USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Gazetteer of Hampshire County, Mass., 1654-1887 > Part 32
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*For much of this sketch we are indebted to the kindness of Bishop Huntington, now of Syracuse, N. Y.
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TOWN OF HADLEY.
Mill river the surface foams a low, undulating plain, except in the northeast corner of the town, where are still lower lands called the "Great Swamp." Another small tract of low land lies east of Mt. Warner, near the Amherst line, and is called " Partrigg Swamp."
In an agricultural point of view, the lands of Hadley are of the richest in the Connecticut valley. In the river-flats the soil is made up of a sandy alluvium. The uplands are principally of loam, with more or less sand. Intervals composed chiefly of light clay are also found.
The streams are Fort and Mill rivers. The former flows a westerly and southwesterly course through the southern half of the town, emptying into the Connecticut just above Hockanum. The latter flows in the same general direction across the northern half of the town, dropping into the Connecticut at North Hadley.
Grant and Settlement .- Of the general causes which led to the settlement of this section we have spoken, in the general county narrative, in the sketch of Northampton, and in other places in this work, so that to go over the ground again would be a needless repetition ; while the same may be said of the scenery, description of Mt. Holyoke, and the geology. At this point, then, we will simply say that the settlement of Hadley was brought about by certain troubles existing in the churches of Hartford and Wethersfield, in Connecticut -troubles that had long been a subject of contention, but were more vigorously stirred up about two years before the grant of the plantation, which was given by the general court May 25, 1658.
As we have said, about two years before this town was planted, a church council, sitting in Boston, composed of delegates from the Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies, has so far innovated upon previous ecclesiastical usage as to declare that the rite of baptism might be administered to the children of non-communicants, if themselves baptized, and of a decent external life. Among the places where this rule of the half way covenant introduced a di- vision of sentiment, was Hartford. Perhaps there were other occasions of difference. Cotton Mather says that " from the fire of the altar" in Hart- ford, " there issued thunderings and lightenings and earthquakes through the colony," but that " the true original of the misunderstanding was about as obscure as the rise of the Connecticut river." Rev. Mr. Hooker, who had moved there from the First church in Cambridge, eminent and judicious, had died ten years before. His colleague and successor, Samuel Stone, leaned to the new way, was possibly a little disposed besides to extend the recognized conditions of church membership, and at the same time to favor some of the measures of the Presbyterians. A minority of the church opposed these tendencies, to the extent of a controversy, venerating the measures and the memory of Hooker, and standing firm on the Cambridge platform. That the origin of these difficulties, however, was earlier than the Boston synod, appears from the fact that special local councils had been previously held at Hartford, three years in succession. At last, an apparent agreement, called
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a " pacification," was reached ; but this was soon broken, and as several of the recusant minority, including Governor Webster, having been threatened with discipline, were on the point of withdrawing, for the purpose of joining the church under Rev. John Russell, at Wethersfield, the general court inter- fered and peremptorily laid an injunction on both parties, forbidding at once the excommunication and the secession-a characteristic illustration of the existing relations between the civil and ecclesiastical power. Just now the minority sagaciously bethought them of a less offensive expedient for getting rid of the obnoxious connection : that of moving up the river into the Massachusetts colony. A formal and pious petition to that effect was entered at Boston, by John Cullick and William Goodwin, expressing a hope that " through the grace of Christ," " the conversations " of the petitioners should " be without offence." A grant was secured for lands " East of North- ampton," with a condition affixed that a new council should be called for an orderly composing of the Hartford troubles-a condition that shows how scrupulously the authorities guarded both the purity and the peace of their religious organization. They would not suffer a diplomacy which merely separated the antagonists without healing the discord. The upshot was a censure of both sides, acceptable terms of reconciliation, and a continued fellowship between the Hartford and Hadley churches. There had evidently sprung up a sympathy between these Hartford emigrants and a portion of the church at Wethersfield, including their minister, Mr. Russell, which re- sulted in a transfer of a majority of the latter, with Mr. Russell himself, to Norwottuck, or Hadley. Thus it appears that the founders of Hadley were strict and determined Congregationalists, as opposed to the half-way bap- tismal covenant on the one hand and to Presbyterianizing tendencies on the other.
