USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Brimfield > Historical celebration of the town of Brimfield, Hampden County, Mass > Part 2
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The east line of Brimfield is 1,532 rods in length, a little more than four and three-fourths miles, and in di- rection north So 26' east. The northern boundary line runs from the north-east corner on the southern line of Brookfield, west 25' north, 101 rods, or about one- third of a mile, there meeting the south-east corner of 2
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Warren ; it continues on Warren line in the same direc- tion 935.30 rods, nearly three miles; then it turns abruptly north 2º east for about half a mile, or 114.68 rods; then it runs west 45º north, 1, 130.32 rods, or three and a half miles, till it strikes the Quaboag river at a split rock. The river separates it from Palmer, as far as an old fordway; its general direction is south 20° west, and the estimated distance three and one-half miles, or 1.130.32 rods. Here it meets the Monson line, which is Brimfield's western boundary, and is in length three and one-half miles, or 1,110 rods, running south 53º west. The southern boundary line runs 1,251 rods along the town of Wales, and 930 rods along the town of Holland. The area enclosed by these lines is 21,618 acres.
There are 12,300 improved, (3,500 meadow,) 4,200 pasturage, 2,400 wood, 1,400 unimprovable. The soil on Tower Hill is upland loam, quite free from the boulders, which either east or west of this hill make cultivation difficult. Southerly, from the foot of this hill, the soil becomes successively stony, gravelly, sandy. The valley of the Quinebaug, in the south-east corner of the town, and of Elbow brook, in the south-west, both furnish fair meadow land. South of the village street is a gravelly plain.
The principal village lies near the geographical center of the present township. Though none of the houses would be considered elegant, none show want of care or want of taste. All are remarkably and uniformly neat. The dry soil helps to keep paint fresh, and the village has such an air of tidiness that people from neighboring vil- lages have said they could not think of coming to Brim- field without a style of dress to suit the town's appearance of fastidious neatness. In the east part of the town is a cluster of houses, the village and post-office of East Brim- field. When the satinet factory on Elbow brook was in
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GEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
successful operation, a post-office was established at Fos- ket's Mills under the name of Parksville. Little Rest (said to be so called after a similar locality in Rhode Island) is a cluster of houses around the outlet of Morgan's Pond, north-west of the central village. Dunhamtown is that part of the north-western section where once lived many bearing that family name. Powers' Corner, so named from the prominent family there, is the extreme north- west corner. . It is through this that the Boston & Albany railroad runs for a short distance. There is a station called West Brimfield, but the road from it to the centre of the town is steep and rough. Palmer is the railroad station most generally accessible, though the distance is nearly nine miles.
The town lies at an average elevation of about 1200 feet above tide-water. From the west, north or east, there is a rise of nearly 300 feet to be traversed by any one com- ing into the town from the villages in these directions. The hills that surround it are of primary rocks, and are irregular, but not jagged, in outline. The town extends along the northern sides of a break in the ridge of por- phyritic ferruginous gneiss that extends southward to Long Island Sound. Granitic gneiss is quarried in Mon- son, but in the direction of Brookfield or Stockbridge the ledges are shales, and colored with iron. Bog ore was formerly dug in Brookfield, and in Brimfield, on the Charles Bugbee farm, now occupied by Michael Travers. It was carried to the iron works at Stafford, Conn. There was a forge in that part of Brimfield now in the town of Warren. Dr. Hitchcock, in his Geology of Massachusetts, (p. 638,) mentions pyrope, adularia, a variety of garnet. sulphuret of molybdenum, and iolite, as the only miner- als of any marked peculiarities in the town.
Sherman's Pond is so called from Capt. and Squire and Dr. and Dea. John Sherman. (He was one of the
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
original proprietors, and built his house on the south-west of the pond that bears his name. It is the site on which Elijah T. Sherman, of the fifth generation in line of de- scent, has recently rebuilt.) Alum pond, near the middle of the eastern boundary line, is mistakenly said to have been so called from its very solid white bottom and the clearness of its water. It lies in a deep basin with steep sides, and contains about 40 acres. Sherman's pond, larger and shallower, containing about 60 acres, is a nat- ural reservoir for a long intervale, which extends north- ward almost to the boundary line. The contrast between this sheet of water, with its open, placid expanse, and the irregular outline of the other, lying beneath the shadow of the adjacent hills, heightens the beauty of both. The fish common to such New England streams, are found in these waters, though not in great number. Trout fre- quent almost every brook ; pickerel, perch, roach and horned pout abound in the ponds.
