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DENNIS
DICKINSON is the oldest son of Daniel and Polly
Dickinson, and was born in Whately, Franklin Co., Mass.,
May 25, 1814.
His father was born in
Whately, Aug. 28, 1778, and died Nov. 4, 1830. He
married, Nov. 9, 1813, Polly Scott, of Whately. She was
born May 24, 1784, and died Sept. 7, 1859. They had a
family of seven children, only three of whom are living
at present. They are Dennis, Rufus, and Daniel. Those
deceased were Electa, wife of Jerry Graves; Elvira (who
died in infancy); Elvira, wife of Elliott C. Allis; and
Esther, wife of Thos. L. Allis, of Conway.
Dennis Dickinson's
educational advantages were few and such as were
afforded by the common schools, and after he reached the
age of nine years his attendance was confined to the
winter terms, as his assistance was required at home
during the remainder of the year. At his father's
decease, which occurred when Dennis was sixteen years
old, with his brother Rufus, he took charge of the farm.
He remained in this partnership until 1843, when he
bought the interest of the other heirs and commenced
farming upon his own account. In 1846 he sold
the farm, and for five years resided with his brother
Rufus. At the expiration of that time he was married,
June 8, 1851, to Elvira Graves. She was born in
Whately.
Nov. 3, 1812. They have
no children living.
Mr. Dickinson soon after
purchased the property known as the Dr. Bardwell place,
where he has since resided. He is known as a
man of strict integrity and excellence, as is testified
by the numerous offices of public trust to which he has
been called, he has been postmaster in Whately for six
years, assessor three years, selectman two years, and
since 1873 has been a trustee of the Smith Charities. In
1876 he was elected clerk of the town, and still fills
that office. He has been a director in the Franklin
County Bank for fifteen years, and is a member of the
present financial committee. In connection with his
numerous other duties he has attended to the settlement
of a great many estates, and has also appraised a great
deal of property.
In politics Mr. Dickinson is
a Democrat, and a firm supporter of the principles of
his party. He also takes an active part in promoting the
interests of the town in which he resides.
SAMUEL F.
DUDLEY, son of Aaron and Sophia Dudley, was born in
Leverett, Franklin Co., Mass., on the 21st of October,
1812. His father was born In Framingham, Mass., and died
in Leverett in 1874. He married Sophia, daughter of
Samuel Frail, of Hopkinton, Mass., by whom he had nine
children, - Martha (deceased); Aaron, lives in Leverett;
Samuel F.; Isaac (deceased); Luther, resides in
Leverett; Hannah, lives on the old homestead in
Leverett; Maria, wife of Newall Hunt, of .Montague;
William E., resides in Montague; and Ransom and Nathan,
both deceased.
Samuel F.
Dudley's educational advantages were very meager. He
attended school but two months during the year, and that
in the winter Mason. He bud also to walk a distance of
two and one-half miles to the school-house:, but
nevertheless attended in that manner until he was
seventeen years old. He then began to work for farmers
by the month, and continued in that employment until he
reached his majority, when he commenced business upon
his own account. He purchased a small farm in Leverett,
and also engaged to some extent in lumbering. In early
days he ran his lumber down the Connecticut River in
rafts. He subsequently sold his farm and purchased one
in Shutesbury adjoining Leverett, where he has since
resided, engaged in the same business. He has been
moderately successful financially, and in public
relations has been largely identified with the best
interests of the town and county. In 1844 he served in
the Legislature, and was re-elected in 1852. He was a
member of the board of selectmen nine years in
succession, and has also served in that capacity at
various other times. He has been special county
commissioner one term, and has held other offices of
trust. Mr. Dudley also held a commission as colonel in
the .State volunteer militia for three years, and that
of lieutenant-colonel seven years, prior to which he
held at different times the positions of captain,
sergeant, and corporal. He is Republican in politics,
and takes an active interest in the political movements
of the day, and also in educational subjects.
Mr.
Dudley married, on the 8th of March, 1838, Jemima,
daughter of Richard Prouty, of Shutesbury. To them have
been born eight children. They are George S., born Jan.
30, 1839; Richard A., born March 23, 1841; Sophia J.,
born June 8, 1843; Angie M., born Aug. 26, 1845; Murial
O., born June 10, 1848, and died July 9, 1849; Rosella
V., born July 8, 1850; Alfred P., born July 18, 1853 ;
and Arthur B., born on the 18th of December, 1855. All
are married excepting one son and one daughter.
BERIAH W. FAY
was born in Athol, Worcester Co., Mass., on the 2d of
December, 1819. His father, Jonas Fay, was also a native
of that town, a farmer by occupation, and a man of
strict integrity and honor. He married Anna R., daughter
of Alpheus Ward, of Athol, by whom he had six children,
of whom the subject of this notice was the third.
He attended the common
schools during a part of each year until seventeen years
of age. He was then employed in farm labor for three
years, after which he commenced teaching school during
the winter months and continued to work on the farm in
the summer. He continued these avocations until 1850,
and had in the mean time attended the spring and| fall
terms of the New Salem Academy about four
years.
He also taught a class in
penmanship, and select schools in Athol and Orange. In
1850, his health having become impaired by teaching and
close confinement to study, he removed to New Salem,
where he had previously purchased some property, and
during the following year he bought the farm which he
now owns, and where he has since resided. He
subsequently turned his attention to surveying, which he
has practiced for twenty years. Mr. Fay is
eminently a self-made man, and whatever he has attempted
in life has been thoroughly and conscientiously
performed. He has always been interested in promoting
the cause of education, in which he labored a number of
years as a teacher, and since 1855 has been a member of
the school committee.
In politics he is a
Republican, and takes an active part in the politics of
the town and county, and is well informed in the general
political movements of the State and nation. In a local
capacity he has served as selectman, assessor, and
overseer of the poor. He has been special county
commissioner for two terms of three years each. In 1865
he represented his district in the Legislature, the
duties of which office he discharged in an able
manner.
On the 1st of October, 1868,
he was married to Hattie L., daughter of Daniel Ballard,
of Wendell, Mass. They have one child,-Henry W., born on
the 13th of June, 1877.
