USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Wilbraham > Historical address, delivered at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Wilbraham, June 15, 1863 > Part 1
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(WILBRAHAM, MASS ) WESLEYAN ACADEMY _ BOARDING HOUSE. ERECTED, 1860-1.
.
AN
Distotical Address
DELIVERED AT THIE
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE
TOWN OF WILBRAHAM,
JUNE 15, 1863.
BY
RUFUS P. STEBBINS, D. D. 11
Yelith an Appendix.
BOSTON: GEORGE C. RAND & AVERY, PRINTERS, 3 CORNHILL. 1864.
· F74 WESE
CORRESPONDENCE.
.
TO REV. R. P. STEBBINS, D. D.
WILBRAHAM, JUNE 18, 1863.
Dear Sir :-
The undersigned, appointed by the Committee of Arrangements of the Centennial Celebration of this Town, do respectfully solicit a copy of your Centennial Address, delivered before the inhabitants of the town, on the 15th instant, for publication.
A compliance with the above request will confer a great favor upon the citizens of the town.
Respectfully yours,
JOHN B. MORRIS, JOHN W. LANGDON, JOHN M. MERRICK, Com. of Publication.
WOBURN, JUNE 26, 1863.
Gentlemen : -
Your letter of the 18th instant, requesting a copy of my Centennial Address, delivered before the inhabitants of the town of Wilbraham, on the 15th in- stant, for publication, is before me.
I am happy to comply with your request, believing that no town is so obscure, much less ours, that its history is not worthy of being written, as both instruction and inspi- ration to its citizens.
The favor with which the Address was received when delivered encourages me to hope that it may not be entirely destitute of interest when read.
The haste with which it was prepared will render it necessary for me to thoroughly revise the manuscript, and thus cause some delay in sending it to the press.
Accept, gentlemen, my thanks for the favors you have shown, and my best wishes for the prosperity not only of yourselves but of your fellow-citizens.
Respectfully,
Your former townsman and continued friend,
RUFUS P. STEBBINS.
JOHN B. MORRIS, JOHN W. LANGDON, and JOHN M. MERRICK, Esqrs., Committee of Publication.
DEDICATION.
TO THE
Descendants of the first Settlers of delilbraham,
SCATTERED ABROAD, OR STILL RESIDENT, AND TO
ITS PRESENT CITIZENS,
THIS ADDRESS, PREPARED, DELIVERED, AND PRINTED BY THEIR INVITATION, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
refatory.
HE following Address and Appendix have been prepared almost entirely from the Records of the Town, the Parishes, and the Churches. I have found hardly a sentence in print which has given me any assistance. If any histori- cal sermons were preached by any of the ministers of the town, they were either not printed, or I have failed to find them.
This fact has made my labor very difficult and slow, as well as severe. I have thoroughly searched the records of the town of Springfield during the period antecedent to the incorporation of Wilbraham, and copied all that referred to our history. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Folsom, City Clerk, for aid in finding that portion of the records which I needed. I obtained a copy of the Indian deed of a portion of the town from the office of the Registry of Deeds, and the clerks kindly volunteered to make seru- tiny to discover, if possible, other deeds.
I spent several days in the Archives of the State Department, at the State House, in Boston, and was greatly assisted by the clerks, Messrs. Strong and Coolidge, and especially by Alanson Hawley, Esq., who kindly copied for me several pages from the "Revolutionary Rolls," and aided me in other ways most generously.
I have obtained invaluable assistance from Samuel Warner's Journal, and from Doctor Samuel Fisk Merrick's Journal of his two expeditions in the Revolutionary War, and from his MS. address at the conclusion of a century from the settlement of the town, delivered June, "election day," 1831.
I have not been able to find any Revolutionary correspondence save
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two letters from John Langdon. I regret it, as private letters throw grea light on history, -on the spirit of its actors. From Hon. Oliver Blis Morris I have received many hints and helps. Jolm M. Merrick, Esq has sent me many papers of great value. Mrs. Stebbins very kindl entrusted to me some most valuable papers, collected by her late husband Calvin Stebbins, Esq., when he was engaged, with others in the town twenty years ago, in endeavoring to save the early traditions from perish ing. I have visited the oldest people, and learned many incidents of inter est. In a word, I have spared no labor to gather my facts and tradition The result is before the reader.
