USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 25
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"Horses and carriages will be furnished at the shortest notice. The subscriber will be assiduous and devoted in his attention to all who may honor him with their company.
"ERASTUS CHAPIN."
Lieutenant John Dale was born in Springfield in 1813, and in due time he entered the naval service of the United States. He became a midshipman in February, 1829, and a lieutenant in 1845. Next he served on the United States brig. "Porpoise," which sailed from Nor- folk, Virginia, in 1838, in an exploring expedition under the command of Charles Wilkes, of the United States Navy sloop of war "Vincen- nes." This expedition was ordered by an Act of Congress "for the purpose of exploring and surveying the sea of the great Southern Ocean, and to determine the existence of all doubtful islands and shoals and accurately fix the position of those which lie in or near the track of our vessels interested in the whale fisheries and other com- mercial adventures in that sea." This expedition was completed and Lieutenant Dale served in another to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea, sailing in the United States storeship "Supply" from New York.
Lieutenant Dale died at a village near Beirut, Syria, at the age of thirty-five. He had been attacked by a disease of that country and became speedily worse. So in hope of being invigorated by the mountain air he rode about twelve miles up a mountain, arriving at the summit thoroughly exhausted, but he was much better the next day and then a sirocco set in that lasted three days and completely prostrated him. He became delirious and labored under a low, nervous fever, lingered a few days, and then gently expired. He was buried in the neighborhood of Beirut and his body laid beneath a Pride of India tree. Now he sleeps on the slopes of Mount Lebanon on the borders of the beautiful Mediterranean, which he had so long wished to visit
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Frederick Dwight was born in Springfield in 1815. He graduated at Harvard College in 1834 and was in the law school for two years. After that came the study of medicine, but he never practiced it. His means were ample, and as he had a desire for travel, he went to Cali- fornia, and thence to Australia, Japan, and China, living for some time in the Orient. He passed through nearly all the countries of Europe before returning to the United States in 1847.
A few years after the Black Hawk War, Mr. Dwight went to the Rock River Valley and was so pleased with the country he bought a tract of land in Prophetstown, Illinois, and on it built a two-story dwelling and large barn, which in those days was considered an expen- sive outlay. Prophetstown is situated on a high bluff of Rock River, and is about one hundred and forty miles west of Chicago.
Mr. Dwight was one of the few survivors of the terrible explosion of the steamboat "Moselle" on the Ohio River near Cincinnati, who escaped unharmed. He was a member of Frémont's second expedi- tion which set out to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1843. The party numbered thirty-six white men, one colored man and two Delaware Indians. They traveled 3,500 miles in eight months, and the journey was accomplished through much privation, danger and suffering. During the expedition no word had come back to the East, and there were doubts of their safe return. After many years' absence from his native town, Mr. Dwight returned, and in 1853 bought a farm in Agawam, on the bluff overlooking the Agawam River, where he quietly spent the remainder of his life.
It is related that when he wanted to make his European trip he asked his father for money to meet the necessary expense, which the old gentleman declined. Frederick went, nevertheless, and when he was in need he drew on his father who paid the drafts.
Captain Henry Dwight was born in 1796. Early in life he fol- lowed the sea and afterward he engaged in mercantile business. In 1829 he came to Springfield and opened a grocery store under the old Town Hall at the corner of State and Market streets. For a while he was interested in a distillery at the south part of the town. Later he retired and went to New Bedford where, by aid of family connections, he bought an interest in a whaling vessel and sailed in it as master. After an absence of about two years he made the home-
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ward voyage, with a fair cargo of oil and whalebone. He died in West Springfield in his fifty-second year.
James Sanford Dwight was born in 1799. He entered Harvard College, where he remained two years, and then retired from his studies on account of poor health. When he recovered he presently became his father's successor to a large and lucrative business, with branches in various towns up and down the valley. These branch stores were managed by young men who had been clerks in the Dwight store at the corner of Main and State streets. The business was started by Josiah Dwight, and mostly continued by other members of the Dwight clan. They filled their stores with goods of their own importation and kept a line of sloops and boats plying between Spring- field, Hartford and New York, and were members of a transportation line to Hartford. James Sanford Dwight went abroad in the latter part of 1830. It was a pleasure trip, but at Florence, Italy, he was seized with malarial fever and died at the early age of thirty-one years.
Jonathan Dwight, son of Captain Edmund Dwight, was born in Boston in 1743. At the age of ten he came to Springfield and soon entered business with his cousin, Colonel Josiah Dwight, first as clerk, and then as partner, with a store on the corner of Main and State streets. He took great interest in the formation of the Unitarian Society and built the church edifice at the cost of $20,000. Mr. Dwight was almost the last representative of the silk stockings, short breeches, and silver shoe buckle gentry, of small stature, active habits, and a great smoker, lighting his pipe in summer with a burning glass, and often crossing the street from his house to the store in such a cloud of smoke as hardly to be discerned.
Springfield's last survivor of the Revolution died in April, 1857. He was familiarly known to the children as "Grandpa Edwards." He had long been a feature in Fourth of July processions, riding in a carriage and returning salutations. His funeral was made an occa- sion of military display with martial music, and the City guards wore blue frock coats and looked very formidable in their bear skin hats. The Horse Guards were gay in red coats and white trousers, while at the same time they appeared dangerous, for they carried sabers and had pistol holders on each side of the saddle.
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Captain Robert Emery was born in Newburyport in 1773. in his early manhood he resided in Salem and followed the seas. He was master at various times of vessels engaged in the East India trade, but retired from maritime life while still youthful and moved to Springfield. He married for a second wife, Mary Lyman, who died, aged forty years, and from her he inherited the estate she had received from her father. That continued to be known as the "Emery farm," and consisted of about one hundred and thirty acres, later covered by the Boston and Albany Railroad and various streets and adjacent lands. Captain Emery was known as a gentleman farmer. The cul- tivated portion of his estate produced large crops of hay, grain and fruits, and during the summer pasturage was had for cows, the owners of which, on payment of ten dollars, could turn them in for the season.
Thaddeus Ferry, a soldier of the Revolution, was born in Spring- field in 1777. When sixteen years old he volunteered for six months under Captain Gideon Burt, of Longmeadow, as a fifer, and was sta- tioned in Springfield for garrison duty and the guarding of public property. In May, 1778, he enlisted as a fifer for eight months, marched to Fishkill, New York, and joined his regiment at White Plains.
Then he was detailed in scouting parties and in foraging or guard- ing the transfer of provisions, until ordered to Danbury, Connecticut, which was an important depot of military supplies. In that vicinity he remained a number of weeks, finally leaving for Peekskill, where he was discharged. From the spring of 1779 he was three months a guard to the public property in Springfield, and then he served three months under Captain Keep, of Monson. Late in the fall of 1779 we find him aiding Captain John Carpenter as guard in Springfield, and he experienced the extraordinarily cold winter of 1779-80 while on duty. Later, when Ferry had volunteered for six months and marched to West Point, he was ordered down the Hudson, and while at Haver- straw the treason of Arnold occurred, and at Tarrytown Major André was executed as a spy.
Mr. Ferry was outstanding as a fifer, and his reputation as such was so high that when Baron Steuben called for volunteers in a special service, and Ferry had offered himself, a field officer of the regiment objected to having the best fifer in the service taken. He died in
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January, 1847, and on his headstone in the Peabody Cemetery at Springfield is the following inscription :
"Our aged sire now sleeps in dust, And from his grassy tomb A warning voice speaks to us, Prepare to meet thy doom."
John Goodrich was born in West Springfield in 1802, and on reaching mature years he went into the livery business on State Street about opposite "the old Gaol." In 1839 he opened a tavern on Main Street in the gambrel roof house which stood where Hampden Street now is. After he had kept the house as a hotel about two years it was moved to the east side of Main Street, and he opened Hampden Street to Water Street, now named Columbus Avenue.
Mr. Goodrich was well known as a successful trainer of horses for speed and endurance. In the spring of 1831, he, with three others, bought for sixty dollars each, the famous trotter, "Ned For- rest," and kept him until the spring of 1833, when, after beating all the horses in this region at scrub races, he trotted with the noted "Sally Miller" and made his mile in 2.31 1/2, which was a very remark- able performance at that time.
Chester Harding, widely famed as an artist, was born in Conway in 1792. At the age of twelve he hired out to a Hatfield farmer at six dollars a month and lived with him two years. He went to school in the winter and learned enough to read the Bible. When he was fourteen the family migrated to Madison County in York State, and at nineteen he worked one winter with his brother, who was a chairmaker. When war was declared between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, his brother enlisted in the service for one year. After six months he returned home and Chester offered himself as a substitute and was accepted by filling the position as a drummer. About the close of the war he married Caroline Woodruff, a woman of much amiability of character. Then for a time he engaged in tavern keeping, and after that tried his fortune in the then "Far West" by going to Pittsburgh, where he took up the art of sign painting. While thus engaged he met a portrait painter named Nelson, in whose studio he caught the idea of painting heads. His first effort was the portrait of an Englishman, for which he received five dollars. Afterward he went to Paris, Kentucky, and in
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six months he had painted one hundred portraits at twenty-five dol- lars each. He spent two months in Philadelphia, devoting his time to drawing in the academy and studying the best pictures.
After returning to Kentucky he decided to try new fields and went to Cincinnati, but met with no success until he moved on to Saint Louis. There Governor Clark assisted him in securing a studio and then offered himself as a sitter. For fifteen months Mr. Harding was engaged at his work. One of his portraits was of Daniel Boone at the age of ninety years. When he came East it was with his family to western New York, where his parents were living. Thence he went to Washington and spent six months, and he painted many portraits in Pittsfield, Northampton and Springfield. On August 1, 1823, he sailed from New York for Liverpool and was absent from the United States three years. On his return he stayed a while in Boston and afterward moved to Springfield, where he lived in the Trask mansion on State Street. Later, he made a second visit to England and spent nine months there with profit and pleasure. As a portrait painter he was one of the first in excellence that America produced. Many of the old families of Boston have choice specimens of his skill, and many of our public men were painted by him. Among these were Presidents Madison, Monroe and John Quincy Adams. Mr. Hard- ing was an intimate friend of Daniel Webster and painted many por- traits of him, which are among the best.
Reverend Bezaleel Howard was born in November, 1753. He was a graduate of Harvard College, who came from there to Spring- field on horseback in November, 1784, and rode up to the Five-mile House, then kept as a tavern. He learned the distance into town, and was further informed there was a good bridle path with marked trees through the woods, but he still felt anxious because he had heard something about a robbery in the vicinity, and he hurried rapidly to the hill. The day had been chilly and now a cold night was at hand. Peace had been declared with Great Britain a year previous, but the few dwellings in the town had a dilapidated and forlorn appearance, and the loosened clapboards were flapping in such a dismal manner that the young minister, in spite of being a Harvard graduate, began to feel terribly homesick. He reined up at the only white house, rapped at the door, and soon found himself in the presence of the owner of the house, Jonathan Dwight. He stated that he had been
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engaged to preach for six weeks, meanwhile feeling conscious that he wished the time was over, so he could get back to the civilization he had left behind. Mr. Dwight encouraged him by saying he had come to the right place and should stop with him over Sunday. At the end of six weeks he received a unanimous call to settle, and as a mutual interest had sprung up between him and Mr. Dwight's daughter, Lucinda, he chose to remain and was ordained pastor of the First Church, in 1785. There he remained until 1803, when he resigned on account of failing health. He died in Janu- ary, 1837, after reaching his eighty-fourth year.
Major Edward Ingersoll was born in Westfield in 1812, and his father moved to Springfield ------ when Edward was a boy. His first employment was as a Main Street clerk. In 1830, at the age of eighteen, he went to Michigan and with an associate established a trade with pioneer settlers. Later, he returned East, and was employed for a time in a Northampton dry goods store. In 1837 we find him in Savannah, Georgia, where he COCK ON OLD FIRST CHURCH, COURT SQUARE, formed a partnership with his Used as a Weather Vane, a Symbol of Vigilance. Brought from England 150 Years Ago; 4 Feet Tail to Beak, Weight 41 Pounds brother, John, in the dry goods trade. There he remained about two years and then returned to Springfield and became connected with the armory. A notable sol- diers' fair was held in 1864 in the City Hall and realized nearly $25,000 for the "Soldiers' Rest." Major Ingersoll was the leading spirit and gave his time without stint to its formation, and the success
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of the fair was largely attributed to his unwearied attention and counsel and his executive ability.
