USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Deerfield > History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when the people by whom it was settled, unsettled and resettled, vol 2 > Part 10
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After their dispersion at Springfield many of the misguid- ed men, accepting the offer of amnesty, came in and gave up their arms, but, as appears by the following, not fast enough to suit the fiery Maj. Catlin, now a firm supporter of the gov- ernment :-
DEERFIELD, Feb. 20, 1787.
Sir I must insist that you exert yourself to the utmost that the Insurgents in your part of the County who have not already given up their Arms, and taken the Oath of Allegiance to this Commonwealth, do attend on me, at Reuben Wells, in Greenfield, on Thursday next at ten o'clock Fornoon for that purpose. Let them know that now is the Day of Grace-and it may be soon over.
I am Sir Your Humble Servant SETHI CATLIN Lt. James Stewart.
Stewart was of Colrain, where there had been general sym- pathy with the insurgents. A large number gave up their arms, which were placed in charge of Col. Joseph Stebbins. Some of them were put to use by the government, as appears by Shepherd's order below :-
765
THE LEGACY OF A GOOD EXAMPLE.
NORTHAMPTON Mch 3 1788
Dear Sir You will please firnish Lieut Hoit with twenty five arms from the arms the Insurgents lodged with you
By order of Gen Shepherd ABEL WHITNEY, A. D. C.
Col Stebbins
Rec'd March 4th 1787 of Lt Colo J. Stebbins twenty five arms. DAVID HOIT Jun
These arms were eventually restored to the owners. On some scraps of paper I find the names of sixty-nine of those who gave Col. Stebbins their receipts for their guns. I rec- ognize none of these as inhabitants of Deerfield.
A Last Faint Echo of the War. Sometime after the war about thirty of the leading Tories of the Connecticut valley sent a petition to Lord Dorchester, modestly asking the grant of thirty townships of land south of the St. Lawrence and adjoining the Vermont line, each to be six miles square. This was to be in consideration of their former sufferings and their present persecutions. Col. William Page and Dr. Isaac Moseley were sent to Canada to forward this movement. John Williams, Seth Catlin and Samuel Field were the Deerfield representatives in the association, and Williams and Col. Eleazer Fitch were its active home agents. The result of these operations is not found. It was probably a purely financial speculation.
· A letter written in 1787 speaks of the hardships of the debt- or elass. The writer says a great deal of property is sold at auction on execution, at a very low price, that the men of means are improving the opportunity of increasing their store, while the poor are in a sad strait. No reason is known why the hardships following the war did not press as heavily upon this town as upon others. But our people appear to have had no fellowship with those who were seeking a rem- edy in an impossible way and at the risk of losing the benefits of their dearly bought Independence. The town taxed itself to pay off at once all the war debt-preferring to carry its own burdens rather than impose them upon their children. They thus left us the legacy of a good example, instead of a public debt. I do not recall having in any instance seen the statement, except the one here given, that tobaeco was tak- en by the Government in payment of Taxes. It indicates that the weed was cultivated to a considerable extent at this time.
766
SPECIE TAXES-COUNTERFEITING -- SMALL POX.
This paper also shows that John Williams had recovered his standing with the State government as he had years before with his fellow townsmen. He was now as loyal to the new Commonwealth as he had been to George III.
To Richard Devens, Commissary General. DEERFIELD Jany 5, 1788.
Sir Having some time since seen by an advertisment of Mr Shep- hard that he was ordered to dispose of the Public Property in his hand rec'd for Taxes, and having rec'd no Order on the Subject myself, induces me to suppose that a Return made by me some time past has not been received. Wherefore I send to give the enclosed, be- ing an accont of all I have received in consequence of your ap- pointment praying you if the other accont hath not been received, to make this acceptable & thereby oblige S'
Your Very Humble Servt JOHN WILLIAMS
An accont of specifick Articles received by your Orders at Deer- field in discharge of Specie Taxes, granted previous to the year 1784 persuant to an appointment of Ricard Devens Esq C. G.
1787. Mch II Rec'd of Jenijah Thayer 456 lbs of Tobacco at 35s pr ct Gave three Seits of Rec'ts for 37s [Id each 5 139
April 20 Rec'd of Daniel Wells Collector of Green- field 623 bush of Indian Corn @@ 3s 1 00
Oct 16 Rec'd of David Hoyt Jr 346 1bs of Tobacco at 25s per ct 6 6
Rec'd of Same 90 Ibs of do @ 255 I 2 6
£12 2 0
A true Ae't Errors Excepted.
Deerfield Jany 4 1788. JOHN WILLIAMS. N. B. The Tobacco is on hand J. W.
[Williams writes again March 3d, 1788] :-
Sir Capt Locke the Bearer herof has in his Custody some Govern- ment Securities which were given originally to him & wishes to avail himself of some Tobacco the property of the state therwith. I be- ing in doubt whether I was authorized by the Act to sell it, have consented that he shall take it on to you, wishing that he may avail himself of the Tobacco, at the price at which Government received it if practicable. the quantity I find is 767 lbs it being the whole of what I have received after a deduction occasioned by the weight be- ing diminished & some part being lost by means of it being wet.
1 have rec'd nothing else for Taxes but 633 bushels of Indian Corn, which I have disposed off & am ready to account for I am St with Esteem yr Humble Sert JOHN WILLIAMS
Dec. 3d, 1787, Samuel Field was chosen delegate to the State Convention at Boston, the second Wednesday in Janu- ary, 1789, called to ratify the United States Constitution. The militia being reorganized under the State Constitution, Joseph Stebbins, Jr., was commissioned May 22d, 1788, colo-
767
MODERN ALCHEMY.
nel of the 2d Regiment, 2d Brigade, 4th Division; David Hoyt commissioned captain, Ithamar Burt, lieutenant, and Seth · Nims, ensign, June 9th. Dec. 18th, 1788, the town voted to raise money to arm and equip such men as the selectmen think unable to procure the same. May 25th, 1789, commis- sions were given to Capt. Abner Cooley, Lieut. William Try- on and Ensign Elijah Arms, as officers of a company at Bloody Brook.
In March, 1789, there was great excitement in town on the breaking up of a gang of counterfeiters, whose operations had caused much disturbance in the circulating medium. Fourteen men were arraigned before Esq. John Williams and Esq. [Elisha?] Porter; all were bound over to the Supreme Judicial Court. It appears from notes of the testimony that they were engaged in counterfeiting Spanish milled dollars. The center of operations seems to have been at "Goff's Mill." Another place was on an island in Deerfield river, near Con- way, where the rushing waters drowned the noise of their stamp mill. "A man in Greenfield " offered, according to the evidence, "to make $1000 for 500 good ones." The accused testified freely against each other, and one is surprised to find them alternately in the witness stand and at the criminal bar. It would seem that most of the men had been victims of a set of sharpers, who would sell them a base metal and receipts for "transmuting copper into silver" and "Silver into gold." Sometimes they would offer to prove the virtue of these receipts by experiment. The invariable result was, that after melting a lot of good dollars, they would disappear with the crucible. The accused were doubtless a set of weak, ignorant men, and judging from the operations of the "green goods" men of to-day that class did not become extinct at their death. Julius Allis, who was somehow mixed up in this affair was set off to Conway by an act of the General Court in 1791.
March 27th, 1793, there was an article in the warrant for the March meeting,-" To see if the Town will allow any hos- pital for Small Pox in Town." Voted "No. * * * Neverthe- less considering that the Small Pox is already in the house of Jona. Hoit 2d, voted that he may have liberty to inoculate his children in his own house and no others."
This exception shows the belief of the voters in the effica-
768
SMALL POX-COMMON FIELD.
cy of the act, and it is difficult to understand the prejudice which forbade others the benefit of it.
