USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Charlemont > Charlemont as a plantation : an historical discourse at the centennial anniversary of the death of Moses Rice, the first settler of the town, delivered at Charlemont, Mass., June 11, 1855 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
About the same period, there came from Deerfield, Gershom, Joshua, and Seth Hawks ; and, probably, Eleazer Hawks, their father.3 They purchased and settled upon the fine tract of land in the south-west angle of the township, lying on both sides of the Deerfield, and bounded on the east by the purchase of Capt. Rice. They also erected two dwellings-one, and perhaps both, near the present house of Mr. Silas Hawks. I am not aware of any cir- cumstance which will aid in fixing the date of the settlement of the Hawks family, other than the birth of the late Lieut. Joshua Hawks, son of Joshua Hawks above named, who was said to be born in Deerfield six months before his parents removed here. He was baptized at Deerfield, July 1, 1750.
These three families then, and in the order mentioned, were the first settlers of this town ; and, as we have seen, each settlement was made previous to the year 1751.
Notwithstanding the township had passed into the hands of numerous proprietors, no other attempts were made at settlement for several years later, and little or none to fulfill the other condi- tions of the original grant. These families were left to struggle alone with the difficulties and hardships of their new position ; without roads or mills ; without the means of educating their children, or the privileges of public worship.
Matters remained thus till the summer of 1752, when Capt. Rice was sent to Boston to petition the General Court for relief. On the 5th of June, he presented a petition to the House of Rep- resentatives, in behalf of himself and his neighbors. This peti- tion, as the first step towards the legal existence of the place as a plantation, and also the action of the Government upon it, deserve a full recital. After the usual address, it proceeds as follows : " The memorial of Moses Rice, of a place called Charlemont, in the County of Hampshire, being Boston Township Number One, for himself and ten others inhabiting said Township:
" Humbly showeth that the Township was granted to the town
1 Appendix C.
2 Appendix D.
3 Appendix E.
14
of Boston, upon conditions of settlement as other towns were granted about that time ; and the town of Boston, by their com- mittee, mide sale of the same to the highest bidder, by which means one man became the sole owner thereof ; since which it has been sold and conveyed, chietly in large parcels, to persons who have not made any settlements or improvements on the same. And your petitioner and several others, knowing the conditions of the grant, and expecting it would be complied with, purchased a part of said township and became obliged to settle the same agreeable to the conditions of the grant, and have made consider- able improvements ; but, by reason of the negligence of the other proprietors, are brought under great and insupportable difficulties and hardships, not being able to support the ministry, build mills, or even mend the roads and make suitable bridges, (the nearest mill being twenty miles distant.) Your petitioner, therefore, in behalf of the inhabitants of said township, Humbly prays that your Honor and Honors would take their case into your wise and compassionate consideration, and grant a tax on the lands of the non-resident proprietors, in order to carry on the settlement ; or relieve the said Inhabitants in such way as your Honor and Honors shall think reasonable. And as in duty bound will ever pray."
On the same day the petition was read, and an order passed that notice issue to the non-resident proprietors, to be published in some public print and posted in some public place in Springfield, and maile returnable the second Friday of the next session.
On the 4th of December, the petition was read the second time ; whereupon it was, " Voted, That a tax of one penny per acre, lawful money, be laid upon all the lands in the within named township, (the public lands only excepted,) for the space of three Years next to come, and that the moneys so raised shall be improved for the following purposes, viz : For finishing the meet- ing-house already agreed and engaged to be set up in said Town- ship : For support of preaching, encouraging the building of mills, and for laying out and clearing highways there, and in such manner and proportion as the proprietors of the lands there shall order and determine at their meetings for such purposes called and held : And that the said Moses Rice call a meeting to be held in soud Township, at some reasonable future time, (by putting up notifications of the time, place and purpose of holding the same at said Charlemont, and at Lancaster in the County of Worcester,)
15
and that the proprietors, so met, have the power to choose a clerk, treasurer, assessors, collectors, and all officers necessary for the levying and collecting said tax from time to time, and to agree upon and determine the disposition of the money raised by said tax as they shall see meet, only for the purposes aforesaid :- and to agree upon any method of calling meetings for the future-the votes always to be collected according to the majority of the interest present."
On the same day, and in answer to the petition previously quoted, which sets forth the destruction of his property by the Indians, the House granted to Capt. Rice one hundred acres of land, " at the south end " of the township, " in consideration of his services for the Government, and the losses he sustained ; " to be laid out " at the cost and charge of the petitioner, by Joseph Wilder, Jr., Esq., to prevent damage being done to the province land that shall be left."
Mr. Wilder was from Lancaster ; and, by virtue of two pur- chases-one made in October, from William Ward, the other No- vember 1, from John Checkley-had become sole proprietor of all those portions of the township yet remaining unsold. As the result of this purchase, another class of men were introduced, coming mostly from Lancaster, Leominster, and other towns in that vicinity, whose active exertions and. hearty co-operation with the original settlers in their plans and efforts for the improvement of the place, were destined to have a most beneficent and lasting effect upon the infant community. These settled, for the most part, in the centre and northern portions of the township, in the territory now included in the town of Heath ; and not infre- quently, in the proprietary and town meetings of subsequent years, were designated by the " river men " as the " Lancaster party."
Prominent among them was Jonathan White, of Leominster. He was the great grandson of Josiah White, who removed with his two sons, Josiah and Thomas, from West England, and settled in Lancaster. Jonathan was born at Lancaster, on the homestead of his ancestors, March 31, 1709. He married Esther Wilder, the daughter of Joseph Wilder, Esq., June 22, 1732, and about the same time removed to that part of the town known as the " Lan- caster New or Additional Grant," which was afterwards, in 1740, incorporated as Leominster. Here he was a prominent actor in arte enterpriseJfor the public good ; in establishing schools ; in build-
16
ing a house for public worship, and settling a minister; and in organizing a church, of which he was chosen the first deacon, No- vember 14, 1743. The Hon. David Wilder, the historian of the town, says of him: "Col. Jonathan White was the greatest land- holder, the most wealthy man, the best educated person then in town, and a perfect gentleman of those days." Having acquired a large interest in Charlemont, through Mr. Wilder-his brother- in-law, as I suppose-he at once engaged heartily and efficiently in all efforts for improving the infant settlement. Although not a resident of the town, till in extreme age he lived with his son, yet no man, besides the leading members of the first three families of settlers, rendered more important services to the town than Col. White. 1
But to return to our narrative. On the 9th day of December, only four days after the passage of the act which I have recited, Capt. Rice issued his warrant for the first legal meeting of the Proprietors, to be held at his house in Charlemont, on Wednes- day, the 17th day of January, 1753.
At the appointed time and place, the meeting was held, and transacted the following business : Capt. Rice was chosen Modera- tor ; Joseph Wilder, Jr., was elected Proprietors' Clerk ; Othniel Taylor, Treasurer ; Eleazer Hawks, Moses Rice, and Joseph Wilder, Jr., Assessors ; and Capt. Jonathan White, of Leomin- ster, and Gershom Hawks, of Charlemont, Collectors.
Dea. Israel Houghton, Capt. Jonathan White, and Joseph Wilder, Jr., were chosen a Committee to lay out highways and other roads in the north part of the township, and directed to report their doings at the next meeting ; and Messrs. Othniel Tay- lor, Gershom Hawks, and Aaron Rice, were chosen to perform a like service in the south part of the township.
It was agreed that all proprietors' meetings should be held in Charlemont ; to be called whenever five of the proprietors should apply therefor, by a notification of the clerk, setting forth the time, place and purposes of the meeting, to be posted at Charle- mont, Lancaster and Worcester, at least fourteen days previously thereto.
It was also voted to pay "Mr. Aaron Rice, who hath built a Corn Mill in said town, which is allowed by the proprietors to be of public use for the town, 170.€ Old Tenor, in part satisfaction
' Vido Appendix F.
17
for building said mill, and it is to be inserted in the next notifica- tion for a meeting, when the mill shall be finished, what the pro- prietors will do further ;- Provided the said Aaron Rice will give a sufficient obligation to the Propriety to keep said mill in repair, and grind at all convenient times for the proprietors, taking one- sixteenth part for toll, and no more ; and to keep said mill in repair for the space of ten years from this day."
One hundred pounds, old tenor, were appropriated from the first year's tax to pay for preaching, and Eleazer Hawks, Moses Rice and Joseph Wilder, Jr., were appointed a " committee to pro- vide for the same the current year."
Thus the legal organization of the place as a Plantation, or " Propriety," was completed ; and the settlement and improve- ments went forward with increased vigor. On the 20th of May, Mr. Taylor took the prescribed oath, and entered upon his duties as Treasurer, which duties he continued to perform during the existence of the proprietorship.
In the same month, the second legal proprietors' meeting was held at the house of Capt. Rice. After choosing him " to govern the meeting," it was adjourned to Aaron Rice's corn mill, to view it, and consider " what further sum of money ought to be granted to him " for finishing it. " After debates on that affair," it was voted to give Mr. Rice " thirteen pounds, six shillings and eight pence, in addition to ye twenty-one pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, granted at ye last meeting, and on the same condi- tions." On their return to the house, the proprietors also voted " to give said Aaron Rice the saw-mill irons belonging to ye pro- prietors, and to compleat the set, he engaging to build a saw mill on the brook he hath built the corn mill on, and to saw bords for the proprietors at ye same prices, and sell bords at ye same price that they are sold for at Deerfield, for ye space of ten years next ensuing." The meeting was then adjourned to the 30th instant, at the same place.
Having assembled on that day, the proprietors immediately adjourned to the place where they proposed " to set the meeting- house,"-" near the south line," and the " south-west corner of ye farm called Hancock's farm, as it was first laid out." Here they " viewed and marked out a place for the meeting-house to stand on :" " which place is a little south of ye south line of said Han- cock's farm, between it and ye north line of Thomas Stearne's
3
18
land." They " voted that the house should be five-and-thirty feet long, thirty feet wide and eighteen feet stud ; " and " chose Capt. Moses Rice, Capt. Thomas Stearns and Joseph Wilder, Jun., a committee to agree with Mr. Thomas Dicks to set up a frame," and to " finish said house on the outside and to lay the lower floor."
They also allowed " Capt. Rice to work six pounds, thirteen shillings and eight pence, of his first year's tax laid on the lands belonging to him and his sons, in making convenient ways to the mills that his son Aaron hath built and engaged to build, for the highway he hath marked into the centre of the town, with the other services he hath done for the Propriety for which he hath had no pay."
At this meeting the agreement with Aaron Rice, in regard to the corn mill and saw mill, was completed. Mr. Rice gave his bond in the penalty of £100, lawful money, for the faithful per- formance of the conditions imposed upon him, as set forth in the votes already quoted, in consideration of £40, lawful money, and a complete set of saw-mill irons voted him by the proprietors. This bond, witnessed by Jonathan White and Joseph Wilder, Jr., and dated May 30, 1753, is still in existence. And the mill itself, continued to do a good work, at the prescribed rates, for the pro- prietors and the good people of this and the neighboring towns, until it was carried away by a flood in the year 1775. A second mill was built upon the opposite, or east bank of the stream, which gave place to a larger and more improved structure, built by Mr. David Crittenden in 1822, and which still stands. The saw mill likewise engaged to be built, continues to saw " bords " for the inhabitants to the present day. This meeting was adjourned to the first Wednesday of the next September, at the same place ; but no meeting appears to have been held till the following
The committee, charged with the business of " procuring preach- ing," were not remiss in their duties. From various orders, receipts and bills of account yet in existence, it appears that four different clergymen, at least, performed divine service in the town during this and the following year. We have the Rev. C. M. Smith's order, dated at Hatfield, October 24, 1753, for £40 (old tenorj worth of preaching. We have the order of the proprietors' clerk upon the treasurer, in favor of Rev. Eleazer May and Rev. Mr. Treat, who preached each four weeks. The Rev. Mr. Dickin-
19
son is also named, with those before mentioned, in an account of Capt. Rice for board and horse keeping. While upon this topic I may as well state, although running before the order of time, that in later years of the proprietorship, Rev. Simeon Strong preached in the year 1760 ; and Rev. Eliphalet Huntington and Rev. Mr. Swan, in the years 1762 and 1763. During the latter year also, Rev. Mr. Jones, the first proprietor and inhabitant of Myrifield-now Rowe-officiated from May to October. I have been able to find no further information in regard to ministerial labors in the place previous to its incorporation.
