Boston in the intervals afforded by his military duties, engaged, with other officers of the Louisburg expedition, in pressing their claims upon the consideration of the British Government through correspondents and agents in London. The matter lingered long, and was never determined to the satisfaction of the officers, who finally, in individual instances at least, appealed with no better success to the General Court. Such was the story of that one of the early settlers of Pittsfield who had the best opportunity to make a subsistence as a soldier during the interruption of the plantation by the war which closed with the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in the summer of 1748. Ilow it fared with those who enlisted in the ranks may be inferred from the following extract from a representation made to Gen. Dwight by the captains of his regiment in behalf of the private soldiers, at the close of their term of service. After reciting other "particulars in which they conceived themselves injured," the memorial proceeds: "In regard to their pay: as these levies were raised for a particular expedition, they expected, as according to proclamation, to receive the King's pay; so, as they were marching forces, 6d. per day, clear of any stoppages. But, by his Excellency's letter, they perceive they are to be paid as garrison-soldiers at the very lowest establishment in the nation, which is very distressing to them; many of them having been obliged to expend much more for clothing since they have been enlisted in said service than the amount of their pay, and must return to their families without any thing for their relief and support, and, indeed, without a penny in their pockets to carry them home, after having marched hundreds of miles at their own or their officers' expense, in obedience to your orders."1 1 The story narrated in the preceding pages, so far as it is of a local character, is collected from original letters, orders, and memorials in the T. C. and L. Collections. Return of the Pioneers. CHAPTER IV. PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. [1749-1754.] - The First White Woman in Poontoosuck, and her Trials. David Bush. - Nathaniel Fairfield. - Alone in the Woods. A Bridal Tour in 1752.- Zebediah Stiles. - Charles Goodrich. - Partition of the Commous made and annulled. - Col. Williams settles on Unkamet Street. His Property there. The Plantation organized. Powers of Plantations. - Votes with regard to Mecting-house, Preaching, Bridges, and Highways. Bridge built. Propositions for a Saw and Grist Mill. THE The First IIE peace introduced by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, although brief and troubled, enabled the settlers of Poontoosuck to gain a foothold upon its soil, which was never afterwards wholly relinquished. Only the purchasers of the forty lots sold by Livingston participated in the abortive labors of 1745; and these, with such changes as time had wrought among them, and joined by the three buyers of Huston's gift, returned in the summer of 1749, to "find that their clearing and girdling were of little or no advantage to them, as the young growth had covered the ground in a surprising manner." 2 In the same year, Col. Stoddard having died in 1748, his widow, Madame Prudence, was, upon the petition of Col. Wendell, authorized by the General Court to act for her minor children in disposing of the seventeen rights which remained unsold, and in all matters which pertained to "bringing forward the settlement." In June, the joint proprietors of the township, who now by inheritance and purchase had increased to thirteen, appointed Col. Oliver Partridge of Hatfield their agent, who sold several lots; 1 Mem. of Col. Wendell, Mass. Ar., V. cxv. p. 504. among which were two to David Bush, which extended from South Street, along Honasada, one hundred and sixty rods. Jacob Ensign, in 1752, purchased Lot 29, North, through which Beaver Street now runs. Col. Williams received by gift No. 31, in the same range. Among those whom tradition points out as engaged in the settlement of 1749, are David Bush, Solomon Deming, Nathaniel Fairfield, Gideon Gunn, Timothy Cadwell, David Ashley, and Samuel Taylor. So, also, there is reason to believe, were Daniel Hubbard, Stephen Crofoot, Simeon Crofoot, Jesse Sackett, Josiah Wright, Hezekiah Jones, Abner and Isaac Dewey, and Elias Willard. By these pioneers, and others whose names cannot now be ascertained, the busy scenes of the previous occupation were renewed, with chastened hopes, and forebodings yet more sombre than had haunted them six years before: for all the tidings which reached them betokened how hollow and treacherous was the peace which had been patched up at Aix-la-Chapelle; while they well knew that the emissaries of France were tempting the savages of their own neighborhood, who as yet gave no sufficient assurance of resisting their wiles. Many indeed, even of the Mohegans, found delight and profit in enhancing the value of their alliance with the English by exaggerating their inclination to transfer it to their enemies. But by the summer of 1752, which is usually accounted the birth-year of Pittsfield, some of the settlers had log-cabins ready to receive their families. And first came Solomon Deming, from Wethersfield, with his wife Sarah behind him on the pillion. She was a maiden of seventeen when Solomon first essayed to provide them a dwelling-place in the wilderness of the Green Mountains. Now a brave young good-wife of twenty-six, she