Hoyt lived in Wisdom, and, although we find no evidence on record to that effect, his house may have become a pest house. Some years later, Lieut. Joseph Barnard "died of small pox at the pest house in Wisdom."
In 1794, the town voted to make a plan of the town agree- able to the Resolve of the General Court passed June 26th, 1794.
March Ist, 1795. The town voted that "if Col. Stebbins will erect a grist mill in the South Meadow * * Said mill shall be tax free so long as water runs and grass grows." A mill was built soon after, which became and continued for many years a famous and popular one. Following this period came the palmy days of Deerfield in stall-feeding cattle for the Boston and New York markets, and between the hurry- ing and groaning stones of this mill, passed nearly all the cereal products of Deerfield Meadows, in the form of " prov- ender" with which they were fattened. Provender in those days meant a mixture of Indian corn, and " peas-an-oats" usu- ally about half-and-half. This mill was burned August 19th, 1838, but it was rebuilt at once. It was finally destroyed by floods.
Around the water power developed by Stebbins, Mill vil- lage grew up, and active industries centered there. I name some as memory serves me; saw mill, carding mill, fulling mill, shingle mill, clothiers works, lead pipe works, dyc works, machine shop, blacksmith shop.
The Common Field. As we have seen, the affairs of the Common Field were at first under the direction of the town. About 1719 those owning lands on the Meadows organized under some general law as the "Proprietors of the Common Field in Deerfield." A parchment covered book in Memori- al Ilall, contains a record of the doings of this body, and its successors for one hundred and twenty-five years. The first entry is dated March 14th, 1733-4, the last Nov. 5th, 1858. The Proprietors had power to raise money by taxation for incidental expenses and to compel each land owner to keep up his proportion of the encircling fence which was assigned him by the Proprietors. In 1734 the ratio was "fifteen feet & two Inches & one quarter of an Inch pr aere to every lot of
769
OPENING THE MEADOWS.
which part is under Improvement." The rate varied slightly from time to time as the amount of territory enclosed varied. At first only the meadows east of the Pocumtuck river were enclosed ; this required a fence of four miles, one hundred and ninety-two rods and twenty-five feet, in addition to one- half the west fence of the home lots at the Street and Wap- ping-about one mile more. This fence began on Green river just above the lower bridge and ended at Stillwater. To enclose the Wisdom meadows required five miles and thirty-eight rods more. Every owner was obliged under a penalty, to put up a stone with his initials at the north end of his string of fence, that it might be easily identified ; and he was held responsible for any damage to crops incurred through his neglect.
This cumbersome method of protecting the meadows con- tinted until the corporation was reorganized by a special act of the legislature passed Nov. 30th, 1785, under the style of the "Proprietors of the Common & General Field in the Town of Deerfield." The Proprietors assumed the ownership of all the fence and ever after supported it by a money tax on the land owners. The power to do this they seem to have lacked before. They now had sole control of all general mat- ters pertaining to the Common Field. From the first the corporation met, under a regular warrant, at the meeting- house, and in its later years in the Town House. They had a regular organization, with a clerk, assessors, collectors, and necessary agents. They raised money by legal taxation, ac- cording to valuation, bought supplies of fencing stuff and fixed its price and the price of labor. An annual meeting was held in the spring for choice of officers and the transac- tion of other business ; another was held in the fall to fix the time for "Opening the Meadows" for feeding. Appraisers were chosen to examine the condition of each owner's land, and decide how many "rights " each was entitled to. Below is a sample of the lists of feed and stock handed in to the ap- praisers :-
Mathew Clessons feed in the Common field. Cattle. 2 oxen
Grass Land Clessons Swamp five acres
On the plain 5 do
Stubble do 3 do
Stalks do 4 do
3 COWS
2 two years old
I Horse IColt I do
The appraisers determine, after examination, whether Cles-
770
THE COMMON FIELD.
son's feed and stock balance, or whether he will be obliged to buy " Rights" to supply his need, or have Rights to sell.
