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CHARLES PARSONS, JR., was
born in Conway, Franklin Co., Mass., April 2, 1839. He is of English
descent, and traces his ancestry to Benjamin Parsons,
whom it is supposed came to this country in the
Mayflower.
He settled in Springfield, Mass., and his name
first appears there in the records in 1636, when he was
chosen deacon of a church, and he was afterward known as
Deacon Benjamin.
He had seven
children, who were born between 1636 and 1675.
His oldest son, Samuel,
settled in Enfield, Conn., and married Hannah Hitchcock,
by whom he had five children; and of these Nathaniel,
the youngest, married Mary Pease, by whom he had three
sons, the youngest of whom was Chadwell, who also had
three children, viz., Chadwell, Joel, and
Ruth.
Joel, the second son, was the
grandfather of the subject of this notice, and was born
in Somers, Conn., on the 28th of Jan.,
1753. He
married Tryphena Booth on the 31st of July,
1775, and during the same year removed to Conway, Mass.,
making the journey on horseback, carrying his wife on
the horse behind him, and, upon his arrival in that
place, had but twenty-five cents in money with which to
commence business and housekeeping. He was a man of
great courage and physical strength, and very
frequently, after working all day on the farm would
spend the greater part of the night in hard labor at his
trade, which was that of a blacksmith. He was also
scrupulously honest in all his dealings, but he believed
in being just to himself as well as to others, and
required prompt payment of what was due him. Besides physical
endurance he possessed considerable financial ability,
for, commencing with nothing, he accumulated what in
those days was considered quite a
fortune.
His son, Charles Parsons, was
born in Conway, on the 22nd of June,
1798.
Possessing both enterprise and industry, he
turned his attention entirely to agriculture, and became
one of the most thorough and progressive farmers in that
locality.
He has also taken a prominent part in the various
public interests of the town assisted in organizing the
Conway National Bank, the Conway Fire Insurance Company,
and also the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of that
town; has been a member of the Board of Selectmen, and
assessor, and is liberal in his contributions to the
support of churches and schools.
He married Sylvia, daughter
of Josiah Boyden of Conway, on the 30th of
October, 1820, by whom he had five children, viz,:
Adeline, wife of J. C. Newhall, of Conway; Nancy
(deceased), who married Guerdon Edgerton; Tryphena B.
(deceased); Charles Lyman (deceased); and Charles, Jr.,
the youngest son and child, and the subject of this
notice.
Charles Jr., was born and
reared on the place where he now resides and attended
the common schools and the Conway Academy. When
twenty-three years of age he united with his father in
managing the farm, and remained in that partnership
three years.
At the expiration of that time he took the entire
charge of the farm, which he has continued to do to the
present time.
In 1867 he commenced breeding short-horn, or
Durham cattle, and is now one of the most successful
breeders in Massachusetts. His herd numbers
sixty head, of which forty are thoroughbred, the
remainder being graded stock.
His barns are models of
neatness and adaptation, being furnished with all the
modern improvements. Indeed, Mr.
Parsons is a model farmer, and is identified with all
the best farming interests of that
locality.
For the past twelve years he
has been a member of the Franklin Harvest Club, and is
also a member of the Franklin County Agricultural
Society, of which he has been vice-president and trustee
a number of years.
In politics he is a
republican, and actively interested in the measures of
that party, but has never sought office for
himself.
He is a member of the
Congregational Church of Conway, and for twenty years
has been connected with the choir, of which he is now
the leader.
Mr. Parsons is also a Knight
Templar in the Masonic order, of which he has been a
member since 1862.
He has been Master of the Lodge at Conway, and
was largely instrumental to its
organization.
He was married, on the
29th of October, 1861, to Helen A. daughter
of D. M. Wickham, of Albion, N. Y., by whom he has five
children.
They are Minnie A.,
Charles Lyman, Lizzie, Lois, and Sylvia.
FRANKLIN PEASE is the
youngest son of Asher and Elizabeth C. Pease. He was born in Conway, Franklin Co., Mass., June
27, 1823.
Asher Pease, his father, was
born in Enfield, Conn., Sept. 21, 1781. Elizabeth
Chaffee, his mother was born in the same town, in
1782.
The earlier years of Mr.
Pease's life was spent in working upon his father's farm
in Conway.
His opportunities for acquiring an education were
very meager but such as they were he well improved. When eighteen
years old he commenced teaching during the winters, and
when he reached his majority was given an interest in
his father's farm, and remained in this partnership
until his father's decease, when he inherited the
property.
He still resides upon the old homestead. His occupation
has always been that of a farmer and stock-dealer, but
he has filled various offices in the town and
county. In
1863 he was a member of the Legislature, and for the two
years past has been selectman; also assessor for three
years. Is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an
exemplary Christian. He is also an
active member of the Agricultural Society.
Mr. Pease was married, Nov.
