Image and text from Otsego county New York Geographical and Historical
by Edwin F Bacon, Ph B. 1902 Oneonta NY
| Page 54. PITTSFIELD. Area 22,584 acres. Population 1,101. Pittsfield was formed from Burlington in 1797. It retained its original dimensions until 1806, when the present town of New Lisbon was set off from it. It consists mainl of fertile uplands laying between the valley of the Unadilla river, which constitutes its western boundaty, and the Butternuts creek valley on the east. Some of the earliest settlers came from Pittsfield, Mass., and hence the name. Among them were Dr. Joseph O. Cone, Capt. Aaron Noble and Samuel Tyler. The two latter settled at Pittsfield village, locally called Pecktown, from Alvin Peck, who kept the hotel there. Capt. Abel DeForest, a soldier of the Revolution, was an early settler at Meeker Hill. Gardner Hall came from Pownal, VT.,in 1797. His son, William G. Hall, became the leading physician of the town. Seth Harrington and Benjamin Eddy settled in the eastern part about 1793. Jabez Beardsley was a prominent settler in the western part on the river. He was supervisor for eleven years. Capt. Joseph Briggs, another veteran of the war, came early from Vermont. He and his son Silas were prominent citizens. Other early settlers were Augustus and Gardner Sheldo, Ezekiel Chapin and Stephen Hawkins. This is a prosperous agricultural township and is chiefly devoted to dairying, the milk being sent either to the condensery at New Berli or to the shipping station at Edmeston. It contains one village, Pittsfield, with a population of 70, and a rural postoffice at Ketchum. SCHOOLS: Number of districts 12; teachers 10; children of school age 189. CHURCHES: There is a Union church at Ketchum. Ebenezer Chapel in the southern part is supplied by the Baptist and Methodist pastors from Morris. Transcirbed by Karen Flanders Eddy. KARENE1@webtv.net |