USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Conway > History of Conway (Massachusetts) 1767-1917 > Part 8
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Conway has many attractive locations for summer residences. Cricket Hill, Hoosac, Broomshire, and many sites about the village should be occupied by bungalows or by more imposing residences. A summer population of the right sort would be a wel- come addition to the social and religious life of the community.
Conway has some very attractive permanent residences, as "Braeside," the beautiful estate of W. L. Matthews.
Farm life has changed very much in fifty years. Improved farm machinery has lightened much of the heavy work. There has been a tendency in recent years toward "scientific" farming, once so much despised. Analysis of the soil and the use of commercial fertilizers selected to meet the particular needs of soil and crop is a common practice among the farmers. Farm homes are now more comfortable and much more conveniently arranged and furnished than fifty years ago. The telephone and rural mail delivery have to a large extent removed the old feeling of isolation, and the increasing use of automobiles means closer touch with the markets of the city.
THE OUTLOOK.
Fifty years ago the people were looking to manufacturing as the hope for the future development and prosperity of the
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town. To-day there is little prospect that manufacturing will ever again become a very important industry in Conway. The future of the town depends, as it really always has depended, upon the development of her agricultural resources. These have invariably repaid the industrious and intelligent farmer and never more so than at present.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
During the last half century Conway has met with the loss of many worthy citizens, whose lives gave character to the community life. To a few only, native of the town with two exceptions, will space permit of even a brief tribute.
Gen. Asa Howland, a descendant of sturdy Puritan ances- try, was born October 25, 1787. Throughout a long life he was remarkably faithful in the discharge of religious and civic duties. In early life he entered with enthusiasm into the work of the state militia and by various promotions rose to the rank of major. In that capacity he responded to the call of the governor during the war of 1812 and served in the defense of Boston. Subsequently he rose to the rank of brigadier general and by this title was generally known through life. In 1837 he built what is now known as the "Lower Cotton Mill" where he engaged for a number of years in the manufacture of cotton cloth. He was an outspoken and uncompromising advo- cate of temperance, making some enemies thereby. On Janu- ary 12, 1854, while in Greenfield serving as a special magistrate in the trial of cases for the violation of liquor laws he was assaulted by three men in disguise, who entered his room at the hotel in the night. He fortunately was able to give an alarm and thus saved himself from serious injury. The General's last public appearance was at the centennial celebration of the town in 1867 when he, with another aged citizen, led a cavalcade in the morning procession. He wore the same chapeau, plume, and belt that he wore while commanding a division of the state militia in 1825. It is said that he rode erect and trim with a confident easy horsemanship although in his eightieth year. He died June 29, 1870.
Gen. James S. Whitney was born in South Deerfield, May 19, 1811. As a young man he worked in his father's store, of
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
which he became the proprietor at the age of twenty-one. He early took a great interest in military matters and gained such distinction in the local military organization that at the age of twenty-five he was honored with a commission as brigadier general. He removed to Conway about the first of January, 1838, where he made his home for sixteen years. He lived on Baptist Hill in the house now occupied by Edwin T. Cook. Here five of his children were born, including his two distin- guished sons, Henry M. Whitney, builder of the West End Railway System of Boston, and William C. Whitney, corporation lawyer in New York and Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of President Cleveland. General Whitney opened a general store in partnership with his brother-in-law, Anson Shepard, under the firm name of Shepard & Whitney. This firm was followed by that of Whitney & Wells, Charles Wells being the junior partner. About 1846 General Whitney and Mr. Wells started the manufacture of seamless bags and made it an impor- tant industry for a number of years. In 1854 General Whitney with others secured a charter for a national bank in Conway, of which institution he was a director while he remained in town. The same year he took a prominent part in organizing the Conway Mutual Fire Insurance Company of which he was one of the incorporators and the first president.