I have written for the citizens of Wilbraham, that they might know what manner of persons their ancestors were, and how the town has grow to its present condition. I have endeavored, therefore, to let our father and mothers speak for themselves. I have copied and printed to the letto the records and old documents. . The same word will be found spelle differently in the same sentence, and names are often spelled differentl in the same document. I have kept all, or have attempted to, as th record has it.
I do not flatter myself that I have made no mistakes in this most di ficult and laborious work of copying. I throw myself on the compassio as well as generosity of my late fellow-citizens. Only about half of th Address, owing to its great length, was delivered; and some words, throw in to diminish the tedium of the hour, are not printed.
Messrs. Rand & Avery have done their part well. It will be remen bered that Mr. Avery, of this firm, is son of the late Abraham Avery Esq .; and I may add that Mrs. Rand, the wife of the other member the firm, is daughter of the same former citizen of the town.
The limits which I had set to myself have been overrun, and I com meneed omitting some of my materials. This accounts for the removal ( Dr. Russell's second speech from its proper place, after mine, at the dir ner, to page 289. I was cheered, however, in my work, by the unan mnous voice of the town to save everything. Most hearty thanks for th kind confidence and indulgence. I place my year's work in your hand with distrust and hope.
CAMBRIDGE, MARCH 3, 1864.
R. P. S.
Historical
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
MR. PRESIDENT.
SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF WILBRAHAM : -
W ELCOME! This is a memorable day. We meet with gladsomeness to pour into the lap of our venerable mother whatever honors and successes we have won in the various pursuits of life ; to render her thanks for the spirit she nourished in us, the industry, the economy and thrift she taught us; and to congratu- late her that she has attained her hundredth year, is now a full century old, with no wrinkle on her brow, no dimness in her eye, no heaviness in her step, the still prolific mother of still enterprising and heroic sons, of still beautiful and enlightened daughters. There is no foot of her soil which does not glow with bright mem- ories to some of us. Her very name is music to all our ears.
It was a happy thought of the children in the old homestead - accept our thanks for it, brothers and sis- ters -to call us wanderers back again, that we might brighten the chain of kinship and neighborhood ; that we might clasp hands in the fervors of young friend- ship; that, above all, we might unitedly offer thanks to
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Almighty God for his favoring care, and the heritage of our fathers. It will do us good to rehearse the story of our ancestors, to trace the growth of the town from the day when Nathaniel Hitchcock, coming ont to the "mountains," commenced breaking up the two acres which he sowed with wheat, and built his log cabin, and for one long year dwelt here with his family alone, with no neighbor to share his friendly fire or frugal fare, nearer than Springfield Street, till villages, thrifty farm-houses, manufactories, schools, and rich, broad harvest-fields fill all our borders.
Nor is this all. The history of our town is the his- tory of liberty. These little municipalities were the nurseries of those principles of freedom, and trained our ancestors to that capacity of administration, which have made us a great nation of freemen, extending from the rising to the setting sun, a name and a praise in the whole earth, wherever human rights are respected and liberty loved. In our town-meetings our fathers learned to legislate ; in our town-offices they learned to admin- ister ; and when the hour came, they were ready for the birth, and sprang into existence a nation of freemen, prepared for all the responsibilities of legislation and administration. We shall learn the history of liberty as we trace the growth of the town ; for " the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people came out of the town- ships and took possession of the State." We shall not only express our gratitude by these services, but we shall inflame our patriotism, kindle anew the fires of
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liberty, and learn, from the heroic sacrifices of our fathers, how to preserve it, now the " gates of hell have rebelled against it."
The history of our town naturally divides itself into four periods.
I. The first period extends from its first settlement, 1731, and somewhat antecedently, to its incorporation as the fourth precinct of Springfield, January 6, 1741. During this period, all public business, both municipal and ecclesiastical, was transacted in Springfield, and the first settlers were struggling with the stubborn soil and beasts and birds for the necessaries of life and the secu- rity of their persons. It was a period of hard labor, poor returns, patient endurance.
