bissell, Warren Little, Judson Smith, and Sam
uel Ingham became Congregational clergymen; William Crowell,
a Baptist minister ; Eben Brown, Alexander Dickson, Russell M.
Little, and John C, Martin, Methodist preachers. Two mission
aries have gone from Middlefield : Samuel Ingham to the Dacotah
Mission, where he died in the midst of a great work ; and Mary
A, Rockwood, who went as a teacher in the Toungoo Mission in
India, and fell a victim to her labors in that climate, Elisha
Mack, son of David Mack, became a lawyer and a judge of ex
cellent reputation ; and his nephew David studied law with him,
but afterward became a successful teacher, commanding the high
est esteem for his ability and his worth,
Middlefield has sent forth a goodly number of physicians.
Besides Dr. Emmons, the distinguished naturalist, Asa Newton,
Austin Church, Elbridge G. Wheeler, Jefferson Church, Henry
Litde, Milo Wing, Cooley Wing, James U, Church, Wright Barnes,
Frank Whittemore, Clark Hamilton, Cynthia Smith, and James N.
Dickson were all natives of Middlefield,
Of these, only two have practised in Middlefield : Dr. Wheeler,
who, retiring from his ride in other towns, occasionally practises ;
and Dr. James U, Church, the most popular physician that Mid-

Historical Discourse T^y
dlefield ever had. His tragic and untimely death threw the town
into consternation and gloom. Dr. Wright, Dr. Coleman, and Dr,
Warren preceded Dr, Church, Dr. Underwood was a contemporary
of Dr. Warren and Dr, Church. To Dr. Church succeeded Dr.
Edwin C. Bidwell, who enlisted and went into the Union Army as
a surgeon. It was hoped he would be with us to-day, but he has
sent a letter expressing his regrets and speaking of his experiences
in the war. Middlefield has always been orthodox in her medical
practice. No heretical homoeopathist has lifted up his voice
against the dispensers of calomel, lobelia emetics, mandrake,
morphine, and brandy.
The most general occupation in Middlefield has been farming,
but various manufactures have been introduced. At one period
the extensive soapstone quarries in the north-east part of the town
were worked by a New York Company. The operations were
abandoned in a few years, as the expenses of quarrying and trans
portation exceeded the returns. Saw-mills and grist-mills were
built at an early period on the various streams that traverse the
town. In the south part of the town, on the Tan Brook, was at
one time an extensive tannery, John Metcalf, an early proprietor,
was succeeded by Alexander Dickson. Addison Everett devised
machinery for turning wooden bowls, which almost revolutionized
the business in this country, and from which he might have de
rived a fortune, had not the secret of his invention been obtained
in a more secret than legal manner. About 1790 a fulling mill
was erected on the factory stream. This was bought about the
beginning of the century by Amasa Blush, who later built a clothing
mill for finishing custom work. In 1815 he erected a factory
a little below the present residence of Mrs. William D. Blush.
There his sons Oliver and William carried on the business for
many years. Uriah Church also built a clothing mill not far from
i8io. In 1823 he built a factory, and a second larger one in

38 Middlefield Centennial
1848. In these mills Mr. Church and his sons, Sumner U. Church
& Brodiers, have manufactured immense quantides of woollen
goods. The great flood in 1874 caused much destruction, but the
reser\-oir has been substantially rebuilt The great freshet of
1878 caused great damage to the roads, and so injured the works
of the West Wooi'.en Company that the proprietors decided not to
rebuild. In the first stage of farming the pioneers were felling the
forests and cartdng out homes and farms. HUIs apparently
sterile, from which the wood had been burned in one season, would
the nest year produce any grain in ample measure. A few bushels
of grain or flax-seed, a few cheeses, or a fattened steer, helped, in
the absence of much currency, to square accounts in exchange for
the merchant's groceries or wares. The amount, of pasture land,
relatively so large compared with the portion devoted to mowing
and tilling, demonstrates what feature of agriculture has always
been predominant in this town. It is grazing in its threefold
forms of stock-raising, fattening catde, and daiiying. From these
limits agriculture in Middlefield has never wandered widely with
profit. Success has been found in their perfection rather than
in the introduction of new forms of effort The protective tariff
which favored the wool manufacturer and the wool-grower gave a
great impulse ro the erection of woollen factories and to the raising
of fine wool. Every farmer turned his attention to this industry.
Ten thousand sheep were sometimes sheared here in a single
year. The greatest pains were taken to perfect the quality- of the
staple. Middlefield farmers were never more prosperous, never
had more money, than in the thirr,- years devoted to wool-growing.
The lower tariff on wool and the demands of the market for varied
st}ie5 of woollen goods enabled and required the manufacturer to
use cheaper and foreign grades of wool, and by degrees the sheep
disappeared from the iliddlefield pastures.

Historical Discourse 39
The raising of fine cattle now occupied the farmer's attention.
The Durhams, introduced in 1842, were so improved that the town
became famous for its thoroughbred, its fat, and its working cattle,
a celebrity which, though in a less degree, it still retains. There
is little question that at one time Middlefield had the finest cattle
in the State. The extremely high prices of beef during the war
caused the destruction of much fine stock, and gave an accelerated
impulse to the pasturing and fattening of cattle for beef. At pres
ent, butter, eggs, maple sugar, hay, and young cattle are the most
prominent articles the farmer has for sale. The establishment of
the Highland Agricultural Society, whose formation and incorpora
tion were due to the untiring energy of Matthew Smith, has in
many ways been of service to agriculture.
The Boston and Albany Railroad, which skirts the south part
of the town, increased greatly the population of the town during
its construction. Had it passed up the factory stream, as was
once proposed, instead of up the west branch of the Westfield
River, it might perhaps have increased in many respects the pros
perity of Middlefield ; but it would not probably have sufficed to
arrest the tendency of the young men, the bone and sinew of
the town, to seek their fortune elsewhere. The fertile fields of
the West allured with their abundance, and cities attracted with
their excitements and glare. Farming in Middlefield labors under
some disadvantages, but none that courage, industry, and skill
cannot overcome. The soil is strong and still responds gener
ously to faithful culture.
But in a most important sense the great work of Middlefield
has not been either agriculture or manufactures. Her best prod
ucts, those by which she gains her fairest renown, for which
there is an unfailing demand, are her sons and her daughters.
Nowhere more than in Middlefield has there been a more pro
found apprehension of the immense difference between getting a

40 Middlefield Centennial
living and living. This realization has laid a more constraining
grasp upon the subtle springs of action than any questions of profit
and loss, Middlefield's first effort has been to make, not money,
but men. Thus has she earned her best title to immortality : —
" For manhood is the one immortal thing
Beneath Time's changeful sky,"
In the power that Middlefield shows of inspiring affection in
her children lies the incontestable proof of the charm that invests
this town. It is not merely that her scenery fascinates and her
pure, bracing air invigorates : it is the kindly spirit of the mother,
who never confounds publicity with worth, who supplants low
desires by ennobling tastes, and who is not so anxious that her
children should do something great as that they should be some
thing worthy and true. Even her adopted children feel the spell
which Middlefield casts upon all who breathe her air and tread
her hills. For some of them leave higher wages elsewhere to
seek work in the mills here, because Middlefield to them is home.
Not many years ago a Middlefield farmer, who might well have
succeeded in business in more attractive fields, said : " There is
not another such place in the world to bring up children in. I
know of no place where general education and morality are
higher," Middlefield has declined in population, but her spirit is not
broken nor her influence impaired. The spring from which so
many refreshing streams have flowed to all parts of the earth
gushes up abundantly still.
The influence of such towns in maintaining freedom will be
even larger, it may be, in the future than in the past. We have not
yet learned how to govern wisely our great cities ; and, if we ever
do learn, it is not improbable we shall be taught by some one who
has been trained in self-government in these hill-towns. Our city

Historical Discourse 41
schools have too much machinery, too little vitality ; and it may be
that the secret of putting the living spirit into the wheels of our
educational system will be one day imparted by one to w^om
there first began in Middlefield schools the dawn of the intellect
ual life. If in the future this town could be only a nursery from
which should be transplanted at fitting times the best growths it
could produce, it would still do a work of inestimable importance.
In this age of steel and electricity, this era of vast opportunity, it
is probable the interests of many of Middlefield's children would be
promoted by going forth to other callings than those here pursued.
But for success in those callings nothing can surpass the lessons
in cheerful industry, the wise economy of a simple training, the
muscle of energy and victory that may be gained here. The
departure of such young men is a loss to the town, but a gain to the
world, that needs them perhaps even more. In just this way Mid
dlefield has given to the West and to our towns and cities some of
the best blessings they have received, — men of industry, business
talent, and order, men of education and piety, who, wherever they
have gone, have laid the foundations or upheld the structure of all
that is hopeful or good.
The necessities of this rough country and intractable soil are
good necessities. There is something in life here that fosters the
heroic, that tones up the whole will to energy and the whole soul
to endurance. A softer climate and a more fruitful soil make men
of a less triumphant energy. Men do well now as of old to " lift
up their eyes unto the hills from whence cometh help,"
The venerable forms of our fathers have been summoned
before us. In an imperfect way, we have reviewed their characters
and their labors. They were heroic spirits, but the world knew
little of their heroism. Only here and there did their lives so
blend with the current of public affairs as to become historic.

42 Middlefield Centennial
But what their work lost in width it gained in intensity. In the
quiet, not the more showy, pursuits, their great life-work was done.
Such pursuits flow in silence like the great forces of nature. The
electric current, when still, goes through the world, uniting atom to
atom and quickening the very life of our bodies. It grows historic
when it thunders, but it tells of disturbance in the atmosphere, of
interruption in its work. The spirits of our fathers were finely
touched, and they had their fine issues, though they were not
widely visible.
The effect of their lives was incalculably diffusive, though they
were spent in deeds which had no great name on earth. The
blessings we rejoice in to-day are almost wholly due to the humble
but good men and women who, among these hills, faithfully and
bravely lived a hidden life, and rest now in untitled graves. The
wealth of the inheritance we enjoy is, under God's providence,
but the legitimate result of the toils they endured, of the sac
rifices they made, and of the blood they shed. We shall best
reverence their memory by simple loyalty to truth and right. We
shall most honor Middlefield, the mother of us all, by blessing her
history with a future in harmony with her past.

ADDRESSES

Addresses 45
After the historical address followed the collation. The
people remained mostly in the tent, and grouped themselves in
companies, so that they could at the same time eat and visit.
After the collation, which was pronounced excellent and bountiful
there was busy visiting among those who had been associates in
youth, but who had not met for years, — a delightful reunion of
friends and acquaintances, — until two o'clock, when the music of
the band recalled the great company to order, and the president
announced : —
"THE OLDEST INHABITANT"
BY MRS. LAURA MACK ROOT.
Our fathers, — where are they? Our mothers, — do they live
forever ? Echo, Where, where, where ? I shall soon be in eternity,
— eternity ! I am the oldest woman living in town, that was
born here ; and I have always been able to read and write with
out glasses. This town has been my home for all but three years
of my life. I am the only child living of a family of thirteen chil
dren. Our father, Colonel David Mack, came here in March,
1775, when this town was a wilderness and but eight families re
sided in the place. He located half a mile away, built a log hut,
lived in it six years, and then built the house that is now standing,
which has withstood the storms and hurricanes of Middlefield one
hundred and two years, and I know not that any part of it has
been blown down ; but the piazza that was in front and the store
that was on the north end of the house have been taken away.
Here our honored father lived, and died at the advanced age of
ninety-four years, three months, and fourteen days.
I have lived under the government of all the Presidents of
these United States ; and I can remember when General Washing
ton died as well as I can when Lincoln and Garfield were shot. I
can remember, too, when there were but thirteen States and four
Territories in the Union. If I should tell you all I can remember,
I should take up too much of your time. My heavenly Father
has kept me alive since 1795. Now in my eighty-ninth year, be
fore my God I must shortly appear.

