USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Hadley > Historic Hadley : a story of the making of a famous Massachusetts town > Part 5
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make the acquaintance of that hapless officer and gentleman. Colonel Porter then found it necessary to come home to attend to his duties as high sheriff. Soon there was business at Joseph Kellogg's ferry, where a straggling army of Hessian mercenaries, pris- oners of war, waited to be set over the river. Hungry and weary, the rank and file of Burgoyne's army were thankful to rest beside the stream, and Colonel Porter, moved by sympathy for the defeated general, well-nigh helpless with illness, extended to him the hospitality of his own home, and allowed his bodyguard to encamp within the dooryard. The round eyes of the six Porter children stared with astonishment at the gay uniforms and gorgeous trappings brought so sud- denly to their very door, and Puritanical ears were horrified at the careless speech of those disgusted British soldiers.
The English general found the quiet Hadley home a very haven of rest, and his natural foes converted into kindly hosts, by whose ministrations his strength was restored, and he was able to resume his journey. In taking leave, Burgoyne presented to Colonel Porter the dress sword which he had surrendered and received again at Saratoga. This invaluable relic was left by its owner to his son Samuel and from him descended to his daughter Pamela, who married Dudley Smith. Their son Samuel Smith, and daughter, Miss Lucy Smith, now own the sword of Burgoyne, a three-edged
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rapier, with embossed silver handle and filigreed guard. The visitor examining the sword is interested to de- cipher on the blade near the handle the monogram G. R., while on the other side appears the coat of arms with the motto, "Honi soit qui mal y pense." The owners of the sword live in a house built on the site of the old dwelling, which was moved to the rear, where a part of it is still standing.
This passing of Burgoyne through Hadley was the only occasion during the war when the British were in the Connecticut Valley. Hadley soldiers were always in the field, and during their absence the town cared for their families. Large bounties were offered to volunteers, and horses, blankets, and clothing were, through many sacrifices on the part of the citizens, provided for their use. It was even necessary to " sell the Great Gun at vendue" to raise money to help carry on the war. No complete list has been preserved of those who represented Hadley in the Revolution, but we know that Captain Oliver Smith, Captain Moses Marsh, Nehemiah Gaylord, and his son Nehe- miah, Josiah Nash, Daniel Bartlett, Ebenezer Pome- roy, Jr., Seymour Kelsey, Francis Traynor, Ichabod Nye, Medad Noble, and Timothy Smith were in active service. In the midst of the war Hadley was threatened with an epidemic of smallpox brought by soldiers re- turning from the northern campaign. Much preju- dice was felt by the ignorant against inoculation,
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but finally it was decided that it was a necessary measure, and one Sunday morning fifteen patients submitted to the operation in the home of Moses Marsh, to the great scandal of many who felt that by so doing the Sabbath was needlessly broken.
The meeting-house had been reshingled, the bell recast and made heavier, and general repairs com- pleted, when peaceful Hadley was invaded by another army, pursuing Daniel Shays and his adherents of rebellion fame. The snow was piled in drifts, and the roads almost impassable, when General Lincoln and his three thousand soldiers made their camp one memorable Sunday morning, January 13, 1787, on the broad street. Cannon were stationed north of the meeting-house, and preparations were made by which to keep the Sabbath after the good old fashion. Dr. Hopkins being in feeble health, a messenger was sent to Hatfield for Dr. Lyman, and there behind a pulpit built of snow, with the three thousand soldiers as his congregation, the eloquent divine exhorted, preached, and prayed. The shades of the regicides who lived and died in Parson Russell's house across the way may well have graced with their unseen presence this unique Sunday service.
And now, with all rebellions quelled, the time for a new meeting-house seemed to be at hand. Lieutenant Enos Smith, General Samuel Porter, Charles Phelps, Nathaniel White, Captain Daniel White, Captain Elisha
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Dickinson, Lieutenant Caleb Smith, Israel Lyman, Josiah Nash, Major Moses Porter, Lemuel Warren, Windsor Smith, and Percy Smith were chosen a gen- eral committee. Plans were selected, and November 3, 1806, it was voted that a meeting-house should be built near the site of the old one at the cost of seven thousand dollars, the money to be raised by selling pews, and by a rate upon the town. November 17 a majority of three decided to build the meeting-house on the Back Street. The vote was then reconsidered and referred to an "indifferent committee." Charles Phelps, Samuel Porter, Caleb Smith, and Captain Elisha Dickinson were placed in charge of the finances of the undertaking.