Mr. Fay has been a member of
the Congregational Society of New Salem since 1862. He
is also an earnest and progressive worker in the
Sabbath-school, of which he has for four years been
superintendent.
In social and public relations he has always
commanded the respect and esteem of his associates.
STEPHEN
FELLOWS is a native of Shelburne, Franklin Co., Mass.
his grandfather, Samuel Fellows, who was one of the
first settlers in that town, served under General Wolfe
at the taking of Quebec ; was the chief engineer in
erecting the fortifications, and the second man to enter
the city after its surrender. He was a member of the
Congregational Church, and the first who held the office
of deacon in that society.
John Fellows, father of the
subject of this sketch, was born May 11, 1751, and died
Oct. 20, 1831. Me was a native of Harvard, Mass,, and
came to Shelburne with his father at an early date, he
was a carpenter by trade, but also followed agricultural
pursuits. He was a captain in the militia, served a
number of years in the Revolutionary war, commanded a
company at the battle of Stillwater, and was present at
the surrender of Burgoyne. He was a member of the
Congregational Church, and an earnest and consistent
Christian. He married Mary Poole, widow of Lieut. J.
Poole, March 23, 1778. She was a native of Connecticut,
and was born June 16, 1754. They had a
family of seven children,-Susan, born December, 1778;
John, Jr., born April 12, 1780; Eunice, born March 12,
1782; Patty, born March 22, 1784 ; Joel, born March 2,
1791 Igal, born July 13, 1792; and Stephen, born Dec.
30, 1797, and the only surviving member of the
family.
His advantages,
educationally, were very poor and limited to an
irregular attendance of the common schools of his native
town, but at an early age he showed a disposition to
make his way in the world, and manifested the courage
and perseverance which conquers all obstacles. When
seventeen years old he went to Western New York, then a
comparatively new country, traveling the entire
distance, from Shelburne to Sodus, Wayne Co., N. Y., on
foot, carrying his clothing, etc., and having barely
enough money to pay his necessary expenses. He remained
in Wayne County a few months, and in August of the same
year went by way of Niagara Falls to Queenstown, and
thence to Long Point in Upper Canada, where he found
employment and remained until the winter set in, when he
returned to Shelburne, traveling, as before, afoot. He
remained at home but a year, and then returned to Long
Point, where for a year he worked at the carpenter
trade. This second journey was made on horseback, -a
rapid and easy mode of traveling compared with that of
his first trip, but how different from the facilities of
the present day. Subsequently he went to Fort Maiden,
Canada. The
journey was made on Lake Erie in a log canoe, in which
he also carried his chest of carpenter's tools, weighing
five hundred pounds. There he remained a year, at the
expiration of which he returned to Shelburne and lived
with his parents until their decease, in 1832 he removed
to his present residence, purchasing the farm of one
hundred and fifty acres; since when he has steadily
pursued the business of farming, taking a special
interest in sheep-raising, and for fifty years' has fed
sheep for the markets.
Mr. Fellows has been active
in public service in the town, and has discharged the
duties of the offices to which he has been called with
integrity and fidelity. He has
been a member of the board of selectmen a great many
terms, assessor a number of years, and a member of the
school committee, he has been connected with the
Congregational Church forty-seven years, and is a true
Christian. He also has been a member of the Masonic
lodge fifty-five years, and actively interested therein.
He held a commission of captaincy in the milita, and is
still known among his friends and townsmen as Capt.
Fellows. He has now passed his eighty-first birthday,
but is in comparatively good health, and retains a good
deal of his youthful energy.
Mr. Fellows was married, in
December, 1826, to Abigail, daughter of Amos Allen, of
Shelburne, by whom he had five children,-Mary A., born
March 21, 1828; John, born Aug. 20,1829; Miranda
A., born July 11,1831; Marcellus, born June 3, 1834; and
Marion, born Aug. 22, 1838. Mrs. Fellows
died May 6, 1863. He married for his second wife, in
1805, Mrs. Alvord, who died in 1871.
COL. ARETAS
FERRY was born in Granby, Mass., on the 19th of June,
1800. The family of which he is a member is descended on
the paternal side from Charles Ferry, Sr., who was a
native of Holland, and came to this country about the
year 1660. He stopped for a short time in Wethersfield,
Conn., but soon removed to Hartford, and subsequently
settled in Springfield, Mass., where he spent the
remainder of his life. Noah Ferry, grandfather of Aretas
Ferry, was born in Springfield in 1712. He removed to
Granby, and died in that place on the 4th of November,
1798, at the age of eighty-six. He married Experience
Allis in 1736. She was born on the 11th of March, 1711,
and her death occurred exactly four years previous to
that of her husband, in the same month, and on the same
day of the month. Noah Ferry, Jr., father of the subject
of this memoir, was born in Granby, Mass., on the 18th
of October, 1748. He was a man of great benevolence of
character, and actively concerned in promoting the
social interests of the community in which he lived. He
died on the 29th of October, 1819. His wife was Hannah
Montague, daughter of James Montague, of Granby. They
were married on the 9th of December, 1776, and had a
family of nine sons and one daughter, viz.: Abner, born
Nov. 4,
1777; Simon, born Aug. 16, 1779; Amos,
born July 3, 1781 ; Alpheus, born Nov. 30, 1783; Heman,
born Aug. 4, 1786; Zenas, born Sept. 9, 1789; Medad,
born Nov. 22, 1791; Hannah M., born March 18, 1794;
William Montague, born Sept. 8, 1796; and Aretas,
subject of this notice, and the only one now living.
William Montague (the eighth son) removed to Michigan,
and Senator Ferry of that State (who was also
Vice-President during Johnson's administration) is his
son.
Aretas Ferry received his
education in the common schools of his native town,
which he attended during the winter months of each year
until fifteen years of age. The schools of Granby were
perhaps as good as any of the country schools of that
day, but they were certainly of a very inferior order,
and it. was only to the few who were gifted with great
perseverance, and possessed of that thirst for knowledge
which overcomes all difficulties, that they were of any
benefit, and to these they were but the stepping-stones
to something higher.
