USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Wilbraham > Historical address, delivered at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Wilbraham, June 15, 1863 > Part 4
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Lamb turns his face eastward; Springfield is no more his chief joy ; and Warner, from Stony Hill, and Sykes, from the "Great Rode," and Chapin, from the moun- tain, wind their way, when the "Sabbath" morning comes, through field and bridle-path and cart-road, to the meeting-house; and Henry Badger, from Burt's Mill, in the present South Parish, five miles away, rouses his family even earlier than usual from their slumbers, plentifully feeds the trusty farm-horse for his hard day's work, and before the dew is off the grass, he starts, with his wife and little ones, on the way to Zion. Benjamin Skinner and Phineas Stebbins join him as he passes, and when they reach the site of the present South Parish Church, they find that Comfort Chaffee, from the hill south of Scantic, and William King, on the corner, have already started, and are on the way. They turn to the right up the hill, wearily climbing the mountain through the woods, past where the Widow Orin Cone now resides, - a timid deer now and then pausing a moment to gaze at the strange sight, then bounding away among the trees; a fright- ened partridge breaking the silence by whirring off through the bushes ; - till the procession, on horse- back, and on foot, - for now, as before, to Springfield, the young men and the maidens thought the walk most delightful, - reached the road that came up from the west side of the mountain, at Samuel Stebbins's, where they met Paul Langdon, with the only wagon in the precinct, who had not only taken in his own
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family, but Abner Chapin's, south of the Scantic, and Stephen Stebbins's, north of it; and Lewis Langdon and Aaron Stebbins, who had come on horseback with their wives and little ones; and they all went on to- gether up to the place of the sanctuary. They made their horses fast to the trees about the meeting-house, and after Christian inquiries for such news of their households and the precinct as their curiosity compelled and reverence could not restrain, they entered the sanctuary, of which, if they could not exclaim with David, " How amiable are thy tabernacles," they could cry out with the royal poet, " The sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my God and my King!"
After they were as comfortably seated as possible on the benches, in such order as had been prescribed, the " Worthy Rev. Noah Mirick," with wig or powdered hair and cue, bands and small-clothes and silk stockings and shoe-buckles of silver, entered the house, the con- gregation all rising as a token of respect. He read a hymn, then handed the book over the top of the rough pulpit - for there was but one hymn-book in the precinct, and that was the minister's -to Deacon Nathaniel Warriner, who named the tunc, gave the pitch, read one line of the hymn, and commenced singing it; Warner and Brewer and Langdon and Stebbins and Moses and David and Hosea and Hul- dah and Jemima and Ruth following after. as ability
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and strength permitted; the deacon considerately, and as became the service of God's house, waiting, before he gave out another line, till the most dilatory had finished. When the hymn was ended, the minister solemnly prayed, the congregation all reverently rising. When the prayer was over, another hymn was sung in the same manner. Then the sermon was preached, not seldom interspersed with the twittering of swal- lows above, or the crying of babies below. At last the benediction is pronounced, and the minister leaves the pulpit and passes out first, the congregation all stand- ing, as when he entered. The families now gather about in groups to eat their frugal dinners from the logs and stumps, which were abundant. The short intermission over, the afternoon service follows, similar, in all respects, to the morning; after which they mount their horses, Paul Langdon again loading his marvel- lous wagon, and reach their homes at the going down of the sun, grateful that God has cast "their lines in pleasant places, and that they have a goodly heri- tage." Saturday evening is " kept" by these pioneers. So when the " chores" are done, and the sun is set, they are already "dressed," and ready to call upon their neighbors in a social or more affectionate way. Thus passes the "Sabbath," now the "Meeting House " is built on "Wigwam Hill, and the "Worthy Mr. Mirick prophecies " therein.
But I must not linger any longer around these early
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days and doings of our fathers ; a long way is yet before us to travel, and heroic deeds yet invite our rehearsal.
The " Meeting House " is occupied, it is true, but it is far from being finished; and the remaining sixteen years of this period are witness to more or less earnest labor to build pews and seats; to put in galleries; to plaster about the pulpit; to lay the gallery floor; to build seats in it; to plaster under it; and finally to plaster the house wholly in 1756, nine years after it was occupied for worship. Before the last finishings were made, while the town was a precinct, the com- mittee are enjoined to repair the roof, which was leak- ing badly. The gallery seats were not all put in till the summer of 1761, sixteen years after the house was opened for worship.
