USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 15
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of the Connecticut. Mr. Judd's last conscious efforts of a business kind were used in trying to send some directions to his printers.
He was eminently a self-made man, and had relied little on others for his knowledge or opinions. In business transactions he was very lenient to creditors, and lost much that was justly his due. His memory was clear and exact, and his eyesight continued unimpared long beyond the usual period. In temperament he was cheerful, and in social intercourse notably agreeable-a cherished companion of young and old.
Mr. Breck Disturbs the Town
Hampden-13
CHAPTER XIII
Mr. Breck Disturbs the Town
John Pynchon survived the other magistrates of his time about twenty-seven years and died in 1703 when nearly eighty. Probably no man before or since ever had so great an influence in the affairs of western Massachusetts. War clouds darkened the outlook almost from the beginning of the eighteenth century, and yet the Springfield plantation prospered, even though there were from time to time gar- rison soldiers in the streets. The meetinghouse was fortified, and so were some of the dwelling houses and mills.
England declared war against France in 1702, and soon the Indians were raiding across the Canadian border. Then came the revel of death at Deerfield, which was so near a neighbor. The winter snows were stained with blood, and scores of men, women, and chil- dren made the long, slow wilderness journey to Canada as captives, most of whom were later redeemed.
Our forefathers were essentially a martial people and warlike virtues were to them a necessity. Military titles were in high repute among them, and were preferred above all others. A corporal was on the road to distinction; a sergeant had attained distinction and his title was never omitted. An ensign or a lieutenant was lifted quite above the heads of his fellows. A captain was beyond question a man of great influence.
Men in England below gentlemen, who owned or occupied land, might add "goodman" to their surnames. A husbandman was one that tilled the ground and the ancients called him a good man. Thus it came about that every tiller of the soil, when addressed in ordinary conversation, received the salutation, Goodman Such-a-one, a title of more honor and virtuous note than many that precede it in public places. It was much used among the husbandmen of the Connecticut Valley. The Goodman's wife was called Goodwife or Goody. Men with a middle name are rarely found previous to 1700.
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A table monument in the Pine Street side of the Springfield Ceme- tery says: "Here lies interred the body of Mr. John Mallifield, a French gentleman who, passing through the town of Springfield, dying, bequeathed all his estate to the poor of this town. He died November 26, 1711. Psal. 41-I. Blessed is he that considereth the poor."
It seems likely that this epitaph refers to Jean Mellichamp, a French peddler, who came riding into Springfield a little before that date on an iron-gray horse and was there taken ill. His stock for sale included handkerchiefs, penknives, imported fans, laces, silks, jews-harps, books and 11,000 pins, and probably came up the river by boat. Realizing that he was dying he bequeathed all his worldly goods to the poor of the village and so became Springfield's first philanthropist.
"The Complete Soldier," a book of ninety-six pages, giving instruction in military exercises, was printed in Boston in 1701. This was undoubtedly the first military book published in the British colonies. It directs the soldiers to appear "with their hair or peri- wigs tied in bags, and their hats briskly cocked." This must have been an English direction. The Massachusetts General Court voted in 1700 to have "goose-necked bayonets with a socket, instead of swords or cutlasses." These were used only by the Boston regiment. Bayonets were of little use against Indians, and few were seen in Hampshire until the French wars. The powder horn continued to be used by many of the infantry, and the ear-piercing fife, after having been neglected more than a century in England and America, was restored in 1747.
It was not until the enemy made attacks in the winter, and could not be pursued, that snowshoes were deemed of importance. March 13, 1704, Massachusetts ordered five hundred pairs of snowshoes, and as many moccasins for the frontiers, one-fourth of them for Hampshire. The snowshoes or rackets were not used with common shoes, but with Indian shoes or moccasins. The province allowed only five shillings for a pair of each, for some years, though men in Hamp- shire and elsewhere affirmed that good ones cost ten shillings in money. Colonel Partridge sent the names of four hundred and sixty- three Hampshire soldiers who in 1712 had provided themselves with snowshoes and moccasins, and each was allowed seven shillings.
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These Indian inventions for traveling on deep snow were noticed by Champlain in Canada in 1603. They were found, too, among the Indians of Maine. A few English hunters and soldiers in Massachu- setts used them in the seventeenth century.
A Deerfield man, on April 11, 1709, was captured in the road above Hatfield. He thought he was in no danger because the leaves were not out. The Indians seldom appeared in the spring until they could be hidden by the leaves.
Early in January of 1712, after the rivers and Lake Champlain were frozen hard and the snow was deep, Colonel Partridge levied one hundred men from his regiment to strengthen Deerfield and other exposed towns. The men had snowshoes and made some excursions on them. In April, Thomas Baker, of Northampton, with thirty-two men. passed up the Connecticut and crossed it south of Cowasset. Then they proceeded to the Pemigewasset, where they found a party of Indians and killed one, and mortally wounded others, as they believed. They took as many beaver skins as they could carry and went down near the Merrimac to Boston. The General Court gave them thirty pounds beside their wages. Benjamin Wright, aged eighteen, of Skipmuck in Springfield, was captured and afterward killed. These are a few local events in the second ten years' war, called Queen Anne's War. The pay of soldiers in this war was gen- erally six shillings a week. In 1704 the allowance to a man each day in a fort or garrison was one pound of bread, two-thirds of a pound of pork, or sometimes one pound and a third of beef, half a pint of peas, and two quarts of beer. Marching soldiers had a little more food. The first regular allowance of rum to soldiers seems to have been a gill a day. "This war, like all others, promoted idleness and vice. and had a pernicious influence on many of the people."
During Queen Anne's War, Massachusetts gave a reward of ten pounds for Indian scalps obtained by those who received wages and subsistence. Volunteers, who went out at their own expense, received one hundred pounds for a scalp after March, 1704. Not many Indians were destroyed. One authority said the charge of the war was so great, every Indian, killed or taken, cost one thousand pounds.
In November, 1706, the Colony passed an act for raising and increasing dogs for the better security of the frontiers, and presently forty-one pounds was paid for "trailing of dogs" on the frontiers of
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Middlesex. Gideon Lyman, of Northampton was allowed various sums for buying dogs. Connecticut, about the same time spent fifty pounds to bring up and maintain dogs to hunt after Indians. New Jersey, in 1758, proposed getting fifty "large, strong, and fierce dogs" for the service. It is not known that any Indian was harmed by the dogs.
Springfield's courthouse was situated on the line of Sanford Street, back of Market Street. Land on both sides of the river was taken as part payment for the courthouse. Judge Sewall came to Springfield to hold the September court in 1718. He was met at Suffield by the sheriff and a company of horsemen, who saluted his honor with trum- pets. It was quite dark when he rode through the Agawam River and he got his heels wet. He found Colonel Taylor and a number of friends eating supper at Ingersol's tavern and joined them. The next day Reverend Daniel Brewer offered prayer at the opening of court. On the Lord's Day he went to meeting with the associate judges, Colonel Pynchon, and the attorneys of the town, and Mr. Brewer preached very well from the text, "Salute one another with a holy kiss." The judge left Springfield, after giving Mr. Brewer twenty shillings for his prayers during the court session, and was accom- panied the first five miles by the sheriff and troopers. He dined in the pine woods, and then went on toward Brookfield.
In 1723 another courthouse was built and the town contributed largely toward the expense. It was a plain two-story wooden build- ing, the front of which projected some distance into Main Street. For years it was the only public building in the town. The lower floor was on a half dozen different levels in an attempt to indicate the rank and importance of the occupants, from judge and jury down to prisoner and public. In those times the judges appeared attired in robes and wigs according to the English custom.
In 1739 the selectmen placed orders for three or more "good Handsome Hewed stones to be placed before the front door of the town-house." One event of interest, in 1753, was a proposition to bridge the Agawam by a lottery scheme. This was voted down. In 174I rewards were offered for the destruction of pests : Woodchucks, nine pence; old blackbirds, two pence; young blackbirds, one pence ; crows, six pence; blackbird eggs, four pence a dozen.
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"The Outward Commons," also known as "Springfield Moun- tain," were settled about 1731, and presently joined the family of Massachusetts towns. The Stony Hill people became the town of Ludlow in 1774.
In Massachusetts no persons were married by ministers for sixty- two years, except a very few in Boston and vicinity. In general, only magistrates and similar authorities were allowed to join persons together in marriage; but in 1692 the General Court directed that marriages should be solemnized by justices of the peace and settled ministers. In a few years after this law was enacted it had become the general custom for pastors to do the marrying. The marriages were occasions of joy and merriment. The groom had some new garments, and the bride had as rich a dress as in her circumstances could be afforded. It was expected that the newly married couple would appear as such at the meetinghouse after they were married and this was referred to by the young wife as "coming out bride." This custom continued more than a century. Stealing the bride was formerly done in some places, and there are many traditions about it. Some young men who had not been invited to the wedding would seize the bride in the street or house and carry her off and keep her until they were invited to join the party. Sometimes they took her to a public house and retained her until the groom ordered an entertain- ment for them. These affairs seem not to have produced any quar- rels, but rather to have been an addition to the wedding frolic.
An old history tells of a two days' wedding in 1769. About eighteen couples attended the wedding and had a good dinner, and spent most of the following night in dancing and merrymaking. One of the party wrote in his diary: "We greeted the rising sun with fiddling and dancing."
The practice of partaking of wine, ardent spirits and cakes at funerals was brought from England to the American colonies, and also the custom of spending large sums for gloves, rings, scarfs and mourning garments. Men sometimes provided for their funerals in their wills.
In 1742 the General Court passed an act against giving scarfs, gloves, wine, rum and rings at funerals, except six pairs of gloves to the bearers, and one pair to the minister.
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In May, 1734, the first parish invited the youthful minister, Rob- ert Breck, to preach, with a view to settlement, and his impetuous oratory and originality made a deep impression on his worldly-minded congregation. Breck was a minister's son who had taken first honors in his class at Harvard when he had attained the age of seventeen. He was a deep thinker, fearless in controversy, and he took a young man's pleasure in debate and speculation. In his sermons he wandered continually from the beaten paths of exhortation and commentary. Previously he had preached for a short time at Windham, Connecti- cut, where rumors were now afloat that things were not all as they should be with him. Recently a letter had been received in Spring- field from a Connecticut minister stating that the Reverend Thomas Clap of Windham, and Daniel Kirtland of Norwich, could furnish full particulars of Mr. Breck's unsound opinions. With this for a start, theology became a serious issue, reminiscent of William Pyn- chon's experience with his book that was burned in the Boston market- place.
Mr. Breck, on being informed that Reverend Thomas Clap was industriously circulating reports about him, wrote a spirited letter, which began with saying: "I took you always to be a gentleman, and not only so, but a Christian." Soon after this Breck visited Spring- field, at the request of the Hampshire ministers. The impression made by Mr. Clap's charges was detailed to him. He was told they expected he would bring a certificate of orthodox character from both Kirtland and Clap. About three weeks later Mr. Breck made the journey to Windham and met his accuser. The meeting was stormy and accom- plished nothing. This put a serious aspect on the affair and a major- ity of the parish were much disappointed. It was still evident to the Hampshire ministers that the First Church of Springfield was deter- mined to settle Breck, and they secured from Clap and others written statements as to what Breck had said in his sermons and conversa- tions while in Connecticut. For instance, he had denied the authority of certain passages of Scripture like "the Father, the word, and the Holy Ghost"; he preached that the heathen who lived up to the light of nature should be saved; he said that Christ might be immedi- ately revealed to them, or they might be saved some other way; that the contrary was harsh doctrine. But besides there were misde- meanors when he was in college that needed to be accounted for. On
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being confronted by the documents he told the Hampshire ministers that he would accept the call of the church if the people stood by him, and when he had to face a refusal of the ministers to ordain him, he provided the greatest consternation by promptly remarking: "I don't care for that; if one will not, another will."