When sixteen years of age, he
was employed to work on the farm by the month, he
remained two years, when his health failed and he was
obliged to discontinue hard labor for two years. In his
twentieth year he entered the employ of Capt. Luther
Henry, as clerk in a store. At the expiration of
fourteen months he established a partnership with his
employer in the same business, in Granby, and remained
with him in that capacity four years, when the
partnership was dissolved, and he removed to Montague,
Mass., where he remained for twelve years, engaged in
mercantile pursuits. In 1837 he located in Bernardston,
where be entered the same business, and also for fifteen
years manufactured scythe-snathes. In 1867 he
retired there from, and has since devoted his attention
to agriculture, with which he has also combined public
service and an active assistance in promoting the best
interests of the town. He donated the
ground upon which Powers Institute is built, and has
been a trustee of that institution for many years, and
also of the Cushman Library. In 1868 he represented his
district in the Legislature, and was re-nominated for a
second term, but declined to serve longer in that
capacity.
He has been agent of the town a number of years,
and has held the office of justice of the peace forty
years. It may be added that during that time there has
never been an appeal from any of his decisions.
He was a member of the State
militia (3d Regiment, 2d Brigade, 4th Division), first
in the capacity of paymaster, after as adjutant, then
lieutenant-colonel, and then colonel, subsequently
declining the promotion to the office of
brigadier-general. Mr. Ferry
is public-spirited, warm-hearted, and courteous and
agreeable in his social and business intercourse, he is
seldom if ever called upon in vain to aid any worthy.
charity, and for these and other excellent qualities is
highly esteemed by a large circle of friends and
acquaintances.
He was married in 1821 to
Mary J. Ward. She is a daughter of Wm. Ward, of
Shutesbury, a lawyer by profession, and a nephew of the
famous Gen.
Artemas Ward. They have two children,-Susan
Sanderson, born Jan. 13, 1822, and Ward A., born Aug.
21, 1829. The son resides with his father in
Bernardston. The daughter was first married to Judge
Henry Perkins, of Hartford, Conn., and is now the wife
of Rev. Dr. George H. Clark, also of
Hartford.
PHINEHAS FIELD, Jr., was
born in Northfield, Franklin Co-, Mass., on the 14th of
April, 1799.
He traces his descent from Zechariah Field, who
was born in England in 1600, settled in Hartford, Conn.,
between 1639- 49, removed to Northampton, Mass., in
1659, and thence to Hatfield in 1663. He died in that
town in 1666. He had five children. of whom Samuel, the
third son, was killed by Indians in June, 1769. His wife
was Sarah, daughter of Thomas Gilbert, of Springfield,
by whom he had eight children,-Samuel, Thomas, Sarah,
Zechariah, Ebenezer, Mary, Josias, and Joshua. Samuel,
the eldest, was called the " Poet," and in order to
perpetuate the names of the family of which he was a
member, he arranged them in order, so as to be sung to
the tune known as the " Rogue's March," as follows
:
Sam, Thomas, and
Sarah,
Zeck, Neb, and
Mary,
Josias, Josh,-pumpkin
squash
Quite contrary
This ditty has been
faithfully handed down by tradition in the Field
families. Ebenezer, the fourth son, settled in
Deerfield, and married Elizabeth, daughter of William
Arms, of that town, by whom he had five children. In the
twilight, on Northfield Street, he was mistaken for an
Indian, and shot by a sentry at one of the forts. He was
taken to Deerfield, and died soon after, on the 12th of
September, 1723.
Moses, son of Ebenezer, was
born in 1719, and married for his first wife Anna
Dickinson, of Hatfield, by whom he had seven children,
he was married the second time, in 1756, to Martha Root,
of Sunderland, and by this union had four children, of
whom Phinehas's father of the subject of this notice,
was the youngest. He was born in Northfield on the 29th
of November, 1760. He was a farmer by occupation, and
married Diadema, daughter of Reuben Morgan. She died on
the 1st of August, 1788. He was married the second time,
to Eunice, daughter of Capt Seth Lyman, of Northfield.
She was born April 17, 1770, and died Sept. 18, 1830. By
this union he had ten children: Diadema, Lucy, Lucius,
and Laura (triplets, of whom Lucy and Lucius died in
infancy), Lucy and Lucius (twins), Phinehas, Jr.,
Eunice, Mary, and Moses. Of this family only two are now
living.
Phinehas,
the subject of this notice, being one of a
large family, was early thrown upon his own resources.
His only school advantages were such as were afforded by
the district schools, which he attended during the
summer months until seven years
old.
and after that, in the
winter, until he reached his sixteenth year, lie then
took charge of his father's farm, and the support of his
parents devolved upon him. He remained in that position
until 1837, when he removed to Shelburne Falls. Meanwhile, he
married (on the 11th of May, 1831) Chloe Maxwell,
daughter of Col. Rodger Leavitt, of Heath. After a
residence of one year in Shelburne Falls, he removed to
Charlemont, where he has since resided.
He has been practically
engaged in agriculture, but has also devoted a great
deal of time to public service and literary pursuits. He
has never held any regular public office, though often
solicited to do so, but he has been constantly
identified with all the interests of the community, both
social and religious, he has always been a Republican In
politics, and was one of the first to adopt and advocate
abolition principles. He has for many years been an
active and earnest worker in the cause of temperance,
and was one of the first in the town of Northfield to
abolish the practice of having intoxicating drinks at
"raisings,'' etc., and he has advocated these principles
by both precept and practice.
Mr. Field has been a member
of the Congregational Society sixty-two years, and was
ordained deacon by council in 1825, in Northfield. He
was subsequently chosen to the same office in
Charlemont, and served in that capacity until seventy
years of age, when he was, at his own request, released
from service. He is not content to be idle, but still
takes an active part in religious work. He has been a
delegate to the National Congregational Councils at
Albany, Huston, and New Haven, and assisted in the
formation of the American Missionary Association at
Albany.
As a delegate of the Christian Commission he
spent eight months in the South during the latter part
of the Rebellion, He was then in his sixty-fifth year,
and, although past the "fighting-age," he was not one to
stand idle when his country needed
help.