46 Middlefield Centennial
THE CLERGY OF MIDDLEFIELD.
BY REV. JOHN H, BISBEE, OF WESTFIELD, MASS,
[Pastor of the Congregational Church in Middlefield from 1833 to 1838.]
To some it may perhaps seem lacking in modesty for one of
the number of the clergy of this place to speak upon this topic.
But, having been requested to do so, I shall waive all feelings of
delicacy, and proceed at once to the subject assigned me.
The first settlers of Middlefield, like those of other new settle
ments of that day, wisely judged that virtue and morality are essen
tial to the welfare, peace, and prosperity of any community. They
clearly understood also that the only sure foundation for these is
Christianity, or the doctrines and precepts of the Bible. They
regarded their best interests, both for time and eternity, as in
volved in this. Hence they early organized a Christian church.
Congregational in form, and made pecuniary provision for the
support of the gospel ministry. After a brief season, in which
their pulpit was supplied by different individuals, they sought and
obtained a pastor to abide with them, and break to them the bread
of life. In doing this they seem to have been actuated not so
much by a desire for a man of eminent talent, worldly wisdom, and
charming rhetoric, as for a man of common sense, good natural
ability, varied learning, and, more than all, of deep-toned piety,
and soundness in the Christian faith. They would have one not
so much resembling a comet which comes and goes, or a meteor
which blazes a moment and then expires, as a fixed star always
shining with a clear, pure, steady light. Searching for such a man,
they found Rev, Jonathan Nash, a native of South Hadley, and a
graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1789. He was
ordained and installed pastor of the church in 1792, This posi
tion he held for forty years, when at his own request he was hon
orably dismissed. Though not remarkably brilliant, he was yet
a man of full ordinary natural ability. His education was good
for that day. But living on a small salary, with a large family to
support, unfortunately he had not the means for continued intel
lectual improvement which clergymen have at the present day.

Addresses 47
Books were expensive, and hence his furniture for the mind was
very limited. After his decease, his whole library was appraised
at thirty dollars.
He was a man of remarkably pure moral. Christian, and minis
terial character. No charge could lie against him of departing
from the strictest rules of morality and propriety. In theology,
he was sound, truly evangelical. He felt that he was set for the
defence of the gospel. His preaching was gospel truth. In
disposition he was remarkably mild and gentle, careful not to
wound the feelings of others without cause. Though grave in
manner, he yet had a vein of humor in the presence of associ
ates. At his funeral, Rev. Mr, Jennings of Dalton, offered
prayer. In his quaint language he said, "Thou knowest, O
Lord, that thy departed servant had naturally more of the milk
of human kindness than the rest of us."
At the time of his settlement railroads were unknown, stage
coaches and other carriages were scarce in these mountain towns.
Hence, when he took a wife, he brought the young bride home
on horseback. A company of his parishioners, male and female,
with similar conveyance, formed a procession, and met the happy
couple between this place and Chester, opened to the right and
left in true military style, let them pass through, and then escorted
them home.
At the age of seventy-four years, he suddenly and peacefully
fell asleep, honored, respected, and beloved by all who knew him.
He no doubt received the plaudit of the Master, " Well done,
good and faithful servant : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,"
Rev, Samuel Parker, the immediate successor of Mr, Nash, was
perhaps his equal in intellectual ability and soundness in the faith,
but widely different in disposition, manners, and habits. He was
more bold in spirit, rough in exterior, and austere in appearance.
He was repulsive rather than winning in his manners. But these
sterner traits of character fitted him admirably for that perilous
journey which he afterward took across the Rocky Mountains, with
Indian guides, to explore that vast western region in behalf of the
missionary work with the aborigines. His stay here was brief
and not marked by any striking event. One year completed his
pastorate.

48 Middlefield Centennial
Rev, J, H. Bisbee succeeded Mr. Parker for the term of five
years, and was followed by Rev. Edward Clarke, who remained
thirteen years. Of their character, qualifications, labors, and
success, it is not necessary now to speak. They are both here
present to-day, and can answer for themselves.
Among the subsequent pastors was Rev. Moody Harrington, a
brother beloved by all who knew his worth. Though somewhat
eccentric in manner, he was a power for good. His piety was
deep-toned, earnest, and uniform, his Christian and ministerial
character unblemished. It was my privilege to be associated
with him as a fellow-student in the Theological Seminary, No
man in the institution ranked higher in Christian spirit and
attainments, in the estimation of his associates, than he. He stood
side by side with our fellow-student. Rev. Titus Coan, that veteran
missionary, recently deceased, at the Sandwich Islands, In con
duct and character he was a model for the imitation of others,
I might here speak of Rev, Lewis Bridgman, warm-hearted,
earnest, energetic, yet whose zeal sometimes gained the mastery
of his better judgment ; of Mr, Dodge, lovely in life, and pleasant
in death. Of Rev, Charles M, Pierce and Mr. Evans, still in
active service, it is not needful to speak.
But it is time to turn to another branch of the Christian
family, namely, the Baptist Church, This is much younger in
years than the one previously named. The first pastor of this
church was Rev. Isaac Childs. I can say but little of him,
because my knowledge is very limited. My recollections of him,
however, are favorable. From the fact that he remained here
ten years, and then left at his own request, I infer that he was
a man of plain, common sense, good ability, prudent in action
deep-toned piety, and highly esteemed by his fellow-citizens for
his faithful labor of love.
Then came Rev. Erastus Andrews, young, talented, ardent,
full of fiery zeal, yet not distinguished for sound judgment. He
worked with energy and fidelity during his brief pastorate.
Next on the roll stands the name of Rev, Henry Archibald,
He was a Scotchman by birth, whose speech always disclosed his
nationality. He was clear-headed, sound in Christian doctrine

Addresses 49
and, in common with his countrymen generally, was quite tena
cious of his own opinion. Yet he was not overbearing, but
courteous toward those who differed from him, I found him a
faithful and agreeable colaborer in Christian work.
Of others, whether dead or alive, I cannot speak particularly,
I can barely name, among those who have at different times
ministered to this branch of the Church, Revs. Cullen Town-
send, Isaac Hall, Orson Spencer, who subsequently joined the
Mormons, Foronda Bestor, Volney Church, and Orlando B, Cun
ningham, Others have labored here whose names I am not able
to give, I would gladly pay a tribute of respect to my friend and
brother. Rev, J, M. Rockwood, the present pastor, were it not
that he is present. Suffice it to say that he is a veteran in the
service, having ministered to this church longer than any of his
predecessors. I can on this occasion do no more than point you
to him, and say, " Behold the man,"
Of the Methodist clergy of Middlefield it would be difficult to
speak minutely. They have generally been non-residents, circuit-
riders, so called, passing through the place at stated times. But
it is safe to say of them, in general, that they were evangelical
in sentiment, zealous and active in labor, and persevering in their
work, whether they held the doctrine of the perseverance of the
saints or not.
Thus Middlefield has always had, and cheerfully sustained, an
evangelical Christian ministry. Under their plain, gospel preach
ing, no rank heresy or destructive religious doctrine has ever
gained possession, or even a strong foothold here. God grant
that the future may not only equal but excel the past.
By the changes contemplated to-day, we are forcibly reminded
of that last, great change, which, at longest, will soon come upon
us all. " Our fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they
live forever?" The places that once knew them know them now
no more forever. So it will soon be with us all, A hundred
years hence we shall all be gone. Men die, but institutions live.
They bear the image and superscription of those who founded and
sustained them. Thus our fathers, though dead, still speak. Let

50 Middlefield Centennial
us commit, unimpaired, to others, the glorious inheritance be
queathed to us. Then will generations now unborn rise up and
call us blessed. None of us liveth to himself. We are influenc
ing others and moulding their characters. We are thus stamping
ourselves on individuals, institutions, and the whole community
in which we live. That stamp will remain long after we as
individuals have passed away and are forgotten. May that stamp
be one of which we shall not be ashamed either in time or
eternity !

MOTHER MIDDLEFIELD SPEAKS AND SOLILOQUIZES
IN VERSE.
BY AZARIAH SMITH, OF BOSTON.

Good welcome, my children, this August day.
From your homes near by or from far away.
Ye all are my children, wherever ye live :
My welcome and blessing I heartily give,
I look in your faces with motherly joy.
See here my sweet girl and there my brave boy ;
Though some of my girls are great-grandmothers now.
Some boys are great-grandsires with wrinkled brow.
Though children, ye might be my sisters and brothers.
And seem almost dearer to me than others
Who bore not with you the day's burden and heat.
When work was severe, with little to eat.
When these hills were all woods and the fields untilled,
And need was to level and hew and build.

To-day all are equal ; I gladly enfold
The far and the near, the young and the old.
With a joy like that of Cornelia of Rome, —
My jewels are here, my children at home.

Addresses 51

I rest on these heights serene.
With a brow unmarked by Time,
Through winter's storms and summer's green.
As the years to a century climb.
Morn flushes over Worthington ;
O'er Chester high noon shines ;
My sunsets glow o'er Washington ;
Peru guards well my northern lines.
And the years go by apace.
With their sunshine and their snow.
Full of grandeur and of grace,
God's love on high, man's heart below.
And at last the glad year comes,
The century is complete ;
And from all their scattered homes
My children together meet.

III,
Time would fail me to tell the large number of those
Who by worth and by works have honored my name ;
But you must not e'en for a moment suppose"
I forget or hold lightly these guards of my fame.
In my pulpits how well has the truth been spoken.
By good men and true, sound in heart and in head !
By scholars and saints in succession unbroken.
Who soothed my bereaved as they bent o'er their dead,
Uplifted the weary, called sinners to halt,
Rebuked the stiff-necked, the fomenters of strife ;
Helped tenderly .those overcome by a fault.
Pictured brightly the joys of the infinite life.

52 Middlefield Centennial
How welcome their names in my memory dwell !
Nash and Bisbee, Childs, Andrews, and Clarke ;
And Archibald, Bestor, and Bridgman, well
I recall them, and Harrington, — all men of mark.
And Cunningham, Dickson, and Church and Dodge
Continue with honor the priestly line ;
Then Holmes and Pierce in my memory lodge.
And Rockwood the last, a most gracious divine.
Just why Elder Spencer a Mormon became
I never could tell, though his story I heard ;
But his arguments seemed to me very lame,
And they neither my reason nor sympathy stirred.
IV.
As through the years I wander back,
I greet brave, stalwart Deacon Mack ;
And Deacon Newton, straight and stout,
Who knew his mind and spoke it out ;
Then Loveland, Gamwell, two Smith brothers,
McElwain, Ingham, Root, and others, —
All worthy deacons, earnest, true.
Whose names I need not tell to you.
Some served the Baptist church, I wist.
And -some the Congregationalist.
I fear the fancy sometimes rose
That they were strangers, if not foes ;
Waxed wroth against distasteful forms.
Predicted providential storms
On those who could not quite believe
As they did on the question grave
How much pure water to receive
To show their faith in truths that save, —
Forgot that they as brothers warred
In one grand army of the Lord,

Addresses 53

Sometimes my fancies forward tend ;
I see church spires together blend,
And men whose faith shines in their deeds
No more disjoined by unlike creeds,
But one in helpful. Christlike zeal
To lift the weak, the wounded heal ;
And one in worship, one in aim.
They glorify the Father's name
By thoughtful kindness, loyal trust,
The purpose to be nobly just ;
And, filling earth with truth and love.
They make it like God's heaven above.

