USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden > Early Hampden, Mass., its settlers and the homes they built; > Part 9
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 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
109
Mrs. Esther (Ackerman) Edwards. The first known owner was Robert Oscar Sessions who owned considerable property on lower Main Street. In 1848 he sold to Scripter and Sage, the owners at that time of the Lacousic Woolen Mills. A map of 1855 shows that the house and barn had been built previous to that date. This house, was always called the "Soap House" as it was used for the manufacture of soap to be used in the washing of the wool. The barn was used for the storage of the wool. Either before or after the mill burned in 1892 the soap house was made into a residence and in 1898 Ellen Wall, sister of Patrick E. Wall, the last owner of the mill, sold the property to Erastus Edmunds. Julius L. Gottsche was a later owner and in 1914 he deeded the place to Frank Malachowski, who sold to the Ackerman family in 1924.
Fire House. The building that used to stand on this spot was the mill office, which was later a barber shop. The fire house was built from cement blocks that had been used previously in the store that Arthur Jones, father of Mrs. Norris Fitzgerald, erected on the present Town House site, after Corey's Store burned.
Milton Fiske. Robert Oscar Sessions sold the land to Gideon Day in 1852 and the latter probably built the house. His daughter, Miss Stella Day, lived here in the early 1900's. Charles D. Fiske, father of the present owner, bought the property in 1913.
George Krook. J. B. Cunningham, grandfather of the late Mrs. Nelson M. Carew, bought the house or lot from Robert Oscar Sessions in 1850. Perhaps Mr. Sessions built the house. In 1870 J. W. Stimson lived here. In 1894 J. Ryan had a store in the building. In the early 1900's Corwin L. Kibbe conducted a market in the ell and his delivery wagon (and afterwards truck) loaded with fish, fresh vegetables, canned goods, etc., was a familiar sight through Somers, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, and this town for many years. After Mr. Kibbe's death his heirs sold to the present owner in 1950.
Mrs. John Swenson. Robert O. Sessions was an early owner of the lot. In 1855, J. B. Cunningham, referred to above, had a blacksmith shop here. Later owners were Joseph W. Stimson, and Charles W. Twist. (1886) In the early 1900's John Swenson, Mrs. Swenson's husband, operated the shop. He was the first chief and "father" of the Hampden Volunteer Fire Department. He built the body for the first fire truck with his own hands. In the rear section of the house the blacksmith shop still remains intact, with the forge on which so many horse shoes have been hammered out still in place.
110
The "old fort" in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Bandoski, Jr. have made a remarkably fine home of this landmark.
Alexander Bandoski, Jr. - "The Fort." This house has had an un- usual history. In 1810 the main part stood on Chapin Road, at the left side of the driveway to what is now Mrs. L. O. Howlett's home. It was like a gatekeeper's lodge. Mrs. Sarah (Morris) Chaffee, daughter of Edward and Mercy (Flynt) Morris, and mother of Mrs. Lucy (Chaffee) Alden, Hampden's poetess, was born in the house in that year. Mrs. Alden once told the Rev. Charles B. Bliss she remembered when it stood there. This is probably the reason why the well near the road in front of the Howlett house happens to be in existence.
Some time after Sarah Morris was born, this little house was moved to its present location on Main Street and was used to store ammunition for the local company of the State Militia. There were then no houses in this vicinity and, therefore, should any of the ammunition happen to explode there would be no loss of property. This is the reason the house is called "The Fort."
From 1792 through the period of the War of 1812 our village had an active company of militia which trained with the one from the mother town of Wilbraham on the green in front of the Mile Tree School in Wilbraham. Charles Sessions, Comfort Chaffee, Jr., and John Carpenter were captains at various times. Stephen West was a quartermaster- sergeant, and the latter's son John was a major. Our library has a photo- static copy of Mr. West's commission, dated in 1792, signed by Thomas Dwight, colonel.
It is not known who owned the house when it was moved to its present location, but the William R. Sessions family evidently lived here for a period as the late William J. Sessions was born here. The old fire- place in the cellar, where all the cooking was done, is still in its original position. The Lacousic Woolen Company owned the house in 1870 and rented it to its employees. This company may have added the ells. Later
111
Nelson M. Carew owned the property for many years and it was sold to the present owners in 1953.
Scripter Architecture. Eleazer Scripter, who was associated with his relative, Luther E. Sage, in the ownership of the Lacousic Mills, built many of the houses in this area. He bought the land on both sides of Main Street probably from Robert O. Sessions. Several of his houses can be recognized from the decorative scrolls under the eaves. Some have had the decorations removed by subsequent owners during reconstruction and painting operations. Evidently Mr. Scripter erected some of the houses for rental to employees of his mill while others he may have built to order for prospective buyers. One wonders if the actual carpentry work was done by John R. West, who did so much high class work of this type in town in that period.
Mrs. Beatrice (Tait) Henrich. In 1855 Luther E. Sage, referred to above, lived in this house. Probably either he or his partner, Mr. Scripter, built it. The hill was then called Sage Hill. Other owners of the house have been William Johnson, Nelson M. Carew, and James C. Tait, Mrs. Henrich's father. The latter bought it in 1929 and upon his death it passed to Mrs. Henrich. Mr. Tait was one of four brothers who operated a large milk distributing and ice cream manufacturing plant in Springfield.
W. J. Officer. Mr. Scripter lived in this house himself, which he un- doubtedly built. In 1896, Emily Scripter deeded the property to the Baptist Church for a parsonage. William J. Sessions lived here for a time after he sold his farm on Wilbraham Road. Other owners have been Frank Pease, Mrs. Harry Goodwill and Mr. Tomlinson. The Officer family bought the property in 1933.
Walter A. Johnson. This is another house which was built by the Scripter family. In 1870 J. Orcutt lived here. Mr. Scripter's wife was an Orcutt. Afterward Mrs. Emily Stoddard owned the property. Later owners have been W. D. McCray (1921); Mrs. Raymond Pease (1929-49); and Charles H. Brown (1949-54). The latter was master of the Massachusetts State Grange while he lived in this house. In 1955 Lloyd Hoover of Wilbraham deeded the house to the present owners, having purchased it from the Brown family.
Earl Connors. When Newton Beebe married Marietta Stanton in 1860 he had this house built for his bride. It was probably erected by Mr. Scripter as the architecture is similar to the other houses in the area. The house later passed to Charles S. Shute, a relative, and this family lived here for many years and sold to the present owners. Mrs. Shute lived in
112
A "Scripter" house showing the gingerbread work which was characteristic of the residences erected by Eleazer Scripter. Shown are Mr. and Mrs. Newton Beebe for whom the house was built. It is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Earl Connors.
Springfield, Ill. as a girl and one day walked down the street hand in hand with Abraham Lincoln. Not many people living today can boast of such an honor. Mrs. Shute celebrated her 100th birthday on Oct. 25, 1957.
Miss Edith Battige. This house always looked to be one of the oldest in the neighborhood and a picture recently shown to the writer by Mrs. Marcus Gottsche, Sr., whose mother lived in this house as a girl, would seem to confirm the understanding. F. G. Vineca lived here in 1855. Afterwards the Henry Crocker family owned the property. Later Lucien Winslow had a shoemaker's shop here and the writer remembers taking shoes here to be tapped. A later owner was Mrs. Cora Pease, mother of Raymond Pease of Scantic Road. Mr. Winslow was also the lamplighter. At dusk each night, during the '90's, he walked the length of Main Street lighting the kerosene oil lamps along the way. Some fortunate people have been able to find some of these lamps and use them on their lawns.
Richard Fuller. The scroll work would indicate that this is also a Scripter house. In 1870 J. B. Cunningham owned it. In 1888 it was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Lora Pease. Mrs. Pease was greatly interested in Hampden history and made many notations about the early houses and their residents which are proving very helpful in compiling this book. The Pease heirs sold to the present owners in 1947.
Wendell Battige. The first known owner of this land was J. B. Cun- ningham, who in 1850 sold to Robert Sessions. In 1857 the latter sold the property to Hiram Scripter, and in 1867 Mr. Scripter sold it to John Orcutt. Rumor has it that the house used to be Fred Lathrop's Livery
113
Stable which was moved up from its stone foundation near the river. Mrs. Coash, whose husband was killed in the Civil War, bought one-half of the house and lived here. Geer Allen bought the other half and to- gether with James W. Mulroney operated a store in the basement about 1870. Homer L. Hatch, who lives in a house formerly owned by Mr. Mulroney, recently showed the writer an old ledger showing accounts of Mulroney and Allen. Charles Battige bought the house in 1918 and from 1931 on for a few years ran a meat market in the basement. Wendell Battige bought the house from his father in 1940.