Meanwhile he was much in public life. He served Conway as town clerk from 1843 to 1852. In 1851 he was elected sheriff of Franklin County and served in that capacity about two years. He represented Conway in the State Legislature of 1851 and again in that of 1854. He was sent as a delegate of the town to the Constitutional Convention of 1853. In 1854 he was appointed to the very responsible position of superin- tendent of the United States Armory in Springfield, Mass. This caused his removal from Conway. In 1860 he was appointed collector of the port of Boston and removed to Brookline, where he made his home until his death, October 24, 1878. His last years were devoted to large business enterprises in which he engaged. General Whitney and his family always cherished pleasant memories of Conway. From time to time they have sent substantial tokens of their regard in gifts for educational and religious objects; and the people of Conway still cherish
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with pride and affection the memory of the Whitney family- the honored father and his distinguished sons.
Col. Austin Rice was born in Conway, July 16, 1794. His entire life was spent upon the farm now owned by
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COL. AUSTIN RICE.
William T. Graves. He attended the local district school and later studied at an academy in Westfield, Mass. He then for a number of years taught the winter term of school in this and in neighboring towns. He was fond of reading and by this means became a well-informed man. His interest in educational matters is seen in the fact that he was made a trustee of Mount
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Holyoke Seminary in 1858 and was kept in this position until his death twenty-two years later. In early manhood he enrolled in the militia as was the custom in those days. He became the colonel of a cavalry regiment and from that time throughout his life was known, and almost invariably addressed, as "Colonel Rice." He was interested in all public matters and held various positions of trust in the town and county. He was deeply interested in the various activities of the Congregational church, of which he was a member. His son estimates that he gave during the period of his business life nearly five thousand dollars for missionary and benevolent objects, not counting his regular contributions to parish expenses. Colonel Rice may be regarded as a type of that strong and forceful Puritan stock which has given character to so many New England towns. His death occurred on July 15, 1880.
In this connection we wish to pay tribute to the honored son of Colonel Rice, Rev. Charles Baker Rice, D.D., whose death occurred on July 31, 1913. Dr. Rice was born on the ancestral farm in Broomshire, June 29, 1829. He was never a resident of Conway after his boyhood days, but he was identi- fied with the town in so many ways and served the town on so many occasions as to be in spirit if not in reality a permanent citizen of the place. He was the historian of the centennial celebration in 1867 and his painstaking researches at that time made him ever after an authority on the history of this locality. He gave the principal address at the local celebration of the national centennial in 1876. When the Congregational church was rebuilt in 1885 he was called to Conway to preach the sermon of dedication. He was invited repeatedly to give the principal address at high school dinners, and when the Field Memorial Library was dedicated in 1901, Dr. Rice was the one selected to make the address of dedication. After the death of Marshall Field he prepared, by request of the Field family, a brief Memorial Volume containing an account of the presenta- tion of the library. This memorial is included in this book as Chapter Eight.
Dr. Rice was pastor of the Congregational church in Danvers, Mass., for thirty-one years. He then became secretary of the Congregational Board of Pastoral Supply, a position he held
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during the remainder of his life. Like his father he was natu- rally dignified in manner and in his later years was quite vener- able in appearance. The title of Doctor of Divinity belonged to him by the natural fitness of things. It seemed most appro- priate to call him "Doctor Rice" even as a former generation had found it easy and natural to address his father as "Colonel."
Dr. E. Darwin Hamilton, who died July 18, 1883, at the age of seventy-two, was one of the leading citizens of the town for many years. As a physician he held a large practice for half a century, succeeding his father, Dr. Washington Hamilton, also a native of the town. He was for many years president of the Conway National Bank. He was a favorite moderator at town meetings and acted in this capacity at the special meeting held in response to President Lincoln's call for troops in 1861. He was made a member of the committee of five to secure the enlistment of soldiers. He enjoyed the confidence of his community and was in every respect worthy of it.
Capt. Charles Parsons was a prominent citizen in his day. His father, Joel Parsons, a Revolutionary soldier, came from Somers, Conn., and located on what is now known as Arms' Hill. In 1825 he built the farmhouse recently remodeled by James F. Tichenor. The son, Capt. Charles Parsons, sold this farm in 1837 to Franklin Arms and bought the Col. Charles Billings place, later known as "Grass Hill" farm. Captain Parsons was a successful and very prosperous farmer, interested in all public matters and held in high esteem by the people of the community. He died May 14, 1889, at the ripe age of ninety.
