USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Greenfield > History of Greefield, shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 26
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TERRIBLE SICKNESS
In 1777, in the dark days of the Revolution, a scourge swept through this section with terrible results. In the town of Shelburne, with its scattered farms and homes on the hill- tops, there were eighty deaths that year, and in Greenfield fifty, or one tenth of its inhabitants.
But 1802 was long remembered as the saddest period in the town's history. So prevalent was the plague, which took the form of dysentery, that the stores and shops were closed and the streets deserted. There was no one to transact busi- ness unless compelled by necessity ; there was scarcely enough
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THE PLAGUE IN 1802
well people to care for the sick. Alarming reports spread far and wide, and travelers avoided the town, but if obliged to pass through the streets, tied handkerchiefs over their faces as a precaution against the contagion. Many families moved away or sent off their children, as the disease was particularly destructive among the young. It is recorded that one hun- dred and one persons went to other places to await the abate- ment of the disease. At one period there was not an inhab- ited house in the place where there was not one or more persons sick or the family mourning for the dead. On one Sunday it was necessary to make five coffins, as there could be no delay in the interments. The first death occurred July 18. The disease spread very rapidly, some families los- ing five children, some three, and some all they had. The whole community was cast into the profoundest lamentation and sorrow. According to the record kept by the Rev. Dr. Newton, there were from July 18 to September 20-a period of two months-47 deaths ; and in the whole year 68, 57 of which were from dysentery, and nearly all were young per- sons. In 1890, with a population exceeding 5,000, the num- ber of deaths in Greenfield was but 63,-five less than in 1802, when the population was not far from 500.
The physicians who did patient and heroic service at that time of sore distress were Dr. John Stone of Greenfield, Dr. W. S. Williams of Deerfield, and Dr. Henry Wells of Mon- tague. According to a statement made by Drs. Wells and Stone in the Gazette of August 16, that year upwards of ninety persons had been afflicted with the disorder up to the 14th of that month, and at the time of the publication there were thirty sick. These physicians attributed the contagion to " a scarcity of fruit, so necessary in hot weather to correct the bile, and to a putrid atmosphere occasioned by a great flood in June which left stagnant water on the low land, which by the intense heat of the weather became putrid, and, being blown hither by the southerly winds, affected the air so sens-
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ibly as that its insalubrity might be plainly perceived by any one walking abroad in the evening. At this time-the 16th -the wind was blowing northwest, the heat was mitigated, considerable rain having fallen, and most of the sick convales- cent." *
VILLAGE BELLS
David Wells gave a bell to the town in 1800. It was hung on the schoolhouse in School street (now Geo. W. Avery's house), and for thirty-three years (with the exception of the courthouse bell after 1812) was the only bell in town, and was rung for fires, on Sundays, for funerals, and on all public occa- sions. When the village district bought the old Fellenberg property, it was moved there and is now hanging in the belfry of the Chapman street schoolhouse. In 1833 the St. James and the Second Congregational societies each purchased bells, and when hung they tried them. A court being in session, the judge suspended business and inquired, "What is the matter?" One of the attorneys told him that two churches had got new bells, and they were trying to see which could make the most noise.
Talking of bells, it may surprise some people to know that the bell upon the Second Congregational Church was baptized before it was used by the society. On May 13, 1833, the late Deacon John J. Graves was returning from Boston with a five-horse team loaded with freight of all kinds. In the road in Montague, just below the mouth of the old canal, the way proving defective, the big wagon and its contents, includ- ing said bell, lurched over the bank into the river, but happily Mr. Graves and his horses made their escape; but various kinds of dry goods, groceries, paints and dye stuffs mingled with the turbid waters of the Connecticut in a manner not pleasant to contemplate. The bell refused to float, but with the help of fresh-water boatmen, it was fished up and
* From the Centennial Gazette.
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A TRIPLE WEDDING
taken in the boat to Cheapside and was soon after in its place in the steeple of the old brick church.
The bell purchased by the old Court of Sessions and placed upon the courthouse (now the Gazette office) was bought by Mr. Theo. Leonard and placed upon the stone mill at Fac- tory Hollow where it remained until it was given by the Turners Falls Company to the German Methodist Church in this town upon whose edifice it now hangs.