5, 1850 to Minerva Nims, daughter of Stoddard Nims, of
Ashfield.
She was born in
Ashfield, Franklin Co., Mass., June 22, 1824.
ORLANDO B. POTTER, was born
in Charlemont, Franklin Co., Mass., on the 10th of
March, 1823. He was fitted for college in the Buckland
and Shelburne select schools and the East Bennington
Academy. At the age of eighteen he left his father's
farm, and has since made his own way without any aid,
except from a kind Providence. He studied at Williams
College, and at Dane Law School, Cambridge. Subsequently
he practiced law for about five years in the city of
Boston, after which he became interested in
manufacturing, and devoted himself almost exclusively to
that business for twenty-five years.
In 1853 he removed to New
York City, where he has since resided. He is an honored
and respected citizen, well known to the thousands of
merchants, mechanics, and laborers with whom his busy
mercantile life of a quarter of a century has brought
him in contact. The management of the large interests
that devolved upon him developed his faculties as a
financier, and there are few men in any walk of life
more thoroughly posted, or who entertain sounder
principles on financial questions.
Mr. Potter is a man of great
enterprise and remarkable prudence. He never goes beyond
his own ability to perform, has never failed to meet an
obligation at maturity, and has never been embarrassed
through the vicissitudes of business. He has always been
confident and hopeful when want of confidence prevailed
about him.
He borrowed money and continued building in New
York City, and sustained its labor during the panic and
distress of 1857.
In that year he built the " World" building; and
later, at a time when all enterprise was brought to a
standstill and capitalists feared to invest a dollar in
anything but government bonds; when business generally
was in the lowest state of depression following the
panic of 1873; when industry was paralyzed, and there
was no employment for mechanic or laborer, he had the
boldness to buy the large property on the corner of
Astor Place and Lafayette Place, and when scarcely
another building was being put up in that city he set
his laborers and mechanics to work, and erected the
imposing structure which is now one of the landmarks of
the city.
He is a man of great force of
character, and of clear and earnest convictions, which
he always acts upon, and acts up to. He has ever
sympathized with the working man, and his greatest wish
is that he should be remuneratively employed. During his
life he has employed thousands of workmen and clerks,
and has paid them the highest wages. His motto is "
Live and let live," and he asks not of what religion,
nativity, or politics are those who work for him ; the
only qualities he requires are honesty and
capability.
As a working man himself, Mr.
Potter has no superior. He is never
idle. In the midst of the cares and anxieties of
business he has been watchful of the interests of the
country, the State, and especially of the city
government.
In 1861 he made valuable
suggestions to the rulers of the nation, and has since,
from time to time, been in correspondence on finance and
kindred subjects with the leading men in Congress. He
has always been a consistent Democrat, and an
uncompromising enemy of fraud. He has devoted both time
and money without stint in endeavoring to obtain better
government for New York City. He has been a most active
member of the council of political reform, and through
his efforts mainly the bonded indebtedness bill was
passed through the Legislature and became a law.
Mr. Potter was married, Oct.
28, 1828, to Martha G. Wiley, daughter of Benjamin
Brown, of South Reading. Middlesex Co..
Mass. To them were born seven children, of whom only
four are now living. Mrs. Potter died on the 12th day of
February, 1879.
She was universally
esteemed, and is sincerely mourned by all who knew
her.
SAMUEL POTTER was born in
Hampden, Conn., Oct. 24, 1794, and has therefore passed
his eighty-fourth birthday. His father, Abel
Potter, was also a native of Connecticut, and was born
in Hampden, June 15, 1750. He removed to Wallingford, in
the same State, and died there Aug. 29, 1818. His wife was
Mary, daughter of Abram Turner, of Hampden, and was born
in that town, June 21, 1765; she died Oct. 7, 1831, in
her sixty-seventh year. Her father was a prominent man
in his day, and served in the Revolutionary war, taking
part in the battle at New Haven. To Abel and Mary Potter
wore born nine children, viz.: Abel, Jr., Sallie G.,
Elam (who died in infancy], Rhoda T,, Samuel (subject of
this notice), Polly A., Mary E., Elam, and Rebecca
M.
Samuel Potter enjoyed but few
opportunities for obtaining an education in his early
years. His lather being in straitened circumstances, and
with a large family dependent upon him for support, was
forced to put his sons to work at a very youthful age,
and Samuel thus, when only six years old, was " hired
out" to ride a horse in the fields for other farmers,
and in that way earned six and a quarter cents per day
for his father. A paltry sun it would seem even for a
child of that age; but in those days, when almost every
article of clothing and also most all household utensils
were made by the family, a little money went a great
way, and twenty-five cents per day was considered good
wages for a man's labor. When ten years
of age the subject of this notice performed the greater
part of the work on his father's farm, of which, four
years later, he took the entire charge. This he
continued until he reached his majority, after which he
worked six months for his father, for which he received
wages. He then, desiring to add to his stock of
knowledge, entered the public school at Waterbury,
Conn., and while there paid for his tuition and other
expenses with the money he had earned. He subsequently
returned to Hampden and leased his father's farm, upon
which he remained, taking care of his parents and the
family until his father's decease. Soon after the
death of his father Samuel sold the property, and
removed, in 1819, to Charlemont, Franklin Co.,
Mass. He
was married in that town, Feb. 21,1819, to Sophia,
daughter of Samuel Rice, he then
bought a farm in Charlemont, on Leggett Hill, where he
remained twenty years, engaged mostly in agricultural
pursuits. At the expiration of that time he purchased
the place in the same town where he now resides.