VI.
Some of my sons have wandered far.
And borne my name to distant climes :
Emmons, who mapped a State's contours.
And traced its geologic times,
Coleman, the grave, impressive, wise.
Who taught and preached by right divine.
And studied with a noble zest
The sacred lands of Palestine.
And names of others throng my mind, —
Of men of business, lore, and sway.
Whose work and characters and fame
I gladly recognize to-day.
And then I think of one I loved
As though she were my child by birth, —
The maiden rare who crossed great seas
For God, and sleeps in Burman earth.*
• Miss Mary A. Rockwood, who went as a missionary to Burmah in .880, and died in August,
1882, greatly mourned.

54 Middlefield Centennial
VII.
It is wondrous fair
On my many hills.
Where the freshest air
From the skies distils.
Oh, the summer days
On these wind-swept heights
Are too fair for praise.
And divine the nights.
The softest of skies
Bends over the earth ;
As a blessing it lies
On all I give birth.
And the stars look down
From their azure deep
On this dear old town
As it lies asleep ;
And their glow immortal
Uplifts my heart.
Till I see the portal
Whence angels start
On their missions of love
To the souls that are riven.
And where saints go above
To the rest of heaven.

Many and many a cheerful sight.
Since the century began.
Has filled my heart with a deep delight,
And the heart of many a man.

Addresses 5 5
Aye, the hearts of men and women alike
With this mighty rapture thrill ;
For the love which began with Adam and Eve
Is alert and jocund still.
At huskings, apple-bees, spelling schools.
Has Cupid found ready place ;
And even prayer-meetings have fostered love
As well as promoted grace.
My hills and valleys re-echo still
With whispers of long ago ;
For this secret is one that is never lost,
Be the whisper ever so low.
Do I pity or wonder or shake my head ?
Ah no, it is all quite right ;
For Youth and Beauty and all their joys
To me are a charming sight.
It is no less charming when years go on.
And the love and faith endure ;
When unselfishness, patience, and tenderness
Make the home and heart secure,
IX.
Ah, the endless procession
Of birth and breath,
Of love and death !
But the wondrous possession
Of patience and hope.
And the limitless scope
Of the souls with their eyes on
The infinite horizon
Which Duty attains
Through labor and pains, —
Oh, this is a joy supernal.
That glows in men's souls,
And their worship controls.
For that which was Time's is eternal !

56 Middlefield Centennial
X.
What a host of faces all round me appear !
Not alone ye who sit on the benches here,
But children of mine who once lived on these hills.
Grew strong in my sunshine, wrought well in my mills.
Then passed to the peace of a higher rest.
They come back to-day on a joyful quest
For the dear ones left and the kindly place
Where they did their work and ran their race.
The air is now warm with their presence bright.
All dear to your hearts, though hid from your sight ;
Their bodies rest well 'neath the churchyard sod.
Their spirits are blithe in the smile of God.

XI.
I bless the Hand which upreared these domes
And hollowed the valleys deep.
And covered them over with human homes.
And harvests for men to reap.
I bless the varied experience
Which trains the sons of men.
By joy and grief, through spirit and sense.
For life, and for Life again,
I look once more in your faces dear,
I greet you every one, —
Till together again ye all appear,
Your care and your labor done.
We cast aside our disloyal fears.
And trust in Him alway.
With whom a day is a thousand years,
A thousand years a day.

Addresses 57

EDUCATION IN MIDDLEFIELD,
BY REV. EDWARD CLARKE, OF SPRINGFIELD,
[Pastor of the Congregational Church in Middlefield from 1839 to 1852.]
Forty-four years ago I was chosen a member of the school com
mittee of the town of Middlefield, and for twelve years held the
oflace with all its emoluments and honors. So you may view me
to-day as a sort of fossil remains of the education of the past.
We have not come here to boast of the superiority of the
education with which Middlefield has endowed her sons and
daughters. Still, the early settlers showed a fair estimation of the
worth of common schools. Colonel David Mack, who came from
Connecticut in the early days, told me that all the schooling he
ever had, previous to his marriage, was the enormous time of six
weeks. And when he remonstrated with his father on the insuf
ficiency of the period allotted him, his father only answered:
" My son, what do you think of me ? Your advantages have been
double of mine, for I was permitted to attend school only three
weeks.'' So Colonel Mack, keenly sensible of his own deficiency,
finally went to school with his own children, meekly submitting to
the routine and the drill of the classes, and in middle life securing
a respectable education. His son used to tell how proud he felt
to get above his father in spelling. Thus Colonel Mack became
the enterprising business man of his generation here ; and no
doubt his example had an influence for good on education.
The town has reason to be proud of Dr, Lyman Coleman, who
was born here near the close of the last century, and who died
not long since in a good old age, A clergyman for some years,
in the last part of his life he was a teacher of eminence, closing
his life with honor and bringing forth fruit in his old age. Of a
discriminating and vigorous mind, in his appreciation of choice
literature he had few equals. I have heard him repeat the
poetry of Burns, with the genuine Scotch accent, by the hour. He
was scholarly and enthusiastic. Speaking of the schools in this
town in his early life, he said that Uriah Church, Esq., stood

58 Middlefield Centennial
first and foremost as the best teacher he ever had. And who can
tell how much that rudimentary teaching contributed to Dr, Cole
man's subsequent success ? I will mention also Dr. James
U, Church, whose untimely end, many years ago, is even now
lamented, the accomplished physician and earnest scholar with
whom I have roamed among these mountains searching for
minerals. Honorable mention may here be made of the benevolent act of
Deacon Alexander Ingham, who forty-five years ago at his own
expense established schools among the thousands of Irish who
were employed in building the Boston and Albany Railroad. The
proficiency of these scholars was fully equal to that of pupils in the
public schools.
As a model of household education, I will cite the history of
one family, Mr, Samuel Smith's, consisting of six sons and three
daughters, a family of great industry. Next to religion, educa
tion was regarded as the one thing needful. For this money was
freely spent, so far as it could be obtained ; and the fireside school
occupied the winter evenings. The daughters and four of the sons
obtained a liberal education ; and if these men and women had
drudged for money alone, your celebration to-day would have been
a tame affair. Probably no man has done more for education
here than Mr. M. J. Smith.
The town has no reason to be ashamed of its educational
results. May the next century be more successful still, I will
close by an extract from an English writer : —
" Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress,
no clime destroy, no enemy alienate, no despotism enslave. At
home a friend, abroad an introduction, in solitude a solace, in
society an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at
once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man ?
A splendid slave ! a reasoning savage ! vacillating between the
dignity of an intelligence derived from God, and the degradation
of passions participated with brutes."

Addresses 59
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN MIDDLEFIELD,
BY E. G, WHEELER, M.D., OF MIDDLEFIELD.
As you have learned from the historical address, Middlefield
has been largely represented by the medical profession.
Some have closed their arduous labors and passed on into a
higher sphere, while others remain to minister to the wants of
frail, suffering humanity ; and I think it may truly be said of
all who have gone out from this town to practise in the profession
that they have done honor to the cause they have espoused.
There are some whose science and skill, and the high social
position they have maintained in their public and private life, call
for more than a passing remark.
The first two young gentlemen of this town who engaged in
the study of medicine and surgery, and who studied at about the
same time, were Dr. Austin Church and Dr. Ebenezer Emmons.
Dr. Austin Church did not follow the practice of medicine, but
turned his attention particularly to the science of chemistry, in
which he was an expert, and engaged in the city of New York in
the manufacture of several articles of commerce, which for their
purity and excellence of preparation always found a ready market.
He was a gentleman of acknowledged worth and was much
esteemed by all who knew him.
Dr. Ebenezer Emmons practised a short time in Chester, then
removed to- Williamstown, where he soon rose to eminence as a
physician and surgeon. The case which first brought him into
notoriety was unique. A little daughter of Major Sloane, who
lived near the college, accidentally got a pin into her throat, which
all the older doctors in the vicinity failed in their attempts to
remove. The mother of the child insisted upon having " young "
Dr. Emmons called. He modestly approached the august body of
doctors, and proposed the following plan of operation, which he
successfully carried out. He cut a piece of dry sponge of suitable
size, and, tying a strong string to it, induced the little child to
swallow it. After waiting a sufficient time for the sponge to

6o Middlefield Centennial
become expanded by absorbing the juices of the stomach, he
pulled steadily upon the string, and up came the pin, sticking in
the piece of sponge. He was subsequently appointed tutor,
then professor of chemistry and natural history in Williams Col
lege, his Alma Mater, and was very popular with the faculty and
students, and especially so with the president of the college. Rev.
Dr. Edward Griffin. Dr. Emmons possessed a high moral and
Christian character, and filled the office of deacon in the First
Congregational Church while he remained in the town. He wrote
several treatises on geology, and published a class-book on miner
alogy, which for several years was used as a text-book in all or
nearly all of our colleges, and made a geological survey of sev
eral of the States of the Union, He removed from Williamstown
to Albanjr, and spent some time in North Carolina, When the war
broke out, he was not permitted to leave the South, but was com
pelled to show the rebels how to make gunpowder to shoot the
Yankees with.
Some ten or twelve years after the gentlemen just named grad
uated, Dr, Jefferson Church began the study of medicine under the
tutorship of the noted Professor TuUy, to whose theory and prin
ciples of practice he has always enthusiastically adhered. Dr. J.
Church is of a literary turn of mind, and several years ago he edited
and published the medical lectures of Professor Tully. He prac
tised a short time in Peru and then removed to Springfield, where
he still resides. I regret to learn that he is in feeble health and
unable to participate in our celebration to-day,
A year or two later, Dr, Asa Newton and he who now addresses
you began the study of the profession ; nor can I forbear to men
tion my esteemed friend, Mr, Milton Nash, We commenced the
study together in Dr. Joseph Warren's office, Mr, Nash was a
gentleman of refined taste, a good scholar, but was compelled to
relinquish his studies on account of ill health, Dr, J. Church, Dr.
Newton, and myself are all who remain of those who went into the
profession at about that period of time ; and, having now arrived at
the great age of fourscore years, we shall soon be
" Like the cloclc worn out with eating time.
The wheels of weary life at last stand still,"

Addresses 6i
After a lapse of several years, Dr, James U, Church took up
the study of medicine. While he was at the College of Physi
cians and Surgeons of the city of New York, where he graduated,
he boarded in my family ; and, after his graduation, we practised
in partnership a short time. He came to Middlefield, and I
shortly followed him as far as Becket, My greatest inducement
for leaving the city was that I might be near him whose compan
ionship I cherished, and tha*-, in times of sickness of myself or
family, he might be at hand as attendant and counsellor. Alas !
how little can we calculate on the future, and how frail are all
human dependences I Dr. James U. Church needs no eulogy
from me. His eulogy is written in the hearts of all who ever
knew him. He was a man of strict integrity, genial and sociable
in his disposition, and made friends of all who had the pleasure
of meeting him, and moreover was a good, faithful, and successful
physician. He died suddenly in the prime of life, with all his
armor on. The people of all the country round were astounded,
and stood aghast at his sad and sudden taking away, and as
with one voice were ready to exclaim, " A great and a good man
has died."
Isaac W. Doten, though not a native, was for some time an
inhabitant of Middlefield, He studied medicine, and, when he had
nearly completed his course of study, was taken sick, and died at
the house of Captain James Church a few days before he was to
graduate. Some who have gone out from this town as physicians are now
in the morning or meridian of their life-work. To these I would
say, whether present to-day or absent, go on in your high and
noble calling; and, in recounting the memories of those whom
death has called away from your fellowship, may you so live that
when your summons comes to join them, you can lay down your
armor conscious of having done your whole duty and fulfilled
your obligations to diseased humanity, to each other, to society
in its highest and noblest relations, and to God, who is able to
give you the victory over sin and death, and reward you with
a crown of everlasting life.