Charles Baker Merritt, son of Capt. Pliny Merritt, was born in 1823 on the farm where he spent his entire life, the farm now owned by C. F. Elmer. Mr. Merritt was a successful farmer and one of the forceful business men of the town. For a number of years he served as a director in the Conway Mutual Insurance Company. Then, in 1884, he became a director of the Conway National Bank and was continued in this position until his death in 1899. He also was a trustee of the Savings Bank from its incorporation, in 1887, until his death and for much of the time served on its investment committee. He was influential in all of the affairs of the town and served in various public offices and on many important committees.
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Jabez C. Newhall was born in Conway, August 12, 1825, and died November 24, 1901. He was deeply interested in the welfare of the town and lent his active and generous support to every good measure. He was an honorary member of the Francis A. Clary Post, G. A. R. An intelligent and progressive farmer, he was for many years a member of the Connecticut Valley Harvest Club, and for several years a member of the State Board of Agriculture. Mr. Newhall may be regarded as a type of the intelligent farming class who lend stability and moral strength to the community life.
Franklin Pease in a modest and unobtrusive way was one of the strong men of the town for many years. He became a member of the State Legislature in 1862 and served in various . town offices and positions of trust during the remainder of his life. He was for many years a trusted adviser in the manage- ment of the local banks. He was for about thirty years a trustee of the Conway Methodist Church. He was prosperous in business and knew the value of money in doing good. He died April 5, 1903, at the age of seventy-nine.
Carlos Batchelder was born in Conway, January 16, 1829. He received his education in the public schools and then for a time engaged with his father in farming. He served the town as a selectman for eight years, including three years of the Civil War. In 1870 he represented his district in the Legislature. In 1874 he became a member of the Board of County Commis- sioners and was continued in that position for fifteen years. He was one of the special commissioners appointed to superin- tend the building of the bridge at Turners Falls. For fifty years he was a trustee of the Franklin Agricultural Society. He was for many years a director of the Conway National Bank and on the death of Dr. Hamilton, in 1883, was made its president. He was one of the most active promoters of the Conway Electric Street Railway and became the first president of the company. He was for more than fifty years a member of the Conway Congregational Church and for many years one of its deacons. Mr. Batchelder gave his time freely to the promotion of business and religious interests and no citizen in his day was more influential in the community. He died December 20, 1901.
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Dr. John B. Laidley was born in Westhampton, Mass., in 1858, but spent his boyhood in the town of Huntington. By strenuous exertions he obtained a liberal education, graduating from the medical school in 1883 as valedictorian of his class. He located the same year in Conway succeeding to the practice of Dr. E. D. Hamilton, recently deceased. He soon acquired a reputation as a skillful physician and surgeon. His devotion to his patients in a time of unusual sickness overtaxed his strength and caused his death in the prime of life on March 18, 1910.
During his residence of twenty-seven years in Conway Dr. Laidley was actively interested in all of the religious, social, and political affairs of the town. He was the moving spirit in building the electric railway in 1894. It was his magnetic leadership that carried the project through to completion. The officials of the N. Y., N. H. & H. railroad opposed the extension across the Deerfield River and attempted to intimidate the officers of the electric road at the public hearing. Dr. Laidley, however, with ready wit and shrewd diplomacy made their opposition appear ridiculous. In 1906 he succeeded in inter- esting the officials of the Boston & Maine railroad in the purchase of the electric road and then planned and led to success the campaign in the Legislature for the bill permitting this transfer. Dr. Laidley was a brilliant conversationalist and a most genial companion, and everywhere won friends for himself and what- ever cause he might represent. He was Conway's "live wire" for a score of years.
