USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume II > Part 30
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This first attempt at filling in the long empty space between Brook- field and Springfield having failed, the General Court, in 1701, appointed Colonel John Pynchon and four other Springfield men to lay out a new township eight miles square on the east boundary of Springfield. After three times visiting the locality before they could decide where to lay the town plot, East Hill, later called Grout's Hill, was chosen and a road four rods wide laid out from the Connecticut line northward. Thirteen grants were immediately made on this road, but they all lapsed, probably owing to the French and Indian wars.
Monson was originally a favorite hunting ground of the Indians and a great many arrowheads have been picked up on the hills and a stone mortar in which they ground their corn has been found. Some years ago the remains of an Indian, as was supposed, were dug up in the valley south of the Chicopee River. He was of large size, buried in a sitting position, with a rusty gun and a bottle of liquor beside him.
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It was over fifty years after Fellows abandoned his tavern that Robert Olds, of Springfield, became the first permanent settler of Monson by taking up the grant next to and south of the one held by Fellows.
Monson was at first a part of Brimfield, and when it became a town in 1731, ten of its eighty-four proprietors were located within the limits of the present town of Monson. Settlers came in fairly rapidly and when Monson was incorporated as a district in April, 1760, there were forty-nine families already making homes there. Governor Pownall, of Massachusetts, bestowed the name in honor of his friend, who was president of the British board of trade at the time. It is because of Admiral William Monson's insistence that the ships of friendly nations strike their flags in passing, a custom which has been adopted by the world's merchant marine and even pleasure craft in domestic waters. The first district meeting was called by Captain John Sherman, who was the physician, school teacher, town clerk and justice of the peace of Brimfield, and was held at the house of Samuel King. The necessary officers were elected and a day of fasting and prayer appointed. Among the first acts of the new district was one to arrange for regular preaching services and they began to hear candidates in preparation for select- ing a settled minister. One of these candidates was Simeon Strong, afterward one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. At first the Sabbath worship was conducted in private houses, but on June 23, 1762, a meetinghouse was sufficiently built so that the ordaining exercises of the first pastor, Reverend Abishai Sabin, could be held there. The site was purchased from Colonel Jonathan Dwight, of Springfield, and Simeon Dwight, of Warren (then Western), and in order to raise the necessary money the General Court allowed the town to assess a tax of two pence an acre on all the land in the district for two years. The church was a plain, rectangular, barn-like structure, about twenty feet high, without chimney or steeple, and lighted by a single row of small windows. An hourglass, which the minister turned as he proceeded and the sand ran out, was the only way of marking the sermon's length.
The church was officially organized on the same day the minister was ordained, with twelve men members and about the same number of women. They were all members of other churches, mostly in
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Brimfield, where they had previously been obliged to go for divine worship. The new minister came from Pomfret, Connecticut, and was a Yale graduate.
Ten pounds was granted for schools in 1765, but by 1771 this was increased to twenty-five pounds. In the latter year the town was divided into nine school districts, so each received but a small sum. It was eked out by "boarding round" the teachers, by firewood furnished by parents and, no doubt, at times with money raised in the school districts.
Deacon Abel Goodell was chosen delegate to the Provincial Con- gress in 1774 and soon a company of minute men was drilling under Freeborn Moulton as captain and Nathaniel Sikes as lieutenant. In a letter written by Joseph Clarke, of Northampton, about a meeting of patriots held at Parson's Tavern in Springfield, is this piece of news: "Capt. Merrick of Monson was treated with for uttering impudent expressions. I thought they would have tarred and feathered him, and I thought he almost deserved it." Monson was made a town with full powers in 1776 and Deacon Abijah Newell was the first representative. The town voted unanimously in favor of independ- ence and offered a bounty of twenty pounds to men who would enlist in the Continental Army. Nearly, if not all, of the able-bodied men in Monson were at one time or another on the field of battle and commissioned officers were numerous. The minister went as chaplain in the army for six months and then a year at a time.