Although not a wealthy man, Mr. Potter now owns a fair
share of worldly goods,
and possesses the satisfaction of knowing that what he
has garnered has been the work of his own hands. He has
always been active in forwarding educational interests,
and has delighted in giving his children the advantages
of the superior facilities for learning which were
denied to him. He has always been a strong advocate of
the principles of temperance, and these he put into
practice without consulting popular customs long before
the temperance movement became
general.
In his earlier life Mr.
Potter was a Democrat, but since the formation of the
Republican party has voted that ticket. He has held the
offices of selectman, assessor, agent of the town, and
also that of deputy-sheriff twenty-three years, in which
latter capacity he served both in Hampshire and Franklin
Counties. He was town collector and constable six years,
and indeed has been identified with most of the leading
interests of the town. He took an active part in
forwarding the building of the Troy and Greenfield
Railroad, and took the first subscription for it in the
town of Charlemont. He was also one of the first
directors of that road. He has been
liberal in support of churches and religious interests,
and was also in early life a worker in the Sunday-school
cause. For forty years he has been a member of the
Congregational society, and now in his declining years
can indeed look back with pleasure over a long life
spent in active labor and good
works.
To Mr. and Mrs. Potter were born
ten children, viz.: Merritt F., June 19,1820, who is now
a physician in Hinckley, ILL.; Polly A., Dec. 25,1821,
who died Aug. 7, 1824; Orlando B., March 10, 1823, who
is a lawyer and resides in New York City; Samuel L.,
Dec. 22, 1825, who died July 20, 1854; Hillyer H., Sept.
7, 1826, who is in trade in Peoria, ILL.; Waymes N.,
April 28, 1828, who resides in Greenfield and is a
commission merchant; Mary A., Jan. 31, 1830, who is at
home; Cetestia M., Sept. 28, 1831, who died May 7, 1862;
Direxa V., June 25, 1833, who died Oct. 17, 1839; and
Craige D., June 26, 1836, who is now in business in
Boston.
HIRAM ROOT was born Oct.
27,1805. in Montague, Franklin Co., Mass. He was the son
of Selah and Elizabeth Childs Root. His father, who was
born in Montague. Sept. 8, 1766, was a man of sterling
integrity, a devoted Christian, and deacon in the
Congregational Church of Montague. He died in
Burtonville, N. Y., Sept. 20, 1842. Elizabeth Childs,
his mother, was born Feb. 17, 1769, and died April 19,
1835. The parents of Hiram Root were married Feb. 6,
1794. They were blessed with a family of ten children,
of whom the subject of this memoir was the
seventh.
The earlier years of Hiram
Root's life were spent upon his father's farm in
Montague. His educational advantages were few, and
confined entirely to the common schools. When he reached
ids majority he engaged in the manufacture of hats and
cloth, in which he continued until 1832, when he removed
to Deerfield to reside with his uncle, Simeon
Childs. He
was married April 30, 1829, to Caroline Hanson, who was
born in East Deerfield, Oct. 28, 1809. They had a
family of four children, all daughters, only one of whom
survives, viz., Helen, wife of Albert
Stebbins.
Mr. Childs, at his decease,
left his farm to his nephew, but Mr. Root, not having
any particular taste for farming, leased the farm, and
again engaged in manufacturing, first stoves, then lead
pipe, and afterward straw-cutters. He was the first in
the Connecticut Valley to cultivate and manufacture
sorghum. He was very successful in business, and
accumulated a comfortable fortune.
In politics he was a
Republican, but never sought public office. Mr. Root's
mechanical and inventive powers were of a high order,
and he was never so happy as when surrounded by
machinery, with an opportunity for the study of its
mechanism and possible improvement. He was a man of
great liberality. of strictest integrity, and
unblemished reputation. He was of a particularly
energetic disposition, never feeling that anything was
too great for him to undertake, and he seldom failed in
his endeavors. Indeed, so full of energy and activity
was he, that it was laughingly said, among his friends
that " he never stopped to walk until after he was sixty
years old."
He was social and genial, delighting in jokes,
and was especially fond of children and pets of all
kinds.
