USA > Connecticut > Historic towns of the Connecticut River Valley > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
In 1744, Benjamin Lyman and Deacon Stephen Wright moved to Easthampton, Deacon Wright's house being in the limits of Southampton when that town was organized. Both of these men had sons who were in the fight near Lake George, on September 8, 1755. Lemuel Lyman was but nineteen years old at the time. His bullet pouch saved his life for the bullet that struck it did not enter his body. This pouch is still in the possession of mem- bers of his family. There is a tradition, that the enemy coated their bullets with poison, so it was only necessary for a bullet to break the skin to cause death. Lieutenant Asahel Clark, of East- hampton, also took part in the fighting of that day, he being in the fort near Lake George, where the enemy was repulsed. He was also in the attack upon Ticonderoga three years later, when the British were defeated.
Although the settlement of that portion of the town, now occu- pied by the village, was delayed for so many years, there was a small settlement in that portion known as Pascommuck, at the foot of Mt. Tom ( Barber spells this word, Paskhomuck), where John Webb built the first house. In 1700, Moses Hutchinson, John Searl, Benoni Jones, Samuel Janes and Benjamin Janes, settled there with their families. On May 24, 1704, this little hamlet was destroyed by Indians and nearly every person being killed or taken captive. The Indians were on the verge of starva- tion, but why, does not seem clear. At any rate they had been over to the Merrimac River in the hope of finding game or fish, but with no success. On their return westward, they expected to with no success. On their return westward, they expected to go to Westfield, but all the rivers were over their banks, the floods of that spring being the greatest known up to that year, so they could not cross the Westfield River. Several of the Indians in the band knew of the little settlement at Pascommuck. These suggested that they could probably obtain food there. The even- ing before the attack, all of the Indians ascended Mount Tom to get a view of the hamlet. They found the land almost entirely covered by the flood and the little hamlet so situated that no as-
Č
:
33I
EASTHAMPTON.
sistance could be given from Northampton because of the water. The inhabitants seem to have been particularly careless in regard to protecting themselves from attack. The only thing resembling a fort, or place of refuge, was the house of Benoni Jones, which was surrounded with a low palisade. This the Indians burnt down, and when Patience Webb, aroused by the noise and flames, looked out of the window, they shot her through the head. A weak attempt at defence was made and finally all were killed except Benjamin Janes and a few of the youths who were re- served to be taken to Canada. Janes escaped by running down to where he had a canoe hidden, in which he paddled to North- ampton and gave the alarm.
Captain John Taylor and a troop of cavalry immediately started in pursuit. They caught up with the Indians on the way to West- field, not far from Mt. Tom. As soon as the Indians knew they were being pursued they tomahawked all the youths whom they had saved for captives, except one, but were not able to scalp all of them as the soldiers were too near. This one exception was Elisha Searl, whose quick wit prompted him to grab up one of the Indians' packs and run with them to show that he would be no hindrance to them. Captain Taylor was killed by the first fire of the Indians. They made their escape over Pomeroy Mountain, where they tomahawked and scalped Mrs. Benjamin Janes, leav- ing her, as they supposed, dead. She was found by the pursuers and as there was still life, they carried her to Northampton where she finally recovered and lived to the age of eighty. It was her husband who escaped by the canoe to give the alarm. They later moved to Coventry, Connecticut, where he was deacon of the Church for many years. Mrs. John Searl survived a murderous blow from a tomahawk, although she was in a somewhat critical condition at the time. Four months later, she gave birth to a daughter. Mrs. Moses Hutchinson managed to escape before they had gone far.
Elisha Searl, the son of Mrs. Searl who recovered from the tomahawking - the youth whose quick wit saved his life, had a somewhat romantic experience. He was taken to Canada and being kindly treated he became fond of the French and the free, unhampered life that he lived with the Indians. He was con- verted to the Roman faith. Many years later, wlien he returned
- - -
سبـ
332
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
to his old home for a visit, he at first refused to remain to settle down to the, in comparison, dull life of Pascommuck, but finally Captain Benjamin Wright and Thomas Stebbins persuaded him to remain, and as an inducement they procured for him a lieu- tenant's commission in the Colonial forces. There is a tradition that Lieutenant Searl's faith in Roman Catholicism was greatly shaken several years before his return to his old home, as he
4
PAYSON CHURCH, EASTHAMPTON.
was setting forth on a journey. He asked the priest what he should do while away in regard to confession. The priest replied, that he could confess to a tree as that would do as well. Of course Searl was sur- prised and when he told his Pascommuck friends about it they were shocked, but both he and they utterly failed to understand that all the good Father wanted was a confession of sins and that, as the confes- sion was really made to the Creator, it made little difference whether the words were spoken to a tree or a priest.
