USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Shelburne > History and tradition of Shelburne, Massachusetts > Part 1
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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 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
History and Tradition of Shelburne, Massachusetts
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/historytradition00unse
History and Tradition of Shelburne, Massachusetts
SHE
JO NMOL
BURNE
INCORPORATED
...
1768.
MASSACHU
SE
COMPILED BY
MIRS. WALTER E. BURNHAM MIRS. ELLIOT H. TAYLOR
MIRS. HERBERT P. WARE MIR. THOMAS W. WATKINS
History and Tradition of Shelburne Committee
1958
--
Copyright 1958 Town of SHELBURNE, MASSACHUSETTS
PRESS OF THE POND-EKBERG COMPANY, SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
FOREWORD 1163344
N JULY 19, 1944, Mrs. Kate Orr An- derson Payne invited a group of ladies to her summer home in Shelburne to discuss assembling material for a printed history of the town of Shelburne. Those present were: Mrs. C. S. Bardwell, Miss Cora Fiske, Miss Jennie and Miss Minnie Hawkes, Miss Josephine Anderson, Mrs. Walter Burnham, Mrs. Fannie Bar- nard Long, Mrs. Fannie Gleason Long. Miss Helen Long, and Mrs. Frank Williams. Mrs. Lucy Kellogg of Greenfield spoke on methods of getting information and manner of writing. Mrs. Walter Burnham was named chairman of a committee to investigate possi- bilities, Mrs. Payne and Mrs. Frank Williams to serve with her. There were three meetings of this interim committee.
Good speed- 7.00
At the annual town meeting in February 1945 it was voted to appropriate two hundred and fifty dol- lars ($250) toward the initial expense of assembling material for a History of Shelburne.
The balance of this fund was carried over from year to year and an additional one hundred and fifty dollars ($150) was appropriated in February 1947. [In 1957 five thousand dollars ($5000) was appro- priated toward publication of the book.]
June 30. 1945 Mrs. Walter Burnham, Mrs. Frank Williams, and William T. Patch were appointed by the Selectmen as a permanent committee for the his- torv.
This committee secured the services of Mr. and Mrs. Pierce Taylor as editors. Chapter headings were listed and persons were contacted to write the different chapters. There were seventeen chapters, now con- densed to nine parts.
At the outset it was decided to call the production. "The History and Tradition of Shelburne," the tradition being "Culture. Beauty, and Thrift." as one meaning, and "By word of mouth." as the other meaning.
This committee also decided they were not com-
petent to handle a "Genealogical Section," leaving that for a possible companion production by another group.
There are nine recorded meetings of this committee. five of them including the writers. The last report of these meetings was in February 1947 and mentions that three chapters had been turned in, eleven more were promised before June 1947, and three were not reported.
Mr. and Mrs. Pierce Taylor moved out of town and Mrs. Nelson Woodward took their place as edi- tor. She also moved away.
After a long period of inactivity two members of the committee resigned and the project seemed to stagnate. In 1950 one of the Selectmen asked Mrs. Burnham to stay on and keep what had been accom- plished intact ; which she agreed to do, provided the town fathers would give her a new committee. It was up to them!
A new committee was appointed in December 1954: Mrs. Walter Burnham, Mrs. Elliot Taylor and Mr. T. W. Watkins. Later these asked for the appoint- ment of MIrs. Herbert Ware to help them.
The first report of this group (January 1955) says there were six chapters not turned in. At this meet- ing some inadequate chapters were reassigned and others were returned to their writers to be brought up-to-date. Miss Louise Partenheimer of Greenfield was asked to do the editing, which she did until her health forced her to give it up. and Miss Harriet Childs of Deerfield took her place.
There was to have been a chapter on "Early Days." but as each writer has gone back in time as far as possible. the reader will get the over-all picture this way.
