William Dwight Whitney

Northampton, Massachusetts, half a century ago, was one of the best examples of a typical New England town—among stately hills, on the banks of the Connecticut River, with broad streets well shaded by great spreading elms, with large homesteads still occupied by the descendants of early settlers, with people of much culture and refinement who were given to "plain living and high thinking." It was the town of Edwards, of Dwight, of Hawley, of Stoddard, of Strong, and of many another worthy. ...