The meeting at Hartford, at which the engagement to move was drawn up and signed, was held April 18, 1659, at the dwelling house of "Goodman " Ward. Among the names of signers which are still known in the living gen- eration of the present town are Porter, Warner, Marsh, Russell, White, Field, Dickinson, Smith, Hooker, Hitchcock, Montague, Billings and Hubbard. The name of Partrigg also occurs, being undoubtedly the same from which the considerable district east of the mountain has been called " Patrick's," or Partrigg's "Swamp." The whole number of the withdrawers' names is sixty, more than half of which belonged to Hartford, the rest being divided between Wethersfield and Windsor ; but only forty-two men appear to have actually joined the expedition. It was stipulated that house-lots, embracing eight acres each, should be laid out on the east side of "the great river," leaving "a street twenty rods broad betwixt the two westermost rows of house-lots." To this wholesome provision at the outset is due the ample breadth of this avenue, unsurpassed in New England, which, with its two rows of sentinel elms, supplied by the taste of successive generations, has left an image of beauty in the memory of admiring travelers scattered in all lands.
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TOWN OF HADLEY.
On the part of the Northampton settlers it had been voted, in October of the previous year, to "give away Capawonk "-the Indian name of the lower meadow in Hatfield-provided the Hartford men should "settle two plantations, one on each side of the river ; " provided they should " main- tain a sufficient fence against hogs and cattle ; " provided they should " pay ten pounds, in wheat and peas," and provided, fourthly, they should " inhabit here by next May."
An order was adopted by the general court, May 28, 1659, directing five persons, viz. : "Capt. Pinchon, Left. Holyhoke, Deacon Chapin, Wm. Holton and Richard Lyman,"-three being of Springfield and two of North- ampton-to "lay out the bounds of the towne at Norwottocke "-"not only to carry on a towne but Church-worke also," "that this wilderness may be populated, and the maine ends of our coming into these parts may be pro- moted." By their report, the limits were defined ; being fixed at " the head of the Falls" on the south, near "the hills called Petowamachu," our Hol- yoke ; at the little brook called Nepasoaneag and Mount Kunckquachu, our " Toby," on the north ; at a line nine miles from the Great River Quienec- ticott, eastward ; together with a strip on the west side of the river north of Northampton, two miles wide, extending from a "little riverett " running by Capawonk up to "a great mountain called Wequamps." These two last boundaries are readily recognized now as Mill river in Hatfield and Sugar Loaf mountain. In the actual allotment. the town on the eastward never extended nine miles. Among those who settled on the west side we find the names of Dickinson, Graves, Belding, White, Warner and Billings, with Allis and Meekins, of Braintree, in the Massachusetts colony. The three sachems of Nolwotogg, or Norwottuck, of whom Pynchon procured the deed of this territory, were Chickwollop, Umpanchella and Quonquont. The price was about seven hundred feet of wampum and a few trinkets. In money the whole cost of the town territory was one hundred and fifty pounds, and this was thought to be a higher rate than was paid for any other plantation in New England. It serves to show the rapid increase of value, that only in 1664, seven hundred acres of the "Bradstreet farm " in Hatfield were bought for two hundred pounds in money-fifty pounds more than the original price of the whole settlement -besides a thousand acres in Whately and five hun- dred elsewhere given in exchange.
The name HADLEY-adopted for no very apparent reason, probably the early associations of some settlers from the Hadley of Suffolk county, in Old England-was applied by the general court in 1661. Commissioners were required to be appointed to sit as magistrates at the local courts in North- ampton and Springfield ; and Mr. William Westwood was " authorized to joine persons in marriage."
By the first plan of the village in 1663, it would appear that the general and unusually regular features remain essentially unchanged. Forty-seven house-lots were arranged on the two sides of the single street. There
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were three highways leading into the meadows, one at the north end, on ground since abraded by the river, another at the south end as now, and the third the same that still, as it did at first. conducts by the grave-yard. There were also, as now, North and South and Middle highways running eastward, toward Pine Woods, or the Pine Plain,-the middle one, since "Academy Lane," and later yet "Russell Street," ending with a gate. Of these house-lots a few seem to be, or to have been during the present generation, held by persons of the same name and blood as their original owners-as those of Montague, Porter, and White. The spot occupied by the "Russell church," or a little north of it, was reserved as town property, and was next north of the residence of Rev. Mr. Russell. After Mr. Russell, the settler that was found most frequently in public connections was Peter Tilton, a man of great energy and activity, sagacious and trusty ; the ancestor of the Eastmans.