His sudden death, Jan. 13,
1874, was a shock to the community, every member of
which felt it as the loss of a personal friend. He died
of heart disease, from which he had suffered for over
two years.
His sufferings were borne with great patience,
and his energy never left him. Indeed, death claimed him
in the midst of active business and usefulness. He still lives in the
hearts of those who knew and loved him.
HON. JOHN H. SANDERSON was
burn in Petersham, Worcester Co., Mass., on the 10th of
July, 1814. His paternal grandparents were Jonathan
Sanderson (born Sept. 6, 1740) and Molly Curtis, his
wife (born March 13, 1748). Jonathan
was a Revolutionary soldier. His maternal
grandfather was Dr. Joshua Morton, who removed from
Hatfield, Mass., to Athol, and was one of the early
settlers of that town.
John Sanderson, Sr., was the
eldest of six children, and was born May 21, 1769. He
married Lydia Morton, and had two sons, the elder of
whom is the subject of this biography ; the younger died
in boyhood. John Sanderson, Sr., was a man of sterling
integrity and great financial ability, he started in
life comparatively poor, and during his comparatively
short life amassed what was considered quite a property
in his time, he acquired this principally in working at
the tanner's trade, which he learned from a colored man
in his employ, and afterward in farming. He was among
ten; first to join in the temperance reform and to give
up the custom of supplying the men in his employ with
intoxicating drinks, he was killed in his own barn by a
pair of oxen on the 25th of July.
1831.
Thus, at the early age of
seventeen, the subject of this notice was called upon to
take charge of a somewhat extensive business (his mother
having been appointed administrator of the estate), and
in addition the care of his grandparents, then living at
a very advanced age, both feeble and infirm. After their
decease he removed with his mother to Bernardston, and
for several years resided in the family of Col. Aretas
Ferry.
In October, 1840, be married
Mary Osgood, daughter of Elihu Osgood, of Wendell,
Mass., and finally settled in Bernardston. His homestead
consists of a valuable piece of meadowland in the very
centre of the village (which was reclaimed by him from
an almost worthless swamp and brought to a high state of
cultivation), a fine house lot, and substantial
buildings, his barn being perhaps the first in that
vicinity built with an underground cellar and a slate
roof. These, with large pastures, woodlands, etc., in
other parts of the town, constitute one of the largest,
most valuable, and finest estates in that section. This
being especially a grass farm, he has devoted his
attention to stock-raising, and in addition to this he
has a farm in Barre, Mass., of about four hundred acres,
also well adapted to grazing, etc. As a product of his
farm he raised in 1802, and sold to Bryan Lawrence, of
New York City, the great ox "Constitution," pronounced
the handsomest, as his dressed weight shows that he was
the largest, ox ever slaughtered in America. His live
weight, upon shipment from Bernardston, was three
thousand eight hundred and sixty pounds. Mr. Lawrence at
first intended to give the beef to the needy families of
absent volunteers from New York City, but, as it brought
a very high price, he used the proceeds there from, with
which he purchased over twelve thousand pounds of meat.
The animal's skin was stuffed and placed in a building
in Central Park.
Mr. Sanderson has never held
any regular town office, though often solicited to do
so; but he has been constantly connected with many
public interests of the town, and has aided pecuniary
and otherwise almost all valuable enterprises therein.
He has contributed liberally to the support of Powers
Institute, and has been especially instrumental in
obtaining for it good teachers. At one time, in order to
secure the services of Prof. L. F. Ward, one of the
earliest, ablest, and best known of its teachers, he
paid a bonus of three hundred dollars over and above
what the trustees had been able to
offer.
He has been closely
identified with the First Congregational (Unitarian)
Society, though not a member of the church, having been
parish clerk and treasurer for twenty years or more, and
has been known as one anxious to obtain and keep good,
sound preachers of the gospel. In addition to this he
was one of the committee appointed to build the church
edifice for the Baptist Society, of which his mother and
wife were members, and here, as elsewhere, he gave
unostentatiously, but with a liberal hand, besides
taking upon himself much pecuniary risk in building the
same. The present Sanderson Hall, over Cushman's
Library, was built by him fully as much in the interests
of the town as in his own, they having the privilege at
any time to buy it at cost. In public enterprise and in
charitable interests he has always been among the first
to be called upon to contribute, and although he always
had good judgment in giving he has seldom failed to
respond in a substantial and liberal manner. Mr.
Sanderson was president of Powers Institute from the
decease of Gov. Cushman, the president, until 1877, a
period of nearly ten years, and has been a member of the
board of trustees of that institution from its
beginning; is trustee of the Cushman Library, and was
appointed one of the executors of the will of the late
Henry W. Cushman. He is president of the Benardston
Cemetery Association, and has held the same office in
the Farmers' Club for many years. Mr. Sanderson
was Senator from Franklin County during the important
period of 1861. He is honorary trustee and life-member
of the Franklin County Agricultural Society, and
life-member of the Worcester West Agricultural
Society. He
was formerly trustee in the Franklin Institute for
Savings, but upon the organization of the Greenfield
Savings Bank he became president of the latter, and has
since that time been annually chosen to fill that
office,
he is also a director of the Franklin County
National Bank. It can be said without exaggeration that
the interests with which he has been connected are
almost numberless, and that, like the tree whose
branches are shaken by the storms of many winters, He
has taken deep root in the confidence and affection of
the community. Of the nine children born to him only
seven are living at present {February, 1879). They were
John, Horatio (now one of the Warner .Manufacturing
Company, of Greenfield), La Valette 0. (died Oct. 14,
1874), Lucien Morton (died Feb. 19, 1857), Henry Hunt (a
farmer residing in Benardston). Mary Osgood (wife of
A. J. Woods late of Bath, N. H., now of Benardston).
Ellery Herbert (member of the firm of Walker &
Sanderson, of Northfield), Maria Cushman, at home,
Lydia, wife of Charles W. Scott, of Dummerston, Vt. and
Lucien, clerk in the employ of H. A. Turner & Co.,
of Boston.
CALVIN W. SHATTUCK, This
gentleman is descended in a direct line (the eighth
generation) from William Shattuck, who was born in
England in 1621 or 1622, died in Watertown, Mass., Aug.
14,1672, and was the progenitor of those who has borne
his name in America. The line is as follows:
1st, William Shattuck
2d, John Shattuck, born in
Watertown, Feb. 11, 1647, and drowned Sept. 14,1675;
3d, William Shattuck, born in
Watertown, Sept. 11, 1670, died in Groton in 1744 ;
4th, John Shattuck, born in
Watertown in 1696, a mason and farmer, died about 1759;
5th, Thomas Shattuck, born in
Marlboro, March 3, 1724, died in Petersham;
6th, Ezra Shattuck, born in
Petersham, Aug. 5, 1751, a miller and farmer in the town
of Leyden, and died there Aug. 8, 1816;
7th, Luther Shattuck, born in
Leyden, April 18, 1787, died March 10, 1834;
8th, Calvin W. Shattuck. who was born in
Leyden, Franklin Co., Mass., Feb. 15, 1811, the eldest
child of Luther and Margery Shattuck.
Ezra Shattuck, his
grandfather, was one of the first settlers of the town
of Leyden. He built there a grist-and sawmill, and
carried on a farm. His father, Luther Shattuck, was a
millwright by trade, and lived and died in
Leyden.
Calvin W. Shattuck remained
at home until seventeen years old, to which period he
was employed in his fathers mills and on the farm,
receiving Ins education in the district schools of the
neighborhood. In 1828 he left home and was clerk in a
store at Guilford, Vt., where he remained about two
years and a half. Jan. 1, 1831, he was clerk in C. &
H. Thompson's store in Coleraine City, and remained
there until May, 1832, when he commenced trade on his
own account at Shelburne Falls, where he remained two
years. He
then began merchandising at Coleraine, and continued
there in trade until 1848. In 1837 he
purchased an interest with his old employers, the
Messrs. Thompson, in a cotton-mill in that portion of
Coleraine now known as Shattuckville, and in the spring
of 1849 he moved there, and has continued to reside
there since. In 1869 the entire property, valued at one
hundred thousand dollars, was swept away by a flood. Mr.
Shattuck rebuilt the factory, enlarging it to nearly
double its former capacity. The factory has one hundred
and seventy-eight looms, and employs about one hundred
hands.
Mr. Shattuek was married,
Oct. 14,1834, to Mary Thompson, daughter of Charles and
Mary Thompson. Mrs. Shattuck was born in Coleraine, June
11, 1815. Their children are Charles W., born March 25,
1837, a merchant in Shattuckville; Luther T., born Aug.
19, 1840, a commission merchant in New York; Elizabeth,
wife of Harvey Ingalls, born Nov, 14, 1843, resides in
Rhinebeck, N. Y.; John W., born Aug. 18, 1846, in
company with Luther T. in New York. Mrs.
Shattuck died Aug. 14, 1876.
Mr. Shattuck has filled
various positions of public trust. He was
twenty-one years a justice of the peace, and post-master
from 1837, for most of the time, to 1860. He was town
clerk for many years, and was elected a representative
to the State Legislature for the session of 1876. In polities he
is a Democrat ; in religion a Universalist. Few men of
Coleraine have been more closely identified with the
growth and up building of the town than has Mr. Shattuck.
Starting as a clerk in a store, then proprietor, afterward an owner in
a large cotton-mill; and following up the total loss of
the same, the result of years of labor, with a foresight
and pluck so characteristic of the New England
manufacturer, has enabled him to replace the property
much enlarged, and is now the honored proprietor of the
thriving hamlet to which he has given a name.
