USA > Connecticut > Historic towns of the Connecticut River Valley > Part 25
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A whispered conversation was held between Mr. Clap and a messenger from outside, and soon after an officer appeared and arrested Mr. Breck. When he was taken through the streets to the Townhouse, the people became greatly excited and threatened violence. It was prevented by the advice of the council. At the Townhouse, were Justices Stoddard, Dwight and Pumroy. Mr. Breck's enemies at first intended to arrest the Boston ministers, who were members of the council, but it was not done. The re- moval of Mr. Breck to the Townhouse had taken the trial away from the ordaining council and placed it in the hands of the justices. The Council objected to this on the ground, that the prisoner was not being tried upon another charge, but upon the same for which they were trying him. Mr. Breck was confined till the evening, when he was released upon the assurance of mem- bers of the council that he would be in attendance when wanted. In the afternoon of October 9, Mr. Breck's confession of faith was read to a crowd in front of the parsonage. It was accepted as an honest statement of belief and caused the outrage practiced upon the Church to be more keenly appreciated.
At the Townhouse, the dissatisfied members had won and the justices signed the warrant for the removal of Mr. Breck to New London. When he was brought from the Townhouse in charge of a constable, the people were greatly excited. They accom- panied Mr. Breck through the village and for a considerable dis-
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tance on the road to New London. The people not connected with the Church came out strongly for Mr. Breck, whose broad Christianity and moral courage excited their admiration and respect.
"Again the council was called upon to check this popular in- dignation ", says Mr. Green, "and the following morning, Octo- ber 10, the Church undertook a private conference of prayer, but finally the doors of the meeting-house were thrown open, and a characteristic scene- a public meeting of humiliation before God - followed. This was Friday - a 'Black Friday' of the olden time, caused by an attempted ' corner ' on Calvinism - and we have the simple chronicle that it was a 'large and weeping assembly ', which listened to 'a seasonable discourse'. The next morning - for in those days through prayer or something or other, people had a way of bringing things to pass - Mr. Breck returned from New London acquitted, and there were great felicitations among the people. The council, still in session, an- nounced Mr. Breck to be orthodox, but the ordination was post- poned. The case came up before the Legislature, which voted that the council was a regular one; although the justices had a right by law to inquire into the extraordinary facts charged against Mr. Breck, yet they ought not, by any means, to have in- terrupted that church and ecclesiastical council while it was, in the exercise of its rights, inquiring into the same."
"Another and successful attempt at ordination occurred in January, 1736, the Rev. Mr. Cooper delivering the sermon. In April, Mr. Breck crowned his success by leading to the altar the daughter of his predecessor, and his strong and simple ways, his rugged manner of putting the essentials of religion and forget- ting the rest, soon disarmed his enemies, although they were slow in yielding. A month later, they (his enemies) petitioned the justices to compel the Church to settle an orthodox minister. but the matter was never pressed. Mr. Breck grew in strength, and during the forty-nine years of good preaching the Church grew with him, and he now lies with his congregation in the Springfield cemetery, having made a generous contribution toward liberal Christianity. It is a curious fact that the more serious charges of stealing books and prevarication were left in the background, the ministers claiming that their printed account
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OLD MILE POST ON ARMORY HILL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
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of it, as given by Mr. Clap, was 'without one reflection on that particular ; we never made it an article against him ', which indi- cates how theological speculation may be carried on at the ex- pense of morals ".
The fur-trade in the Connecticut Valley was the chief business and farming was the chief occupation of the people in the seven- teenth century. It was.especially important at Springfield and Northampton which were centres for one of the greatest traders of the Connecticut Valley, John Pynchon, of Springfield. In Massachusetts the fur-trade with the Indians was regulated and controlled by the General Court which, in some years, imposed a small tax upon each pelt bought by the traders from the Indians, and in other years, licenses to trade for furs with the Indians were issued for which an annual payment was made.
