USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Charlemont > Charlemont as a plantation : an historical discourse at the centennial anniversary of the death of Moses Rice, the first settler of the town, delivered at Charlemont, Mass., June 11, 1855 > Part 1
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CHARLEMONT AS A PLANTATION
JOSEPH WHITE
Gc 974.402 C37W 1851914
M. L.
REVIMINE HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01102 4459
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/charlemontasplan00whit_0
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CHARLEMONT AS A PLANTATION.
AN
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
AT THE
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH
OF
MOSES RICE,
THE FIRST SETTLER OF THE TOWN,
DELIVERED AT
CHARLEMONT, MASS.
JUNE 11, 1855.
BY JOSEPH WHITE.
BOSTON: PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS STREET. 1858.
IN Town Meeting, Charlemont, April 7, 1856,
On motion, " Voted, To take measures to publish the Address delivered in Charlemant, June 11, 1855, by JOSEPH WHITE, Esq., and place a copy of the same in every family in town."
" Voted, To choose a Committee of three, to sceure the publication of the Ad- dress, and to secure and protect as a Burial-ground, the spot where Captain Rice anil Mr. Arms were buried."
On motion, the following named persons were then appointed by the Moderator, maid Committee : - ALEXANDER P. MAXWELL, SAMUEL POTTER, and Dr. A. H. TAYLOR.
Attest, F. W. WHITE, TOWN CLERK.
1851914
DISCOURSE.
-
FELLOW CITIZENS :
In obedience to the call of your Committee, I stand before you to-day. I come from the cares and anxieties of active busi- ness, to call your thoughts, for a brief space, away from the busy present to the solemn past. Without further preface or apology, I invite your attention to a simple, and, so far as my time and materials would allow, a connected statement of the origin of this town, and its history during its existence as a plantation ; together with some brief notices of the families of the first settlers.
On the 27th day of June, A. D. 1735, the House of Repre- sentatives took the following action on a petition of the town of Boston, to wit :
" Voted, That there be, and hereby is granted to the town of Boston, three tracts of land, each of the contents of six miles square ; and to be laid out in some suitable place or places in the unappropriated lands of the Province for Townships, by a surveyor and chainman on oath, and to return plans whereof to this Court for confirmation, within twelve months ; provided, the town of Boston do, within five years from the confirmation of the said plans, settle on each of the said towns, sixty families of his Majesty's good subjects, inhabitants of this Province, in as regular and defensible a manner as the lands will admit of ; each of said sixty fam- ilies to build and finish a dwelling-house on his home lot, of the following dimensions, viz : Eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least ; that each of the said settlers within said town bring to, and fit for improve- ment, five acres of said home lot, either by plowing or for mowing, by stocking the same with English grass, and fence the same well in, and actually live on the spot :- and, also, that they build and finish a suitable and convenient House for the public worship of God, and settle a learned, orthodox minister, in each of the said towns, and provide for their honor- able and comfortable support :- and, also, lay out three house-lots in
each of said towns, each of which to draw a sixty-third part of said town, in all future divisions ; one to be for the first settled minister, one for the ministry, and one for the school."
On the 15th of June, 1736, agreeably to one of the provisions of the grant, a plat of ground was presented to the General Court, containing twenty -three thousand and forty acres of land, laid out by Nathaniel Kellogg, surveyor, and two chainmen under oath, and called " Number One," bounded as follows, viz : " Beginning at a hemlock tree on the southerly side of Deerfield river, about forty rods from said river, at the north end of a mountain, near the crotch of said river, thence running east nineteen degrees south, two thousand eight hundred and sixty perch ; from thence north seventeen hundred and five perch, to a stake and stones ; then west six degrees north, two thousand four hundred and fifteen perch ; then south nineteen degrees west to the aforementioned tree ; bounded on unappropriated lands of the Province on every side, except the east, which is bounded partly on the Township Number Two" ;- the survey of which was also presented to the House, at the same time, by Mr. Kellogg.
This irregular plat of ground, with a southern border of about 9.93 miles, an eastern of 5.32 miles, and a northern of 7.54 miles, called Boston Township Number One, constituted the original plantation, and, afterwards, town of Charlemont.
