Captain Thomas Steadman (1766-1859) was looking for a new home away from the Rhode Island coast to discourage his three sons from following him into the coastal trade. In 1793 he brought his family by ox cart from South Kingstown, RI, to a house on Webster Road (now Monterey Road) in Tyringham.
Steadman’s first act in the Middle District Registry was the 1801 purchase from Isaac Clark, for $533, of lot 123 comprising 53 acres. At the same time, his brother William Steadman for $50 acquired 100 acres in lot 56.
Thomas’ property included a creek contributing to Hop Brook, which the brothers dammed for water power for a grain mill and sawmill. Thomas put the mill up for sale in 1805; a confusion of deeds and descriptions discouraged research, but it was still in the family years later when Marshall W. Steadman ran the family hay and garden rake business in the valley. He used the pond as an auxiliary water source. The woods provided ash and hickory for the rakes. Steadman worked his farm. Steadman’s Pond Preserve is now owned by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, with an open field, pond and woodland inviting exploration.
Thomas and his wife Lydia Sweet (1767-1846) had four more children. His son William made wooden rakes in a store that was the precursor to a larger mill on the same stream in the middle of town.
Outside of his service in the Connecticut Militia, information about Thomas has been difficult to come by. In my files for several years is a letter dated July 9, 1849, written to his son Robert (1797-1866), then living with his wife Desire (Heath) and family at Napanoch, a hamlet of Wawarsing on the Shawangunk Ridge in New York State. The letter was forwarded to me by Don Leonard Jr., of Pittsfield. It measures 10.5 by 17 inches, folded in half, then folded in three, no postage stamp but marked with a “5” by the postmaster.
The letter is only mildly informative, starting with the devious apology from Thomas, 83, for not writing sooner, among his apologies for not always having accurate information to convey, also admitting “the age and infirmites weigh heavily on me, all the rest of the family, I believe, say well.
For community news, he offers: “The rail line through Lee Stockbridge & Lenox is going fast, they expect the cars to leave early in the winter.” This railway line is still active.
He mentions Robert’s sister, “Jemima & her Croney”, presumably her husband, Buel Goodsell Bettis. He refers to what appear to be IOUs due, issued to Robert by Milton Judd.
Judd is the husband of another sister, Margaret. A millwright, Judd is accredited as a judge, although “his commissioner runs out next winter and he cannot renew it because there are over a hundred people who have signed a petition against him”.
The author reports: “Fred has reached a final settlement with Milton. Frederic Cone was married to another of Robert’s sisters, Sarah.
The juiciest part of the letter is a passage riddled with misspellings that tells a tale of crime: “William Gleason was indicted last October for spending money and county indictments found against him he was bound in court in February at this… Court he was tried and convicted in all 3 indictments and as the Court was about to convene one day in April his lawyer requested to the Court not to convict him… he was bound by a bond of six thousand dollars shortly before the Court sat he left and took a woman with him not his wife sad to take 300 $ not his bail was confiscated his slaves offered five hundred dollars for his detention and he was taken to Wisconsin he tried to escape from his captors They arrested him with a hook, the hook went in into his mouth and came out through one cheek, he was brought to Lennix in irons and kept in irons until he had his trial for stealing the $300 and his santance he was sentenced to eight years in state prison for serving my ey’s county & 3 years for the theft of the $300 24 bears in solitary confinement that fixed William Gleason in state prison for 11 years.
Gleason? There was a William S. Gleason (1811-1880), born in Tyringham, died in Dalton. That’s it.
The letter ends: “I believe I have written as much as you will want to read right now, so I will stop. This from your ever-loving father Tho’s Steadman.
Some 45 Steadmans or Stedmans are buried in Tyringham Cemetery. Besides those mentioned, Steadman’s other sons were Benoni and Nathan.
The captain died at 92. He was 10 when the Declaration of Independence was signed, voted for Washington for the first president, and voted in every presidential election thereafter. And spelling and grammar weren’t his best subjects in school.
Bernard A. Drew is a regular Eagle Contributor.
