USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Blandford > Discourse delivered at Blandford, Mass., Tues., Mar. 20, 1821, giving some account of the early settlement of the town and the history of the church > Part 1
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M. L.
Gc 974.402 B61k 1796619
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01095 3955
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https://archive.org/details/discoursedeliver1821keep
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A DISCOURSE
DELIVERED + AT + BLANDFORD, + MASS,K- .
Tuesday, March 20th. 1821.
GIVING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN AND THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
-BY-
REV. JOHN KEEP,
Pastor of the Congregational Church in Blandford from 1805 to 1821.
PRINTED FROM' A RECENTLY DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPT COPY BY CHARLES W. EDDY, WARE, MASS. 1886.
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BLANDFORD
Marc
EARLY HISTORY
OF THE TOWN AND CHURCH BY
REV. JOHN KEEP.
1796619
Blandford, March, 20, 1821.
A History of some of the interesting events respecting the first settlement of the town of Blandford, its progress and the character of the people to the present period.
N. B. With much difficulty has this statement been made. The Records of the town and church are very de- ficient.
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Him. 96.
DEUT. xxxii : 7.
"REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD, CONSIDER THE YEARS OF MANY GENE- RATIONS, ASK THY FATHER AND HE WILL SHOW THEE, THY ELDERS AND THEY WILL TELL THEE."
This instructive and affectionate language was addressed by Moses to the people he had rescued from bondage, and had conducted forty years through the wilderness to the borders of Canaan. During the whole of this period he had felt for them the deepest interest, and so long as life was allowed him he was prepared to devote himself to their benefit. But God had forbidden him to enter Canaan He was only permitted to ascend to the top of Pisgah, and to view at a distance the fertile country, which several hun- dred years before had been given to the seed of Abraham, who had already encamped on this side Jordan. Fresh in his own recollection were the tremendous scenes they had witnessed previous to their deliverance from bondage. The toils and perils of the wilderness, the entire destruction of all who had crossed the Red Sea, except himself, Caleb, and Joshua. The whole book of Deuteronomy is his fare- well address, and the text evinces his ardent desire that the people might cherish the remembrance of what had trans- pired and carry with them to Canaan a grateful sense of the divine goodness.
Every person of common sense feels an interest in knowing something of his ancestors. The well informed mind will eagerly peruse the page of history and receive from the example of others some of its most valuable lessons of in- struction. But a small portion of what transpires in the world is ever recorded. The occurrences of the domestic circle and the more public transactions of a town seldom employ the pen of the historian. At the same time these scenes furnish the most interesting events that ever occur- red in the world : and although they are not emblazoned on the page of history, we may dwell upon them with
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delight, and as we cherish their remembrance, impart to each other a rich entertainment, by a recital of what our fathers did and said. And as we drop a tear on their grave, awake to renewed activity in the instruction of our own children, that they to may talk of their father's works and deeds, and treading in their steps may walk in the path of virtue.
In presenting to you the history of this town I shall not be able to enliven the narrative by much variety of anecdote, or to enrich it by a continued series of facts, which will awaken to any considerable extent either public or private interest. But to the most of you the little which I can give will excite some interest and I trust prove instructive as well as amusing. I shall probably present some things which might better be read on some other day than the Sabbath, and in some other place than the desk. But I hope the tendency of the whole will be salutary and that the impression left may be such as to make the mind solemn and to awaken gratitude. My statement, imperfect as it is, has cost me much time and labor. Materials are scanty and obscure.
The original records of the town were burned in Boston, and when the town clerk began his journal he was far from being very particular or lucid. Jacob Laeyton of Suffield held the first grant of this town, then six miles square. He sold it to John Fay, Francis Brinley and Francis Wells of Boston. They employed General Newbury of Windsor to survey the town. By this survey it appeared that the original grant covered an area of seven miles square. When the proprietors petitioned the court for the grant of the aditional mile their request was allowed on the condi- tion that they would put into the town forty settlers.
