In April 2020, we introduced our history series, Bidwell Lore. In this feature, we share stories about the Bidwell Family, the history of the land around the Museum, and life in the 18th and 19th century Berkshires. Weekly installments are included in our e-newsletters (you can sign up on our homepage: https://www.bidwellhousemuseum.org/), and are available...
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Bidwell Lore – An Oration by Barnabas Bidwell, Part III
Welcome to Bidwell Lore number 111! This week we continue to share a speech that Reverend Bidwell’s son Barnabas Bidwell delivered on July 4th, 1795, during an Independence celebration in Stockbridge. You can read Part I HERE and Part II HERE. Note: The original speech Barnabas Bidwell delivered is VERY long. I can only hope July 4th 1795 was...
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Bidwell Lore: The Warning Out List in Stockbridge, Part IV
Welcome to week 89 of Bidwell Lore! This week we finish up our series on the Warning Out List in early Stockbridge. In last week’s Bidwell Lore, we mentioned that Judge Cushing cited Elizabeth Freeman’s August 1781 case in the trial of a man named Quock Walker. This week, we wanted to share some more details...
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Bidwell Lore – The Warning Out List, Part I
Welcome to week 86 of Bidwell Lore! This week we introduce a new series about something called the Warning Out list in late 18th and early 19th century Stockbridge, which will introduce us, over the next few weeks, to some new and old names to Bidwell Lore. Barnabas Bidwell Warned to Leave the Town of Stockbridge...
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Bidwell Lore – Deborah Sampson: Revolutionary Soldier and Revolutionary Woman
Welcome to week 80 of Bidwell Lore! This week we share part 2 of the story we began last week of how the Bidwell family is connected to Deborah Sampson, the first woman to serve and be honorably discharged from the US military. Thanks to Rick Wilcox for putting this together. The journey to Deborah Sampson began...
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Bidwell Lore – Dr. Oliver Partridge and The Indian Burial Ground
Welcome to week 49 of Bidwell Lore! This week we introduce you to Dr. Oliver Partridge, a Bidwell relation through marriage who was also a friend to the Mohicans of Stockbridge. As you may remember from our Bidwell Lore installments last summer, Rev. Adonijah Bidwell and his second wife Jemima had four children. Their third child, Jemima (1765-1842),...
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Bidwell Lore – Timothy Woodbridge
Welcome to week 45 of Bidwell Lore! This week we turn to the story of Timothy Woodbridge, schoolmaster of the Mohican Mission in Stockbridge and friend to the Mohicans in their struggles with the English. Timothy Woodbridge (1709-1774) School Master of the Mohican Mission in Stockbridge “The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred...