USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Gazetteer of Hampshire County, Mass., 1654-1887 > Part 33
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"In the course of Philip's war, which involved most all the Indian tribes in New England, and among others, those in the neighborhood of Hadley, the inhabitants thought it proper to observe the first of September, 1675, as a day of fasting and prayer. While they were in the church and employed
* These judges of Charles I. arrived in Boston July, 1660; thence they went to New Haven, in March, 1661. Here they secreted themselves at West Rock and at other places, as well as they could, until October, 1664, when they came to the house of Rev. John Rus- sell, of Hadley, where they resided in secrecy more than fifteen years. At one time they were joined at Mr. Russell's house by Col. John Dixwell, another of the prescribed judges of the unfortunate Charles I.
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in their worship, they were surprised by a band of savages. The people in- stantly betook themselves to their arms,-which, according to the times, they had carried with them to the church, -and, rushing out of the house, attacked their invaders. The panic under which they began the conflict was, however, so great, and their number was so disproportioned to that of their enemies, that they fought doubtfully at first, and, in a short time, began evidently to give way.
" At this moment an ancient man with hoary locks, of a most venerable and dignified aspect, and in a dress widely differing from that of the inhab- itants, appeared suddenly at their head, and with a firm voice, and an example of undaunted resolution, re-animated their spirits, led them again to the con- flict, and totally routed the savages. When the battle was ended the stranger disappeared, and no person knew whence he had come, or whither he had gone. The relief was so timely, so sudden, so unexpected, and so providen- tial, the appearance and the retreat of him who furnished it were so unac- countable, his person was so dignified and commanding, his resolution so superior, and his interference so decisive, that the inhabitants, without any uncommon exercise of credulity, readily believed him to be an angel sent by Heaven for their preservation. Nor was this opinion seriously controverted, until it was discovered several years afterward, that Goffe and Whalley had been lodged in the house of Mr. Russell. Then it was known that their de- liverer was Goffe, Whalley having become superannuated some time before the event took place."
The first fatal attack occurred on the first of April, 1676. A number of the inhabitants had gone, under protection of a guard of soldiers, to Hockanum to work in the fields. Here they were ambushed by a party of Indians who killed Dea. Richard Goodman and two of the soldiers, and captured a third soldier named Thomas Reed. These unfortunate ones seem to have strayed away from the main body, and thus came to grief.
The next, and last attack attended with fatality to the inhabitants, was on the 12th of June of the same year, of which Rev. Increase Mather gives the following account :
" June 12th the enemy assaulted Hadley. In the morning, the sun an hour high, three soldiers, going out of the town without their arms, were dissuaded therefrom by a sergeant who stood at the gate, but they, alleging that they intended not to go far, were suffered to pass ; within a while the sergeant apprehended that he heard some men running, and looking over the fortifi- cation he saw twenty indians pursuing those three men, who were so terrified that they could not cry out,-two of them were at last killed, and the other so mortally wounded that he lived not above two or three days, -wherefore the sergeant gave the alarm. God, in great mercy to these western planta- tions, had so ordered by his providence that the Connecticut army was come thither before this onset from the enemy. Besides English, there were near upon two hundred Indians in Hadley, who came to fight with and for the En- glish against the common enemy, who was quickly driven off at the south end of the town. Whilst our men were pursuing of them here, on a sudden a great swarm of Indians issued out of the bushes and made their main assault at the north end of the town. They fired a barn which was without the for- tification, and went into a house where the inhabitants discharged a great gun upon them, whereupon about fifty Indians were seen running out of the" house in great haste, being terribly frightened by the report and slaugh-
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ter made amongst them by the great gun. Ours followed the enemy (which they judged to be about five hundred, and, by Indian report since, it seems they were seven hundred) near upon two miles, and would fain have pursued them further, but they had no orders so to do. But few of ours lost their lives in this skirmish, nor is it yet known how many the enemy lost in this fight. The English could find but three dead Indians, yet some of them who have been informed by Indians, that when the Indian men were thus fighting against Hadley the Mowhawks came upon their headquarters, and smote their women and children with a great slaughter, and then returned with much plunder."
During all the period of the Indian wars, down as late as 1757, Hadley had furnished men to aid other localities, and the names of many who went out for this purpose are on record, but our limited space prevents their inser- tion in this sketch.
