Jim: Berkshire County, MA was formed from Hampshire Co., MA in 1761. Hampshire Co., which was one of the original counties formed from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, remained as a county. It just lost some of its original land. Please click on the following RootsWeb URL for Berkshire Co., MA for much of the information that you are seeking: http://www.rootsweb.com/~maberksh/ Another very valuable source is the following: 'Remarkable Records of Rev. Gideon Bostwick, 1770-1793, Great Barrington, MA,' Transcribed and Indexed by Arthur C. M. Kelly, Kinship Publishing, Rhinebeck, NY, 1988. Rev. Bostwick, a graduate of Yale College, was a circuit-rider type minister of the St. James Episcopal Church of Great Barrington from 1770 to 1793 who roamed far and wide from Manchester, VT to northwest CT performing baptisms, marriages, and funerals. Nobletown [now Hillsdale], NY is only a few miles from Great Barrington, Egremont, and Sheffield, MA. And then, of course, the 'History of Great Barrington [Berkshire] Massachusetts 1676-1882' Charles J. Taylor, Published by the Town of Great Barrington, 1928, is probably the 'bible'. > Subject: Nobletown > Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 10:45:56 -0800 > From: "James W. Crippen" <crippen3@alaska.com> > To: MABERKSH-L@rootsweb.com > > Can anyone advise on archaic Hampshire County records ? Hampshire was > re-formed (when???) as Berkshire? Interested in learning whereabouts of > any remaining records from the period when Berkshire contained Nobletown > and Austerlitz in the Oblong of Massachusetts Colony lands contested by > New York. > The Joseph Crippen farm in Alford was dissected by the "New" MS-NY State > boundary re-set in 1787. More Crippen land became trapped in the "Gore" > east of Stockbridge. Looking for any clues to archaic Berkshire County, > Colony Land Records; Birth, marriage and death records, 1740-1790. All > ideas will be greatly appreciated. > > The Mass archives contain ca 1766 letters from William Kellogg of > Nobletown, testifying that his settlers were routed, burned and > murdered, by people from New York. Many of these same people were > chased to Egremont with their livestock and later re-settled north in > Austerlitz where Elisha Hatch was an original town proprietor. Details > appreciated. > > Thanks, > Jim Crippen