John Pynchon paid to the Colony £20 for the trade at Spring- field and Northampton while in other parts of Massachusetts f2, £5, £8 were the annual payments demanded. The difference probably shows the much larger amount of business done by John Pynchon. The chief sources of fur in New England were the Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers and the smaller rivers and streams flowing in to them. Pynchon controlled the trade with the Indians and often sold the privilege to others. He also sold to the white traders the goods and wampum required for trading with the Indians. The chief of these traders under Pynchon were: Thomas Cooper, of Springfield; Joseph Parsons and David Wilton, of Northampton; and Dr. John Westcarr, of Hadley.
The most valuable of all pelts were those of the beaver, which were nearly all obtained from the Indians, who probably trapped them in the northern waters of the Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers. Moose were plentiful, deer were numerous and bears and wolves were not at all rare. The deer, bear and wolf skins were usually kept for domestic use, as were some of the moose, and the other varieties were sent abroad, usually to London.
The prices paid for good beaver skins by the traders were, eight, ten, and eleven shillings a pound, according to the quality ; for wullaneags, three to four shillings: for moose skins, from nine pence to one shilling a pound. Otter skins brought from eight to ten shillings each; musquashes (muskrats), from four
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to eight pence each. The prices were not Sterling, but were based upon the price of wheat per bushel in Springfield.
Some idea of the importance of the fur-trade may be had from Pynchon's record of his first six years, from 1652 to 1657, inclusive, showing the number and kinds of pelts and the price they brought in London.
Beaver skins, 9434, weighing, 13802 pounds.
Otter skins, 320.
Muskrat skins, 148.
Moose skins, II.
Mink skins, 2. Beaver bags, 571.
The total value in round numbers was $27,000. The beaver bags contained castor.
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WESTFIELD.
T HE Indian name for the territory covered by the City of Westfield was Warronoco, Woronoco, or Woronoak, ac- cording to different early writers, and was in the early days, before its permanent settlement, a part of Springfield. It was incorporated as a town in 1669, and when the matter of a name was being considered, Streamfield was at first talked of, because of its situation between the two rivers which were later called Westfield River and Little River. As Streamfield was not particularly popular, Westfield was decided upon for two reasons. The first was, that it was almost due west from Boston, the Colonial seat of government, and the other, that it was the west- ern-most settlement of the Colony.
The exact year of its settlement is not known, but the Rev. Dr. Davis gives the time as being between the years 1658, and 1660. In 1658, the Town of Springfield granted to Thomas Cooper a tract of land in Woronoco, on condition that he begin his improvements within a year from the date of the grant, and that he should keep the place up for a period of five years. In 1660, Springfield granted land to Deacon Samuel Chapin un- der the same conditions, and in 1661, another grant was made to Captain Pynchon, Robert Ashley and George Colton, their grant lying on the upland meadows. So the settlers of Westfield were families from Springfield.
But more than twenty years before this, there were individuals 'at Woronoco for the purpose of trading and hunting fur-bearing animals which were plentiful there. The Colonial records show, that in 1641, certain persons from Connecticut had wrongfully set up a trading-house at "Woronock ". In 1647, the same records show that the General Court had designated Woronoco as a part of Springfield and also that all trading houses estab- lished in Woronoco shall contribute to the public charges. This shows conclusively that there were traders and hunters in West- field nearly twenty years before the first permanent settlement.
On February 7, 1664, the Town of Springfield appointed Major Holyoke, Captain Pynchon, George Colton, and two men named
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Ely and Cooley, a standing committee to have charge of public matters in Woronoco, including grants of land and the admis- sion of new inhabitants.
As has been said, the land was granted on condition that im- provements were begun within a year and that they were con- tinued for five years. At the expiration of the five years, the grants were confirmed to all whom had lived up to the require- ments. When the time came to make this confirmation it was found that a number of grantees had forfeited their grants through failure to live up to the requirements. Titles were con- firmed to the following: George and Isaac Phelps, Captain Cook, Mr. Cornish, Thomas Dewey, J. Noble, David Ashley, John Holyoke, John Ponder, and John Ingersoll. Their land was be- tween the two rivers near their junction. This was the first set- tled portion of the present city. In 1666, Benjamin Saxton was born, he being the first white child born in Westfield. He lived till 1754, dying at the age of eighty-eight. The first meetings conducted by the Rev. Mr. Holyoke for public worship, were held in 1667. In 1668, Aaron Cook, on behalf of the Town, petitioned the General Court for an additional grant of six square miles of territory. This grant was made on condition, that the people settle a minister within two years. A little later a peti- tion for incorporation was presented to the General Court. This petition to the General Court for incorporation was endorsed by a vote of the people of Springfield. It was not unusual for a Town to strongly oppose the cutting off of any of its territory for the formation of a new town, so Springfield's ready compliance with the wishes of the people of Woronoco carried weight with the General Court. On May 28, 1669, Westfield was set off and in- corporated as a separate town. The town was nine by four and a half miles in area, and sometime later additional territory was added, that included a considerable portion of what is now Rus- sell and Montgomery.
