USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume II > Part 26
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A State law finally did away with the system of separately-managed schools in the various districts and the schools themselves were con- solidated in 1883 and the empty schoolhouses were gradually sold.
Holland held its town meetings in the meetinghouse for nearly one hundred years. This was the custom in most of the New Eng- land towns as the people were of one faith at first and the church was the center of all the social, political, moral and spiritual life. After the new church was built in 1835 the old church stood on the common unused and naturally the question came up of converting it into a town hall, but this plan did not meet with much favor. Town meeting was sometimes held in the Baptist Church and in 1839 it met at Holland Inn, paying a dollar for the privilege. One town meeting was held in a horseshed. The final result of many votes made and reconsidered and changed was that the Baptist society gave their church, which
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they had ceased to use, and Holland at last had a town house. Repairs and changes were made and now the school children are accommo- dated on the lower floor with the town hall above.
The public library in Holland was preceded by the "Holland Social Library Company," of which little is known. In 1892, with the aid of State funds, the public library was started and a room parti- tioned off in the town hall for the books. This remained satisfactory for some time, but on August 24, 1912, the town dedicated an attrac- tive and suitably placed library building.
For about one hundred years the question of water supply on the plain where stood the church and parsonage was a serious matter and various plans were tried to solve the difficulty. Hauling water from a brook for washing and from a distant well for cooking and drinking could not go on forever. An attempt at digging a well on the place ended in a bed of quicksand into which the stone work kept sink- ing. A cistern was tried, but it proved to be a source of vexation. Finally, William Lilley gave the town a right to a spring in his field and water was piped to the school and to a trough on the common and the parsonage had an adequate supply.
In connection with the first minister, Reverend Ezra Reeve, the following story is told: On a hot summer morning one of his parishioners, not very pious in habit, went up on Rattlesnake Moun- tain after a load of wood. While loading he was bitten by one of the reptiles, and knowing the dangerous nature of such a bite, he took the horse and drove post haste for home. There he begged his wife to get the minister as well as the doctor and Mr. Reeve hastened to his bedside. The minister held out hope for the forgiveness of the suffering sinner and received assurance that if he lived his spiritual condition would be of first importance. The next Sunday morning Mr. Reeve, in his pastoral prayer, thanked the Lord for snakes and prayed that more might be sent until the ungodly were all in the fold.
Church buildings as well as schoolhouses were often neglected in the old days and many votes in the Holland town meetings were on the subject of changes and repairs. The deacons' seat, pews on the broad "alley" and benches in the "galleray" had to be arranged for, but most interesting of all is the vote that the pulpit be colored a good handsome "pee" green.
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When the old church was torn down in 1839 there was scarcely a bush or tree on the common where now is a beautiful grove. But they must have begun to grow soon after, for in 1864 the town voted to cut all trees on the common. It was Mrs. Kinney, wife of the pro- prietor of Holland Inn at that time, who is credited with saving the grove. At her own expense she frequently hired men to trim the trees and clean the grounds. She was a capable and tactful woman, an ideal hostess and excellent cook. Under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Kinney, Holland Inn prospered and their descendants are natural restaurant keepers connected with the well-known "Waldorf" chain.
The Baptist Church, whose building subsequently became the town hall, was organized April 12, 1817, in the home of Benjamin Church and he gave most of the lumber used in constructing the edifice. Those of that faith had frequently protested against paying a tax for the support of the Congregational Church, and finally a special certificate was made out to show that a person was attending and supporting the new church and so could not be taxed by the orthodox. The Baptists were active up to 1845 and were succeeded for a short time after 1859 by a Methodist group.
Some of the given names on the old church records are quite uncommon and make one wonder how they originated or why they were used. Zidd, Almarin, Orace, Nabby, Federal, Antipas, Vialy, Mandana, Elven, Monday and Delosha are names of this sort.
A Holland vote recorded in 1792 was not unusual in those years : "To see if the town will provide a place wherein to have the smallpox by way of inoculation or otherwise." This was advocated by Dr. Wallis and several times in various ways was before the town, but the citizens were against the establishment of a pesthouse, though the neighboring town of Wales had one and a whole family in Holland was wiped out in an epidemic and the house was burned to destroy the contagion.
