USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
Mr. Hooker's comment was that such an offer to the Indians was as good as nothing, for Mr. Pynchon knew the Indians were afraid of him, and would not fetch corn to any one else. "He would have the trade to himself with the corn in his own hands, and could bring all that water to his own mill, and so wreck the country at his pleasure."
43
AGAWAM PLANTATION
This extraordinary conclusion took Mr. Pynchon completely aback. To be condemned by the famous ministers, Hooker and Stone, grieved and silenced him. The commission found him guilty, and showed no little prejudice in arriving at the verdict, which was that he had not been so careful to promote the public good in the trade of corn as he should have been, and ordered "that the said Pynchon shall with all convenient speed pay as a fine for his so failing, forty bushels of Indian corn, said corn to be delivered to the treasurer." This was pretty severe, and while the court was gracious enough to continue giving Mr. Pynchon the monopoly of the beaver trade at Agawam, the fine was a crushing blow to his influence in Connecticut affairs. He was present when the General Court fined him the forty bushels of corn, but apparently never attended again.
After his conviction he hastily prepared an "Apology," which was circulated in the valley towns. It is a complete defense against the charges of dishonest speculation, written in strong English, and is an invaluable survival of seventeenth century composition. Pynchon was condemned because he was thought to have selfishly raised the price of corn, and yet Captain Mason was counted a hero two months later because he chartered an Indian canoe fleet laden with corn, for which he paid twelve shillings a bushel, and was compelled to ride in the canoes to make sure of its delivery.
The Captain Mason theory of dealing with the Indians-wampum in one hand and the sword in the other, inspired what follows: "It is ordered that there shall be six men sent to the Woronoco Indians to declare that we have a desire to speak with them and learn why they said they were afraid of us, and if they will not come to us willingly, then compel them to come by violence. They can have two of the English as pledges in the meantime. The messengers are to trade with them for corn if they can."
The court ought not to have been at such a loss to explain the fear of the Indians. It might readily have been traced to a previous commission given to Captain Mason to go to Agawam and treat with the Indians of Woronoco concerning tribute toward the charges of wars to the value of one fathom of wampum a man. As a matter of fact the English had no right to levy a war tribute on the native tribes.
44
HAMPDEN COUNTY-1636-1936
The serious differences that developed between Agawam and the towns farther down the river, compelled the settlers to face the ques- tion of secession from Connecticut jurisdiction. The conditions at Hartford were intolerable to Agawam. Mr. Pynchon had been a trader from the start, and was so recognized at the Bay. His purse was always opened when prospecting expeditions were proposed, and prominent men, both at the Bay and in Connecticut, knew the generous extent of his personal loans. He was one of the few rich men of his time who embarked to New England, and he very naturally had been chosen treasurer of Massachusetts. When he settled in the Connecti- cut Valley with his little company of associates, there was the same fitness that he should handle the corn and beaver of the region. No one hitherto had accused him of failure to keep his promises, or of making money at the public expense. Such charges showed plainly the disposition at Hartford to limit Agawam's influence as much as possible; and as Captain Mason not only was privileged to pass up the river and trade, but had a troop of armed men at his back to coerce the Indians, and as he visited Agawam ten times a year to drill the training-band, is it any wonder that secession was the unanimous desire of the plantation? However, a formal withdrawal was too serious an enterprise to undertake lightly. Mr. Pynchon was no longer a member of either the Boston or Hartford General Court. The town was the most remote outpost in the colony with numerous Indian tribes in the widespread back country. Connecticut might refuse to allow Mr. Pynchon to keep the trading-houses which he had built at Enfield Falls. There is an ancient map placing these houses on the eastern bank of the Connecticut, opposite King's Island, which can be seen up the river from the car windows in crossing the railroad bridge at Windsor Locks. The name given on the old map is a Dutch equivalent for "Fresh River," and it was bestowed by Adrian Block, who, in 1614, cruised up the stream in his small yacht, the "Onrust," a name that means "Restless" in English. He went on until the Enfield Falls stopped him. Ten years later the Dutch had begun to make somewhat frequent trading voyages to the river.
