day. By the grave of General Bartlett stands a cross all covered with graceful hanging Southern moss. Below is a beautiful bed of flowers, cared for with a constant devotion, and by the same loving hands has been added a large natural rock, imbedded in the ground. On it is fixed a large tablet with this inscription: WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT, Brigadier General and Brevet Major General UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, June 6th, 1840. DIED IN PITTSFIELD, December 17th, 1876.       A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment.       A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation.       A Christian, strong in faith and charity,                   His life was an inspiration,                   His memory is a trust.       Pittsfield, although one of the largest towns in the country, is not ambitious to try a city form of government. Five years ago a charter was procured, but no action was taken upon it. There is no disposition on the part of those who favor the plan to force it into notice before public opinion is ripe on the subject. At the annual town meetings where a majority of the voters are present there have thus far been few attempts at unfair management. The best portion of the community take the most active share in the proceedings. Thus there exists a real Democracy, an inestimable educator of the people possible only among an energetic people, who, by inheritance, have acquired a love for the practical; in the absence of arbitrary government have been long accustomed to the use of political rights, and from their character combine in their thoughts and actions, reason with understanding and conscience with religious sentiment.       A review of the lives of these men, who made for the town its honorable history, brings prominently to one's mind the frequency of instances in which each gained by his own exertions his influence and reputation. It is one of the best criterions of excellent social and political institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who in 1799 brought his anvil to Pittsfield; George N. Briggs, who served as an apprentice four years, working for eight dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, who for five years travelled from town to town in Eastern New York, carrying on a trade with householders and country dealers; John Todd, who worked his way through college against poverty and ill-health; these are names that deserve to be handed down to following generations, to the end that their influence may still remain as an incitement to honest and unwearied efforts by successors ready to emulate, though not to imitate, the examples set before them. -- page 18 -- Previous Page | Menu | Town of Pittsfield Page | Berkshire County Western MA History & Genealogy

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