Mrs. George Dusenberry. Mr. Scripter's son built the house that once stood on this spot. Later Fred Lathrop, who operated the livery stable across the street, lived here. In 1894, Sumner Smith, who was a mill superinendent, was an owner. In the early 1900's Alonzo Noble and his son lived here. The house burned when the son, LeRoy was frying doughnuts, and in 1931 Nelson M. Carew built the present house. A later owner was Mrs. Hazel M. Burleigh, who operated the telephone exchange in the new building after the W. M. Pease house on Main Street burned in 1932.
Harry Johnson. The first known owner of the land was Robert Sessions. In 1859 he sold the property to Thomas Mills, and it is possible that Mr. Mills built the present house. In 1862 Mr. Mills sold the property to Lewis Spaulding whose family occupied it in 1870. In 1894 Mrs. Cahill was an occupant of the upstairs tenement. About this time Eugene O'Connell had a store in the basement. In the early 1900's the Gulley family lived here, and there are some in Hampden who can still remember Mr. Gulley pulling the rope on the Congregational Church bell on Sundays, when he was the janitor.
Edgar Schopbach. It would appear from the scrollwork that this was a Scripter house. Lyman Smith, the brother of Sumner Smith, lived here for many years. Later, Mrs. Warner, widow of Dr. Henry Warner owned the property. In 1945 the present owners purchased the house from Ralph B. Hatch.
Verne Thayer. This is probably another Scripter house. In 1870, Mrs. Mulroney, the mother of James Mulroney referred to above, lived here. The house was purchased by the present owners from Mrs. Ida Prentice in 1929.
Elmer Soper. This looks to be another Scripter house. In 1870 it was occupied and owned by Merrick Langdon, who sold it to John Cooney. Martin Ryan sold the place to Elmer Soper in 1925.
114
Fred Letellier. This is a Scripter house. In 1870 it was occupied by E. G. Vineca. Afterwards George Corey and his family owned it for many years. The house was bought at auction by William Pease after the death of Mrs. Corey. Mr. Pease sold to the present owner in 1934.
George Whitely, Sr. This house was built by Patrick McCarthy, father of the late Mrs. Hannah Curtin of South Road, about 1872. Mr. McCarthy conducted a store in the basement. The Albert Peronto family lived here for a number of years and sold to Mr. Whitely in 1947.
Raymond Dunlea. Timothy McCarthy, brother-in-law of Patrick who built the Whitely house, lived in an old house which used to stand east of the present Dunlea residence. Timothy and his sister, Mrs. Patrick McCarthy, came to town as children in 1853. Mrs. Mary Martell, daughter of Timothy, built the present house. On her death in 1941 it was pur- chased by the Dunlea family.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. About 1869 various priests started coming from Monson occasionally to celebrate Mass in this town. Some of the services were held in the present home of Donald B. Howlett on Riverside Drive and others in Academy Hall, which is now known as the Old Town Hall. After Rev. Jeremiah McCarthy came to Monson in 1878 he started a movement for a church in Hampden and had the present building completed in 1881, when Bishop P. T. O'Rielly dedicated the Church and St. Mary's Cemetery. The plot of land for the building was given by Timothy McCarthy, and it was erected by John Murphy, Chicopee contractor, at a cost of $2600. The church remained a mission from Monson down through the years until June of 1951 when Rev. John W. Shea was named the first resident pastor.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in 1900.
115
Alfred N. Burt. In 1870 Fred Lathrop owned all of the land between where Mr. Letellier now lives and where Robert McGee now resides, and conducted a livery stable on the property. Clark Goodwill also had a livery stable here at one time. The place must have passed to the Barnes family since a house on the property was known as the Barnes Block. There was a tenement in the basement of the building and the owner had a store and living quarters on the main floor. The hearse house in which the town hearse was kept was just west of the block. The building burned about 1880 and the Barnes family built the house now owned by Mr. Burt, and ran a store in the west portion of the first floor. Mathias Casey after- wards owned the property and operated the Hampden telephone ex- change therein for many years, assisted by his daughter, Miss Nellie Casey. Mr. Casey also conducted a small confectionery store. His son, the Rev. James W. Casey, sold to the Burts in 1941.
Robert McGee. Did you know that there was once a millinery store in Hampden? John Cady built this house and conducted a store therein. One of his daughters married a man by the name of Allison who operated a millinery store in the building. Mrs. Ernest Howlett recalls that her mother bought a hat for her in this store about 80 years ago. Eldridge Vineca was also in business here at one time. The large store windows were removed only a few years ago. Isador Ricard owned the house for a number of years. The present owners bought the property in 1954.