When the Revolutionary war came on, it found men here inured to hard- ships, practiced in border warfare, and of these the town made a generous contribution to the great cause.
In the late war Hadley furnished 224 men, a surplus of twenty-three over all demands, three of whom were commissioned officers. The town expended $27,700.00, and loaned the state $8,378.56.
Prominent Men and Biographical .- Charles P. Phelps, graduate of Harvard, 1791, Giles C. Kellogg, and Moses Porter each served several years in the legislature. Mr. Kellogg, a graduate of Yale, was admitted to the bar in 1804, was instructor in Hopkins academy a number of years, and became register of deeds for Hampshire county in 1833, and remained in office twelve or thirteen years. John Porter, son of William, graduate of Williams college, 18to, has served in both branches of the New York legislature, and has held the office of surrogate. Joseph Smith was senator, 1853-54. Worthington Smith, D. D., late president of Burlington university, who died February 30, 1856 ; Parsons Cooke, D. D., graduate of Williams college, 1822, founder of the New England Puritan ; Rev. Jeremiah Porter, Gen. Joseph Hooker, distinguished in the Mexican war and in the late war of the Rebellion ; Will- iam Porter. Charles P. Huntington, and Rev. Frederick Dan Huntington, sons of Rev. Dan Huntington,-all, many years since, went forth from Hadley, their native town, and have not failed to do her honor.
Hon. Charles Porter Phelps, only son of Dea. Charles Phelps and Eliza- beth Porter, and grandson of Capt. Moses Porter, was born in Hadley, Au- gust 8, 1772, and died December 22, 1857. He was fitted for college by the Rev. Dr. Lyman, of Hatfield, entered Harvard college at the age of fifteen and was graduated in the class of 1791, giving the Latin salutatory at their commencement. He then entered the law office in Newburyport of the Hon. Theophilus Parsons, afterwards chief justice, whose niece, Sarah Da- venport Parsons, he mirrie l in January, 1800, having commenced the prac- tice of law in Boston. He remained about twenty-one years in that city, and was connected during a part of that time with mercantile life, holding
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the position at one time of cashier in the old Massachusetts bank. He was much interested in the formation of the celebrated old Hussar company of Boston. and became one of its officers. This company, of which Hon. Josiah Quincy was the first captain, was famous for its brilliant uniform of green, white and gold, and scarlet cape or cloak thrown over one shoulder, and was a conspicuous feature of the pageants of that day. At the end of the first year Captain Quincy resigned and Mr. Phelps was unanimously chosen his successor. In the war of 1812 the Boston Light Dragoons and the Hussars were united, and Captain Phelps was chosen their commander under the title of major. In 1816, his father having died, and his own health requiring a change, Major Phelps returned to settle in Hadley, where he had built a house on his share of the farm left by his father, his sister Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Dan. Huntington, occupying the old homestead. The new house was built on the east side of Central street, a little south of the old home and about one mile south of the village of North Hadley. Major Phelps's farm originally comprised over 200 acres of meadow and woodland, extending along the east bank of the Connecticut, and including a great part of Mt. Warner. The estate now comprises about fifty-eight acres, nearly square, lying directly south of Bishop Huntington's farm. The return of Major Phelps to Hadley was shadowed by the death of his wife, October, 1817, just before leaving Boston, and their family of six surviving children were left motherless. After a few years Major Phelps made a second marriage with his wife's cousin, Charlotte, born 1793, daughter of Chief Justice Par- sons, by whom he had five children, and her death on July 11, 1830, left him again a widower. In August, 1833, he married an estimable widow, Mrs. Judkins, of Castine, Me., who was born October 8, 1787, and who survived him. During his residence in Hadley, where he passed his remaining years, Major Phelps was frequently chosen representative to the general court, and once as senator. He held the office of county commissioner for many years, besides holding numerous town offices of responsibility and trust. Continu- ing, to some extent, his legal practice, he was an authority on points of law and equity, and his advice was constantly sought by his fellow townsmen. A man of striking personality, he was eminent for his strict integrity and inflex- ible decision of character. His estate passed at his death to his children, and several of them now make it their home there. Charles Phelps, born 1801, died in 1882; Edward, born in 1803, died in 1807; Sarah, born in 1805, died in 1886; Francis, born in 1807, was graduated from Harvard college, and soon after became a teacher in the Boston Latin school, and was subse- quently for many years, a private teacher in Boston, where he still resides ; Elizabeth, born in 1808, died in 1809; Marianne, born in 1810, and married to Alfred Belden of Whately in 1849, now living at the Phelps' home ; Louisa, born in 1812, died in 1813; Caroline, born in 1814, married Rev. S. G. Bulfinch, of Boston, in 1842, now left a widow, with one daughter, residing in Cambridge ; Arthur Davenport, born in 1817, married Harriet N. Pratt,
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of Boston, and after holding an office of trust in the United States sub- treasury for more than twenty years, resigned on account of ill health, and is now living on his father's estate in Hadley; Theophilus Parsons, born in 1821, living at the home; William Porter, born in 1823, died in 1880 ; Charlotte Elizabeth, born in 1825, married P. M. Bartlett in 1869, died in 1871 ; Frederick Ashley, born in 1826, lived one day ; Susan Davis, born in 1827, died in 1865.
Rev. Dan Huntington, of Hadley, was born in Lebanon, Conn .. October TI, 1774, and was the second son of William and Bethia (Throop). He was graduated at Yale college in 1794, and was afterwards a tutor in the college. He was successively pastor of the Congregational societies of Litchfield and' Middletown, in his native state. He had married, in 1801, Elizabeth Whit- ing, only daughter of Charles Phelps, of Hadley, and on the death of the latter, he removed with his family (in 1816) to Hadley and took charge of the estate. This consisted of three hundred acres of land and the house, still standing on the road running south from North Hadley along the river. It was built in 1753-54, by Mrs. Huntington's grandfather, Capt. Moses Porter, who was killed in the French and Indian war at the "Bloody morning Scout" at Lake George, September 8, 1755. On the death of Charles Phelps, the farm was divided, and his son Charles Phelps built a house farther south on the east of the main road, where several of his children still reside. Another ancestor of Mrs. Huntington was Rev. John Whiting, of Hartford, whose widow afterward married Rev. John Rus- sell, of Hadley, in whose house the regicides Goffe and Whalley were con- cealed. After removing to Hadley, Rev. Mr. Huntington was for a time the principal of Hopkins academy. He preached constantly in neighboring towns. After 1820 he was connected with the Unitarian denomination. Among his printed sermons are discourses delivered at the Connecticut "Anniversary Election," in 1814, and before the Massachusetts legislature, in 1821. He died in 1864, at the age of ninety years, and was buried in the family lot in Hadley. His children were Charles Phelps, Elizabeth Porter, (married George Fisher, of Oswego, N. Y.), William Pitkin, Bethia Throop, Edward Phelps, John Whiting, Theophilus Parsons, Theodore Gregson, Mary Dwight, Catherine Cary, Frederick Dan.
Charles Huntington, born in 1802, and graduated at Harvard college, was a lawyer, first in North Adams, and for many years in Northampton. After his appointment to the bench of the superior court he resided in Boston. His first wife was Helen Sophia, daughter of Hon. E. H. Mills. She died in 1844. and he afterwards married Ellen, daughter of David Greenough, of Cambridge. His widow and seven children are still living.
Rev. William P. Huntington, born in 1804, was graduated at Harvard col- lege in 1824, and taught an academy many years in Kentucky. He married Lucy, daughter of Luther Edwards, of Chesterfield. After practicing medi- cine in Hadley, he settled as a Unitarian minister in Wisconsin. He became
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a farmer, and late in life was ordained to the ministry of the Episcopal church. His last years were spent in Amherst. His wife and eight children survived him.
Theophilus P. Huntington, born in 1811, took the northern portion of the original farm and built a house there. He was a farmer. He married Eliza Fitch, daughter of S. H. Lyon, of Abington, Conn. His wife and three children are living.
Theodore G. Huntington was a farmer, living for a time at the homestead. He took much interest in town and state affairs and was at one time a mem- ber of the state board of agriculture. He built two houses in different parts of Hadley, and afterwards built a house in Amherst where he lived many years. Latterly he resided in Eastford and died there. His widow, Eliza- beth, daughter of Azel Sumner of that place, survives him. They had no children.
