USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden > Early Hampden, Mass., its settlers and the homes they built; > Part 7
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NORTH MONSON ROAD
Ellsworth Frey. On the spot where the Frey house now stands was one of the old houses of Hampden. It was owned by William Snow, whose daughter Temperance married Alvin Day.
Through the rear of the Frey property passed the "Path to the Meetinhouse." This path started north of the present Balser house on Ames Road and went east to the Colton Hollow Baptist Church which was near the present residence of Albert Clairmont on North Monson Road in Monson. The Day and Calkins families and many others used this path each Sunday. Some members of the families carried their shoes in their hands (as did the writer's great-grandmother) and put them or when nearing the sanctuary. A pair of shoes had to last a long time. The church was a hip roof building with an entrance tower, a gallery and a high pulpit. Rev. Alvin Bennett was the pastor.
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BENNETT ROAD
Mrs. John Lunden. The first known owner of this property was Frank- lin Stebbins, and we find that in 1850 he deeded it to Orville Pease and in 1864 the latter sold to Russell Morton Day. In 1874 Mr. Day sold it to his son, Ephaphro A. Day. "Paphro" as he was usually known about town, was a world traveler and an authority on Hampden history. He used to own the old Aaron Bliss compass that was used to survey Wilbraham and Monson for the state in 1830. There are still old maps of property in town which were drawn by E. A. Day. In 1903 E. J. and H. H. Thresher purchased the farm from Mr. Day and in 1909 they sold it to the Lunden family.
Esdras Roux. An old house used to stand on this spot, which was perhaps one of the first built in the area. It was owned at various times by Abel Chaffee, Alvin Chaffee, Nelson Chaffee, Mr. Knowlton, and E. A. Day.
John R. Wallace. The first known owner of this property was Eliel Amidon. We believe that in 1823 he sold part of the present farm to Asa Olmstead and that he deeded the remaining portion in 1824 to Hannah Stacy, a widow. In 1825 Mr. Olmstead also sold his section to Mrs. Stacy. The latter's daughter, also named Hannah, married David Hunt and it appears that they must have lived here for a period before they moved to Monson. In 1832, their son Simon Stacy Hunt, Sr., married Persis Chaffee, daughter of Comfort Chaffee, Jr., and came to live on his parent's farm. There must have been a house then on the property, since Simon Stacy Hunt, Jr., the writer's grandfather, was born on this farm in 1833. The Hunt family evidently built the present house in 1844.
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The stately residence of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Wallace.
In 1855 Simon Stacy Hunt, Sr., sold the property to Willard F. Munsell and the Hunt family moved to Somers, Conn., purchasing the present Percy Kibbe farm. In 1858 Mr. Munsell deeded the Wallace farm to Coleman Walker and the Walker family lived here until 1912. Owners of this property since that time have been the Charles W. Richards family, Harvey Chapman, Esdras Roux, and W. K. Simpson. The present owner bought the house in 1947.
Dr. Harold Bennett. The ell of this charming home includes the original salt-box house which was the home of Dr. Bennett's great grand- father the Rev. Alvin Bennett, pastor of the Colton Hollow Baptist Church from 1810 to 1836. He prepared his Sunday morning disserta- tions in a rustic study hidden in the nearby woods, and this building was later brought down and attached to the present ell. In 1844 the minister had the large main house built. Here was born Miss Gazella Bennett who became the principal of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, having pre- viously been the kindergarten teacher of Miss Helen Keller, noted blind scholar. Also born here was Dr. Bennett's uncle, Judge John A. Bennett of Boston, who gave the address at the dedication of the Soldier's Monu- ment on the Village Green. The original fine features of the house have been carefully maintained by Dr. and Mrs. Bennett. This place has not only been in the same family for over 150 years, but the same name has been kept throughout.
The ancestral home of Dr. Harold Bennett.
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MAIN STREET-EAST
Two of the largest property owners in this section of the town in the early days were William King and Stephen West.
William King who came to town in 1744 at one time owned most of what is now known as the center of our village. In 1784 he sold to Zenas Parsons all the land on the north side of Main Street from North Road east, starting at the Ernest Howlett property and going as far as Mr. Burgess' lot. Mr. Parsons operated Parsons Tavern on Court Square in Springfield.
Stephen West came to Hampden from Tolland, Conn., in 1782 and bought that year from William King (among other properties) all the land on the south side of East Main Street from the H. H. Thresher east line to the property now owned by Mrs. Sheehan. In 1791 he bought the land on the north side of the street from Mr. Parsons extending from the Ernest Howlett east boundary to the Thornton W. Burgess west boundary. In 1783 Mr. West married Bathsheba Chaffee, daughter of Comfort Chaffee.
Dalton Philpott. A very old house used to stand here. A family by the name of Works lived therein from 1820-1823.
Thornton W. Burgess. This old unspoiled Cape Cod style house hug- ging the ground and built into the side of the hill is the gem of the town, both historically and architecturally. It was undoubtedly built by Calvin Stebbins, son of Moses Stebbins, one of Hampden's first settlers. It has the usual fireplaces for a house of its age, including the immense one with bake oven in the old kitchen. Perhaps the feature which best shows the number of years it has been built is the staircase. The dimen-
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Home of Thornton W. Burgess - "The Storyteller's House."
sions of each step average six inches high and three inches wide. An old clipping in a Springfield newspaper of 1916 describes the stairs fully. Over 40 years ago articles were being written about the house and we find that even 60 years ago picture post cards were being sold showing the west end of this landmark, which is the oldest in the village.
Another interesting feature is that the house has no cellar under it, but one at the first floor level in the hill against which the house is nestled. The walls are of rough stone, three feet thick and the cellar is cool in summer and above freezing in winter.
After the death of Miss Experience Stebbins, daughter of Calvin, in 1870, the last member of the Stebbins family to live here, the property was sold to the widow of Joshua Stanton who had owned the present Kronvall house on South Monson Road. Her daughter Miss Calista Stan- ton lived here alone for many years with her various pets, including bantams and white mice. She passed away in 1903 and the house was next owned by the Coates family who filled it with rare trophies and antiques brought from all parts of the world.
Over a quarter of a century ago Thornton W. Burgess, interna- tionally famous author of children's nature stories honored our town by purchasing the Old Stebbins House and new luster has been added to its long history. Both the owner and residence have been featured in Life Magazine as well as in countless other newspapers and Journals. An illus- tration in color of the east side of this residence is shown in Mr. Burgess' book entitled "Tales From a Storyteller's House" A beautful painting of the residence also hangs in the Longmeadow Library.
Mrs. Ruth Sheehan. This land originally belonged to the Stebbins family who owned Mr. Burgess' house. William P. Chaffee, who owned
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the H. H. Thresher residence bought the strip and moved the present house from the Comfort Hunt (now Percy Kibbe) farm in North Somers. It was afterwards owned by the Hampden Hotel Co., H. H. Thresher and Mr. Burgess.
Kirk Garage - Site of Stoddard Burt's House. In 1796 Stoddard Burt built a house on this spot similar in architecture to that of the Burgess house. Sara Burt was the last one of the family to live here and after her death Arthur Jones purchased the house, tore it down and built the present garage. In the process of demolition, Mr. Jones found in a cup- board the valuable account books belonging to Mr. Burt, which are fully described in the back part of this book. In one of the books there is a notation reading: "1796, I began to work on this house" (signed) Stoddard Burt. If still standing this would be one of the few early houses in town for which we would have a definite building date.
Mrs. Norris Fitzgerald. This property has been in the West family of which Mrs. Fitzgerald is a descendant for about 165 years. Stephen West, referred to above, may have built the ell. The property passed to his son Maj. John West and his grandson John R. West. The latter, who was born in 1819, built the front part of the house. He also either built or repaired three-quarters of all the dwellings and other edificies in the village including mills, schoolhouses, and churches. Mrs. John R. West conducted a tavern here at one time. Afterwards the house passed to Mrs. Frances E. (West) Jones and then to her son Arthur Jones and her grand-daughter, Mrs. Fitzgerald.
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The eastern end of the village on a snowy day in 1900 - showing the Fitzgerald, Stoddard Burt, and Clinton Foote houses.
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Clinton Foote. When John R. West, referred to above, married Dolly Chaffee, daughter of Norman Chaffee, referred to in the paragraph on the Wesson Farms, he needed a home for his mother, Martha (Sessions) West, who was a daughter of Robert Sessions. The West family owned a small house between the present Finn and Allen houses on Chapin Road. He therefore moved it to a spot opposite his house, and this is the present Foote residence, with some additions. It was moved about 1847-1851 and came over the river on ice. In a recent re-modeling of the house, Mr. Foote found in the walls a copy of "Uncle Sam" a newspaper published in 1848 at 52 Washington St., Boston. This paper was evidently put in the walls for insulation purposes by Mr. West when preparing the house for his mother's occupancy. A copy of the Springfield Daily Republican dated Feb. 19, 1851 was also found in the walls. It was interesting to note that the Boston paper, over a century ago, had a theatrical column entitled "Theatrical Tattle."
Clifford Attleton - (E. J. Thresher House). Some time after 1791 Stephen West built this brick house with a hip roof from bricks made right on the premises. He started one of the first tanneries in the vicinity, and also made boots, shoes, and harnesses. The tannery remained in the family for many years. Clarence West had a telegraph office in the east ell, previous to the time telephones came to town. This telegraph office was very helpful to families marooned in town during the blizzard of '88. In the early 1900's Edward J. Thresher bought the property from the West descendants and he and his family lived here until the death of both Mr. and Mrs. Thresher. In 1956, S. J. Bernard, Hampden's first resident superintendent of schools, bought the property from the Thresher heirs and in 1957 he sold to the present owner.
Fireplace in the late Edward J. Thresher house. Notice the brick oven at the left with the ash pit below it.
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The old West Tannery makes a comfortable home for Mr. and Mrs. Howard MacMullen.
Howard MacMullen. This house was the main building of Stephen West's Tannery. Mr. West acquired the land in 1782 and erected it some time thereafter. Early in this century Edward J. and H. H. Thresher bought the house from the West heirs. Later E. J. Thresher became the sole owner and in 1926 he sold to Mary Hickey (now Mrs. H. H. Thresher). In 1944 the latter deeded the property to Carroll Willey and the present owner bought from Mr. Willey. Old deeds call this the "Tan Yard" property. On the east side of the basement you may still see the large doors through which men drove the wagons loaded with hides.
Mrs. Eleanor (Burleigh) McCray. In 1808 the town pound was evi- dently on this lot, which some time after must have been moved to Riverside Drive. In 1835 Comfort and Jonathan Chaffee had a garden thereon and in October of that year they deeded the 50-ft. square to Alanson Bugbee who must have built the store which he operated until at least 1848. Later owners were Joshua C. Shepherd, Willard Cady, and Asa Howlett. Charles I. Burleigh, town clerk and treasurer for many years, who was Mrs. McCray's father, purchased the property from the Howlett heirs in 1900 and lived here until he died.
In 1910 the home of Mr. and Mrs. William D. McCray and the Thresher house looked like this. Mrs. McCray's father. Charles I. Burleigh, remodeled the former house.
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George D. Fisher, Sr. Herbert H. Thresher, Edward J. Thresher, and William S. Hunt erected this building for a blacksmith shop about 1900. The Fisher garage was one of the buildings belonging to the West Tan- nery, referred to above. Afterwards the present garage was a paint shop. Edward J. Thresher, Mrs. Fisher's father, made the blacksmith shop over into a house.
Frederick Maher, Jr. In 1784 William King sold the lot to Zenas Parsons and in 1791 he in turn sold to Stephen West. The latter must have built the house soon after. Mr. West's day books have recently been found which tell of the business of the Tavern which he operated here. In 1808 the Tavern was sold to William Wood, Jr., and later to Comfort Chaffee, Jr. and Jonathan Chaffee. Rudolphus Chaffee, the former's son, operated the Inn at this time.
"Seven Hearths," the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Maher, Jr.
The kitchen fireplace in "Seven Hearths." Notice all the old-time appurtenances.
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In the central chimney of this old house there are seven fireplaces, including one with a bake oven beside it in the Inn kitchen in the base- ment and another with oven in the kitchen on the first floor. The remain- ing five are in the living rooms and the bedrooms. In 1834 the property passed to Levi Bliss of Brimfield and then to Stephen Newell and Daniel Chaffee in 1839. Mr. Newell, a Revolutionary War veteran, bought Mr. Chaffee's share and the house became the residence of Mr. Newell and his daughter Persis. In 1848 the property was sold to a number of Con- gregational laymen for use as a parsonage and was lated deeded to the South Parish of Wilbraham, the former name of the Hampden Congrega- tional Church. Various ministers lived in the parsonage until the local federation of churches took place, after which the house was rented. Mr. and Mrs. Fred A. Perkins, parents of Mrs. R. Lester Bryans and Miss L. Blanche Perkins, lived here for 25 years. The present owners purchased the house in 1953.
About 50 years ago Rev. Charles B. Bliss, then resident pastor, made some repairs in the front hall, attempting to enlarge the cloak- room. When the laths were torn away the tavern pantry was brought to light with the shelves just as they were used before they were supposedly sealed forever with plaster on the living room side.
Platform Scales. Between the present Fisher house and the H. H. Thresher barn and quite near Main Street there used to be some platform scales which were used to weigh loads of hay, charcoal, etc. It is not known by whom they were built, but they were evidently being used when William P. Chaffee owned the Thresher property. Edward P. Lyons was one of the last owners of these scales.
Mrs. Ernest W. Howlett - The Parson Warren House. This is part of the property William King sold to Zenas Parsons in 1784. The deed refers to a house thereon and it would seem Mr. King may have built a portion of the present house sometime previous to that date. Mr. Parsons evidently entered into joint ownership of the property with Thomas Dwight since in 1789 Rev. Moses Warren, Hampden's first minister, bought the corner from the above two gentlemen. Mr. Warren lived his full 40 years pastorate in this house from 1789 to 1829. Before the fire- place in the west front parlor, he trained about 20 young men for entry into college. One of his best known students was Oliver Bliss Morris of South Road, Judge of Probate for Hampden County from 1829 to 1858. Among his students who entered the ministry were Rev. Enoch Burt, Rev. Noah Saxton, Rev. Warren Isham, Rev. Horace Sessions, Rev. Samuel Bascom, and his own son, Rev. John Bliss Warren.
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The Parson Warren house. Now the home of Mrs. Ernest Howlett and her family, including the writer.
Upon the death of Parson Warren, the house passed to his son Aaron, and finally to his grandson John Bliss Warren. Later owners were Charles H. Barrows, author of Barrow's History of Springfield and Chief Justice Marcus P. Knowlton of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, neigh- boring Glendale's most famous son. The Howlett family has the original deed signed by the chief justice and his wife when the property was trans- ferred in 1884 to Frank Davis, stage driver to Springfield, from whose widow the present owners purchased it in 1906. In one of the front rooms the entire fireplace side is panelled and in the old kitchen fireplace the two original bake ovens are still in place, one in the back and one at the side. It is a rarity for two ovens to be found in one fireplace. H and HL hinges predominate in the west part of the house, which remains just the same as it did when Parson Warren lived here.
H. H. Thresher. The land on which the house was built evidently be- longed to William King in the early days. It passed to Jonathan Dwight in 1784, who sold it to various people. In 1794 he deeded one section to Isaac Jones, son-in-law of William King, who in turn sold his portion to Edward Morris in 1806. Mr. Dwight sold another section to Asa Chaffee and Jonathan Chaffee who erected a tannery and blacksmith shop on the southwest corner of the property near the bridge.
In 1806 Mr. Morris deeded what is now the east portion of the Thresher lot to Elizur Tillotson, Jr., and in 1807 the Chaffee family deeded the west portion (including their business property) to Mr. Tillotson. The latter then erected the present house, which has one of the few hip roofs in town, and conducted a tavern therein. In 1812 Mr. Tillotson sold the property to James S. and Edmund Dwight and in 1814 the latter sold to John McCray. Mr. McCray must have operated a tavern here before either
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he or his son started the one in the old Allen House, which still stands at the corner of Main Street and Somers Road.
In 1830 Mr. McCray sold the Thresher property to Noah Saxton, who evidently had been living therein before the sale was made. Mr. Saxton had a son, Rev. Noah Chapin Saxton, who was a circuit rider throughout southern New England and New York State, preaching in various churches and homes. A descendant, N. Saxton Eveleth of Long- meadow, treasures the minister's diary. Caroline Saxton, daughter of Noah Sr., married Alford Cooley of Longmeadow in 1833 and this couple lived in the house. In 1860 Mr. and Mrs. Cooley sold the property to William P. Chaffee, who again operated an inn in the building. In 1901 Charles McCarthy deeded the property to the Hampden Hotel Co., who in 1906 sold to the Thresher family. The oil tank for the heating system now occupies the spot in the basement where the "bar" used to be located and the old tavern dance hall above the wagon sheds may still be visited. Among the people who operated the blacksmith shop near the bridge were Joel Chaffee, Walter Shaw, and Josiah Beebe.
HIN DEN
The Hampden Hotel about 1905 with William S. Hunt driving a "span of horses." Now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert H. Thresher.
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Village Green. William King is the earliest known owner of this plot of ground. The Congregational Church bought the land from him and erected a meeting house in 1783. It stood here until 1838 when it was moved to where the Town House stands. In the recently published History of Protestant Churches of Hampden, additional details regarding the meeting house and Rev. Moses Warren, the pastor, have been given. World War I Memorial which was given by Charles Henry Burleigh was erected on the green in 1920, the Congregational Church having given the land to the town some time previously. Ezio DeSantis, who carved the soldier on the monument still lives in Monson. (1958)
Edwin Marcus Chaffee - Hampden Native, Inventor of Rubber
Processes. While it has always been common knowledge in town that Edwin Marcus Chaffee, who was born here in 1806, made some of the most important discoveries ever made in the rubber industry it was not known until this book was ready for the press how he came upon the basis of his most important invention.