To return to the attack by the Indians; another person to es- cape from the tomahawk was Samuel Janes, one of the youths who was knocked on the head at the time Captain Taylor and his cavalry appeared. Ten of the Indians who made the attack upon Pascommuck, went to "the lower farms", near Smith's Ferry on the Connecticut River, where the only house was that of Cap- tain Benjamin Wright. As he and Thomas Stebbins, then a young man, were the only occupants of the house, the Indians thought to overcome then easily, but a shot from the house broke an arm of one of the Indians and so made them cautious. They
-
333
EASTHAMPTON.
then tried to set fire to the house by shooting blazing arrows onto the roof. As there was no water in the house, Stebbins tied a feather bed about himself for a protection from arrows, and then went out to the well and drew water to put out the fire on the roof. The Indians dared not make.a rush, for Captain Wright's gun was in the hands of a man who shot straight. Finding they must fight to capture the men, the Indians withdrew. There are thousands of instances, in the history of New England, where the attacking Indians withdrew from an inferior number of deter- mined men, whom they knew they must fight to overcome. All of these instances prove, that while the Indians were brave they were entirely lacking in courage, and on the other hand the cour- age of the settlers was often far greater than their bravery.
There were murders committed at different times for a number of years after this attack of 1704. In 1708, Samuel and Joseph Parsons were killed near Pascommuck and in 1724, Nathaniel Edwards, 2nd., of Northampton, was killed and scalped, while on his way home from the Easthampton meadows with a cart loaded with produce. There were several men with carts who were keeping together for mutual safety. At the fording place of the Manhan River, Mr. Edwards was delayed for a brief time while the other men had gone on. Just as he was crossing a brook, near the ford, he was shot. His negro farm hand, who was asleep on the load, woke up just in time to see his master scalped. The horses continued on to the top of the hill, when the negro unhitched one of them and rode after the other men and told them what had happened, but the Indians were never caught.
In King George's War of 1744, Joseph Bartlett's and Major Jonathan Clapp's houses in Easthampton were fortified, and so was Samuel Janes' at Pascommuck.
It is said, facetiously no doubt, that the irregular boundary lines of Easthampton were caused by the desire of the different settlers, at the time of the organization of the town, to either be in the town or out of it, and that the lines were run accordingly.
The western portion of the town, where the lines are the most irregular, was first settled by Eldad Pomeroy and Samuel Pome- roy and their sons, about 1732. Soon after, Sergeant Ebenezer Corse settled in the western portion, on the plain, and then fol-
..
-
-
334
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
lowed Stephen Wright, Aaron and Benjamin Clapp. Corse was reputed to be a man of great courage and fearlessness. When other settlers were going to the larger settlements for safety, at the times Indian attacks were feared, Mr. Corse always remained to defend and protect his home. `In the northern portion of the town were the families of Joseph and Titus Wright, who went there in 1750, and in the southern portion of the town was Bildad Brewer.
In 1773, an effort was made to organize what is now Easthampton into a district. At this time the ter- ritory belonged to Northampton and Southampton. But nothing was done, as Southampton strongly objected, and, too, the Revolution was fully occupying the attention of the Gen- eral Court, and the people of the towns concerned. There was an- other attempt in 1781, and '82, but the district was not organized till 1785, with about sixty families from Northampton and fifteen from South- ampton, within its bounds. On No- PULPIT ELM, EASTHAMPTON. vember 17, 1785, the Church was organized with seventy-two members, in the home of Captain Joseph Clapp. The frame for a church had been set up in the spring of that year, but the building was not entirely finished till 1792. In 1786, a committee was ap- pointed to obtain the bequest of Joseph Bartlett of £4 8s IId to the first church in which worship should be held. This sum had grown by accumulation, to £14 Is 3d, and was used for the purchase of a Communion service. In that year the Rev. Aaron Walworth preached to the people, but he did not become their settled minister although he was invited to do so.