But finishing the meeting-house was an easy thing to do compared with the difficulty of " seating" it. This was work indeed. As there were no pews built for the first six years, there was no " seating " of the congrega- tion till Sept. 24, 1753, when a committee was chosen to attend to that duty. The precinct voted, "that the Rev. Mr. Noah Mirick have Choice of a pew ;" " that the men and Wimen be seated togeather;" "to Leave it with the Committee how Young Persons shall be seated;" and also " to Leave it to the Discreasion of the Committee by what Rule they shall be seated." There is no record either of the " seating " or of the " Rule " of this " seat- ing;" nor is there any record of the rule adopted at any of the subsequent "seatings." We know, however,
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that it was customary to " seat" persons in order of age, or of civil or military dignity. The eldest persons oc- cupied the best, or highest pew, - for the highest pew in honor was often far from being best in position, - and those younger, the lower pews; and only heads of families occupied the pews on the floor of the house. The young men and maidens, the boys and the girls, were "seated " in the gallery, after it was so far finished that it could be occupied, where the opportunities and temptations of fun were abundant and not seldom at- tractive and irresistible, and where the services of the Lord's house were not always visible and sometimes not audible.
Persons were often dissatisfied with their seats; and it was not till after repeated trials that the audience were quietly disposed in their allotted pews and seats. I find that in 1754 a committee was chosen to “ Rectify the mistakes of the former committee and to dignifie the seats." After further seats had been built and galleries put in and finished, January 1, 1760, the meeting-house is seated anew, but the " seating " was so unsatisfactory that another committee was raised in March to review the work of the former committee. The report of the first committee is recorded, that of the last is not. Here for the first time we have the names of the fami- lies in the precinct, and we can make a tolerably cor- rect estimate of the number of inhabitants here at this time. There are seventy-three men and six widows named, who are presumed to be heads of families, and
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who occupy pews and seats on the lower floor. Of these, twenty-one are from what is now the South Parish. In the galleries there are seated twenty-six young men and thirty-one young women, fifty-seven in all. We shall not be far from the truth, therefore, if we estimate the whole population of the precinct at this time at three hundred and fifty persons, at least; per- haps there were four hundred ; of these about one hun- dred and ten or twenty were within the bounds of the present South Parish.
Another very important subject, and difficult to man- age, was the disposal which should be made of both the " Ministry Lot" and the "Overplus Land," a part of which, that the south side of the Middle Division, on which Rev. Mr. Merrick's house stood, had been sold to him, but that on the south side of the Third Division, where the Langdons had settled, was still the common property of all the proprietors, and of course in part that of the precinct, as the "Ministry Lot" was by sup- position a proprietor. After long and tedious delays and impending lawsuits, the whole matter was at last disposed of so far to the satisfaction of all parties that it was disposed of, and could no longer be matter of question or dispute.
As there were two "Ministry Lots" within the bounds of the precinct, - the one in the Middle or Second Division running across where Warren Collins's farm is, and the other in the Third Division where Mr. William V. Sessions's farm is, - and as these "lots" were the
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common property of the town of Springfield, and hence the other precincts-Springfield, West Springfield, and Longmeadow -had a right to a proportionate share of their value, it was no easy task to satisfy, in any con- siderable degree, any of the parties. At last, however, this was also arranged, after repeated conferences of committees and years of discussion and concession. The income of the money obtained by the sale of these " ministry lots" is part of the fund for the support of the ministry which the respective parishes now have. By repeated conferences and compromises, the claims of Rev. Mr. Merrick to all the " Overplus Land" of the Middle or Second Division, about eight hundred and seventy-five acres, were so disposed of as to leave him a large and valuable farm, and the larger sympathy of his people. It is much to the credit of all parties that these land questions, so complicated and delicate, where so many proprietors were concerned, so many interests involved, were at last disposed of with so little ill blood and so equitably.