Holland did its part in the Civil War, five of its volunteers being but eighteen years old. There were thirty-nine enrolled from Hol- land out of a population which numbered only 419.
The most important manufacturing ever carried on in Holland was in the Fuller factory, a four-story brick building erected by Elbridge Fuller for working cotton. It had 1,024 spindles and made
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thread in skeins and, later, sheeting and print cloth. Fuller's Village of tenements, warehouses and stores grew up around the factory, which was struck by lightning in 1851 and never rebuilt.
Israel Janes had an early brick kiln on Siog Lake and clay from that vicinity was also used at one time in making earthenware utensils.
About 1798 James Paddock set up a furnace and worked the iron ore which was mined locally, but it was never very good. Later cut nails were for a time manufactured in the town.
Lead from the mine in Sturbridge was ground by Edward Blod- gett around 1850. It was a fine grade of graphite and was called plumbago or black lead.
Josiah Hobbs had a tannery in Holland to which the farmers drew hemlock bark. The cattle were frequently driven to the tannery before being killed. The hide from the shoulders of the animals was made into leather for "uppers" and that on the butt into sole leather. The shoemaker visited the families in turn about once a year and stayed from a week to three weeks in a place, according to how much work was waiting for him. An ordinary cobbler might carry with him only two straight lasts, but some people of importance had their own private lasts. Parents often insisted that the boys change their boots each day from one foot to the other that the wear might be more even. They were well greased with mutton tallow in the winter evenings to make them shed water and remain pliable.
The Eclipse line of stages from Hartford to Worcester ran through Holland on the turnpike and one toll gate was on the Staf- ford Road. General Lafayette went through the town in 1824 and when he stopped to dine at Holland Inn many persons came to see him.
Holland's ponds and beautiful scenery attract summer people and a private colony has grown up around Lost Lake. The Springfield Girls' Club owns one hundred acres on Siog Lake. Siog is an Indian word that means pickerel. James Davis, of Springfield, has a small mink farm in the town.
Holland is the ninth smallest town in population in the State. It numbered only two hundred and one in the last census, less than half of what it was in 1830.
Longmeadow, With Its Beautiful Homes
Hampden-56
CHAPTER XII
Longmeadow, With Its Beautiful Homes
To Longmeadow belongs the distinction of being the oldest child of the independent State of Massachusetts, for it was the first town organized after the treaty of peace with Great Britain had made the Nation and State unquestionably free and independent. The name of Longmeadow, which had been used by the settlement and adopted by the precinct, was continued for the town on its incorporation, Octo- ber 13, 1783, though "Lisbon" and "South Springfield' were favored names at a later date.
William Pynchon, the father of Springfield, acquired "The Long meddow" from some ancient Indians of Agawam for four fathoms of wampum, four coats, four hatchets, four hoes and four knives.
The Indians were not cheated. They attached little value to the land they sold and saw great advantage in having a ready market for their furs and in gaining access to the white men's supplies of cloth, tools, firearms and numberless other things. During forty years they lived in unity with their neighbors and might have continued to do so but for the influence of such Indians as King Philip.
The Indians were also handicapped by their own habits, which were idle and roving. Smallpox had been a scourge to them and war- fare among themselves had thinned them so that sometimes for miles there was not a single wigwam. They were most numerous in the vicinity of the great river, where fish abounded and where beavers built their dams. There was a village on Pecowsic Brook, a palisaded fort on Long Hill and a burial ground on the river bank. Skeletons have been revealed from time to time when spring freshets have brought them to light, but what most reminds us of the Indian's former presence is arrowheads and pottery.
On Sunday, March 26, 1676, some of the people of Longmeadow, including women and children, ventured to ride to Springfield for pub-
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lic worship in company with several colony troopers. There were sixteen or eighteen men, but some had women behind them on their horses and some had children in their arms. When they were near Pecowsic Brook seven or eight Indians in the bushes fired on the hind- most, killing a man and a maid and wounding others. Then they took two women with babes and retired into a swamp. The rest of the colonists rode forward some distance toward Springfield, set down the women and maids and then returned, but could not find the two women and children. Major Savage, writing of this affair, says :
"In the night I sent out sixteen horsemen to pursue the Indians. They joined men sent from Springfield and over- took the Indians with the captives, who as soon as they saw the English, killed the two children and then used their hatchets to sorely wound the women with blows on their heads. After that they ran into a swamp, where the English could not follow them. The scouts brought back both women and the dead children."
One of the women was still unconscious when the letter was writ- ten, but the other "was very sensible and rational."
The early settlers built their homes on the convenient lowlands, but in December, 1695, the river was the cause of unexpected changes in the layout of the town. All day the water rose in a mighty flood and the long meadow became a sea. Night came and the relentless water swashed into the cellars, invading the floors and putting out the fires, and still it rose. The Cooleys, dwelling northward, fled to Springfield, while the Blisses and others of the central settlement rowed to the hillside and spent the night in the woods. The Coltons and others, who dwelt southward, rowed past the deserted houses to one near Cooley Brook, and there they ventured to spend the night. But it was the general sentiment in the morning that no more such risks should be tolerated. Removals to Longmeadow Hill began and the spacious Longmeadow Street was located.
The next decision was the voting to raise and shingle a meeting- house thirty-two by thirty-eight feet and then followed a vote "to call a learned orthodox minister to dispense the word of God to us and that the committee take care to provide such a minister as speedy as maybe." It was further voted "to git or have a schoolmaster, to teach or learn our children to read and write."
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The minister finally chosen was Stephen Williams, a youth of twenty-one. He was a Harvard graduate of a remarkable family that abounded in men of note. One of them was the founder of Wil- liams College; another a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Stephen himself was taken captive by the Indians at the age of ten and a brother and sister were killed on the dreadful night when his mother was slain going through the winter snow toward Canada. He was schooled in wigwams and became expert in all the arts of wood- craft as well as among the Jesuit priests of Quebec.
The pastor-elect was not married, but he expected to be, and in due time Stamford, Connecticut, supplied the lady. Acceptance of his call was delayed until three or four acres were fenced and prepared for an orchard in the home-lot and two more lots fenced forty rods back from the street. When he accepted the call, although seven months before his ordination, he proceeded to build a house. It was two storied with a huge central chimney, a generous fireplace, ample north and south rooms and a kitchen, built for a large family and hospitable intentions. The wedding day was July 3, 1718, and Stam- ford meetinghouse was packed. After the ceremony the happy pair were escorted by their cavalcade to the new Longmeadow parsonage. Their neighbors prepared a royal feast and the pastor and his wife were fairly launched.
The building of the meetinghouse progressed slowly. At first there was the square barn-like frame, pyramidal roof and center bell- tower, but no bell for twenty-seven years. Deacon Nathaniel Burt served instead, going up and down the street beating his drum. The building had only the ground floor with rude benches and the women were seated by themselves on the west side. The next innovation was two glass windows on the south side. As the years progressed a gal- lery floor was installed and after thirteen years the walls were lathed and plastered. By and by two more glass windows appeared on the north side. Evidently the people paid as they went. Other improve- ments in the village were a burying ground, a pound and a schoolhouse.
The beating of a drum was for many years the appointed signal of assembling for public worship, but a bell was substituted about 1744. This served until the declaration of peace in 1815, when the bell was rung so violently as to crack it, in the tumultuous joy of the inhabitants.
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At length came the aristocratic instalment of three pews, which were carefully located at the lower end where two back seats had been. Next came green plush for a pulpit cushion, then three pews more voted down ! But at last the pews got the better of the benches. The meetinghouse in this slow way of getting finished grew old enough to need repairs. In the course of time a new timber meetinghouse was voted and plans were made to provide entertainment, both of victuals and drink, for the raising, in June, 1767. The day came and with it
OLD NORTH VIEW OF CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LONGMEADOW
a great concourse of people. "I prayed with them in the old meeting- house," wrote the minister, "at eleven of the clock, and they went on prosperously and got up the north side of the roof."
