USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Greenfield > History of Greenfield : shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 15
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" Let it travel down the years, Let it wipe another's tears, 'Till in heaven the deed appears."
* Reverend John Norton was settled as pastor of the church at Fall town Novem- ber 25, 1741. The ceremonies took place at Deerfield. The state of the country by rea- son of the French and Indian war caused his settlement to be very brief, and in 1746 he was made chaplain for the line of forts from Dummer to Fort Massachusetts, and was taken prisoner at the surrender of the latter fort August 21, 1746. He was again chaplain in the army which was raised to march against Crown Point, and also in 1760 in a regiment which marched to the attack upon Montreal. He died of small pox, March 24, 1778.
167
SLAUGHTER AT THE BARS
1746]
August 22d, ten men started from Deerfield to go to Colrain. Not having heard of the attack on Fort Massachu- setts, they took no particular caution and were attacked in Greenfield upper meadows, and one Constance Bliss,-a Connecticut soldier,-killed and scalped, all the rest escaping.
Sixty of Vaudrieul's Indians, not satisfied with the booty obtained at fort Massachusetts, crossed the Hoosac mountain and attacked the Allen and Amsden families who were making hay in the meadow at the Bars. Of this affair, Deacon Noah Wright gives the following account : "Aug. 25, 1746. In the southwest corner of Deerfield Meadows a number of In- dians came upon our men at work, killed and scalped Samuel Allen, Eleazer Hawks, and one of Capt. Holsen's soldiers named Jillet, and two of widow Amsden's children, taken captive, one boy of Samuel Allens' and chopped a hatchet into the brains of one of his girls. They are in hopes she will recover. One man killed one of the Indians, who got a gun from them, and lost three guns by them." Eunice Allen lived seventy-two years after this wound in the head, but never fully recovered from the injury.
The Mohawks had taken up arms against the French, and were sending out marauding parties along the Canadian fron- tier, so that being kept busy at home the enemy did no dam- age in the valley this year except to kill a few cattle near Northampton. Three hundred pairs of snowshoes were or- dered by the province for use by Hampshire men. The ra- tions drawn by troops who were in garrison were for each day two thirds of a pound of pork, one pound of bread, half a pint of beans or peas, and one gallon of molasses for six weeks. When on the march these rations were increased and a gill of rum added. The frontier had moved forward into New Hampshire, and the new settlements there suffered more from Indian depredations than did the Hampshire county towns.
In 1747, Fort Massachusetts was rebuilt under the direc- tion of Colonel William Williams, who then lived in Deerfield.
168
[1747
CAPT. STEVENS' DEFENCE OF NO. FOUR
Early in the spring Shattuck's fort at Hinsdale was attacked and set on fire, but was bravely defended, and the enemy were driven off. Winchester, Hinsdale and Keene, already aban- doned by the settlers, were burned. A party was made up in Deerfield who marched to Northfield and, joining the force under Captain Melvin, they overtook and attacked the Indians at Great Meadows, but the enemy escaped. John Smead- the Fort Massachusetts soldier-who had just returned from captivity, was killed at Athol, and Elisha Clark at Southamp- ton. Samuel Goodman of South Hadley was made prisoner at Fort Massachusetts, and taken to Canada, where he died.
Captain Charles Stevens in command of thirty men at No. 4, won great renown by his brave defense of that post when attacked April 7th by a large force of French and Indians, under the command of de Niverville (known as Mons. Deba- line). The gallant Stevens, full of resources, baffled the ener- getic attempts of the French commander in every way, and after three days' fighting the Frenchman withdrew. Captain Stevens, was presented with a beautiful sword, and No. 4 was named in his honor, " Charlestown." (For details see Hoyt's Antiquarian Researches.) De Niverville, after ambuscading Nathaniel Dickinson and Asahel Burt at Northfield, withdrew his forces to Canada.
" When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace."
Captain Williams having sent one hundred men to Albany to guard a return train conveying stores for Fort Massachu- setts, an Indian runner at once gave information to the French commander at Crown Point, of the favorable opportunity to make an attack. Six hundred men were at once dispatched, but their arrival was too late, as the return party had nearly reached the fort before the attack was made, and a sally by the garrison dispersed the attacking army.
169
CAPTURE OF M. RAIMBAULT ST. BLEIN
1747]
Eliakim Sheldon was killed at Bernardston while hoeing corn, and John Mills at Colrain, while going home from the 1 south fort, during the month of July.
