Harper's New Monthly Magazine
November, 1871.

A New England Village.

of Edwards's dismission to take the presidency of the college at Princeton, about six years after he came to Stockbridge, the Indians numbered but forty-two families, while the white families had increased to eighteen. Stockbridge was no longer the Indian settlement it had been. The Indians seem to have felt the growing preponderance of the whites and though the latter were entirely friendly, and even devoted to the interests of the red men, the latter were soon ready to accept an invitation from the Oneidas, and relinquish their home in Berkshire for one in the neighborhood of their brethren in New York.        Still, while the Indians remained, the miss1ionary work in their behalf was unremitted. Soon after Edwards's removal to Princeton, the Commissioners joined with the people of Stockbridge in inviting Rev. Stephen West to become his successor. For several years he preached, as his predecessors had done, both to the whites and the natives. But as it became difficult to secure a proper interpreter, and the white population was rapidly increasing, so as to be able to support a pastor independently of the colony and the Commissioners, by whom Sergeant and Edwards had been chiefly supported, in the year 1775, Dr. West, sixteen years after his settlement, gave up the instruction of the Indians to Rev. John Sergeant, son of the first missionary, who perfectly understood the Indian language, and who continued to be the minister and teacher of the natives, both at Stockbridge and after their removal to their new home in New York, until the time of his death in 1824, at the age of seventy-seven.        With this relinquishment of his care of the Indians by Dr. West, about the time of the declaration of our national independence, Stockbridge may be said to have become a white settlement. The Indians remained at Stockbridge ten years after this period, but their church was removed from the centre of the village to a place a mile westward, and they were gradually selling their lands to the whites, thus in every way admitting the ascendency of the latter. And thus gradually, with little that was known to the world at large, a great change was wrought in the character and relations of that beautiful spot upon the Housatonic. One race silently gives way to another, barbarism to civilization, and the foundations are seen to be laid already for one of our most prosperous, influential, and distinguished New England villages.        Dr. West, the successor of Sergeant and Edwards, was, like them, a man of mark, and must ever stand forth as a central figure among the people of Stockbridge. Like Edwards, he was fitted to be the teacher and the influential leader of tile most cultivated and the best educated. And he found himself among such at Stockbridge. Though comparatively small in numbers when he came to it, his parish comprised those choice families which had been called in from various parts of the colony at the beginning of the mission to be the companions and, in an important sense, the helpers of Sergeant. To them had been added from time to time others of like character. Joseph Woodbridge, brother of Timothy, the early assistant of Sergeant in the school, had come in. Brigadier-General Dwight, a graduate of Harvard College, and subsequently judge of the Berkshire courts, was now a citizen of Stockbridge. Here were also Colonel Thomas and Ephraim Williams, relatives of that other Colonel Williams, afterward founder of Williams College, who was also one of the earliest white inhabitants of Stockbridge. Here, also, was Judge John Bacon, in early life pastor of the Old South Church in Boston, and in later life member of Congress, and judge of the Common Pleas. Here was Hon. Theodore Dwight, a brother of President Dwight, of Yale College. Here, also, were Henry W. Dwight, a son of Brigadier-General Dwight, and his eminent sons after him. And here, also, was Theodore Sedgwick, long so eminent as Representative and Senator in the State and national councils, and as judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He was often said to "govern Congress," and his name as judge is honorably connected with one of the earliest decisions in our country against slavery. His own eminence, and that of his children, especially that of Catharine, the authoress of "Hope Leslie," have associated the name of Sedgwick abidingly with Stockbridge as with no other place.        Such, not to speak of other distinguished residents, was Stockbridge when Dr. West became its minister, or during his pastorate there. A society in which such names were found could not be other than marked among surrounding communities. In this society Dr. West held his position as a leader during the long period of sixty years. He commanded the respect of all by his superior abilities of mind and excellences of heart. In social life he was gentle and tender as a woman, and no one was more welcome to every house. The children were attracted to him, and regarded him as at the same time their friend and protector. The story is told, even, of a boy in a neighboring town who, having to pass through a dark and lonely wood at dusk with his cows, solaced his fears by saying constantly, "Old Dr. West, old Dr. West," feeling sure that with such a charm no harm would come to him.        The doctor wore the three-cornered hat, the bands at the neck, and the small-clothes of the olden time, and, being small in stature at the best, his bodily presence was 824 | Previous Page | Next Page | | Berkshire County Home |