HON. GEORGE SHELDON. The
Sheldon family have been among the distinguished
in-habitants of the Connecticut Valley. The first of the
name who settled in Deerfield was Ensign John Sheldon,
in 1684. About 1698 he built the dwelling afterward
famous as the "Old Indian House," which was removed
about 1848.
The original Sheldon homestead passed into the
hands of the Hoyt family in 1743, a daughter of
Ebenezer, who was a son of Ensign Sheldon, having
married one of the family. Ebenezer was a
boy of thirteen years when his father's house was so
furiously assaulted by the French and Indians in 1704,
and he was taken prisoner and carried to Canada at that
time.
George Sheldon is of the
sixth generation from Ensign Sheldon, and was born on
the homestead, which has been in the family since 1703,
on the 30th of November, 1818. His father, Seth Sheldon,
was a farmer, and the young man worked on the farm until
he was twenty-one years of age, when an accident
disabled him from manual labor for some ten years of his
life.
His early education was obtained at the common
district school and at the Deerfield Academy, which he
attended during several winter
terms.
From 1853 to 1858 he was
employed in the Dwight Cotton-Mills, at Chicopee; but in
the latter year an injury received in a railway
collision compelled him to return to his father's, where
he subsequently took charge of the homestead for a
number of years, until about 1868, when he relinquished
it to his son-in-law.
From the last mentioned date
to the present Mr. Sheldon has been engaged a large
portion of his time in literary and antiquarian
pursuits, and has contributed many interesting and
valuable chapters and papers from time to time on the
history and archaeology of the Connecticut Valley, in
which connection he occupies the foremost rank as a
collator and writer.
He was actively instrumental
in founding and organizing the " Pocomptuck Valley
Memorial Association," which assumed tangible form in
1870, and has been president of it since its
organization. Mr.
Sheldon has also held important civil positions. Has been
justice of the peace in his native town for fifteen or
twenty years ; was a member of the Massachusetts House
of Representatives in 1867, and of the State Senate in
1872. He married, June 11, 1844, Susan Stewart, daughter
of John F. Stearns, Esq., of Dummerston, Vt. He has two
children,-a son and daughter. The son is in business in
Greenfield, and the daughter and her family live on the
homestead with her father.
Few places in the Union can
compare with the quaint and quiet old town of Deerfield
in the richness of its historical memories. For many
years succeeding 1690 it was the grand objective point
in Western New England against which the northern enemy
directed his mingled white and dusky battalions, and the
stories of its burnings and massacres are among the most
thrilling and interesting in our
annals.
In this rich field Mr. Sheldon has
ample scope for the full employment of his powers ; and
if his life and health continue, the results of his
labors will no doubt be highly appreciated by the coming
generations.
SOLOMON SMEAD, during a long
and a honorable life, was thoroughly identified with the
business interests of Franklin County, and especially
with Shelburne and the neighboring towns. He was born in
Ashfield in
1792. He was the son of Elihu Smead and Mercy Bardwell
Smead, who were born in Deerfield. She was a descendant
of, and was named for, Mercy Sheldon, who was taken
prisoner by the Indians, when that town was destroyed,
in 1704.
The parents of Solomon Smead
began life in a very humble way, as frugality and
industry were necessary to support and care for so large
a family, fifteen children being born to them. In the early
life of the subject of this sketch, the family removed
to Shelburne. Upon arriving there the father commenced
the manufacture of leather and of boots and shoes on a
small scale. But by indomitable energy and perseverance
the capital was increased and business was extended to
other branches of industry, bringing both patronage and
money into his hands. He was a man of strong mind and
conservative character. He expected his son and all
connected with him to do their part in adding to the
comfort and well-being of the family. The youthful life
of the son was like that of most New England hoys of his
time,-the pure, quiet, uneventful lift; of a New England
farm, surrounded by those healthful influences and good
examples of patient industry which have molded many a
sterling character upon the New England hills. His
education was that of the common school, the church, and
the family. Upon attaining his majority he was admitted
as a partner with his father, which partnership
continued during the life of the latter. By close
attention to business conducted upon the strict
principles of justice and integrity, this firm was more
than usually prosperous, and at the time of the father's
death, in 1840, a large property had been
accumulated.
Mr. Solomon Smead continued
to carry on the same business, and, by the thoroughness
and system which had been inculcated from his earliest
years, he was enabled not only to carry it on
successfully, but to add to it the manufacture of
lumber. Meanwhile, he was gaining friends and increasing
in influence and prosperity.
In 1826 he married Miss
Dorinda Dole, youngest daughter of Capt. Parker Dole and
Anna Trowbridge Dole, and was peculiarly happy in his
domestic life. Capt. Dole was an influential farmer of
the town and a nephew of Dr. Dole, who was killed by the
British in their attack upon Dorchester
Heights.
Mrs. Smead was one of the
most dignified ladies in the vicinity, exercising a firm
but quiet influence upon the society in which she moved.