Frederick D. Huntington, S. T. D., bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Central New York, was born in this town May 28, 1819. He graduated at Amherst college, 1839, as valedictorian of his class, and at the Divinity school of Harvard University, in 1842. He was the minister of a Unitarian congregation in Boston for thirteen years ; from 1855 to 1860 he was profes- sor of Christian morals in Harvard college, and preacher to the university. He also served as chaplain and preacher to the Massachusetts state legisla- ture. He married Hannah D. Sargent, of Boston, a sister of the poet Sar- gent. The bishop's two sons are priests in the Episcopal church. He re- ceived the degree of S. T. D. from Amherst, in 1856. His researches led him to renounce Unitarianism and apply for orders in the Episcopal church. He was ordered deacon September 12, 1860 ; ordained priest March 19, 1861. He organized Emmanuel parish, Boston, became its rector, and re- mained there until his elevation to the episcopate. He was consecrated first bishop of Central New York in Emmanuel church, Boston, April 8, 1868. His writings which have been given to the public through the press are nu- merous, and many of them deservedly popular. They are chiefly of a religi- ous character. He was also editor of the Church Monthly of Boston, and of two other religious periodicals. He was chosen by the house of bishops to write the " pastoral letter," and to read the same at the general convention of the Episcopal church in Philadelphia in 1883. Although the bishop has attained an age when most men look for rest from cares and arduous la- bors, he still works with an untiring energy for the social, moral and religious elevation of his fellow-men, for whom his love seems never to grow cold, nor his zeal to abate. The seat of his diocese is Syracuse, N. Y., where no man stands higher in the respect and estimation of his towns people than he. The schools and charitable institutions which he has founded within his diocese he has zealously fostered until they have attained that degree of usefulness that they have become indispensable to the towns and cities where they are located.
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Franklin Bonney, M. D., was born in Hadley, Mass., February 2, 1822. He is the son of the late Oliver Bonney, who was born in Hanover, Mass., in 1790, sixth in descent from Thomas Bonney, who came from Sandwich, in Kent, England, in the ship " Hercules," in 1634 or '35, and settled in Dux- bury, Mass. The ancestor of the family in England was named De Bon, who, according to one account, was a Huguenot driven from France. Another tra- dition is that he was a Knight of Normandy under William the Conqueror. His mother was Betsey F. Hayward, daughter of Elijah Hayward, of West Bridgewater, Mass. Dr. Bonney obtained his preliminary education princi- pally at Hopkins academy, in Hadley. After a three years' course of study at the Dartmouth Medical school, and an attendance upon a course of lectures at the Bowdoin Medical college, he graduated from the former insti- tution in 1847, and at once commenced the practice of his profession in his native town, which he still continues. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical society, and of the Hampshire District Medical society. Of the latter organization, he has been vice-president and president for the period of three years, and he has held most of the minor offices of the same society. He is also a member of the American Social Science society. In 1869 he was given the honorary title of A. M., by Amherst college. During the war of the rebellion he was surgeon for the preliminary examination of recruits for the army from his vicinity. In 1864 he also did service for a time, as a volunteer surgeon at City Point, Va. He has been for many years, a trustee of the Hopkins academy fund, and is secretary of the board of trustees. For some years he was a member of the school committee of his town. In 1873 he served his district in the legislature. In addition to his ordinary profes- sional labors, he has occasionally prepared papers for the District Medical society, and for the Medical Magazine, and he has made frequent contribu- tions to agricultural and other journals. He has been twice married. His first wife, Priscilla P. Whipple, was a daughter of Hon. Thomas Whipple, of Wentworth, N. H. Of the two sons and two daughters born of this mar- riage, one son and the two daughters are living. His second marriage was to Emma W. Peck, daughter to the late Sherman Peck, Esq., of Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. Of this union there are three sons. As a citizen, Dr. Bonney has always felt a deep interest in the welfare of his native town, and has given a cheerful and helping hand to every enterprise that promised to add to her prosperity.