One thing the people had determined, and that was that there should be no room under the new meeting- house for geese, or sheep, or mischievous boys. The Hadley geese had multiplied until almost every family owned a flock, and these ran the streets, huddling at night in front of their owners' houses, and on sunny days crowding under the meeting-house and making such a racket that the effect of the most eloquent preaching was entirely destroyed. The building com- mittee, Charles Phelps, Lieutenant Caleb Smith, and General Samuel Porter, was doubtless instructed as to this point and obeyed orders.
The final vote that the meeting-house should stand near the old one, and that it should be placed east and
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west, with the steeple at the cast, prevailed, and the committee procceded with its task. Two years later, in 1808, the edifice standing to-day was completed, and on its spire was mounted the historic weather-cock, now freshened and made smart by a new coat of gilding. The old building was sold and moved away, and November 8, 1808, the new meeting-house was dedicated. A new bell was bought at the cost of two hundred dollars. The pews were sold, parts of the north gallery being reserved by the town for the use of males, and parts of the south for females. "Black males " were allowed to sit in the "north arched pew " and "Black females" in the "south arched pew." No hats were to be hung in the building, and stringent rules for behavior were made and posted by the select- men. The cost of the meeting-house was $8,413 and the sale of seventy-eight pews brought in $7,031. Colonel Elijah Dickinson, Major Moses Porter, and Captain John Hopkins were appointed to borrow on the credit of the town enough money to complete the payment for the building.
III. Rev. John Woodbridge and His Successors
Rev. Samuel Hopkins, now aged and infirm, was no longer able to write and deliver those long and learned sermons, so the committee requested him to relinquish a part of his salary, and in 1810 engaged Rev. John Woodbridge for $500 a year as long as Dr. Hopkins
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lived, together with fifteen cords of wood while he remained single, and thirty cords after he should marry. But the venerable pastor's work was almost done, and soon a great company from all the country round assembled in the meeting-house to pay the last tribute of respect to his memory. Dr. Joseph Lyman preached his funeral sermon, and his people escorted his body to the grave. Four ministers, Lyman of Hatfield, Wells of Whately, Williams of Northampton, and Parsons of Amherst, with Governor Strong and Deacon Ebenezer Hunt of Northampton, acted as pallbearers. Thus they buried Rev. Samuel Hopkins, minister in Hadley for fifty-seven years.
President Timothy Dwight of New Haven inspected the new meeting-house soon after its completion, and described it as a "handsome structure, superior to any other in this country." There in the middle of the broad street, on the historic site occupied by its pre- decessor, this stately building stood during the years following, while imperceptibly the center of population moved toward the east. The west street people did not care to go so far to church, and so as in olden time "dissensions arose" which in 1840 culminated in re- moving the meeting-house bodily and placing it in its present location. The solid structure, evidently built after a more substantial fashion than its prede- cessor, showed no signs of spreading when raised from its foundations, but traveled along in a dignified
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fashion, and when it reached its destination settled itself to stay.
But though the meeting-house stood firm, many representatives of the old settlers were in a state of turmoil and excitement, and felt that they could not worship God in the new location. The shades of Parson Russell and his old-time congregation cried out in very protest, and would not be appeased. April 1, 1841, Jacob Smith and ninety others asked to be dismissed that they might form another church. Then came a time of councils and discussions and disagree- ments and disputes. The perplexed ministers, con- vened in a private house, suggested that the seceders be allowed to worship by themselves for a time, with the hope of reconciliation. President Humphrey of Amherst College went over to see what he could do, and advised that the disgruntled persons be dismissed, which was accordingly done. Then with the help of an ex-parte council these modern "withdrawers" or- ganized, July 15, 1841, at 2 P. M., the Russell church in Hadley, its members being eighteen men and forty- one women, dismissed by the First church as in good standing, and thirty-one others "being in good standing last June." The Russell meeting-house was erected on West Street, and its pews, built by individuals, are to-day the property of the descendants, so that the building cannot be sold, though it has long been closed for church purposes. We find Mr. Woodbridge, having
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left the First church, preaching in the Russell church, and when the First church wanted Rev. Benjamin Martin for its minister, the council, of which Mr. Woodbridge was a member, refused to ordain him, because he was not orthodox. Another council was called, with Mr. Woodbridge omitted, and then the candidate was received. September 15, 1841, Rev. Warren H. Beaman was settled over the new church in North Hadley, the last child of the mother church, and then just ten years old.
Mr. Woodbridge was succeeded by Rev. John Brown, and he in turn by Rev. Francis Danforth, during whose ministry the meeting-house was moved. Then came Rev. Benjamin Martin, and after him Rev. Roland Ayres, who was installed in the old church January 11, 1848, where he was the faithful and efficient pastor for thirty-six years. In an anniversary sermon he states that in 1873 less than one hundred households were represented in the parish, with sixteen foreign families in the school district. To-day, in the same community, the foreign-born residents and their chil- dren form a large part of the population ;;
Yet still the old church holds its own. Rev. J. S. Bayne preached in its pulpit after Dr. Ayres, and later Rev. E. E. Keedy was in charge. Its present pastor, Rev. Thomas A. Emerson, a graduate of Yale and a newcomer to the valley, recognizes the value of its history and tradition, and the duty of perpetuating
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the memory of its founders. A band of patriotic women have formed themselves into the Old Hadley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, with the avowed purpose of awakening and fostering an interest in the history of the town.
In 1909 the children of Old Hadley, returning to celebrate its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, will" visit its historic sanctuary. They will find it still on a firm foundation, undisturbed by the clang of trolley or whizz of automobile beneath its very shadow, holding its lofty steeple high above the new church of St. John across the way. The weather-cock creaks proudly round and round as in the days of old, above the airy fretwork of a spire famous for its beauty of construction and delicacy of finish. Mother of many churches round about, this old church is beloved of her children, who rejoice to tell the story of the time-honored edifice, and reverence the memory of the founders of the valley town, who, with strenuous toil, built that first little meeting-house on the hill.
CHAPTER IV
HOPKINS GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND ACADEMY
THE founders of Hadley were imbued with a love of learning second only to their reverence for their minister and meeting-house. Education in those old days meant a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and the object of education was to preach the word of God. Girls could not preach and therefore much schooling for them was not deemed needful, but every boy must go to school or his father would be brought up before the magistrate and punished for neglect of duty. Laws to this effect, made by the General Court, were enforced by the selectmen of each town, who, should the parent prove obdurate, were authorized to take the child from his home and place him with a suitable guardian. Heads of families were obliged to catechise their children, to bring them up to a useful trade, to see that they were not out late at night, and to watch lest boys and girls should "talk too much together." The selectmen were ordered to make a list of all the children between six and twelve years old, and to divide the town into districts so that not one truant should escape their notice.
HOPKINS SCHOOL BUILDING. ERECTED IN 1894
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In 1647 a law was enacted by which every town of one hundred families was obliged to support a classical grammar school, where children should be fitted for college. These schools, although not free like the school in Boston, were yet a grievous burden to the smaller towns, which, after the minister had been provided for, found nothing left wherewith to pay a schoolmaster. Parents all desired that the children should learn to read and to write, but many felt it to be more necessary that they should be clothed and fed than that they should learn the dead languages. Parson Russell, being a graduate of the college at "Newtown," to which John Harvard left his library and fortune, was greatly desirous from the first that Hadley should have a grammar school, but there seemed no prospect that such a blessing could be secured. Nevertheless, in due time, through the legacy of Edward Hopkins, means were provided for the school so carnestly desired.
During Parson Russell's pastorate in Wethersfield, Edward Hopkins, the first secretary of the Colony of Connecticut, and its governor, was the most prominent figure in its social and political life. Born in England in 1600, this young Puritan came to Boston in 1637, in company with his close friend, Theophilus Eaton, afterward the first and only governor of the Colony of New Haven. Hopkins, although in very poor health, found himself at once pushed to the front and called
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upon to assist in the solution of problems of church and state. As a Commissioner of the United Colonies he signed in behalf of Connecticut the articles of confederation by which, in 1643, Massachusetts, Ply- mouth, Connecticut, and New Haven united under the name of the United Colonies of New England.