The adjustment of Mr. Merrick's salary, which was estimated by the market value of certain necessary articles of consumption, became exceedingly difficult as the prices of the articles were fluctuating, and especially as the "Old tenor" currency so rapidly depreciated, and " Lawfull money " took its place in 1749. No new estimate of prices is recorded as having been made since his settlement in 1741 up to this time. We find that a large committee of "nine men" was raised, Dec. 24,
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1750, "to make a new agreement with the Reverend Mr. Noah Mirick Relating to his salary for the future." It is evident that the committee found their task a hard one, for there is no report from them till January 9, 1753, three years after they were chosen. They then report a new scale of prices of commodities, changing the value of money from "Old Tenor" to "Lawfull Money," calling £326, 10s. 1d. £43, 10s. Sd .; and every year hereafter, till 1760, a committee is chosen to agree with Mr. Merrick on the prices of commodities, and thus fix the value of his salary. In that year, January 1, 1760, they "choose a Comtee to State ye Revª Mr. Mir- ick's Salary for the time to come." They report a fixed sum " in Lawfull Money " and nothing is said of " com- modaties." Each year, for three years, a committee was chosen to agree with Mr. Merrick upon the amount of his salary till the town was incorporated, when the old system of prices of commodities was revived.
It is probable that troubles arising out of Mr. Mer- rick's claims to so much land, which necessarily brought him into antagonism with many of his people, and the almost insurmountable difficulties in arranging his salary, were the cause of some church difficulties which arose about 1754. I find that at a precinct meeting held, June 10, 1754, the following votes were passed, " Voated and Granted the sum of five Pounds Lawfull Money for defraying the Charges of Entertaining the Counsel to set in this Place on ye 17th of June next." also " Voated & Granted to Dea. Nath" Warriner the
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sum of ten shillings Lawfull Money for Keeping the former Counsel." There is no record in the precinct or church books of the calling of this " former Counsel," nor of the proceedings or objects of either. But I find in the church records, June 21, 1754, that six persons make " publick confession of yr guilt in absenting from ye Lord's table," and four more, with five of these, " make publick confession in publickly Exhibiting and signing a Paper of Reproachful Charges agt ye Pastor." They " were accepted by ye church." What this paper was. what these charges were, I have found no means of determining. Eight out of the ten persons "making confession" were of the present South Parish. It is very probable that the "counsels" spoken of in the pre- cinet records had something to do with this difficulty.
So the " Worthy Rev. Mr. Noah Mirick " found that the chastenings of the people if not of the Lord were laid upon him. We may learn that ministers and parishes now are not more troubled by " exciting sub- jeets " than were those of "the olden time." It is not the quality of the subject, but the nature of man, which causes division ; and till he can run away from himself there will be found occasion and existence of contention.
Our ancestors, though so engaged in the establishment of their religious institutions, did not forget their schools. As I have already stated, the town of Springfield com- menced appropriations for schools in the "Outward Commons, on the east side of the Great River, commonly called the Mountain," as early as 1737, and £16 were
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appropriated, during the four years next preceding the incorporation of the precinct. During this period of the precinct, a regular annual appropriation of money for the fourth precinct was made by Springfield till 1763, when the town was incorporated. The whole amount appropriated up to 1755, during which years the sums annually appropriated are stated in the Spring- field records, was one hundred and fifty-five pounds, thirteen shillings and three pence, averaging ten pounds, seven shillings and six pence a year. For nine years this money is in " old tenor" which was about seventy- five per cent. discount for "Lawfull money," which was the rate of reckoning after 1749. The amount usually appropriated annually during these last six years was four pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence ; and in 1755, when the " rate of distribution was changed," we received " six pounds, sixteen shillings and seven pence." This money was often put, by vote, into the hands of Dea. Nathaniel Warriner, to be disposed of as he judged best for the interest of schooling in the precinct.1
Before 1754, a school-house was built nearly opposite to where the present Congregational Church stands, for, January 31, 1754, a precinct meeting is held "att the School House in said Precinct." The name and fame of the early teacher, for years town and church clerk, Ezra Barker, usually called Master Barker, have come down to us bearing a multitude of traditions of his wit and of his rod, of the pranks of the boys and the tricks of the
1 Appendix E.
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girls, some probable, some true, some gross, some ingen- ious. That he was a good penman the records of both town and church testify, and I certainly, if no one else, owe him a debt of gratitude for the excellent manner in which he has kept the records and blessed my eyes.