There are on the Quaboag river, in the vicinity of the Boston & Albany railroad station at West Brimfield, some mill-sites that would be admirable locations for manufac- turing purposes. The Quinebaug river, while furnishing abundant water-power to the other towns through which it flows before it empties into the Thames at Norwich, affords only one mill-site in this town, at East Brimfield. Into this stream, there empty the outlets of Alum pond, of Sherman's pond, of the Eaton mill-pond, the Holland pond, and of the South pond (in Wales). In the western part of the town is Elbow brook, emptying into the Quaboag at the elbow. The brook, coming from Wales, was called by the carly settlers Erwin's brook, and the meadow through which it flows, Erwin's meadow. The brook south of the village is called Hitchcock brook. Treat brook, so called from the first minister, runs west of the meeting-house. Penny brook and Bottle brook are
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MEADOWS AND IIILLS.
small streamlets in the north-west section of the town. Along these water-courses are natural meadows, whose annual crop of swale hay was very highly prized by the early settlers, for they found great difficulty in attempt- ing with their rude implements to bring the upland soil into meadows of English grass. The streams flowing through these meadows were dammed so that the over- flow might add to their fertility, and keep down the growth of alders and the coarse weeds that would else out- root the grass. The water was usually let off in May. It is this mode of irrigation which Dr. Dwight commends the farmers of Brimfield for practicing. The Brimfield farmer in the days of old was as " tenacious of his Yankee rights to his old bog-meadow hay as he was of the pure old Saybrook platform orthodoxy, which was probably as alimentary for the souls of men as the other was for the bodies of cattle."*
One of these natural meadows is known on the maps as Stoneiard meadow. It lies at the head of a little stream, on which formerly stood Alfred Lumbard's steam saw-mill. The name, pronounced Stonedge meadow, is said to come from some early owner, who had his resi- dence near, but had no family to perpetuate the name. Another tradition reports that the owners lived in Con- necticut. The same persons that cut their hay on this meadow, cut also on a part of the Great meadow, north of the new road built for Elijah Shaw across the swamp. Cutting a tree top, (for carts were few;) and piling the hay on that, they would drag it to some one spot and stack it for winter fodder. But the land lies so low that often the water rose, from the fall rains, so as to flood the meadow, and damage their hay-stacks. Hence they gave it the name of " Poor meadow."
Other landmarks, that are noteworthy, are Sheep-pas-
* Letter of W. W. Thompson, Esq., to HI. F. Brown.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
ture hill, north of the village street. and Burt's hill, on the east, back of J. J. Warren's. East Wottaquottuck, and West Wottaquottuek, or Waddaquadduck, are the two ridges of the range of hills on the western border. Steerage rock is the large boulder on the summit of this ridge, from which the Indians took their bearings for Agawam or Nonotuck. Erwin's or Cook's mountain is in the north-west; Saw-mill mountain is that west of Fos- ket's mill. Breakneck hill is on the Sturbridge road. The Great meadow is that north of Morgan's mill. Moss meadow is south-east from this.
On the hills, foxes have still their holes and their runs. The deep baying of the fox-hound is occasionally heard as he follows the track of this crafty robber of hen-roosts. In 1835, Dexter Groves was paid $5.00 for killing ten foxes. In 1740, the town voted to choose "two meet persons, whose care and duty it shall be to inform of all breaches of the law respecting the killing of deer." Deer reeves continued till 1789, to be regularly appointed pub- lic officers, as duly appointed as the shire reeve or sheriff. It is said that the deer disappeared at the date named, because they were so persistently hunted during the Rev- olutionary war, when buckskin breeches were in great demand. Of the various birds, still protected by game- laws, woodcock are to be found in their season, and are forwarded every week, by F. E. Cook, Esq., to the Parker House in Boston.
Judging from the old records of highways and bound- ary lines, oak trees were more numerous than any other kinds. Varieties are named swamp, black, red, white, yellow, gray. The mast furnished food to the swine, that were allowed to run at large, being yoked and ringed, from April Ist to October 30th, if any town voted to permit this. An annual vote to that effect was passed at every town meeting until 1836, and hog reeves chosen.