John Nims, Jr., Samuel Stebbins, James Corse and Gideon Bardwell made a scout as far as Crown Point and safely re- turned. Matthew Severance and others also made a scout over the Green mountains by the way of Black River, in Au- gust.
In October, thirty-five French and Indians captured Jona- than Sawtelle and burned the abandoned Fort Bridgman, in Vernon.
In the same month, Colonel Willard in command of Fort Dummer, in company with Captain Alexander and another, riding from Dummer to Northfield, discovered a French officer in the road, upon whom Captain Alexander fired as he dodged behind a tree, and the Frenchman was wounded in the breast. As he came forward to surrender, he fainted and fell, and Colonel Willard and his party believing him dying, and fearing an attack by the French, fled to Northfield. The French officer's party of forty Indians, hearing the re- port of the gun, came up, and finding their commander badly wounded, carried him a little distance, but they, fearing an at- tack, left their officer to die, and fled for home. Four days after, the wounded officer made his way to Northfield and de- livered himself up as a prisoner of war. He proved to be a grandson of M. Raimbault, Governor General of Montreal. He was taken to Boston, kindly treated, and soon after ex- changed for Nathan Blake, who was taken at Keene, and young Samuel Allen, of the Deerfield Allen family. A very inter- esting account of this event is to be found in Sheldon's His- tory.
In May, Captain Melvin, with eighteen men, returning to Charlestown from a scout towards Crown Point, was defeated in a skirmish on West river, with the loss of several valuable men. In June, thirteen men going from Hinsdale to Fort
170
CAPT. HUMPHREY HOBB'S FIGHT
[1748
Dummer, fell into an ambuscade, three were killed, seven made prisoners, and only three escaped.
Colonel John Stoddard, commanding the military forces of Hampshire county, died while in attendance at the Gen- eral Court in Boston, and Israel Williams, of Hatfield, was appointed to the chief military command in this dis- trict.
Captain Humphrey Hobbs, with forty men, set out from Charlestown, for Fort Shirley in Heath, and on June 26th, while his men were resting and lunching in the woods, his sentries were driven in, and a furious attack was made upon him, by at least four times his own force, under command of a resolute half breed chief named Sackett. Each man flew to cover and the enemy being very bold by reason of their superior numbers, were terribly punished by Hobbs's skillful firing. The enemy frequently charged during the four hours' fight, Sackett demanding surrender, while Hobbs shouted back defiance, until at last Sackett drew off his men, and Hobbs and his men were allowed to continue their march un- molested. Hobbs lost three men killed and three were wounded. The enemy's loss was never ascertained.
On the 14th of July one hundred and twenty of the same party of Indians ambushed seventeen men on the road be- tween Hinsdale and Fort Dummer, killing two, wounding two, and four making their escape. All the rest were taken prisoners. The two who were wounded were slain after being carried about a mile. About the same time Aaron Belding was killed at Northfield. In August four men near Fort Massachusetts were fired upon, and when Captain Williams with thirty men sallied from the fort and drove the enemy about forty rods, fifty Indians rose up and fired upon them, and made an attempt to cut off their return to the fort, but Captain Williams escaped with a loss of one man killed and two wounded. The attacking party consisted of thirty French and two hundred and seventy Indians.
171
THE ROLL OF HONOR
1748-1749]
A party under Lieutenant John Sargents were attacked about this time in the woods near Fort Dummer, the com- mander was killed, and Lieutenant Sargent's son, Daniel, cap- tured and taken to Canada.
Peace was declared between France and England at Aix la Chapelle, in October, 1748, but the Indians continued to commit depredations until a peace was concluded with them at Falmouth in September, 1749.
The years of war had made all efforts at further settlements vain, and many who had ventured into the wilderness had been killed, or still living, suffered from wounds, while others were prisoners in the Canadian villages, hoping for release. The provinces were heavily laden with debts, taxes were enormous, and the currency constantly decreasing in value ; the situation was discouraging to the utmost.
Among the men who served in this war, who either settled in Greenfield, or had children who were settlers here were Edward Allen, John Allen, Adonijah Atherton, Shubal Ather- ton, Nathaniel Brooks, Ebenezer Graves, Elisha Graves, John Munn, Daniel Nash, James Ryder (Ryther), Ebenezer Smead, Samuel Wells, Simeon Wells, Jonathan Severance, Samuel Stebbins, Isaac Foster, Ebenezer Arms, Jonathan Wells, John Nims, Timothy Childs, Aaron Deniur, James Corse, Daniel Graves and Benjamin Hastings.