This was then a frontier town, and it was the wish of the court to fill it with inhabitants, so as to keep the Indians in check, and prove a safeguard to the older settlements. With this specified condition the proprietors complied, and as an inducement to the settlers to encounter the dangers and toils of a wilderness, they gave to each of the first forty or fifty families two sixty-acre lots, one for each upon the main street as it now runs through the town, and one each in the second division of lots. All these families came from the town of Hopkinton and its vicinity, about thirty-four miles from Boston. After they had formed their company in Hopkinton and resolved upon the expedition, they sent a few young men as pioneers, to mark the course and to erect a few log huts for the temporary accommodation of
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the company upon their first arrival. These youths reached the centre of the town the last of April. The day of their arrival a snow storm commenced and continued three days, collecting at the depth of between three and four feet. They were ten miles from Westfield, the near- est settlement, and seven miles from the nearest house. I need not tell you what must have been their feelings in the wilderness in such circumstances. No shelter except what they could form by the boughs of trees, no fire to warm their bodies or food, except what they would make by some rock or stone. Happily for them the cold soon subsided, and in about four days the snow was so much melted as to permit them to pursue their business of felling trees and burning them, and of erecting log huts for the generous reception of their friends whom they left in Hop- kinton.
As nearly as I can ascertain the fact, the first families moved into the town in the autumn of 1735. In the follow- ing spring the residue of the company arrived. They made their settlement upon the main street which now runs through the town. The name of the man who first came with his family into town was Hugh Black. He settled on the place where Captain Luke Osborn lived aud died, On this spot stood the first house ever inhabited in this town. Here commenced the civilization of the wilderness in the immense tract of country which overspread these moun- tains.
The next man who came with his family was James Baird. He erected his dwelling upon the lot where the house stands which is now occupied by William Sanderson. A distance of nearly four miles from Mr. Black, the only English family in town. To us it is a matter of surprise that the two families did not settle in the same neighbor- hood. But it is commonly the fact that those who have the enterprise and hardihood to penetrate with families into a wilderness manifest great fondness for independence, and choose to settle where surrounding improvements may testify my hand has done all this.
At the house of Hugh Black the proprietors began to number the farms which they designed to give to the first fifty families. The settlers drew lots for the choice, and I have it in my power to give you the names of the twenty- five who obtained the farms upon the west side of the pre- sent town street. Beginning with Mr. Black, Elder Reed was next, then Thomas McClentock, Mr. Tag- gart, Mr. Brown, Mr. Anderson, Armor Hamilton,
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Rev. Mr. McClentock, Robert Black, Mr .- Wells, now occupied by Captain Watson, Matthew Blair, Elder Stewart, John Hamilton, James Montgomery, two lots, John Boies, Samuel Ferguson, Brown, David Campbell, Deacon William Boies, Robert Wilson, Robert Sinnet, Robert Young and William Knox. Most of these persons here named settled upon the lots they drew. In some instances an exchange was made, and in some in- stances a sale. We perceive, that on some of the lots, descendants of the same name reside.
The north lot taken up was the one which is now partly occupied by Israel Gibbs. The whole distance between the house there and Montreal in Canada was one trackless wilderness, without a single English family. A fort had been erected at Williamstown, another at Crown Point. But they were occupied only by a few soldiers in time of war. The first framed house was built upon the lot now occupied by Captain Elijah Knox. The team which drew the first cart that entered the town was driven by Israel Gibbs, the father of deacon Ephriam Gibbs, who still sur- vives. Mr. Gibbs made his settlement on the place now occupied by Samuel Boies. I cannot ascertain how many families came on with this team. The day they started from the place now bearing the name of Sacket's Tavern, at the foot of the mountain, they travelled about two. miles and encamped for the night in the woods. The next day they succeeded in reaching the top of Birch Hill, and encamped again for the night, where beasts of prey roamed, and venomous reptiles denned. The third day they reached the log house on the lot where John Hamilton now lives. and found a comfortable lodgment in the bosom of friends. A portion of them were going still further north. The place which is now termed the Causeway was then a thick hemlock swamp. The whole of the next day was occu- pied in getting through this swamp. One of the most athletic of the men, James Baird, was so fatigued that im- mediately after he had left the swamp, he lay down under a hemlock tree and there retired till morning. Some state that his family of eight persons remained with him. The others of the company urged on a few rods further to the house which had been provided for them.