Being a frontier town with no settlement between it and the Hudson River on the west and Canada to the north, Westfield was strongly fortified, with a palisade two miles in circuit, and a fort of logs built with a deep cellar, where the women and children could retire while the men were taking care of the Indians.
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By 1676, many families had settled on farms - or land whichi they were making into farms by clearing - so remote from the little hamlet within the palisade, that it was thought best to get the people together for the sake of safety in case of an Indian attack. For this purpose a plan was adopted and approved by the General Court, for bringing the people into a more compact settlement. The plan was, for those who owned lots within the limits of the hamlet, to divide their lots with those who lived on their farms at a distance. In compensation, those in the hamlet received two acres of out-lying land for each acre of land in the hamlet that was given up. In 1674, Samuel Loomis was ap- pointed ensign, and in 1676, John Modesley was appointed lieu- tenant in the local military company. It was in this year that such general fear was experienced in the settlements north of Springfield, on account of King Philip's War. The authorities in Boston had ordered the smaller and the out-lying settlements to be abandoned, and the people to go to the larger settlements for mutual protection against Indians. A few of the Towns ob- jected strongly to abandoning their homes, especially was this true in Westfield. As soldiers and ammunition could not be spared by the Colony for the defence of the smaller towns, they were obliged to protect themselves. No organized attack was made upon Westfield, but the people were subjected to frequent sneaking raids by individual Indians or bands of three or four. They would lie in wait, watching for a chance to make a dash into the settlement, and in the consequent confusion they would kill, if the opportunity offered, and burn houses and destroy prop- erty. The settlers, of course, would not know whether there were one or one hundred Indians, so terror and confusion on their part greatly helped the Indians. By the time the alarm had called the men in from the fields, the Indians would have accomplished their purpose and have fled.
A young man named Dumbleton, from Springfield, was killed just after leaving the mill in Westfield; two brothers named Brooks, also of Springfield, were killed in Westfield while look- ing for signs of iron ore. On the same day, the Cornish home and the Sackett home and barn were burnt with all they con- tained and one of the settlers named Granger, was wounded by a bullet from an Indian's musket. On Sunday morning while
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the people were in Church, Indians burnt Ambrose Fowler's house and barn and in the following week, Walter Lee's barn was burnt. Two men returning from working in the fields at Pochassic had narrow escapes from Indians; one through his quick wit and the other through his quick sight. The first was Mr. Phelps. who, when he arrived at the ford of the Westfield River, saw three Indians and that they saw him. Mr. Phelps made it appear that that he was hunting for them and, clap-
SITE OF RICHARD FALLEY'S ARMORY, AT THE FOOT OF MT. TEKOA. The lower wall is the armory; the upper is the dam forming the pond from which the power was obtained.
ping his hands, shouted to an imaginary force in the brush to come on and capture them. The other was Noah Ashley. Meet- ing an Indian near the Bancroft place, he leveled his gun at the same time the Indian did, but Mr. Ashley fired first. The In- dian was followed for some considerable distance by his blood and then the trail was suddenly lost. A daughter of Mr. Sackett's second wife was captured by Indians from New York and was taken to the western part of that state. She married one of the braves and became one of the tribe. It is, of course, utterly
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impossible to begin to imagine the strain all this was upon the men, or the agony of mind it was to the women. Battle was bad enough, but each man had a chance in a fight. In battle, death was expected and should a husband or son be brought home dead, the wife or mother knew that he gave a good account of himself before being laid low and that the precious life was given for the safety of the community. But this other fiendish work of the Indians in sneaking up behind a man while he was at work and murdering him, was heart-breaking and the women were kept on the rack all day, never knowing till the men re- turned from the field at night whether another loved one had been murdered. It was the suspense that was so hard to bear. The men, but especially the women, of Westfield deserve a monument to their splendid moral courage in refusing to abandon their homes when the General Court had ordered it. So many other settlers were obeying the order, rather hurriedly, the courage of the people of Westfield in remaining to protect their homes is the more notable.