Their success in subsequent years was largely due to her
cheerful helpfulness and self-denying exertions. This
union was blessed with a son and two daughters, who were
given a good education. The son, Elihu Smead, was
associated with his father in business in his later
years. He married Miss E. G. Wright, a teacher in
Boston, and daughter of Prescott Wright, Esq., of
Westford. In 1872 he became a merchant in Newton, Mass.,
where the family have resided since that time. The elder
daughter, A. Amelia Smead, graduated at Mount Holyoke
Seminary, South Hadley, and was a teacher at Lake Erie
Seminary, Painesville, Ohio, and afterward associate
principal at the Michigan Female Seminary, Kalamazoo,
Michigan. She is now (1879) at home with her mother. The
younger daughter, Jennie W. Smead, graduated at Lake
Erie Seminary, Painesville, Ohio, and was a teacher at
the Michigan Female Seminary, Kalamazoo, Mich. She
married Mr. L. L. Pierce, of Worcester. Mr. and Mrs.
Smead recognized for their family the importance of a
thorough education ; both, in this and in their home
life, kept abreast with New England progress, thought,
and culture. The home of the family in Shelburne was a
model New England country home. The true spirit of unity
and affectionate co-operation for the common good
pervaded it.
The business, domestic, and social interests of
each member of the family were known to all. With
natural industry and economy for a foundation,
supplemented by steady, persistent effort and thrifty
care of honest earnings, the sure reward of such
industry followed, and Mr. Smead was able to enjoy, with
his family, in his later years,-indeed, through most of
his life,-conveniences and comforts in his home far
beyond those enjoyed by the average New Englander in
rural neighborhoods, and to leave to those he loved a
comfortable fortune. He was
interested in financial institutions in Shelburne Falls
and Greenfield. Was active in the organization of the
bank in former place, and a director until his
death. He
held many of the elective offices of the town, and was
chosen on many committees to oversee its business, in
all of which he honored the town and gained respect for
himself. In
business he was strictly just; thoroughly systematic
himself and punctual in keeping all his business
engagements, he admired such qualities in others. He
believed in doing business in a business way, and
strictly in accordance with the best business rules. He
was always ready to aid, both by means and influence,
any who desired his assistance, either in establishing
business or in obtaining an education, provided they
showed a readiness to make the most of the means at
command. He was never a speculator; but, as he was able
to accumulate property, besought to invest it where the
element of safety was most prominent, never being
tempted to unwise risks by the promise of large income.
The strictest integrity characterized all his dealings
with his fellow-men, and he had no patience with
dishonesty and deception in others. He abhorred shams of
every kind. Broad and charitable in his religious views,
thoroughly devotional in his life, he was never wedded
to any narrowness of doctrine or creed. Religion was
with him an abiding principle, not the fitful vagary of
an excited imagination. His was the religion of the
Bible, and he acknowledged its claims, reverently bowed
to its teachings, and was rewarded by its abundant
consolations.
Always quiet and dignified, Mr. Smead was never
as demonstrative in the manifestation of his emotions
and affections as many men. But they were none the less
strong, pure, and true. With extreme modesty, combined
with courtesy to all, he lived more for others than for
himself. His own pleasure was an incident rather than an
end. He was ardent, yet careful in expressing
disapprobation of anything which his principles of
morality would not approve.
Even before temperance
societies existed he was a thorough temperance man in
practice as well as in theory. His habits of life were
extremely simple and unostentatious. Hence, at the
advanced age of seventy-seven, he stood as erect and had
as much vigor and strength as are usually found in
persons much younger.
In politics he was a member
of the old Whig party, whose leader in Massachusetts was
Daniel Webster, whom he, in common with others, held in
that esteem which is akin to veneration. In his
political views he was clear and reliable; without
offensively thrusting his opinions upon any one, he was
yet no coward in the utterance of the sentiments he
thought right. When the Whig party was merged into the
Republican in Massachusetts, he acted with the
latter. He
was opposed to slavery, and a consistent and zealous
defender of the rights of man. At the outbreak of the
Rebellion he took an active part in its repression,
using his influence and means to raise money and to fit
men for the field.
Mr. Smead was a fond and devoted husband and
father and a genial companion, always delighting in the
society of the young, enjoying heartily the
companionship of friends, and taking a deep interest in
everything that had for its motive the good of the
community in which he lived. Possessing by nature a
sanguine temperament and a healthy mind and body, he was
fitted to be a good neighbor and citizen. Few who met
him only in ordinary business life knew of the peculiar
tenderness of his inner nature. Those who had the
pleasure of knowing him intimately, who have known
something of the life, of his home, and of his kindly
interest in friends not of his own blood whom he had
come to confidently trust and love, remember with
pleasure many manifestations of his deep and tender
affection. He loved to deal with those he believed to be
honest and true. Those who held such a place in his
regard remember him as kind, accommodating, free to
offer friendly counsel and aid. Many feel
that a measure of their own success in life is due to
the purity of his example,-to his wise counsel and his
timely aid when the only guarantee they could offer him
was evidence of industrious habits, integrity of
character, and an honest purpose in life. Mr. Smead died April 25, 1869, at the age of
seventy-seven, in the home in Shelburne where the whole
of his business and domestic life had been spent.