A Right admitted one ox. On this standard the privi. lege for entering other stock was finely graded. The Rights were merchantable and changed hands in wholes or fractions, according to need or convenience. All entries of stock and sales of Rights were made a matter of record on the books of the appraisers. The hour of opening was high noon, and woe be to the owner of any stock seen running at large before the first stroke of twelve from the meetinghouse bell. Be- fore the echoes of its last stroke had fairly melted into si- lence, the gates on every road leading into the meadows were flung open and hundreds of cows and oxen were cropping the sweet grass, or battling for mastership. These conflicts were one of the prominent features of the day. The strife was renewed as often as stranger herds met, and continued until it was settled which animal "beat." Sometimes a lord- ly beast would go the rounds "with a chip on his shoulder," and hundreds would give way to him without a question, and no animal was molested who did not offer to lock horns with him. When two of this kidney met there was usually much turf torn up and much good feed spoiled. The battle was hot and often prolonged, once one gave up "beat " the bellig- erents became the best of friends.
The Meadows usually remained "open " about four weeks, when all gates must be closed by law. This shutting-up of the gates was a source of great annoyance to travelers. On every road leading through or into the meadows, the passer was obliged to open the gate and close it behind him. In time men began to think this annoyance to travelers, this hindrance to business, and damage done to the land, outweighed the ad- vantages gained by utilizing the feed, and gradually a party was formed which acted on this conviction. For many years there was an annual struggle between this party and the Conservatives, which grew sharper as the parties grew to be more equal and the Radicals gained an occasional victory. All votes were by interest, a certain amount on the valuation list giving one vote. As the day approached for the fall meeting, proxies were gathered from far and near; in some cases real estate was deeded to parties solely to make them personally interested in the battle.
771
DEATH OF AN OLD CUSTOM.
The parties in a general way divided along these lines: Men opposed to changing any customs of their fathers, men who summered a large stock of oxen and wished to eke out their failing pastures with a month of fresh fall feed before putting them into their winter stalls, on one side; on the other, men with no pastures, who bought their oxen for the stall just before winter set in; men whose land was newly seeded, or lay in low places, or in locations which exposed it to unusual tramplings ; with side issues on both sides.
At the fall meeting, Nov. 5th, 1858, the first question to test the strength of the opposing parties was on the choice of moderator. While the slow process of taking the vote by interest was going on, both parties became shaky as to the result and the count was interrupted. After much harangu- ing it was agreed on all hands that the meadows should be opened without any ceremony that year and never after- wards.
Thus came the end. Originally the meadow fence was a vital necessity to keep out the cattle which roamed at large on the hills; the very life of the settlement depended upon its integrity. In later years, when individuals kept their stock in their own pastures, and cattle found running at large were impounded, the meadow fence was only needed to keep them in while the meadows were opened in the fall. When opening the meadows came to an end the need of the fence ended. As regulating the feeding and fencing had been the only business of the corporation, so, as feeding was at an end, its occupation was gone. It never met again. As the above meeting was not organized, the writer, as clerk of the Pro- prietors of the Common Field, presided at its last meeting, and its records and papers were left in his hands. They can now be consulted in the library of the Pocumtuck Valley Me- morial Association.
The forwardness or backwardness of crops, as compared with "old times," has been among farmers a prolific theme of discussion. The date of opening the meadows, decided each fall, tells the story of the ripening of Indian corn for that season, that being the last crop gathered in " clearing the meadows." The following table gives the results of one hun- dred years' practical observation on the subject. It gives the year and date of opening :-
772
THE COMMON FIELD.
1750
Oct. 5
1803
Oct. 28
1837
..
4
1751
7
1804
27
1838
Oct. 27
1752
12
1805
31
1839
Nov. 1
1753
2.4
1 806
31
1840
Oct. 27
1757
12
1807
Nov. 5
1841
..