In the French War was Dr. Israel Ashley, who was surgeon of a regiment. Dr. Ashley was a son of the first settler of that name. He was a graduate of Yale in the class of 1731, and was highly esteemed as a physician and surgeon. He died in the war at Stillwater. Eager Noble was also in the French War, en- listing while but a youth. General William Shepard, son of Deacon John Shepard, served as a soldier at different times through a period of thirty-three years and took part in two wars, from their beginning to their end. The Shepard family settled in Westfield in 1700, and William was born in 1737. At the beginning of the French and Indian War, when he was but seventeen, he enlisted as a private and three years later, he was a lieutenant in Abercrombie's army. At the age of twenty-two he was captain of a company in General Amherst's army. After six years of hard service, he having taken part in all of the principal battles, the war coming to an end, he returned to his farm in Westfield and gave it his most intelligent and energetic attention. When the war with Great Britain became a fact. Captain Shepard joined Washington in Roxbury and was com- missioned a lieutenant-colonel. His Revolutionary record was of the best and cleanest. In 1780, he received a commission as
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general and was assigned to the division of the army that was under the command of LaFayette, and he was with it till peace was declared. In the twenty-two battles in which he took part, he proved his sound judgment and earned a reputation for fine bravery and courage. As an officer, he was kind and sympathetic and so won the deep respect and admiration of the rank and file : under him.
General Shepard joined the army at the early age of seventeen and between wars worked hard on his farm, so his "schooling " was rather brief. Notwithstanding this handicap, he was pos- sessed of so great native intelligence, his intuition was so ac- curate and his judgment so sound, that probably no one was aware of his lack of education except himself. Although he was not a brilliant man nor an orator, still, he was continued in the public service of his town, county, state and country for many years. One of his strongest characteristics was an inherent honesty that made him great, and while he filled offices that had made other men of less scrupulousness rich, General Shepard lived and died a poor man.
After the war with Great Britain he was elected a member of Assembly, State Senator ; a member of the State Executive Coun- cil ; was sent to Congress repeatedly and was a Presidential Elector twice. He was a Commissioner of the State and of the United States, in the negotiations with the Penobscott Indians, and with the Six Nations. In all of his public offices, military and civil, William Shepard was an example of simple honesty, devotion to duty and successful effort. While Westfield may claim him with pride as her most illustrious son, the Nation claims him as one of its finest citizens.
After the Revolution the lack of money and consequent hard times was an excuse for some men, who were the opposite of General Shepard, to stir up riots. In 1787, these riots culminated in a brief rebellion that was led by Daniel Shays, of Pelham, who had been an officer in the Revolution. Shays' purpose was to capture the United States Armory in Springfield and General Lincoln had been ordered to march from Roxbury to oppose him. In the meantime, General Shepard had been ordered to take pos- session of the Government Post at Springfield. When Shays attempted to take the post he had about 1,500 men and General
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Shepard had 1,100. General Shepard's determination routed Shays' rabble and his humanity saved great loss of life, for he refrained from shooting till he saw that further forbearance was useless.
Besides General Shepard, Westfield had other sons in the Revo- lution. When " that shot which was heard around the world " was fired at Lexington, Captain Warham Parks, Lieutenant John Shepard; Ensign Richard Falley and seventy men immediately started for Boston and Adjutant Russell Dewey served through- out the war, except for a brief period when he was ill. Captain Parks was promoted to a captaincy.