Edward Brennan. This house was built by John Cady who erected the McGee house. In 1878 Clark Goodwill bought it from Mr. Cady and lived here while conducting his livery stable nearby. Sullivan Stanton, postmaster, sold the house about 1895 to Mrs. Elizabeth (Cooper) Bren- nan, Mrs. Brennan's grandmother.
Eight Stores on Main Street. We have learned from the above paragraphs that stores were conducted at various times in the homes of the following residents of West Main Street: Wendell Battige, Harry Johnson, Alfred Burt, George Whitely, and Robert McGee. No one knows whether all five were in operation at one time but it is possible that they were in the 1880's and early 1890's when the three large woolen mills were operating in town. These five, of course, were in addition to the three on upper Main Street operated by William Spellman, S. Clark Spellman, and Sumner Smith. Could eight stores have been operating at one time on Main Street, Hampden, with a population of less than half of what it is today?
116
W. J. Jarvis. Some think this may be one of the older houses in Hampden Center. A map of 1855 shows it was then standing but the name of the owner is not given. A map of 1870 indicates that E. Ormsby owned the property at that time. He was followed by Chester Dickinson. Mr. and Mrs. James Mahar were later owners and upon their deaths their son, Thomas, lived here alone for a period. The present owners bought the property in 1950.
Mrs. Lester Lewis. In 1820 William Moseley lived in the house and in 1855 a member of that family still owned the property. In 1870 the house was owned by Mrs. E. Ormsby's estate, the same people who owned the Jarvis house. Mrs. Julia McCarthy, wife of Timothy McCarthy, lived here later and upon her death it passed to her son, Fred, who sold to the Lewis' in 1934.
Austin Harris. In 1870 M. Noble lived here. In 1894 J. Pilling, who came from England owned the property. His daughter married Eldridge Vineca. Austin Harris bought the place in 1911.
Dorval Viger. On April 1, 1853, Silas and Nathaniel Chapin demon- strated great faith in human nature by purchasing from Luther King this piece of land "with the buildings soon to be built." Their faith was well founded for the Viger family are now living in what Mr. King "soon built." In 1863 the Messrs. Chapin sold the property to Edward Wall, owner of what is now the Sicbaldi property on Somers Road. It was afterwards owned by his son, Patrick E. Wall, who was prominent in the local mills. Fred L. Beebe bought the place from the Wall heirs and sold to the present owners in 1938.
Everett Bennett - "The Boarding House." This large house which accomodates three families was built about 1863 by the Ravine Mfg. Co., to take care of their mill workers. It is said that with the mill running three shifts the beds were never allowed to cool off. There was always someone ready to slide in when the mill bells aroused the current sleeper. Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Chapin bought the house in the early 1900's and made many renovations. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett purchased the property in 1947. An old road behind this house went up to a reservoir where water for mill fire protection was stored, and continued on to Goat Rock.
Isaiah Leach Marker. North from the ice plant and high on the hill about 150 feet back from the road may be seen a brownstone marker about 5' tall which shows the spot where in 1815 Isaiah Leach was killed
117
by a log which fell from his wood sled. This marker was placed in 1816 and the engraving is getting hard to decipher.
Goat Rock. This spot used to be a favorite picnic area before the days of automobiles because of the fine view toward East Longmeadow and Somers, and since it was only a short distance from the Point-of-Rocks it was easily accessible. The land was owned about 200 years ago by William King. He pastured his goats here and one day one became became entangled in the rocks and was found dead. This is the source for the name of Goat Rock.
EARLY SHOPS NEAR CENTER BRIDGE
The members of the committee who looked up the history of the houses near Center Bridge were surprised to learn of the number of little shops that bordered the river on both sides in the early days.
Perhaps the first one erected in this area was the one that used to stand on the property now owned by H. H. Thresher near the bridge. We find that in 1797 Joel Chaffee had a blacksmith shop on this spot. He operated a triphammer and a pair of bellows from the waterpower furnished by the Scantic River. In 1807 Walter Shaw owned the black- smith shop, while the proprietor in 1814 was Josiah Beebe and in 1816 Calvin Shaw.
In 1797 Jonathan Flynt established a fulling mill on the south bank of the river on property now owned by W. Harry Burns. This is believed to have been the first attempt at cloth manufacturing in Hamp- den. "Fulling" is the process of cleansing, shrinking and thickening cloth by moisture, heat and pressure.
