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F 74 . W68 S8 Copy 1
A HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF WESTFIELD
Compiled for the public schools from Greenough's History of Westfield in the Annals of Hampden County and other sources
By CHESTER D. STILES Superintendent of Schools
J. D. Cadle & Company Westfield, Mass. 1919
F
A HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF WESTFIELD
Compiled for the public schools from Greenough's History of Westfield in the Annals of Hampden County and other sources
By CHESTER D. STILES - Superintendent of Schools
J. D. Cadle & Company Westfield, Mass. 1919
, WGaSE
Beginning of Settlement
The first white men who made a temporary abode in this region seem to have been attracted by the opportunities to trade with the In- dians for beaver skins and other furs. It is impossible to trace the routes, to locate the stopping places, or to determine the times of these early pioneers.
In 1641. as shown by the Colonial records, the general court of Massachusetts, finding that the people of Connecticut had encroached upon the domain of the Massachusetts Bay, wrote them as follows:
"It is greivos to us to meete with any occation that might cause difference to arise betweene yor people & us, standing in so near relation of friendship, neighborhood & Christianity, especially; therefore or study is (when any such arise) to labor the removing of them upon the first appearance. Now, so it is, that we have been certified that you have given leave to some of vors to set up a trading house at Woronock, wch is knowne to bee within or patent, lying as much or more to the north than Springfield. Wee heare also, that you have granted to Mr. Rob't Saltonstall a great quantity of land. not far beneath Springfield wch wee apphend to bee an injury to us. & do us sueh right in redressee hereof as you would expect fro us in a like case. Wee suppose wee shall not need to use other argumts; we know to whom wee wright. Wee have thought meete upon these occations to intimate further unto you that wee intend (by God's help) to know the certeinty of or limits, to the end that wee may neither intrench upon the right of any of or neighbors, nor suffer orselves & or posterity to bee deprived of what rightly belongeth unto us, weh wee hope wilbe without offence to any ; ,& upon this wee may have some ground peeeding in or further treaty wth you about sneh things as may concerne the welfare of us all. These things wee leave to yor consideration. & shall expect yor answear. In the meane time wee rest."
The immediate occasion of this letter was the fact that Governor Hopkins of Hartford had obtained a grant of land, and. in 1640, had established a trading house at "Woronock."
At a still earlier period the people of Connecticut claimed a certain jurisdiction over Springfield. even, as well as the territory lying west. In 1635, John Winthrop, son of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts. came from England having a commission from Lord Say and Lord Brook appointing him governor in Connecticut. Two thousand dollars were given him for the purpose of erecting a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut river. He built the fort and named it Saybrook fort, fit- ting it up with an armament he brought with him from England.
Not unlike a mediaeval baron who built his castle on a rocky bat-
4
tlement overlooking a highway leading through a mountain pass and levied toll under the excuse of protecting those who passed by, so all vessels passing up the river were now required to pay toll. Settlers from Massachusetts Bay in Windsor. Wethersfield and Hartford to avoid a contest paid the toll. Springfield refused to pay. Hence arose the most serious controversy that ever occurred between the two col- onies. The general court of Massachusetts when appealed to for pro- tection responded stoutly in defence of Springfield. In 1644, when the Connecticut settlements bought the fort, they included in the purchase all claims against Springfield for unpaid tolls. When these claims were urged upon the attention of the commissioners of the united colonies their decision was long deferred until the commissioners from Massa- chusetts refusing to act, the others decided in favor of the claimants: but Springfield stubbornly refused payment. Massachusetts, siding strongly with Springfield, retaliated by attempting to levy toll upon all vessels of other colonies entering the harbor of Boston. The colonies would not endure this, and to prevent the breaking up of the union of the colonies, the measure was withdrawn. The claims of Connecticut for tolls still remain unpaid.
The boundaries of Springfield were from time to time so extended as to include a good share if not all of the territory afterwards known as Westfield, and that of several other towns. In 1647, the general court issued the following order :
"It is ordered by this Court, that Woronoko upon Connectient River wthin ys jurisdiction, shall be, and be reputed as a part of ve towne of Springfield, & liable to all charges there as other pts of the same toune; vntill errecting some other plantation more convenient. it shall be thought fitt by ye Court to annex it to such new plantation."
Holland tells us that "at the May court. 1662, certain gentlemen who appear to have belonged in Windsor and Dorchester, presented a petition, representing themselves to be much in want of land. and ask- ing for a tract six miles square at Woronoco, to be joined with the farms of 'the late much honored Maj-Gen. Atherton and Capt. Roger Clapp of Dorchester,' to whom it appears grants had previously been made by the court. The petition was signed by fifteen individuals. The depu- ties voted to grant the petition, and decreed that the farms alluded to should belong to the plantation. in respect to public charges, and that ' the order for Woronoco henceforth to lie to Springfield should be void :' provided the petitioners should settle themselves and a minister within three years; otherwise the land was to belong to Springfield until a plantation should be settled there. But this scheme seems to have en- tirely miscarried, as no considerable settlement occurred there until 1666, and among those who held titles confirmed by a residence of five years, thereafter, the name of but one of the petitioners can be found. viz., George Phelps, who emigrated from Windsor. The first settlers were from Springfield, Windsor, and Northampton."
Ensign Thomas Cooper seems in 1658 to have received the first grant of land in Woronoco from the town of Springfield. It was lo-
5
cated "on the northeast side of Worronoke River, to wit., betwixt the brook called Tomhammeke and the river called Worrinoke River, from the month of the said River Tomhammucke, and soe up, soe high to- wards Pochasuck as until he cometh to the hill Wasapskotuck." This grant included, it would seem, most of the alluvial lands on the north side of the Westfield and extended from Brass or Prospeet hill on the West to the stream flowing from Springdale mills on the east. Across the cast part of this tract, after 1664, passed the road from Northamp- ton to Windsor.
In 1660, March 13. "There is granted Sammel Chapin a piece of land at Woronoco, being twenty and thirty aeres approximately 'lying on the east side of the second brook, that is on this side of Thomas Cooper's farm there and is to be bounded by the hill on the north and the river on the south, provided those lands shall be considered by the court to belong to this town and he purchase the said land of the In- dians, and he is not to hinder passage through it to other lands beyond it.' "
This grant from Springfield recognized, as did other original grants. the ownership of the Indians. Those to whom lands were origi- nally granted, were to purchase them of the Indians, in order to obtain a complete title.
Judging from the records and traditions. Walter Lee, John Sackett, and George Saxton were the first permanent settlers on the north side of the Westfield river. The site of Mr. Sackett's house is still shown. He is believed to have been the ancestor of those of the name who have since resided in Westfield. Benjamin, the son of George Saxton, who lived for a time on the part of the Northampton and Windsor road run- ning from the present road from Westfield to Springfield, to the hamlet. Little river. was the first child born among the settlers of Westfield. Hle was born in 1666 and was among the first to give proof by his life in Westfield that it is a place favorable to longevity. He died at the age of eighty-eight.
As the okl Indian fort was said to have stood on the south side of the Westfield river near its confluence with Little river, the area be- tween the rivers was called the fort side. This name may have been perpetuated because part of the area was fortified after a time by pali- sades. The land lying north of the Westfield river was called the north side and that south of the river but east of Little river. the south side.
Forests and Glades .- We should be glad to have some photographie views of the lands on the Westfield river, as they were before they were occupied by white men, but no man used a camera in those days. The best lands were annually cleared by the Indians in many places by kind- ling fires in November that consumed leaves, underbrush and dead limbs on the ground. A Mr. Graves, writing in 1629, says, the country "'is very beautiful in open lands mixed with goodly woods and again open plains, in some places 500 acres, some more, some less, not much troublesome to clear for the plough." "The grass and weeds grow up
6
to a man's face ; in the low lands and by fresh rivers abundance of grass and large meadows without any tree or shrub."
There was plenty of land ready for the plow. The fires of the In- dians had swept widely. The uplands bordering the lowlands were often thinly covered with trees, and the dense forests beyond the reach of the meadow fires were generally free from underbrush, so that hunt- ers and companies of soldiers mounted or on foot easily penetrated the forests in all directions. Owing to the annual burnings good timber in some of the river towns was not as plenty as has been supposed. West- field was better provided than Springfield. The western hills were near- er. Springfield voted in 1647 "that no timber. boards, planks, shingle- timber, nor pipe-staves should be carried out of the town from the east side of the river."
Woronoco Committee-At a town meeting held at Springfield, Feb. 7, 1664, Capt. John Pynchon, Nathaniel Ely. George Colton, Benjamin Cooley. and Elizur Holyoke were chosen to be a standing committee "to have the sole power to order matters concerning the lands in Woronoco and for admittance of inhabitants for that place and for granting of lands there or any other affairs that concern that place, and that may conduce to the settling the said towne. This committee to hold till the town see cause otherwise to order."
This committee soon made grants to Capt. Aron Cooke, Thomas Day. John Ingersoll, Joseph Leeds, Moses Cooke, John Osborne, John Holyoke, David Ashley, Thomas Noble, Sergeant Stebbins, Samuel Mansfield, John Ponder, John Root, Benjamin Cooley. Hugh Dudley, and Thomas Orton.
Jan. 9, 1667, the committee declared the lands of certain grantees "forfeited fully, unless they begin the work of settlers in fencing, etc." "It is ordered that Capt. Cooke. Thos. Dewey. John Williams, John Sacket, John Ponder. David Ashley and Mr. Cornish shall view the land to be fenced, and determine where the fence shall be set. what quantity there is, and where each man's portion shall be. and this work to be attended to forthwith."
"It is further ordered that all such as have lands granted at Wor- onoak shall meet there on Tuesday fortnight next, if the weather will allow, or the next favre and fit day, to consider and agree about fencing and other matters of concernment, and if dne notice to the persons con- cerned (that are now absent ) then such as shall come may act and de- termine what tends to the speedy carrying on of the fencing and other necessary affairs."
At a meeting of the committee for Woronoco. March 2, 1667, Thomas Noble. David Ashley and John Root made request that their home lots westerly from the Indian fort may be each two rods broader for convenience in setting their fence, the ground of the present line being wet. At the same meeting George Fyler makes request for a home lot "on that side of the river by the Indian fort."
Certain lands "on the north side of Woronoak river above the cel- lars" were granted. Also certain other lands were granted "on the
7
south side of the river not yet disposed of, to Ambrose Fowler, George Saxton and Jonathan Alvord."
Among the various order of the committee, March 13. 1667. is the order that the "gate by (John) Sacket's be well hung for the security of the field by the 25th of this inst. March and after yt time who ever shall leave open or not shut the gate shall pay 5s to the use of the pro- prietors."
This gate it is thought was a little east and south of the site of the Springdale mills, probably where the road from Northampton to Wind- sor entered the common field. This road held its sontherly course to the river, where there was a ford called in some of the old documents the "neek riding." The road then continued easterly along the south bank of the Westfield river, until it approached the present site of the county bridge; then it took the present course of the road running southerly from the bridge to the hamlet now known as Little river. Somewhere across this road, perhaps where the road left the common field as it pro- ceeded to the South, another gate was hung. This was to be closed by those passing, under the same penalty, "for the security of the corn field."
Division of Lands-While a considerable tract was held as a com- mon field it was found desirable to allot a home lot to each householder. Later the common field was divided.
"At a meeting of the proprietors of land of Woronoak on the fort side March the 13th, 1668, for laying out the proportions of land on the fort side."
"All the proprietors unanimously agree that for the most equall disbursing and dividing their generall portions of land, the land to be now laid out shall be divided into three parts, one part to be next to the fort river shall be accounted or goe in lien of meadow, where every man shall have his share, only Serg. Stebbins, Thos. Bancroft, & that where- as William Brooke's allotment are to have their shares (viz.) three acres (not these but) against their home lotts in the low land there, which is instead thereof, this for the first part or division of land which is ac- counted the meadow division.
"Nextly the plowland is to lye in two divisions and every man to have his proportion, in each Division of the plow land. And for the laying of men's land, that is the place where each man's portion of land shall lye, every proprietor agreeing to acquiesce in that place where his lott shall fall. And for the beginning of the first division of plowland, it shall be at the lower-most or sontheasterly side, there the first lot is to lve, & from thence to goe upward or Westerly.
"The first lott came out to Thomas Gunn, who lyes next the river on the easterly syde of all the other lotts where he hath seventeen acres. length 160 rod, breadth 10 rods at the front and 24 rods at ve west and besides this there is 2 rods broad allowed more to this lott for a high way downe to the river all the length of it."