Mr. Pynchon not only shipped freight in his own sailboats, but often sent goods to and from the valley in other vessels. It was out of the question to send beaver overland to the Bay.
45
AGAWAM PLANTATION
No meetinghouse had as yet been built at Agawam, and the middle ferry lane, later known as Elm Street, was not yet opened. Tree stumps and fallen timber here and there obstructed Main Street, and what was more discouraging was the fact that the plantation was largely made up of men not destined to remain long. Fully half the settlers who arrived in 1638 only stayed a few years.
Unlike most towns of the period, Agawam was founded by a devout and well-read Christian, who could preach a sermon or debate theology with the ablest divines. He and his companions, after care- ful consideration, decided to separate from Connecticut, and trust to the future. No formal declaration was issued for a while, but that did not prevent the news of the revolt spreading through all New England before the year ended.
Reverend Mr. Hooker took a leading part in the controversy that followed, and he was especially bitter in dealing with Mr. Pynchon. For instance, he said: "If Mr. Pynchon can devise ways to make his oath bind him when he will, and loosen him when he desires-if he can tell how, in faithfulness to engage himself in a civil covenant, and yet can cast it away at his pleasure, before he give it sufficient warrant more than his own word and will, he must find a law in Agawam for it. It is written in no law nor gospel that I ever heard." A commission investigated and a long private conference took place between friends of the two colonies, but no agreement was reached.
Mr. Hooker's indictment of Agawam was very much in the spirit of his testimony in the Pynchon trial. He said that Connecticut would not trouble itself very much over the loss of Mr. Pynchon, because "we know him from the bottom to the brim, and follow him in all his proceedings, and trace him in his private footsteps; only, we would have him and all the world to understand he does not walk in the dark to us."
The alienation of Connecticut had the effect of postponing the project of a New England confederation for some years. Pending the settlement of Agawam's political condition, the little plantation did not allow local affairs to go by default.
In September there was granted to John Searle, by consent of the rest of the inhabitants, a house-lot eight rods broad, extending from the town brook to the great river which lies near the pine swamp with the meadow. Where there was need for the accommodation of other farmers a cartway was reserved.
46
HAMPDEN COUNTY-1636-1936
The vote for a meetinghouse lot was passed January 16, 1639, and forty rods were reserved for it. Much of the land was as yet unapportioned, and a good deal of time had to be devoted to its regu- lation. The rich meadows on the west side of the Connecticut, from opposite the upper ferry to the present York Street, were at first used only for grass and planting. At that time the Agawam had only one outlet and joined the Connecticut near the South End Bridge.
Each inhabitant, after harvest time in November, was allowed to put horses, cows and young cattle on the west side of the Connecticut River.
Eleven months after the Pynchon trial, Agawam put forth a formal declaration of its allegiance. The people had met and decided, "Being now by God's providence fallen into the line of the Massachu- setts jurisdiction, and it being far to go thither, in such cases of justice as may fall out among us, do therefore think it meet by a general con- sent and vote, to ordaine Mr. William Pynchon to execute the office of a magistrate in this our plantation until we receive further direc- tion from the General Court convening in the Massachusetts Bay." The usual magistrate's powers were given to Mr. Pynchon, including authority to summon juries of six instead of twelve for small offences, pending any action that might be made at Boston. Meantime the boundaries of the plantation had been verified by a committee which reported that the bounds of the plantation up the river on the west side were at a brook above the great meadow which is opposite a point about a quarter of a mile above "the mouth of Chicopee river."
The first town meetings were probably held in Mr. Pynchon's house, for his was the largest, and nothing more like a democratic communism has had an extended trial in our history than the original Massachusetts plantations. The nature of this common proprietor- ship in land and local political procedure becomes apparent by glanc- ing through the town acts. It was a genuine democracy and not even a selectman stood between its inhabitants and their desires. They met at least once a month, and with the simple election of a moderator and clerk the machinery of government was complete.
In October, 1638, the town voted that "no trees should be cut down or taken away by any man in the compass of ground from Mill river upward to John Readers Lot, which parsell of ground is appointed for house lots." No inhabitant was permitted to sell his
47
AGAWAM PLANTATION
canoe to outside parties. An infringement of this order brought down a reprimand on three young fellows, and they promised to redeem and bring the canoes to the plantation again within five months.