In 1807 Mr. Flynt sold the mill property to his son Jonathan Jr. The latter then built the house now owned by Mrs. Leddy and erected other buildings, including a carding machine shop, a dye house and a clothier's shop. Probably most of these buildings were west of Mrs. Leddy's house but the old barn that used to stand east of the house in the early 1900's may have been one of the shops. In the early days a "clothier" was one who made or sold cloth - also one who dressed or fulled cloth.
In 1806 Jonathan Flynt, Jr. erected a dam on the Scantic which probably is the one still standing at this point. We find he also erected a bridge across the river, which may have been the first one to span the Scantic in the center of the village.
In 1810 Isaac Morris was in business on property now owned by
118
Mrs. Leddy while in 1811 George Wright and Jonathan Clark operated a shop in the same location. For the next three years Clark Dorman was an operator. From 1814 to 1867 Beriah Smith and Levi Smith did a large business in dyeing and dressing cloth.
Somewhere in the immediate neighborhood Daniel and Jonathan Chaffee had a tannery. It may have been as early as 1804 since we find that in that year they bought three tracts of land here. Daniel was a shoemaker as well as a tanner. We find that they secured permission to use water for a "bark" mill. This would of course be used in their tanning process. It is not known on which side of the river they had their tannery as they owned property on both sides. Since Daniel lived in a house where the residence of Tennis Rock now stands the tannery may have been on the river bank south of this house.
Daniel Davis Chaffee, son of Daniel Sr., was in the rubber business and also manufactured shingles southwest of the present Burns house in a shop on what is now known as Ballard's Brook.
In 1847 Erasmus Chaffee, who lived in Donald Howlett's house, deeded to Samuel Beebe, William V. Sessions, Eleazer Scripter and Luther Sage the right to dig and construct a canal "across my home lot" 4 ft. wide at the bottom and 8 ft. wide "in the clear on the top of the water at its ordinary height." This was when preparations were being made for the erection of the large woolen mill which used to stand where Buereau's Garage is now located.
In 1806 John Roper bought some land from Jonathan Chaffee and erected a mill for the cleansing of clover seed, which was famous in its day. Mr. Roper afterward added the manufacture of chairs to his other work. On looking at old deeds we find that his property began 12 rods, 141/2 feet west from the northwest corner of Jonathan Flynt's dye shop. Since we do not know just how far west of Mrs. Leddy's house the dye shop was located we do not know exactly where Roper's Mill was located. We feel, however, that it was probably on the river bank south or southwest of Hatch's Store. The mill was afterwards moved across the road and made into a boarding house for the Lacousic Mills. The building is now the home of the Lester Grant's.
AN 1820 SURVEY WHICH INCLUDED MAIN STREET
We recently found in the Charles Ballard collection of papers a copy of the survey of a road made in 1820 from Tray Hollow to Dwight's Store at the corner of State and Main Streets, in Springfield, which followed
119
along Stafford Road, Scantic Road, Main Street, Somers Road and Allen Street in Hampden. We were thrilled to realize that this constituted the original laying out of our present Main Street. Tray Hollow is located about a mile southeast of Prottas Manor on Stafford Road near where the towns of Stafford, Monson and Hampden come together.
One member of our Publication Committee became so interested in the survey that she procured the service of a surveyor and followed the Hampden portion of the route in an automobile. While most of the markers referred to therein such as the chestnut, white oak, black oak, cherry, elm, walnut and balm of gilead trees have been gone many years the locations of most of the houses were pin-pointed.
The first reference to a piece of real estate was "Mr. Shaw's barn" It would appear that this was located in the field east of the present Prottas Manor. A later point of reference was Laban Button's Shop. This must have been where Miss Dorothy Dickinson has recently built a house. Old records indicate that Mr. Button had a fulling mill "near Burts Mills" and this is undoubtedly the spot.
The next distinguishing mark was the house lot where Emery Chaffee had a residence in 1820. It would seem that the present home of George Webber is now on this lot.
The reference to the home of Calvin Stebbins was easily distin- guishable since the old Stebbins House has been the residence of Thornton W. Burgess for some years. The survey refers to both the southeast and southwest corners of this residence.
The road continues on to "a picket fence at the southeast corner of William Wood's house lot" Mr. Wood, at the time the survey was made, ran a tavern in the house now owned by Frederick Maher, Jr.
The old meeting house on the Village Green was pin-pointed as was the home of Capt. Charles Sessions, whose house stood where the Town House is now.
Continuing west on Main Street the road passed the residence of William Moseley, which we believe is now the home of Mrs. Lester Lewis. Mr. Moseley was financially interested in one of the dams that were erected where the ice plant now stands.
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.