USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden > Early Hampden, Mass., its settlers and the homes they built; > Part 3
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This old residence boasts hand-made doors, a fanlight over the front door, and hand-hewn beams in the attic held together with wooden pegs, as well as stencilling in one of the bedrooms.
Home of the late Byron Russell.
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Calvin Wehr. Probably some of the Griswold family lived here in the early days. Afterwards, Ira Pease, whose wife was Jane Griswold, was an owner. Thomas H. Ingham lived here in the early 1900's. Thomas Hart afterwards owned the farm and in turn sold to William Kimmel. The Wehr family bought from Mr. Kimmel in 1946.
Mrs. Edith Dugan. This was another Griswold place and Sylvanus Griswold probably lived here in 1855. Afterwards Ira Griswold, who ran a livery stable in East Longmeadow, owned the house. Frank Moore, a Civil War veteran, lived here in the early 1900's. The property then passed to Mrs. Elsie Parkess, his sister-in-law, who was Mrs. Dugan's mother.
Winston Churchill. An old Root house used to stand here which was occupied by Corydon Root for many years. Rev. Amos Merrill was a later owner. In the early 1900's the William Clum family lived here. During their ownership the house burned to the ground and the present owners built the one now on the spot.
Sixty years ago there were no houses on Allen Street between the present Church house and the O'Neil residence in East Longmeadow.
STONY HILL ROAD
Francis A. Borowiec. Will Chapin, brother of the late George Chapin of Somers Road, lived on this road until his death a few years ago. He had many interesting facts to relate about the Indians who used to live in this area and fish in the South Branch of the Mill River. The fish came up from the Connecticut River via the Mill River and it will surprise many to learn that salmon weighing five and six pounds were once caught in Hampden. When the white people bought this section from the Indians the latter decided to protect their birth right by specifying that they were to have the right to hunt and fish in the territory "as long as the sun shone and rivers run." Sheep abounded in this area in the early days. At one time there were 2200 sheep in town. The Borowiec family lives on the site of Mr. Chapin's home and the son, Daniel, recently had the thrill of digging up an Indian arrowhead.
MILL ROAD
Mrs. Gertrude Chaffin. Mr. Tuttle of Kibbe & Tuttle lived here in 1870, the partnership operating the nearby grist mill. In the early 1900's Michael P. Carmody resided here and carried on the same business. For thirteen years the East Longmeadow Rod and Gun Club leased the grounds for a sporting club. This was then a busy spot on Saturdays
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and Sundays and too noisy for the East Longmeadow Baptist Church located about half a mile away.
Stanley Witkop. On May 13, 1913, Mathew Witkop, father of Stanley Witkop, bought the old M. Endicott house which used to stand here, from Mr. Tuttle, to whom reference was made in the previous paragraph. On May 13, 1938, exactly twenty-five years from the day the deed was signed the house burned to the ground. The present home was made from an old house moved from Pelham in 1938 when part of that town was demolished to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.
SOUTH ROAD
This is part of the old Middle Road which came down over the top of Wilbraham Mountain and went up the present South Road to the Somers line. This was an important road in the early days.
W. Harry Burns. Most of the land on the present property belonged to Abdiel Loomis in the late 1700's and records indicate that in 1802 Jonathan Chaffee bought the land from the Loomis estate. It remained in the Chaffee family for over 110 years. In 1811 Jonathan Chaffee sold the property to his son, Daniel, and the latter erected the present house. The next owner of the farm was Daniel Davis Chaffee and his daughter, Mrs. Lucy Morris (Chaffee) Alden, was born here in 1836.
Mrs. Alden was a poet of note and among other things wrote a history of Hampden in verse. In the early 1800's her ancestors ran a shingle mill on the property.
Upon the death of Mrs. Alden in December, 1912, the house passed to her heir, Mrs. Annie (Morris) Perry, widow of President Perry
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Lucy (Chaffee) Alden's home on a wintry day in 1905. Now the residence of Mr. and Mrs. W. Harry Burns.
of Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, and a descendant of the Morris family in Hampden. In 1918 she sold it to Harriet and Corrine Craig and in 1920 they in turn deeded it to their sister, Mrs. Maud C. Wilkins (the former Mrs. Damon Coates). William H. Burns, father of W. Harry Burns, bought the place in 1920.