A few roads were laid out by the town of Springfield within the precinct, and some by the county ; but they were mere cart- or bridle-paths leading from one neigh- borhood and clearing to another. No work appears to have been done on them but to pick out a few stones, make crossings over a few brooks, and cut away the trees and bushes when they intruded too closely on the path.1
No literary productions have come down from this period except the precinct records, specimens of which are now for the first time printed; a remnant of the "Jurnal of Samuel Warner," entitled "Clark," kept during the expedition, of which he was a member, to Ticonderoga and Crown Point during the French War, 1759; and a celebrated poem, on the death of "Leut. Thomas Mirick's only Son," who "dyed, August 7th, 1761, By the Bite of a Ratle Snake, Being 22 years, two months and three days old, and very nigh marridge," as faithful Clark Warner records. This poem had a wide circulation in both manuscript and print, and is the great Elegy of the " Mountains." Like the author of another immortal poem, the Iliad, its author and his residence are alike mythical; but his work and his fame have Appendix F.
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endured, and if, as in the case of the author of the im- mortal Greek poem,
" Ten famous towns contend for Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begged his bread,"
Longmeadow and Ludlow and Springfield will strive to rob Wilbraham of the honor of giving him birth and guarding his ashes, they cannot rob us of the unspeaka- ble glory of having within our borders the grave of the immortal subject of the poem. Without waiting to in- voke the aid of muses or gods, either sacred or profane, the poet, seized and carried away with the magnitude and inspiration of his subject, burst forth, -
" On Springfield Mountains there did dwell A Likely youth who was known full well, Leutenant Mirick's only sone A likely youth nigh twenty-one."
I may well be excused from repeating the pathetic lines which follow, as I am informed that better justice can be done them by the plaintive music of " ye olden tyme " in which they will be sung after we are refreshed at the table.1
The military eclipsed the literary renown of this period. Capt. Samuel Day, Lieut. Thomas Merrick, and Ensign Abel Bliss were commissioned as officers before 1754; and for the French War which raged during this period, 1755-1760, the precinct furnished at least twenty-two men, whose names are enrolled in the 1 Appendix G.
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archives of the State as among the patriots of that early period. Of these was Samuel Warner, who kept a Journal of the expedition of 1759, many of whose precious leaves have perished, and Isaac Colton. 3d, a precious memorial of whose patriotism is a will, made June 14, 1759, in which he disposes of his estate “ on condition of not returning from sd expedition," and wit- nessed by "Noah Merick and Abigail Merick." Thus early the spirit of patriotismn inspired our citizens which has grown deeper and stronger to this hour.1
The agricultural products of the town were becoming more various and more abundant; the cultivated fields were growing broader and richer every year. The houses were more convenient and more comfortable in the winter season. Still there was little which would gratify the tastes or supply what would now be called the necessaries of a comfortable home. Bare floors, bare walls, seant furniture, the oaken table and chest and pine "settle " were the chief adornings of the frugal · home. One marked exception is made, however, to this condition of the houses of the early settlers. Ensign Abel Bliss, whose enterprise and thrift have lost nothing in descent through three generations to his great grand- son, your townsman, John Wesley Bliss, who inherits and improves the old estate, is said to have gathered pine-knots and hearts, called candle-wood, with which our grandfathers and grandmothers illuminated their dwellings, in the south part of Ludlow and Belchertown,
1 Appendix H.
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- it being forbidden to gather them but for lights in the precinct,-and built a tar-kiln from which he made two hundred barrels of tar, which he sold for five dollars a barrel, realizing one thousand dollars, and built there- with a house which was the admiration, perhaps the envy, of all the people.1
At the commencement of this period, families began to come into the south part of the town. But, as I have already stated, there was not a settler within the pres- ent limits of the town south of the present division line of the parishes before 1741. South of a line drawn due east and west across the town, on the south side of Mr. Cross's farm, there was not a house or culti- vated field.
Stand with me on the top of the hill by Mr. Isaac Watts Leach's house, (the people of the South Parish will understand me,) and lift your eyes toward the south and west and northwest. Where now you be- hold fruitful fields and white farm-houses, one of the loveliest prospects in the town, was then unbroken by plough, untrodden by man. Spaces desolated by fires, and extended forests, are spread out before you. Not a smoke ascends from a settler's cabin, not an axe- blow breaks the profound silence. The Scantic flows through the mountains unobstructed by dam, unvexed by water-wheel; and through the meadows it creeps languidly under the overshadowing alders and button- woods and elms, whose tops were covered with grape-
1 Appendix I.
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vines pendent with purple clusters which no hand plucked, no lips relished. The trout floated securely in the pure current; no treacherous hook was yet cast by cunning hand to draw him from his native element. Now change the outlook. We stand on the spot where Samuel Beebe, Esq. now resides. Look up that beauti- ful valley of the Scantic for two miles, the mountains ris- ing gracefully on the south, less regularly on the north. No sign of human life is there. The deer feeds undis- turbed in those openings; the squirrel sports without dread of the hunter in those extended forests; up past Stacy's on the right, up past the Cones' on the left, the embosomed side-valleys glory in the wild luxuriance of nature. Where are now a thriving village, busy ma- chinery, rich farms, luxurious homes, was wilderness, the "forest primeval." Such was the South Parish at the commencement of this period.
In the spring of 1741, Stephen Stebbins, my great- grandfather, came out through the woods from Long- meadow and settled on the north bank of the Scantic, where Mr. Orville Pease now resides. The house which he built was removed more than half a century ago, and is now used for a barn and shed on the place of the late Col. John McCray, and the boards on the north side of that building are the same - so runs the tradition - as those which were put on by him one hundred and twenty-two years ago. Aaron Stebbins, his brother, built a few rods north, where Rev. Mr. Rock- wood now lives; both these were brothers of Samuel,
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who settled some years before on the mountain, east of Mr. Cross's. Lewis Langdon settled on the corner. be- tween them, and built the first saw-mill in town, in 1750. Abner Chapin, from Chicopee, took the first lot south of the Scantic, where his thrifty grandsons, Ralph Sumner, and Silas, Chapin, now reside. Capt. Paul Langdon, who brought the first four-wheeled wagon into the place, in which he moved his worldly goods and family, first from Salem, then from Hopkinton, then from Union, settled near the Potash Hill, on the farm which his great-grandson, John Wilson Langdon, now cultivates. On the east side of the mountain was Wil- liam King, a large land-owner, whose house was directly in front of the Congregational church. William Stacy, from Salem, settled where Gilbert Stacy now resides ; Moses Stebbins, a fourth brother, where Mrs. Beriah Sinith resides ; Comfort Chaffee, who came from Wales, settled between them, where Lothrop Chaffee, his great- grandson, resides. In the east, on the Scantic, were Hen- ry Badger, from Union ; Isaac Morris, from Woodstock. grandfather of our President on his father's side; and Benjamin Skinner. Jabez Hendrick settled near where his grandson, Hiram, has literally made the stones bread ; Daniel Carpenter, on the present Carpenter farm ; Ezekiel Russel, on Albert Beebe's farm, and Row- land Crocker, a little above. In the north part of the town, Jonathan Ely settled on the mountain, on the middle road; Caleb Stebbins located on the farm now occupied by his great-grandsons, Jason and George ;
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Daniel Cadwell near him ; Joseph Sikes on the " Great Bay Rode ;" Philip Lyon south of "Wigwam Hill," on the road leading to the south part; Benoni Atchinson on Stony Hill, and not least, though last named, Ezra, entitled " Master," Barker, near Atchinson, - a goodly goodly company.
The distance of the Precinct from Springfield Street, the regularly increasing population, the different inter- ests of the people, and their demonstrated capacity to administer affairs, prompted the inhabitants, as early as January 16, 1749, " to chuse three men [David Mirick, Isaac Brewer and Nathaniel Warriner] a Committee to Represent the Precinct to the town of Springfield in taking some measures to get set off for a town in this fourth Precinct." The action of the town of Springfield was unfavorable to their cause ; and they delayed further attempts till December 31, 1753, four years, when they again "voated to chuse a committee [Dea. Nathaniel Warriner, David Mirick and Lt. Sam" Day] to apply to the town of Springfield to see if they be willing we should be set of a District." Nothing seems to have come of this petition, for I find an article - on which, however, no action seems to have been taken - insert- ed in the warrant for a meeting, January 1, 1760, " To chuse a Committee to apply to the town to set us of to be a District." Again, January 1, 1761, it is " voted. that Deacon Nath. Warriner, Daniel Warner, William King be a Comtee to apply to the Town for their Consent that we be set of a District;" and, in the fol-
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