There was no more ardent patriot in New England than Richard Falley. The family originated on the Island of Guernsey and the name was originally spelled Faille. The first American ancestor was Richard Falley who was kidnapped from his home in Guernsey and taken to Nova Scotia. From there he went to the then "District of Maine " and married Ann Lamb, and sometime before 1756, they moved to Westfield. Richard Falley, Jr., the soldier of the Revolution, was born in George's River, Maine, on January 31, 1740. His courage and patriotism, for which he was notable, was shown early in life. When but sixteen years old he enlisted in the Provincial army. At the surrender of Fort Edward he was captured by Indians and taken to Montreal by a Chief, who adopted him into the Tribe. Some- time later, he was ransomed by a lady, the price paid being six- teen gallons of rum. After his ransom, Richard immediately returned to Westfield.
After the battle of Lexington, he went with Captain Park's company to Roxbury, as ensign of that company, and in the Battle of Bunker Hill he commanded a company. His fourteen- year-old son, Frederick, was with his father at Bunker Hill in the capacity of drummer. The little fellow possessed his father's patriotic spirit and as the only thing he could do in that historic fight was to drum, drum he did so long as the fight lasted. The little drummer later became a major. In the Revolution Mr. Falley made guns for the Patriot army in Montgomery, Massa- chusetts. The site of the armory was a deep glen through which a small stream ran, at the foot of Mt. Tekoa. This place was chosen because its seclusion made it nearly impossible for the British to know anything about it. Mr. Falley's house - still
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standing and occupied by Mr. J. J. La Valley, the Springfield artist, as a summer home - was situated on a tiny plateau jutting out from the foot of Mt. Tekoa. His workmen lived at Pochassic on the.flats along the Westfield River, in the town of Westfield. Richard Falley died on September 3, 1808, and was buried in West- field. Richard Falley, Jr., was the maternal grandfather of the Hon. Grover Cleveland, formerly president of the United States.
As has been mentioned, the Rev. John Holyoke, of Springfield, conducted the first religious services in Woronoco for a few months in 1767, when he gave up the ministry and was succeeded by the Rev. Moses Fiske, who preached as a candidate from 1668 to 1671.
The first settled minister of Westfield was the Rev. Edward Taylor, who was the minister till his death. In 1674, Mr. Taylor married Elizabeth Fitch, a daughter of the Rev. James Fitch who had trouble with the Saybrook Church, and removing with his adherents to the Thames River, became one of the founders of Norwich, Connecticut. One of the daughters of that union became the mother of President Stiles, of Yale College. Mr. Taylor died on June 24. 1728, in the eighty-seventh year of his age and the fiftieth of his pastorate.
The next minister was the Rev. Nehemiah Bull, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1723, who was ordained in 1726, two years before the death of Mr. Taylor, whose health was failing. Mr. Bull was principal of a grammar school in Westfield. His pas- torate continued for fourteen years and ended with his death in 1740. The Rev. John Ballentine, a graduate of Harvard, suc- ceeded Mr. Bull in 1741, and he was succeeded by the Rev. Noah Atwater of Hampden, Connecticut, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1774. Mr. Atwater was ordained in 1781, and was the minister for nineteen years. He died in 1802.
In 1796, the Westfield Academy was incorporated and in January, 1800, it was opened for work with General Shepard chairman of the Board of Trustees. The Town appropriated $2,000 toward its endowment and in 1797, the citizens of West- field subscribed about $1,000 more to be added to the Town's appropriation. The Legislature granted one half of a township in Maine to the Academy which was converted into money for the school. The building cost $5,000 and Peter Starr was its first principal.
NORTHAMPTON.
A PETITION to the General Court was presented in May, 1653, for permission to settle and form a town, on land owned by the Indians and called by them Nonotuck. This petition was signed by twenty-four men and was endorsed by a petition from John Pynchon, Elizur Holyoke and Samuel Chapin, - the " three mighties " of Springfield -in which they urged the granting of the other petition, as the site for the proposed settlement was admirable and the proposed settlers well provided in spirit and estate for the enterprise. The equal of these three men has seldom if ever been found in any century or generation in Massachusetts, and the General Court showed that it considered their approval of the settlement sufficient, for the petition was granted a few days after it had been received, and the "three mighties " were appointed a commission to survey the land at Nonotuck, which later became Northampton.
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