THE BRIDES IN BLUE
In volume II, page 274, of proceedings of the Potumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Mrs. Catharine B. Yale, in charming manner tells of a wedding in which Greenfield par- ties figured :
" It is Sunday morning, December, 13, 1792. The oldest daughter of the Barnard family, Nabby, aged twenty-one, the second daughter, Rachel, twenty years old, and Sally, the third daughter, eighteen years old, all arrayed in sky blue silk gowns, are married here in the manse, doubtless in the parlor, be- fore the church service. Nabby married Joshua Clapp, Rachel, Hart Leavitt, and Sally, Dr. John Stone, all of Greenfield."
The brides were daughters of " Lawyer Sam " Barnard, the richest man in Deerfield, and the ceremony took place in the old Willard house.
OLD LANDMARKS
Something of the difficulty of tracing old landmarks may be conceived when it is known that June 12, 1634, there was assigned to John Haskins " four acres of meadow in the neck where the dog was killed." April 16, 1635, there was granted to John Hayden "an acre and a half of swamp betwixt the wolfe trap and the dead swamp;" or a hundred years later, a parcel of land "at the brook where Mr. Doolittle's horse died ;" or as in a grant to John Nims which was to run "up ye hill as far as he pleaseth to go." Another angle was fixed
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" at ye place where ye runlet used to go near ye land claimed by a Suffield man." Perhaps no trouble would arise in finding the following piece : "Ye southe bounde to be a pece of flat land where sand brook runneth in wet times." Or that parcel the line of which ran "to ye stream where Numbo lost his hatchet, & following yt a considerable distance then turn left- ward and skirt the plow land by ye turkle pond." The great public road from Northampton through this place is said to have been described as bounded at one place on "-'s Oat trough," and at another place on " Aaron Denio's barn." Another piece was bounded upon " a great pile of rails," and still another included within its bounds, " so far round as the good land goeth."
ANCIENT TOWN ORDERS
Capt. Daniel Wells, Treas'r. Sir : Please to pay to Mr. Ebenezer Nims three dollars, it being his due for expenses for rum &c. in turning the river in Goddard's meadow.
Greenfield, Dec. 20, 1798.
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SOLOMON SMEAD ) Selectmen
CALEB CLAP of
ISAAC NEWTON Greenfield.
Capt. Daniel Wells, Treas'r. Sir : Please to pay to Newton & Green Four dollars, it being for Rum for raising Fall river bridge.
Greenfield, March 9, 1800.
ISAAC NEWTON - Selectmen of
CALEB CLAP
HULL NIMS Greenfield.
DESCENDED FROM GENERAL WARREN
General Joseph Warren, killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, left at his decease four children, his wife having previously de- ceased. But one of the children lived to reach maturity, and she became the wife of Richard E. Newcomb, judge of pro-
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bate in Greenfield. Their son, Joseph Warren Newcomb, was born in Greenfield, was a journalist, and died in 1874. He had a son and a daughter who survived him. The son married a lineal descendant of the old patriot, General Israel Putnam, and from this union came a son who was named Warren Putnam Newcomb, great-great-grandson of the two Revolutionary heroes whose names he bears.
In this connection the author of this work is proud to an- nounce that his great-great-grandfather, Deacon John Adams of Milton, married for his second wife Widow Warren, the mother of the patriot general.
FIRST SETTLERS OF SHELBURNE
Jonathan Catlin formerly of Greenfield and James Ryder of Deerfield were the first settlers of Shelburne, on the Sever- ance and Allis farms at Shelburne Falls, between 1752 and 1756. Robert Wilson of Colrain was the third settler on the Isaac T. Fisk place, before 1761. The trail between Deer- field and these places was designated by marked trees, and when travellers were caught out at night, it was the custom for the rider to dismount and grasp the tail of the horse, whose natural instincts kept him on the trail.
SAVORY ADVICE
Reverend Robert Hubbard, the first minister of Shelburne, was once called upon to unite in marriage two negro slaves who lived in different families. As he used in his marriage service, the words, "you promise to live together," etc., he was a good deal troubled in his mind what to do, as he knew they could not "live together." So he consulted Reverend Doctor Newton in the matter. The Doctor suggested that he omit in the service the troublesome words. Mr. Hub- bard had serious doubts whether the marriage bond would be strong enough if the words were omitted. Doctor New-
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ton, knowing well Mr. Hubbard's practice of saluting the bride on such occasions, remarked that he " thought it would be strong enough if he kissed the bride."
FORT STOCKING
When Hugh Smith in 1874 took down the old buildings known as " Fort Stocking," inquiries were started as to when it was built and by whom.