A letter addressed by Benjamin Munn, Abel Goodell and Noah Sabin to Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren at Boston, says :
"We send a testimonial of our firm adherence to the great cause, in which everything dear to us is embarked. We pro- fess a ready cheerfulness to shed our blood to oppose tyranny and oppression. We have eighty fellows in this district, a great part of which are disciplined and ready marksmen. I dare be bold to say that, at thirty rods' distant, they would pick off Tories as fast as so many hawks would pick frogs from a frog pond."
Several votes are recorded as paying bounties of increasing size and the care of veterans' families while away on duty added to the
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heavy load borne by the people. Clothing was sent from Monson to the soldiers in Philadelphia by Benjamin Munn and blankets were sometimes stripped from the beds when requisitioned.
During the Revolution smallpox became very prevalent and May 18, 1778, Monson voted to set up "Enockeulation" under certain restrictions by the selectmen. With proper care only a small per- centage of deaths occurred when thus supervised, but left without control whole families were sometimes wiped out.
Depreciation of currency after the war is shown in the price of nine pounds per day paid for work on the highways during the sum- mer months and six pounds a day the rest of the year. Money was first expressed in dollars and cents about 1795, but pounds, shillings and pence continued to be used for some time by those who did not enjoy new ways.
Baptists or "Separates" began to be common by 1768, when a church of that faith was organized in Wilbraham, and twenty years later Freeborn Moulton and sixty others were set off as the first Baptist Church of Monson. A meetinghouse was built on the Hamp- den Road, but it fell into a neglected state and finally burned. Toward the end of the century both Congregationalists and Baptists felt the need of a new meetinghouse and decided to combine forces and build one in which all denominations might worship. The "supply" was to be furnished in proportion to the amount each group could realize from its members in the sale of pews. The pews were sold at auc- tion and brought from $II to $161 each. In the new church the young women were to sit on the east and the young men on the west side of the gallery. This church was dedicated November 16, 1803, and while the plan of union was not uncommon in small towns at this time, it did not prove entirely satisfactory; so, in 1817, after some years of relationship with the Baptists at Wilbraham, a church was built in the western part of the town of Monson.
A narrow valley runs the whole length of the township from north to south and here are rich meadows and productive soil flanked on the slopes by good pasturage. The fine farming land with plentiful forests satisfied the early settlers, but after the Revolution other employment was sought and Chicopee River and Twelve Mile Brook became thickly studded with saw, grist, clover, carding, cotton and woolen mills. The Monson and Brimfield Manufacturing Company,
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in 1810, built a fine stone mill for making cotton goods. The Mon- son Woolen Manufacturing Company and the Hampden Cotton Manufacturing Company followed soon after. Joseph and Jeremiah Bumpstead had iron works where bar iron was made from scrap iron, and bog iron was mined near Cato's pool in Silver Street. Lead pipe was made by Timothy Packard for a time. The lead was run in sheets, cut to proper width and moulded on an iron rod six feet long. The long joint was then soldered. A factory for making ladies' bon- nets was carried on by Merrick and Fay, who sometimes employed one hundred and fifty persons and used $500 worth of stock in a day. Some of this work was sent out to families in Monson and surround- ing towns and did much to build up the finances of the region. Over- alls, shirts and drawers were made by Rogers and Company and tin- ware by N. P. Barton. As much as $16,000 worth of gold and silver spectacles were at one time produced annually by skilled labor in the town, which also speculated in silk worms and mulberry trees when the fever swept the Connecticut valley.
The Monson granite quarries were first opened by the United States Government in 1809 to get stone for building the armory in Springfield. After they had taken out all they needed the quarries remained unworked until Rufus Flynt acquired them and began work with five men in 1825. The industry grew rapidly and came to be one of the most important in the town; the hewn and unhewn granite was sent far and wide. The stone is of two distinct shades, light and dark, and is free from iron. Yokes of oxen were at first used for the heavy work at the quarry and strings of them could be seen going to work daily. They were slow, but strong and patient, and would pull until they got down on their knees. The stone was cut, finished and dressed by hand labor alone for many years.
When William Flynt was owner of the quarries he had an old bay horse which he drove to the works every morning and then sent him back home without a driver. The horse was very careful and never had an accident.