On August 13, 1789, the Rev. Payson Williston, the first min- ister, was ordained, in the twenty-sixth year of his age. Mr. Williston was born in 1763, in West Haven, Connecticut, his father being the Rev. Noah Williston. For several months be-
.
---
-
335
1
EASTHAMPTON.
fore 1779, he was in the Continental Army. He then entered Yale with the intention of entering the ministry, and was gradu- ated in the class of 1783. Among his classmates were the Hon. David Daggett, a well known and brilliant lawyer ; the Hon. J. C. Smith, who later became Governor of Connecticut ; and the Rev. Dr. Holmes and the Rev. Dr. Morse. Mr. Williston studied for the pulpit under the Rev. Dr. Trumbull, of North Haven. In the year following his settlement, he married Miss Sarah Birdsey, daughter of the Rev. Nathan Birdsey, of Stratford, Connecticut. In March, 1833, Mr. Williston resigned, because of advancing years, after forty-four years of faithfulness and devotion to the parish in which he was beloved. His death occurred in January, 1856, at the great age of ninety-two.
The first school in Easthampton was at Pascommuck, in 1739, in which year the Town of Northampton appropriated inoney for its support. The salary of the teacher was six shillings a week and he was to pay his board out of that sum. Obadiah Janes, Philip Clark and Joel Parsons were the earliest teachers of this school. Williston Seminary, one of the notable preparatory schools of the country, was founded by the Hon. Samuel Williston in 1840.
The first attempt at anything like manufacturing, was a fuller's mill, which was run by Jonathan Clapp, in 1780, in a portion of the old grist-mill. Not long after that year, Captain Joseph Clapp built a mill in which he fulled, dyed and dressed the cloth that was woven in the different homes of the community.
About 1792, Easthampton had a library association, consisting of thirty members who paid two dollars each to become share- holders. The Rev. Payson Williston was the librarian for thirty- five years.
Besides the first tavern, opened by Joseph Bartlett in 1727, Major Jonathan Clapp, a nephew of Mr. Bartlett's, kept a tavern which was well known all over western New England. It was a place of rest for travelers to and from Vermont and Connecti- cut. Major Clapp was a keen business man as is shown by an anecdote that is told of him. In the winter of 1760, there was a fall of four feet of snow. This was immediately followed by rain and hail to a depth of eight inches forming what was known as " The great crust ". Of course, all communication was cut off
-
336
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
between the larger towns and the country, supposedly, and Major Clapp turned this supposition to profitable account. Finding that the crust would easily bear himself and his horse, he went to Hatfield, where he purchased a drove of cattle and then con- tinued, on the crust, to Boston. As he was the first man in Boston with cattle he sold them for a large price and netted a sum equivalent to $333, with a time outlay of less than ten days. The old Bartlett tavern was taken by Captain Joseph Clapp, a son of Major Clapp, in 1793. The Clapps were the tavern and hotel keepers in Easthampton for about one hundred years.
A
.
SOUTHAMPTON. 337
SOUTHAMPTON.
T HE history of Southampton is interesting from the fact that it is commonplace ; that it was not the home of "one of the Nation's great men ", or of even the State's great men ; that no event of Colonial, State or National importance ever took place within its bounds; that, so far as is known, no great man ever spent the night there, or even passed through the town ; that no powder was ever burnt within its bounds in the conflict with George III ; that it cannot even boast, as can its sister towns oi New England, of an Indian deed or that the land was pur- chased from the Indians; that it cannot fall back upon one single man. incident, or occurrence, upon which to boost itself into his- torical prominence. And yet the history of Southampton is grand for it is the history of a fine, hardy community - morally, men- tally and physically - of men and women who, living remote from the epoch making centers, devoted their simple lives to their fields and their spinning wheels and to the grand work of build- ing up, in themselves and their children, a true type of New England manhood and womanhood.
An old man from one of the other Hamptons, who was reputed to be an authority on local history, replied to a question : "No, there haint never been no hist'ry written of So'thampton, 's I know of. There warnt never anythin' happend there to write about ".