15
THE FLORA-CLIMATOLOGY.
Chestnut trees also abound ; with pines and white birches they constitute the principal trees now found on our woodlands. Maples and els dot the meadows and line the roads. Popple and pepperidge trees are named in the old records, and basket-ash. Wild grape vines are to be found in every direction. Some of them, principally of a white variety, have been famous for their age and pro- duetiveness, notably one on Lewis Stebbins' farm, and an- other on Parson Williams' farm. The right of pasture was claimed on all wood lands unfenced, and wild lands uncultivated. Not till 1800 was a law passed authorizing towns to restrain cattle from running at large.
The usual vicissitudes of the New England climate have been experienced in most unmitigated rigor. In 1815, there was a furious storm of wind that blew down the horse sheds, then on the west side of the common. Acres of timber were leveled to the ground. Some, too fright- ened to remain elsewhere, sought refuge in the cellars. The season of 1816 was so severe-(there was frost every month )-that many were induced to emigrate to the west. 1869 was remarkable for a long continued rain, which so raised the streams that the road by Eaton mill pond was washed out. The breaking of the upper dam on Elbow brook came very near sweeping away Fosket's mill. The sudden torrent washed out a chasm in the highway sixty feet wide and twenty feet deep.
Of the physical features of Brimfield, I do not need to say much ; but I do wish to say this, that it seems to me very desirable that these hill-tops that mark the land- scape, and these brooks that still send down their waters through the valleys, ought to be known and designated among us by the names originally attached to them. Some few bear the Indian's guttural polysyllabics, soft- ened somewhat to our tongues, like Wottaquottuck, or Shokshun, Quaboag and Quineboag. Others recall the
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
names of the first settlers, whose names are not otherwise now identified with our town history, like Treat's brook, crossing the road to Springfield west of the village by Capt. F. D. Lincoln's, and so named from the first minister, who had assigned to him the meeting-house lot extending north of the road from the meeting-house to the brook. Why should every new proprietor change the name by which a lot is known ? There is a flavor of mystery about such a title as J. B. Brown's Nijah lot. And I do earnestly wish that the name at first given to the hill, at the foot of which the South brick school-house stands, might always be used, " Danielson hill ," and so erpetuate the name of one who is most honorably identified with the history of the town in the Revolutionary war.
We all know that Brimfield is one of the hill-towns of the State. In these days of railroads, that run among the valleys and seek out the smooth places of the plain, its being a hill-town marks it as a sequestered spot ; pleasant it may be for those who love a quiet home, but offering no enticements to those who give their lives to the gain- ful pursuits of commerce and manufactures. It is not, we must confess, even so rich in agricultural wealth as the fertile prairies of the Western States. But aside from the associations with friends of our youth or the labors of our riper years, Brimfield has charms that never fade, attractions that cannot change and pass away. Few New England villages have a lovelier spot for a village home than this broad plain with its encircling hill-sides, far enough removed to give that indefinable commingling of light and shade, substance and form, which give " enchant- ment to the view." Stand on the steps of this meeting- house and look southward across the intervale to the wedge-like opening. Through this, you know, comes down the brook that in Wales has been so busily turning wheels and spindles. Or go to Haynes hill, and look
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SCENERY-ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION.
in this direction, northward, down upon the clustering houses of the village, sheltered under Sheep Pasture Hill. Rev. Dr. Dwight compared our village street to the crook of a letter Y. Up one arm of the Y we look to Sherman Pond, glittering in the sun like a diamond brooch. Look- ing up in the other direction, we see Tower Hill stand forth in majestic loveliness, like the rounded shoulder of some stalwart giant. And no one can fail to admire the natural loveliness his eyes behold. Or ascend the ridge of Wattaquottuck on the western line of the township, as the Indians often did, following the trail from the Nipmuck or the Narragansett Country to the long river, the Con- necticut ; and who can forget the scene spread out before the eye ? It is a pleasure memory often loves to recall, and with the mind's eye to view o'er and o'er the billowy outlook below. Nearest, are glimpses of grassy meadows, cultivated fields, wooded slopes, marked with winding roads, dotted with pleasant homes, crested with towering church spires; while as the view recedes into far off cloud-land, we look upon Holyoke's clear-cut, irregular outline, standing out in front of a commingled array of crowded hill-tops, behind which looms up "Greylock, cloud-girdled on his purple throne," or,
" Far through the dimmest distance, dim Monadnock's dome appears, Unmoved through by-gone centuries, unmoved through coming years."
The water-courses in the present township afford no sufficient fall for the water power, which has been so important a factor in the prosperity of many New Eng- land villages. Brimfield cannot be a manufacturing town, and its location away from the line of railroads as evi- dently forbids any possibility of its being a center of trade, even if the adjoining region were, as it is not, a produc- tive territory. So we must accept the situation ; yet also, as we review the past, and think what the energy and 3
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
enterprise of past generations accomplished, may we not derive fresh hope and courage for earnest endeavor, that the honorable record of the past one hundred and seventy- five years shall be worthily maintained by the successors, to whom has been transmitted so goodly an inheritance.
We have no reliable account of the appearance of this region at the time of its first settlement. It is generally supposed to have been an
" Interminable wood that frowned O'er hill and dale."
There is a tradition that the Indians, in their wasteful method of clearing land for cultivation and for early graz- ing for the deer, had burned over the land near the pres- ent village site, laying bare about two thousand acres. The naming of the land at the junction of the present Warren and Dunhamtown roads as " the Timber land," would indicate that the primitive forests had in other localities, been destroyed.
It does not appear that there was any Indian village on this tract of land. It was a part of the Nipmuck country. These Nipmuck (i. e. " away from the river ") Indians had no one acknowledged head. Brookfield was the home of the Quaboag tribe. Their villages were near the Wick- aboag and Podunk ponds. They used these highlands for hunting and for cultivation of corn.
" River and stiller water paid Their tribute to the net and spear Of the red ruler of the shade."
Deer Pond and Moose Mountain (in Monson) were the haunts of those " antlered monarchs of the wood." The Proprietors' Book, p. 41, bears testimony to the fact that the beaver, that most valuable of the fur-bearing animals, was once to be found in East Brimfield. The hill on
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INDIAN RELICS.
the road leading to Warren from Sherman's Pond past the present residence of Elisha C. Marsh, still known as Indian Hill, was cultivated by the Indians, as was also East Hill. The early settlers followed the customs of the Indians in planting corn. The proper time was when the young oak-leaf was as big as a mouse's ear. The proper method was to hill the corn, planting beneath the seed a fish for plant-food. The hill, where Harvey and David W. Janes now live, is called in the Proprietors' Book Indian-field Hill. " As late as 1815, one of the old inhab- itants was enabled to point out what were once hills of corn grown by the Indians on Indian Hill, where now there are large trees."
Near the outlet of Sherman's Pond many Indian arrow- heads are frequently found. While living in the western part of the town, Mr. William HI. Sherman found a stone utensil, an Indian pot or mortar, but so broken as not to be put back into its original shape. Stone hatchets, or tomahawks have also been found, both at Sherman's Pond and at Alum Pond. Around one rock on what was for- merly Dea. C. R. Brown's farm, which seems to have been a favorite resort for game, arrow-heads have been found in large numbers. These relics and the names of some hill-tops and valleys or water-courses are the only traces of the Indians that were the original occupants of this territory. The Indian family, John and Sarah Quan, with their children, who once lived near Alum Pond, were of the Mohegan tribe. John had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and came to this town from Norwich, Conn. So utterly, without leaving a record behind, have perished the rude savage tribes of whom not enough is known even to say " he lived-he died ; behold the sum, the abstract of the historic page."
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
"For the doomed Indian leaves behind no trace To save his own, or serve another race. With his frail breath, his power has passed away. His deeds, his thoughts are buried with his clay. Nor lofty pile nor glowing page Shall link him to a future age, Or give him, with the past, a rank. His heraldry is but a broken bow ; His history but a tale of wrong and woe. His very name must be a blank."