62 Middlefield Centennial
THE EDUCATED MEN OF MIDDLEFIELD.
BY PROF. JUDSON SMITH, D.D,, OF OBERLIN, OHIO.
In a large sense we all who are gathered here on this festive
occasion, — the present citizens and all who had here their birth and
early training, — we all are the educated men of Middlefield. The
elements of knowledge, the foundations of all liberal and profes
sional culture which the public schools afford, have yielded their
fruits to us all, and enrolled our names in the honored guild of
intelligent and patriotic citizens. I think that illiteracy, if it has
ever existed to any degree in this town, has always been the rare
exception ; and the higher grades of education, even among those
who have been debarred from attempting them, have from the first
been recognized in their true character and held in the highest
esteem. The select schools, which have been maintained with so
much regularity for the last sixty years, are a single and ample
proof of the general favor which the higher education has enjoyed
among this people. The catalogues of the principal academies
and seminaries and normal schools in Western Massachusetts
for the same period tell the same story. The youth of the place,
as opportunity has offered, have sought the aid and inspiration of
these schools in no small numbers ; and, what is more to the
point, the interest of the whole town has followed them, and the
pride of the town has been gratified with their success. The
tendency to liberal studies and the higher education has been
epidemic; and the town life, as such, has sympathized with the
movement, and has reinforced it. Nothing but the force of cir
cumstances has prevented the whole body of our youth from gath
ering these larger fruits of education and culture.
In a proper sense, therefore, I am speaking for the whole body
of my fellow-citizens, natives of Middlefield, when I speak for the
Educated Men of the town.
But I do not suppose that my theme was meant to be quite so
broad and universal as this ; and I must content myself to say a
few words in behalf of the smaller number of the boys and girls

Addresses 63
of Middlefield who have been fortunate enough to carry on the
impulse and beginnings of the schools at home to their natural
completion in college and seminary and professional school.
I must still insist that these have only done what all their com
rades and contemporaries desired to do and were ready to do,
and were debarred from doing only by the want of favoring cir
cumstances. In a common movement they of whom I speak have
simply advanced a little further on the way in which we all have
come. The fulness and precision of the historical address to which we
have listened, together with the facts so happily interwoven in the
other addresses of the day, make it needless for me to go much
into details, and leave me at liberty rather to touch the more gen
eral bearings and suggestions of my therrJe. So far as I can ascer
tain, the facts pertaining to the Educated Men of Middlefield may
be thus tabulated and summarized : —

I. College Graduates.
Rev. Alvan Nash, Yale College, Pastor in Ohio.
Ebenezer Emmons, LL.D,, Williams College, Professor in
Williams College.
Rev, Lyman Coleman, D.D,, Williams College, Author, Pro
fessor in Lafayette College.
Elisha Mack, LL.D,, Yale College, Judge in Massachusetts,
William Crowell, D.D., Brown University, Editor in Boston
and St. Louis,
David Mack, Yale College, Teacher in Massachusetts.
M. J. Smith, N. Y. Central College, Teacher and Farmer in
Massachusetts. Azariah Smith, N. Y. Central College.
Rev. Judson Smith, D.D,, Amherst College, Professor in
Oberlin Theological Seminary.
Edward P. Smith, Amherst College, Professor in Worcester
Free Institute.

64

Middlefield Centennial

II. Students in Professional Schools.

I. Theology.
Samuel Bissell.
Lyman Coleman,
William Crowell,
Alvan Nash.
Samuel Ingham.
Judson Smith,
Edward P, Smith.

3, Law.
Elisha Mack.
David Mack.

2. Medicine,
Ebenezer Emmons.
Elbridge G. Wheeler.
Jefferson Church.
James U. Church,
Frank Whittemore.
Wright Barnes.
James N. Dickson.
Cynthia Smith,
4, Journalism.
Edward King,

III. Graduates of Seminaries.

Julia Mack (Harrington).
Lucy Smith (Newton),
Sarah Smith (Gardner),
Larissa Loveland (Carpenter).
Caroline Church (McElwain).
Sarah Ingham (Bonney),

Myra Ward (Little).
Julia Church (Smith).
Mary Church.
Susan Rockwood.
Mary A. Rockwood.
Sophie A. Smith.

At least forty different persons have received the diplomas
and worn the honors of these higher schools. This is a hasty and
imperfect list, and doubtless some names are omitted which ought
to appear. The list might be very considerably enlarged, if it
were to include those who began courses of study in one or
other of these higher schools, but were prevented from carrying
them on to graduation. And if we could have a complete cata
logue of those who have studied for longer or shorter time in
academy or seminary or high school or normal school, the number
would be very great, and a truer impression would be given of the
strong and steady impulse toward the higher education which has
wrought upon the youth of the town. Evidently this is a very hon
orable record. We do well to consider it ; we may justly be proud
of it. I do not know how it compares with the history of our

Addresses 65
neighboring towns in this respect, nor is this a matter of special
concern. We may reflect this day with no small degree of satis
faction on the contribution our native town has made to the
educated force and trained intellect of the past and present gener
ations. Not weakly or unworthily has she responded to the call
of her land and times for men and women of high parts and ripe
education ; but, as she could, she has spared of her best, and dis
missed them to the fields of useful and honorable service that
needed their presence and help. Every profession has been rein
forced from their ranks and has profited by their skill and power.
Every worthy occupation has been illustrated by their zeal, and
many States and even distant nations have welcomed their coming
and rejoiced in their deeds. Through them and their service
this little, hill-perched town has reached forth a hand of help and
power to all the best life and thought and labors of the century
and of the world, and has won an indissoluble part in the civiliza
tion and liberty and light which are the glory of our land and of
the age. They have gone forth from us, they were and are of us,
and in them we a// are represented; and through them we all
touch these high matters, and bring our helpful influence to bear
upon these glorious ends. And it is ho small part of their
strength and courage where they stand and work, that they feel
us behind them, sympathizing with them and rejoicing in their
success. They have always felt that Middlefield expected every
man to do his duty, and they have toiled for success for the sake
of their kindred and townsmen as well as for their own.
It is probably to the profession of teaching that Middlefield
has brought the greatest reinforcement. Medicine, theology, law,
have each won their ardent votaries, and can boast distinguished
names among our townsmen. Dr. Emmons, Dr, Coleman, Judge
Mack, these are names widely known and honored throughout the
land ; and they do not stand alone. But, when we call the roll of
teachers, the names are much more numerous and scarcely less
distinguished. Not to mention the public school teachers of
Middlefield, a great multitude whom no man can number, their
names often household words, their ways and deeds as famil
iar as these hills that lie against the sky, their influence as deep

66 Middlefield Centennial
and abiding as memory and thought itself, — not to mention
these, the great majority of the more fully educated men and
women from Middlefield have made teaching their sole or their
principal profession, Dr, Coleman, who is so well known as an
author and a preacher, yet made teaching his chief work ; and,
through this channel, in Amherst and Lafayette Colleges made his
infiuence most widely and permanently felt, Dr, Emmons, as we
all know, added the teacher's functions to his other and varied
accomplishments, and was a principal ornament of Williams
College at his death. Rev. Alvan Nash was a useful and able
minister, but his greatest service was rendered in organizing and
administering the educational forces of the regions where he dwelt
and labored. David Mack studied law, but gave the strength of
his days to teaching. And the later college graduates, who are
often seen among us, and almost every one of the ladies who have
graduated from the higher schools, have spent many years in this
profession. They have filled chairs of natural science, mathe
matics, Greek, Latin, modern languages, history in colleges, they
have taught in schools of theology, of medicine, of law, in acad
emies and seminaries far and near. The select schools of the
town have been taught, as a rule, by native instructors, but have
extended their benefits quite beyond the limits of the town. And
the traditions of the past in all these respects are well maintained
to-day. Doubtless the richest product of these bleak hills, the
most potent influence that goes forth from the life of these
homes, is to be found in the ample roll of teachers who are
carrying the best spirit of these homes and hills abroad to all the
states of the land, to all the nations of the earth. May the relish
for studies in the youth of the town never fail. May the instinct
that draws our educated youth to this grand profession of teaching
deepen and expand. And may the noble succession of missionaries
and faithful ministers, and lawyers who keep their honor, and
physicians who merit the public confidence, and journalists who
deserve a good repute, never fail among us. May the sweet
waters from these high springs continually flow to replenish the
noblest life and thought of the times.
There is one topic more I must touch upon ere I am done, to

A ddrcsses 6y
me perhaps the most interesting one of all, I have spoken of the
men and women whom Middlefield has sent as recruits to the
ranks of educated men and scholars in the land. I wish now to
say a word of Middlefield herself, her homes and society and life,
as the source from which such reinforcements are drawn. Has it
been a good thing or a misfortune to these people of whom I have
spoken that they began their lives on these sequestered heights ?
Would they have succeeded better, won their way more securely,
gained nobler results, if their birth and training had been else
where ?
I think there is a general confused impression prevalent
among the youth of these hill towns, perhaps diffused also among
the citizens generally, and shared in by many of us who are
here returned to our native haunts, that this is an unfavorable
place in which to be born and to receive one's early training.
There are peculiar difficulties and embarrassments in the way of
the youth here, if they seek to gain an education or enter upon
some useful and honorable career. The city or the village, it
may seem at first thought, would be a much more fortunate place
of birth. Upon this question I cannot speak for every one. All those
who have gone from this town to liberal studies elsewhere might
not agree with me in the estimate I take of these things. Rut I am
sure that' the impression sketched above is, upon the whole, a
great mistake. The fact that so many, in this first century, have
pursued these higher studies, have won high honors in scholarship
and in scholarly pursuits, have seemingly found an open and unob
structed way to large influence and worthy service, — this, of itself,
sufficiently disproves the view I have named. If we could not
understand why it has been so, the facts themselves are plain
proofs that this town and its life offer a starting point of at least
average opportunity and advantage. But I think we can see some
of the reasons why these hillsides are a favorable place from which
to set out on life's career, whether we seek learning or wealth or
power. The career of such men as Lincoln and Greeley and Gar
field is no mystery to us, and we do not hesitate to connect their
later power and glory with the stern training of their early lives.

