History of Stockbridge, (Berkshire County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Henry Williams Dwight, representative, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., Feb. 26, 1788; son of Henry Williams and Abigail (Welles), grandson of Gen. Joseph and Abigail (Williams), great-grandson of Capt. Henry and Lydia (Hawley), great-great-grandson of Timothy and Anna (Flint), and great-great-great-grandson of John and Hannah Dwight, immigrants to Dedham, Mass., 1634. His father was a soldier of the continental army and treasurer of Berkshire county, 1784-1804. Henry Williams was a student at Williams, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and became a lawyer in Stockbridge. He was married, Nov. 10, 1824, to Frances, daughter of the Hon. Samuel and Jemima (Lyman) Fowler. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1818 and again in 1834, and a representative in the 17th-21st congresses, 1821-31. He was an extensive farmer and among the first in America to import merino sheep and Devonshire cattle. He retired from the practice of law in 1837 and subsequently removed to New York city. He received the honorary degree of M.A. from Williams in 1822, and was a trustee of that institution, 1829-37. He died in New York city, Feb. 21, 1845.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Willlams Dwight, representative, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., Feb. 26, 1788; son of Henry Williams and Abigail (Welles), grandson of Gen. Joseph and Abigail (Williams), great-grandson of Capt. Henry and Lydia (Hawley), great-great-grandson of Timothy and Anna (Flint), and great-great-great-grandson of John and Hannah Dwight, immigrants to Dedham, Mass., 1634. His father was a soldier of the continental army and treasurer of Berkshire county, 1784-1804. Henry Williams was a student at Williams, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and became a lawyer in Stockbridge. He was married, Nov. 10, 1824, to Frances, daughter of the Hon. Samuel and Jemima (Lyman) Fowler. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1818 and again in 1834, and a representative in the 17th-21st congresses, 1821-31. He was an extensive farmer and among the first in America to import merino sheep and Devonshire cattle. He retired from the practice of law in 1837 and subsequently removed to New York city. He received the honorary degree of M.A. from Williams in 1822, and was a trustee of that institution, 1829-37. He died in New York city, Feb. 21, 1845.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Cyrus West Field, projector of the ocean telegraph, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., Nov. 30, 1819; son of the Rev. David Dudley and Submit (Dickinson) Field, and grandson of Captain Timothy Field and of Captain Noah Dickinson, officers in the American Revolution. He was educated at the village school and when fifteen years old began mercantile life as a clerk in the store of Alexander T. Stewart in New York city. In 1838 he became a travelling salesman for his brother, Matthew D. Field, who had a paper-mill at Lee, Mass., and in 1840 he established a paper-mill at Westfield, Mass. In October, 1840, he became junior partner in the commission paper house of E. Root & Co., in New York city. In December, 1840, he was married to Mary Bryan Stone of Guilford, Conn. In the spring of 1841 his firm failed and he set about to pay the debts and reinstate himself in business. He so far succeeded that in 1853 he paid off all the old indebtedness with seven per cent interest, left $100,000 remaining in the business and retired with what was considered at that time an ample fortune. He made a tour in South America, 1853-54, for the benefit of his health. An English telegraph engineer, Frederic W. Gisborne, under the patronage of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mullock of Newfoundland, had organized the Newfoundland electric telegraph company to establish telegraphic communication between Liverpool, Eng., and the west coast of Ireland and between New York and Newfoundland, the message to be carried across the ocean on fast-sailing vessels. This project had failed for want of means and Gisborne came to New York in January, 1854, to embark more capital in the project. Mr. Field became interested in the scheme through his brother, Matthew D., who was a civil engineer and encouraged the project. It was necessary to form submarine connection between Cape Breton and Newfoundland and this led Field to exclaim "If between these two points why not between Newfoundland and Ireland?" and the Atlantic cable was then first conceived. With Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts and Chandler White, he organized and obtained chartered rights for the New York, Newfoundland and London telegraph company and the incorporators subscribed $1,500,000 to the stock. For thirteen years Mr. Field devoted his entire time to the project, visiting Europe thrice each year, watching the manufacture and testing of cables and obtaining subscriptions from capitalists, concessions from Parliament, and advice from leading electricians and engineers. The Atlantic telegraph company was