The Indians roved about in large bands, generally friendly, but frequently troublesome and insolent in demanding food and lodging. The first settlers from Springfield camped out for the Summer, while cultiva- ting their fields, going back to Springfield for the Winter. But their tents were torn in pieces by the Indians, their provisions plundered ; and it is not surprising that they abandoned the enterprise. Afterwards two block houses were constructed. To these the inhabitants could resort at night or in case of attack. The site of one was south of the mill-pond, near the present residence of John S. Needham. The other was erected where the town poor- house now stands.
It is one hundred and seventy-five years since, upon the petition of certain inhabitants of Springfield, the General Court, 1701, June 20, appointed Col. John Pynchon, Capt. Thomas Colton, James Warriner, David Morgan and Joseph Stebbins a committee to lay out a new township, eight miles square, extending along the eastern boundary of Springfield. They were instructed to take possession within one year's time, settle ten fami- lies within three years, and seventy within five years ; set- tling, also, a learned and pious minister. Brimfield did not take its name from any local feature, the hills around the village forming the brim of a bowl; nor from any English parish of the same name, though the gazetteers
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COMMITTEE OF 1701-INDIAN DISTURBANCES.
give Brimfield as the name of a parish in England, county of Hereford. The town was known at first as " the Plant- ation adjoining Springfield to the East of Springfield." For the sake of convenience, it is stated in the records of the committee, that abbreviating this lengthy title, they gave the town the name of Brimfield.
The first visit of the committee was September 22, 1701. They were accompanied by about twenty others from Springfield. After having spent two days, they re- turned, unable to decide where the " town plot," or cen- tral village, should be located. A second attempt was made with no better success. Finally, the five men de- puted to determine this matter, coming out a third time, returned with the report that the hill which they denom- inated Chicopee hill, was the most eligible spot for the centre of the town. It is what we now call Grout's hill, in Monson, on the road from this to Monson village. It is a sightly location, as every one will testify who has seen and admired the beautiful and extended prospect from that point. The first grants of land were made De- cember 31, 1701, to thirteen persons, on condition that they should begin the following Spring to subdue their lands. This condition was not fulfilled. For a number of years subsequently, no grants even were made by the committee. The reason assigned was, that "through the Distress of War, they Could not Possibly settle ye Place In Such manner and time as was appointed."
In the early settlement of the town, the inhabitants were annoyed by the Indians; but there is no record of any deadly conflicts. In the Massachusetts Archives (91: 62) is a muster-roll of men posted 1722, July 24, under Col. Samuel Partridge, at Brookfield and Brimfield .* In Massachusetts Archives is a letter from John Sherman
" One of the eight men at Brimfield was Bezaleel Sherman. All the men were from Springfield.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
dated 1725, July 10, asking that a guard may be stationed at Brimfield. In the muster-roll of Sergt. Joseph Knowl- ton's company of Springfield, dated 1725, November 19, the names of twelve men, designated as the Brimfield Scout, are given. (Massachusetts Archives. ) See appendix.
It was hoped, on the declaration of peace between France and England, 1697, September 20, when the Treaty of Ryswick was signed, that the troubles of the colonists with the Indians would cease. But King Wil- liam died in 1702, March S. He was succeeded by Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary. Soon after her ac- cession there followed a declaration of war, 1702, May 4, between England and France. The resources of the col- onies were heavily taxed for various unsuccessful expedi- tions against Canada. The only organized attack on the settlements in New England, by the French and Indians, was the burning of Deerfield, 1704, February 29. Yet individual settlers or travelers frequently fell victims to Indian ambuscades, or were carried captives to Canada. These Indian depredations put a stop to the settlement of new townships. Scouting parties were kept traversing this region, for Brookfield was, at that time, peculiarly exposed from its being an isolated settlement. Queen Anne's war was ended by the Peace of Utrecht, 1713, May 5.
In 1709, June 15, the General Court prolonged the time originally allotted for the settlement of Brimfield. The committee were granted an extension of time till " four years after the conclusion of the then War with France and Spain." Maj. John Pynchon was appointed a member of the committee in place of his father, who had died in 1703.
It is not impossible that a distressing sickness, which prevailed at Springfield in 1711, and carried off a num- ber of the principal men, might have had some influence
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ADDITIONAL GRANT EASTWARD.
in retarding the settlement of Brimfield. Aside from any local hindrances, it is obvious, from a general survey of this period, that it was not till about 1725, that the colo- nies seemed to recover their former spirit of enterprise. Then,
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