68 Middlefield Centennial
The lines of Tennyson express a well-considered truth, when he
speaks of " Some divinely gifted man,
Whose life in low estate began
And on a simple village green ;
" Who breaks his birth's invidious bar.
And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows of circumstance,
And grapples with his evil star ;
" Who makes by force his merit known,
And lives to clutch the golden keys,
To mould a mighty state's decrees,
And shape the whisper of the throne ;
" And moving up from high to higher,
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope
The pillar of a people's hope,
The centre of a world's desire,"
It is all there, as if written for our learning. Manhood, power,
the capacity of acquiring and using knowledge and influence, com
petency for the greatest trusts and the noblest tasks, — these are
drawn out and trained and put to the test in a youth that on fair
terms grapples with difficulties and hardships and toils. Now the
disadvantages, as they are called, of early life in Middlefield are
nothing more than this fair-handed struggle with surroundings
which yields strength, experience, courage, manhood, and re
sources. They teach youth a lesson of sobriety, of sound judg
ment, of steadfast purpose ; they reveal the conditions of true
success ; they train industry and effort and patience and aspiration
into fixed habits and mighty forces of the mind. They make the
bow tense, whence the arrow of purpose is to fly to noble deeds
and high success. A soldier expects hardness, and wins in the
fight thereby. The scholar, also, must learn to endure hardness,
and out of well-contested fields pluck the flower of victory. And
the hardships of the youth here, and I know full well what they
are, are only good training and needful preparation for the con
tests of after life.
Again, the tameness and monotony of life in these hill towns

Addresses 69
are often commented on as only evils and burdens. I do not see
how any boy or girl can ' ever dream of life amid these hills,
beneath this sky, in these glorious days, as tame and dull. It was
anything but that a score of years ago. I believe that the light
and hope and sense of beauty and glory that streamed in on
young souls then with every pulse of life shine all around us here
to-day, and haunt the woods and fields and brooks as of yore.
And I know with how unsated a mind, with how strong an appe
tite for knowledge, with what an eager, unquenchable thirst, a
young man goes from these quiet walks, these hallowed homes,
these simple, honest ways, to academic and to college halls. It is
a feast to the hungry, whose hunger years of study cannot dissi
pate. It is water to the thirsty, whose thirst is renewed and deep
ened from year to year. No city-bred lad can ever feel that thrill
or know that mighty awakening of thought and life.
I verily believe that the youths who come to college from such
communities as this enter upon their studies there with a clear
advantage on their side, compared with their mates from city and
town. The finish of their manners and of their scholarship may
be less ; but their intellectual tone and appetite are firmer, and
their character is more thoroughly developed and braced. The
simplicity of life here, its healthy moral tone, the regularity of its
habits, the soberness and sagacity of its judgments and expecta
tions,^ these are great and positive advantages. Would that the
youth of this town might know how free and open to them all is
the path to knowledge, how peculiarly favorable a spot this is
from which to enter that path, and unto what a noble end that
path conducts the patient and laborious soul !
But I must end. It were vain to seek to tell a tithe of the debt
that her educated sons and daughters owe to Middlefield, to the
homes that gave them birth, to the social life that flowed around
them, tci the schools where the firm foundations of later attain
ments were laid, to the churches where honesty and purity and
every manly virtue and Christian grace were reinforced, to the
teachers and preachers, to the men and women who inspired them
with noble aims and furnished them with true ideals. They for
whom I speak have simply moved onward under new conditions,

70 Middlefield Centennial
along the same lines on which they here began, and have carried
abroad the spirit and aims that were here imbibed to wider fields
and larger ends, an inseparable part of the common wealth of
mankind. Gladly, reverently, as if discharging a sacred service
and a personal debt, I weave this chaplet of honor for our
native town, and speak for the fathers and mothers, immortal
now, these words of love and heartfelt praise.

WOMEN OF MIDDLEFIELD,
BY MRS, AMANDA L. ROOT, OF EAST DOUGLAS, MASS.
In law I am a daughter of Middlefield ; and I am also one in
heart, for I love the dear old town and its people. They are my
own ; and so I may be permitted to speak in remembrance of the
women who as wives, mothers, and daughters, have helped to make
the history that has been read to-day.
We have listened to the story of the men who founded the
town, and who made it possible for us to stand here and be glad
that its records have been such as have " left no sting in the heart
of memory, no stain on the wing of time." Beside every one of
these men stood a woman equaUy brave, honorable, faithful, and
true, whose courage supplemented his, and whose unselfish devo
tion to the calls of love and duty caused " the heart of her husband
to safely trust in her,'' and " her children to rise up and call her
blessed." The women of Middlefield have been working women, women
with little time for books ; but they learned well the lessons from
the great book of life. Upon the walls of their homes there were
but few, if any, pictures ; but, in the eyes of their little ones, they
saw pictured the coming strength and honor of to-day, and so their
toil, lightened by love, brought contentment and the assurance of a
rich return. The sweetest thought which comes to many of- you, as
you recall your childhood's days, is the memory of the tender,
patient mother whose unselfish life helped to mould and strengihen
yours. You have made for yourselves new homes in distant
States, but the real home of your heart is where the mother lived
among the hills of Western Massachusetts,

Addresses 'ji
This morning, as I stood by the roadside, gathering the mosses
from the old stone-wall, a young man passed by. He stopped, and,
pointing to the tent on the hill, said, " Lady, can you tell me what
that is for? " " It is the tent for the exercises of the day. It is
the centennial of the town," " What town ? Not the little town
here ? " " Yes, this town, Middlefield : it is one hundred years old
to-day, I think you must be a stranger, or you would have known."
" That little town one hundred years old ! No, I don't live round
here, I came from Missouri," I understood how strange it must
seem to one born and reared in a Western State, where cities grow
so rapidly, to see a town so old and yet so small. The seeds of
those Western towns were planted in the sturdy soil of our own
New England, and transplanted to that which favors rapid growth
and development. The young farmers, mechanics, and students, —
yes, and the young housekeepers and school-ma'ams, — sent out from
these hill towns, have in no small measure assured the success of
which the Western people are so justly proud.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union have chosen wisely
their motto, — For God and Home and Native Land, Let it be our
aim, as women-workers in our time, so to train our children that
they may truly serve God and man, becoming blessings to their
homes and through a noble manhood and womanhood doing their
duty as loyal citizens to our beloved native land. Thus will they
be faithful descendants of the early workers here, bringing no dis
grace upon the honored names they bear.
In closing, I can but speak of the thought of the morning, as I
witnessed the greeting of friends who had not met since childhood
or early youth. How eloquent the eager grasp of the hand, the
questioning look into each other's faces, so changed and yet the
same ! And, then, the joy of recognition as memory brought back
the dear familiar name, and eye and tongue both spoke tenderly
and lovingly! It must be like this in " the better land," when we
shall meet our loved ones, and the questioning look shall change
into certainty with the joy of recognition.
" So after the death winter it shall be,
God will not put strange signs in the heavenly places :
The old love shall look out from the old faces."

72 Middlefield Centennial
MIDDLEFIELD CHILDREN AWAY FROM HOME.
BY HON. WM, F, CHURCH, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
As a representative of the " Middlefield children away from
home," it seems proper that I should in their behalf, also in my
own, tender to our kindred townsmen and women who have stayed
here " by the stuff," while we have " been wandering up and down
the earth,'' our sincere thanks for their courteous invitation to
come home once more to join with them in celebrating an interest
ing event in the history of our native town, that occurred one
hundred years ago. We gladly greet you. We love once more to
feast our eyes upon this mountain scenery, not less beautiful to
behold than any in this country or in foreign lands.
We are glad of this opportunity to revive pleasant memories of
our boyhood and girlhood days. And last, but not least, we are
glad to see demonstrated that our cousins who have stayed at
home understand as well as the great outside world that the
" inner man " needs to be cultivated to make sure of having a
"good time," Therefore, for this bountiful feast given for our
" aid and comfort," please accept our grateful thanks.
The topic " Middlefield Children away from Home," brings
vividly to my mind my first experience in going away from home.
Fifty years ago, in the month of March, might have been seen,
travelling over the hills and along the valleys on the road to
Springfield, a horse and sleigh, equipped with a middle-aged
driver, having a single passenger on board, a youth of fifteen
years, and his hair-covered trunk. This cavalcade moved across
the Connecticut River at Springfield, then along up the valley to
South Hadley Falls, and there camped for the night The next
morning it proceeded onward to the town of Amherst, the place of
its destination. There the youth was disposed of by his taking
a position as clerk in a store of general merchandise.
The next day the middle-aged and thoughtful driver started for
his home among the Middlefield hills, and the youth of fifteen
started in to learn the mercantile business, and was actively
engaged in the back store sawing wood for the stove in the front
store.

Addresses 73
After a week had passed in learning the mercantile business,
he wrote to his father, the middle-aged driver aforesaid, about it,
and closed his letter by stating he was "glad he had only six
years, eleven months, and ///a-ij^ weeks longer to stay.''
But, alas ! the youth was taken sick, quite sick.
Now I must call the attention of my hearers to another inci
dent that occurred half a century ago. On a lovely day, late in
the spring or in early summer, might have been seen a horse
and wagon deliberately climbing the Norwich hills. On board
were the middle-aged driver, the youth of fifteen, possessed with
a knowledge of the mercantile business, and his hair-covered
trunk, all moving toward Middlefield,
The youth had recovered, but his troubles were not all over.
He found at home that the absurd idea prevailed that his sickness
was only homesickness.
Not many months after, the proprietor of the store of general
merchandise failed ; and the proprietor of the hair-covered trunk
was glad of it.
As this is a kind of an "experience meeting," I trust it will not
be deemed in bad taste to state that in subsequent years it was
the privilege of this youth to climb the Alps in Europe, the
Lebanon Mountains in Palestine, Olivet at Jerusalem, and the
Pyramids of Egypt; also to bathe in the Mediterranean Sea, the
Black Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the river Jordan.
My friends, I am glad to be known as one of the Middlefield
children, especially as I can claim kinship with one of the Middle-
field fathers. I understand my Grandfather Mack was instru
mental in giving the town a legal existence one hundred years ago.
My grandfather's family was one of the well-regulated families
of Middlefield, His family of thirteen children was brought up to
love, fear, and obey God, Twelve of them became members of
evangelical churches, nine of them moved away from Middlefield,
and found homes in their own State and the States of Ohio and
New York, where they became centres of moral and religious
influence in the communities in which they lived. All have now
passed away save one, my good aunt, Mrs. Laura Root, who is
with us to-day, having attained the ripe old age of eighty-eight

74 Middlefield Centennial
years. It was by her invitation that I left my home in a distant
city on the banks of the Ohio River, to come here to participate
with you in this celebration,
I am not well informed as to the history of the Middlefield
children belonging to the generations preceding my own, nor in
deed of the succeeding generations. Not many, that I am aware,
have ever become conspicuous in public affairs, though a goodly
number have earned excellent reputations in the learned pro
fessions. My friend, Dr, Wheeler, who is with us to-day, one of the
Middlefield children, I have reason to remember with great satis
faction. I was one of his pupils in the West-hill school-house over
yonder, at an age when it was possible for a dull scholar to appre
ciate a good teacher ; and I give to him the credit of awakening in
me an ambition to know something.
I have pleasant recollections of many of my West-hill school
companions ; but Clark Durant, an orphan, who lived with his uncle,
Mr. Amasa Blush, was my favorite. He was blessed with rich
uncles, who were considerate in dying in a reasonable time, leaving
to him a portion of their fortunes. He was suddenly rich. At the
same time I held my own, in the possession of the hair-covered
trunk and contents,
Mr, President, I will not consume any more time, and in con
clusion will simply say to my Middlefield kindred. Never regret
that you found homes in sight of the smoke of the chimneys of the
old homesteads.
YOUNG MIDDLEFIELD.
BY AZARIAH S, ROOT, OF EAST DOUGLAS, MASS,
The subject assigned me is too great to be adequately treated in
the moment or two which are given me. But there are one or two
thoughts which I know every member of " Young Middlefield" has
had to-day, and I will briefly mention them.
First, we desire to thank you that you have preserved and given
to us the noble purpose which animated the first settlers of this
place, the purpose revealed in that first appropriation for religion