Mrs. Wendell Battige of Main Street recently found a clipping in an old trunk from the Springfield Sunday Union of May 6, 1906. The full page article was entitled "The Peaceful, Lovable Town of Hampden" and was an account of the village's earlier industrial prosperity and carried photos of several landmarks.
It is stated that it is not generally known but it is an absolute fact that Hampden was the birthplace of the art of making rubber pliable for the manufacture of boots and garments. It further said that the house now owned by Mrs. Eleanor (Burleigh) McCray on Main Street was the scene of the discovery. Edwin Chaffee, a mechanical genius, one day placed a quantity of raw rubber in a kettle on the stove, which subse- quently boiled over. The odor was unpleasant and Mr. Chaffee threw the molten rubber upon the snow that covered his dooryard. In the morning he happened to pick up the material he had thrown away and was sur- prised to find it pliable and elastic. By accident he had discovered what he had been trying to find for years by experiments. The account said he sold his patent on the invention to Charles Goodyear of Providence, the famous manufacturer.
We find from the Chaffee Genealogy that on August 31, 1836 a patent was granted Edwin Chaffee for his process of applying rubber to cloth and other articles without solvent. This process rendered the goods more durable and cut the cost of manufacturing one-half.
According to Encyclopedia Americana (1958 edition) Mr. Chaffee started the Roxbury Rubber Company, the first actual manufacturer of rubber goods in the United States. This company later became the Good-
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year Mfg. Co. The encyclopedia also states that Mr. Chaffee was the inventor of the two machines which are still common to rubber factories throughout the world - the mill and the calender.
Mr. Chaffee was the son of Daniel Chaffee of Riverside Drive and the uncle of Mrs. Lucy (Chaffee) Alden, Hampden's poetess. He died in 1872 and was buried in Providence, the scene of his later inventions.
RIVERSIDE DRIVE
Previous to 1820, this maple shaded roadway was the main village street. It left the present highway in front of H. H. Thresher's barn, directly south of the old meetinghouse, (which stood in what is the present Main Street) and continued out the Thresher driveway and down Riverside Drive, passing between the house now owned by Donald Howlett and the river. It re-entered the present Main Street near Beebe's Plough Shop, which was east of Buereau's Garage. Some of the deeds made out 150 years ago call this the "road from the meetinghouse through the mountains"
Mrs. Lena Leddy. The first known owner of the land on which this house was afterwards built was Elisha Woodward and deeds indicate that in 1797 he sold twenty acres to Jonathan Flynt. In 1803, Mr. Flynt sold one acre to his son Jonathan, Jr., and the latter built the present home sometime thereafter. Mr. Flynt erected a fulling mill below the dam which we will learn more about in the chapter on "Early Shops Near Center Bridge"
Other owners of the Leddy house have been: Isaac Morris (1807); George Wright (1810); and Clark Dorman (1811). From 1814 to 1867
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Gambrel roofed home of Mrs. Edward Leddy photographed about 1907.
Beriah Smith and Levi Smith owned the property and operated a clothier's shop and carder's shop on the premises. In 1867 Levi Smith sold the house to William P. Spellman, who willed it to his nephew, County Commis- sioner Charles C. Spellman of Springfield. In 1887 the latter sold to the Springfield Mountains Cooperative Creamery, who operated a creamery west of the present house. Later owners of the property were H. H. Batchelor and James L. Weeks. The latter officiated as the "Village Black- smith" in the shop which is now the home of George Fisher, Sr. The Weeks heirs sold the house to Neil and Edwina (Kibbe) Stalker, uncle and aunt of Mrs. Leddy.
This is one of three gambrel roofed houses in town. Mrs. Helen (Flynn) Enslin owns one of this type on North Road while Neil S. Kibbe formerly owned the other, on South Road.
Mrs. Betty Scheibler. An old Chaffee house used to stand here, located on the back of the lot facing the river and the original road. Jonathan Chaffee, Jr. a physician lived here in 1807. It is not known whether he practiced his profession in town. His daughter, Sophronia, was probably born here in 1811. The latter married Hiram Pease and Mr. and Mrs. Pease were the grandparents of the late Mrs. Edward J. Thresher. Mr. Pease evidently inherited the property from his father-in-law since we find that in 1856 he sold it to Lathrop V. Chaffee.
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