Editing Charlemont, Massachusetts (section)

== History ==

Charlemont was first colonized by Moses Rice (1694–1755) who purchased {{convert|2200|acre|km2}} on April 23, 1743, that been previously set off as Boston Township Number 1 in 1735 by the [[Massachusetts General Court|Great and General Court]].<ref>White, Joseph (1858). Historical Discourse at the Centennial Anniversary of the Death of Moses Rice, The First Settler of the Town, Delivered at Charlemont, Mass. June 11, 1855. T. R. Marvin & Son, Boston. 48pp. [https://archive.org/details/charlemontasplan00whi Download PDF]</ref> The town was along the distant frontier at the time, and was the subject of several raids by Native Americans. While plowing in the fields one day, Rice was shot and wounded by Indians lying in ambush. They also shot and killed another man, Phineas Arms, at the same time and captured Moses' eight-year-old grandson Asa, who had been riding the plow horse. Moses was taken to the adjoining woods, scalped, and left for dead, but Asa was carried off to Canada.<ref>p. 50 in: Ward, Andrew Henshaw. 1858. A genealogical History of the Rice Family: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice, Boston: C. Benjamin Richardson, Publisher. 379pp. [https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00wardgoog Download PDF]</ref> The town was incorporated as Charlemont in 1765, most likely named for the [[Charlemont, County Armagh|town in County Armagh, Ulster, Ireland]]. The town was mostly rural, with farming being the main industry until the advent of the railroad, which traveled through town towards the [[Hoosac Tunnel]].  Today the town industry also includes tourism, with a ski area and other tourist areas along the [[Mohawk Trail]].

In the years preceding the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], as Charlemont's citizens grew increasingly dissatisfied with [[Great Britain|British]] rule, Rev. [[Jonathan Leavitt (minister)|Jonathan Leavitt]] was installed as the minister of Charlemont's [[Congregational church|Congregational Church]]. Born in [[Walpole, New Hampshire]], and graduate of [[Yale College]], Rev. Leavitt arrived in Charlemont in 1767, but his [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] sympathies grated on his congregation.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tHQ5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA190&dq=leavitt+charlemont+massachusetts&ei=bycdSe-gAYzSlQTV35TLCQ Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. III, E.W. Metcalf & Co., Cambridge, 1833]</ref>

By 1777 the situation came to a stand-off: Leavitt refused to accept his salary in rapidly depreciating colonial currency. So the town voted to simply close the church, and it stationed a constable at the door to bar the offending reverend. But Leavitt would not be deterred: He moved his sermons to the schoolhouse, where he held forth until 1785, when he was finally dismissed. He sued for his salary, as well as his loss on the depreciated colonial currency, and was awarded £700.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/biographicalske04sabigoog/page/n2 <!-- pg=7 quote=leavitt charlemont massachusetts. --> ''Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution'', Lorenzo Sabine, Vol. II, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1864]</ref>

Leavitt's descendants continued to remain in Charlemont and the surrounding region, and several—including Col. [[Roger Hooker Leavitt]], who represented Charlemont in the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]], and his brother [[Hart Leavitt]]—became notable operators of stations on the [[Underground Railroad]],<ref>[http://home.nps.gov/ugrr/TEMPLATE/FrontEnd/Site3.CFM?SiteTerritoryID=129&ElementID=316 Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House, Charlemont, Massachusetts, Network to Freedom, National Park Service] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305055102/http://home.nps.gov/ugrr/TEMPLATE/FrontEnd/Site3.CFM?SiteTerritoryID=129&ElementID=316 |date=March 5, 2011 }}</ref> sheltering many escaped slaves on their journeys northward.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OfMMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA152&dq=%22roger+leavitt%22+charlemont&lr=&ei=CSkdSZ_dLYvKlQTl6tClCQ#PPA151,M1 ''History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, 1890-1898, Vol. III'', Published by the Association, T. Morey & Son, Greenfield, 1901]</ref>

Revolutionary War soldier and historian [[Lemuel Roberts]] helped his father establish a farm in Charlemont before leaving to fight in the [[Siege of Boston]].<ref name="memoirs">{{cite book| title=Memoirs of Lemuel Roberts |author=Roberts, Lemuel |publisher=Anthony Haswell |year=1809 }}</ref>