A ddrcsses

75

and education. We thank you for the healthy, moral tone of the
community, pure as the air about us ; for the common and select
schools which your liberality has so bountifully provided for our
culture ; for the home life, quiet yet earnest, and with an under
current of thoughtfulness, which has been of no small influence in
making us honorable men and women. For many other gifts, too
numerous to be named now, we have reason to thank you.
Blessed with such a birthplace and trained under such influ
ences, a great responsibility is ours. Many a one to-day, I doubt
not, has wondered how that responsibility would be met. Will the
rising generation be as faithful to duty, as God-fearing and humble,
as the fathers ? Or, as in some other towns, shall slow decay of
public morality and growth of ignorance here undo all the work
of the past ? I answer, as I know every young man and young
woman of Middlefield answer to-day, young Middlefield will pre
serve all that is noble and good in the town life. This is not
mere assertion. Already is young Middlefield in places where
her worth can be estimated. We have our representatives in your
school board, among your church officers, and in your social
organizations. We teach your schools, and teach them well. And,
as one by one the fathers fall asleep, the sons and daughters are
found capable of filling the vacant places,
Middlefield has not needed all her young people, and has .sent
them to help the world without. Near and far, in every walk of
life, they may be found doing faithful work of which the mother
need not be ashamed. They will come back fifty years hence, no
less honored and respected than those who have returned to this
centennial gathering. Then will " Young Middlefield " speak for
herself, and prove by what she has done the earnestness of purpose
which now waits opportunity to show itself,
WORTHINGTON'S GREETING.
BY C, K, BREWSTER, OF WORTHINGTON,
Your partial Alma Mater presents her congratulations upon
your record of the past century; and may she not be justly proud
of her neighbor and in part successor, and to-day enjoy with you
this marriage feast which weds the old century to the new ?

76 Middlefield Centennial
Truly, you have wrought well and brought forth generations of
noble men and women who have toiled and tilled to bless the
world. You have reared " Smiths" for every calling, the handiwork of
whose hands and the genius of whose intellects have compassed
land and sea ;
" Roots," too, for the healing of the nations ;
" Pease " that were not dwarfs, but champions ;
Men that were all "Wright" (and that is saying much in this
doubtful period) ;
" Alderman," not chosen by the people, but to the manor
born ; and
" Churches " dedicated to business as well as ecclesiastics ;
and many more whose lives have been more significant than names.
As you gather here to light the fires of memory, renew asso
ciations, and kindle new hopes, we are truly glad to place a little
wreath of sentiment, interwoven with kindly feeling and neigh
borly affection and esteem, upon the incense fire of your cen
tennial altar, with a benediction for your present, and a prayer
that, as your past has been grand and fruitful, your future may
be prosperous and full of rich experiences,
CHESTER'S GREETING,
BY S. B, QUIGLEY, OF SOUTHAMPTON, FORMERLY OF CHESTER.
I am aware that this is the occasion of the sons and daughters
of Middlefield, and the passing moments admonish me that my
utterances must be exceedingly brief. Unquestionably, it is a
fortunate event in the history of any person to be born in the
good town of Chester, at least such is the opinion of her sons ;
but, listening to the exe'rcises of the day, an impression rests
upon the mind that it might have been still better to have been
born in Middlefield. And I remember with pleasurable emotions
that here was the field of many of my youthful recreations. The
lapse of years has not dimmed my love and reverence for the
good old town.
I have been led, by the remarks of those who have preceded

Addresses yy
me, to reflect upon the causes which produced the class of men —
affluent in moral worth, inflexible in rectitude of purpose, and
indomitable in resolution —who settled Middlefield and the
adjacent mountainous region of Western Massachusetts, They
can be clearly traced to the struggles in the north of Europe in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to rend asunder the chains of
spiritual oppression which had bound the nations for ages. They
were earnest and determined men who contended for the rights of
conscience. For three-quarters of a century the desperate strug
gle continued along the canals and among the morasses of the
Netheriands, against the bigot and tyrant Philip of Spain and his
successors. -But these Netherianders believed that God had
created them for the performance of a great work, that it was
foreordained they should successfully resist all attempts on the
part of their oppressors to perpetuate their spiritual enslavement,
and that no mere human authority should assume to dictate in
matters that appertained solely to the conscience of man. And
nobly, grandly, did these men perform the task they were fore
ordained to accomplish.
In England, the struggle was a continual protest, under the
name of non-conformity, against the arrogant claims and intolerable
assumptions of an ecclesiastical establishment, which, if it did not
clothe itself in the garb of infaUibility, exacted implicit obedience
to its requirements. Compliance with the demands of obnoxious
dogmas of human invention, whether they emanated from Rome or
Canterbury, could not be conceded by men who were willing to
surrender their lives in defence of spiritual truth and freedom.
And from the maintenance of a cause which tended directly to
the spiritual enfranchisement of the soul, naturally and inevitably
was evolved the principle of political and civil liberty. The labors
and exertions of such men rendered possible the existence of such
a town as Middlefield and of such a commonwealth as Massachu
setts, Given a train of causes or impelling motives, and certain
consequences will assuredly result. The result in this case has
been the creation of the noblest state the world has ever known,
and the development of a class of men whose superiors can
nowhere be found. Let us be thankful that the moral as well as

78 Middlefield Centemiial
the physical world is governed by fixed and inexorable laws, in
view of the fact that their operation has been so salutary and benefi
cent. Truly " God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform :
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm,''
The men who settled Middlefield inherited the ideas and
opinions of those heroes who had been instrumental, under the
blessing of Heaven, in reforming the ecclesiastical and civil institu
tions of Holland and England, Manifest duties they performed
with alacrity and zeal, as essentially the service of God, which
under no circumstances could be neglected or evaded. Hence,
they hewed down the majestic forest on these lofty hills, and in
these charming vales erected school-houses, organized churches,
and established the institutions of ¦ society upon an improved and
healthful basis. No better evidence of the value of their labor is
needed than the scene that meets the eye to-day. Such a class of
men as Middlefield has produced is an inestimable boon to any
community. It is a gratifying fact that the sons still exhibit the
moral qualities which were conspicuously displayed by the fathers,
and the example of the fathers may be imitated with profit and
advantage. One of your citizens exhibited in such high degree the
graces of charity and benevolence that the record of his useful
life, entitled the Faithful Steward, is read in many languages at
numberless firesides in far-off lands. Its celebrity is only equalled
by the interesting and simple story of the Dairyman's Daughter.
Colonel David Mack was largely endowed with those qualities and
virtues which dignify and adorn human nature. Here was the
natal home of Professor Ebenezer Emmons, an eminent teacher of
the science of geology. That stupendous work, the survey of the
State of New York, attests the extent and variety of his scientific
acquirements, and is an imperishable monument of his industry,
research, ability, and learning. This range of hills upon which
Middlefield is situated has furnished several members of the
United States Senate, who were intellectually the peers of any of
their associates in that illustrious assembly. Especially may it be

Addresses 79
said of one of them that, for grace and elegance of manner and
felicity of expression, he was not surpassed, even if he was
equalled, by any of his colleagues. An adjoining town has given
to the Empire State of the Union one of her most distinguished
governors. Surely, the group of towns giving such men to the
State and nation should not be suffered to decay ; and the insti
tutions which have diffused so benign an influence should be
sedulously cherished and preserved.
The first century of your existence as a distinct organization
has passed away. But its history, its associations, and its memories
remain as pleasing souvenirs of accomplished duties. When
another century shall have elapsed, and your descendants shall
assemble on this spot to celebrate its completion, may your exam
ple and the recollection of your virtues prove as fragrant to them
as the delicious odors borne on southern breezes from orange
groves,
CONGRATULATIONS OF PERU.
BY AUSTIN STOWELL, OF PERU.
Respected Citizens of the Town of Middlefield, — I am happy to
present to you the hearty congratulations of the town of Peru, one
of the mother towns, as you are pleased to call her. We rejoice
with you in that you have been able to accomplish the first century
of your existence under circumstances which denote an unusual
degree of prosperity, Peru, or rather Partridgefield, contributed
a territorial slice for "the Middlefield"; and she in return has
given back to Peru her sons and daughters, thus cementing social
as well as territorial union.
It is a grand and sublime thing to live in the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, amid the glorious achievements of science, lit
erature, and art, and to be able, as some of these fathers and
mothers are, to hold in memory's grasp the pregnant history of the
past, which their own lives have helped to -"form. The legitimate
use of an occasion like this is not so much to speak of -territorial
limits and boundary lines, or to eulogize these grand old hills, rock-
ribbed and ancient as the sun, as devoutiy to acknowledge the di-

8o Middlefield Centennial
vine power and goodness by which this town has been able to com
plete a period which no man may hope to reach with his allotment
of years, and to honor tlie names of those who sleep and those who
remain with us, for the sterling qualities and Christian principles
by which they were able to plan, establish, and perpetuate the civil,
moral, religious, and educational institutions of the town and State ;
to speak of their loyalty to the national government ; to accept as
their children these legacies and transmit them untarnished to
ours ; to shake hands over an occasion that will never come to us
again. Let us especially pay our respects to the aged fathers and
mothers among us to-day, I love that old Levitical precept, —
" Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of
the old man, and fear thy God." One by one, those that have long
been identified with interests of this town are passing " over the
river,'' There are more there tlian here. We honor their memory
to-day. Our fathers may have done what they could ; but a task as
arduous as theirs is laid upon us their children, to correct and
remove the great moral and social evils which exist and threaten
to destroy. By the most gigantic efforts and a baptism of blood
American slavery has been swept from the land, but intemperance
remains. It hangs like a pall of darkness over our fair land. It
gathers its victims from among the fairest of our sons, and falls
like a blight upon the homes of wealth and culture, and poverty
and ignorance alike. It fills our jails and almshouses, and imposes
burdens of taxation grievous to be borne. Its suppression calls
for the profoundest wisdom and the most gigantic effort. Here,
indeed, is an opportunity for the incoming century and this gen
eration to immortalize itself upon the pages of history. Here is a
scourge worse than American slavery, more destructive than war,
famine, or pestilence. Sixty thousand persons in our country' are
annually borne down to the drunkard's grave, and thousands sport
upon the brink above a whirlpool more deadly than that of Niagara,
Who will come to the rescue ? These fathers and mothers cannot
help us. Their steps falter and their eyes are dim : their work of
life is almost done. The mighty men of valor who are already in
the toils of the destroyer are powerless to rescue the perishing.