THE OLD WOODEN BRIDGE ACROSS THE RIVER TO WEST SPRINGFIELD
The ministers then circulated the documentary evidence among the congregation, and the result was that the young man returned to the Bay intending to withdraw from the contest. Soon, however, there came a reaction that brought Breck again on the scene, and there was a renewal of the theological warfare. He did not mince matters when he wrote to William Pynchon that Mr. Clap had lied, and that the word of Huntington, selectman of Windham, could not be taken for a groat by his neighbors. The church was now thoroughly con- vinced they ought to settle Breck. A year or two later reports were handed about town that Clap was liable to a severe prosecution for what he had written.
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When one story of this kind was worn out, another of the same sort was set on foot. Mr. Clap afterward became president of Yale College, where he was noted for his intense denunciations of theologi- cal error.
It has been mentioned that Mr. Breck was accused of stealing books when he was a college student, and in the exciting April meet- ing of the Hampshire association he was on hand and read the defense himself. According to rumor, expulsion followed stealing. He denied the expulsion, but told of saying to Mr. Clap, "with tears in his eyes," that he had nothing to say in justification of his conduct. But he added, "I went to college very young and fell into bad company, so that my conversation was not such as it ought to have been, and I hope that God has given me a light, and sense of my sins, and that I am truly humble on account of them." Mr. Breck was submitted to a sharp cross-examination. For one thing his critics tried to make him withdraw the charge that Clap had lied about him. He was willing to ask forgiveness for overheat in such discussions, but refused to yield an inch to Mr. Clap and his heresy charge. Another meeting was called for the twenty-fourth of April, and in spite of protests from the ministers, Mr. Breck was given a call, and the promise of a house within four years, and he accepted.
But the fires of dissent were still alive, and remained so for many years, sometimes smoldering and sometimes bursting into flames. In fact, within a few weeks the Hampshire ministers were on Breck's trail again, and as time went on many bitter things were said. When the call to be pastor of the First Church was accepted, arrangements at once began for the ordination, and the Springfield church succeeded in pledging four ministers from Boston to assist. The town was in a feverish state of uncertainty, and it was thought best to give up the preparations for the big dinner which was customary in those days. The Boston ministers all stopped at a public tavern. Most of the Hampshire ministers had arrived, and Mr. Clap had come up the river with a bag full of documentary evidence. The two parties in the parish maintained the strict lines of hostility. All business was suspended, and the whole community felt the unusual tension. The second day of the council opened, but not with the ordination as had been planned. After some negotiations it was stipulated that the evidence of the dissatisfied should be given with closed doors. Accord-
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ingly Mr. Clap and his witnesses were locked into a chamber in Widow Brewer's house with the council and the accused. Mr. Breck usually stayed at Mrs. Brewer's when visiting Springfield and in that way became acquainted with her daughter Eunice, a young woman with unusual gifts of mind.
Mr. Clap began a long address that soon brought Mr. Breck to his feet with protests, and the moderator had to protect Mr. Clap from interruptions. Another unusual feature was a commotion in the streets below, and once a minister attempted to enter the chamber. Also, a messenger rode up to Mrs. Brewer's in hot haste and called for Mr. Clap, who halted his speech long enough to carry on a private conversation. Then the messenger rode away, but in a few moments Mr. Clap's speech was again interrupted, and in came an officer with a sword at his belt, bearing a warrant for Mr. Breck's arrest. The cloud had burst, and the mysterious movements of strangers and judges and ministers were explained. The civil law had been invoked to prevent a Congregational Church ordination, and His Majesty's judges were asked to pass on the theology of a ministerial candidate.
When the council found they were left with no minister to ordain, great was their astonishment. But greater still was the consternation of the people, who ran through the streets as Breck was carried a prisoner to the town house, where four justices sat waiting. This was the hour of Mr. Clap's triumph. His face is said to have been radiant with satisfaction. At the same time those who were not satisfied were there in large numbers, including the indignant members of the church and other friends of Breck. Indeed, there was danger of an out- break, but wiser and more dignified counsels prevailed.