It is much to be regretted that we have no means of ascertaining from what source our goodly town received its name, or at what date the name was given. The earliest mention of it which I have been able to discover, is in the deed, hereafter mentioned, from Phineas Stevens to Othniel Taylor, dated Nov. 3, 1742, wherein it is styled, "Checkley's Town, otherwise called Charlemont."
In pursuance of a vote of the frecholders and other inhabitants of Boston, at a legal meeting held on the third day of May, A. D. 1757, the Selectmen sold the Township Number One, to John Real, Esq., for One Thousand and Twenty Pounds. The convey- ance was made to him on the 14th day of July following, and bound him to comply with the conditions of the original grant to Boston.
On the 14th day of December, in the same year, Read conveyed the Township to John Checkley and Gershom Keyes, with a reservation to himself of one thousand seven hundred and sixty acres in the north-west part of the tract, binding them, also, to a compliance with the terms of the original grant.
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Keyes and Checkley conveyed, December 17, 1737, to Thomas Hancock, " five hundred acres at least," on the east line of the tract.
November 16, 1738, Keyes conveyed one quarter part of the whole township to Benjamin Woods, after reserving six thousand acres for actual settlers, and the one thousand seven hundred and sixty acres already reserved by John Read. And in December following, Keyes received from Checkley a power of attorney to deed the six thousand acres to settlers.
As such attorney, on the 23d of April, A. D. 1741, Keyes sold to Moses Rice, of Rutland, in the County of Worcester, two thousand two hundred acres of land, the west line beginning on the north bank of the Deerfield river, nearly opposite the mouth of Checkley's river-more correctly, forty-four rods below the mouth-and the east line being at a pine tree, standing in, or near, the small rivulet which crosses the road, in the farm of Rev. Joseph Field, and running north four hundred and twenty rods : also a fifty acre lot, " lying east of the common lands left by the meeting-house place, bounded south on the river, and west by lands left for commonage and meeting-house."
During the same year, Keyes sold other portions of the town- ship as follows :- To Nathaniel Cunnngham, Benjamin Clark, and Ebenezer Storer, fifteen hundred and eighty-four acres, lying in the north-east corner of the town. November 18, to Phineas Stevens, of Deerfield, five hundred acres, lying south of Deerfield river, in the south-east corner of the town ; and also, as the attor- ney for Checkley, five hundred acres on the north side of the river and on the east line of the town, and running thence west two hundred rods, and north far enough to include the five hundred acres. December 16, to William Ward, one thousand acres, join- ing John Reed's land. December 29, to David Baldwin, one thousand acres, between Hancock's and Ward's.
On the 3d of November, 1742, Phineas Stevens sold the two lots which he had purchased of Keyes, as before mentioned, to Othniel Taylor of Deerfield, for the sum of one thousand pounds, old tenor.
During the same year Keyes made other sales as follows, viz :
January 8, to William Ward, nine hundred and fifty acres.
October 19, to Nathaniel Martin, five hundred and six acres, " bounded west on Moses Rice, north on common land, south on Deerfield river."
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In November, as attorney to Checkley, five hundred acres to John Stearns, on the south side of the river, and five hundred on the north side, " bounded northerly and westerly partly on com- mon lands."
On the 20th of the same month he also sold to Stearns one thou- sand one hundred and sixty-one acres, bounded south on the river, and north on Hancock's farm ; and one hundred acres to Benjamin Hayward, " bounded south on the river and north by common lands ; " and December 27, to Elisha Dyer, four hundred acres, " lying west of Othniel Taylor's farm."
On the 27th of January, 1743, (N. S.) Keyes sold to William Ward all his remaining right and interest in the township, which he thus describes: " The one moiety or half part of a certain township, called Charlemont, lying on Deerfield river, in the County of Hampshire. It being the whole I purchased of John Read, as may appear by a deed of sale, bearing date the 14th day of December, 1737, and recorded at Springfield, the 30th day of the aboves' December, as will appear by the said deed, except- ing my part of all that is sold to Mr. Thomas Hancock, Captain Rice, John Stearns, and to a number of other persons, as may appear by their Deeds, Recorded at Springfield, Bounded as may appear by the abovesd Deed."
Nearly eight years had now elapsed since the original grant to Boston ; and, although large portions of the territory had, as we have seen, been disposed of to numerous purchasers, yet Boston had satisfied herself with pocketing the money, and handing over her obligations " to bring on the settlements " to John Read, her grantee. Read, following the example of Boston, had taken no other steps to further the settlement of the town than to transfer the obligations which he had assumed to Checkley and Keyes. And it appears that most of the grantees of Checkley and Keyes, had, like them, purchased for purposes of speculation, and not of settlement.