He was present at the
re-taking of Port Stedman in March, 1865, and was in the
lines in front of Petersburg on the 2d of April, and
entered that place on the 3d.
While in front of Petersburg
he was four times a mark for the rebel sharpshooters,
but escaped unhurt. His eight months' labor for the
Christian Commission was without any pecuniary
compensation, but was freely given in the cause of
freedom and right. Mr. Field has been a contributor to
the New England Farmer and other local papers, and much
that he has written has been extensively copied into
other periodicals. He is a good musician, and has led
the singing in the church since 1825, and has also
instructed many new beginners gratuitously. On various
occasions he has written hymns that were sung in public,
and has also composed several pieces of music, some of
which he has, by request, sung in public this winter
(1879). He is a member of the Pocumptuck Valley Memorial
Association, and has furnished for that association many
legends and traditions of the Indians, and of the early
settlers of Northfield, that otherwise would have been
lost. Mr.
Field is now in his eightieth year, possessing
undiminished mental powers, a remarkable memory, a step
as elastic as that of most men of half his age, and an
erect and commanding carriage. He is not wealthy in this
world's goods, but is rich in the possession of a mind
stored with treasures of knowledge, a varied experience,
and the esteem and respect of a large circle of
acquaintances and friends. Mrs. Field died
on the 4th of July, 1870, aged seventy-three years.
JOSIAH FOGG,
son of Josiah and Hannah Fogg, was born in Raymond, N.
H., March 25, 1811. His father was a house carpenter,
and lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven, and died
in Deerfield, in 1866. His mother died in Exeter, N. H.,
in 1862. Mr. Fogg is the eldest of a family of eight
children, two of whom died in infancy. The brothers and
sisters living at present arc as follows : James P.
Fogg, resident of Chicago, engaged in the seed business;
Lucy Jane, wife of A. H. Dunlap. of Nashua. N. H.;
Martha N. Fogg, living in Greenfield; W. P. Fogg, editor
and proprietor of the Cleveland Herald, Cleveland,
Ohio.
Mr. Fogg lived with his
father until he was eighteen years of age, during which
time he attended the common school, and for one year
Phillips Exeter Academy. He also worked with his father
at the carpenter trade, which he completed under the
Washburne Bros., of Boston, builders of the Masonic
Temple in that city, in 1832, remaining with them two
years. In the fall of 1834 he went to Florida, where he
built the first frame house in Jacksonville, on the St.
John's River, and resided there two years. In the
breaking out of the Seminole war he was appointed sutler
in the army, and followed that business during the war,
at the close of which, in 1839, he left Florida and went
to Richmond, Va., where he engaged in the crockery
business in connection with his brother, James P. At the
end of a year he disposed of his interest to his
brother, and removed to Charleston, S. C, where he
established a similar business, and continued it
prosperously for about eight years. On account of
the failure of his health, caused by the climate, he
sold out and moved to Deerfield. where for three years
he lived upon a farm. Having meanwhile
recovered his health, he went to Cleveland. Ohio, and
again engaged in the crockery business, in company with
his brother, W. P. Fogg. Here he remained three years,
when disposing of his interest to his brother, he
returned to Deerfield and purchased the farm upon which
he has since resided. He then commenced farming in
earnest, and is now one of the most prominent farmers
and stock-raisers in New England. His barn, when built,
was considered one of the finest in the State. In
stock-raising he now makes a specialty of
short-horns.
Although Mr. Fogg has been
engaged in various kinds of business, he considers that
his greatest success has been as an agriculturist, and
that it requires fully as much talent and judgment to
achieve success as a farmer as it does in any other
business he has ever followed. In 1855 and 1856 he was
president of the Franklin County Agricultural Society,
and for thirty years he has been identified with the
agricultural interests of this section.
Mr. Fogg was united in
marriage, Sept. 24, 1842, to Mary, daughter of Orlando
Ware. Mrs. Fogg was born in Deerfield, March 30, 1815.
Her father was one of the leading men of Deerfield, and
settled here in 1802. Mr. and Mrs.
Fogg are, and have been for many years, members of the
Unitarian Church of Deerfield. They have no
children. In politics Mr. Fogg is a Republican, but
takes no active part in this direction, never having
been an aspirant for office.
JOSEPH
WILLIAM GARDNER was born in 1823, in the city of
Birmingham, England. The Gardner's were a Warwickshire
family, and, while most of them remained farmers, quite
a number became distinguished as engineers, builders of
heavy machinery, and in other branches of the mechanic
arts. The family name on his mother's side was Philpott.
They seem to have been of a more adventurous
disposition, and several members of the family emigrated
to this country. Among others, the grand-father and
uncle of the subject of this article came over as early
as 1830, going at once to Pittsburg, Pa. The younger,
Mr. William Philpott, who had been largely engaged in
coal and iron mining in Wales, at once commenced mining
for coal, having brought quite a large force of Welsh
miners with him. He afterward removed to Middleburg,
Ohio, where he opened mines in both coal and iron, and
soon amassed a fortune.
Joseph W. Gardner was the
only surviving son of a large family of children. After
leaving school he was apprenticed to a tool-maker, where
in due time he became proficient in every part of the
business, having a great aptitude and liking for the
mechanical arts. In 1843, having served his
apprenticeship and hearing glowing accounts of America,
he came to this country. He landed in New York on the
4th of July, and his first inquiry was for work. Taking
up a newspaper, he saw an advertisement for workmen from
J. Russell & Co., manufacturers of table cutlery at
Greenfield, Mass. He left for that place almost
immediately, and found no difficulty in obtaining the
employment he sought, he did not remain long, however,
but yielded to the urgent invitations of his relatives
in the West to visit them.
There were but few railroads
at that time, and the journey to Ohio was made partly by
stage and partly by the Erie Canal and Lake Erie. Ohio
was then a comparatively new country. There were few, if
any, manufactures and very little money, and, though his
uncle offered him an easy situation, he found things so
little to his taste that, after remaining six months, he
turned his face eastward. Arriving in Pitts-burg, after
a tedious journey by stage over what were called
"corduroy" roads, he stopped there three months.