Some of the ordination council appeared to defend the prisoner before the judges, and Mr. Clap was promptly put on the witness stand and was followed by others. That night Mr. Breck slept in custody of the law. The next morning the ordination council assem- bled again in Mistress Brewer's house and attempted to continue its investigation, while the whole town was at fever heat and many per- sons were present from the surrounding country. Someone in front of Mistress Brewer's house had gotten a copy of Breck's confession that morning and a young man mounted a white horse and proceeded to read it to a large crowd, consisting of both friends and foes of the young minister. Some of the crowd applauded and others showed disapproval.
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Mr. Breck was ordered by the justices to be taken to Connecticut, where he had preached his heretical sermons, and many of the sor- rowing and indignant congregation followed their youthful hero until well out of the town. That was an exciting night for Springfield. Some rejoiced, some feared evil results, and some were bowed down in anguish. The next day a public meeting of humiliation and prayer was held. The suspense was not long, and Breck was discharged and returned at once. The final decision was made by the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It was, that although the justices had the right to inquire into the facts charged against Mr. Breck, yet they "ought not by any means to have interrupted a church and Ecclesiasti- cal Council while in the Exercise of their just Rights inquiring into the same."
Soon afterward the Springfield church set January 27, 1730, as the day of Mr. Breck's ordination, and a few days after that was past, Mr. Breck married Eunice Brewer. Their engagement probably took place in the dark days when the Hampshire association was try- ing to drive Breck out of the valley.
About this time the English Methodist preacher and revivalist, George Whitefield, made one of his visits to America, and it included the Connecticut Valley. He was a remarkable man in his way. Very early in his London career he preached in some of its principal churches, and in order to hear him, crowds assembled at the doors long before daybreak. His voice was so clear and powerful it could reach 20,000 listeners, and his fervor and dramatic action held them spell- bound while his homely pathos soon broke down all resistance. For many years it was his habit in the compass of a single week to speak to thousands for forty or more hours. In the valley of the Connecticut opinion was divided. Mr. Breck, although no bigot, had little desire to see his people crying out hysterically over an eternity of anticipated bliss, but beyond question Mr. Whitefield's journeyings greatly stimu- lated the wonderful revivals in religion which were breaking over the valley. What Mr. Breck distrusted was the effect of special religious revivals, and later one of his congregation quoted him as saying: "I am opposed to the late stir in religion."
In Mr. Whitefield's first American journey he preached in Spring- field in 1740 on his way with Jonathan Edwards from Northampton to East Windsor.
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Just as Whitefield was leaving the village on horseback, the animal stumbled on a defective bridge and threw the revivalist over its head. Afterward Whitefield said, "My mouth was full of dust, but I fell on soft sand and got not much damage. When I recovered myself and mounted my horse, God so filled me with a sense of His love and my own unworthiness that my eyes gushed out with tears."
Some years later Whitefield returned to America, distinguished, portly, and richly dressed. In a Connecticut minister's diary of 1704 is this: "Mr. Whitefield came along; People seemed very fond of gazing at him. He rode in his chariot with a gentleman-had a waiter to attend him, and Sampson Occum, the preacher from India : There were three chariot horses and he rode one of them."
These were trying times for the First Church. Mr. Breck went into the pulpit just at the turning of the tide in New England. Men's speech was changing, and many old English words and phrases were falling into disuse. Moreover, the Puritan costume no longer satis- fied, and was gradually being put away and instead the three-cornered hat and lace and ruffles were gaining in favor. William Pynchon died with a Puritan skull-cap hanging by his bedside. But his son John left a wig and garments covered with gold lace. John Pynchon's sons wore cocked hats. Whitefield noticed in the Boston congregations that "jewels and gay apparel" were commonly worn by the women, while little boys and girls were "dressed in the pride of life, and the little infants that were brought to baptism were wrapped in such fine things, and so much pains taken to dress them, that one would think they were brought to be initiated into the pomps and vanities of this wicked world." Moreover, the same elements were at work in Springfield.
There is no evidence that the visit of Whitefield had any effect on the Springfield church. But there were wonderful revivals of religion at Northampton, Hatfield, Longmeadow, and so on down the valley. There were the protracted meetings, the crying out of convicted souls and the falling in fits on the floor.
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