The town was laid out in a peculiar manner for New England, where a twenty-rod road was usual. This was incidentally of service to a community exposed to Indians. It could be stockaded, and cat- tle could be safely pastured on the broad street. The original Aga- wam seems to have had no such street, and the plantation was housed on the narrow plateau that stretched between the great river and the swamp at the foot of a sharp bluff. For time out of mind, until recent years, there was a brook running along Springfield's business street, and no doubt the planters found it there in 1636. It was on the east side of the street, and in the first records it is called a "ditch." It served as a drain for the marsh, and there are frequent references to work on it. Thus, in 1639, the town voted that all who have a ditch before their doors shall keep it "well scowred for the ready pas- sage of the water, that it may not be pent up to overflow the meadow." Care of the ditch was insisted on, and two years later we find: "it is ordered that every inhabitant shall scower and make a ditch the breadth of his lot before his door, which to to be done by the last of next May, on the penalty of 5 shillings for every default." The inhabitants were often remiss in keeping the ditch open. Fines due in 1645 were suspended, and an extra month allowed in which to do the cleaning, "and if any are defective the penalty is to be paid to Goodman Prichard." It is doubtful whether the natural brook ran along the course of what has since been known as the Town Brook. The lowest ground was then nearer the bluff and probably the brook ran about where Dwight Street is now located. A fence was built in front of the houses, and no buildings were allowed between it and the ditch.
Once a month came Training Day. Henry Smith was the first "serjant," and he named the day of the meetings, and chose a cor- poral. Men who absented themselves forfeited twelve pence, and all above fifteen years of age were counted for soldiers. One thing not allowed was the selling or giving powder to Indians.
Community of interests failed to prevent friction between man and man, and the right to quarrel was exercised from the start.
48
HAMPDEN COUNTY-1636-1936
HAMPDEN COUNTY COURT-IIOUSE, ERECTED 1874.
49
AGAWAM PLANTATION
William Pynchon, as magistrate, records in November, 1639, a meeting to try causes by jury. One suit was by Pynchon himself against Thomas Mirrick for "Not delivering back the boards lent him." The jury decided that the defendant should "make good 3 such like boards as we find not yet delivered with the rest."
William Pynchon was always the moderator of the town meeting, and thus the lines of his political and judicial activities were often blended. As moderator he would put a question proposed by the person being tried; while as magistrate he summoned the jury to try the case, administer oaths, and receive and record verdicts. Owing to the scanty number of men in the plantation the same blending of responsibility existed in the jury, and a person might be a witness and serve on the jury at the same time.
But there were also persons of another sort who made pests of themselves. Such was John Woodcock, who had a lawsuit at Hart- ford, in which Mr. Moxon was a witness against him. He was defeated in this Hartford suit, and being an unprincipled fellow, sought revenge by circulating a report that the minister had taken a false oath. This produced a decided sensation among the good people of Agawam Plantation, as Springfield was then called. Woodcock was summoned to appear before Mr. Pynchon, the magistrate, to answer for the slander, and as he was anxious to avoid a trial before a jury of the neighbors, to whom both were well known, he wanted this difference tried by a private hearing at Windsor or Hartford, which were the nearest settlements down the river.
Mr. Moxon "referred himself to the judgment of the plantation present whether it were fitter to be heard by a private reference down the river or tried here publicly by a jury." The general vote of the plantation was, "that, seeing the matter is public, it should be publicly heard and tried here by a jury."
Liberty was granted John Woodcock to produce his witnesses a fortnight later. Also, at that time, John Woodcock was warned to answer for his "laughing in sermon time this day at the lecture," and he was to answer for his misdemeanor of idleness. The jury returned a verdict in Mr. Moxon's favor for six pounds, thirteen shillings, four pence.
It may fairly be taken for granted that in the eleven years Mr. Moxon was still to spend in Springfield, he was engaged in the ordi-
Hampden-4
50
HAMPDEN COUNTY-1636-1936
nary pastoral duties, and the routine, of course, included preaching Sabbath morning and afternoon, besides delivering the usual lecture every Thursday, at half-past ten in the forenoon.