This quiet valley, now so beautiful with its garniture of green, and these guardian hills, still bore up the ancient forest. But the time appointed for a wonderful change was at hand. The axe was nnw to be laid at the root of the giant trees ; the blue smoke was How to curl from the low cabin of the pioneer ; and the voice of industry, and the notes of prayer and praise, were now to arise ; and the long, dark reign of wild beast, and wilder man, not with-
out a bitter struggle, was soon to cease forever. The first settler- the patriarch of the valley-was on his way. In the spring of 1743, if not, indeed, in the previous autumn, Moses Rice, of Rut- land, in the County of Worcester, removed with his family to the town, and settled upon the tract which he had previously pur- chased.
It is impossible, at this late period, to determine precisely the day, or month even, of the first settlement. Capt. Rice, as we have seen, had made his purchase in April, 1741 ; but that he did not remove from Rutland previous to the autumn of 1742, is evident from the following record of a town meeting held in Rutland, August 9th, of that year.
" Voted, That the town accept of Mr. Buckminster's contract, and join in his ordination ; and chose Eleazer Ball, Capt. Moses Rice, and Daniel Estabrook, a committee to provide for the same."
That he did not remove later than the spring of 1743, is evi- dent from the following statement, which I find in a petition pre- sented by him to the General Court, on the 4th day of December, 1752, viz : "The Petition of Moses Rice, of a place called Charle- mont, in the County of Hampshire, Humbly Shews,
" That it is about ten years since your petitioner went to live in said Place, and was the first family that moved there."
In view of these facts, especially when we consider the severe privations and hardships to which his family must have been exposed during the first winter's residence, with no other pre- paration to meet them, than a settlement late in the season would allow, I think we may safely conclude that Capt. Rice removed his family to this place early in the spring of 1743.
Whether the entire family removed at this time, cannot now be determined. Of his seven children, his eldest son Samuel was twenty-three years of age, had been married nearly two years, and was the father of one son, born April 5, 1742; and his eldest daughter, Abigail, was married to James Heaton, of Rutland, April 11, 1743. The remaining children were minors, the youngest son, Artemas, being but nine years of age.
It is quite probable that Capt. Rice and his sons had visited the place during the previous summer, and begun the work of prepa- ration ; had cleared portions of the meadow and prepared them for cultivation ; had hewn the timber, and, perhaps, erected the house which was to be his future home. This supposition receives
some support from the statement of his son, Sylvanus Rice, handed down to us by his daughter, the late Mrs. Fuller, that " he had slept under the buttonwood tree," still standing by the roadside, near the dwelling of Mr. William Patch, " when there was no other white person in town."
Tradition informs us that the first house was erected on, or near, the spot where the house of Mr. Patch now stands, upon the high grounds overlooking the beautiful fields at the west, which, from their being first cultivated, have, from time immemorial, been called the "Old Fields."
Capt. Rice's dwelling was the outpost of civilization in north- western Massachusetts, there being none other, west of the valley of the Connecticut, excepting in Coleraine. His supplies were to be procured at Deerfield, and his corn carried thither to mill, a distance of twenty-two miles, and over a road which was little else than a bridle path.
Feebly, indeed, can we of the present generation conceive of, and, much less, adequately appreciate the difficult and exhausting labors, the privations and hardships experienced by the little band of hardy adventurers who leveled the primeval forests and turned the first furrow in these peaceful fields, which now smile, in quiet beauty, beneath our eyes. Yet, with strong hands and resolute hearts, the father and his youthful sons went to their work. The forests retreated before them ; the harvest was gathered ; comforts were multiplied ; the signs of plenty increased ; and a prosperous and smiling future seemed before them.
But other scenes than these, were soon to open upon them ; another and more terrible element was to be added to the hard- whips of frontier life,-the fear of the tomahawk and scalping- knife.