Some repetition is inevitable in a book compiled in this manner. Many writers, some inclined to brevity. others given to verbosity, make for a great variety in composition. The committee members are novices - they repent all their sins of commission and omission and ask the reader's indulgence.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD
3
PART I - OUR HILLS AND VALLEYS
1 Geology 5
2 Topography 5
PART II - OUR EARLY DAYS
3 Our First Settlers A Pioneer Adventure 8
+ Excerpts from Town Meeting Records 9
PART III - WE EARN OUR LIVING
5 Shelburne Agriculture
6 Shelburne Industries The Flood of 1869
24
26
7 Business Section South Side 27
North Side
30
8 Banks 34
9 The Sweetheart Tea House 40
10 Post Offices Stage Drivers 43
OPA Nothing New +3
PART IV - WE ORGANIZE OUR FACILITIES
11 Water Supply and Fire Protection ++
The Tower on Mt. Massaemet 47
12 Shelburne Falls and the Railroads 48
13 The Shelburne Falls - Colrain Trolley 49
1+ Telephone 49
Light and Power 50
15 Health Conditions 50
PART V - OUR RELIGIOUS HERITAGE
16 Churches
Shelburne Center 52
Shelburne Falls 56
Town Clock 59
17 Missionaries 66
18 Cemeteries 69
Plea for Old Cemetery 69
PART VI - OUR CULTURAL
HERITAGE
19 Our Schools 71
20 Libraries 88
21 Shelburne Falls Military Band 91
PART VI - Continued
22 The Shelburne Falls Woman's Club 91
The Bridge of Flowers 93
The Shelburne Falls Art Center 93
23 Other Civic and Social Organizations
PART VII - OUR PART IN THE WARS
24 The French and Indian Wars 107
25 The Revolution 107
112
26 Shays' Rebellion War of 1812
113
The Mexican War 114
27 114 The War Between the States The Soldiers' Monument 118
28 The Spanish War 119
29 First World War 120
30 Second World War
12+
31 The Korean "Police Action" 133
32 Military Organizations 134
PART VIII - OUR EARLY HOMES
33 Old Frame Houses in Rural Shelburne 137
34 Taverns of Rural Shelburne 164
35 Successors to Old Frame Houses in Rural Shelburne 169
36 Old Brick Houses of Shelburne 176
37 Old Houses of Shelburne Falls 179
PART IX - OUR WELL-KNOWN CITIZENS
38 Martin Severance 186
39 Lawyers and Legislators 187
40 Resident Physicians of Shelburne 192
41 Other Well-Known Citizens 201
+2 Shreds and Patches 213
Martin Severance - 1718-1810 (A Poem) 215
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 217
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GIFTS 218
APPENDIX
Seven Lost Years 219
Census Figures 219
A Charming Affair 219
Old Home Week 219
Sources of Information - As Given 220
Rhymes on the Shelburne Falls Military Band 221
Addenda 222
PAGE
8
15
18
+1
I. Our Hills and Valleys
GEOLOGY
SCIENCE has tentatively established the age of the earth to be approximately four billion five hundred million years. Despite this immense span of time the three processes affecting this area acted only in the past two hundred million years. The creation and subsequent destruction of the Appalachian Mountains. plus the presence of continental glaciation, have shaped the locale of Shelburne Falls.
Though the Appalachian Mountains eventually did attain a height comparable to the recently formed Himalayas, prior to the event this region was a series of rolling hills which met with sea water of the Atlantic Ocean in Greenfield. This shoreline extended from Quebec City in Canada to New York City. Evidence to substantiate this is provided by limestone beds in Bernardston, which contain shells of marine life.
When the mountains were established, shales and slates, rocks of the old shoreline, were pitched upward. Highway construction has revealed these formations along the Mohawk Trail in the ascent from Green- field to Shelburne summit. These road cuts also reveal banded gneiss and phyllite, metamorphic rocks, created and situated by the orogeny, or mountain- building program.
In this time span, beginning some two hundred million years ago, erosion has continued to reduce the once spectacular height. In the vicinity of one and a half million years ago, this locale west to the New York State line had been reduced to virtually a featureless plain. This surface, termed the Schooley Peneplane, was elevated an average of eighteen hun- dred feet. Though subsequent continental glaciation all but erased or depressed this plateau, there are still distinct vestiges of its presence.
Atop Massaemet Mountain or from a point on the Trail near the Hoosac Tunnel all high points in view are decidedly on the same level. This suggests a prior uniform uplift. The intervening land is dissected, or cut, by streams and rivers that had this opportunity prior to and following the demise of the Ice Age.
Four times in less than a million years continental glaciers covered this terrain with an excess of ten
thousand feet of ice. Rocks carried beneath the ice carved and grooved the surface rocks, leaving a planed though striated appearance. Evidence of this sort of glacial action is apparent throughout the area. More specifically, on the north side of the Mohawk Trail just east of the State Police Barracks, these scratch- ings are readily apparent to the passing motorist. Large boulders dropped by the ice as it melted are strewn about the landscape - additional evidence of the glacial age.
The last ice sheet retreated north of Shelburne Falls nearly fifty thousand years ago. The melting torrents raged down the Deerfield and North Rivers, excavating and deepening their beds. On the east branch of the North River above the Vermont state line, the picturesque sight referred to as "the gorge" acquired its width and numerous potholes during this period of years.
Geologists always mention Shelburne Falls when- ever speaking of potholes. These cylindrical wells, ground out of solid rock by eddying waters whirling large boulders, are exceedingly unique. They are the world's largest, and they are emplaced within very hard metamorphic rock. A power dam erected on the site of a natural falls prevents these phenomena located below it from being further enlarged or deepened.
Between Charlemont and Shelburne Falls the Deer- field River has formed a flood plain or strath. Un- questionably a lake extending from Northampton to Bernardston caused the glacial meltwaters to check their velocity at Stillwater Bridge in West Deerfield. This had the effect of backing or puddling the stream in the Charlemont vicinity. In addition to a natural tendency for a stream to rebound from wall to wall of its valley, thereby widening its flood plain, this puddling contributed to the broadening of the strath.
In essence Shelburne Falls is situated in a geologic province formerly the scene of mountain building on a prodigious scale. Subsequent erosion, consequent up- lift and then dissection by continental glaciation cre- ated the present surface. This is a realm within nature that is witnessing the gradual reduction of the present topographic features.
TOPOGRAPHY
OLD ALBANY TRAIL
The Old Albany Road was originally a foot-trail. Over this trail the Mohawk Indians of New York State came to visit, raid, and eventually destroy the Pocumtuck tribe which lived in present-day Deerfield.
This trail was used by the early white settlers, either
afoot or on horseback, as the shortest route between Deerfield and Albany. Later the trail was widened and made passable for oxcarts, and it played its part in movement of men and supplies during the Indian wars and the Revolution as well as local commerce. Thus through the colonial era the modern Mohawk
[5]
Trail was known as the Albany Road.
Commencing in Deerfield, the Albany Road goes through the Academy campus, past the old cemetery, to the ford in the Deerfield River. A dirt road now marks the route from the ford to the Lower West Deerfield Road and on to Stillwater Road, then turns northwesterly into Shelburne near the Clarkdale Fruit Farm. Crossing a small corner of the town, it passes Sheldegren Farm and re-enters Shelburne near the Greenfield town line onto South Shelburne Road. There are still traces of the old trail in spots along this road and one can easily imagine the difficulties the early settlers had to overcome to travel this route with any sort of vehicle. In general, the Albany Road followed or paralleled the present highway over Shin- gle Hill, past "Four Corners" and the Kelley home, coming down Dragon Hill and fording Dragon Brook near the house of Avery Bates.
Ascending Rugg Hill by Robert Gould's, it fol- lowed closely the route of the old Mohawk Trail to Shelburne Falls, coming out near the Ravine. It then followed a route past Arms Academy, upper Mechanic Street to the west side of Arms Cemetery and on to North River bridge.
Hence it continued on the east side of the Deerfield River to Charlemont, fording the river at Rice's Ferry, then up the valley to Cold River and through the town of Florida. The only part of the trail that is still a foot-trail to be walked is at the West, on part of Florida Mountain.
SHELBURNE
In order to settle a controversy from 1662 to 1665 between the towns of Natick and Dedham over 2000 acres of land given the Indians, the General Court made a grant to Dedham of 8000 acres "in any con- venient place or places, not exceeding two, where it can be found free from grants, provided Dedham accepts this offer."
June 4, 1666, a committee was authorized to "em- ploy Worshipful Col. Pynchon of Springfield to buy title in the 8000 acres." This grant eventually proved to be twelve to fourteen miles, more or less, from Had- ley and was purchased from the Pocumtuck Indians.
In 1712 the territory of Shelburne and Conway was annexed to Deerfield. The Shelburne territory continued to belong to that ancient town for fifty-six years and at first was called "Deerfield Pasture," later "Deerfield North West." In 1760 there were five families and in 1762 fourteen families.