Afterward he proceeded to Wheeling, Va., where he
remained about the same length of time, and in rather
less than a year after leaving Greenfield he was again
there at work for J. Russell & Co. Displaying more
than common ability, he was soon placed as foreman of
the hafting department, Which situation he retained as
long as he remained in their employ. It was during
that period that he was married to Frances L. Denio, and in
the village of Cheapside his only child, a daughter, was
born.
In 1848 he was threatened
with pulmonary disease; and was pronounced by the
doctors as incurable, but was advised to try a change of
climate. He accordingly again visited his friends in the
West, and after an absence of three months he returned,
much improved in health and able to work, greatly to the
astonishment of every one. Not caring to retain his
position with the Russell Company any longer, he went at
once to Shelburne Falls. Lamson, Goodnow & Co., who
for some years had been engaged in the manufacture of
scythe-snathes, had just commenced making butchers'
knives and a few pat-terns of table cutlery. Mr. William
G. Clement had at that time the management of the
business, and employed about twenty men in making
cutlery, most of whom were from Sheffield, England. Mr.
Gardner suggested some important changes to him, and in
a short time, convinced that he could not do better, Mr.
Clement appointed Mr. Gardner to the superintendence of
the cutlery department. In a year and a half they had
increased the number of their workmen to one hundred and
thirty. The work was at this time carried on in a few
old wooden buildings on the Shelburne side of the
Deerfield River, but in two years after Mr. Gardner's
arrival they commenced building the fine brick shops
which they now occupy in Buckland. About this time he
introduced a new bolster for knives, known as the
concave bolster, which has been very generally adopted
both in this country and in England. During the building
of the new factories, Mr. Gardner went to
England to negotiate for the purchase of carver-forks
and steels, and also to make arrangements for
introducing into their own manufactories the making of
cast-or run-steel forks ; and to bring hack
with him a number of skillful workmen. From that time
forward the business steadily increased for many years.
Each year brought out some new invention in cutlery, or
some machine for improving and decreasing the cost of
making it. Chief among the many patents are the " patent
shell bolster" and "Gardner's patent guard" carver-fork.
After His introduction of the latter they ceased to
import carver-forks, and have. made their
own.
In 1859, Mr. William G.
Clement, a most worthy gentleman, left Lamson &
Goodnow, and commenced business for himself in
Northampton. Mr. Gardner was at once installed in his
place, and had the care of the entire business. During
that year, and again in 1868, he was sent to England on
business for the company. Like all other manufacturers,
they have had their losses by fires, floods, and
commercial panics ; but any and every emergency found
them ready, courageous, and hopeful. At last, in 1876,
Mr. Gardner, weary with long service, and feeling that
he had earned the right to take life easier, yet too
young and too industrious to retire from business, and
having invented a new and superior Pocket-knife, he left
the active management of the Lamson & Goodnow
Company, and commenced manufacturing pocket-cutlery,
in-tending at first to employ only a limited number of
men, and also to make the best knives in the world. His
first goods, stamped "Gardner, 1876," were in the market
in the month of August of that year. Since then,
notwithstanding the hard times, he has had a constantly
increasing demand for them. In these days of competition
it is no easy task to do the best work and to sell goods
at the low prices required; but this Mr. Gardner has
always been able to do, and that without reducing the
wages of his workmen to any great ex-tent. His motto
has always been, " Good work and fair pay."
REV.
ALPHEUS HARDING, son of Abijah and Sybil Adams Harding,
was born in Barre, Worcester Co., Mass., Jan. 19, 1780.
His father was a farmer, and Alpheus worked on the farm
until eighteen years of age. He then commenced his
studies preparatory to entering college, first at
Leicester Academy, and afterward at New Salem. Like many
others of limited means, he resorted t»school-teaching
during the vacations in order to obtain the funds with
which to prosecute his education.
In 1801 he entered Dartmouth
College, and graduated with the degree of A.M. in 1805.
After leaving college he taught the New Salem Academy
two years, and at the same time studied divinity under
the direction of the Rev. Joseph Lathrop, D.D., of West
Springfield, Mass. He was ordained pastor of the
Congregational Church in New Salem (which in those days
meant a settlement for life), Dec. 2, 1807. After
remaining in that position forty years he resigned,
thinking a younger man could better discharge the duties
of the office.
He was married, Oct. 8, 1808,
to Sarah, daughter of Rev. Josiah and Irene M. Bridge,
by whom he had seven children. Of this family
only one survives him,-a son, also named Alpheus
Harding.
For more than fifty years he
was a trustee, and during a greater part of that time
also president, of the New Salem Academy, and to his
persevering efforts and labors its success was largely
due. During the same length of time lie had the almost
entire charge of the public schools of the town, and
maintained an active interest in them to the day of his
death.
He twice represented the town
of New Salem in the Legislature, and after retiring from
the ministry was for many years justice of the peace and
trial justice; also doing much as executor and
administrator of estates, and as guardian for many
children.
His wife and six children
died before him, and when about eighty years of age he
married the widow of James Freeman, of New Salem, who
was his constant companion during the remainder of his
life, and who survived him a few years. He died in 1869,
having just entered his ninetieth year. Possessed of
indomitable courage and perseverance, he never shrank
from the discharge of a duty, and spent a long and
active life in doing good to others. He was a constant
laborer in promoting the interests of education,
temperance, morality, and industry, and always foremost
in any case which tended to increase the prosperity of
the people to the service of whom he devoted so many
years of his life. he was universally esteemed for his
many rare qualities of mind and heart, and sincerely
mourned by all who knew him.
WILLIAM A.
HATCH, son of Nathaniel and Melinda Hatch, was born in
Springfield, Vt., Dec. 13, 1817. This family is of
Scottish origin, and its various branches are the
descendants of three brothers, who came to this country
about the year 1667, one of whom became a sailor,
another a farmer, and the third a
merchant.
Nathaniel Hatch was a native
of Massachusetts, and was born on the 11th of May, 1779.
He was a blacksmith by trade, and when quite young lived
in Westmoreland, N. H. From there he
removed to Springfield, Vt., afterward to Wethersfield,
Conn., and thence to Sunderland, Mass., in 1825; after
which he resided for a short time in Vermont. He then settled
in Leverett, Mass., where he spent the remainder of his
life. He died on the 25th of September, 1848. In
November, 1804, he married Melinda, daughter of Captain
Elisha Mack, of Montague, Mass. They had a family of
eight children, of whom William A. was the sixth.