Henry Williams Billings was born in Conway, December 9, 1826. He received his education in the town schools and at Deerfield Academy and Williston Seminary. He began his business career as clerk for the Conway Mutual Fire Insurance Company and throughout his life he handled most of the fire insurance business in Conway as agent of various companies. In 1861 he was elected town clerk and in 1864 town treasurer and was annually continued in these offices as long as he lived. At the annual town meeting held March 6, 1911, he was pre- sented with a purse of fifty dollars in gold and the town by vote adopted the following resolution :-
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"Whereas, Henry W. Billings has served the town of Conway as town treasurer for forty-seven years and as town clerk for fifty years; and
"Whereas, in this remarkable half century of service, a record almost unparalleled in the history of the commonwealth,
H. W. BILLINGS, EsQ.
he has been an able and efficient servant, faithful, upright, ever respected, of unquestioned integrity, fulfilling his duties with credit to himself and honor to the community;
"We, therefore, the citizens of Conway in town-meeting assembled, proud of his record, wish to express to Mr. Billings our appreciation of his upright character, our satisfaction with
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and approval of the honorable manner in which he has discharged his trust, and extend to him our congratulations on the com- pletion of this half century of service to the community."
He lived to complete fifty-four years of service as town clerk and fifty-one years as town treasurer. His death occurred on June 13, 1915.
Mr. Billings was justice of the peace and did considerable legal business in the way of making deeds, writing wills, and settling estates. For seventeen years preceding the establishing of the Franklin District Court he was trial justice and afterward held a commission to issue warrants. It was his practice to act as peacemaker if possible rather than to encourage litigation. For fifteen years he was treasurer of the Conway Co-operative Creamery, keeping accounts with the various patrons with absolute exactness. He was deeply interested in educational matters and for many years was chairman of the school board. He was a director of the old town library and became one of the original trustees of the Field Memorial Library. His long acquaintance with the town and his retentive memory made him an authority on all matters of local history. He early united with the local Congregational church and throughout his long life was a regular and appreciative attendant. For many years he was the leader of the choir and the superintendent of the Sunday School.
Mr. Billings was the ideal public servant. Regarding official duties as a sacred trust, he was scrupulously exact in every item of business. His personal integrity was never for a moment questioned. His judgment was constantly sought in both public and private affairs, and for more than half a century he held a unique distinction as the trusted counselor and friend of every one.
CHAPTER IV. THE NATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY. BY FLORENCE MABEL PEASE.
The rugged yet quiet beauty of Conway has been a source of strength and happiness to many individuals. The woods of maple, birch, and pine, the changing fields fringed with bushes and flowers, the hills with outstanding bowlders, the clear streams with their dashing waterfalls and quiet pools, all sound a note of alluring invitation to the sportsman, the nature lover, and the artist.
The surface of the town is broken with many hills and valleys and the air of the region is pure and stimulating. The elevation of the village is from 520 feet to 640 feet above sea level. The highest point of land is in the western part of the town between the place belonging to the Elias Bradford estate and the Hillman place, now owned by C. P. Hassell. The height of this point is 1,504 feet. Other high hills are Dry Hill in the southern part of the town, 1,380 feet; Cricket Hill in the central part, 1,100 feet; and Field's Hill, south of the village. Field's Hill has two peaks, the easterly being 1,100 feet and the westerly 1,140 feet. From the peaks of Field's Hill there is an extensive and beautiful view and some years there is not a month in the year that enterprising pedestrians do not avail themselves of an opportunity to see it. To the south one sees Mt. Tom and Mt. Holyoke; to the east, Amherst, Whately, Sunderland, the Deerfield Valley, and more distant points, Mt. Monadnock being one of the most prominent; to the north the villages of Conway, Greenfield, and Shelburne, and to the west Ashfield and distant peaks. The hills and woods near at hand, the valleys with attractive villages, and the more distant purple mountains form a view that seems to many as beautiful as any in the state.
The two principal streams are South River and Bear River. The pleasant and winding valley of the South River is the natural outlet of the smaller streams of the town. South River furnishes mill power and flows into the Deerfield, flowing for
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THE NATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY.
the last mile of its course in a more rocky bed with precipitous banks until near its junction with the Deerfield River it is spanned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad bridge, 175 feet high, the highest railroad bridge in the state. Bear River in Shirkshire also flows into the Deerfield after making a deep, rocky, and exceedingly picturesque valley for itself, as it flows through the northern part of the town.
PUMPKIN HOLLOW AND FIELD'S HILL.