The petition of the people of this so-called "North West" to be set off as a town was at first denied by Deerfield. At length, a sense of justice co-operating with esteem and affection, the petition was granted May 9, 1768. On the 21st of June, under the reign of King George III, by an act of the Old Bay State Legislature, this place rose to the honorable position of an incorporated "independent district." A few years later, in 1775, a general act of the Legislature granted the status of town to this region and to other
districts similarly organized. The tradition is that it was named after Lord Shelburne of England and that he gave the town a large bell, which was either captured by the British, broken up, or destroyed in Boston harbor.
This section is rather rough and hilly; hence its- early name of Deerfield Pasture. It is bounded on the north by Colrain, east by Greenfield and Deer- field, south and west by the North and Deerfield rivers and a bit of Deerfield town.
Flowing from the hills in the northeastern part is Hinsdale Brook, which is closely followed by a high- way to Greenfield Meadows. A little south of this site is Allen Brook, followed by the Gorge Road. This was badly washed out and abandoned in 1917, but in 1921 this section was favored by a new high- way to Greenfield. Hawks Brook joins Dragon and Sluice, now called Long. Both flow southerly to the river and in early days furnished power for many small mills.
Bald Mountain, now Massaemet, situated in the northwestern part of the town, is the highest eleva- tion, 1700 feet. It is surmounted by a stone tower erected by the citizens in 1909 and now used by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a lookout for the Forest Fire Service. This is the third tower erected here; two earlier, of wood construction, having been destroyed by the elements.
To the east are several more hills of lesser height from which excellent views may be had of the sur- rounding territory.
Significant names often mark the different localities of a township which are a convenience to the citizens and sometimes an amusement to strangers. Shelburne has its Flanders, Goose Hollow, Patten, Squabble Hollow, Frog Pond, Dublin and Foxtown; also Dragon Hill, Mount Ida, Biscuit Hill, Shingle Hill and Brimstone Hill. A few of these names are still in use.
While the early settlers were domiciled in log houses with fireplaces and possessed a few cows, sheep, and pigs, the present farms are all equipped with sub- stantial frame buildings, modern heating and lighting; surely a great change from the days of hand-dipped candles. The barns are fitted with up-to-the-minute stables, milking and cooling machines for the thorough- bred Shorthorns, Holsteins, Guernseys and Jerseys. Although the land is rather mountainous, each farm has a reasonable amount of level land for tillage. The hills furnish pasturage and forests for timber and fuel.
The falls, first called Salmon Falls and sometimes Great Falls, were undoubtedly a great attraction to the Indians, and to early inhabitants the falls gave a supply of fresh salmon, which were unable to pass this great barrier for further travel, for here the river takes a drop of 64 feet. The falls have been a great attraction to students of geology from the neighboring colleges, who make frequent trips to inspect the worn boulders and "pot-holes" of various sizes and depths that formed during past centuries.
[6]
To the early settlers the river furnished power for several manufacturers. Now, in 1958, the entire stream is used to generate electrical power, a por- tion of which is used locally and the remainder sent out on the lines of the New England Electric System.
As the North and Deerfield Rivers bound the town on the west and south, responsibilities devolved upon the town for ferries and bridges. Jonathan Wood who built the first mill at the Falls constructed a log bridge for foot passengers across the river just above the mill. In 1779 the town voted to build a good, regular covered bridge and began it, but it burned in 1800. The first bridge at the Falls was built in 1821 and formally dedicated by an address, only to be destroyed by a flood in October. 1869. In November, 1869, a two-town committee decided to erect an iron bridge called Hertels Patent Parabolic Iron Truss Bridge, which was accepted by the committee April 1, 1870. Three years later the middle span went down with two double yoke of oxen with sleds loaded with ash plank. Neither driver nor oxen were injured, but a pedestrian, John Slater, was severely hurt by being jammed into the ice and iron from the bridge. This bridge served the community until the erection of the present structure in 1890.
Old Mother Nature has changed the topography of Shelburne very little by wind and water. Changes mostly were man-made in road construction, for in 1749 Shelburne boasted two roads leading to Green- field and one to the Falls. In 1830 there were +9 miles of highway in town. During that period many roads and crossroads were constructed, covering the entire territory.
The Bardwell's Ferry Road ran in a southerly direc- tion to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad (now the Boston and Maine), where a busy railroad station bearing that name was maintained. The ferry at Bardwell's was first in charge of Gideon Bardwell, then of his son Joel, and grandson Orsamus Bardwell was first to project, and mainly instrumental in procur- ing a bridge, railroad station and post office at the ferry.