From the close of Sebastian Rolle's or the Jesuits' war, in 1725, the colonists had enjoyed a period, unusully protracted, of exemption from the depredations of the Indian foe. At the close of that war, great efforts had been made to cultivate relations of good-will with the Indians who yet remained in New England, or who visited the borders from the neighboring provinces and from Canada. Trading-houses had been erected at Fort Dummer, and at other points in the wilderness, on the eastern and northern fron- tiers, and well stocked with such goods as the Indians were Accustomed to procure, and furnished to them in exchange for furs
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and other products of the chase. Conferences were held with the sachems of the leading tribes, and mutual assurances given that the " covenant of peace should remain unshaken."
" Nevertheless," says Gen. Hoyt, 1 " it was evident that the Indians still harbored dispositions not very friendly to the English, and that a war between France and England was alone wanting to turn them once more upon the frontiers of the Colonies. As they often resorted to the exterior settlements and trading-posts for traffic, it was common for them to visit the families whom they had cruelly injured in the preceding wars, and to recount their exploits ; the cruel murders and tortures practiced upon their friends ; and, when provoked or intoxicated, to threaten a reiteration of their former cruelties, should war afford them opportunities."
These opportunities were not long delayed. On the 29th of March, 1744, Great Britain declared war against France and Spain. It was proclaimed in Boston in June.
" At the declaration of war,"-and I again quote Gen. Hoyt,- " many Indians who had been active in the former war, resided about the frontiers on the Connecticut, as well as at the fishing stations on that river. By a friendly intercourse, many had become known to the English settlers, and a kind of attachment had been created, which it was hoped would operate as a check to their ferocity. But their ardor for plunder and carnage overcame their apparent feelings of amity ; and finding an opportunity for gratify- ing their inclinations, they suddenly left their stations and repaired to Canada, to join the hostile tribes in that quarter. Perfectly acquainted with the topography of the country on the frontiers of the Colonies, they were employed during the war, not only in predatory incursions of their own, but as guides to other and more distant Indians."
Such was the character of the foe with whom our fathers were called to contend, and whose predatory forays spread devastation and death throughout the feeble settlements upon our northern borders. Planning their expeditions in Canada, they passed down lake Champlain to Crown Point, or to the head of the lake, and thence up Otter Creek to the highlands in Vermont, called the half-way mountain. Here they separated into smaller parties, some of which followed down Wells or Black rivers, to attack
1 Antiquarian Researches, p. 228.
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the settlements on the Connecticut ; while others passed southerly to the head-waters of the Deerfield and its tributaries, to fall upon the feeble settlements in this quarter ; and others still followed Wood Creek from Whitehall to the Hudson and Hoosic, and up the latter stream to the mountain, and following the " old Indian road " across the summit, fell upon settlements in the valleys of the Deerfield and Connecticut.
To arrest the progress of these parties, and guard the exposed frontiers, the following scheme of defence was adopted. Fort Dummer, on the right bank of the Connecticut, in the present town of Vernon, Vermont, was repaired and suitably garrisoned, and a line of small forts was projected, to extend from Fort Dummer, westward on the highlands above the settlements, to the upper valley of the Hoosi river, in the present town of Adams. In pursuance of this plan, during the summer of 1744, Fort Shirley was erected, in the north-eastern part of Heath ; Fort Pelham, on Pelham brook, in Rowe ; and Fort Massachusetts, nearly at the northern base of Saddle mountain, in the beautiful meadow on the banks of the Hoosic river, and now owned by Clement Harrison, Esq. Fort Morrison, and two other small forts, or mounts, were also erected in Coleraine, in the following year. These were all built under the supervision of Ephraim Williams, Jr., then a young and active officer, with the commission of Cap- tain in the Hampshire regiment, under the command of Col. John Stoddard, of Northampton ; and afterwards the gallant and be- loved commander of the third Massachusetts regiment of " new levies," in the expedition of Sir William Johnson against Crown Point. His early and lamented fall in the " bloody morning scout " at Lake George, September 8, 1755, and his dying legacy, afterwards the foundation of the College which bears his name, have embalmed his memory in the hearts of the people of Western Massachusetts.
These forts were built of logs, squared and matched, or of hewn plank, and surrounded with pickets-squared timber, sharp- ened and driven into the ground, so as to form a continuous fence, and tolerably secure against musketry. They were supplied with small iron guns or swivels, and garrisoned by small parties of sol- diers. Besides guarding the settlements in their vicinity, they also furnished protection and points of rendezvous to the scouting parties which were ranging from fort to fort, and often far into the
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wilderness, to discover the trail and break up the war-parties of the Indian enemy. With his head-quarters at Fort Massachusetts, which was the most important post, Capt. Williams was intrusted with the command of the other forts, and with the defence of the entire frontier west of the Connecticut.