So, while it is true that the men and women of Southampton did not make National history in Southampton, it is equally true that no town gave more generously and cheerfully of its loved sons and its substance to help make the history of the Colonies in the French and Indian wars, and of the Nation in the Revolu- tion, than this same town in which "nothin' haint ever hap- pened to write about ".
The first settlers of Southampton were Judah Hutchinson and Thomas Porter who made their pitch in 1732, but at that time the territory, which became Southampton in 1753, when the town was incorporated, was but a precinct of Northampton. The words precinct and parish meant the same in those days. In 1733, these men were joined by fourteen other settlers and between this year and 1740, fourteen families joined the little settlement. The first meeting of qualified freeholders in the precinct was held in 1741,
22
-
1
338
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
and on June 8, 1743, the first Church was organized with the Rev. Jonathan Judd as its minister, and Waitstill Strong and John Clark its deacons. A notable company of clergymen were present to ordain Mr. Judd. They were the Rev. Messrs. Edwards, of Northampton; Hopkins, of West Springfield; Woodbridge, of South Hadley; Parsons, of East Hadley (Amherst) ; Williams, of Hadley; Woodbridge, of Hatfield; and Ballentine, of West- field. The ordination sermon was preached by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards.
Mr. Judd was given as settlement, 200 acres of land, froo old tenor, f125 old tenor to be given in work upon his house. His salary was £130 old tenor for the first, second and third years and was to be increased by £5 each successive year till the annual sum of f170 was reached, and later the people gave him his firewood. Mr. Judd was minister of the church for sixty years, death at the age of eighty-three, in 1803, ending his long and useful pastorate.
Payments of salaries and settlements of ministers are frequently given as being a certain number of pounds, "old tenor ", and when it so is given, the salary always seems large for the times. This may be accounted for by the fact that old tenor was de- preciated money. About 1690, paper money was issued to defray the expenses of the expedition against Quebec. As these bills were not redeemed, except by a new issue, the bills depreciated till it required seven and a half pounds to equal one pound in gold or silver. In 1750, they had become so worthless that a debt of fff old tenor could be paid with fi in gold or silver.
In the year in which Mr. Judd became the minister of the Southampton Church the horrors of an Indian war were staring the people in the face. At this time, Southampton was a frontier settlement, for to the north-west there was not a settlement be- tween it and Canada to give warning of the approach of hostile Indians. That they might be prepared, should the Indians at- tempt to reach the large Connecticut River towns of North- ampton, Springfield and Hartford, through the unbroken wilder- ness to the north-west, Mr. Judd's house was turned into a fort or place of refuge, by surrounding it with a palisade. A watch- tower was built at the west end of the house, which was entered through one of the windows of the house, on the top of which sentinels were stationed to keep constant watch for the approach
1
SOUTHAMPTON. 339
of Indians. Jonathan Bascom's house was also fortified. Al- though the people were in constant dread, it was necessary that the work in the fields should go on, otherwise a fight with starva- tion would be occupying the people, and a fight with starvation would be much more one-sided than a fight with Indians. So, when the men went into the fields to work, they all carried their arms and one or more, as the occasion required, would be placed on elevations to give warning should Indians appear. When the men were in the fields the women and children occupied the forti- fied houses. After a time the people regained confidence and the women and children remained in their own houses while the men were away.
In 1745, Elias Lyman, of Southampton, was in the army, under the command of General Pepperell at the reduction of Cape Breton. Not once in that year were any Indians seen within the town, but in 1746, on August 25, a band of them came to the town and entered the deserted homes of Aaron and Elisha Clark, de- stroying everything they did not steal. Thinking that they had been discovered, the Indians fled to Pomeroy Mountain, where, on the west side, they killed six cattle and a horse and wounded several other animals.
Two weeks later, the Indians were again in Southampton. This time they tried their cunning to entrap one or more victims that scalps could be hung at their belts ; that they could get the found- ation for something to brag about in camp ; a fine fairy story that would grow in size and detail and in the number of the settlers whom they had beaten in the fight. But the tale of Indian dar- ing and bravery and cunning was never told - by the Indians - for something got into the machinery and the exhibition did not come off. That something was a white man, named Samuel Danks.