The committee, appointed for that purpose, made a contract with Mr. Dicks for building the meeting-house, and he proceeded to set up the frame the same season, the summer of 1753 ; but, for reasons which are no longer known, he did not perform his con- tract further, and the frame was never covered, although it stood for several years, as we shall hereafter see.
During the same summer, Jonathan White and Benjamin Bal- lard built a dwelling-house near the meeting-house frame, on the opposite side of the road and north of the woods which are now standing, and in which the meeting-house was placed. This house was on the same spot where Deacon James White after- wards lived and died, and is believed to be the same house occupied by him, and still standing. These same persons also framed and erected another house, in the summer of 1754, at the foot of " Meeting-house hill," near the burying-ground given to the town by Capt. White.1
On the last Wednesday, the 26th of June, 1754, the fourth proprietors' meeting, of which we have any record, was held in the morning, at the dwelling near the frame just spoken of, and Caleb Dana was moderator. It was adjourned to meet in the afternoon, at the new house which was framing at the foot of the hill. The following business was transacted :
Moses Rice, Othniel Taylor and Jonathan White, were chosen a committee " to lay out and mend the way up to the meeting- house, and to mend the public road in said town."
It was " Voted, To accept the town road from the county road
1 Town Records, March 4, 1771. " Voted, To accept of the land Col. Jonathan White gave to the town for a burying-place." This burying- place, which is the oldest public one in Charlemont, has recently been inclosed anew by a substantial stone wall, by vote of the town.
20
by the river up to ye new meeting-house frame, as near the way that is now marked as may be with convenience, and that those that work at said way shall have twenty shillings-old tenor-a day ; they working ten hours in a day, which shall be accounted a day's work."
It was also " Voted, That Mr. Dicks (the contractor) be notified to cover the roof of the meeting-house with boards and shingles, and board the gable ends."
The meeting " accepted a hundred acres of land for a lot for the first minister that shall be settled in said town-to lay south of the lot No. 2, in Hancock's farm, and to be 200 rods long and 80 rods wide." One hundred pounds, old tenor, were also voted for preaching this year.1
But these improvements, so auspiciously begun, were destined to receive a sudden and disastrous check. Already the war-cloud was gathering, which was soon to burst over their defenceless heads.
The peace of Aix la Chapelle was but a hollow truce. Indeed, the high contracting parties themselves hardly regarded it as more than a suspension of hostilities-a postponement of the inevitable and final struggle for sole dominion on the North American conti- nent. No sooner had peace been declared in 1748, than the French began to strengthen their interest with the Indian tribes, in furtherance of their plans of future and more extensive coloniza- tion. Already in possession of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, and also of the Mexican Gulf, and having explored and learned the value of the vast regions lying north and west of the Ohio, they undertook, by the erection of a chain of fortresses, extending from their northern to their southern possessions through the In- dian country, to shut the passages of the Alleghanies and of the lakes against the English settlers, and forever to confine them to the Atlantic coast. In pursuance of this plan, and in spite of their treaty obligations, they seized upon and fortified strong positions at Crown Point, Oswego, Niagara, and at the confluence of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers.
" In this case, so in that of the price of a day's work, the rough notes of the Clerk, from which I copied, gire the sums in " old tenor ; " the proprietors' records, a low leaves of which have recently been discovered, give these sums in " lawful" currency, - making the 20 shillings, 2 shillings and 8 pence ; and the 100 pounds, K'13 Gs. Nd. . the ratio bring ;} to 1.
21
The English colonists were not prepared to rest satisfied with the successful issue of projects like these. They, too, had an eye upon the magnificent domains which adventurous explorers reported as lying far beyond the Alleghanies. Besides, they well understood, that the question was not simply whether they should extend their settlements beyond the mountains, but also, and more especially, whether, being confined to the Atlantic shore, they should long be suffered to remain in quiet there-nay, to exist at all on the soil which they had so long occupied. Moreover, the New England Colonists had not forgotten the bitter wars of former years, when the Indian's hate and greed of vengeance had been stimulated by the wily and ghostly professors of an opposing faith. They well knew that the conflict which was coming, would issue not only in life or death to themselves, but in the extermina- tion of the Protestant Faith, which they held dearer than life. And, as the struggle approached, they did not hesitate or waver. A century and a quarter before, their fathers had planted in these wilds the institutions which they had inherited ; and theirs was the duty to transmit the blessed boon; and no storm, however threatening, could drive them from the high trust.