According to the general principle of the settlements, all settlers were assigned land, though not in the ratio of their previous possessions ; and it does not appear that there was any case of serious discontent or breach of harmony, in what, judging by the common characteristics of human nature, and the Yankee human nature in particular, we should pronounce a very delicate and difficult undertaking. It was clearly the approved policy to make as many citizens as possible proprietors in the soil, thereby laying what has always proved one of the surest foundations not only of local pros- perity, but of patriotism and civil stability. Consider the democratic equal- ity. It is proved by the records, that the largest difference of ownership among the original assignments, was as the difference between one and four; that is, that the largest landholder owned only four times as much as the smallest.
The outlying portions of the township were ultimately distributed in a similar way to the inhabitants-"Forty acre Meadow," to the north, between the main village and "School Meadow,"-"Fort Meadow" to the southeast, -"Hockanum Meadow," so called from a similar district of land in East Hartford, on the south, and the "Great Meadow" occupying the body of the peninsula ; including "Meadow Plain" next the home-lots, "Aquavitae," or "Aquavitæ Bottle," from some resemblance to such a vessel, southward, "Maple Swamp" adjoining, and a region on the northwestern extremity, named ' Forlorn" or otherwise "Honey Pot," either from a deep place in the river, or, as some have supposed, from being the resort of wild bees, or as is less likely, from the richness of the soil. Besides these there were four mead- ows on the west or Hatfield side of the river, viz. : the "Great North," the "Little Meadow," the "South Meadow," or Wequettayag, including an In- dian "reservation" called "Indian Bottom," or "Indian Hollow," and the "Southwest Meadow," toward Northampton, or "Capawonk," the two latter, separated by Mill river, being sometimes called Great and Little "Pansett."
It was only eight years after the laying out of the town that the people of
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TOWN OF HADLEY.
the West-side, to the number of fourscore and ten, sent to the colonial gov- ernor and deputies a petition for a separate organization-setting forth the distressing and intolerable inconveniences of the ferry, especially as creating a violation of the Lord's day in the labor and time of crossing, in rough weather causing the women and children to "screech " and be made " unfit for ordinances," bringing the men into the water and through the ice, wetting them to the skin, and obliging them to leave many of their number at home, exposed as "a prey to the heathen." One house was already burnt to the ground while the men were gone to worship. The people of the East-side opposed this dismemberment, conceiving that their neighbors had "no call of God thereto." The matter was debated with spirit by both parties some three years, when in 1670, the incorporation was granted, and the territory set off was called Hatfield, or "Hattsfields," after an English town. By the terms of the separation, a large portion of the meadow land next the river, west of the ferry, was reserved to Hadley. In 1692 Hatfield moved for a transfer of this land to her own domain, which was not obtained till after a series of hard legal contests extending over forty-one years.
From time to time, on petition of the inhabitants, the general court ex- tended the bounds of Hadley towards the east and south. The contents at the largest were eighty square miles. Oliver Partridge, of Hatfield, surveyed, in 1739, from a point six miles east of the old meeting-house, five miles north and four miles south, and from each extremity a line straight to the river-a very regular outline. A difficulty in settling with Sunderland the north line, which had formerly terminated at the mouth of Mohawk brook, led to the grant of an equivalent at " Deerfield Falls," above Sunderland, called Hadley Farm, sold in 1749. Middle Street was called " the hill over the low valley." In 1681 Isaac Warner had a grant of a house-lot on the river bank, extending from the main street up towards " Coleman's brook."
The vote for a tier of lots on what is now Middle Street was first passed in 1684 ; but very few lots were taken till the close of that century, on account of danger from savages. Swamp lands east of forty acres, between Coleman's brook and the upper mill, were fenced in 1699, and called "The Skirts of Forty Acres." Traces of the " old ditchi " connected with this skirt fence are still visible. All this region above Coleman's brook, including the land which afterwards, as the " Phelps Farm," was enthusiastically described by Presi- dent Dwight, in his New England Travels, was kept as a common field till after 1750, about which time Capt. Moses Porter built there. Two gates, on the highway, had to be opened and shut by all travelers. Lots were laid out north of Patrigg's swamp in 1714.
But there came a time when Hadley was called upon to part with a still larger part of her territory, viz .: South Hadley was made a separate pre- cinct, also including the present town of Granby, in 1733, and Amherst was set off in 1734, as detailed in the respective sketches of those towns.
The settlement of the town was slow, owing to the danger attending
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TOWN OF HADLEY.
frontier settlements, a bar that existed till well into the next century. The progress may be comparatively estimated from the following statement of Mr. Judd as to the condition in 1770. viz. :-
" The progress of the town was slow. There may have been in 1770 about 108 or 110 families, and 600 inhabitants. Only a small portion of the 13,000 acres of Inner Commons, distributed long before, had been cleared, and not more than six or eight houses had been built on the commons. Some of these were at North Hadley. A few began to build on the Boston road about this time. There were no inhabitants at Plainville, nor further south in the east- ern part of Hadley, nor on the Sunderland road north of Caleb Bartlett, nor between Charles Phelps and the back street. Samuel Wright had settled in the northeastern part of Hadley, where his son Silas and his grandson Silas, the late Senator and Governor of New York, were born. Lieut. Enos Smith erected the house in which his son, Dea. Sylvester Smith now lives, and fin- ished one room in 1770. Gideon Smith had a house northeast of him, Stephen Goodman had built a house beyond the mill, and Nathaniel White farther east, where he long kept a tavern. There was a house near the mill for the miller."
The population at various times since then has been as follows : In 1776, 681; 1790, 882 ; 1800, 1,073 ; 1810, 1,247 ; 1820, 1,461 ; 1830, 1,686 ; 1840, 1,814; 1850, 1,986 ; 1855, 1,928 ; 1860, 2, 105 ; 1865, 2,240; 1870, 2,301; 1875, 2,125; 1880, 1,938.
Organization-The town was duly incorporated by the general court May 22, 1661. The first officers, elected from time to time as occasion required. The first selectmen chosen at a regular town meeting, December 14, 1660, were Andrew Bacon, Andrew Warner, Nathaniel Dickinson, Samuel Smith and William Lewis. Other officers were chosen as follows: Nathaniel Dick- inson, recorder of orders or town clerk, December 17, 1660. He was suc- ceeded by Peter Tilton, September 4, 1661, who was made also "to record lands," February 9, 1663, and who served more than thirty one years ; Samuel Barnard, who followed in 1693, was "clerk "; Samuel Smith and Peter Til- ton, measurers of land, 1660; Stephen Teery, constable, March 1662 ; Mr. William Westwood and Brother Standley, fence-viewers, " to view the meadow fences," April 24, 1661 ; Goodman Richard Montague, hayward or field-driver, May 11, 1661 ; Edward Church and Chileab Smith, east side of the river, and Nathaniel Dickinson, Jr., west side, surveyors of highways, January 27, 1663; John Barnard sealer of weights and measures, 1663; Richard Mon- tague, grave digger, March, 1663; Timothy Nash, Samuel Moody, Samuel Church, Chileab Smith, tithingmen, appointed by the selectmen, 1678; Samuel Partrigg, packer of meat and fish, 1679. Hog-reeves, hog-ringers, cow-keepers and shepherds were chosen at times in the early days.