Eva J. Scott. This cottage was built in 1855 by John D. Hancock. He was the son of John Hancock who was the blacksmith living next door in the Hopkins house. The widow of John Sr. died in 1854 and apparently her son sold all his father's property except that south of the brook, upon which John D. built this house for himself. The house was afterwards owned by the S. C. Spellman and Dr. George T. Ballard families. The late Charles S. Ballard used the house for a summer home for a period.
Arthur Fogarty. Moses Stebbins, brother of Stephen and Aaron, Somers Road settlers, built a house on this spot which could have been the first one on this side of the mountain. The next known owner of the place was Beriah Smith, since records indicate that he lived here in 1855. In 1870 H. Harridon must have been the owner. In the late 1890's and early 1900's Albert F. Ballard owned the farm. The house in which he originally lived may have been the one built by Moses Stebbins, as a newspaper clipping at the time it burned (one Fourth of July) indicates that it was very old. Mr. Ballard built the present house, which was later owned by Thomas Midgeley, whose son, Thomas Jr., was one of the inventors of ethyl gasoline.
Carl Larson. Available records seem to indicate that this house was built by Comfort Chaffee Sr., son of Joseph Chaffee of Chapin Road, in 1759. Comfort Chaffee Sr., served in the Revolutionary War and during
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his service he and another man discovered a deserted British vessel near the water's edge. They boarded it and finding it loaded with provisions and ammunition turned it over to the Government.
The house at the time it was built probably consisted of seven rooms, four down and three upstairs, with fireplaces in five of the rooms. The small downstairs room on the north was called the "borning" room.
The property remained in the Chaffee family until 1860 when it was sold to Marcus Alden. The farm extended beyond Chapin Road, and the story is told that Mr. Alden sold a granite quarry on the east side of Chapin Road for $10,000 which was a considerable sum of money for that time.
Cyrus Lee, grandfather of Mrs. Florence Ballou, purchased the farm from Marcus Alden, and it remained in his possession for some time. Later on Nelson M. Carew acquired it and sold it to Alexander Larson in 1905. Mr. Larson tells us that the old barn, which was destroyed by fire in 1926, was built in 1818, according to a date carved on one of the beams.
In 1935 Mr. Larson sold the farm to his son Carl, but retained seven acres of land on Chapin Road, where he built a home. In 1936 when Carl was cleaning out a little used loft, he found an old spinning wheel covered with the dust of many years. It was cleaned and now has a place of honor in the old house.
The farmhouse of Mr. and Mrs. Carl P. Larson and the Chaffee spinning wheel they found in the attic.
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The Bliss-Morris Homestead in 1750. This building is incorporated in the present Raymond S. Smith home. Mrs. C. K. Bump made this copy from a very old sketch in a Morris genealogy.
Raymond Stockbridge Smith. About the year 1750, Col. John Bliss (to whom reference has been made in the paragraph on the Hall home on Somers Road) came out from Longmeadow and on Lot # 116, which had been originally assigned to his grandfather, Samuel Bliss, built his salt-box house. Here he held court when he later became Justice of the Peace, and his original desk is still in the house.
By 1773 Col. Bliss was representing the town of Springfield in the Legislature and later he served as a member of the Provincial Congress and of the First Senate. During the Revolutionary War he commanded a regiment and in 1795 he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Col. Bliss married Abiel Colton, descendant of Quartermaster Colton who was one of the earliest and most prominent settlers of Springfield and Longmeadow. Their daughter, Lucy, married Edward Morris and their descendants were prominent judges and clerks in the local courts for more than 150 years. Harvey O. Smith tells us that the red rosebush planted about 200 years ago by Abiel Bliss blossomed this summer.
By a decision of the Supreme Court all slaves in Massachusetts were freed under the Constitution framed in 1780. The same was not true in the states of Connecticut and New York and not a few found
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refuge in Hampden. When Edward Morris lived in the Bliss-Morris Homestead he housed runaway slaves in the attic. A severe struggle took place at this house when two fugitives were being hidden. Their masters or hunters came after them, and a most desperate fight ensued in which one escaped to the woods and the other was taken, bound, and carried away.
In 1868 the salt-box house was turned so that the ridge pole now runs east and west, perpendicular to the road, the ell was moved to the rear and a bit south, and a whole new central section was inserted to make over seventeen rooms. Because of this, the floor upstairs is on three levels. All windows on the ground floor were changed to those of the Victorian era.
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Mrs. Anice Morris (Stockton) Terhune, wife of "Albert Payson Terhune was born here in her ancestral home and one of the three books which she wrote with a Hampden locale, "The White Mouse," features the house. It is still owned by descendants of the original land owners. This place and part of the George Chapin farm are the only two places in Hampden which are still owned by the same families to which the land was originally granted.