29
1760
2.4
1 800
4
1843
Nov. 3
1762
..
21
1810
Oct. 25
1844
2
1763
21
ISII
31
1845
I
1764
23
1812
Nov. 7
1846
Oct. 28
1767
17
1813
2
1847
28
1 768
22
1814
Oct. 29
1848
Nov. 3
1769
13
1815
Nov. 2
1849
not opened
1770
27
1816
Oct. 15
1850
..
Nov. 6
1773
16
1819
27
1853
not opened
1786
2.4
IS21
27
1855
7
1788
2.4
IS22
25
1856
6
1789
2.4
1823
28
1857
6
1790
30
1824
Nov. 3
A few earlier dates have
1791
21
1825
Oct. 29
been
obtained, which
1792
20
1826
26
show a marked contrast
1793
25
1827
Nov. 3
with the above:
1794
..
23
1828
Oct. 25
1697
Oct.
1
1795
..
28
1829
31
1698
S
1796
29
1330
29
1699
2
1797
28
1831
29
1700
7
1798
23
1832
Nov. 10
1701
4
1799
29
1833
2
1702
Sept. 30
1 800
20
183.4
Oct. 31
1703
Oct.
I
ISOI
23
1835
Nov. 7
1706
Sept. 26
1802
30
1836
. . 10
..
12
1817
Nov. I
I851
1772
4 6
27
ISIS
Oct. 28
1852
Nov. 13
1787
66
25
1820
. .
26
1854
.4
1771
..
I SOS
2
18.42
29
1759
. .
..
. .
6.
..
66
..
66
CHAPTER XXV.
MINISTERIAL AND MUNICIPAL.
Feb. 14th, 1778, eight men in the south part of the town made a move for annexation to Whately. Living "Six, Sev- en & Eight miles from the meeting House" they cannot con- veniently attend public worship in Deerfield, but “are so Cit- yated as we can and do Commonly Attend the Public wor- ship of God in Whateley" a distance of a mile or mile and a half. They ask the selectmen to put an article in the war- rant for the March meeting :-
To see if the Town will give there Consent that we should be set of to ye Town of Whateley with the Land which we Request to have set of is as follows [sic] viz Exstending as far east as the east Line of Sam' Hardings and Beginning at the Northeast corner of se Hard- ings Land and extending westwards a strait Line to ye East line of Conway &c and in so doing you will greatly Oblidge us your Humble Pertitioners
ADONIJAH TAYLOR JOHN TAYLOR
THOMAS FAXON SOLOMAN TAYLOR
SAMUEL HARDING GIDEON DICKINSON
OLIVER SHATTUCK JULIUS ALLIS
The question was put whether ye Town will grant ye Petition of Lieut Adonijah Taylor and others, requesting to be set off to Whate- ly and passed in ye Negative.
These men lived in a body at the southwest corner of the town.
Nov. 4th, 1781, Samuel Barnard, Elijah Arms and Samuel Harding, committee, ask that the money they pay for minis- ter and school tax be refunded to be expended by themselves for those purposes. At the town meeting Dec. 3d, 1781, £15, 12s were allowed them for preaching and £6 for schooling.
After the death of Mr. Ashley in 1780, the pulpit was sup- plied about a quarter part of the time by ministers from sur- rounding towns and young clerical graduates, and Deacon meetings were held the rest of the time. In the fall of 1784 David Selden, Yale 1782, preached here seven Sundays and
774
MINISTERIAL AND MUNICIPAL.
was so well liked that a movement was made to give him a cali to settle. But at that time he was hoping to receive a call from Longmeadow, and he declined to come back. He was disappointed about Longmeadow but settled in Haddam, Ct., in 1785, where he died in 1825. Samuel Goodrich, Yale 1783, supplied the pulpit most of the time from April 3d to July 17th, 1785. July 18th the town voted to give him a call. When it became apparent that Mr. Goodrich would be called to the ministry of Deerfield, other movements for dividing the town were made. March 28th, 1785, Lucius Allis and the other selectmen of Conway petition Deerfield in behalf of Julius Allis, that " by reason of the impractibility of a Road, as well as the Distance of ye Way," to Deerfield, " he with his family might be annexed to ye town of Conway."