Massachusetts took early measures to put her frontiers in a state of defence, and, at the same time, to co-operate vigorously with her sister Colonies in destroying the strong holds already men- tioned-especially those at Oswego and Crown Point, the latter of which had been the source of so much annoyance in the former war. On the western frontiers, by the advice of Col. Israel Williams-since the death of Col. Stoddard, the commander of the northern Hampshire regiment-a system of defence was adopted, similar to that of the former war. Forts Dummer and Massachusetts, and the block-houses in Falltown and Coleraine, were repaired and their garrisons strengthened. Forts Shirley and Pelham, however, were abandoned ; and, instead, the families on the Deerfield were encouraged to build forts around their dwell- ings. The summer of 1754 was employed in this work. Messrs. Gershom, Joshua and Seth Hawks moved their two houses near to each other, and surrounded them with pickets. Capt. Rice and his sons fortified his house under the hill, and Messrs. Othniel and Jonathan Taylor enclosed their dwellings in like manner.
These defences were made by themselves and at their own cost,
22
with the expectation that soldiers would be furnished and the expense of erection repaid by the government.
From a petition presented by the Messrs. Hawks to the General Court, October 17, it appears that they had expended six pounds, and that six more were needed to complete their works.
Othniel Taylor presented a like petition on the 18th, accom- panied with a rough sketch of his fort, and a statement of the items of expense, amounting in the whole to £10 4s. 4d. His line of piekets inclosed a space one hundred feet long and eighty feet wide.1
Although Indian depredations were frequent during this season, in various quarters, and evidences were not wanting that the enemy were lurking in the woods at Charlemont, as appears from the language of one of the petitions referred to, and from concurrent tradition, I cannot learn that any soldiers were stationed here by the government, till after the events of the eleventh of June, in the following summer.
As the spring of 1755 drew on, the inhabitants lived in constant fear of attack, and were forced to use sleepless vigilance. Dogged by night and by day by an invisible foe, they went to their daily task, with muskets in their hands, and the faithful dog to scent the enemy ; while women and children could not pass the inclosures without a guard.
On Wednesday morning, the eleventh day of June, 1755, Capt. Rice, his son Artemas Rice, his grandson Asa Rice-a boy nine years of age-Titus King, Phineas Arms, and others, went into the meadow which lies south of the present village road, having Mill-brook on the east and Rice's brook on the west, for the purpose of hoeing corn. Capt. Rice was ploughing and the boy riding the horse ; the others were engaged in hoeing, except one who acted as sentinel-passing through the field, from brook to brook, with musket in hand-while the fire-arms of the others were placed against a pile of logs near the western brook. This, instead of flowing in a direct line to the river, as at present, entered the field at some distance below where the road now runs, and passed in a south-casterly direction nearly to the mouth of Mill- brook. Meanwhile a party of six Indians, as tradition informs us, having carefully observed their victims from the neighboring hill, tole cautiously down the western brook ; and, concealed by the
' Appendix G.
23
thick brush-wood upon its banks, watched till the working party were near to Mill-brook and farthest from their fire-arms, when they suddenly fired and rushed upon the defenceless party.
Arms fell dead in the corn-field ; Capt. Rice received a severe wound in the thigh and was taken prisoner, together with the lad Asa upon the horse, and Titus King, a young man, and a relation of Capt. Rice. Artemas Rice escaped, after a hot pursuit, and reached Taylor's fort at noon. The inmates of the house in the adjoining field, hearing the firing, fled to the fort.1
The Indians, however, made no further attack, but withdrew with their three captives to the high plain in rear of the present public house. Here the aged and wounded man was left alone, with a single savage, to meet his fate. After a fearful struggle, he fell beneath the tomahawk, and was left, scalped and bleeding, to die. Late in the day he was found yet alive, and brought to his son's house, where he expired in the evening.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.