In a similar manner, all the first families urged their toil- some journey to their respective places of residence. They must have commenced their settlements under many disadvantages. This is true of every new settlement. But those who now penetrate our western and southern wilder-
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ness have it in their power to command many facilities which could not be possessed by the first settlers of this town, and one obvious reason is, that the whole country was then in its infancy.
Some of the first settlers must have been men of great firmness and enterprise. Others were irresolute and poorly qualified for the adventures of the wilderness. For many years the inhabitants were poor. Often did they petition the proprietors of the town for great indulgences, and the general court for grants of money, salt and exemp- tion from taxes. As it was the frontier town the court was favorably inclined toward them. In 1755 they gave the town a swivel as an alarm gun, a quarter barrel of powder, a bag of bullets and one hundred flints. In 1758 the court gave the town five pounds for the benefit of schools, and several times excused them from sending their equal pro- portions of men, as soldiers into the service. Twelve years after the town was settled, it was voted that a letter be sent by Thomas McClintock to the proprietors of the town to lay the weakness of the town before them, and to entreat them to beg his excellency entreating that help may be sent,-that some method be ordered for their boarding, because the town is not in a capacity to board them. The help requested in this vote is some person to preach to them. And it is evidence that the people at that time found it difficult to board their preacher. Roads were slowly obtained, and this with great difficulty and expense, and communications to the different parts of the town, as well as out of it were attended with labor. For the first years, and from what I can find, for about ten years the inhabitants were obliged to go ten miles to a grist-mill for all their grinding. This would occupy a day for a man who owned a horse, but many had not this ac- commodation. When the families first came on there was little hay cut. A cow and a very few sheep, a man fore- handed could keep through the winter. Hence, many were obliged to keep their horses, in the winter season, at Westfield. For such, it would be necessary in order to get their grain ground, first to go after their horse, then take their corn to Westfield to mill, and return with the meal, and then go back again with the horse and come home on foot. This would make a man sixty miles travel to get home to his family with one grist of meal. This was a common occurrence in the first settlement of this town. The first grist-mill which did much business, was erected, I believe, in the year 1755, about twenty years after the
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town was settled. It stood upon the stream a little below where Deacon Smith now resides.
These facts respecting the grist-mills are of special im- portance to enable us to judge of the fatigue and expense which must have been incurred by the first settlers in fur- nishing their families with bread. Indian corn was the chief support of the inhabitants for a long time after they had commenced their settlement. This grew luxuriantly when the land was new. The first frame barn was built by Israel Gibbs, thirty feet square, and the rum consumed when filling it with hay was less than one quart. For several of the first years of their residence here the inhabi- tants suffered much from fear of the Indians. In 1749 all the families except four were so alarmed as to flee from the town. Some to Westfield, others to Suffield, Windsor, Simsbury and Weathersfield. Some of these families returned in the fall, others retired till the next spring before they returned. Early in the settlement three forts were erected for the safety of the people: one upon the lot now occupied by Captain Elijah Knox, the other where Mr. Tuttle now lives, and the other the lot occupied by Samuel Boies. For more than a year all the families were col- lected every night into these forts as a safe lodging place. How great the inconvenience and discouragement of such a mode of life ! And after the people presumed to lodge in their own dwellings the cases were frequent, in which, up- on an alarm, they would in the dead of night hurry with their families to the fort. When they were in the field for work, they would take with them their arms, set one as a sentinel while the others labored; nor did they deem it safe to meet on the Sabbath for religious worship except they took with them their arms.