While living quietly in Hartford, Governor Hopkins continued his business as a merchant, pushed his trading stations up the river and into the wilderness, and founded the trade in American cotton, and all the time "conflicted with bodily infirmities which held him for thirty years together." He married Anna Yale, the daughter of the second wife of Theophilus Eaton, the widow of David Yale, after whose grandson, Elihu Yale, the college was named. Mrs. Hopkins was a literary woman who soon became insane, as the record runs, "by occasion of her giving herself wholly to reading and writing." We read further, "Her hus- band being very loving and tender, was loath to grieve her, but he saw his error when it was too late. For if she had attended her household affairs and such things as belong to women and not gone out of her way and calling to meddle in such things as are proper for men whose minds are stronger, she had kept her wits and might have improved them usefully and honorably in the place God had set her." This sad effect upon the female mind of too much study furnished the wise men of that day with another argument against the
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education of women, and brought lasting grief to the too indulgent husband, already wasted by disease.
In the midst of his career Edward Hopkins was suddenly called to England by the death of his brother. Parliamentary duties detained him in the mother country, his family joined him, and he died in London in 1657, two years before the "engagers" betook themselves and their convictions to the wilderness of Hadley. The will of Governor Hopkins, after making due provision for his "dear destressed wife" and other legacies, bequeathed the residue of his estate to The- ophilus Eaton, John Davenport, John Cullick, and William Goodwin, "in full assurance of their trust and faithfulness in disposing of it according to the true intent of me, the said Edward Hopkins, which is to give some encouragement in those foreign plantations for the breeding of hopeful youths, both at the grammar school and college for the public service of the country in future times."
The will was made in England and "those foreign plantations" were the New England colonies. Mr. Eaton died soon after the will was made, as did also Captain Cullick, so that the disposition of the estate fell to Davenport and Goodwin. As Davenport was pastor in Boston, the chief burden fell upon Goodwin, who was a leader in the movement which resulted in the founding of Hadley. It was through his action that so large a part of the legacy was secured by the new settlement.
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The Hampshire County court in probate, March 30, 1669, ratified an agreement whereby Parson John Russell, Jr., Samuel Smith, Aaron Cooke, Jr., Na- thaniel Dickinson, and Peter Tilton were constituted trustees to act with William Goodwin, and after his decease to have full power to establish the school in Hadley and to manage its estates, including the Hop- kins fund and all other property coming into its pos- session. Hadley's share of the Hopkins fund amounted to £308. More money was expected to come from England after the death of Mrs. Hopkins, but this was never secured by Hadley. The sum received was not considered sufficient to start and equip the grammar school. In recognition of this fact donations came in from citizens who, having no children of their own, desired to contribute toward so worthy an object for the benefit of future generations. John Barnard gave a part of Hockanum meadow and some of the "Greate Meadowe " and " a piece of land lying in the Forlorn"; and Nathaniel Ward, at whose home in Hartford the "engagers" held their memorable meeting, bestowed his house and home lot, and a piece of meadow land; while a few years later, Henry Clark left to the school his nine-acre lot in Hockanum, and his portion of the "Greate Meadowe." The town itself granted " two little meddowes next beyond the Brooke commonlie called the Mill Brooke" for the support of the school, and appointed Henry Clarke, Lieutenant Smith, William
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Allis, Nathaniel Dickinson, Sr., and Andrew Warner as a committee in charge. These "school Meadows," containing about sixty acres, were in the northern part of the town, adjoining the river, and were separated by a high ridge on which was the Indian fort. From this time on the school in Hadley was known as the Hopkins grammar school, true to the intent of its benefactor.
