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August 21, 2008

Dalton column: The 'Bard of Ballard Vale' and his unofficial biographer

By Bill Dalton

Walter Bagnall of Chillicothe, Ohio, is an expert on the subject of Steven T. Byington of Ballard Vale. He told me that, in 1957, some Andover residents proposed naming the new South School the "Steven T. Byington Elementary School." The idea was rejected because too few people knew Byington.

Bagnall also says that, in 2003, future presidential candidate Ron Paul read into the Congressional Record a quote from Byington. Bagnall describes himself as Byington's "unofficial biographer," and he considers Byington a great man. He was delighted to see my earlier column online and is happy that Byington is not forgotten in Andover.

Steven T. Byington (1868-1957) was one of the most interesting people ever to have lived in Andover. To most Townies from the 1930s to 1957 he was a colorful man who often was seen walking between Ballardvale and Memorial Hall Library. He had a long beard, wore sneakers but never a hat, and always he had a bookbag over his shoulder. Those who knew him well, especially in the old Union Congregational Church of Ballardvale, understood he was an intellectual with an intricate knowledge of the Bible. Others knew of him due to a 1956 feature article in the Townsman that highlighted Byington and the 40 years he'd spent translating the Bible into modern English. Perhaps some people in town knew he was a translator of great renown and one of the intellectual pillars of American anarchism, but I doubt there were many. Byington was a genius who read and wrote in at least 12 languages. Fifteen years after passing, his "The Bible in Living English" was published and several hundred thousand copies were sold.

Mr. Bagnall has never visited Andover, nor did he ever meet Mr. Byington. Bagnall is a mathematician by education and works in an insurance company actuarial department. He is an amateur musician, enjoys literature and chess, and is married with young adult children. He became interested in Byington because his mother kept a copy of Byington's Bible translation on her bookshelf, and when Bagnall went to college he came across Byington's name in a 1945 Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. Bagnall says, "Byington had a penchant for writing letters to the editor all across the country. He wrote on virtually every subject: grammatical usage, President Harrison's foreign policy, the equality of races, and why the ostrich hides his head in the sand." From there, Mr. Bagnall's lifelong interest in Byington began.

When I asked why he thought Byington was a great man, Bagnall responded that Byington overcame a handicap (severe stuttering) without a trace of bitterness, and found a way to make a substantial contribution to society in spite of it. Bagnall says, "Byington wasn't afraid to stick out like a sore thumb to make a point. Being an anarchist in the 1890-1920 period was unpopular. To take a stand for what he believed in, despite the prevailing opposition to anarchism, was admirable and I think, one of the marks of greatness." Mr. Bagnall compares Byington to Thoreau, and says, "In many ways the two were cut from the same cloth; but Byington was brainier. Maybe this is why Thoreau is famous and Byington is not. After all, an article titled, 'The Attributive Noun Becomes Cancerous,' which Byington wrote for American Speech in October, 1926, wouldn't have been the most engaging reading by any means."

Byington graduated from the University of Vermont in 1891, where he later described himself as an "unclubable crank." According to Bagnall this was because of Byington's devotion to prohibition and his unusual political beliefs. Byington believed that all unused land should revert to public use, which likely accounted for one of Byington's life-long eccentricities: when out for a walk, he often trespassed across people's back yards. After graduating from theological school, Byington's speech impediment proved too much of a barrier to being a minister. The stutter was so severe that it could take a minute or more for him to begin a sentence.

Byington became a follower of the ideology of Benjamin R. Tucker, a philosophical anarchist and publisher of the periodical Liberty. By today's definitions, Tucker and Byington would be more like libertarians. The Byington quote Ron Paul read into the Congressional Record was from an essay that appeared in an 1895 issue of Liberty. The quote is: "No legal tender law is ever needed to make men take good money; its only use is to make them take bad money. Kick it out!"

In 1906, Byington moved to Ballardvale with his mother and soon wrote the history of the Union Congregational Church of Ballard Vale, as the area was then called. Byington's 1907 translation of Max Stirner's, The Ego and His Own, cemented his reputation as an authority on both anarchism and translation, according to Bagnall. Byington wrote 50 pages of introduction and editorial notes to the 1928 translation of Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvelous Travels and Campaigns in Russia. Bagnall says, "Byington is sometimes erroneously listed as the author [who was really Rudolf Erich Raspe] because his name appears on the spine." Although Byington's anarchist views may have faded around the time of World War I, he expanded his letter writing and began to contribute articles to journals such as American Speech, the Christian Century, and the Journal of Biblical Literature. Many textbook translations contained introductions by Byington.

Bagnall's research led him to The Sage of Ballard Vale, Remembrance of a Yankee Genius, a lengthy essay by one of Byington's Sunday School Students. The student recalled a day, many years ago, when a young, visiting minister from Harvard Divinity School spoke at the Union Congregational Church. Byington's traditional seat was in the "old choir section," which was to the side of the minister and in front of the congregation. At one point, when the minister made a questionable interpretation of an Old Testament passage, Byington interrupted the service - something he regularly did. His manner of interruption was that he'd lean forward and tap his forehead with his finger, trying to get the first word out of his mouth. This was a clue to the congregation that he was about to speak. The congregation leaned forward in expectation, which the minister mistook as rapt attention to his sermon. Soon Byington spoke in a stutter, "I beg to differ! Young man, your interpretation of the passage is incorrect. Going back to the Hebrew, the essence of the passage reads as follows..." According to Mr. Bagnall and the essay, "The younger man was speechless as Byington read the passage in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and German to compare the meaning. Little did the student know that his audience in this small, country church would include a scholar whose achievements were greater than any of the instructors at the Divinity School. The young student later returned to Ballard Vale as the regular minister, and the two men became fast friends."

Steven Byington was beloved by those who knew him well, respected as a colorful, gentle man by those who knew him less well, and considered a renowned scholar by many who knew him not at all.

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Dalton column: The 'Bard of Ballard Vale' and his unofficial biographer
by By Bill Dalton , , Thu Aug 21, 2008, 12:02 PM EDT
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