The people of Monson were not slow to express their patriotism when the Civil War broke out. Fifteen days after Fort Sumter was fired on they held a town meeting and soon it was loyally voted "That all the residents of Monson who enlist in the U. S. service shall have their support and that of their families while drilling and preparing
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for active service from the funds of the town, and when called into active service, shall have a good outfit and ten dollars per month and their families sufficient support during such service." Bounties of one hundred and one hundred and fifty dollars were later offered for enlisted men and finally they were drafted. Monson furnished two hundred and eighty men for the service, which was over one-third of the able-bodied men of the town and eighteen more than its quota.
The musket and canteen used by Rodney Bradway in the Civil War are still preserved in the family, as is also a six-foot rifle which Amon Bradway used in hunting. Amon was the son of Abel, who, with his wife, came into Monson mounted on horseback and carrying all their earthly possessions in saddlebags. The love of hunting and fishing was a trait of the family and an old resident relates what a common thing it was to see "Aunt Sophie," the Bradway mare, hitched to a farm wagon jogging briskly along toward some pond, a flat- bottomed boat in the wagon, and five Bradway men aboard bound for a day's fishing.
Monson Academy, a State-aided institution, was the second of its kind established in Hampden County. Abner Brown, representa- tive to the General Court, was instrumental in getting the bill for its organization through the Legislature. Brimfield struggled against Monson to acquire the institution, but Monson citizens subscribed $4,000 for the building and preparation of the ground and won out. The academy building was dedicated October 23, 1806, and opened in November with twenty-one pupils. A charity fund to aid candi- dates for the ministry was established in 1825, chiefly through the exertions of Dr. Alfred Ely, pastor of the Congregational Church in Monson. He had been closely identified with school work in the town for many years and had introduced the reading of the Bible and the study of the catechism. He examined the teachers and vis- ited the pupils and never received any compensation for the work he did. Dr. Simeon Colton, a graduate of Yale, was the first prin- cipal. An unusual proportion of graduates, as the years went on, became ministers and missionaries. Two students from Greece came to the academy in 1829, one of whom became the noted Professor Sophocles. In 1847 three Chinese boys entered the academy. Yung Wing, trained in Monson, was an internationally known educator. Another authority on educational matters, Henry Barnard, was also
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a student. As the institution grew dormitories and a gymnasium were added. A library fund was started by joint donations of Rufus Flynt and Timothy Packard. Joel Norcross was another liberal benefactor.
By an act of the Legislature in 1852 Monson acquired what was then called a State institution for "paupers" large enough to accom- modate five hundred inmates. All ages seem to have been taken in from infants up. Dr. Samuel D. Brooks, of South Hadley, was the first superintendent, a man firm but kind, who believed his work should be educational as well as furnishing physical care. A farm of one hundred and eighty-five acres was a part of the plant, though few of the inmates at that time were able to do much work.
January 4, 1835, was known as "the cold Sabbath of January." Even the "oldest inhabitants" at that time could not recollect any previous day when the thermometer registered thirty-five degrees below zero. The following Monday was even colder and, while Tuesday was a little warmer, the next four days ranged from five to seventeen degrees below zero.
October 30 of the same year there was an almost complete eclipse of the sun.
A disastrous flood which cost the town of Monson sixty or sev- enty thousand dollars occurred on October 4, 1869. After a rain of nearly three whole days every bridge and every dam on the stream was washed away and roads were badly gullied and in some places impassable. Factories and houses were undermined and the cellars flooded. Loose lumber and outbuildings floated away and individual losses were great.
The dark day of September 6, 1881, was a fit successor of the one in 1780. The sun was obscured and the sky had a ghastly appear- ance. Lamps were lighted in the forenoon in the homes and the fac- tories and stores were illuminated as if it were night. Mothers gathered their children in with apprehension and the hens went to roost soon after their morning feed. People complained of faint- ness and a few actually swooned. Dew fell at midday, but by evening the smoke which caused the darkness had cleared away.
On August 10, 1883, two distinct earthquake shocks were felt, sufficient to jar open doors and rattle windows.
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Horace Moulton and two other students at Monson Academy held Methodist meetings at the north and south villages in the sum- mer of 1825. A chapel was built in South Monson the following year and was dedicated free of debt, though bare and unfinished and having only rough benches for seats. A much finer structure was built in 1849 and then enlarged later. Other churches are the Roman Catholic and the Universalist.