When very young he commenced
to work on the farm, and the amount of labor he was
required to perform was increased each year. When twelve
years old he was hired out to work by the month, and the
only education he received was what he obtained by an
irregular attendance of the very inferior common schools
of that day.
When sixteen years of age he commenced work in a
woolen factory in Wethersfield, and remained in that
employment, working a part of that time in a Springfield
factory, until he readied his twenty-second year. He then went to
Leverett, Mass., and located on a farm, and also engaged
in trade at North Leverett, in company with his brother
Elisha, with whom he was associated until November,
1850. He then entered into partnership with C. M.
Graves, of Leverett, in the manufacture of steel hoes,
which they carried on successfully for about four
years. In
1854, Mr. Hatch and Mr. Graves went to Northampton to
take charge of the agricultural implement department of
the Bay State Tool Co.'s Works. After remaining in that
position three years, Mr. Hatch, wishing to see
something of the Western country, removed to Iowa City,
Iowa. Soon after his arrival there he engaged on his own
account in the commission business, and later in company
with his brother Elisha. After remaining two years in
Iowa he removed, in April, 1859, to Columbus, Ohio, and
there obtained the position in the penitentiary of
foreman in the department for the manufacture of
agricultural implements. He discharged the duties
pertaining thereto in a most satisfactory manner, and
after remaining in that position about twelve years he
became desirous of a change of occupation, and in
September, 1871, he returned to Massachusetts and
located in Leverett, where he has since resided, engaged
in agriculture and in the manufacture of wood chair
bottoms.
Mr. Hatch possessed a high
order of mechanical skill and considerable inventive
ability. In his later years he has acquired a thorough,
practical education through the medium of travel, close
observation, and a varied experience. With but few
advantages, socially or educationally, he has by
perseverance and skill risen to a position of
independence, and well deserves the title of a self-made
man. In his social and business relations Mr. Hatch has
always commanded the respect and esteem of his
associates.
He was first married to
Abigail Wheeler, of Pittsfield, Vt., by whom he had two
children. Both died in infancy. Mrs. Hatch died
on the 22d of November, 1842. He married his
second wife, Helen Clark, daughter of Aaron Clark, of
Montague, Dec. 5, 1843. By this union he has had seven
children, of whom only two are now living.
HON. EBENEZER S. HULBERT was burn in
Burlington, Otsego Co., N. Y., May 27, 1820. His maternal
grandfather was Jonathan Sheldon, son of Ebenezer, who
was a son of Lieut. Ebenezer, the great Indian-fighter.
The latter was a son of the John Sheldon whose family
was captured by the Indians at Deerfield, and was
descended from Isaac Sheldon, one of three brothers who
came to this country about the year
1626.
William Hulbert, one of his
paternal ancestors, emigrated to this country and landed
in Boston in 1626. he was a native of Wales, and a
blacksmith by trade. It is somewhat remarkable that in
every generation of his descendants up to the present
time, one or more members of each family have followed
that trade.
Ambrose Hulbert, grandfather
of the subject of this sketch, was born in Bennington,
Vt. He served as a private soldier in the Revolutionary
war, and died in the service in 1780. He was a
blacksmith, and above the average in mechanical ability.
He made the swords for the officers of his regiment, and
their silver shoe-buckles with the owners' names
engraved upon them. Indeed, he fashioned almost any
metal article then in use. His son, whose name was also
Ambrose, was born in Bennington, on the 26th of
February, 1781. He learned his father's trade, and when
eighteen years of age removed to Burlington, Otsego Co.,
N. Y., where he spent the remainder of his life, and
died there at the age of eighty-eight years. His wife
was Elizabeth Sheldon, of Bernardston, Mass. They were
married in September, 1814, and had a family of five
children,-two sons and three daughters,-viz.: Ebenezer
S. ; Louisa N., born Feb. 17, 1823, wife of Edward
Colban, of Plainfield, N. Y.; Charles, born March 30,
1826, now residing in Rushford, Minn. ; Mary M., born
Oct. 15, 1831, wife of O. B. Green, of Gill, Mass.; and
Abbie L., born April 2, 1835, now residing in
Bernardston.
The subject of this notice
had the advantages of a good common-school education,
and during his minority worked with his father in the
latter's foundry and blacksmith-shop. When twenty-two
years old he went to Chicago, ILL., and was there
employed as clerk in a dry-goods store, in which
position he, however, remained but one year, and then,
returning to Burlington, worked with his father until
August, 1846. He then moved to Waterville, N. Y., where
his services were engaged by E. and J. Wilber & Co.
in the manufacture of hoes. In this employment he
remained three years, after which he entered into
partnership with S. A. Willard, in Clayville, Oneida
Co., with whom he was associated three years in the same
business. In December of 1852 he removed to Bernardston,
Franklin Co., Mass., where he established a manufactory
of hoes, under the firm name of E. S. Hulbert & Co.
Thus the firm remained until 1864, when Mr. Hulbert
assumed the entire control of the business, which he has
continued to the present time (1879). In the mean time
he has greatly increased the business, and in connection
with hoes now manufactures brick and plastering trowels
and corn-cutters, turning out two thousand dozen hoes
and one thousand dozen corn-cutters and trowels per
annum. Mr.
Hulbert is a thorough business man, and has been
identified with most of the leading interests of
Bernardston since he has been a resident of the
town,
he is a trustee of Powers Institute, and also of
the Cushman Library. In 1854 he was elected to the
Legislature, in which he served one term, lie has also
held the office of justice of the peace twelve years,
and has served eight terms as member of the hoard of
selectmen.
Upon the breaking out of the
Rebellion he at once espoused the cause of the Union,
and in 1862 was commissioned lieutenant in Co. A of the 52d
Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The duties
of that office he most honorably and faithfully
discharged, taking part in the siege of Port Hudson and
in the campaigns of 1862-63 in
Louisiana.
