History of Cheshire, Massachusetts, USA

The vital records for the period of 1750-1865 were destroyed by fire. Marriage intention records were at the home of the Town Clerk at the time of the fire. No records have been published.

Cheshire, Massachusetts
Berkshire county. Cheshire has rendered itself worthy of its name by its production of cheese of fine flavor and quality. In 1801 the good people of this place sent a cheese to Mr. Jefferson, weighing about 1200 pounds. The value of wool, the growth of 1836, sold for $5,522. The Hoosack river passes through the town. Although a mountainous township, the soil has been rendered productive by the industry of the people. It has some manufactures of leather and shoes. 125 miles W.N.W. from Boston and 16 N. by E. from Lenox. Population, 1837, 924. Incorporated, 1793.

This town was formed from parts of Lanesborough, New Ashford, Adams, and Windsor.

The town rises from the centre into hills well adapted for grazing;
and the products of the dairy, rivalling those of Cheshire in England,
probably suggested the name.

The greatest event in the history of this town was the manufacture
of a cheese, weighing over twelve hundred pounds, which was sent to the President of the United States, in the year 1801.

The Hoosic River passes northwardly through Cheshire.

Distance from Lenox, 16 miles ; from Boston, 120.

Cheshire, a post-township of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, about 120 miles W. by N. from Boston ; intersected by the Pittsfield and North Adams railroad. Pop., 1298.

CHESHIRE, a township in Berkshire co., in Massachusetts, 130 m. W by N of Boston. Pop. 985.

When Thomas Jefferson was chosen President Elder John Leland, a Baptist clergyman of Cheshire, Mass., proposed that his flock should celebrate the victory by making for the new Chief Magistrate the biggest cheese the world has ever seen. Every man and woman who owned a cow was to give for this cheese all the milk yielded on a certain day only - no Federal cow must contribute a drop. A huge cider press was fitted up to make it in, and the appointed day the whole country turned out with pails and tubs of curd, the girls and women in their best gown and ribbons, and the men in their Sunday coats and clean shirt-colors. The cheese was put to press with prayer and hymn singing and great solemnity. When it was well dried it weighed 1,600 pounds. It was placed on a sleigh and Elder John Leland drove with it all the way to Washington. All the country had heard of the big cheese and came out to look at it as the elder drove along.

Cheshire is a fine grazing town in the northerly part of Berkshire County, about 150 miles west, slightly north, of Boston. At Cheshire, Cheshire Harbor and Farnum's are railroad stations on a branch of the Boston and Albany Railroad connecting Pittsfield with the Fitchburg Railroad at North Adams. The town is bounded by New Ashford and Adams on the north; Savoy, Windsor and Dalton on the east; the latter and Lanesborough on the south; and the last, with New Ashford, on the west. The form of the township is very irregular, its lines taking not less than 21 different courses. The western, southern and eastern parts are very hilly, but the northern, and the middle from northeast to southwest, have fine valleys, with clayey and fertile soil.

Stafford's Hill is in the northeast; and " Round's Rocks " situated at the northwest, was a station of the Topographical Survey of the State. The geological formation consists of calcareous gneiss, Levis limestone, Lauzon schist and the Potsdam...