These fears and dangers attended all the settlements in this country. The Indians were its original owners and they were unwilling to be driven back. Hence, frequent bloody Indian wars. As the event, however, proved the inhabitants of the mountains were not so much exposed to Indian warfare and depredations. The banks of rivers were the common resort of the Indians, and the mountains were considered by them as ground on which they might occasionally hunt. Many in the river towns were killed by the Indians. My father's grand-father was shot on Sabbath morning when with his wife upon the farm horse he was riding to Springfield to attend meeting. But I cannot learn that a single life was lost by the malice of the natives, or a single gun fired at any of the settlers in
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this town, by the Indians. Often were the people driven to their forts by false alarms, and when Indians were seen they were either friendly or harmlessly pursuing their game.
In the original grant of the town ten acres were reserved in the centre for public uses. In 1742 the burial ground was laid out, and all the inhabitants of the town that paid rates were warned to appear at the burial place at 8 o'clock in the morning on the sixteenth of September for the pur- pose of clearing up the ground. Any who should be absent was to pay a fine of six shillings.
Very limited were the means of Education which the children of the first settlers enjoyed. Parents taught their children what they could, without any expectation of an opportunity to send them to school. The first school was taught by James Carter, a sea captain, in the house of Robert Black, because it had in it two rooms. For several years the schools were kept in dwelling houses. Two months in the year were all that could be allowed. No school was taught by a woman till about 1770. Id 1762 or '63 the the town was divided into three districts, and a vote passed to put three school houses: one where the house for the hearse now stands, one near Andrew Wilson's, and one near Cornelius Cochran's. The one in the second division was not built till the year after. When these houses were erected the people made such advances in the means of education as to be willing to employ a teacher three months, allowing one month to each district. This was only fifty- nine years ago. In 1756 a road was opened between this town and Great Barrington. The journey, however, from one place to the other was hazardous, Two men were known to have died on account of the fatigue of the way. For a considerable time the only method of conveying heavy articles was upon a dray.
The civil concerns of the town proceeded much as we should expect in a place so retired and where inhabitants are universally engaged in agricultural pursuits. In their town meetings the attention has been called to the internal regulation of the town in most instances. It appears, how- ever, from their records that this people have not been in- different to the great question which has agitated and con- cerned the country at large. While under the king they were loyal, when measures were taken to gain from parlia- ment a redress of grievances they bore a part, and, when able, sent their delegates to the great public meetings, at Concord, Watertown and Boston. In many instances how-
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ever, they pleaded their poverty as an excuse for the omis- sion. When independence was declared and arms against the mother country assumed, some were forward in the opposition and boldly declared their loyalty to the king. Hence, committees of safety were often appointed, and several were forbidden to go any farther from home than the limits of their farms. But it does not appear that these men occasioned the town any trouble or expense.
The town cheerfully bore its expense in the war, furnish- ed its proportion of soldiers, and sent a delegate to vote in the acceptance and ratification of both the state and the national constitutions. For the benefit of those who were called into the army, a hospital was erected, that they might receive the small pox by inoculation. The small pox was common in the country at that time, and for several years after. But the dreadful malady seems now to be almost exterminated from the earth, by the benign and happy effects of kine pox inoculation.
Much of the heavy military stores, which during the war of the revolution, were carried from Boston to Albany, passed through this town. And previous to the opening of turn-pikes upon the rivers east and west of us, the main road through the town was much travelled, In a few instances some individuals have refused to pay their taxes, and in a few cases the town has been involved in a law- suit, and in one instance in the year 1776 rebelious feelings rose to such a pitch as to render it necessary to appoint a committee to secure the glass windows in the meeting house.
Till within twenty-five years the town meetings have been very frequent. The method of doing business was both awkward and slow. As an apology for this it must be remembered that the people generally had enjoyed but little opportunity for an education. From the records it is evident that the people were often divided in their town meetings, and very warm in their feelings. For many years did the custom prevail of adjourning the meeting to the tavern, a practice which is fraught with many evils. If business in a town meeting is properly managed it can ordinarily be closed without any adjournment. In the year 1781 there were holden twelve regular town meetings (of the inhabitants), and all this to do but a little business.
It is worthy of notice that previous to the year 1787 by far the greater number of town meetings respected their religious concerns. Till then and for several years after, the supply of the pulpit was managed in town meetings.