Mr. Hulbert was married, in
December, 1863, to Laura Burr, daughter of Chauncey P.
Burr, of Mercer, Maine. They have one
child, Julia B., born on the 6th of July, 1867.
HORACE
HUNT The
Hunt family is of English origin, and has been
represented in this country for many years. William
Hunt, ancestor of Horace Hunt, was one of three brothers
who early came to this country and settled, one at
Concord, Mass., one at Northampton, Mass., and one at
Brattleboro, Vt.
William settled at Concord, and at one time was
the owner of one-half of the territory now occupied by
that town, which he purchased directly of the
Indians.
Samuel Hunt, his grandfather,
lived at various places, and for twenty years of his
life kept a public-house at Fitchburg, Mass., and served
as a captain in the French-and-Indian war. David Hunt, the
father of Horace, was born in Worcester, Mass , in 1766
or 1767. In his youth be went to New Salem, Mass., of
which he was one of the first settlers. He passed a long
and active life in that town, and died in 1850, at the
advanced age of eighty-three. He married Abigail,
daughter of Shadrach Haskins, one of the earliest
settlers of New Salem, and had a number of children, of
whom but four reached maturity. Samuel H., the eldest of
these, is now living at Athol, Mass., and is ninety
years of age. Luther passed his life on the old farm in
New Salem, and died in 1849, at the age of fifty-six.
Lorana married Levi Davis, of New Salem, and now resides
at Holly, New York, aged eighty-four.
Horace Hunt was born in New
Salem, Jan. 15, 1801. He passed his early life in hard
work on the paternal farm, enjoying limited educational
advantages.
At the age of seventeen he commenced
school-teaching in New Salem, having prepared himself
for that calling by close application, rigid
self-discipline, and arduous labor. This occupation he
followed In winter seasons at New Salem and Enfield,
Mass., and Casenovia, N. Y., filling up the balance of
the time at work on the farm.
In 1825, Mr. Hunt commenced
keeping a general country store at Millington, a small
village in the town of New Salem. He continued
there about fourteen years, and then removed to North
Prescott, Mass.; established a store about a mile west
of the village of North Prescott, which he kept for
upward of thirty years. During that time Mr. Hunt had
the North Prescott post-office established, and was the
first postmaster there,-a statement that is equally true
of the post-office at Millington. Mr. Hunt was
postmaster at both places for a period, in all, of
twenty years.
In 1860, Mr. Hunt transferred
his mercantile business to Enfield, Mass., where he
engaged in store-keeping until May 15, 1878, when he
disposed of it, and is now living in retirement at
Enfield, having attained the ripe age of
seventy-eight.
In the course of his life Mr. Hunt has filled
various offices of trust and responsibility. In 1827 he
was appointed a justice of the peace,-an office that he
has held continuously since. He has also
filled most of the town offices of New Salem and
Prescott, and was a commissioner of Franklin County from
1863 to 1800, inclusive.
In his church affiliations he
is a Baptist, a member of the church of that
denomination at Athol, Mass., and was for many years a
member of the New Salem and Prescott Baptist Church. He
bas been married four times. His first wife, Susannah M.
Fish, of New Salem, he married April 4, 1822, and she
died Nov. 25, 1825. His second was Roxana Chamberlin, of
New Salem, whom he married Aug. 27, 1829, and who died
June 13, 1837. His third was Naomi Haskins, of Prescott,
whom he married May 22, 1839, and who died Jan. 17,
1845. His
present wife was Mrs. Sarah E. Freeman, widow of Dr.
Nathaniel Freeman, of New Salem, and daughter of James
Hemenway, of the same place.
The fruits of these various
unions have been nine children,-one by the first wife,
two by the second, four by the third, and two by the
fourth. Of these but four arc living,-Howard Boardman
and Nelson Haskins, wholesale dealers in musical
instruments, at Boston; Lorina Sophia, wife of Charles
Richards, Esq., of Enfield; and James Luther, dealer in
musical instruments, at Athol, Mass., and also engaged
in the insurance business at the same place.
RODNEY HUNT
was born in Ashburnham, Mass., July 10, 1810. he
remained at home upon the farm until seventeen years of
age, and attended the district school five or six weeks
during each winter. In 1827 he went
to West Boyleston to work for Ezra Beaman, and remained
with him three years. The first year he received ten
dollars per month, the second .year eleven, and the
third year twelve. At the expiration of the three years
he gave to his father three hundred dollars, the amount
of his savings during that time. He then went to Berlin,
Mass., to learn the mill-wright's trade, where he
continued three years. In 1833 his mother died, and he
returned to Ashburnham, to reside with his father. The
following year he married Miss Margaret Parker, of
Holden, Mass. About this time he also made a profession
of religion, and became connected with the Open
Communion Baptist Society, of which he is still a
member.
He remained in the paternal
home until his father's decease, in 1834, and in 1835
removed to Wilton, N. H., and commenced the manufacture
of chairs, in partnership with John Adams. The firm were
forced to suspend, and compromised with their creditors,
during the crisis of 1837. Mr. Hunt lost his property,
and, as an instance of his desire for honorable dealing,
he subsequently paid the full amount of their
liabilities. In 1838 he removed to Ash by, Mass., his
family then consisting of his wife, one child, and his
grandmother, very aged and feeble, all dependent upon
his efforts for support. He found employment in the
mills at Ashby, where he remained until 1840, when he
went to what was then called South Orange, and entered
the employ of Reuben Harris, and afterward worked at
mill wrighting for different persons, until, in 1843, he
bought some mill property in Harwick, for which he paid
$1431, and went in debt for the whole amount. He,
how-ever, improved the property, and in 1844 sold it for
$3000. He says it was a proud and happy day for himself
and his family when they were once more out of debt and
not altogether penniless. He then returned to Orange and
purchased a farm, and besides farming did general mill
wrighting in different cotton, woolen, saw, and
grist-mills. In 1858 he began to build finishing
machinery for woolen-mills, and employed a few workmen,
and in 1859 he purchased a shop on the south side of the
river, made some additions to it, and established a
machine-shop and foundry for doing all kinds of
mill-work. In 1862 he formed a co-partnership with Jas.