He took great interest in the Moody and Sankey meetings held in the City Hall during 1878, and did much to promote their usefulness. He was a zealous prohibitionist and should be credited with the suc- cess he made in breaking up the custom of the armorers in pledging their wages to saloonkeepers. An effort was made to transfer him to another post, but failed. He went to Washington and had an interview with the Secretary of War, who asked if the charges against him were true. Major Ingersoll replied they were. "Then," said the Secretary sternly, "go back to your work. You are just the man I want in that place." Major Ingersoll possessed sterling qualities and great sincerity of purpose in the performance of his duties. He was a conscientious Christian gentleman, believing in example as a test of profession.
Colonel Roswell Lee came to Springfield in 1815 and was appointed Superintendent of the United States Armory. When he attempted to correct certain abuses allowed by his predecessors, and forbade hav- ing intoxicating liquors brought into the shops, the workmen were not disposed to have their liberties curtailed and, in taking such a step, a rebellion was raised. Colonel Lee, going into one of the shops in March, 1816, found two men wrestling in the middle of the room while the rest of the men stood around. He promptly discharged the two offenders and, as was the custom, they got some rum and invited all hands out to the "liberty pole" in the center of the grounds to drink. There the men resolved that if they couldn't have any liberty, they wouldn't have any "liberty pole" and went to work to cut it down. Colonel Lee sent out his clerk to remonstrate, but they paid no atten- tion, and then the master armorer went out for the same purpose. He was told by one man, swinging an ax, to look out for his legs, for he couldn't tell where the ax would strike next.
Finally the colonel himself went out, and by threatening prosecu- tion before the United States Court, with some concession in the way of explanation, they desisted. Colonel Lee admitted afterward that he was hasty in the matter though, on the whole, he thought it resulted in good to all concerned.
Daniel Lombard, quartermaster and postmaster, was born in 1764. Shays' Rebellion came to an issue in his time, and he was
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active on the side of the government in quelling the insurrection. It was while Thomas Jefferson was in office that Lombard was appointed postmaster of Springfield and he held the office until June, 1829.
Mr. Lombard kept a store and had the post office in a wooden building which stood on the corner of Main and Elm streets. He became largely interested in the turnpike corporations of western Massachusetts, and was the owner of one turnpike that had its toll gate in Wilbraham. The pike extended eastward to Palmer and was known as the "Lombard Turnpike." It was finally bought by the Western Railroad, now the Boston and Albany.
Mr. Lombard married Sylvia Burt, of Longmeadow, who died at the age of eighty-six years, and he died at the age of ninety-two. They had lived a married life of sixty-eight years-a remarkable duration. Their children were three sons and six daughters.
Charles Merriam, son of Dan and Thirza Merriam, of West Brookfield, was born in that town in 1806. He became an apprentice in a printing office in Hartford, but in 1820 returned to West Brook- field and worked for his uncle and brother, who were in partnership.
He attended school at Monson Academy and at Hadley taught school for a short time. Then he worked at printing in Philadelphia and Boston. In 1831 he came to Springfield, and in company with his brother George, started a printing office and book store in a building on State Street.
In 1832 the firm of G. and C. Merriam began its business career. The great amount of labor attending the revision of Webster's Dic- tionary in 1864, in which he read every word of proof, had greatly impaired his health, but he continued in business until 1877 and then, after forty-five years of service in the firm, he retired. Mr. Merriam was noted for his liberal charities. He gave $5,000 for the erection of the library building and often made donations of money to buy books, and many other gifts came from him. At the South Church he taught a large Bible class of young men, who afterward ranked among the city's most valued population.