Relying upon the defence thus afforded, Capt. Rice, remained in his exposed position, with no extra guard, except for a few months, and continued his labors in cultivating his lands. His house was situated on the direct line of travel between Deerfield and Fort Massachusetts, and was the welcome home of the colonial troops, passing to and from these points, and a grateful shelter to the small parties of scouts in their dangerous marches. His own language, taken from the petition already quoted, will best describe his position at that period. It is as follows : "That his living was of great service, as he humbly apprehends, to the public, as being the only house where people could be supplied ; and, as soldiers were often traveling that way, as well as small parties of scouts, it was very expensive to your petitioner, who often supplied them at his own costs."
Thus, while the war was raging, and dangers threatened on every side, he remained unmolested till August, 1746. On the 20th day of that month, Fort Massachusetts was invested by a force of eight hundred French and Indians, under the command of M. Rigaud de Vaudreuil. After a gallant defence of twenty- eight hours, by the little garrison of twenty-two men commanded by Sergeant John Hawks, of Deerfield, they were compelled, from want of ammunition, to capitulate.
During the same week, Capt. Rice removed his family to Deer- field. This timely flight proved their salvation from the horrors of an Indian massacre. For, on his return to Charlemont, a short time afterwards, to look after his property, he found that the sav- age had been there, and that the fire had done its work. His losses are best related in his own plain and simple words. He says : " That as he was not defended, he at the time drew off with his wife and family to Deerfield ; and returning in order to take care of his things, found his house was burnt, with a good stock of provisions therein, (or carried away,) by the enemy, as was all his household goods, with a considerable parcel of clothing ; his stock of cattle, being seven oxen and cows, together with six very good fat hogs, were all killed by the enemy ; his crop of grain, at
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least three hundred bushels, with all his hay, husbandry, tools, and many other things, all destroyed ; his loss being at least fifteen hundred pounds, Old Tenor."1 This destruction was doubtless the work of the fifty Indians who left Vaudreuil's camp, immediately after Fort Massachusetts had capitulated, in order to surprise Deer- field, and were engaged in the " Bars fight " in that town, on Monday, the 25th of August.
Finding his home desolated, and his property destroyed, Capt. Rice returned, with his family, to Rutland, where he remained about three years, till the close of the war.
In the month of December following, Aaron Rice, his second son, volunteered to serve in the garrison at Fort Pelham, where he was stationed more than a year.2
While residing at Rutland, his second daughter, Dinah Rice, was married to Joseph Stevens, January 20, 1747.
Upon the return of peace, Capt. Rice, with his family of four sons and two daughters, returned to his desolated homestead. A new dwelling was erected upon the site of the former one ; and another house was built near the river, upon the meadow now owned by Mr. Roswell Rice, for the accommodation of his son, Samuel Rice, who had now become the father of three sons- Moses, Asa and Martin.
But he was no longer to carry on the work single-handed. Others began to arrive. First, probably, were Othniel Taylor and Jonathan his brother, who settled, in the year 1749 or 1750, upon the purchase already mentioned, in the eastern boundary of the township, and erected houses near to each other upon the site now occupied by the dwelling of Elias Taylor, Esq.
Othniel Taylor was the grandson of John Taylor, who was one of the early settlers in Northampton, was captain of a troop of cavalry in that town, and was slain by the Indians at Easthampton, May 13, 1704, at the age of sixty-three years. He was the father of thirteen children. Two of his sons, Samuel and Thomas, removed to Deerfield, where Samuel married, as a second wife, in 1718, Mary Hitchcock, of Springfield. Othniel, their eldest son, was born April 16, 1719, and was not far from thirty years of age at the time of his removal to Charlemont. His wife's name was Martha Arms, of Deerfield. They were married June 16, 1743, and had three children before their removal. From a petition,
' Appendix A.
' Appendix B.
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dated at Deerfield, and presented to the General Court, April 5, 1749,1 Mr. Taylor appears to have been a resident of Deerfield, at that time. His fourth child, Enos Taylor, was born at Charlemont, February 3, 1751, and was the first child of English parents, born in the town. Mr. Taylor's removal here was, doubtless, between these dates, and probably in the summer of 1749.2
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