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Meetings respecting the house of worship and preaching have been multiplied in this town to an astonishing extent.
A full and thorough knowledge of the character of the inhabitants of this town from its first settlement to the pre- sent day, a period of eighty-five years, may be obtained by a particular and attentive perusal of the journal of the town clerk of those meetings in which the religious con- cerns of the town were transacted. It is not my design to pass over this important part of our history. I have confined myself thus far more particularly to the civil concerns of the town, that I may present events to you in such a manner as will best enable you to retain them. In giving you facts re- specting the religious or ecesleiastical concerns of the town, I will first lay before you the history of the meeting house, and then the history of the settlement of ministers, with which will be interwoven the history of the church.
The town was incorporated in the year 1741. Previous to this period it had borne the name of Glasgow. The inhabitants of the city of Glasgow in Scotland sent word to the people of this town, that if they would continue its then present name, they would give the town a bell. It was the design of the people that it should bear the name of Glasgow, and they made their petition accordingly. But Shirley, who had been late appointed governor of the pro- vince, had just arrived from England in the ship Blandford. In honor of the ship he chose to have the new town, which applied for an act of incorporation, to bear its name. Hence the name of Blandford instead of Glasgow was given to the town. But this application would not have been made, it is supposed, at the time it was, had not the survey of General Newbury embraced a mile of more im- portance than was originally embraced in it. Hence by the unexpected gain of the mile, the people lost their ex- pected bell.
The four men who were the original proprietors of the town, entered into covenant with the first settlers to set up a frame of a meeting house, and to cover the outside, and to put in glass windows. This they were to do for the peo- ple, beside giving them the ten acres of land in the centre, and two hundred sixty acre lots. The frame of the meet- ing house was set up in 1740. The men who assisted in raising it were the most of them from Westfield and Suf- field. The frame stood one year the sport of winds and tempests before it was covered. The boards which were used for the covering were brought from Southampton and Westfield, but the glass windows were not supplied till
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after the lapse of more than twelve years. Thirteen years the people met in this house for worship, without any floor in it except some loose boards, the earth and the rocks on which it stands. Their seats were blocks and boards and movable benches. A plain box in the side where the pulpit now is. was put in for the accommodation of the preacher. The first floor was laid in 1753, four years after the ordination of their second minister. In several previous years they had put upon the house repairs. In 1749 a committee was appoint- ed to expend a grant which was made for repairs, and in the year following, another committee to direct the first committee how to manage the concern entrusted to them. Hence, it is probable that divisions existed on the subject. In 1750 the town directed their committee to borrow money to buy glass for the windows. Three years after the floor was laid other repairs were made. In 1758 the roof was repaired. In 1759 a vote passed to build the pul- pit, to make a pew for the minister and to finish the repairs upon the roof, and to build seats in the body of the house. upon the ground floor. This was a great effort as it was carried into effect. I am unable to ascertain in what man- ner precisely the inside of the house was fitted up. The best account 1 can get is this : The body of the house was designed to be filled with seats. But this was not actually accomplished. Seats were made next to the pulpit and the lower end of the broad aisle. Two pews were erected in- cluding the ground on which the posts stood which sup- ported the gallery. But these pews were not built till some time after the seats were put up in the form which now bears the name of slips. It was next allowed to in- dividuals who felt disposed to occupy the ground on the walls of the house with pews, if they would make them at their own expense, finish them at the end of a year, and build up the wall of the house to the girts. November 10, 1760, it was voted to lay the floor in the front gallery. The next year the gallery timbers on the side were put up and the stairs built. In 1779 the galleries remained un- finished. In 1781 it was voted to take up the seats in the body of the house except two next to the pulpit, and to fill up the ground with pews. In the following year the two side galleries were made by the seats taken from be- low, and the walls ceiled up to the plates of the house. In 1786 the house was plastered. In 1792 the two seats each side of the aisle were taken up and four pews made in their place. The steeple was built by subscription of individuals. In 1789 the town voted to give the subscri-
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