Mrs. Florence Ballou. William Stacy from Salem settled here in 1749. He probably built a small house somewhere in the vicinity which his son, Ebenezer, or grandson, Loren, replaced with one of the best residences in Hampden at that time. In 1833 Loren Stacy was the largest taxpayer in our village. The family must have lived on the farm for more than 100 years, since a map of 1870 shows Gilbert Stacy as residing here. Some time after the latter date Albert Lee, Mrs. Ballou's father, bought the farm and lived in the Stacy house. A picture of it, loaned to us by Mrs. Ballou, shows the quality of workmanship and materials which went into its construction. About seventy years ago the house burned to the ground, the blaze having probably been caused by sparks from an out-door fire under a kettle of water being heated for "butchering." Mr. Lee then built the present house.
Some of the Stacy family still living in Wilbraham are descended from the early owners of this property.
Albert Lee's Tower. In the early part of this century Mr. Lee built a four-story tower on the top of the mountain east of his house which proved a popular spot for people interested in viewing the scenery. The tower was visible all through the center of the village. Mr. Lee also erected a dance hall near the tower which combined to make the area popular as a recreation center. Both tower and dance hall were later removed and Mr. Lee then erected a building in which dances were held which is still in existence south of Mrs. Ballou's residence.
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Wilfred Rock. This house, which is owned by Mrs. Ballou, was built by one of the Stacy family who gave it to his daughter who married a man by the name of McCray. Mrs. Albert Lee, mother of Mrs. Ballou, was a later owner.
Lester Kibbe - The Former Neil S. Kibbe Place. This gambrel roofed house was built between 1783 and 1786. When Ebenezer Stacy, son of William Stacy, to whom reference has been made previously, married Mary Chaffee, daughter of Comfort Chaffee (who lived at the Carl Larson farm), they built this house. While they were married in 1783, records reveal that it was in 1786 that William and Mahlon Stacy deeded the land to Ebenezer Stacy. Of course the house may have been started before the transfer was made. The house passed from Ebenezer to his son, Loren, who sold it to Cyrus Lee, father of Albert W. Lee. The purchase was made around Civil War times and Mr. Lee lived here about twelve years and then sold the property to his nephew, Frank Bartlett, who died about the time of the blizzard of 1888. Mrs. Bartlett leased it to Erskine Kibbe, father of Neil S. Kibbe for three years and at the end of that time Mr. Kibbe bought it. After the death of the latter the farm was split between his two sons, Neil and Raymond, and the former retained the old home- stead.
Our data on this farm would be incomplete unless we referred to Kibbe's Cider Mill. This mill was always a Mecca for miles around for persons looking for fresh cider for Halloween and Thanksgiving parties. Some of the older residents remember seeing the horse go "round and round" which used to furnish the operative power. After modern machinery was installed the mill was of less interest to the children.
In 1955 Neil Kibbe sold the buildings and part of the land to Lester Kibbe, whose property abutted it on the west.
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The former home of Mr. and Mrs. Neil S. Kibbe - showing the family in 1920. This i. a typical farmhouse picture with the row oj milk cans hanging on the barn and the 1917 Overland and Jack Benny's (?) 1916 Maxwell in the yard.
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Mrs. Raymond Kibbe. An old house built by the Stacy family used to stand here where Barnard Woodruff, a Civil War veteran, lived in the early part of this century. Back in the old days when people were suspended from the church for using profanity, Mr. Woodruff was sus- pended for using the expression "By God." Mrs. Kibbe's father, Mr. Curtin, tore down the old house and built the present one.
On a clear day one of the best two-way views to be obtained in this area may be seen from the lot diagonally across the road from the Kibbe house. To the north Mount Monadnock near Keene, N. H., looms up over 50 miles away while to the south the city of Hartford, Conn., with the tower of the Traveler's Insurance Company in the center, makes a very scenic picture.
RICT OF WALES
The southern part of what is now the town of Hampden, bordering on Somers and Stafford, was known in the early days as the District of Wales. No one knows the significance of this name. The district was one mile in width at its eastern end and somewhat less at its western end. Although within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, it was not included within the limits of any town and it was not until the 1770's that it was annexed to the mother town of Wilbraham. At just what time this territory was settled it is difficult to state. Grants of land in this section were made by the General Court in Boston and not by the grandmother town of Spring- field. This may be one of the reasons it is so hard to find any deeds at the Hampden County Registry of Deeds in Springfield pertaining to this area. Capt. Thomas Colton, Capt. Isaac Colton, and Rev. Stephen Williams, D.D., all of Longmeadow received some of the earliest grants.