II. The second period extends from the incorporation of the "outward commons," or " the mountains of Springfield," into the fourth parish or precinct for the support of a minister, January 6, 1741, to the incorpo- ration of the town, by the name of Wilbraham, June 15, 1763. This period is occupied chiefly by ecclesias- tical affairs,-the organization of a religious society, the gathering of a church, the settlement of a minister, the building of a meeting-house, and the adjustment of those troubles which parishes and churches then, as now, found it hard to settle.
Ill. The third period extends from the incorporation of the town, June 15, 1763, to the division into two
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parishes, the North and the South, June 20, 1782. The town ceases from this time to have charge of ecclesiasti- cal affairs, and its history is limited to secular business, - the laying out of roads, the opening of schools, the building of school-houses, and especially to the raising of troops and commissary stores for the Revolutionary War, and to the struggle with the difficulties arising out of a depreciated paper currency.
IV. The fourth period extends from the division of the town into two parishes, June 20, 1782, to the pres- ent day, June 15, 1863. It includes the history of the gradual growth of the town, -its improvements in agri- culture and means of education, the formation of new religious societies, and of troubles in the old ones, the erection of shops, mills, manufactories, and of the foun- dation and success of this noble institution, to whose spacious halls we have been this day welcomed by the generous hospitality of its principal, my friend and class- mate, the Rev. Dr. Raymond.
Such is the outline of my story. - The settlement of the town, the establishment of religious institutions, the organization of the town and the administration of its affairs, under the act of incorporation, till the formation of two parishes at the close of the Revolutionary War, and its subsequent growth and improvement.
I shall neither challenge nor weary your patience by an attempt to relate it all ; but, like the old chroniclers at the Grecian games, I shall go on with my tale of
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struggle and growth, of endurance and success, "and leave it half told when hearers give signs of weariness or the herald proclaims that the feast and the games are ready."
I. What is now the town of Wilbraham was a part of the territory of Springfield, whose settlement was commeneed by William Pynchon and his associates, in 1636, ninety-five years before the settlement of this town. The territory of the town of Springfield was about twenty-five miles square, extending from Connect- icut River east to the present line of Monson, west to Russell or thereabouts, and from Warehouse Point, or about the south line of Enfield, to the mountains or thereabouts on the north. I do not undertake to trace accurately the boundary line, as it is not necessary to my purpose. On the east side of this territory, extend- ing from Connecticut line to the north line of the town of Springfield, as then bounded, there was a strip four miles wide, called the "Mountains," or "outward com- mons of Springfield." There was also a strip on the west side of about two-thirds the same length, and whose breadth is determined by specified bounds called "outward commons of Springfield, on the west side of the Great River."
These " outward commons " on each side of the river, though within the original purchase of Pynchon, had not been specially appropriated to any of the inhabit- ants of Springfield, and there was reason to fear that
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Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of Massachusetts, would take away the charter of the colony, as he threatened to do, thus causing all the unappropriated lands to revert to the crown, - become the property of the king. The inhabitants of Springfield, therefore, to avoid such an undesirable transfer of ownership of their " common lands," voted, in town-meeting, February 3, 1685, that after reserving three hundred acres to the ministry, and one hundred and fifty acres for schools, on the "east side of the river," and a due proportion to the ministry and schools on the "west side of the Great River," the remainder be divided among the one hundred and twen- ty-three heads of families or legal citizens ; among these is included, by special vote, “ our reverend teacher, Mr. Pelatiah Glover." A " ministry-lot " and a " school-lot " are also to be given from the land. There are, therefore, one hundred and twenty-five proprietors, among whom the land is to be divided. The division is to be made according to estates and polls, - each poll to be valued at £12. It was also voted, that all male children, under age, should be counted as polls ; and further, that while these lands are unfenced, any person can use them for grass, herbage, and timber, and that they shall be free from taxes till improved.