Monson showed its quality by forming the Social Library Com- pany as early as 1796. Thirty-one persons were subscribers and the books were kept in the home of Squire Jonathan Torrey. There were two hundred and thirty-five volumes, including sermons and works of theology. After functioning for fifty-six years the books were divided among the owners. The Augmenting Social Library Association was organized in 1800 and had from twelve to eighteen members. Later came the library for the benefit of Monson Academy and also one of agricultural books owned by farmers who contributed five dollars each. The free public library was opened in 1878 and in 1882 was housed in a memorial building given by Mrs. Carrie R. Dale, in memory of her father, Horatio Lyon.
Flynt Park is a remarkable piece of hillside which rises in steep terraces at the western borders of the village. It is a place of winding roads, varied woodland and open fields. On one of the highest of its hills was built a tower which gave far views over the surrounding region. A roomy pavilion afforded shelter and a small museum housed a good collection of familiar and unfamiliar animals. This park, as well as many of the other good things the town enjoyed, was the gift of W. N. Flynt, who found his wealth in the granite quarries of the town. It ceased to be kept up as a public park after the death of the elder Mr. Flynt, but it is still a lovely spot and attracts those who enjoy a quiet picnic or peaceful walk.
Mrs. Phobe Hinshaw Brown, a long-time resident of Monson, wrote many beautiful hymns and prose compositions. One sacred and well loved lyric commences :
"I love to steal a while away From every cumbering care."
A Nantucket whale with "Captain" George H. Newton, of Mon- son, in charge made a lengthy railroad journey approximately sixty years ago. Judge Newton, a former Special Justice of the District
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Court of Eastern Hampden County, who spent a summer in Nan- tucket about sixty-five years ago, was told by deep sea fishermen there of whales being occasionally washed up on the shore. He became interested and asked to be notified when one appeared. On receiving the notice he went down and bought the whale. It was towed to the mainland, loaded on two freight cars, and taken on a tour of exhibition. The judge acted as lecturer and gave an educational talk. The first exhibition was held at Springfield and children were admit- ted free, but a small charge was made for adults. The schools of the city were closed to allow the children to attend, it being specified that they must be accompanied by parent or guardian. The whale was taken as far west as Chicago, where by request of the mayor it was exhibited in a park, after a special track was laid across a high- way so it might be transported.
Among the visitors was Sarah Bernhardt, the famous actress, who was so interested in the exhibit that Judge Newton cut off one of the whale's fins and presented it to her. The last exhibit was at Bay City, Michigan, where the whale began to make its own presence known. Unsuccessful efforts were then made to embalm it and it was finally cut up there and the oil extracted. Judge Newton brought home many of the bones and three of the vertebrae are still to be seen at the home of Arthur E. Fitch, of Palmer.
The Massachusetts Hospital for Epileptics was established in 1 895 and the buildings erected on the site of the State Primary School at Monson. The plan was to provide congenial surroundings, hope- ful care and training in self-support. A boot and shoe manufactory is worked to advantage with the patients' labor. The total number of buildings is now about fifty, which take care of 1,500 cases. Occu- pational therapy has a prominent place in the program of the hos- pital and sports, entertainments and social affairs are promoted. The farm, which accommodates about one hundred and thirty head of cat- tle, is largely operated by patients and they take care of the grounds and roads. This growing institution is already over-populated and more buildings are needed. The social service department makes family investigations, and research work is carried on by members of the staff.
The quarries are now owned by James Moran and some stone has been gotten out recently to be used in Works Progress Adminis-
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tration projects, but the amount is negligible compared to the past, when it was shipped away in quantity. The largest stone ever quar- ried here was three hundred and fifty-four feet long, eleven feet wide and four feet thick. Monson's substantial library building is con- structed of Monson granite and the same stone appears again in their town hall.
The Ellis family, now connected with the mills of that name, is represented by two men, Dwight and George, who live in Long- meadow. Frank Entwistle is also a member of the firm. No. 1 mill was built by the father of the present owners of the Ellis name and No. 3 mill is now being operated also. A very fine quality of Eng- lish broadcloth has been a leading output, as well as upholstery mate- rial for caskets and automobiles. The covering material for tennis balls is also made here.