Addresses 8i
although they go to the ballot-box and tread our legislative halls.
If they are saved themselves from the drunkard's fate, it will be
" so as by fire."
I am glad this glorious old town of Middlefield distinguished
itself at its annual meeting on this centennial year by a unanimous
vote, save one, of no license. (I don't believe that license man is
here to-day,) I could not participate in the centennial celebration
of a town that voted for licensed rum-selling within its limits. But
remember, many a man will vote no license in his own small coun
try town, and then go to the city and fill up. We have to meet this
insidious foe at every corner. I appeal to you, young men, because
you are strong ; to you children, because you are pure. Touch not,
taste not, handle not, I appeal to you, comrades in life's middle
prime, come to the rescue with strong hands and willing hearts,
come with a consecrated purpose and a pure example, and labor
on until the foot of moral, religious, and political power shall be
placed upon the neck of the vile monster intemperance, saying,
" Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther," Then shall future
generations rise up and applaud the victory ; and God, even our
own God, shall bless us.

Rev. John A. Hamilton, of Norwalk, Conn., spending the sum
mer at his old home in Chester, spoke of the duties which men of
wealth owe to their native towns, and deprecated the folly of those
who leave the hill towns of New England for the West, expecting
there to become rich and to lead an easy life. His remarks were
extemporaneous, and unfortunately cannot be reproduced here.
Mr. Jarvis Norcutt, of Becket, brought the greetings of that
mother town, and entertained the audience by his humorous
extempore speech.

LETTERS

Letters 85
From the numerous letters received "by the Chairman of the
Committee of Arrangements, expressing regret on account of
inability to be present, and congratulations and hearty good-wishes,
the following are printed, both for their intrinsic interest and as
representing well the various kinds of letters sent.

From President A. D. White, of Cornell University.
Ithaca, N,Y,, July 23, 1883.
Dear Sir, — I had fully intended to accept your kind invitation to visit
Middlefield at your centennial celebration upon the 15th of August. As
the grandson of Andrew Dickson, who was born in your town, I have
always felt an interest in it. In my childhood, I went with my father
and mother to visit the old place, made the acquaintance of my great
grandfather and great-grandmother and of some of my great-uncles and
aunts. I remember them vividly, and recall with great interest my visit
to the old church.
It would have given me pleasure to renew all these impressions, but
unforeseen circumstances oblige me to sail for Europe on Wednesday of
this week.
Please accept for yourself and for your associates upon the Commit
tee my sincere thanks, and I remain'
Very truly yours, Andrew Dickson White.
M, J, Smith, Esq,,
Chairman ofthe Committee of Arrangements, Middlefield, Mass.

From Rev, Lewis Bridgman, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Middle-
field from 1858 to 1863,
Aten, Cedar County, Neb,, July 30, 1883,
Your card of invitation to the approaching centennial celebration
at Middlefield is gratefully received. It would give me great pleasure
to share with others in those festivities. But, having just returned from
a semi-centennial at Oberlin of its settlement and educational institu
tions, duty seems to forbid farther recreations, at least for this season.
My heart will be largely with the citizens and others who shall be per
mitted to meet with you on that occasion. I can never forget the
many tokens of kindness received by myself and family while citizens
among you, nor will the strong ties of friendship thus formed ever be
ruptured on our part. . . .

86 Middlefield Centennial
In the midst of your rejoicing, please accept my congratulations ; and
let our chief joy be that truth is progressing and is sure to prevail.
Though joy and sorrow go hand in hand, joy is, and ever will be, pre
dominant. Joy will remain, when sorrows have all past. But let us all
remember that, henceforth, our work is in the new century. What shall
it be ? Most respectfully yours, Lewis Bridgman.

From Edmund P. Morgai^, formerly a merchant in Middlefield.
Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 12, 1883.
Accept my grateful acknowledgments for your invitation to the Mid
dlefield centennial, and regret I (with Mrs. Morgan) cannot be with
you. At the age of fifteen, in 1823, I was called by one of Middle-
field's honored sons to enter his employ, and served him as clerk,
and then became partner and purchaser of his interest. My stay of
eighteen years I count as among the pleasantest of my life, in the con
fidence and esteem given to me by all classes of your people. That
I served you faithfully was my highest ambition, and among the
choicest gifts you bestowed was Miss Laura Nash, the mother of seven
children, six of whom are still living. Now, after an absence of forty-
two years, I should be glad to be with you to present congratulations
and greetings to the pilgrims who h&ve gone out from Middlefield, and
to the sojourners, and to friends who meet on this auspicious day to
call to mind the mercies and blessings of our loving Father who left the
imprint of his spirit on the lives of so many who have passed over the
river, and also on those in the ranks to-day. To the Macks, Smiths,
Churches, Emmonses, and a host of others, I owe a debt of gratitude I
can never repay for their faithful advice and counsel ; and I hold them
in respect and reverence. One of Middlefield's daughters, Mrs. Nored
Elder, eighty-six years old, is now at my house, feeble, but vigorous
in mind. She would be glad to be with you. She is rich in anecdotes of
the early settlers of Middlefield, She sends congratulations and greet
ings, in which Mrs. Morgan and myself sincerely join.
Respectfully yours, Edmund P, Morgan.
From E. C. Bidwell, M.D., formerly a physician in Middlefield.
Vineland, N.J,, July 30, 1883.
It would afford me great pleasure to meet with the citizens of Middle-
field on the occasion of your centenary, August 15. That it is not
practicable is my loss, not yours. I could contribute but Uttle to the

Letters 87
interest of the occasion, though the theme which you suggest for me is
by no means a barren one. I trust some one will do it justice.
The subject, " Middlefield in the War," calls to my mind at this mo
ment an incident before the war, growing out of an event which some on
each side are disposed to regard as a part of it, its very initiative in fact,
I had been a citizen of Middlefield but a few months, when the news of
John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry and its results was made the
occasion of a public meeting there, which doubtless you also remember
well, I remember scarcely a word of what was actually said either by
myself or others on that occasion, but the spirit that prevailed and
found expression I remember very well. I think we all felt that a
struggle was impending in some form, very likely a bloody one, of
which slavery was to be the motive, and its destruction the probable
result. And we did not, like the Chief Magistrate of that day, pray to
have it delayed. Yet, probably no one of us thought then that it would
come so soon as it did, or what shape or proportions it would assume, or
yet that its woes and its tragedies would come so close home to ourselves
and our neighbors. In ignorance of the ways and means by which the
end of slavery was to come, but in unwavering faith that it would come,
Middlefield on that, as on many other occasions, lifted her voice to con
demn the giant wrong, and to welcome the issue which it challenged ; and
I believe she never went back on her words or failed in her share of the
work. With a vivid arid grateful recollection of the kindness of many citi
zens of Middlefield to my family during my absence in that trying period,
and indeed during the entire period of our residence there, and with
kind regards to yourself and family and all citizens of the town, past and
present, I am. Very respectfully yours,
E. C. Bidwell.
From Edward King, of Paris, Author and Journalist.
35 Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, Aug, 9, 1883.
Up to a few days ago, I had expected to sail in time to join you in
the celebration of the centennial, which naturally appeals to me very
strongly, and in which I should have participated with hearty good
will. But I have been unable to get away or even to write, as I
should have liked to do, something to express my admiration for the
good old town in which I had the excellent fortune to be born. Before
my return to Europe, I hope to visit you and many of my old friends.
I remain, dear sir, with much gratitude for your kind invitation,
Very sincerely yours,
Edward King,

88 Middlefield Centennial
From Oscar C, De Wolf, M,D., of Chicago.
Department of Health, Chicago, Aug, 8, 1883.
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of an invitation to
attend the Middlefield centennial on the 15th inst, I regret, beyond
any feeling I can express to you, that I must be deprived of the pleasure
of meeting your citizens and guests. The season, the occasion, and the
gathering of neighbors and friends, all strongly invite me; but my duties
here chain me down.
You do well to recall and review your history, and the roll of your
honorable citizens living and dead, — many of. them great men, as I esti
mate greatness — sturdy, patient, self-reliant, successful.
I recall the figure and address of General Mack forty years ago, as
my youthful ideal of a gentleman,
Middlefield has always kept itself pre-eminent among the neighboring
mountain towns by the value of her agricultural interests ; and the fact,
taking into account her sparse population, that she has so long and so
creditably sustained an agricultur.-.! society, with an annual exhibition,
is sufficient testimony to the intelligence and enterprise of her people.
Her young men should reflect long before they decide to exchange
the independence and healtldul occupation of a farmer's life for the
uncertainties and wearing excitement of business in our cities. With
many congratulations, I am Very respectfully yours,
Oscar C. DeWolf.
From George H, Hawes, of San Francisco,
San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 6, 1883,
I exceedingly regret that a long absence from the play-grounds of
childhood may not now be terminated, and I mingle with the few remain
ing friends that know me best, and see again the features of the departed
pictured in the new faces of their children, and in common with you all
join heartily in a fitting commemoration of a day so sacred.
Though necessarily absent and far distant from the old familiar land
scapes, they will be fresh in memory's thoughts ; and this one day of a
lifetime will bear a peculiar significance to me, and it will be an added
incentive always to do such acts and worthy deeds as will honor the hills
that gave me birth.
Middlefield, the parental spot of our earthly pilgrimage, — may all the
good experiences that throng up from her past be our continued posses
sion and glad heritage in the ages that beckon us forward.
Middlefield,— wedded to all our hearts by the double tie of Ufe and
death,— God bless her ! G, H. Hawes.

APPENDIX

Appendix 9 x

APPENDIX, A.
COPY OF THE ACT INCORPORATING THE TOWN OF MIDDLEFIELD,
An act for erecting certain lands hereinafter described into a town
by the name of Middlefield, and annexing the whole to the county of
Hampshire, Whereas the inhabitants of the south-west corner of Worthington in
the county of Hampshire, and the north-west corner of Murrayfield
(now Chester) in the said county, and the north-east corner of Becket,
the south side of Partridgefield, a part of Washington, and the inhabit
ants of Prescott's Grant (so called), all in the county of Berkshire, have
represented to this court the great difficulties and inconveniences they
labour under in their Present situation, and have requested that they
may bee incorporated into a town : Bee it therefore enacted by the
Senate and house of Representatives in general court assembled, and by
the authority of the same, that the said south-west corner of Worthing
ton in the county of Hampshire, and the north-west corner of Chester in
the same county, and the north-east corner of Becket, the south side of
Partridgefield, a part of Washington, and the land called Prescott's
Grant, all in the county of Berkshire, and bounded as follows, viz. :
Beginning at a hemlock tree standing on the river in Becket, directly
south of the south-west corner of Prescott's Grant, thence running north
one thousand rods to a Beech tree, then north twelve degrees east to the
north side of the first square in Partridgefield to a stake and stones i
thence south seventy degrees east nine hundred rods to a stake and
stones ; thence north one hundred and forty rods ; thence east six hun
dred rods to the river at a hemlock tree, a west point from Worthington
meeting-house ; thence down the said river to the place where the same
crosses Worthington south Une at an heart-Beam tree; thence west
thirty-five degrees south nine hundred and forty rods to the place where
the said river crosses Becket east line ; thence up the said river to the
first mentioned bounds, — with the inhabitants thereon, bee and hereby are
incorporated into a Town by the name of Middlefield, and that the said
town bee and hereby is Vested with all the Powers, Privileges, and im
munities which the towns in this Commonwealth do or may enjoy by the
Constitution or laws of the same ; and the whole of the said town of