An old lady who had always lived in that vicinity asserted that it was the second house built in Greenfield, but this could hardly be correct, as the Misses Lucy P. and Eunice Billings, then bright and well informed women, asserted that it was built by their grandfather, Reverend Edward Billing (the first minister of Greenfield), soon after his settlement in 1754. The original part of the house, it being the north side, was built of pine logs nearly a foot square, and carefully matched. The south side of the house was built later by Merrick Hitchcock, who obtained title in 1792. As the Misses Billings owned twelve acres of the old home lot un- til 1823, their recollections must be entitled to much credit. The road ran much nearer the Rocky mountain in those days than it does at present, and the old fort stood on the westerly side of the road. The old house was surrounded by a stock- ade which disappeared before the Revolutionary War. It was customary to palisade minister's houses.
Its name came about in this way : according to the state- ments of the Misses Fisk, who remember in their childhood that there was a woman lived there who had immense ankles, and they had seen her stockings hanging on the clothes-line, and believed they would measure a quarter of a yard in width. A wag of that period, one Reuben Hastings, in consequence of the enormous hose this woman was obliged to knit, called the place, Stocking Fort, and it was always after known by that name.
In the old cellar was found the remains of a rude coffin
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made by splitting a log and hollowing out the two halves, so that when closed they might contain the remains. A few small bones were found in it, indicating that an infant had been buried in the cellar.
SUNDAY TRAVEL, ETC.
As a practical illustration of the manner in which our fore- fathers executed their laws regulating the morals of the people, I insert a copy of the petition of a post rider of the olden times.
" To his Excellency Sir Francis Bernard Esq. Baronet & Governor in Chief; the Honble the Council & House of Representatives, in General Court assembled.
" The petition of David Hide of Boston, Post Rider, Humbly Sheweth : That he was in the month of September last imployed by the Selectmen of Boston to carry Expresses to the Selectmen of the other Towns in this Province, rela- tive to matters of public & important nature, which required the greatest dispatch ; he therefore thought himself obliged in faithfulness to his Imployers to ride from Belcher Town to Montague on the 18th of September, being Lord's Day, for which he was brought before the Honble Court of Sessions for the County of Hampshire, convicted, & sentenced to pay a fine to the King, of ten shillings, and had costs taxed at eighteen shillings ; which With other Expenses, and loss of Time, has been a considerable damage as well as trouble to your Petitioner. Your Petitioner presumes not to make any Reflections upon the treatment he has received, but throws himself upon the favor of the Honble Court, praying that his case may be considered and such redress given as to your Excellency & Honors may seem meet ; and as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c. David Hide." Boston, July 1, 1769.
" In the House of Representatives, July 13, 1769. Re- solved that the sum of one pound eight shillings be allowed & paid out of the public Treasury of the Province to the
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Petr David Hide, in full consideration of his extraordinary expenses in the foregoing Petition mentioned.
"Sent up for Concurrence. T. Cushing, Speaker In Council, July 13, 1769 ; Read & Non Concurred : Jno. Cotton, D. Sec'y."
Old Deacon Samuel Childs,* long treasurer of the town of Deerfield, one Saturday went to Mill river for a load of lumber. He was belated and just as he arrived at the " Bars " the sun sank behind the western hills, and his conscience be- came troubled as to the propriety of driving home with his load, after sundown. So he consulted with his neighbors, Amsden and Allen, the only ones in that vicinity, and they all concluded that he was not justified in profaning the holy hours of the Sabbath by completing his journey ; so the con- scientious man unyoked his oxen and drove them home and returned for his load the succeeding Monday morning.
MINISTERIAL WIT
At a meeting of the Franklin Association of ministers held in this town, at the evening conference of the first day, an en- thusiastic brother proposed that the association adjourn to » meet at six o'clock in the morning, which proposition a large majority opposed. It was asked " What shall the brethren do who favor this motion?" Brother H. of G. promptly replied, " There is a passage of scripture which meets the case-' commune with your own heart, upon your bed, and be still.'"
ANTIQUARIAN COLLECTION
Rev. L. B. Swartz, owning the Stone farm lying between the Rocky mountain and the Connecticut river, has collected and stored there many ancient and historic things, interesting to the antiquarian and relic hunter. He has two columns which supported the front door to the first city hall in Boston ;
* Sheldon's History.