Then follows the description of the lots laid ont (1) from the meadow land (2) from the first division of the plowland and (3) from
S
the second division of the plowland. The names of the parties to whom these three divisions were severally apportioned by lot are :
14 No. 7
Order of lot.
Meadow
Division
Order of lot.
First plowland, division
beginning lowermost
and going upwards.
Order of lot.
Second plowland, divi-
sion from lower end
running upwards.
Thomas Gunn
1 17 acres
6
6 acres
5
9 acres
David Ashley
2 11
3
4 "
3
5 66
John Ponders
3
11
1
4
12
3
Sergeant Stebbins
4 13
7
7
Joseph Whiting
5
16
5
6
The term "Hundred Acres" was applied to the lowlands south of Little river, between the Southwick road and the railroad running south "roin Westfield.
"An account of the land called hundred acres' :
Joseph Whiting
16 acres
Thomas Root
7 acres
Thomas Stebbins 3 acres
Israel Dewey 6 acres
Isaac Phelps
6 acres
George Phelps
16 acres
Hugh Dudley
5 acres
John Ponder
acres
Thomas Gunn
10
acres
David Ashley
7 acres
John Root
1 acres
Thomas Noble
i acres
9
10
10
.3
1
8
5
George Phelps
10
26
8
8
6
14
Thomas Root
11
8
9
3
2
5
John Root
12
11
7
4
..
11
6
Thomas Noble
13
13
4
4
66
9
6
66
Hugh Dudley
8
6
2
2
66
1
4
..
William Brookes
6
10
10
4
5 6
Thomas Bancroft
7
11
Isaac Phelps
9
"18th Feb., 1668. Grants of land made by the town. John Sacket hath liberty to lay downe the five acres of boggy meadow and to take up five acres on that side of the river elsewhere so that it be not to the detriment of former grants."
19th March
1669. Sackett's creek is granted to Mr. Whiting & David Ash- ley, to set a mill thereon to grind and also the land about the creek is granted them for a pasture. More granted them for encouragement an hundred aeres of land & liberty to choose it in two places."
TOWN ORGANIZATION.
At a meeting at Woronoco the 21st of Jan. 1668. it was "voted that James Cornish, George Phelps, Thomas Dewey. and Tho. Noble shall goe to Springfield the first Tuesday in February next at a towne meet- ing to propound to the town for the settlement of our place and affavres, in particular to determine where the lyne shall run betwixt Springfield and us and to appoynt persons to lay out the bounds granted us by the Ilonor'd Genll Court and to allow us to be a township of ourselves and signify the same to the honored Genll Court ete."
Springfield we find acquiesced in the wishes of the proprietors, so that later in the year, on the 11th of August, the settlers voted unani- mously "that we will look out for a minister to carry on the work of God in this place." The record of this meeting is dated Streamfield, ap- parently the name first chosen by the settlers as they were about to or- ganize the town.
Defenses against the Indians .- One or more houses were built as forts by the settlers and during the often recurring Indian wars several were forted. i. o., the walls were made bullet-proof, ammunition and pro- visions were stored. and measures taken to extinguish fire in case the houses were set on fire by an enemy. Some of these forted houses were surrounded by palisades. These palisades were made by splitting see- tions of the trunks of trees of moderate size in halves and so straighten- ing and scoring the edges, that when they were set in the ground edge to edge they would form a continnous wall or closed fence, not less than two inches thick and eight or more feet high. The tops of the palisades were pointed. The palisades enclosing the central hamlet of Westfield are said at one time, during King Philip's and other Indian wars, to have been about two miles in circuit. If one would trace the position of this wooden wall or fence, as it was at the close of Philip's war. let him leave Main street at its junction with Meadow street, and facing the east, turn to the left, follow the brow of the meadow terrace around be- hind the Moseley house in its sinnous course till he reaches the bank of Westfield river, thence along the bank of the river nearly or quite to the mouth of Little river, then along its bank until the brook that cross- es Noble street is reached, then westerly along by this brook, at length turning from it by a curve to the north to reach our limit of departure.
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It is evident if the course of the palisades has been correctly out- lined, that between the Moseley house and the bridge over Little river, palisades once stood opposite to the entrance of Noble street close upon what is now Main street. The western gate of the enclosed area was not far from the west side of Meadow street at its junction with Main street. The brow of the terrace along which the northern line of the palisades ran was made doubly strong for defense by the steep bank that fell away from the palisades and by the swampy land at its base. The high banks of the rivers also formed a fine rampart, rendering the palisades along the banks more effective. The area within the palisades is some- times designated in the old records as "the fort." Owing to the fact. that at times those settlers who could not avail themselves of the forted houses without the palisades, were obliged to find places of abode by building within, it was called at times the place of compact dwellings.
Westfield, at the time of its settlement, was the town farthest west in Massachusetts. It has been said that Mt. Tekoa, now standing upon the western border of the town, continned to mark the boundary of Massachusetts and the limits of civilization so far as the homes of her people were concerned, until 1725.
The rocky hills west of Tekoa, to those accustomed to the lowlands, the plateaus and the slopes of the valley of the Connectient, were unde- sirable as places of abode. When the sons and daughters of the early settlers of Westfield sought new lands they went forty miles west and rested not until they found soil in the valley of the Housatonic as at- tractive as that of their early home. Another objection to the settle- ment of the part of Massachusetts west of Westfield was that New York, with its system of land rents, claimed the territory. The western boundary of the Bay State was long a matter of dispute.
Westfield, then, for half a century, was the most western town of the state ; and, in proportion to its number of inhabitants, had to do with a larger number of Indians than those dwelling in older towns. Great- er caution was here needed in protecting the families of the settlers. The first fort honse as well as those from time to time subsequently "forted," was solidly built. the space between the outside and inside boarding of the walls being filled with material impervious to bullets. An ample cellar was the refuge of women and children when the fort was attacked. Whenever the surrounding Indians were unfriendly or hostile, the strong palisade, extended as we have seen, nearly two miles in cirenit, was guarded.
In the stress of Philip's war, settlers who had ventured to make a home outside of the area enclosed by palisades, complied with the plans of a committee of the general court in 1667, requiring settlers to form more compact communities. The proprietors within the palisades agreed to break their lots and allow the outsiders to settle upon them. In payment for every acre so relinquished, two acres were received in outlying lots.
Relation to the Indians .- The Indian inhabitants were not numer- ous, though it is not easy to estimate the muimber in the valley or in the
11
immediate vicinity of Westfield. The rights of the Indians were gen- erally respected. The settlers bought from them the lands they occu- pied. The Indians were well treated. It was for their interest to keep the peace that their trade with the whites might not be interrupted. They managed their own affairs, though when living in the neighbor- hood of a settlement it was their custom in this valley to look to the au- thorities maintained in the settlement to administer justice. The rec- ord of these early times show that the settlers tried to be just to the In- dians as to their own people, consequently the Indians usually submitted to the verdicts of the settlers when penalties were visited by the magis- trates upon Indians who had wronged the English. It was not uncom- mon for the magistrates in issning a warrant to arrest an Indian to give instructions to the constable to abstain from force. The Indians were allowed in several towns to place their clusters of wigwams on land owned by the town and to hold them unmolested. Under very reason- able conditions they were allowed in some towns to build forts upon town land.
King Philip's War .- In 1675. only six years after the incorpora- tion of the town of Westfield, the storm that had been gathering burst upon the colonies. For three years the savages burned dwellings, sometimes destroying whole villages, slew men, women and children, and threatened the utter destruction of the English and all they had wrought. The terror, the anxiety, the suffering of the settlers in the valley of the Connecticut during this period no pen can describe. Those living in Westfield, few in number, and forming a sort of outpost on the advancing line of settlement, seemed most exposed to attack. Yet they held their ground, though frequently urged to fall back toward the more populous towns. Perhaps the newness of the settlement. which prevented the accumulation of stores and other things desired by the Indians, led them to leave Westfield comparatively unharmed, while they plundered and burned most of the other towns in the valley with- in the limits of Massachusetts. Northfield was bounded on the north by the line of the state, while Springfield was the town farthest to the south. Between these were Westfield, Northampton, Hadley, Hatfield and Deer- field. Springfield and Northampton were the older towns. The newer towns were composed largely of emigrants from the others. Farming was the business of the time, and when a new generation came to man- hood. finding the best land along the river ocenpied, they felt the need of occupying new territory.
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