N. AUSTIN SMITH, eldest son
of Austin and Sallie Smith was born in Sunderland
Franklin Co., Mass., Feb. 13, 1821. His grandfather
Elihu Smith, of Hadley, married Anna Belden, of Whately,
by whom he had three sons and on daughter, viz., Austin,
Elihu, Horace, and Lucretia. Austin was born
in Hadley in October 1799, and removed to Sunderland
March 29, 1820.
He was a farmer, and took a prominent part in the
interests of the town and community in which he lived;
held a number of town offices, and was a member of the
Congregational Church for many years. He married
Sallie M., daughter of John Montague, and adopted
daughter of Nathaniel Smith. The members of
her family were remarkable for longevity. She had three
sisters who lived to be over eighty-five years of age,
and one of them lived to be
ninety.
The subject of this notice
had two brothers and two sisters. His eldest
brother, Elihu, born April 11, 1823, is now a banker in
Worthington, Minn.; John M., born July 6, 1826, resides
in Sunderland; Thankful G., born April 16, 1830, married
Dr. William M. Trow, now of Easthampton, and died Oct 1,
1869; Mary B., the youngest child, was born Jan. 26,
1834, and died Jan. 26, 1843.
N. Austin remained at home on
the farm until he reached his twentieth year, and in the
mean time received a good education in the common
schools and Williston Seminary. He then
commenced teaching school, which he continued during the
winter months for five years, the remainder of that time
being employed in farm labor. In his
twenty-sixth year he was married (Nov. 26, 1846) to
Clara J., daughter of Stephen Gunn, of Sunderland. To them has been
born one child, William Austin, who died in
infancy. He
has since adopted three children, James Melville, who is
now deceased, Austin D., and Emma. After his
marriage, Mr. Smith united with his brothers in farming
their father's place, which he continued until 1855,
when they made a division of the property, which was
afterward ratified in their father's
will.
Mr. Smith has always resided
in Sunderland, and has, during the greater part of his
life, been engaged in agricultural pursuits. He takes and
active interest in harvest clubs, etc.; is a member of
the Franklin and Hampshire Agricultural Societies, and
was president of the latter for two
years.
For forty-one years he has
been a member of the Congregational Society, and is also
an ardent and untiring worker in the Sabbath school, in
which he has been a teacher during the greater part of
forty years.
He has been elected to the offices
of selectman, assessor, member of school committee,
collector, and treasurer, and is regarded as one of
Sunderland's most enterprising citizens.
ZERI SMITH was born in the
town of Deerfield.
Franklin Co., Mass., June 17, 1814. His father
was born in the same town, Aug. 11,1786, and died March
13, 1835. His mother, Hannah (Wright) Smith, was born in
Montague, Nov. 17, 1785, and died in Northampton, July
13, 1871, at the advanced age of eighty-five
years.
Mr. Smith's educational
advantages were limited, being such only as were
afforded by the district schools. He remained at home
assisting his father until he was twenty years old, and
was then employed by the month in the manufacture of
brooms, in which he continued three years. In 1837 he
purchased the farm upon which he still resides, and
commenced farming and also the manufacture of brooms. He
continued in that business until 1843, when he abandoned
the broom manufacture and engaged in lumbering, and
furnished the lumber for the first aqueduct built in the
city of Springfield for supplying the public with
water.
In 1852 he commenced raising tobacco, and was
among the first in the town to introduce its
cultivation. In I860 he commenced buying tobacco for New
York parties, whom he still
serves.
In his earlier business
attempts he met with reverses, but by industry and
perseverance he has in later years achieved the success
he deserves. For the past three years he has been
assessor of Deerfield. and has also been a member of the
school board one term.
In politics he was formerly a
Whig, but is now a Republican, and takes an active
interest in all the questions of the
day.
Although not a member of any
church, he is charitable, public-spirited, a good
citizen, and is respected by all who know
him.
He was married, Jan. 13,1841,
to Lavinia Rice, who was born in Conway, Jan. 24, 1815.
By this union he had three children, two of whom are
living. Mrs. Smith died Nov. 29, 1858. He married his
present wife, Clarissa A. Jeffords, June 21, 1860. She
was born in Hinsdale, N. H., Sept 10, 1825. His children
are Henrietta L., born Sept. II, 1843, and died Jan. 9,
1844; Edgar M., born Aug. 12, 1845 and Clarence E.,
born Jan.
5, 1851. The elder son is married, and lives on
an adjoining farm. The younger resides with his
father.
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