As the lands appropriated would necessarily vary very much in value, and as it was not only just, but desirable, that each proprietor should have at least a chance to secure a good lot or a portion of one, these "outward commons" on the east side of the river
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were divided into three portions, and those on the west side into two portions, making five portions in all. These portions were numbered from one to five, begin- ning with the northernmost portion on the east side ; and each of the one hundred and twenty-five proprie- tors was to have one share in each portion, making five shares in all. Omitting all further reference to the " commons," which were not included in the present boundaries of the town, only stating that the " com- mons " on the east side of the river were about twelve miles long, and therefore that each of the divisions was four miles north and south, and that nearly the whole of the first division and part of the second were north of Chicopee River, the so-called "outward commons," constituting the principal part of the present town of Wilbraham, included the greater part of the second and the whole of the third division. The second divi- sion extended from about a mile north of Chicopee River south four miles to the south line of the farm of Deacon Moses Burt, and west from Monson line four miles, to the line of the "inner commons" near the Stony Hill road, which runs north and south. The third division was bounded north by the second divi- sion, east by Monson line, and extended south to near the top of the old Potash Hill, to what was then sup- posed to be the line of Connecticut, and west to the line of the " inner commons," which was near the road running south from Stony Hill, the most of the way to Somers. The "inner commons" was that territory
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which extended from the "outward commons" to the settled portions of Springfield, sometimes called the " plains."
The general boundaries of the " commons" are de- fined, and the proportions of the several proprietors in the respective "divisions" are graduated; how can their several portions of the common property be located ? Each of these divisions was to be appropriated to one hundred and twenty-three persons, and a lot for the ministry, and one for the schools. For my purpose, we may say there were one hundred and twenty-five pro- prietors, or persons, between whom each division is to be divided. There will be therefore one hundred and twenty-five lots in each " division." These lots are num- bered, beginning at the north side of each division; the north lot being one, the next two, and so on up to one hundred and twenty-five. These same numbers are drawn from a box like a lottery; from another box, at the same time we may suppose, is drawn a proprietor's name. The proprietor who drew No. 1 would have the first " lot " in the " division," he who drew No. 2 would have the second lot, and so on till the whole number, one hundred and twenty-five, was drawn. Then lots would be drawn for the second division, and so on till all the divisions were drawn. After the number of the proprietor's lot was settled, the next step was to de- termine its width ; its length was four miles of necessity, because the lots extended across the " commons," from east to west. The width was determined by adding to-
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gether the value of all the polls and estates, and then, as the whole amount would represent all the land in one division, or the whole extent north and south of four miles, so each man's estate and polls would represent his individual portion of the four miles, or the width of his lot; a problem in simple proportion.
John Holyoke was chosen to make out a list of the estates and polls, and very probably to superintend the allotment. The lots varied in width, from one hundred and thirty-three rods, fifteen feet, and nine inches, which was the width of Col. Pynchon's, lying north of Sylvanus Stebbins's farm, being No. 81 in the " third di- vision," and north of Chicopee River, being lot No. 2 in the " second division," down to only eight feet and nine inches in width, the lot of William Brooks, not far from the late Noah Merrick's, being No. 13 in the " third divi- sion," and No. 111 in the " second division."
If this allotment saved the " commons" from reversion . to the king, it hardly conferred any benefit on the pro- prietors. A farm eight feet, or even ten rods wide,- and most of the lots were less than ten rods in width, -and four miles long, was worthless for all prac- tical purposes. A man could not turn his cart round without trespassing on his neighbor, much less could he build a house. Indeed, there is no reason to suppose that this allotment was intended to give permanent pos- session ; it was doubtless a mere resort to save the land from confiscation or reversion to the crown. The subsequent history of ownership seems to confirm this
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view. The wealth of Col. Pynchon is indicated by the great width of his lot, one hundred and thirty-three rods. The lot of Mr. Holyoke, which is the next in width to Col. Pynchon's, is only twenty-six rods wide.
No satisfactory survey was made of these lots, though several were attempted, till 1729. when Mr. Roger New- bury ran the line acceptably. One of his boundary stones is now standing, or rather lying nearly buried, on the north side of Sylvanus Stebbins's farm, about ten rods west of the road which passes his house; and an- other was said to be standing on the north side of the late Dr. Samuel F. Merrick's house-lot, about thirty years ago.
It was many years before these allotments were defi- nitely marked, and the heirs of many of them were found with great difficulty. or were all dead, so that another allotment was attempted in 1740, fifty-five years after the first, to about four hundred persons ; and again in 1754, on a different principle, to five hun- dred and forty-four persons. But serious difficulties were in the way of the new allotments, and they were but partially acceptable. It is said that the Pynchon heirs, having obtained excellent portions, some of the best land, under the first allotment. would not agree to any new arrangement.
In Newbury's survey of the original lots, for some unknown reason, only sixteen feet were allowed to a rod; so that there were sixty-two rods in width of " overplus land," as it was called, on the south side of
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the third division, where now are John W. Langdon's and Mr. Endicott's farms ; and by some further mis- take, supposed to be the loss of a tally, there were eighty-two rods in width of "overplus land," on the south side of the "second division," including with others the farm of Deacon John Adams. 1
Such was the division made of the land; and the vote of the town of Springfield, by which this distribu- tion of the territory of this town was made among the early proprietors, constitutes the original legal title which the present occupants have to the soil. These divisions and lots are always mentioned in the early deeds conveying land in the town, and by examining these deeds, the situation of many of the original lots can be found, and the names of the original proprietors determined. No record was made however of New- bury's survey till 1774 at least, for I find that a com- mittee was chosen at a town meeting. held March 15th, of that year, " to desire Edward Pynchon, Esq., to record a tested coppy of Roger Newberry's survey of Laying out the ' outward commons,' So Called, on the east side of Connecticut River ; " and as late as May 20, 1776, a committee is chosen by the town to " make application to the general court for an Establishment" of this survey.
The appearance of the country was not attractive. Nearly the whole territory, called by the Indians, Min- nechaug, " Berry land," had been so devastated by fires. that in many places there were no forest trees. - and
1 Appendix A.
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in other portions hardly any shrubbery grew. The low, swampy grounds and swales afforded a coarse grass which was mowed and cured for the support of cattle during the winter season, and the burnt hills furnished abundant pasturage during the summer. The tradition is handed down to us, that the country was so bare in many places that a deer could be seen from mountain to mountain. The late Samuel Chapin was accustomed to say, that in his father's day all the land south of Scantic from the mountain to the Potash Hill and west of the present road nearly half a mile was so destitute of trees and brush, that a deer could be seen distinctly at a great distance.
Game was very abundant, and continued to be till long after the settlement of the town. Deer filled the pastures and the woods ; wild turkeys ran in flocks over the fields and hills; the ponds were covered with ducks ; squirrels on the trees filled the air with their barking, and were seen leaping in all directions over the rocks; beavers built their dams in Pole Bridge Brook, and muskrats swarmed upon the banks of Scan- tic and other streams, sharing with minks the bounties of both land and water. The brooks abounded with that prince of fishes, the trout; pickerel darted like arrows in the clear waters of the ponds, and salmon, weighing from seven to twelve pounds, came up the Chicopee River as far as Twelve Mile Brook, where they were caught in great abundance with seines. Beasts of prey were not abundant, if we except the fox,
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which cunningly sought his rent of the intruders by securing the choicest of the poultry for his own eating. Sometimes bears made their appearance and feasted on the unripe corn, much to the annoyance of the planter and the terror of his children. It was not uncommon for devont aunts to still the restlessness of the children, who were left in their care, both on Sundays and on other days, when their pranks were annoying, by telling them that the bears would hear them and come and carry them away into the woods and devour them. Bounties were given at an early day, for the destruc- tion of wild-cats, by the town of Springfield.
No Indians inhabited the town after it was settled ; nor probably for many years previous. Seldom, if ever afterwards, was it visited by them in any numbers. Springfield on the west, and Quabog, as Brookfield was called, on the east, were more attractive, and furnished much 'better planting-ground. These mountains were their hunting-grounds, and were undoubtedly aban- doned soon after King Philip's War, 1675. One Indian squaw alone remained after the settlement commenced. Her wigwam was on a little brook, southeasterly of Mr. Pliny Merrick's house, and gave the name to " Wigwam Hill," on which his house stands, and where the first meeting-house and parsonage were erected. No one knows her origin or end. Alone, the last of that mys- terions race who had chased the deer over these fields, trapped the beaver in these streams, speared the sal- mon in these rivers, enjoyed the freedom of these hills.
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