entered Poontoosuck, the first white woman who ever called it hone.1 1 The town of Pittsfield has erected a neat obelisk of marble to the memory of Mrs. Deming, in the little burial-ground on Honasada Street, near the spot where she fixed her home in 1752. The following inscriptions embody the traditions handed down regarding her: SOUTH SIDE. This monument is erected by the town of Pittsfield to commemorate the heroism and virtues of its first female settler, and the mother of the first white child born within its limits. - Surrounded by tribes of hostile Indians, she defended, in more than Mr. Deming's farm was on the north side of IIonasada Street, in the eastern outskirts of the township, a region much frequented by the Indians, who were accustomed to make themselves a terror and an annoyance to the wives of the settlers, calling at their cabins in the absence of the men, and, with insolent threats, demanding food and drink. It was considered impolitic, in the precarious state of public affairs, to offend the red nuisances by well-deserved punishment; and the only recourse one to which only the bolder dames dared resort - was to shut and bolt the door in their impudent faces: and this was probably the extent of the defence against the savages commemorated by Mrs. Deming's monument; for nothing more serious occurred between the natives and the settlers, except in a single instance. David Bush, a native of Westfield, where his ancestors had long resided, purchased, as has been related, the two lots, 16 and 17 South. He was one of the more "well-to-do" settlers, and was the first to commence a clearing in 1749, on which he "had cut several tons of hay before the first white woman came to town." The honor of first penetrating the soil of Pittsfield with a plough is claimed both for Capt. Bush and Nathaniel Fairfield; but, as is the case with most claims of priority based upon tradition, there is nothing to determine which is rightly entitled to it, if either be. Nathaniel Fairfield's early connection with the settlement is, however, sufficiently noteworthy. He was born at Boston in 1730; and his father, who had a large family, having suffered severe pecuniary losses, he was adopted by a Mr. Dickinson of Westfield; but in 1748, at the age of eighteen, becoming impatient to seek his own fortune, although war still lingered on the border, he went with Dan Cadwell' to examine the settlinglots at Poontoosuck, and probably other land in that vicinity. one instance, unaided, the lives and property of her family, and was distinguished for the courage and fortitude with which she bore the dangers and privations of a pioneer life. Sarah Deming, born at Wethersfield, Conn., February, 1726. Died in Pittsfield, March, 1818, aged 92. EAST. A mother of the Revolution and a mother in Israel. WEST. - Sarah Deming, born in Wethersfield, Conn., Feb., 1726. Died in Pittsfield, Mass., March, 1818, aged 92 years. In 1745, Amos Root had sold one of the forty lots purchased of Livingston to Dan Cadwell, whose descendants still reside upon it, and retain the original deed conveying it to him. Before they were satisfied with their exploration, their provisions gave out, and Mr. Cadwell returned to Westfield for a fresh supply; leaving young Fairfield for three nights alone in the forest, as regarded white companions, but with a disagreeable co-tenantry of savages, whose unmusical voices he heard plainly on every side as he lay in the hollow log which served him for nightly lodging, and hiding-place by day.1 As a result of this exploration, he purchased lot No. 18 south, on the south-west corner of Wendell Square. Having built here his log-cabin and opened his clearing, Mr. Fairfield revisited Westfield, and, having married Miss Judith, returned in 1752, with his bride, to their new home. On this bridal tour, the story of which may serve for that of many that were made by the fathers and mothers of Pittsfield, the young couple were accompanied by a yoke of oxen, and a dray bearing their household goods; and, pursuing their way by the aid of marked trees, they reached the house of Solomon Deming on the third evening, and there passed the night. The traveller by the Western Railroad now makes the same journey in less than two hours; but it is not necessary to suppose that the trip of the Fairfields proved tedious. The region through which they came was designated, even in the formal descriptions of the conveyancer, by the pleasant name of "the green woods between Westfield and Poontoosuck;" and perhaps—since summer days are very genial the bridal party dallied a little leisure ly in the fragrant shade. In the same summer, Zebediah Stiles found companionship in a like humble home, on the corner of West and Onota Streets. Then, also, came Charles Goodrich, "driving the first cart and team which ever entered the town, and cutting his way through the woods for a number of miles." It is of tradition that he reached the last of the Hoosac summits which he had to pass, just at nightfall; and, fearful of missing the path if he attempted to proceed in the dusk, tied his horses to a tree, and kept guard over them all night against the wild beasts, walking around to prevent himself from falling asleep, and "munching" an apple, his sole remaining ration, for supper. Goodrich, who became one of 1 Family tradition. 2 The two branches of the Housatonic River form their junction in this lot, which lies on the south side of Honasada street, and just below the Pittsfield Cotton Mills. |