There is no doubt but that the little children of the town were gathered in some good wife's kitchen that first winter of the settlement and were taught by a "school dame" first lessons from the hornbook and "New England Primer," but of such teaching no account has been preserved. The earliest record of any school in Hadley states that in 1665 it was "Voted by the Town that they would give 20 pound pr Annum for 3 yeares toward the maintenance of a Scoole master to teach children and to be as a helpe to Mr. Russell as occasion may require." This first "scoole master" was Mr. Caleb Watson, a Harvard graduate, who was in Hadley in 1667 and remained as teacher of the Hopkins school until 1673, when his very decided difference of opinion with Mr. Russell made it impos- sible for him longer to be a "helpe" in any capacity. His pupils met in the house presented by Goodman Ward, which stood on the site of the residence owned recently by L. S. Crosier. Probably a few girls were among the scholars, although remembering the fate of
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Mrs. Edward Hopkins, parents must have feared the effect of too much learning upon their daughters, and guarded their "intellects" with zealous care. Girls were allowed to learn to read, but not to write, and that historic text-book, the Latin Accidence, was not for them to meddle with. Arithmetic was taught by oral methods, as books were rare, and until 1750 spelling books were unknown.
The following general regulations, recorded and en- forced, kept parents to their duty, and children to their tasks.
"Allsoe with respect to the great ffailure of persons in not sending their children to scoole it is ordered and voted by the Town that the present Selectmen and the Selectmen Annuallye shall take a list of all the children six years ould to twelve, which shall be com- pellable if not sent to scoole to pay Annuallye according to and equallye with those that are Sent only some poore men's children which shall be exempted as they shall be judged by the Selectmen And ffrom six yeares ould to continue till twelve at scoole except they Attain a ripeness and dexteritie in Inferior learning, as writeing & reading which shall be Judged by the Scoole- master."
Every Latin "Scollard" had to pay twenty shillings a year, and every English "Scollard" sixteen shillings. In 1677 Mr. John Younglove was the teacher with a salary of £30 a year, and a home lot on which to live. In 1680 the town voted to get a teacher "that shall
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teach the Latin Tongue as allsoc the English to any that are entered with writeing and Cyphering." In 1686 Samuel Partrigg was engaged to teach, and was paid £8 for his work. Warham Mather, son of the minister in Northampton, was followed in the school by Thomas Swan of Roxbury, John Morse of Dedham, Salmon Treat of Wethersfield, Joseph Smith, the son of Lieutenant Philip Smith, and John Hubbard.
When in 1698 Joseph Smith was again engaged, the town built the first schoolhouse, twenty-five by eighteen feet and seven feet between the joists, in the middle of the broad street. Deacon Simeon Dickinson, who died in 1890, aged ninety-five, remembered attending the Hopkins school when its sessions were held in this earliest building. Nathaniel Chauncey, the first grad- uate of Yale College, taught the school in 1702. Among those who came after him were Jonathan Marsh, John Partrigg, Aaron Porter, all Harvard graduates; and these were followed by Rev. Daniel Boardman, John James, and Elisha Williams of Hatfield, who after- ward became president of Yale College. Stephen Williams of Deerfield, Ebenezer Gay of Dedham, Nathaniel Mather of Windsor, Stephen Steele of Hartford, Solomon Williams of Hatfield, Daniel Dwight of Northampton, Benjamin Dickinson of Hatfield, follow on the list, until in 1724 Israel Chauncey, the son of Rev. Isaac Chauncey, for a brief period ruled over the Hopkins school. Most of these who have
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been mentioned, and some who came later, were em- bryo ministers, college graduates or students in the midst of their college course. During all these years the Hopkins school had remained a classical grammar school, but the means by which its Greek and Latin courses had been preserved in the face of determined opposition require a separate narrative. The dogged determination with which these conscientious guar- dians of a sacred trust, with Parson Russell at their head, in the midst of poverty, discouragement, and Indian alarms, fought to keep the Hopkins school true to the spirit of its founder has been an object lesson for all trustees of public institutions since those stren- uous days of struggle and of victory.
The trustees of the Hopkins fund found that the most profitable way in which to invest so large a sum of money was a problem to be solved. The building left by Goodman Ward could be used for a schoolhouse, and the meadow land given by the town and citizens would yield abundant crops, which could be handed over to the master. Elder Goodwin, in choosing his trustees, selected men of strong convictions, and those appointed by the town were no less able and efficient. There seems to have been clashing of wills from the first among the members of the board, but Goodwin ruled the day, and with the money built a gristmill on Mill River, south of the school lands, and the town granted a home lot for the miller. Then with the
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