The abundance of brooks is one of the marked natural features of the town. The most noteworthy of these are Roaring Brook, rising on the easterly slope of Cricket Hill and flowing into Mill River in Whately, and Poland Brook, which rises in Ashfield and flows into South River. Chapel Falls on this brook, about a mile from Poland Center, deserves to be better known, but many note its charms every year. The water falls rapidly over the rocks three times, each time making a deep pool before leaping again. There is also a natural waterfall near Reed's mill, which is beautiful at all times of the year.
The only large bodies of water to which Conway can lay claim are the reservoir and Lake Wequanock in Wildwood Park. Lake Wequanock is made by the setting back of the water from
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
the large dam which was built for the Conway Electric Light and Power Company, but this makes it no less delightful for boating.
Wildwood Park is on the line of the Conway Electric Road. When the trolley line was built, the underbrush was cleared from a large tract of land and an excellent pavilion was erected, while the fine natural features of wood and river were left untouched, so the park has been the scene of innumerable picnics and of the justly famed Masonic clambakes. Before Wildwood Park was brought into existence, Arms grove was much used for outdoor gatherings. The grove is a natural amphitheatre and it was here that the centennial exercises were held in 1867 and here that the townspeople united in giving four performances of "The Festival of the Hills" in 1915.
The geographical features of Conway which have attracted most attention are the Conway schists and the evidences in support of the theory of the "Conway Lake." The exact age of the rocks which appear at the surface in Conway is not known with certainty. That these rocks belong to an carlier period than the Devonian is generally accepted, for the position of the strata indicates that they are older than rocks at Bernards- ton whose fossils prove them to be of Devonian formation.
Professor Hitchcock of Amherst, who probably made the closest study of the geology of this region, has given the name "Conway schist" to the "finely corrugated muscovite-schist" which is so abundant here. This rock is of a dark coaly nature often containing small garnets and staurolite. Even the origin of these Conway schists is somewhat doubtful; although appear- ing to show the stratification of sedimentary deposits in many instances, quite similar effects are often produced in rocks of igneous origin by cleavage lines produced by great pressures. The complicated contortions of these strata are good proof of the pressures to which these rocks have been subjected. If they were laid down as a sedimentary deposit it must have been under an inland sea that extended northerly into the continent in about the same locality as is occupied by the Green Mountains of to-day. This uncertainty of origin does not extend to the granites of the southern and southeastern part of the town for these are of igneous origin.
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THE NATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY.
Conway shows the effect of the movement of the great North American ice sheet in the rounded hilltops, especially on the northwest side of the hills whence the strongest pressure came. Many of the gravel beds of Conway at the higher altitudes were doubtless formed in the melting of the ice sheet as the climate grew warmer.
Professor B. K. Emerson of the U. S. Geological Survey advances a very interesting theory in connection with the retreat of this glacier toward the north under the return of warmer seasons. This theory is that when the ice front reached what is now Conway at about the point known as Field's Hill, the continued retreat would be toward lower ground, but the front of the ice sheet prevented the escape of the waters toward the north, as the valley now drains, so a small lake would necessarily be formed, overflowing to the south through the narrow cut to the west of Field's Hill. As the ice front con- tinued its retreat to the north, the lake grew in size, still draining through the notch in the hills and following the valley of what is now the West Whately Brook. The ice barrier must have remained a comparatively long time near what is now the junction of the South River and the Deerfield, blocking the waters to a height shown by the top of the hill where the Totman farm is now located. Under these conditions we can imagine what Professor Emerson calls the Conway Lake occupying the entire valley, where the village now stands, to a height deter- mined by the outlet near Field's Hill. Finally the ice barrier must have melted away from the northern end of the valley and the pent-up waters were allowed to make their escape to the Deerfield Valley and thus to the Connecticut. At this time we would have seen the valley in Conway as the bed of a suddenly emptied lake, through which the newly made South River wended its way eastward from Ashfield and northward to its outlet into the Deerfield. The level of this old lake bed would be represented at this time by Academy Hill, Baptist Hill, and the corresponding terraces on both sides of the valley past Charles Elmer's and Joseph Newhall's to Conway Station. Since this period the stream has been cutting out a deeper channel in the valley and it is in this newly cut valley in the old lake bed that the most of Conway village now stands.
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