Elbridge Kingsley, the artist engraver, was born at Carthage, near Cincin- nati, Ohio, September 17, 1842. His parents were Hatfield people, and when he was but a few months old they returned to their former home, where they are still living. Elbridge was the oldest of six children, all boys, and was brought up in the regulation manner on a farm. His school education was finished at the Hopkins academy, when, at sixteen years of age, he entered the office of the Hampshire Gazette as an apprentice. Here he worked till he was of age, often obliged to be up by four and five in the morning to start
20*
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the office fires, and spending his spare time in making all sorts of imaginative drawings. He found many of his subjects in the Bible, one picture being an elaborate Belchazzer's Feast, in water colors. Indians, too, were possessed of a great fascination for him. When his apprenticeship ended he went to New York, and for a short time studied in the Cooper Institute. He next entered the Tribune office as a compositor, but soon left and presently became interested in wood engraving. To begin with, his work was the engraving of machinery, but finally, after changing employers two or three times, he be- came connected with a firm where he had an opportunity to do blocks for Harper's Magazine. While in New York he was for some time city corres- pondent of the Hampshire Gazette. The year 1871 finds him in Northamp- ton once more, in the printing and engraving business with C. A. Snow and G. L. Harris. Here he became acquainted with two such artists as J. Wells Champney and the late C. A. Burleigh. He at this time began to work in oil colors, out of doors, and one winter walked daily to Amherst in order to draw from the casts in the college gallery. In 1874 the Northampton part- nership was dissolved, and he drifted back to New York, where in time he engraved a block for Scribner's Monthly. They were pleased with the result and since that time his connection with the magazine (now the Century) has been continuous. His family in the meantime lived in Hadley. This brought him into the country every summer and led to the building of his famous car to facilitate his open air sketching. In the spring of 1882, while out with his car in the Hatfield woods, he engraved a block which gave him a distinctive place among engravers and made no small stir in the art world. This ap- peared as a full page cut, in the fall of the year in the Century Maga- zine, accompanied by a short article written by Mr. Kingsley himself, descrive of his methods. Ever since then these original engravings have appeared from time to time in the Century and St. Nicholas, most of them being made from, or suggested by the scenery of Hamp- shire county. In 1885 he illustrated Poems of Nature, by Whittier. Years ago Mr. Kingsley was ranked by Hammerton, perhaps the ablest of English . art critics, in his Graphic Arts, as one of the best wood engravers in the world. Since then he has made a decided advance and the power, delicacy and refinement shown in his landscape work has never been excelled. Mr. Kingsley has written an entertaining lecture on wood engraving, historical and descriptive, which he has delivered a number of times about home and before art clubs in New York and Brooklyn. He is still a young man, and undoubt- edly the most perfect results of his genius are yet in the future.
Caleb Dexter Dickinson was born on a farm in Amherst, May 23, 1806. He attended the common schools until fifteen, when desirous of earning his own living, he started out with his effects tied up in a handkerchief, and walked to Goshen, where he apprenticed himseif to Asahel Billings, black- smith, with whom he remained until twenty. Returning to Amherst, he re- mained at home a few months and then went to Pittsfield, where he worked
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at his trade about a year. Returning again to Amherst he did business on his own account in the same building with Benoni Rust, nearly opposite where the first National Bank now stands. On January 13, 1830, he married Try- phena Russell, of Russellville, Hadley, and went to Greenfield, where he con- tinued ordinary blacksmithing about two years, after which he formed a part- nership with John Russell, of New York, and commenced the cutlery busi- ness, Mr. Russell furnishing the capital and Mr. Dickinson the mechanical skill, which had already become quite celebrated. He continued this busi- ness, which has since greatly developed and is now the John Russell Cutlery Co, of Turners Falls, until 1840, when to please family relatives he moved to North Hadley. There, in partnership with C. A. Lyman, until June 15, 1842, under the title of Dickinson & Lyman, he did general blacksmithing and made a few tools for the manufacture of brooms, of which this vicinity was then the center. His wife died March 29, 1848, and on October 10, 1848, he married Louisa W. Billings, of Shrewsbury, Vt., who died July 18, 1864. He married again December 27, 1867, Mrs. Harriet N. Moseley, of Albany, N. Y., who died October 27, 1880. He has been the father of four- teen children, three of whom, one son and two daughters, are now living. Mr. Dickinson has always been public spirited, well informed on general top- ics, and a devoted Christian. In 1847 he was a member of the board of se- lectmen of Hadley. During the winter of 1851-52, beside managing his business at home he worked at the U. S. armory at Springfield. He is now probably the oldest business man in town, and retains his energy and vigor to a surprising degree.
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