Deacon George Merriam, oldest son of Dan and Thirza, was born in Worcester in 1803. His father owned a farm in West Brook- field and in connection with his brother Ebenezer carried on a small printing business. George worked on the farm until he was fifteen years old and then went into the country store of the town as clerk.
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After three months of service there he told his father he did not like the business. So he was put as an apprentice into the printing office of which his Uncle Ebenezer had charge, while his father carried on the farm. George became so efficient in the office that at the age of twenty his father offered to give him the rest of his time until he was twenty-one, but he declined, saying: "Time enough to be my own master when I am twenty-one." Before the son became of age the father died, leaving a widow, four sons and three daughters, and weighty responsibilities fell on him.
In August, 1831, he came to Springfield and went into business with his brother Charles under the firm name of G. and C. Merriam. They first located on State Street as retail book sellers and printers, but removed in 1835 to the corner of Main and State streets.
In 1847 they bought the plates and copyrights of Noah Webster's large dictionary, which had not then gained a strong hold on the pub- lic. The Merriams, however, put new life into the work and by their energy, Webster's Dictionary has won rare standing and appreciation in the civilized world. The firm were publishers of a famous spelling book of which millions have been sold. Homer Merriam, a younger brother, was admitted to the firm in 1856. Mr. Merriam was a generous giver to schools and colleges, but most unusual was his gift to the Confederate home at Charleston, South Carolina. It was established in November, 1867, "for the care of widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers." He gave $2,000 and equipped it with a library and furniture.
Judge Oliver Morris holds a distinct place in local annals as law- yer, citizen and lover of Springfield village. He sometimes remarked, "In my youth I saw an aged man who remembered seeing persons who came over in the 'Mayflower.'" And the judge was quite as proud of this as if he had led a victorious army to battle.
He knew everybody and everybody knew him. All the ways of rural New England life were pleasing to him; he enjoyed its shady walks, its humble thrift, its simple democracy, its deference to the village fathers, its solemn Sabbaths, and its old nine o'clock bell. However, such satisfaction as Judge Morris felt for his own local prominence was not simply a personal pride. It came to him by the study of local history. He thought much of the past and delighted in
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talking of the Springfield plantation to reproduce the pioneer scenes when every yeoman was a defender of the gospel, a tiller of the soil, and at times a fighter of Indians.
Morris never wanted to live to see the time when the town meet- ing would adjourn forever; when the stages would be taken from the old turnpikes and the town brook buried in the Main Street sewer. But he did, and he lived also to be the oldest inhabitant and to see the city wards spring up where once were open fields. "I do not like to see so many strangers," he once remarked to a minister here, "I used to know every voter." This lament was not the result of a natu- ral desire to oppose progress, but a deep affection for the quiet, quaint, old days of Springfield. He had been looked on for nearly two genera- tions as the antiquarian of Springfield. He was familiar with more genealogies than anyone else, could give more facts about old build- ings, historic spots, traditions, stories, anecdotes and lore of the place. Law was his profession, but Springfield village was his life.
When distinguished men visited Springfield, the judge was quite apt to be selected to give the speech of welcome. He introduced John Quincy Adams to the people in the First Church, and he wel- comed Henry Clay at the ovation given him in the old Town Hall.
It has been related by a citizen who was a schoolboy when the Adams reception took place, that Morris had several times begun public addresses by saying, "When I look about me and behold the sea of upturned faces," and so on. This lingo with more of the same sort the boys memorized, and when the eloquent judge rose to intro- duce John Quincy Adams and had gotten as far as "When I look about," the boys shouted in chorus the familiar words, "and behold the sea of upturned faces."
When age began to tell its story of lessening powers and ambition, the venerable judge was in the habit of dropping in at the "Old Cor- ner Bookstore," where he chatted and argued with both old and young. One of his Sunday school scholars entered the bookstore and found the judge discoursing on old-fashioned morals. The Sun- day school scholar was encouraged to dispute with the judge about the degeneracy that so distressed him and he asked: "Do you remember the ordination of Reverend Dr. Osgood?" And the judge said: "I do." "And do you remember whether there were any refreshments ?" "Yes, a feast and a ball also." "Do you remember where you were,
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