Rev. Stephen Williams, immortalized in history as the "Boy Captive of Old Deerfield" mentions his "Wales" farm in his will. We believe that there were three houses on the Williams property in the early days. There used to be a house on the east side of South Road halfway between the top of the hill and the Somers line. This may or may not have been built by John Williams, son of the minister, but must have been on land owned by him at one time. The most prominent person to have been born in this house was Andrew Jackson Davis, the copper king, of whom we will learn more in later paragraphs.
We are confident, however, that John Williams erected two houses
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on the old stagecoach road east of South Road, in fact the Wilbraham tax list for 1771 assesses him for two dwellings. He was the only person in South Wilbraham to own more than one house at that time.
The stagecoach road came into Hampden from the east and crossed Rocky Dundee Road near the top of Kiln Hill. It then proceeded west, crossing Chapin Road near the present home of William Patullo and crossing South Road near the Connecticut line. It afterwards turned south toward Somers. The line came from Boston and went to Hartford and was one of the first operations of the type in America, one of the owners being Levi Pease who was born in Somers. It took three days to complete the journey, the first night being spent in Worcester and the second night in Palmer.
In the little history of Hampden written by Daniel Chaffee, grandfather of Mrs. Lucy (Chaffee) Alden, the author stated that the first four-wheeled wagon he ever saw was a stagecoach passing along this road. This was probably about 1793. Mr. Chaffee who lived near the former Neil S. Kibbe property on South Road evidently walked up here one day as a little boy and waited to behold the marvelous sight, in a manner similar to many of us who have been trying to see the new earth satellite. The road must have passed into disuse before 1828 since we find that in that year the Jacob Woods, Firmin, Samuel Chapin and Stacy families summoned the inhabitants of the town to court for neglect of the road. They probably needed to use it to transport their products to Somers. The members of our committee who recently walked over a portion of the old highway (after climbing over two pairs of bars and communing with friendly cows) were amazed at its good condition and the fine stone culverts erected by our forefathers.
In 1794 John Williams, who with his wife and children are buried in the Old Cemetery, sold the property to Stephen Parsons and in 1808 Stephen and Oliver Parsons sold to Solomon Fuller of Somers. Later owners of part or all of the farm have been: Calvin Pitkin, Samuel Chapin, Mr. and Mrs. Amasa Switzer, Mrs. Maria Pease, Lucius Winslow, Willie Pease, Otis Chapin and A. H. Thompson. The property is presently owned by Everett Kibbe and Henry Cook of Somers.
The old house on South Road was bought by Silas Cooley and moved intact to his property in Somers, which is now owned by Henry Cook. The two Williams houses (the one nearer South Road having been later known at the Switzer house) probably either burned down or fell down in the early 1800's. The cellar holes are now full of lilac bushes.
The similarity of names between the town of Wales, Mass., and the District of Wales in Hampden has caused much confusion.
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ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS
Andrew J. Davis, Hampden native, multi-millionaire copper king, born April 25, 1819, was the son of Asa and Celinda (Allard) Davis who were married on March 19, 1810 by Rev. Moses Warren. The couple lived in the house (the cellar hole of which may still be seen) on the east side of South Road about half way between the top of the hill and the Connecticut line. Mr. Davis was a direct descendant of Joseph Chaffee (as are two members of the publication committee of this book) who built one of the first houses in Hampden on Chapin Road. Mr. Chaffee's daughter Sarah married Isaac Morris and the latter couple had a daughter Hannah who married John Davis, a Revolutionary War veteran from this town. John and Hannah, who are buried in the Old Cemetery, had several children including Asa, who was the father of Andrew J. Davis.
At the age of thirteen our hero had gained what school education he was to have and went to work in a dry goods house in Boston. Being a firm believer in Horace Greeley's admonition "Go West - Young Man" we find that at the age of 16 Andrew was in business for himself in Madison, Indiana, and in the 1850's was perhaps the first chain store operator in America with a number of outlets in Iowa. Shortly after the Black Hawk War he purchased from the Indians 800 acres of Iowa's finest farm lands which he developed with amazing success.