Strangely enough, William Pynchon was subjected to a second trial on the old charge of speculation in trade to the detriment of the public. The charge was brought by certain members of the church at Windsor, Connecticut, with intent to withdraw from him the right hand of Christian fellowship. It seems likely that the summons to appear there was a manipulation of Captain Mason's friends. He was a member of the Windsor church, and to please him, they may have attempted a demonstration against the Agawam magistrate for its moral effect. There was a close affiliation between Agawam and Windsor during the first few years, and when Mr. Pynchon left Rox- bury he took a letter from the church there to the one at Windsor.
September 6, 1640, the church assembled to determine whether Mr. William Pynchon's answers were satisfactory to the brethren's offense at his failings in the trust of trading corn for the supply of the country, contained in five articles presented to him by the said brethren. To the first charge Mr. Pynchon answered that he could not get any quantity at the price in the order. The response of the church was that he could not resolve so great a matter in one or two days' experience.
The church determined that Mr. Pynchon's judgment was not sound and that his answers were not satisfactory. At the same time Captain Mason's way of dealing with the situation was judged as "lawfull, though Mr. Pynchon thinks otherwise."
About a month was spent by Mr. Pynchon preparing a protest against the church decision. It was a good specimen of special plead- ing, and showed a keen, logical mind, and a sense of justice which even the ill will of a whole province could not shake.
Mr. Pynchon's first letter to Hartford informing the authorities of the unwillingness of the Indians to bring in corn, had given great offense, because it contained a recommendation as to what policy to pursue. And this also figured against Pynchon at Windsor, and he asks, "Can a church or anyone deny me liberty to expound my own thoughts by way of advice to the magistrates ?" The case reduces itself to this: Agawam was on the border of the planting-grounds. Mr. Pynchon was the natural man to furnish Connecticut with corn. He made a contract with the river towns by which he could receive no
51
AGAWAM PLANTATION
commission or speculative gains, whatever the price might be, and he found the conditions difficult to fulfill. Captain Mason, the warrior, was then sent up with an armed force to trade and, of course, there was trouble.
After the Windsor church had condemned Mr. Pynchon, he appealed to Mr. Eliot and the church at Roxbury. An investigation followed, and presently the Roxbury church notified Mr. Pynchon's accusers, after a thorough examination, that Mr. Pynchon was com- pletely vindicated. Thus the Connecticut General Court and the Windsor Church condemned Mr. Pynchon, and the Massachusetts General Court and the Roxbury church stood by him.
One of the early lacks was a blacksmith and for ten years Spring- field was without any. Then it paid in wheat one of its citizens to build a blacksmith's shop twelve feet wide, sixteen feet long and "five foot stud betwixt joints" and equip it with a chimney and forge, one door and a window, with a beam "in the midst."
The next move was to get a blacksmith, and Mr. Pynchon bought one. That came about in this way: There had been war between Scotland and England, and the Scotch were defeated in the battle of Dunbar, and as a result many were taken to England as prisoners and sold for a certain period into slavery. So Mr. Pynchon, with the aid of an agent in London, bought a Scotch blacksmith, John Stewart, and soon he came across the sea to Springfield and was promptly put in charge of the new smithy, where from the start he was a great bless- ing. Time sped, and after a while his work had paid the expense of his voyage and for what Mr. Pynchon had spent, and then the town made him a present of the smithy.
Troubles of the Traders
CHAPTER V Troubles of the Traders
At the April town meeting, in 1640, an important vote was passed changing the town's name from Agawam, which is the Indian name for meadow, and substituting Springfield, the name of Mr. Pynchon's old home in England.
Feelings of mutual distrust between Springfield and Connecticut continued to linger. The latter was disposed to lay claim to lands over the Massachusetts line, and a veritable tempest was roused by the .Connecticut Court which passed an order that Governor Hopkins should have the benefit of free trade at Woronoco and any place thereabout on the river. All other persons were to be restrained for a period of seven years, and the land was to be bought for the Com- monwealth. The region was the site of Westfield in the heart of the beaver grounds, and as soon as communication could be had with the Bay the situation was fully ventilated, and a letter was prepared by the General Court. This began with: "It is grevious to us to meet with any occasion that might cause differences to arise between your people and our standing in so near relation of friendship, neighbor- hood, and Christianity. Therefore our study is to remove the occa- . sion of them on the first appearance. Now we have it certified that you have given leave to some of your people to set up a trading house at Woronoco which is known to be within our patent lying as much or more to the north than Springfield. We hear also, that you have granted to Mr. Robert Saltonstall a great quantity of land not far from Springfield which we conceive also belongs to us. We desire you to do us such right in redress hereof as you would expect from us in like case. We have thought meet on these occasions to intimate fur- ther that we intend, by God's help to know the certainty of our limits, to the end that we may neither intrench on the right of our neighbors, nor suffer ourselves and our posterity to be deprived of what right- fully belongs to us. Which we hope will be without offence to any."
56
HAMPDEN COUNTY-1636-1936
Governor Hopkins and Mr. Saltonstall were becoming extensive traders, and under favor of the Connecticut Colony, were in a fair way to isolate Springfield. Hence the protest from the Bay did not arrive any too soon. With a warehouse built by Hopkins at Woro- noco, and with Saltonstall enjoying grants of land near Enfield Falls, the plan to bring the trade of the valley to the door of Hartford was well under way. Considering the ill-feeling that was rife, we may well be impressed at the diplomacy which strove to loosen the tension of strained relations by way of the deference shown.
One result of all this was that, in 1638, William Pynchon was appointed by commissioners of the General Court "to have for this year full power and authority to govern the inhabitants at Springfield, and to hear and determine all causes and offenses, both civil and crimi- nal, that reach not to life, limbs, or banishment according to the laws here established." This decree stood practically undisputed, but it left the question of river commerce open as a fruitful source of further contention.
During the two years after Springfield's declaration of independ- ence from Connecticut, there was very little connection with the Bay. Its position had been unique, for it was not included in any tax rates levied at Boston, and was not represented at the General Court by deputies or the presence of a magistrate, nor is there any evidence that Mr. Pynchon attended court. Neither did Springfield appear in the official list of towns included in the four counties of Massachu- setts. Mr. Pynchon was annually reelected to his governing authority until the troublous times of 1650, and he was regularly chosen magis- trate. He still continued the beaver trade, and he paid a license to the General Court for special trading privileges.
For some unexplained reason, it was not until 1647 that Spring- field was included in any of the official lists of Massachusetts towns, and this inclusion was for brands on horses for each town, ordered to be set on one of the near quarters. There were five towns in the Colony then, beginning with "S," and the Springfield brand was a monogram composed of a "small s" and "p."
The influence of Mr. Pynchon over the local Indians was never lost, although his idea of their stability was far from flattering. In a letter to Governor Winthrop he advised dilatory means with the Indians, for he perceived it was their nature to be much provoked with
57
TROUBLES OF THE TRADERS
the desire of revenge, but if means of delay were used, the edge of their revengeful desire was soon cooled. Thanks to Mr. Pynchon's sagacity, the Indian portion of this narrative is uneventful for some years. The relations of the Connecticut towns with the savages were not so assuring.
During the next few years a dozen or more new men arrived at Springfield, the most notable of whom were Deacon Samuel Chapin and Elizur Holyoke. Samuel Chapin became very prominent both in town and church. He was a man of affairs and a typical Puritan. Often he was made selectman, held positions of trust, and was the founder of a line of deacons who have been a credit to their ancestor. He was later immortalized by St. Gaudens' statue of a typical Puritan on his way to meeting, with a big Bible under one arm. This is per- haps Springfield's finest art treasure.
Thomas Cooper was another of the emigrating group-a useful man and a good fighter, whom the people of the valley held in high esteem. His personal influence with the natives was great, and it was his over-confidence in their fidelity to Springfield which finally cost him his life. Elizur Holyoke was a young man, who soon developed sterling qualities that have been transmitted to a family of great importance in New England.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.