92 Middlefield Centennial
Middlefield shall forever hereafter bee considered as a part of the county
of Hampshire. And bee it further enacted that John Kirkland, Esquire,
bee and he hereby is empowered to issue his warrant to some principle
inhabitant within said town of Middlefield, directing him to warn the in
habitants of said town qualified to vote in town affairs to assemble at
some suitable time and place within the said town for the purpose of
chusing such oflScers as are Necessary to manage the affairs of the said
town. Provided, nevertheless, that the inhabitants of the said town of
Middlefield shall pay their proportionable part of such town, county.
State and other taxes as are already assessed on them by the respective
towns to which they have belonged, and of all public debts, duties, which
may be due and owing from the said town, until a tax shall be laid by
the General Court upon the said town hereby incorporated.
This act passed March 12, 1783,

B,
COPY OF THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE REQUIRED OF ALL TOWN OFFICERS
IN 1787-89, AND ALSO OF ALL PARTICIPANTS IN THE SHAYS RE
BELLION,
I do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify, and declare
that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is and of right ought to be a
free, sovereign, and independent State ; and I do swear that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the said Commonwealth, and that I will
defend the same against treacherous conspiracies and all hostile at
tempts whatsoever, and that I do renounce and abjure all allegiance,
subjection, and obedience to the government of Great Britain and
every other foreign power whatsoever, and that no foreign prince,
person, prelate, State or potentate hath or ought to have any Juris
diction, superiority, pre-eminence, authority, dispensing or other power
in any matter, civil, ecclesiastical, or spiritual, within this Common
wealth, except the authority and power which is or may be vested
by their constituance in the Congress of the United States, And I do
further testify and declare that no man or body of men hath or can have
any right to absolve or discharge me from the obligation of this oath,
declaration, or aflSrmation, and that I do make this acknowledgment,
profession, testimony, declaration, denial, renunciation, and abjuration
heartily and truly according to the common meaning and acceptation of
the foregoing words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret
reservition whatsoever, So help me God,

Appendix 93
C.
LIST OF SELECTMEN OF MIDDLEFIELD FROM I783 TO 1883,
1 783-84. — Samuel Jones, David Mack, Job Robbins.
1785. — Malachi Loveland, Timothy McElwain, Solomon Ingham,
1786. — Malachi Loveland, Timothy McElwain, WiUiam Church.
1 787-88,— Capt, David Mack, Matthew Smith, BisseU Phillips,
1789. — Samuel Jones, James Dickinson, Daniel Chapman.
1790. — Daniel Chapman, Malachi Loveland, Amasa Graves.
1791, — Malachi Loveland, Matthew Smith, Amasa Graves,
1792, — Matthew Smith, Samuel Woods, Elisha Mack,
1 793-95. — Matthew Smith, Erastus Ingham, Elisha Mack,
1796-98, — Erastus Ingham, Elisha Mack, Thomas Durant,
1799-1800. — Matthew Smith, Uriah Church, Solomon Ingham,
1801-03. — Matthew Smith, Solomon Ingham, Erastus Ingham.
1804-05, — Solomon Ingham, Erastus Ingham, John Smith.
1806, — Matthew Smith, John Dickson, Ebenezer Emmons,
1807-10, — Uriah Church, John Dickson, Ebenezer Emmons,
1811-14. — Erastus Ingham, John Dickson, Daniel Root.
1815-16. — John Dickson, Daniel Root, John Metcalf.
181 7. — -Solomon Ingham, Daniel Root, Cyrus Cone.
1818. — Daniel Root, Cyrus Cone, Alexander Dickson,
1819-20. — Cyrus Cone, Alexander Dickson, Green H, Church,
1821-23, — John Dickson, Daniel Root, Matthew Smith, Jr.
1824. — Daniel Root, Matthew Smith, Jr., Solomon Root, Jr.
1825-27. — Matthew Smith, Jr,, Solomon Root, Jr,, Gaston Dickson,
1828-29, — Solomon Root, Jr,, Gaston Dickson, Samuel Smith,
1830. — Solomon Root, Samuel Smith, James Church,
1831. — Samuel Smith, Erastus J, Ingham, Ambrose Smith,
1832. — Erastus J. Ingham, Ambrose Smith, Solomon Root.
1833.— Ambrose Smith, Solomon Root, James Cross.
1834. — Solomon Root, James Cross, Jonathan McElwain,
1835, — Erastus J, Ingham, Samuel Smith, Oliver Smith,
1836-37,— Oliver Smith, Jesse Wright, Ambrose Newton.
1838.— Samuel Smith, Ambrose Newton, Oliver Smith, 2d.
1839-40,— Samuel Smith, Ebenezer Smith, Amasa G, Loveland.
1841,— James Church, Dan Pease, Jr,, Horace Pease,
1842,— Dan Pease, Jr,, Ambrose Newton, Henry Hawes,
1843. — Dan Pease, Jr,, Samuel Loveland, Harry Meacham,
1844,— Samuel Smith, Timothy Root, Samuel Ingham,
,845.  James Church, Jonathan McElwain, Ambrose Newton,

94

Middlefield Centennial

1846,1847 1848
1849.
1850, 1851
1852-53 1854 18551856.
1857. 1858
1859-62 1863
1864-66.
1867-68, 1869.
1870-72 1873
1874. 18751876
1877-79, 1880,188118821883

- James Church, Ambrose Newton, Samuel Ingham.
- Ambrose Newton, Samuel Ingham, Samuel Loveland.
- Samuel Ingham, John L, Bell, Harry Meacham,
-John L. Bell, Henry Hawes, Jonathan McElwain,
- Henry Hawes, Jonathan McElwain, Matthew Smith, Jr,
-James Church, Samuel Ingham, Milton Combs.
- Henry Hawes, Jonathan McElwain, OUver Smith, 2d.
- Ebenezer Smith, Amasa Graves, Amos W. Cross.
- Amasa Graves, Amos W. Cross, Daniel Alderman.
- Daniel Alderman, Matthew Smith, Ambrose Robbins.
- Matthew Smith, Ambrose Robbins, Morgan Pease.
- John L. Bell, Ambrose Robbins, Morgan Pease.
-John L, BeU, Morgan Pease, Jacob Robbins,
- Matthew Smith, John W, Cross, Samuel Smith, Jr,
-John L, Bell, Morgan Pease, John W. Cross,
- John L, Bell, Morgan Pease, Hiram Taylor.
- John L, Bell, Hiram Taylor, Henry Hawes.
- Hiram Taylor, John L. Bell, Metcalf J. Smith.
- Hiram Taylor, Morgan Pease, George W. Cottrell.
- Hiram Taylor, M. J. Smith, George W, Cottrell.
- Metcalf J. Smith, E. James Ingham, Howard Smith,
- Metcalf J, Smith, John L. BeU, Howard Smith,
- Metcalf J, Smith, E. James Ingham, Howard Smith,
- John L. Bell, E. James Ingham, Charles Wright,
-John L, Bell, E, James Ingham, Clarkson Smith.
- Metcalf J, Smith, E. James Ingham, Clarkson Smith.
- Metcalf J, Smith, Asher Pease, Daniel Alderman, Jr.

D,

TOWN CLERKS OF MIDDLEFIELD,

1783-84.-

- Solomon Ingham,

1832-43.

1785-

- Timothy Allen.

1844-48.

1786-88-

- Solomon Ingham,

1849-53,

1789-95,-

- John Dickson,

1854.

796-1807,-

- Solomon Ingham,

1855.

1807-31.-

- David Mack, Jr,

1856-83.

, — Matthew Smith,
, — George W. Lyman.
— John Smith.
— Jonathan McElwain,
— Solomon F. Root,
Jonathan McElwain.

Appendix

95

E.
REPRESENTATIVES FROM MIDDLEFIELD TO THE GENERAL COURT,

1808,— Uriah Church. 1842.-
1809-10, — Erastus Ingham. 1843.-
181 1-12.— David Mack, 1844,-
1813-15.- John Dickson, 1845,-
1816-17,— Daniel Root. 1846,-
1819-20. — Ebenezer Emmons, 1847.-
1821-24. — David Mack, Jr. 1849.-
1829-31.— Geo. W, McElwain, 1850,-
1832-33, — Matthew Smith, Jr, 1852,-
1834. — Solomon Root, 1853.-
1835. — Daniel Root. 1855,-
1837-38.— Green H. Church. 1861.-
1839. — Samuel Smith. 1866,-
1840, — Oliver Smith, 1872,-
1841. — James Church. 1878,-

- Ambrose Newton.
- Alexander Ingham.
- Matthew Smith,
- Uriah Church.
- Jonathan McElwain,
¦ Amos Cone.
- Harry Meacham.
¦ Almon Barnes.
- Eliakim Root,
- Oliver Smith, 2d.
- Milton Combs.
¦ W. L. Church.
- Arnold Pease,
¦ S. U. Church,
¦ Matthew Smith,

- Rev. John H. Bisbee, Rev, Orson Spencer, Samuel Smith,
- Rev. Orson Spencer, John Ward, Alexander Ingham.
- Rev. Orson Spencer, Rev. Edward Clarke, Alexander Ingham.
- Rev. Edward Clarke, Samuel Smith, Alexander Ingham.
- Rev. Edward Clarke, Samuel Smith, Rev. Foronda Bestor,
- Samuel Smith, Alexander Ingham, John Smith,
- Alexander Ingham, Amos W. Cross, John L, Bell,
- John L. Bell, Amos W. Cross, Bartholomew Ward.
- John L. Bell, Matthew Smith, Jr,, J, McElwain, Jr,
- Rev, Edward Clarke, Alexander Ingham, Matthew Smith, Jr,
- Rev, Edward Clarke, J. McElwain, Jr., Matthew Smith, Jr,
- Rev. Edward Clarke, Rev. O, B, Cunningham, Amos W. Cross.
- Rev. Edward Clarke, I. W, Doten, Matthew Smith, Jr,
- John L. BeU, I. W. Doten, Matthew Smith, Jr.
- Amos W. Cross, Ambrose Robbins, W. L. Church.
- Ambrose Robbins, Matthew Smith, Rev, John B. Burke.

96 Middlefield Centennial
1857. — John L, BeU, Ambrose Robbins, Edwin McElwain,
1858, — Charles M, Combs, Charles C, Thompson, John L. Bell.
1859.— Charles C. Thompson, John L, Bell, WiUiam L, Church,
i860.— Jonathan McElwain, WiUiam L, Church, Dr. E, C. Bidwell.
1 861. — WiUiam L, Church, Dr. Edwin C. Bidwell, John L, BeU,
1862.- Milton Smith, George W, Cottrell, Samuel Smith.
1863.— George W, Cottrell, Samuel Smith, Milton Smith,
1864, — Samuel Smith, Milton Smith, Charles Wright,
1865.— Milton Smith, Charies Wright, Metcalf J, Smith,
1866. — Charles Wright, Metcalf J. Smith, Jonathan McElwain,
1867. — Ebenezer Haskell, Charles Wright, George W, CottreU.
1868-72,— Metcalf J. Smith, Charies Wright, Charles C. Thompson.
1873.— Metcalf J. Smith, Charles Wright, George W. Cottrell.
1874-75.— Metcalf J. Smith, Charles C, Thompson, George W, CottreU,
1876, — Metcalf J. Smith, Charles C. Thompson, Jonathan McElwain.
1877-80,— Metcalf J, Smith, Charies Wright, Jonathan McElwain.
1881. — Charles Wright, Jonathan McElwain, Lyman Smith.
1882. — Jonathan McElwain, Lyman Smith, Mrs. Harriet E. Smith.
1883. — Mrs. Harriet E. Smith, Lyman Smith, Metcalf J, Smith.