H. Waite, and, in 1865, D. B. Flint also became a member
of the firm, which from the beginning has been very
prosperous. It has greatly increased its facilities, and
from year to year the business has constantly been
taking a wider range. In 1873 there was formed the
Rodney Hunt Machine Company, a stock company with a
capital of $100,000, with Rodney Hunt as President; D.
B. Flint, Treasurer; and Jas. H. Waite, Secretary. This
company also owns one-half the stock of the Foundry
Company, of which Mr. Hunt is also President, with A. J.
Clark, Treasurer, and John Wheeler, Secretary. Both of
these companies are doing a prosperous business, and
there has always been the most hearty co-operation among
the members of the same. Besides other improvements, Mr.
Hunt has built eight dwelling-houses in the village of
Orange. He is particularly conscientious and honorable
in all his dealing, and has won the confidence and
affection of his associates. He
has filled many offices of trust with credit to himself
and to those whom he represented. In 1850, 1851, and
1852 he was a member of the Legislature. For twelve
years he has been president of the Young Men's Christian
Association; since 18(15 a director of the Miller's
River National Bank, and trustee of the savings-bank
since its organization.
Mr. Hunt's wife died in 1865.
He married, for his second wife, in 1867, Mrs. Eliza P.
Stote, a sister of his first wife. By his first marriage
he had two sons and one daughter, all of whom are
living, married, and in prosperous circumstances.
CHARLES
JONES was born in Deerfield, Franklin Co., Mass., July
27, 1820. His grandfather Jehiel Jones, moved to West
Deerfield from Connecticut, and was one of the early
settlers of that town. Israel Jones,
his father, was born in Deerfield, March 6, 1791. He was a
carpenter by trade, a member of the Baptist Church of
West Deerfield, and, as a man, was respected by all who
knew him.
He married for his first wife, Eleanor, daughter
of John Broderick, of Conway, by whom he had six
children, the youngest of whom is the subject of this
notice. His second marriage was to Cynthia Atwood,
relict of Silas Atwood. By this
union he had one child, Ellen, wife of G. W. Jones, of
West Deerfield.
Charles Jones attended the
common schools and academy of his native town daring a
part of each year until he was eighteen years of
age.
He was early thrown upon his own resources, and
whatever success he has achieved is due to his own
unaided efforts.
When eighteen years old he was employed by the
month to work on a farm, and in this he continued four
years. At the expiration of this time he commenced
farming upon his own account, renting land and working
it on shares, and in 1857 he purchased the farm upon
which he now resides. He has enlarged and improved the
original property ; has been engaged in general farming
and stock-raising, and, financially speaking, has been
moderately successful. He is a Democrat
in politics, devoted to the principles of his party, and
actively interested in its local and general
movements.
He has been a member of the
board of selectmen twelve years, and during eight years
of that time chairman of the same, the duties of which
office he has ably discharged.
In connection with the
schools, churches, and other public interests of the
town, Mr. Jones has been active, and has done what he
could to advance these interests. He was married, Dec.
15, 1857, to Margaret, daughter of Robert Toombs, of
Deerfield.
GEORGE W.
JONES was born in Deerfield, Franklin Co.. Mass., on the
31st of December. 1824. He is a son of John N. Jones.
and Grandson of Jehiel Jones. Jr.. who was a son of
Jehiel Jones.
Jehiel
Jones was a native of Colchester, Conn. and was one of a
family of fifteen children. He married
Lueretia .Hamilton in 1765. and, with six of his
brothers, removed to Shelburne, Mass., about the year
1781.
He served in the Revolutionary war, and died on
the 5th of January, 1835. at the advanced age of
ninety-four.
His wife lived They had a family of eleven
children. Jehiel, Jr., the eldest, was born on the 8th
of December, 1765. The other children were Lorhama,
Lovinah, Lueretia, Sallie, Russel, Jabez, Amos, James,
Israel, and Amasa. James and Amasa died in childhood,
but the others lived to a very old
age.
Jehiel,
Jr., was a very prominent man in his day; held the
office of deacon in the church; was a thorough business
man, and a leader in civil and religious affairs. He
died on the 20th of September, 1840. His wife was Martha
L. Wise, who died Sept. 3, 1849, aged eighty-three. To
them were born nine children, viz.: James, Cynthia,
Nancy, Guerdon, Cephas, John N., Lucinda, Minerva, and
Martha L., all of whom lived to a good old
age.
John N.
Jones was born on the 20th of May, 1800, and died on the
3d of June, 1862. He was married, on the 6th of
December, 1821, to Betsey Wolcott, by whom he had twelve
children. Of this family seven are now living. The
eldest is George W.. the subject of this sketch. The
others were Henry G., Edwin J., Elizabeth A., Mary H.,
Lucy, Almira, Emeline C. Anna M., Elmira, Frank, and
Charles.
The subject of this notice
has always resided in Deerfield and was educated in the
common schools of that town. He is by occupation a
farmer, and has been identified with the best
agricultural interests of the town and county, and is a
member of Franklin County and Franklin and Hampshire
Agricultural Societies. His residence is situated in
West Deerfield. and is considered one of the finest in
that vicinity. Mr. Jones takes an active interest in the
civil and educational interests of the town and county,
and has held numerous offices of trust. From 1863 to
1874 he served as one of the selectmen of the town. In
1873 he was elected to the Legislature, and re-elected
the following year. He was elected a member of the
general school committee in 1877, re-elected in 1878 for
one year, and in 1879 for three years. He has also for a
number of years held the office of justice of the peace.
The duties of these various positions have been
discharged with fidelity and thoroughness. Under the
Dickinson will he was appointed trustee of the Free
High-School of Deerfield, and upon the expiration of the
term was elected to serve a second time in that
capacity. Mr. Jones was formerly a Republican, but his
election to the Legislature was on the independent
ticket. In the autumn of 1878 he was the candidate of
the independent party for the State Senate, and was
defeated by a very small majority.
He
was married, on the 25th of December, 1849, to Ellen B.
Jones. Their children are Frank, who died when three
years of age ; Charley; Clarence; Stella A.; Frank;
Allen P.; and John G.
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