The Indians had laid their plans carefully by preparing an am- bush near some bars, where the cows were driven through to pasture, and midway between two of the settlers' homes. The cows were found in the pasture by the Indians and were driven back into the brush as far from the bars as possible, that whoever came for them would have to pass the bars - and the ambush - to look for them. The Indians were evidently not aware that cows have a habit of feeding toward home as the milking time
=
340
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
approaches at sunset. When the cows were discovered to be nearing the bars, one of the Indians was sent to drive them again to the back of the pasture. It so happened that Danks went to the pasture by a shorter route, from the place where he was at the time, than by the bars. Not seeing the cows in their accus- tomed place near the bars, he started up the pasture to find them, with a feeling that there was something queer about it. When he came in sight of the cows and saw their restlessness, he was as alert and vigilant as the most crafty Indian. He remained perfectly quiet, concealing himself, and watched. Soon he saw the Indian trying to keep the cows from going toward the bars, when he quietly slipped away and gave the alarm. The Indians disappeared, evidently convinced that the settlers were too watch- ful for it to be safe for them to attempt anything more in South- ampton for some time. They were not again seen in the town for nearly a year.
The winter of 1746 and '47 was a very hard one for the people of the settlement, for the crops had nearly failed. In the first place, the grain crop was light and on August 12, a heavy frost killed almost the whole crop of corn.
In the early autumn of 1747, eleven months after the ambush at the pasture, the Indians began a series of murders and destruc- tion of property, which finally became so dreadful that the little settlement was totally deserted for several months. About five o'clock in the afternoon of August 27, 1747, Elisha Clark was sur- prised while threshing grain on the floor of his barn, and killed by Indians. How many there were of them is not known, but there must have been at least seven for when the neighbors found his body they saw that it had been pierced by seven bullets. The neighboring settlements were informed and armed men from all about went in search of the murderers. They found that the Indians had killed cattle as they fled and that they had camped in Easthampton, on the place where the home of Noah Strong was situated in 1840. The Indians, knowing the forest and its trails much better than did the settlers, escaped.
On May 9, 1748, Noah Pixley was killed in broad daylight by Indians, as he was returning from pasturing his cows. The peo- ple in the hamlet first heard one shot, and then three, in rapid succession, as if they had been fired as a signal, and then other
6
1
1
34I
SOUTHAMPTON.
shots were heard. Notwithstanding that so many shots had been fired, Pixley's only wound was in one of his arms. He ran from the Indians, but they overtook him and in their haste to scalp him a portion of his skull was cut away with a tomahawk. The inhabitants armed themselves and started in pursuit. They chased them as far as the home of Samuel Burt, who with his family were away, so the Indians did not stop there but continued their flight and escaped.
However brave were the men, or willing were the women to share their dangers, it was more than human nature could stand. Besides the constant dread of unexpected attack in their homes, it was dangerous for the men to work in the fields, even with an armed guard present. The Indians' mode of attack, by making an unexpected dash, killing one or more and then fleeing to the forest where they were at home and the settlers were strangers, handicapped the settlers greatly, but in a fight to a finish, the settlers would have been on even terms with the Indians. So they decided to abandon their farms and homes. Many of the families went to Northampton; Mr. Judd, the minister, and his family went to Suffield, where his wife had relatives. About two months later, on July 19, seven families returned to South- ampton to protect their own and their neighbors' homes. In the autumn nearly all of the people had returned, and in the winter the minister and his family rejoined the settlement.
Seventeen hundred and forty-eight was a trying year for the people. The fields lying uncared for during the previous summer, after the flight, produced but little food for man or beast, so, be- sides the Indians they had famine to contend with, and then three of the foremost and most useful men of the settlement died. They were Ezera Strong, Noah Sheldon and Moses Wright, all origi- nal settlers. That winter of 1748 and '49 was a terrible one, with the murders by the Indians, the three deaths of valued neighbors and the lack of food for the people and their animals. Hay was brought for the live-stock from Northampton on horseback. The people needed all of that spirit of undaunted courage and bravery ; of determination to not give up, but to stay and conquer every hardship and adversity, that made New England " The place where we grow Men." Added to all this, there was a drought the next year, in 1749, which lasted from March into
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.