First Things .- The first school-house was previously the dwelling of Na- thaniel Ward, who gave it with a portion of his home lot for school purposes, and it was so used for many years. Mr. Ward died in 1664. The house was " ready to fall down " in 1710, and two years later the property was leased to Dr. John Barnard for ninety-seven years, at eighteen shillings per year. The
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first building erected as a school-house was built in 1796, in the broad street "in the middle of the town," and was twenty-five by eighteen feet in size, and was seven feet between joints. The first meeting house stood in the wide street, opposite Richard Montague's ; was framed in 1665, but not fin- ished until January 12, 1670. A house for meetings was hired in 1663 and 1664. The first inn or ordinary was kept by Richard Goodman in 1667, in which year it is probably the first general training occurred, Mr. Goodman entertaining the officers. The first marriage in Hadley was that of Aaron Cooke, Jr., and Sarah Westwood, daughter of William Westwood, magistrate, May 30, 1661. The ages of bride and groom were respectively seven- teen and twenty-one years. She died March 24, 1730, aged eighty-six. He died September 16, 1716, aged seventy six. The children of this marriage were Sarah, who married Thomas Hovey, Aaron, of Hartford, Joanna, born 1665, married 1683, Samuel Porter, Jr., and died in 1713. Westwood born 1670 or '71, Samuel born 1672, Moses born 1675, Elizabeth, born 1677, mar- ried 1698, Ichabod Smith, Bridget born 1683, married first, 1701, John Bar- nard, second, Deacon Samuel Dickinson. The first, and it is believed, the only couple, belonging to Hadley who were ever divorced were negroes. Ralph Way obtained in January, 1752, a divorce from his wife, Lois, on the ground of adultery with a negro named Boston. The first male child born was Samuel Porter, son of Samuel, one of the first settlers. He died July 29, 1722. The first death was that of an infant without name, child of Philip Smith, which was buried in Hadley cemetery, January 22, 1661. John Web- ster, who died April 5th the same year, an ancestor of Noah Webster, was the second person buried there. The first minister was Mr. John Russell, Jr., an Englishman by birth, who came with the first planters to Hadley and remained until his death, 1692. Dr. John Westcart was the first physician resident in Hadley. He came in 1666, and was the first Indian trader. Richard Montague, baker ; Asahel Wright, butcher ; Oliver Warner, hatter ; Timothy Nash, blacksmith; John Russell, Sr., glazier; William Partrigg, cooper ; Samuel Gaylord, Jr., and Jonathan Smith, weavers ; Hezekiah Por- ter, and possibly his father, Samuel, carpenters. John Barnard had a malt- house in Hadley prior to 1664. Elijah Yeomans, goldsmith, was in Hadley from 1771, for twelve years, and made clocks and articles of jewelry. Sam- uel Porter, who died in 1722, was probably the first merchant.
Highways .- Roads were laid out in Hadley while the land was common, the lots upon them being appropriated afterwards. A cart-path was made through " Forty Acres " to Mill Brook, now North Hadley, in 1667. Mend- ing highways was then a somewhat extensive town practice. Communication had to be kept up with Hartford ; and in one instance it seems that the teams of Hadley and Northampton were called out to repair the roads in Suffield, Conn. Even so late as the close of that century, the records show that the people had a difficulty in keeping down the bushes in the highways. The Northampton ferry was long at the south end of Hadley street, and by that
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TOWN OF HADLEY.
the Northampton people went principally to Springfield. Towards Massa- chusetts bay the first settlement that offered a lodging-and that not till 1664 -was at Quaboug, or Brookfield. Beyond there, the Bay road branched into three routes-one by Nashua, now Lancaster, another by Worcester, and a third by Grafton. These, however, were little more than savage trails for traveling "Indian file,"-paths for a single horse or man. No wheeled vehi- cle passed between Hadley and Boston till about the close of that century. The first bridge in that direction, except for foot-passengers, crossed Fort river near the south end of Spruce hill, was built in 1675, and was succeeded some thirteen years later, by Lawrence's bridge, near the site of the one now in use. Produce for Boston was carried around by water. It was carted to William- ansett, below the Falls. Skillful boatmen navigated the Enfield rapids. The grist-mill was at Hatfield; and the grist from the east side was carried over by two ferrymen, on certain days of the week, for three pence a bushel, pay- able, like other toll, in grain. In 1670, however, the east side farmers set up a mill of their own, on the North Stream, now North Hadley. In Philip's war this mill was turned into a military garrison, and shortly after was burnt by the Indians; but it was re-built and became the nucleus of enterprise in the upper village. Flour was sent down the river. Joseph Smith, the first permanent settler there, was the miller, and brought up his sons to the craft.
Indian Depredations and Military .- As we have stated, Hadley was for years exposed to Indian depredations, and the inhabitants lived constantly in fear. A garrison of soldiers were quartered here, and in 1676 the settlement was fortified with palisades. These were placed some distance in the rear of the buildings, on both sides of the street, and extended across the street at both ends, enclosing a space about a mile long and forty rods wide. Gates were made wherever the palisades crossed any of the lateral highways, and at the ends of the principal street, through which alone ingress and egress were permitted.
The first attack was made in 1675, at which time the inhabitants, tradition affirms, were led on to the repulse by Gen. William Goffe, the regicide, who with his father-in-law, Gen. Edmund Whalley,* were living, under assumed names, in the family of Rev. John Russell. Dr. Timothy Dwight has given the following version of the affair ; but there are several which contradict it, and still others that pronounce the whole matter a myth :-
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