The Cushman Mills were once an important part of Monson's industrial life, but their building is now used only as a storage house. For a time after they ceased to make fine woolen there it was oper- ated as a hat shop, but that finally closed down along with many other small town manufactures.
Both the Cushman and Ellis families have shown their interest and public spirit by gifts to the town of Monson. Mrs. E. D. Cush- man gave her house and land for use as a Home for Aged People and endowed a room in it. This project was sponsored by the King's Daughters, who worked valiantly to raise the necessary money to keep it going. Mrs. A. D. Ellis also endowed a room in the home and in her will recently left $5,000 to the institution. At the present time the home is caring for women only, though it still retains its former name.
In 1916 Mrs. A. D. Ellis also gave to the town the site for a school building and sufficient money to pay for its construction.
The Monson "Register," put out by the publisher of the Palmer "Journal-Register," is the only town newspaper.
The Quaboag Country Club is located in Monson, but its mem- bership is made up largely of Palmer people. It carries on an exten- sive program of sports and has featured some important teams and individual players.
There has recently come to light the account book of Stephen Cross, of Monson. He was evidently a man of affairs with a farm to manage
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and an active wood-working business. At various times he had men who worked for him and he made business trips to other towns.
The large, brown account book, bound in calf skin and tied with leather thongs, was bought by him on January 16, 1792, and cost ten shillings. Its unruled pages are numbered by hand and a few entries which are not accounts add to the interest and help interpret the his- tory revealed by its pages. The old-fashioned writing and varied spelling of even common words, added to the use of the long "s" and the frequent appearance of terms now nearly obsolete, make the deciphering somewhat difficult.
Quite properly the following admonition appears on the first page :
"Steal not this book my honest friend For fear the gallows will be your end. This book is one, the gallows is another. Steal not the one for fear of the other."
It would be natural to suppose that the bookkeeping started with the marriage of the young man when he began business for himself, but so much is set down during the first year that he must have been well started long before.
In 1792 he received two shillings and six pence for "bording the School Mists (mistress ) one weeke." During the next twenty years, among other things, he made many coffins and spells the word in seven different ways !
There were two and one-half yards of ribbed velvet bought in 1792, which makes one think of fancy vests or else of some garment for a wife. If she was a new wife in that year she went right to work weaving and sewing, for there are items which mention "Cot Botnes" (coat buttons ) and "Ves Botnes" (vest buttons ) and "weving cloyth" (weaving cloth). Sometimes there were twenty-five yards in a piece, and different kinds are mentioned through the following years such as bed blankets, tow cloth, fulled woolen, diaper, coverlets and checked linen. "One qurts of Indowgo" (one quart of indigo) must have added quite a little joy and color to her work that year, and some- body in the household hired Abner Johnson's horse, drove it ten miles for two shillings and eight pence, bought a broom for a shilling and two cards of gingerbread for eight pence. This sounds like a lady's shopping trip and is balanced by one in 1799, evidently taken by the
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man of the house. He went in the "Carrig" (carriage ) "20 milds att 4 pence pr. mile," was gone two days, used one bushel of corn, prob- ably for horse feed, and makes note of three pounds of "tobacker," which cost two shillings.
Little money changed hands in the various transactions carried on through all the years until Stephen Cross' last entry in 1834. Instead the bartering system was used and produce or work was the medium of exchange. Still accounts did not run on endlessly, but were carefully closed with these words: "This day we the subscribers reckoned and settled all book accounts to this date and made even balance as witness our hands," followed by the names of debtor and creditor. For instance, during this first year Cross received in pay for making a chest, table, great chair and six common chairs, one tester frame and one bedstead, articles made by a worker in another line-namely, two pairs of shoes and a leather apron together with twelve pounds of leather and one "chep skin," probably "sheep skin." Mrs. Cross must have been a tailoress for somebody got a pair of "Trowseys," one "Weckit" and one "Cott" made that year, for which she was paid four shillings and six pence. If she did not only the cutting, fitting and sewing, but most likely the pressing also with the old-fashioned tailor's goose heated in the fireplace, she certainly well earned all she was paid.
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