With the pioneering urge of the Chaffee, Morris, and Davis families coursing through his veins "A.J." went to California and then back to Montana in 1863. He set up the state's first flour mill and brought in the first reaper and threshing machine. His next venture was in the livestock business and one year he sold 12,000 head of cattle for over $400,000 to one person. This was regarded as the biggest single livestock transaction ever made in Montana territory. During the same year he sold 7000 more head for $235,000. Still later he went into the silver mining business and in 1881 sold the Lexington mine for $1,000,000 cash. Afterward the copper mining business became his chief interest and the company in which he was a principal partner was absorbed by the Anaconda Company in 1910.
The First National Bank of Butte opened in 1881 with Andrew J. Davis owning 657 of the 1000 shares, and in 1884 he became the sole owner. At the time of the bank holiday of 1933 David Lawrence, noted columnist and commentator, said from Washington, in effect, that there were three outstanding banks in this country, and strange to say, one of them was in a mining camp - the First National Bank of Butte. We have mentioned this to show the type of institution established by our native son. Upon the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the bank in
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1952 the company published a very fine history of its operations, which contained an excellent photograph of Mr. Davis and we are indebted to that publication for much of the material about his business life in this article.
Mr. Davis died March 11, 1890 and his body was brought from Butte to the North Cemetery, Somers, Conn., for burial in the lot with his parents. While he never married his twelve brothers and sisters and their heirs were all eager to participate in his vast estate. His will left the bank intact to his nephew Andrew Jackson Davis the 2nd, son of his brother, John Allard Davis. The remainder of the estate he specified to be divided among the remaining heirs. There was dissatisfaction and law suits followed and the estate finally went to the United States Supreme Court before final disposition was reached. It proved to be one of the most important estate cases ever tried in the courts of America.
As far as we know the only brother or sister of Mr. Davis to have spent their whole life in Hampden was Sophronia, who married James Lawrence Firmin. Mr. and Mrs. Firmin owned the property on Chapin Road where the Howard Gray residence now stands, and are buried in the Old Cemetery.
It will be news to almost every citizen of Hampden that Andrew Jackson Davis, a pioneer who carved a fortune out of the rough and raw material of his day and who laid the foundation of a commonwealth saw the first light of day in our town.
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CHAPIN ROAD originally called Firmin Road
Byrd Hopkins. Many different people owned this land from 1685 until William King sold the property to Stephen West in 1782. As Mr. West was married in 1783 he probably built the east ell of this house and lived here for a period. In 1791 he sold the property to Zadock Stebbins and for twenty-seven years various members of the Stebbins family owned it. In 1818 the place passed to Levi Flynt who in turn sold to Rufus Flynt in 1823. The latter deeded the property to John Hancock, blacksmith, in 1830. Mr. Hancock, who lived here until he died, probably added the Greek Revival wing. His heirs sold the house in 1855 to William C. Stebbins and Sumner Smith. The latter married a Stebbins girl and lived here for forty years. Mr. Smith was superintendent of various mills in town and afterward owned the store in the basement of the Baptist Church for twenty-seven years. He was also selectman of the town and state representative in Boston. Owners of this property since his death in 1915 have been William Lawson, Mr. Ledoux, and Jasper C. Sloate, who sold to the present owners.
This house is a good example of the practical colonial plan with an added Greek Revival wing. Some of the grace and beauty originally in the latter portion have been lost with the change in position of the windows. The colonial section still has the fireplace, bake oven and ash pit, sturdy peg construction in foot square beams, and boasts a "set kettle" in the cellar.
Some may ask just what a "set kettle" was. It was a piece of brick
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Home of Mr. and Mrs. Byrd Hopkins as it appeared in 1907 in the days of Sumner Smith.
masonry attached to the chimney in either the cellar, kitchen or woodshed and which had a recess in the top for a large kettle. Underneath there was a chamber with a door in which a wood fire was built. The kettle was used for heating water for the Saturday night baths, butchering hogs, etc.
Mrs. L. O. Howlett. William King owned this land in the early days and subsequently sold to Jonathan Dwight, who in 1794 sold to Isaac Jones, son-in-law of Mr. King. In 1806 Edward Morris bought the prop- erty from Mr. Jones. Mr. Morris lived in a little house which stood facing Chapin Road at the left of the present driveway into the Howlett house. The little Morris residence was standing here in 1810 as Mrs. Sarah (Morris) Chaffee, mother of Mrs. Lucy (Chaffee) Alden, was born therein on that date. Later the little Morris house was moved to lower Main Street and it is now the central part of the home or Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Bandoski.
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