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two windows from the old Kings chapel; two doors and panels made of yellow cedar from the old Hancock house, with the name " Hancock " burned in one ; a stained glass window from the old Mifflin house ; and carved casings from the Torry house; stairs from the pulpit of old St. Paul's Church ; the silver plated bar of the old city hall in Boston, and a post belonging to the same ; the bar formerly served for keeping the public railed off from the mayor. There is an Ionian column from the dining room of the old Tremont house ; and he also had many pictures which were unfortu- nately destroyed by a fire. Near the farmhouse are twelve rude fireplaces built by Indians, this spot being a favorite camp- ing place for them, as near by is a famous old spring, once covered by the abandoned sounding board of the old first meetinghouse of Greenfield.
ANECDOTES BY AN AGED MAN
In 1867 Eber Nash, then 93 years old, stated that there formerly lived a man near the present grounds of the Country Club, who had a " borough" where he counterfeited silver dollars. He said that when he was a boy he used to go there and poke around and find silver money. When one of the early settlers on Silver street first built there, he found a human skeleton and several silver dollars. It was commonly supposed that the remains were those of one of the victims of the Turners Falls fight. At a later date a foreigner built a hut near Silver street and retired, living as a hermit. He brought several hundred silver dollars with him. He received more money at stated times from some foreign source. He seemed to be an educated man, spoke several different lan- guages and continued to live there to an advanced age. After his death there was found in his hut a silver dagger.
MILITARY RELIC
Discharge of Lieutenant Zebulon Bryant (grandfather of
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Deputy Sheriff Chauncey Bryant, of Greenfield, Mass.,) from the Revolutionary Army at Ticonderoga, June 14, 1777; the colonel's request to the general and his reply :
Mt Independence June 14th, 1777.
To the Honorable Gen11 St Clare Sr. When as Capt Childs in my Regt had about Ninety men Drafted and has but a bout forty men come on the ground and three Commis- sioned officers. As Liut Bryant has a mind to go home, if your Honour will Discharge him and give him a pass to go home you will oblige your most obedient Sevnt
DAVID WELLS Colo.
In Consequence of the within request from Colonell Wells the Bearer Lieutenant Bryant is discharged and is to be al- lowed to return to his Place of abode. Given under my Hand at Tyconderoga June 14th 1777.
A. St. CLAIR, Maj. Gen1 Command.
ANCIENT ACCOUNTS
In an old account book of John Stebbins of Deerfield, tan- ner, currier and shoemaker, I find items relating to Greenfield settlers or their immediate ancestors.
1743, Nathan1 Brux (Brooks) to leather for a bullet pouch £ 0-02-0
to a pare of stichdowns 5-6
to a pare of mogasons 8-
to soaling & heal taping your wife shoas 5-6
Nathaniel Brooks lived at Cheapside in 1734; went to Winchester, N. H., in 1735 ; settled in Greenfield in 1743 ; was captured by the Indians at Country Farms, August 23, 1756; was seen in Canada in September, 1758, but nothing more is known of him.
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1744, Gad Caus (Corse), to a pare of topmogasons 0-14- a pare of pumps I-IO-
Gad Corse was a son of James, the old hunter and scout ; was a tanner and a soldier in the French wars and very useful in conveying stores, driving cattle and furnishing other sup- plies to the soldiers, being at that time 21 years of age.
1744, Ebenezer Arms,
to a pare of Jarmine (German ?) pumps 1-10- to a pare of soals 3-
March, to 10 pare of Jarmine pumps 1 5-00-0
May, to a pare of red shoas 18-
Arms was then 23 years old. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Allen, who lived at the fort were the Hol- lister house stands. He became one of the leading men of Greenfield, owning the John Thayer and Simons farms in the meadows.
1750, Ebenezer Wells, to saddle & bridle 20-10-
Wells was then 27 years old. Became a captain of the mili- tia, and was leader in town affairs. He was a son of Joshua, who lived where Arthur D. Potter now does, and his house was palisaded.
1745, Samuel Stebbins,
to a pare of Indian shoas 9-
to a Dear skin 16-5
to soaling your mogasons 16
to Liquor paid at the Vandew in selling skins I-
April, to a Belle strap
16-
to a whip 4-6
to Enoch reaping a day 3-00-
June, to a shirts of cloth 4-4
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Stebbins early settled in Greenfield in the upper meadows, in that part now known as Bassville.
1744, Shubal Atherton,
to Capping your wifes shoes 2-9
Atherton owned the fortified house standing on the ground now surrounded by Fort Square. He was killed by Indians at Country Farms, August 23, 1756.
