Editing Stockbridge, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
[[File:Old Mission House Stockbridge MA.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mission House (Stockbridge, Massachusetts)|Mission House]], built about 1740. Postcard {{circa|1908}}.]]

Stockbridge was settled by British missionaries in 1734, who established it as a [[praying town]] for the [[Stockbridge Indians]], an [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] [[Mohicans|Mohican]] tribe. The township was set aside for the tribe by Massachusetts colonists as a reward for their assistance against the [[Kingdom of France|French]] in the [[French and Indian Wars]]. The Rev. [[John Sergeant (missionary)|John Sergeant]], from [[Newark, New Jersey]], was their first [[missionary]]. Sergeant was succeeded in this post by [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]], a Christian theologian associated with the [[First Great Awakening]].

First chartered as Indian Town in 1737, the village was incorporated on June 22, 1739, as Stockbridge. The missionaries named it after [[Stockbridge, Hampshire|Stockbridge]] in [[Hampshire, England]]. Although the [[Massachusetts General Court]] had assured the Stockbridge Indians that their land would never be sold, the agreement was rescinded. Despite the aid by the Tribe to the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|American Patriots]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], their lands in Stockbridge were stolen by white townspeople. The Tribe was forced to relocate west, first to [[New York (state)|New York]] and then to [[Wisconsin]]. The village was taken over by [[European Americans|European American]] settlers.

With the arrival of the [[railroad]] in 1850, Stockbridge developed as a summer resort for the wealthy of Boston and other major cities. Many large houses, called [[Berkshire Cottages]], were built in the area before [[World War I]] and the advent of the [[income tax]]. Stockbridge was home to several cottages, including [[Naumkeag]].

Since 1853, Stockbridge has benefited from the presence of the [[Laurel Hill Association]], a village beautification society. The Stockbridge Bowl Association maintains and preserves the natural beauty of Stockbridge Bowl and the surrounding Bullard Woods.

Stockbridge was the home of [[Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett)|Elizabeth Freeman]], a freed slave, late in her life. The former slave engaged the attorney [[Theodore Sedgwick]] to file a [[freedom suit]] on her behalf, based on the statements in the new state constitution in 1780. In the case with a slave named Brom, the county court ruled that they were both free under the constitution. Their case served as precedent to a later case before the State Supreme Court, effectively ending slavery in Massachusetts. Freeman transferred as a free woman to work in the household of Sedgwick, who became a state judge. Also working in the household was [[Agrippa Hull]], a free black veteran of the war, who became the largest black landowner in Stockbridge. Freeman was buried in the Sedgwick family plot at the Stockbridge Cemetery.

[[Catharine Maria Sedgwick]], a daughter of Theodore and his wife, became a renowned 19th-century literary figure. She was born in Stockbridge in 1789. She is the author of six novels, including her most famous, ''[[Hope Leslie]]'' (1827).

In the [[Old Curtisville Historic District|Curtisville]] area, now known as the Interlaken part of Stockbridge, [[Albrecht Pagenstecher]], an immigrant from [[Saxony]], established the [[History of papermaking in Massachusetts|first wood-based newsprint paper mill]] in the United States, in March 1867. Pagenstecher later went on to found "numerous pulp and paper mills throughout the Northeast and Canada" and serve on the board of directors of the [[International Paper Company]].<ref>[http://www.cornwall-on-hudson.com/article.cfm?page=712 Mumford, Warren. 2006. "The Pagenstecher family: from Rags to Riches," ''News from Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson''. Accessed April 30, 2012.]</ref>

The town has a tradition as an [[art colony]]. The sculptor [[Daniel Chester French]] lived and worked at his home and studio called [[Chesterwood (Massachusetts)|Chesterwood]]. [[Norman Rockwell]] painted many of his works in Stockbridge, which is now home to the [[Norman Rockwell Museum]].