With the advent of the automobile the problem of better roads made its appearance, and as early as 1912- 1913 work of improving what the present generation calls the "Old Greenfield" Road was in progress. However, owing to its general layout, it was soon discovered that this never could be a suitable road, and an entire new survey was made from the foot of Greenfield Mountain, with a gradual slope to the top, joining the road formerly leading to the Old Gorge Road, abandoned in 1917. This new cement- surfaced road was opened October 21, 1921. Since that time many of the lesser traveled roads have been regraded, widened, and resurfaced with modern top- ping.
The latest change of topography is the new by-pass, a modern highway skirting the base of MIt. Massaemet, to the north end of the village, across Mechanic Street, and over a new bridge across Main Street and the Deerfield River, to Creamery Avenue in Buckland, and onward over another new bridge to the town of Charlemont, forming a continuation of the now-famous Mohawk Trail. This last project, costing about two and a half million dollars, was started in March 1954, and was opened to through traffic on December 30, 1955.
Southeastern Viete of Shelburne Falls Village Before 1835
[7]
II. Our Early Days
OUR FIRST SETTLERS
THE compilers of this History have not found it to be a simple matter to get an accurate list of Shel- burne's earliest settlers but are reasonably sure of most. "A History of the Connecticut Valley" (Louis H. Everts), "A History of Deerfield" (George Shel- don) and the historical address of Rev. Theophilus Packard, delivered during the celebration of the hun- dredth birthday of the town, have all been consulted. As the research for this address was concentrated on Shelburne, its contents seem to appeal more to the people of Shelburne.
"According to tradition," to quote Rev. Packard, Jonathan Catlin and James Ryder settled in the Falls region between 1752 and 1756. The natural hazards of early settlers, however, were greatly increased dur- ing the French and Indian War and in 1756 these two families went back to Deerfield. At the close of that war in 1760, Martin Severance and Daniel Ryder of Deerfield came up and occupied the premises of Catlin and Ryder. At about that time Robert
Wilson of "Coleraine," Archibald Lawson of Deer- field, and Wilson's brother Samuel also settled in the northern part of the district. In the southern and central sections John Taylor had moved in in 1759 and was followed at brief intervals by David Boyd, Alex- ander Clark, Ebenezer Fisk, Watson Freeman, Samuel Hunter, Lawrence Kemp, Daniel Nims and John Thompson. These names are not listed in the order in which they came because of the uncertainty about dates. Rev. Packard states that these fourteen fami- lies were all here by 1762, but the Deerfield history gives later dates for some. They were all here, how- ever, by 1768, together with enough others to per- suade the Colonial Legislature to set the region apart from Deerfield as a separate incorporated district.
It is interesting to note that at this writing there are direct lineal descendants of four of the original fourteen settlers living in Shelburne: John Taylor, Martin Severance, Daniel Nims and Ebenezer Fisk.
A PIONEER ADVENTURE
MIRS. FANNIE GLEASON LONG has submitted the following Bear Story which she wrote for her grand- children. It was told to her when a child by her grand- mother, Ruth Bishop, and later repeated to her by both her mother, Sarah Bishop Gleason, and her aunt, Fannie Bishop.
This is the story my grandmother told me about her grandmother. It happened in the autumn of 1762.
Ebenezer and Dorcas Fiske, with their nine chil- dren, left their comfortable home in Sutton, Massa- chusetts, and moved up into the wilderness of Shel- burne in the spring of 1762. Ebenezer thought his six sons would have a better chance for success in a new settlement, and Dorcas wished to get away from the temptations that beset the young in the wicked world.
They had a very busy summer, working hard six days every week, but the seventh day was the Lord's Day and all unnecessary work was laid aside. The nearest church was in Deerfield ; so the family must start early if they were to be on time for the service.
This Sabbath morning, Ebenezer and his five oldest children made the long trip. As soon as breakfast was eaten, the two oldest boys, carrying their shoes, started on foot. Ebenezer and the other three followed on horseback half an hour later. When they overtook the boys, two would dismount and give the first two a chance to ride. Thus, taking turns walking and riding,
they would reach the church in Deerfield. They were often joined by members of the Nims and Lawson families.
The sermon was long; the prayers were long; the singing was doleful. The parson turned the hourglass more than once before he finished. Then came an intermission, when they ate the lunch they had brought from home, after which they returned to the church for another long service. At the close, the long trip home was started so that they could get there before dark, if possible.
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