March ye 1747. An Accompt of the charge for building a Sean (seine)
to cash paid Jonathan Severance and Selah Barnard and a point of rum 2-17-6
April,
to a mug of flip and four mugs of sider-sugar - 6- to Bants and Evins for knitting 6-10- to six pounds of flax I- 4-
to seventeen pounds and half of flax 3-10-I
Ensign Jonathan Severance was then 23 years old. He became a prominent citizen of Greenfield-was town clerk in 1772-and his house was near where Conway street enters Main.
Barnard was of the same age as Severance ; was a famous man both in civil and military life. He returned from the Revolutionary War bearing a major's commission. He built the south part of the Frary house (Deerfield) where he kept a tavern and store. He entertained Benedict Arnold when he stopped in Deerfield on his way to take Ticonderoga. Barnard's nearest neighbor was Jeremiah Nims. Sheldon tells the following romantic story : " When Barnard called at Nims's for a neighborly good-bye on going to the war, a little girl was lying in the cradle, and he said to the mother, ' Keep her until the wars are over, and I will marry her.' When the war-worn soldier came back and settled down 'a bachelor and lived by himself,' this remark was called to mind and the prudent mother used to send the said maiden over in a neighborly way to look after the major's room and keep 64
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things tidy in these bachelor quarters ; in due time the major was reminded of his promise and he fulfilled it; Elizabeth survived him a long time and died January 13, 1827, aged 82."
STRONG MEN
At a muster held at Deerfield soon after the Revolutionary War, a wager was offered that Lieutenant John Thompson of Colrain and a man from Leyden, whose name is forgotten, could shoulder the Deerfield cannon and march around the common. Lieutenant Thompson being consulted, said he would not make the trial with the Leyden man, as he did not know him, but if they would substitute Nathanial Smith of Colrain that he would make the effort. This being agreed to, Thompson and Smith took hold of the breech of the gun and raising it on its muzzle, Thompson took the big end upon his shoulder, and Smith raised the muzzle to his, and they marched around the common. It was said that the muzzle sank into the ground so much that the dirt had to be removed before Smith could get his hand into the mouth of the cannon to raise it. Those old Scotch-Irishmen were a powerful race of men.
Speaking of strong men, there are men living who have seen the late Lucius Nims and the late Edmund Q. Nash each take a barrel of cider by the chimes, and put it over the end board into a cart. Not only one, but to load a cart in that manner.
Justin Root, father of Miss Mary J. Root of the Shelburne road, was a very strong man. His peculiar pleasure was to get a good hold upon the hand of some strong man, and squeeze it while the squirming victim begged to be released. There were other very strong men in town, among them Frank Park and the late George J. Day.
THE DARK DAY
We elderly people have all heard our forefather's tell about
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the dark day of 1780. One account says : "For several days before the 19th of May of that year a sulphurous vapor filled the air, and on that morning there was thunder and lightning and some rain. What little wind there was came from the southwest. By nine o'clock in the morning darkness came creeping on with a yellowish hue, which made clear silver ap- pear grass green. A dense vapor settled over all the land from Pennsylvania to the St. Lawrence. The atmosphere was lifeless and the darkness came thicker and thicker, and the sun in disappearing took a brassy hue. The lurid, brassy hue spread everywhere, above and below, and all outdoors wore a sickly, weird and melancholy aspect, and there was a stillness which was frightful. By eleven o'clock it was as dark as night, and remained so until three o'clock in the afternoon. The hours and minutes on a watch or clock could not be seen without artificial light, which was a necessity both out of doors and in, in order to transact ordinary business. Drivers of coaches put up their teams ; the birds ceased to fly and hid themselves in the trees. Pigeons on the wing took shelter in the forest as they do at night. The fowls went to their roosts, and bats came out of their hiding places and flew about. Sheep and cattle sought the shelter of the barnyard, and dogs behaved in a strange manner. The worker- in the shop was compelled to forego his labor, and the farmer quitted his fur- ough and made his homeward way, to receive the anxious in- quiry of the housewife : 'What is coming?' Schools were dismissed and the frightened children hastened home tremb- ling with fear."
Almost the parallel of this was the dark day of September 6, 1881. A dark vapory mist settled down over all the val- leys of New York and New England, while the hill tops re- joiced in sunlight and brightness. There was a perceptible dampness which pervaded indoors and out. This condition continued from early morning to four o'clock, P. M., and stores, offices and dwellings had to be lighted in order to do
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