History of Westhampton, (Hampshire County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Justin Edwards, clergyman, was born in Westhampton, Mass., April 25, 1787. He was descended from Alexander (1655-1690), through Samuel, who died in 1749. He was graduated at William in 1810; studied at Andover theological seminary, 1811-12; was ordained Dec. 2, 1812, and had charge of the south parish, Andover, 1812-27. He then preached at the Salem street church, Boston, 1828-29. He was a member of the executive committee of the American tract society, 1817-21; corresponding secretary and business manager, 1824-29; helped to organize the American society for the promotion of temperance in 1825, and was its first agent, 1825-27. He resigned the pastorate of the Salem street church in 1829 and engaged as secretary of the American temperance society, 1829-36, in travelling and lecturing in various parts of the country. He then served as president of Andover theological seminary, 1836-42. He was secretary of the American and foreign Sabbath school union, Boston, 1842-49, and organized the first temperance society in Washington, D.C. He was married to Lydia Bigelow of Andover. He received the degree of D.D. from Yale in 1827. His published works include numerous sermons, tracts and addresses of which millions of copies were distributed. He also edited Journal of the Temperance Society and published Sabbath Manual and Temperance Manual. A memoir of his life by the Rev. William Hallock was published by the American tract society in 1855. He died at Bath Alum Springs, Va., July 24, 1853.

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

Sylvester Judd, antiquary, was born in Westhampton, Mass., April 23, 1789; son of Sylvester Judd, and grandson of the Rev. Jonathan Judd, of Southamton, Mass., the first clergyman of the place. He received a common-school education and found employment in his father's store in Westhampton, where he spent his leisure time in studying languages, history and mathematics. He was married about 1808 to Apphia, daughter of Aaron Hall, of Norwich. He became a partner in the store in 1808; represented the town in the general court for several years; and removed to Northampton in 1822, where he was editor and proprietor of the Hampshire Gazette. He gave much attention to botany and geology and to the local history of the towns of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He published: Thomas Judd and his Descendants (1856), and during his lifetime he prepared the manuscript for a History of Hadley, published posthumously, with a note on the author's life (1863). He died in Northampton, Mass., April 18, 1860.

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

Sylvester Judd, author, was born in Westhampton, Mass., July 23, 1813; son of Sylvester and Apphia (Hall) Judd. He removed to Northampton in 1822 with his parents, and attended the Hawley grammar school and subsequently Westfield and Hopkins academies. He was graduated from Yale in 1836, meanwhile teaching school in New Haven, Conn., to meet his college expenses. He declined a professorship at Miami (Ohio) college in 1836, and entered the Harvard Divinity school, where he was graduated B.D. in 1840. He supplied the pulpit of Unitarian churches in Augusta, Maine, and Deerfield, Mass., and was ordained pastor of East parish, afterward Christ church, Augusta, Maine, Oct. 1, 1840, where he remained until 1853. He was opposed to intemperance, war, and capital punishment; and in his later years devoted his efforts to spreading the idea that children should be regarded as members of the church from the time of their birth. While in the Harvard Divinity school he wrote and published a book entitled: A Young Man's Account of his Conversion from Calvinism. He subsequently published: Margaret, a Tale of the Real and Ideal (1845; rev. eds., 1851 and 1856); Philo, an Evangeliad (1850); Richard Edney and the Governor's Family (1850); The White Hills, an American Tragedy (MS. 1851); The Church in a Series of Discourses (1854), and also contributed to the liberal religious press. He died in Augusta, Maine, Jan. 26, 1853.

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

Nathan Hale, journalist, was born in Westhampton, Mass., Aug. 16, 1784; son of the Rev. Enoch and Octavia (Throop) Hale; and a nephew of Nathan Hale (1755-1776). His father, Enoch, was the first minister at Westhampton, Mass., 1779-1837. Nathan was graduated at Williams college, A.B., in 1804, A.M., 1810; tutored at Phillips academy, Exeter, N.H., 1804-06; studied law in Troy, N.Y., and was admitted to the bar in Boston, Mass., in 1810. He practised his profession there, 1810-14; edited the Boston Weekly Messenger, and in March, 1814, purchased the Boston Daily Advertiser, which he edited, 1814-63. It was the first daily newspaper published in Boston; was in politics Federal, Whig and Republican; opposed the Missouri and Nebraska bills, 1820 and 1854, and was the pioneer newspaper in the east to advocate the free colonization of Kansas. Mr. Hale also edited and published the Monthly Chronicle, 1840-42, and as a member of the Anthology club, helped in 1815 to found the North American Review. He also helped to found the Christian Examiner in 1823. As acting chairman of the Massachusetts board of internal improvements in 1828, he directed public thought toward railways as available methods of transportation, and he was made the first president of the Boston & Worcester railroad, the first organization in New England to use steam power in propelling cars over railways. He continued at the head of the affairs of the road for nineteen years and was first president of the Boston & Albany road. He also advocated the introduction of water into the city of Boston and was chairman of the first board of water commissioners. He served in both branches of the state legislature and as a delegate to the state constitutional conventions of 1820 and 1858. He was married in 1816 to Sarah Preston, sister of Edward Everett. They had children: Nathan, journalist; Lucretia Peabody, author; Susan, artist; Charles, diplomatist and editor; and Edward Everett, author and clergyman. Mr. Hale was a member of the American academy of arts and sciences and of the Massachusetts historical society. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1853. He published a Map of New England (1825); Journal of Debates and Proceedings in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (1821); besides pamphlets relating to transportation and the practicability of railroads as compared with canals and means of supplying transportation to internal inter-commerce. He was at the time of his death the oldest editor in Massachusetts and except the Hon. John Prentiss of Keene, N.H., the oldest in New England. He died in Boston, Mass., Feb. 9, 1863.

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