5 or 6 years of the first settlement. The first meeting-house was erected in 1757, and stood till 1796, when a new one was built. The site is nearly in the center of the town, and the house is literally founded on a rock. The church was formed in 1756. Rev. Cornelius Jones, a native of Bellingham, and a graduate of Harvard College in 1752, was the first minister in the place. He was ordained at the time the church was organized. The place of the transactions of the day, for the want of a more convenient place, was a barn. The first President Edwards, then settled over the Stockbridge Indians, was moderator of the council, and preached the ordination sermon. There are two Baptist churches in this town, though the meeting-house of the second society is in the N. W. corner of Otis. The first was organized Aug. 21, 1779. Their first pastor was Elder Joshua Morse, who was ordained Oct. 2, of the same year. The second Baptist church, consisting of 19 members, was constituted April 25, 1788. Mr. Benjamin Baldwin, a native of Otis, was ordained over this church June 9, 1790. This town was incorporated in 1762, and now includes the original township of Sandisfield, and the tract formerly called the south 11,000 acres. This tract was incorporated as a district in 1797, and annexed to Sandisfield in 1819. The length of the township is about 9 miles and the breadth six. The surface is hilly; the hills rise to a considerable height, but not abrupt, they being mostly large swells. A considerable mountain rises, however, on the western bank of Farmington river, in the S. E. section of the town, known by the name of Hanging mountain. It is 450 feet in height above the bank, and presents to the S. E. a mural perpendicular front. This town was originally Indian hunting-ground. In clearing a piece of wood-land a few years ago, a large number of arrow-heads of stone were found carefully deposited between two rocks, probably placed there ages ago. It does not appear that the town was ever an Indian settlement. This town is 20 miles S. E. by E. of Lenox, and 112 W. by S. of Boston. Population, 1,493. SAVOY. THE general court, in 1770 or 71, granted to Col. William Bullock, of Rehoboth, agent for the heirs of Capt. Samuel Gallop and company, a township of land 6 miles square, in consideration of the services and sufferings of the said Gallop and company in an expedition into Canada in 1690, in King William's war. The greater part of this grant composes the present town of Savoy. The first family settled in this town in Sept., 1777, and within 10 years from that time 35 families were located in the place. Some of these were Lemuel Hatheway, Daniel Wetherell, William Wilbore, Zachariah Padelford, and Joseph, William, Thomas, and Joseph (jr.) Williams, from Taunton, John Bourn, Joseph Bishop, Comfort Bates, Abiel Dunham, Michael Sweet, and David Matthews, from Attleborough, and families of the names of Babbit, Shearman, Reed, Bennet, Ingraham, Nelson, Rogers, Fuller, Putney, and Heath, from other places. Public worship was early established in this town. Most of the people are Baptists, though there are some Methodists and Congregationalists. The Baptist church was organized June 24, 1787. Their first minister was Elder Nathan Haskins, a native of Shutesbury, ordained in 1789. The society built their meeting-house half a mile north of the hollow, in 1804. Savoy is a mountainous township, and a large portion of it too broken for cultivation. The best lands are in the north and east parts. The inhabitants are mostly farmers, who raise stock and keep large dairies. The village called Savoy village is in the south part of this town, on the north branch of the Westfield river. This little village consists of 2 churches, (1 Baptist, 1 Methodist,) 2 taverns, 2 stores, and about 15 dwelling-houses. Distance, 25 miles from Lenox, 7 from South Adams, 28 to Northampton, 29 to Greenfield, and 44 to Troy, N. Y. SHEFFIELD. As early as 1722, Joseph Parsons and 176 other persons within the county of Hampshire, petitioned the general court of Massachusetts for two townships of land on the river Housatonic_or Westbrook. This petition was granted Jan. 30, 1722-3, and a committee appointed for the purpose of making the purchase of the Indians, dividing the tract, granting lots, admitting settlers, &c. On the 25th of April, 1724, the committee made the purchase of the Indians and received from them a deed, "in consideration of £460, three barrels of cider, and thirty quarts of rum." This deed was signed and sealed by Konkepot and twenty other Indians at Westfield, before John Ashley, justice of the peace. The Indians in this deed reserved to themselves two small tracts, which on their removal, about 10 years after, they exchanged for land in Upper Housatonic, within the present town of Stockbridge. There were two or three small Indian settlements in this town, though but a few traces of them are now to be found. On a gravelly hillock in the north part of the town, in a tract which they reserved, it is supposed was their burying-place. Human bones were discovered in making the turnpike road through the town two and a half miles south of the meeting-house, on the rise of ground a few rods south of the turnpike gate, which led to the conclusion that this spot too was an Indian burying-place. In 1725, Capt. John Ashley and Capt. Ebenezer Pomroy, two of the committee, made a general division of the lower township, especially of the part lying upon the river; and soon after the place began to be settled by individuals from the county of Hamp shire, and mostly from the town of Westfield. In 1726 the settlers were subjected to much inconvenience and vexation by some of the Dutch inhabitants of the province of New York, who contested the titles to the lands. They were also subjected to privation through fear of the Indians, and were obliged for safety to picket in two or three dwellings in different parts of the town, to which they resorted to spend the night. In 1733 the lower township Housatonic was set off and incorporated as a town, eight miles long on the river, and wide enough to include 7 square miles; and was named Sheffield, probably from Sheffield in England. It extended north to Great Barrington bridge. In 1761 the town was reduced to its present limits, 8 miles in length and 7 in breadth. Among the first settlers of this town were those of the name of Noble, Austin, Westover, Kellogg, Pell, Callender, Corban, Huggins, Smith, Ingersoll, Dewey, Root, &c., in all about 60, who had their lands, from 250 to 1,000 acres each, confirmed to them by the committee. Mr. Obadiah Noble, from Westfield, was the first white man who resided in the town. He spent the first winter here with no other human being than the Indians. In spring he went back to Westfield, and in June returned with his daughter. The first church in this town was organized on the 22d of Oct., 1735. Mr. Jonathan Hubbard, of Sunderland, and a graduate of Yale College, was ordained their pastor on the same occasion. The people had built a meetinghouse the summer previous, 45 feet by 35. This house stood till 1762, when a new one was erected. The engraving above is a view of the Congregational church (the only church in the town) and some other buildings in the central part of the town, with the east mountain in the distance. The first meeting-house stood about half a mile north of the present house, near the house of Mr. Hubbard, the first minister, which is still standing and occupied by his son. This place is 20 miles from Lenox, 28 from Hudson, 28 from Litchfield, 48 from Hartford, and about 125 from Boston. Population, 2,308. A Baptist church was formed in this town on the 7th of July, 1825, with 15 members. There are a few Episcopalians and Methodists in the town. The town includes an extensive vale, and, except on the east, is generally level. In that part there is an extensive chain of considerable hills, extending from one end of the township to the other. On the west it is mountainous: Taconic, or Mount Washington, as this part of the Taconic range is more generally called, is about 2500 feet in height, and presents a magnificent spectacle. A part of this mountain is within the limits of Sheffield. This town affords great abundance of white marble, and much of excellent quality. The soil of the township is generally productive, and in the vale easily tilled. Large quantities of hay are easily obtained from the extensive intervals lying upon the river. The Housatonic, which passes through the length of the town, is here a silent, sluggish stream, from 6 to 8 rods in breadth. From this town it passes into Connecticut, and, flowing through the western part of the state, empties into Long Island Sound between Milford and Stratford, 13 miles west of New Haven. The following singular occurrences are said to have taken place near the boundary line between Massachusetts and Connecticut. Part of these occurrences took place in this town, and part in the adjoining town of Salisbury, in Connecticut. The relation of these circumstances was obtained from Mr. S. Sage and his family, who are still living on the spot, (June, 1836,) and could be corroborated by great numbers of people now living: "These occurrences commenced Nov. 8th, 1802, at a clothier's shop. A man and two boys were in the shop; the boys had retired to rest, it being between 10 and 11 o'clock at night. A block of wood was thrown through the window; after that, pieces of hard mortar, till the man and boys became alarmed, and went to the house to call Mr. Sage, who arose from bed and went to the shop, and could hear the glass break often, but could not discover from whence it came, notwithstanding the night was very light. He exerted himself to discover the cause without success. It continued constantly till day-light, and then ceased till the next evening at 8 o'clock, when it commenced again, and continued till midnight; then ceased till the next evening at dusk, and continued till some time in the evening, and then ceased. The next day it commenced about an hour before sun-down, and continued about an hour, and then it left the shop and began at the dwelling-house of Mr. Ezekiel Landon, 100 rods north, in the town of Sheffield. It continued several hours, and ceased till the next morning: when the family were at breakfast it began again, and continued two or three hours, and ceased till evening, when it began again and continued several hours, and ceased till the next morning, when it began again and con tinued all the forenoon, and then ceased altogether. The articles thrown into the shop were pieces of wood, charcoal, stone. but principally pieces of hard mortar, such as could not be found in the neighborhood. Nothing but stones were thrown into the house of Mr. Landon, the first of which were thrown into the door. There were 38 panes of glass broke out of the shop, and 18 out of the dwelling houses: in two or three instances persons were hit by the things that were thrown. What was remarkable, nothing could be seen coming till the glass broke, and whatever passed through, fell directly down on the window-sill, as if it had been put through with a person's fingers, and many pieces of mortar and coal were thrown through the same hole in the glass in succession. Many hundreds of people assembled to witness the scene, among whom were clergymen and other gentlemen, but none were able to detect the source of the mischief. The more credulous readily believed it to be witchcraft, but it was generally thought to be some slight of hand, effected by a combination of individuals, as the windows were broken on different sides of the buildings nearly at the same time." The following inscriptions are taken from monuments in the grave-yards in this place. Sacred to the memory of Jonathan Hubbard, and Mrs. Rachel Hubbard his consort, this monument is erected. The Rev. J. Hubbard was the first pastor of the church in Sheffield. He was blessed with a lively genius and solid judgment. His public discources were judicious, and his conversation instructive. He departed this life July 6th, 1765, in the 62d year of his age. Our Fathers where are they? and do the Prophets live forever? Beneath this stone lies the body of the Rev. John Keep, A. M., pastor of the church in Sheffield, who died Sept. 3d, A. D. 1784, Ætat. 36, et ministerii 13, calmly resigning his mortal life in hope of a blessed immortality thro' the atonement of Jesus Christ. He was blessed with natural genius improved by education, and a benevolent heart, and was illustrious as a Divine, a Preacher, a Friend and a Christian. When Suns and Planets from their orbs be hurl'd And livid flames involve this smoking world; Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Ephraim Judson, Pastor of the church in Sheffield. He died on the 23d of February, A. D. 1813, in the 76th year of his age, and 23d of his ministry in Sheffield, having been previously the pastor of the church in Norwich, and also in Taunton. Mr. Judson was esteemed as a learned divine, an acute logician, and an evangelical preacher. He was mild, courteous, and hospitable. By his numerous friends he was deemed a wise counsellor, an active peace-maker, & a sincere christian. What he was in Truth, the Great Day will disclose. Here lies deposited the body of Major General John Ashley, who died Nov. 5, 1799, in the 64th year of his age. Make the extended skies your tomb, Let stars record your worth; Yet know vain mortals all must die, As natures sickliest birth. This monument is erected to perpetuate the memory of Col. John Ashley, who departed this life Sept. 1st, 1802, in the 93d year of his age. Virtue alone has majesty in death, And triumphs most when most the tyrant frowns; And dust to dust concludes her noblest song. STOCKBRIDGE. THIS town was originally laid out by the general government of the state in 1735, for the accommodation of the Indians. In the year previous a mission was commenced among the Housatonic Indians by Mr. John Sergeant, then a candidate for the ministry, assisted by Mr. Timothy Woodbridge as schoolmaster, under the patronage of the board of commissioners for Indian affairs in Boston, of which his excellency Jonathan Belcher, then British governor of Massachusetts, was an active and influential member. At that time about half of these Indians lived in the |