When the workmen stopped at night Mr. Williams prayed again and gave thanks with the people. On Tuesday the steeple was raised and at night Mr. Williams wrote: "We went into the old meeting- house, and I prayed and gave thanks with the people, and we sang a psalm."
What follows is a part of an historical address used at Long- meadow in 1883, but portraying the local customs of a hundred years earlier :
"It is a Sabbathday. The second bell has rung the first peal, and from north and south and east, the people come- the whole population, on foot and in wagons, and the farm
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wagons are without springs. Some are drawn by horses, the rest by oxen. The women and the younger children and old men sit on straight-backed chairs or milking stools; the young men and maidens and the boys line the wayside. The bell begins to toll and the congregation throng the meetinghouse steps, porches and aisles. It is a day of greeting and social exchange. After a time Mr. Williams, the minister, came from the parsonage in gown and bands and powdered wig, three-cornered hat, knee breeches, woolen stockings and sil- ver shoe buckles. The bell continued to toll until he passed through the massive double door, with iron-handled latch, and into the high pulpit with its carved work of grapes and pome- granates under the great soundingboard. The deacons were seated in their railed pew beneath the pulpit. There was no stove and for fifty-one years the frosty air of the new meeting- house was only abated by the women's foot-stoves and the cracking together of frozen boot-heels. The parson some- times preached in heavy homespun cloak and woolen mittens, and at the nooning grateful indeed was the roaring fire in the great kitchen of the parsonage, and at the tavern bar room, and at all the hospitable neighbors' open houses. There were comforting homemade lunches, apples roasting on the hearth, and hot cider. The congregation stood to pray and only bodily infirmity prevented. If any one sat down in prayer-time, it was a sudden and emphatic protest against the parson's pray- ing for the King and royal family. Yet he is not a Tory, but just an old man to whom the times look dark.
"A few years later, though not without misgivings, he read the Declaration of Independence and gave his benediction to the soldiers as they marched from the meetinghouse door to the camp of General Washington.
"For fifty years the congregation sat down to sing, but after the deacon ceased to line out the psalm, and the pitch- pipe no longer tooted, and the singingmaster had organized the choir, and the bass viols and flutes conspire with young men and maidens to make a joyful noise, they rise up and face about to see the choir. The gallery of the new meetinghouse extended around the east, south and west walls, square pews
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lined the gallery, and the negro pew was in the southwest cor- ner. Boys of twelve were in the next pew, and then came the boys of fourteen, then eighteen, which had the advantage of a window. Boys of sixteen were in the last pew on that side. There was a similar arrangement for the girls in the eastern gallery; the single men and women of discreet age had the pews lining the south gallery wall. The choir seats went all around the gallery front and the smaller children sat on benches directly behind the choir. Such an arrangement made the necessity for tything men very great. In one instance the wor- shippers were appalled to see a red-haired boy in process of being twitched over the pew rail, but hanging on to the balus- ters with both hands so successfully that with a fearful crash the entire railing came down with the boy."
In the French and Indian War that began in 1744 Parson Wil- liams went as chaplain. The drum and fife announced that Lieutenant Nathaniel Burt, also known as Deacon Burt, was ready with his com- pany to start for the front, and Stephen Williams wrote: "I went over to the deacon's; we sang a psalm and prayed together, and then went off to town, where soldiers were passing along, one company after another."
Soon the reverend chaplain followed to engage in the military service through three campaigns, until failing health compelled his return from the hardships of the camp. A few days afterward was fought the fierce battle of Lake George, in which Deacon Burt was killed with his colonel. The sad message in the handwriting of the chaplain was read on the Sabbath to the Longmeadow congregation. Mrs. Sarah Burt, the widow, fainted on hearing it and was carried out, but revived eventually to marry her reverend pastor.