formed with a capital of $1,750,000, Mr. Field personally purchasing one-forth of the capital stock and selling three-fourths to English capitalists. In 1858 after one unsuccessful trial a cable was laid, but after a few, days it suddenly became useless. The civil war interfered with the immediate continuance of the project, but in 1866 the Great Eastern, after one partial failure, safely deposited a larger cable on the "telegraph plateau" or bed of the, ocean. The cable of 1865, which had parted in mid-ocean, was repaired and the Atlantic cable was a success. The congress of the United States voted Mr. Field a gold medal and the thanks of the nation; the prime minister of England declared that only the fact of his alienship prevented his receiving the highest honors in the power of the British government to give; the commissioners of the Paris exposition of 1867 gave him the grand medal, the highest prize they had to bestow; kings decorated him and states and cities vied with each other in doing him honor. While Mr. Field was employed with the cable his firm in the paper business failed in 1857, his warehouses were destroyed by fire in 1859, and the panic of 1860 forced him to compromise with his creditors. He again paid off his obligations and before the successful accomplishment of his projected scheme he had placed himself in good financial standing with the world. He afterward directed his energies toward projected submarine telegraphs between India, China, the Sandwich Islands. Allstralia and San Francisco, between the United States, Cuba, South America, and toward the solution of the question of rapid transit in New York city. He accomplished the construction of the New York elevated railroad and on May 16, 1877, owned a majority of the stock and was elected its president. Having demonstrated the practibility of the project and its value as a money-earner he was mercilessly robbed by his associate, to whom he trusted the control of the enterprise during his absence in Europe, and he was left during his declining years with a few shares of ocean telegraph stock and the semblance of ownership of his home, "Ardsley-on-the-Hudson," but even this was of no material benefit to his heirs. Severe domestic afflictions added to the distress of his closing days. His medals, decorations, plate, letters of congratulation and paintings, the souvenirs of his successful accomplishment in ocean telegraphy were deposited in the Metropolitan museum of art, New York city, and he was honored by election to fellowship in various learned societies in both Europe and America. Williams college conferred on him the honorary degree of A.M. in 1859 and that of LL.D. in 1875. He died at Ardsley, near Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., July 12, 1892.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Martyn Field, editor and author, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., April 3, 1822; son of the Rev. David Dudley and Submit (Dickinson) Field, and grandson of Captain Timothy Field and of Captain Noah Dickinson, officers in the American Revolution. He was graduated at Williams in 1838, studied theology and was installed pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Mo., in 1842. Resigning in 1847, he spent over a year in Europa and was in Paris at the Revolution in 1848, and stood in front of the Tuileries when it was being sacked by the mob. Returning to America he was settled over the Congregational church in West Springfield, Mass., 1851 to 1854, when he removed to New York, where he had purchased half of The Evangelist and afterward purchased the other half, becoming sole proprietor and editor. He travelled much abroad and wrote many books, the first of which was "The Irish Confederates, a History of the Rebellion of 1798," that appeared in 1851, and the next, "Summer Pictures from Copenhagen to Venice," in which he described a visit to Europe in 1858. In 1875-76 he made a journey round the world, which was the subject of two volumes, "From the Lakes of Killarney to the Golden Horn," and "From Egypt to Japan." In the autumn of 1881 he went abroad again, and in the following spring made a second visit to Egypt, and crossed the Desert to Mount Sinai, living in tents and riding on camels, and returned by "the great and terrible wilderness" to the Holy Land; which altogether furnished material for three volumes, that appeared one after the other, at intervals of two or three years, viz: "On the Desert," "Among the Holy Hills," and "The Greek Islands and Turkey after the War." His next route of travel was in another direction, to the southwest corner of Europe, to Spain and Gibraltar, from which he crossed over into Africa, an excursion which he repeated several years later, and out of which came three books: Old Spain and New Spain (1890); Gibraltar (1892); and The Barbary Coast; while home topics were treated in Blood Is Thicker Than Water, and Bright Skies and Dark Shadows, both giving his impressions of the southern states after the civil war; followed by Our Western Archipelago, in which he pictured Alaska as he saw it in the summer of 1894.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor