USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Whately > History of the town of Whately, Mass., including a narrative of leading events from the first planting of Hatfield, 1661-1899 : with family genealogies > Part 1
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Go 974.402 W55c 1136
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
E ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01065 9743
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofw1661craf
James M , Crafts .
HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF WHATELY, MASS
INCLUDING A NARRATIVE OF LEADING EVENTS FROM THE FIRST PLANTING OF HATFIELD :
1661-1899,
AS REVISED AND ENLARGED
By JAMES M. CRAFTS,
WITH FAMILY GENEALOGIES.
PRINTED FOR THE TOWN BY D. L. CRANDALL, MANN'S BLOCK, ORANGE, MasS. 1899.
Entered according to ACT OF CONGRESS, in 1899, THE HISTORY OF WHATELY, Revised and Enlarged BY JAMES M. CRAFTS, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress.
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PREFACE.
When we undertake to gather all of practical interest, as well as what will give us a more realistic view of the noble men and women who were pioneers in the settlement of the north part of Hatfield, now the town of Whately, we can but be im- pressed with the importance of the work we undertake, and wonder at the paucity of the materials at our disposal. But the many years of labor and painstaking investigation leads us to give to our town-the place of our birth-among its people we were reared and spent the greater portion of our life, the results of our labors.
We here give the salient portion of Mr. Temple's prefatory remarks, fully endorsing what he has said so well :-
"Somewhat isolated in position, and with nothing of nat- ural advantages to attract notice-except the quiet beauty, and rich variety, and broad expanse of landscape, as seen from the central village and the hills lying westerly-Whately has held claim to no special distinction among her neighbors. But the public spirit of her people, and the generous liberality displayed in arranging and carrying out to a successful issue the com- memoration of her centenary, and in providing for the preserva- tion of her annals in the printed volume, are worthy of imitation by the other towns in the Commonwealth. Records are perish- able, and are often incomplete; they are at best but the out-
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lines ; the filling up must come from personal reminiscences of character and actions, and those incidental items of civil and social affairs, which are transmitted by oral tradition, but with enough of truth to explain the records, and enough of reality to help the practical antiquary in giving a life-like picture of the time of which he treats.
The territory comprising the town was included in, and for one hundred years, was a part of Hatfield. The history of the colony, then, properly begins with some account of the mother settlement. Whatever is characteristic of the growth is to be found in the germ. What society was in 1771 is a result of causes preexisting, and working through the preceding genera- tions ; hence, a sketch of leading events, from the first purchase of these lands by the settlers from Connecticut, seemed neces- sary to a clear understanding of any peculiarities of opinion, and the domestic customs and religious faith of our fathers."
A few prefatory remarks, relative to our revision of the History and Genealogy of Whately, will be proper at the outset. of the work. In undertaking the revision of our Town History and Genealogical records, I must needs say that I am pro- foundly impressed with the importance of the work that is im- posed upon me. It is with much trepidation that I undertake the work of preparing the labor of years for the press. After the issue of Mr. Temple's work, a widespread feeling of dissat- isfaction was manifested by our townspeople. I need hardly say that this feeling still exists, and hence, for this, and other reasons, the Town desires me to commence the work at once. In many respects I shall adopt the precise language of Mr. Temple and quote page after page of what he has so well given. Where I differ from him, I trust the people of Whately will give me the credit of a lifelong interest in the Town and its History. For many years I have studied to get at basic facts which underlie our early history. While I freely and gladly indorse much of Mr. Temple's work, and reproduce it in these pages, yet, in very many instances, we can but say that we shall change radically some of his statements, as well as his
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inferences, drawn from what he has stated as facts. The three years that he spent in the early days of his ministry were insuf- ficient to gather all of the truth pertaining to the multifarious transactions of the people of our town, the location of many of the roads, the names of various localities, the hills, brooks and streams, the places where the settlements were first made, etc., and allow me to say that my eighty-two years' experience will fail to show that I am as fully posted as I ought to be to set myself up as above mistakes. So I trust my readers will kindly judge of my honesty of purpose in giving what I do. Since the publication of our history by Mr. Temple, I have spent much time in the investigation of our history and its genealogy, and give to the public the results of my labors. For several years that painstaking antiquary, Chester G. Crafts, was intimately associated with me in this work. We carefully surveyed and measured much of the central and eastern portion of the town, and only his untimely sickness and death prevented a continu- ance of our work.
As soon as the history was issued I commenced to correct the errors, make additions, and arrange them as they were in- tended, more particularly in the genealogical portion of the work. I had prepared this portion of the work and it was agreed that I should correct the proof sheets. But in this I was disappointed, as not a sheet was sent me. In the historical part I had rendered such assistance as I could, furnishing many old papers, and yet, very few were satisfied with either part of the work. It is quite possible that our enlarged work may fall short of what may be expected by my townspeople. The great majority of our townspeople are now, as in the past, engaged in rural occupations. While I can say they are a people of whom I feel proud, yet few have risen to celebrity, particularly while remaining in town. Still a few of those who left town have been in Congress, and one in the national cabinet, but they and their parents left our town, removed to the West and grew up under a different regime, and freed from any old stigmas resting on the family. It is right for me to say of some families that
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left town, and New England as well, that the place of their res- idence is unknown. I shall avail myself of every avenue where information can be obtained. I freely acknowledge my indebt- edness to Sheldon's History of Deerfield, Judd's History of Hadley, The Crafts Families, the Bardwell Families and San- dersons, both gathered by me, as well as the Graves' records, in which I assisted in collecting.
I shall also reproduce a large portion of Mr. Temple's work verbatim. Where I disagree with him I shall manfully say so, and give my version of the matter. In the Ecclesiastical portion I shall leave out many things like the confession of faith, the covenant and some other things. All proper and right for a history of the church, but seemingly out of place in a town history. I confess to a feeling of pride in the old Congrega- tional church, its establishment in Whately and its influence for good among our people. But this does not afford any reason for inserting it entire in our town history.
Orange, Mass., 1899.
JAMES M. CRAFTS.
HISTORY OF WHATELY.
CHAPTER I.
INDIAN OWNERSHIP -- PURCHASE BY PYNCHON AND THE HAD- LEY COMPANY.
At the time of the proposed settlement of the part of the valley of the Connecticut River lying between the Mt. Holyoke range on the south, and Sugar Loaf and Toby on the north, this Tract was in the occupancy of the Norwottuck Indians, who were a branch of the Nipnett or Nipmuck tribe, whose chief seat was in the central part of the state.
The Norwottucks of the valley were divided into three prin- cipal families, under three petty chiefs, viz .: Chickwallop, Umpanchala and Quonquont. Each claimed ownership of the lands lying for a distance on both sides of the river, and extend- ing indefinitely east and west. Chickwallop held the lands pur- chased by the Northampton planters and eastward. Umpan- chala claimed on the Hadley side as far north as Mill River, and on the Hatfield side from Northampton bounds to the upper side of Great Meadow. Quonquont occupied from Umpanchala's line to Mt. Wequomps, or Sugar Loaf, and Mt. Toby. North of these was the territory of the Pocumtucks, or Deerfield Indi- -ans. Collectively, these were called the River Indians.
Each of these Indian families had its fort, its planting field and its hunting grounds. The fort was located, for obvious reasons, on a bluff, in some commanding position, and near a
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stream or spring of water. It was constructed of palisades, or poles about 10 feet long set in the ground. Its size depended on the lay of the land and the necessities of each tribe, as their wigwams were placed within the enclosure. The cornfield was always close to the fort.
Quonquont, who claimed the lands now comprisng Whately and eastward, had a strong fort on the east side of the Connecti- cut, north of Mill River in Hadley. It was built on a ridge that separates the east and west School Meadows, and enclosed about an acre of ground. His cornfield, of sixteen to twenty acres, was in the upper meadow. This fort was abandoned some time before the attack on Quaboag.
The principal fort of Umpanchala was on the high bank of the Connecticut near the mouth of Half-way Brook, between Northampton and Hatfield. This fort was occupied by the tribe till the night of August 24, 1675, and was the last fortified dwell- ing place held by the Indians in this part of the valley. The planting field of this family was the "Chickons," or Indian Hollow, in Hatfield South Meadow.
The Indian's home in this valley was then, what it still remains, a scene of abundance and beauty. The mountains reared their bold heads towards the sky for grandeur and de- fence ; the hills, clothed in their primeval forests of variegated hues, arrested the showers, and poured down their tributes in little rivulets, whose path was marked by green verdure and brilliant flowers; the annual overflow of the great river made the valley fat and fertile. Yet these natural advantages appear to have been of small account with the natives. So far as we can judge, convenience and necessity alone influenced them in the selection. The furs and flesh of animals, and the fish of the streams, met most of their ordinary wants ; grass was of no ac- count ; and even the corn which their women raised was a kind of surplus for emergencies, to be relied on in the scarcity of game and the event of war .*
The Indian was a savage, with the instincts and ideas of a savage ; and he estimated things accordingly. Personal ease and sensual gratification was his highest happiness ; the pursuit of game was his excitement; war was his highest ambition and field of glory ; and outside of these he had nothing to love, and
*Josselyn, Voyages, says: "They [the Indians] beat the Corn to powder and put it into bags, which they make use of when stormie weather or the like will not suffer them to look out for other food."
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nothing to live for. All these local advantages he had here ; and war with some rival tribe was always at his option.
The red man had long been the occupant of the territory. And he seems to have understood perfectly the validity of his title to these lands by right of possession. Why then -- the question will naturally arise-was the Indian so ready to part with his title, and transfer his right to the new comers? The general answer is, because he was a man and a savage. There is a strange fascination accompaning a higher order of intelli- gence, and the power inherent to enlightened intellect, which is irresistible to the untutored child of nature. He looks up with arve, and instinctly yearns for companionship with that higher life. To his apprehension it is allied with the supernatural ; and partakes of the potent, if not the omnipotent. And, aside from any veneration, he sees the advantage every way of civili- zation ; and the manhood in him rises up in hope and expecta- tion. His ideas may be vague as to results to accrue, but he anticipates some great advantage ; he expects to become a par- taker of that which draws and inspires. It is only when, by actual contact and contrast, he discovers and comes to feel his inferiority, and his moral weakness, as compared with civilized man, that he becomes jealous of him ; and the jealousy ripens into hatred ; and the hatred ripens into hostility. No doubt acts of injustice and wrong aggravate the jealousy, and hasten the conflict. But civilized and savage life can never coalesce. There is inherent antagonism which necessitates a conflict. And in the struggle the weaker must yield to the stronger. And strength lies not in numbers, but in resources ; the courage which conquers is moral rather than physical. Thus the two orders of society cannot exist together ; one must yield and flee, or become subordinate and be absorbed in the other.
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In selling their lands to the settlers, the Indians in this val- ley expected to be, and believed that they were the true gainers by the bargain. They reserved all the rights and privileges that were of any real value to them ; and calculated on receiv- ing advantages from the skill and traffic of the whites, as well as those indefinite, perhaps imaginary advantages, to which I have alluded. One reason why the River Indians were anxious to sell, at the particular time when the whites came to the valley, was their fear of the Mohawks from the Hudson, who were threatening a war of extermination-just as, sixteen years later, the Pocumtucks and Norwottucks planned a war of extermina-
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tion against the whites, whom they now so cordially welcomed.
THE HADLEY PLANTERS. The company that formed the original Hadley plantation, covering lands on both sides of the river, was from Connecticut. Their first step was to obtain leave from the General Court to settle within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts ; and the second step was to purchase the lands of the Indians. The negotiation was carried on through the agency of Maj. John Pynchon of Springfield, to whom the deeds were made out, and who assigned his rights to the Company, and received his pay of individuals as they took possession of their assigned lots. Maj. Pynchon paid the Indians in wampum and goods ; and received payment in grain, with perhaps a con- siderable quantity of wampum, and a small amount of silver.
Wampum, which was in the shape of beads, was made of seashells. It was manufactured mainly by the Indians of Long Island, and, later, by those of Block Island. It was of two kinds, white, or wampumpeag ; and black or blue, called suck- auhock, which was of double the value of white. In 1650 the Massachusetts government ordered that wampumpeag should be a legal tender for debts (except for country rates) to the value of forty shillings, the white at eight and the black at four for a penny. This law was repealed in 1661, after which wampum had no standard value-the price being regulated by demand and supply. A hand of wampum was equal to four inches. In the Hatfield purchase it was reckoned seven inches. A fathom was ten hands and was ordinarily worth five shillings. It was much used for ornaments, such as belts, bracelets, head-bands, ear-pendants, and by the squaws of chiefs for aprons. Its use in trade was continued for many years by the whites.
The first purchase on account of the Hadley settlers was made December 25, 1658, and embraced the lands on the east side of the Connecticut, from the mouth of Fort River and Mt. Holyoke, on the south, to the mouth of Mohawk brook and the southern part of Mt. Toby, on the north, being about nine miles in length, and extending eastwardly nine miles into the woods. The price paid was two hundred and twenty fathoms of wam- pum and one large coat, equal to {62 10. The deed was signed by Umpanchala, Quonquont and Chickwallop. Quonquont reserved one cornfield of twelve-sixteen-twenty acres, near his fort ; and all reserved the' liberty to hunt deer or fowl, and to take fish, beaver and otter.
The second purchase was made July 10, 1660, and com-
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prised the lands on the west or Hatfield side, from Capawong brook (now Mill river) on the south, to the brook called Wunck- compss, which comes out of the Great Pond, and over the brook to the upper side of the meadow called Mincommuck, on the north, and extending westerly nine miles into the woods. (The north line was probably where is now the meadow road running east and west, just north of the dwelling house of Austin S. Jones, Esq.) The price paid was three hundred fathoms of wampum and some small gifts, equal to £75. The deed is signed by Umpanchala and approved by his brother, Etowomq. The reservations were the Chickons, or planting field, and the liberty to hunt deer and other wild creatures, to take fish and to set wigwams on the Commons, and take wood and trees for use.
The third purchase was the meadow called Capawonk, lying in the south part of Hatfield. The deed is dated January 22, 1663. This meadow had been bought of the Indians in 1657, for fifty shillings, by the Northampton Planters. The price paid by Hadley was £30.
These three purchases comprise all the territory north of Fort River and Northampton, actually possessed by Hadley. No bounds were established for the town by any act of incorpo- ration ; and the only claim it had to what is now the northerly part of Hatfield and Whately, was a report of commissioners appointed by the General Court to lay out the new plantation, in which their north bounds on this side of the river are stated "To be a great mountain called Wequomps,"-which report of Commissioners seems never to have been accepted. And the last two purchases, viz .: From Northampton bounds on the south, to a line just north of Great Meadow, comprise all the territory west of the river owned by Hatfield at the time the latter town was incorporated, The tract of land lying northerly from Great Meadow (now North Hatfield and Whately) was purchased of the Indians by Hatfield, October 19, 1672. This was Quonquont's land, and the deed was signed by his widow Sarah Quanquan, his son Pocunohouse, his daughter Majesset and two others. The price paid was fifty fathoms of wampum- peag. The south line was from a walnut tree standing by the river in Mincommuck meadow, westerly out into the woods. It was bounded on the north by Weekioannuck brook, where the Pocumtuck path crosses it-the line running east to the great river, and west six miles into the woods.
The reservations in these deeds were somewhat varied
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but it was understood by both parties-indeed it was a tradition current in my own boyhood-that the Indians had the right of hunting, fowling and fishing anywhere, and to take what wal- nut and white ash trees they had occasion to use for baskets and brooms."
We add here a few words about Weekioannuck brook, I have ascertained by measurements as follows, viz .; going east from Deerfield road on the line of the uppermost lot (No. 70) 2d division of commons, starting from a stone boundary standing on the east bank of an old ditch. This south from the corner stone in the South Deerfield cemetery 41 chains, 37 links, or 165 rods and 12 links to said stone. Thence east, 26 chains and 20 links to ditch top of Hopewell hill, then 37 chains, 97 links to an oak tree on the west bank of the brook, Weekioannuck, 39 chains, 72 links to an oak tree on the east bank of the said brook, 154 rods, 22 links to the east oak tree. The brook run- ning in almost the line of the town line. From this last oak tree it is 112 rods to the bound stone north of the Capt. Parker place, or 124 rods to the centre of the Sunderland road. This is from a careful survey made by C. G, and J. M. Crafts in 1883.
CHAPTER II.
SETTLEMENTS-DIVISION OF LANDS-INCORPORATION OF HATFIELD.
The first planters of New England were wholly unaccus- tomed to the work of clearing off woodlands. They had seen and heard nothing of it in the mother country. Hence the ear- liest settlements were uniformly made at places where they could begin immediately to cultivate the ground and find natural pastures and meadows.
It was considered scarcely desirable or safe to form a Plan- tation where there was not plenty of "fresh marsh"-what we should call open swamp. And so when the, west side people petitioned for a new town, the Hadley Committee, in their an- swer to the General Court, gave as one of the strongest reasons against the separation, that the tract west of the river "does not afford boggy meadows or such like that men can live upon ; but their subsistence must be from their Home lots and inter- vals."
Both the east and west side settlers found the meadows and adjacent uplands ready for grazing and tillage. There was needed no preliminary work of clearing off the forests. They began to plant corn and sow wheat and flax and mow grass the first season.
From early times the Indians had been accustomed to burn over the whole country annually in November, after the leaves had fallen and the grass had become dry, which kept the meadows clean, and prevented any growth of underbrush on the uplands. One by one the older trees would give way, and thus
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many cleared fields, or tracts with only here and there a tree, would abound, where the sod would be friable, ready for the plow ; or be already well covered with grass ready for pastur- age. The meadow lands thus burnt over, threw out an early and rich growth of nutritious grasses, which if let alone grew "Up to a man's face." Then there were plots of ground, of greater or less extent, which the Indian squaws had cultivated in their rude way with shell or wooden hoes, and where they had raised squashes and beans and corn.
Strange as it may seem, both timber and fire wood were scarce in the valley when the first settlement was made. At the outset Hatfield passed a vote that no clapboards, shingles or rails, or coopering stuff should be sold "to go out of town." The upland woods, on each side of the river, both above and below the towns, were passable for men on horseback.
As already stated, the Hadley planters were from Wethers- field and Hartford, in the Connecticut Colony. They had mostly come over from England in the years 1632 to '34, and landed at the mouth of the Charles river in Massachusetts. A part lived at Watertown till 1635, when they removed to Weth- ersfield. Mr. Hooker, who came over with his flock in 1633,- stopped in Cambridge till '36, when they removed to Hartford. Thus they had resided in Connecticut about twenty-five years.
The reason for leaving Wethersfield and Hartford, and seeking a new residence in Hadley and Hatfield, was on account of a schism in church government. It was strongly held that infants dying in an unbaptized state were lost forever. This really abominable tenet in the church was strongly opposed by the more liberal element in the church and at length proved suc- cessful, and "persons not of scandalous character," who would consent solemnly to the covenant, really joined the church "half-way." This would allow them to have their children baptized and if the sacrement of baptism was administered it was held that in the event of the child dying before coming to the age of moral accountability, it would be saved. The di- vergence of opinions relative to this matter caused the removal to Hadley and Hatfield.
Those who came were the bitter opponents of more liberal practices, edged about by a conscientious desire to worship as they deemed only right and proper. On these questions, very warm, if not to say, hot discussions were held not only at Hartford and Wethersfield, but all over New England. It was
upon this division of sentiment and other really unimportant matters that they determined to leave their pleasant homes and remove to Massachusetts. It is quite probable that they well understood the condition of Hatfield, even when they formed the agreement to remove in 1659, and probably knew the pre- cise lot assigned to them. It is generally agreed that but one of the settlers of Hatfield was actually on the ground until about the first of October, 1661. Richard Fellows came in the spring. He in 1659 removed to Springfield and thence to Northampton and in 1661 to Hatfield, where he died in 1663. Zechariah Field came to Northampton in 1659, and as early as 1663 re- moved to Hatfield. But the majority of the first settlers came about the first of October, 1661.
It is claimed that ten days were taken for the journey of some less than 50 miles, as brooks, creeks and other streams had to be bridged or fording places found, swamps and mo- rasses corduroyed to afford safe passage for their carts, heavily loaded with their women and small children and their personal effects. Of course this required an efficient force of pioneers. They brought with them their stock of various kinds. One could now much easier move to California, and accomplish it quicker.
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