One famous Longmeadow episode occurred at the beginning of the Revolution, when a company of men with faces blacked and variously disguised, attacked the house of Merchant Samuel Colton; seized his rum, salt and molasses; carried them away, and appointed Jabez Colton -- the village "man of affairs"-to be their guardian and salesman. He was a Yale graduate and a classical teacher, familiarly known as "Master Jabe." Merchant Colton was the rich- est man of the precinct. He had a shipyard on the river bank and his vessels, the "Speedwell" and the "Friendship" were launched at high
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water, floated over Enfield Falls, rigged at Hartford, laden with hoops and staves, and these were exchanged at Havana for molasses. Next came a voyage across the Atlantic to Bristol, where the molasses was sold for a general assortment of goods to be distributed again at New England ports ending with Longmeadow.
Merchant Colton's house was raided at midnight July 24, 1776, while the merchant's wife, peeping through the shutters, was scrutiniz- ing the mob so keenly their disguise did not avail. As for Merchant Colton, so broken in spirit was he by the outrage of his neighbors that he never afterward spoke aloud.
At the close of the war the neighbors who did the raiding were sued and judgment was rendered against them in favor of a man who proved his ownership of a part of the goods. The patriotic robbers plead the absence of statute law which did not exist for a time after the Declaration of Independence-the necessity that knows no law. Merchant Colton pleaded the natural equity of private rights, which is the fundamental source of law, and that without law liberty is license and independence a sorry farce. The act of indemnity was passed.
Among the last votes of the precinct was a grant of thirty pounds, good money, to the family of Reverend Stephen Williams, who had recently died, and the first thought of the newly incorporated town was to raise a monument over his honored grave. His ministry rounded out a period of sixty-six years. The last time he appeared in public his deacons carried him in his armchair across the green and helped his tottering steps into the deacons' seat, for he could not mount the pulpit stairs. They heard with tearful eyes his last address and brought him three little ones for his parting blessing. Then they car- ried him to the home he built in youthful vigor and in a few days more he died in the ninetieth year of his age.
He was plain spoken when there was need and we find him record- ing that "I again very severely reproved my neighbor, John Colton, for his drinking. I told him I desired to deliver My own soul, and if he should perish, his blood would be on his own head." As a man he was social, cheery and hospitable, and the parsonage abounded with guests and hosts of relatives. Often he went to Springfield jail to visit the prisoners and he was so full of the missionary spirit his heart was always going out to the Indians.
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A touching experience in the life of Reverend Stephen Williams occurred in the early summer of 1761, when his younger sister, Eunice, visited him. She had been taken captive at Deerfield with the rest of the family, but remained in Canada when the others returned to Massachusetts. All efforts for her redemption failed, and she forgot her native language and became in effect an Indian, marrying an Indian chief, who adopted the name of Williams. The party which visited Longmeadow included Eunice and her husband, her daughter Kath- erine and her husband, and several others. They camped in Indian style in the orchard near the parsonage, but were unable to carry on any conversation with the whites until an interpreter had been secured from Deerfield. People came in great numbers to see these dusky relatives of the pastor and Mr. Williams sent for all his numerous family to come and meet their kinsfolk. The house swarmed with people who had to be fed. July 9, after more than a week of the unusual visiting, Williams wrote in his diary: "We are fatigued and full of Company. At night my wife poorly."
The sincerest urging could not persuade Eunice to stay in civiliza- tion, though the Legislature offered a grant of land if she consented. Nor would she renounce the Catholic religion to which she had become converted while in Canada. An attempt was made to interest her in conventional garments during her visit, when her female relatives coaxed her into the house one day and dressed her completely in the best they could get. She wore the clothes long enough to exhibit them to her husband and daughter, but he grunted his disapproval and she went back to her blanket. Parson Williams records that both Eunice and her daughter "shed tears" when they said farewell.
Independent thinkers of Longmeadow were ranged on both sides during Shays' Rebellion and the hotheads followed the fiery Pelham captain. But in the War of 1812, like most New Englanders, they were unsympathetic and went on record as condemning many of the measures thought necessary by the Federal Government. When peace was declared the church bell was rung with such vigor that it was cracked and had to be recast.
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