I find no action of the town on this petition.
May 4th, 1786, Julius himself asks the town to abate his taxes. He says there is no public road leading from his farm towards Deerfield, and he can get no benefit from the meeting or school for which he has paid taxes eighteen years. The town voted to abate his unpaid ministerial tax. Under the circumstances, Bloody Brook people make a bold push for independence. After the usual statement of the difficulty of attending meeting in town they say :-
Wheras providence has so ordered that we are so sittuated as that we can with Tolerable convenience attend the Public Worship of God among ourselves if we may have ye Liberty and wheras we so- pose there is a prospect of there being a Minister Settled in said Deerfield soon and although we have nothing to object against the Gentleman who is about to be Settled but wish you may be So Hap- py as to unite in and Settle him yet we do think it very unreasonable to be obliged to assist you in Settling him or any other Gentleman inasmuch as we cannot have any priviledg thereby. Therefore we the Subscribers by order and in Behalf of the major part of the In- habitance of the South part of Deerfield do Humbly Request that you forthwith warn a Town Meeting to see if the Town will be will- ing to set us off for to be a Town by ourselves and exempt us from paying any Taxes which may be granted and made in said Deerfield for the purpose of Settling of a minister or the Support of the Gos- pel. We also Request that we may have the Benefit of our part of all such moneys or Lands as has heretofore been granted or Seques- ted for the Support of the Gospel or Schools in Deerfield and all such other privilidges as may be made to appear to be our just Right and we request that we may be set off and exempted as above said in Maner and form as followith (viz) Begining at Connecticutt River at the Southeast Corner of a gore of Land called and known by the
775
ADVENT OF REV. JOHN TAYLOR.
name of Wapping gore and extending from thence westwardly to Conway line and Soposing that these our Requests are Reasonable we trust they will be granted which in Duty bound we shall ever SAMUEL BARNARD NATHAN FRARY SAMI HARDING Committee. WAITSTILL HAWKS ELIHU MCCALL
pray
Deerfield, July 12, 1785.
At a town meeting July 18th, "Voted in the negative."
[On a motion] to concur with a vote of the church in Deerfield passed on the 4th of July Current in giving a call to Mr. Samuel Goodrich to Settle in ye work of ye Ministry in said Town and the votes being called on said Question there appeared thirty five yeas, and twenty seven nays.
A committee was chosen to report the vote to Mr. Good- rich, and the meeting adjourned to the next day. On a petition of Asahel Wright and thirty-three others, a meeting was called Aug. 8th, 1785. Voted forty-two to eighteen that,-
The town will refund such part of the money that may be paid by the Inhabitants of the South part of the town towards the Settle- ment of a Gospel Minister in Said town *
* * provided they shall in some future day be incorporated into a Seperate Town, Par- ish, or District and Settle a Gospel Minister,
But not to include any who may wish to be set off to another town. Voted to renew their invitation to Mr. Goodrich, sixty- two to sixteen. "Voted £250 as settlement, £150 to be paid within one year after his ordination and £100 within two years," to give him a yearly salary "of £100 or £88, and 40 cords of wood." Nothing more concerning Mr. Goodrich is found on the records. In 1786, he was settled at Ridgefield, Ct., whence he went to Berlin, where he died in 1835.
Nov. 16th, 1786, the town voted to " concur with the church in inviting Mr John Taylor in settling in the work of the Ministry ; 50 to 2. Voted him a Settlement of £250, £100 within a year and £50 a year for the second and third years, 47 to 7 : and a salary of £100, unanimously." The reply of Mr. Taylor to this call was so characteristic of the man, it seems best to give it entire.
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