" Ah me, how far they seem, and yet So strangely near."
CHAPTER XVI
GREENFIELD SETTING OFF FROM DEERFIELD
" For we are the same our fathers have been ; We see the same sights our fathers have seen ; We drink the same stream, and we view the same sun, And run the same course that our fathers have run."
T HE few years which elapsed after the first settler built his log house upon the banks of Green river, until the close of Father Rasle's war, were seasons of constant warfare with the Indian enemy. They, instigated by the French in Canada, made periodical excursions over mountains and through forests for the gratification of their passion for rapine and murder, and the gathering of the spoils of war, by which in some measure they added a ray of happiness to their miserable existence.
During the short interval of peace following the close of that war, a number of people settled upon the home lots on what is now west Main street, and some of the more venture- some took possession of the lands which had been allotted to them in the distant parts of the district, and erected their houses and improved their lands.
As early as 1732, Deerfield voted to employ " a school dame at Green River, which shall be paid pr scholar four pence per week." In 1738 the Green River people had become so con- fident of their ability to manage their own affairs, that they petitioned Deerfield to be set off into a separate parish.
January 15, 1739, Deerfield took the matter into considera- tion, and their records show, " Upon hearing ye Petition of
172
173
GREEN RIVER PEOPLE DESIRE SEPARATION
1738-1743]
the Inhabitants of Green River with respect to yr being Sett off for a Separate Parish &c. as may be seen at large by ye Petition on file &c. The Question was put whether the prayer of ye Petition be Granted and it past in the negative."
In 1740 Deerfield voted not to build a schoolhouse at Green River, but appointed the selectmen to hire a house and give the people their proportion of schooling. In 1742 the town voted to provide a schoolmaster and some one to preach during the winter at Green River. But this did not fully satisfy the people of the new settlement, and we find Deerfield taking action in March, 1743, upon the peti- tion of the Green River people, to be set off under the name of Cheapside. The town voted upon it and as before, " past it in the negative."
But the subject, like Banquo's ghost "would not down," and November 15th the town was again called upon to act upon a new petition in which these bounds were asked : " North on ye North bounds of ye Town East on Connecti- cutt River South on Deerfield River to extend up sª River to Sheldons brook so called & y" to run West by ye needle till it comes to ye West line of ye seven miles square & then to extend northwardly by sd line, till it comes to ye north bounds of ye Town."
" The Question was put, after the matter had been fully Debated whether they should be set off as aforesaid and it unanimously passed in the negative."
"The Question was put whether the matter of Green River being set off as a Precinct should be left to a Comtee to con- sider of some proper bounds to sett off sd Inhabitants by, and it passed in the negative."
" Upon hearing the Request of Green River Inhabitants &c. and the matter being fully Debated the Question was put whether the Town will set off said Inhabitants as a Town with the following bounds, viz : North by the North bounds of the Town, East by Conneticot River, South by the Eight
1
174
SEPARATION DELAYED
[1743-1749
Thousand acre line so called, & a line West by the needle from the North West Corner of sd eight thousand acres so far as to ye west side of the seven miles square & West by the west additional Grant made to ye Town, and it passed in the affirmative."
Now the fight was squarely on, and it lasted through one hundred and fifty years, before the people of Green River were able to obtain the necessary legislation giving them what they claimed to be their just right; that the Deerfield River should be the south line of the town.
Green River people would not consent to any reduction of their claim that the Deerfield river should constitute the south boundary of the new town ; but the mother town made one concession ; they allowed that the forty shillings Old Tenor voted to sustain preaching there, each Sabbath, might be ex- pended by the Inhabitants of Green River rather than by the selectmen of Deerfield.
In 1744 the old town chose a committee "To consider what may be thout Reasonable to allow Green River to- wards maintaining Preaching & Schooling this year & were Impowered to look into Green River affairs respecting the schooling & preaching for ye last year & Make their Re- turn to the Town that they may make their vote upon it accordingly."
The committee found the condition of things to be satis- factory, and the old town voted thirty pounds a year to be expended in preaching or in schools as Green River people should elect.
The breaking out of the old French war put a quietus upon the local quarrels, and the matter of division of the town waited upon the more pressing struggle to maintain existence.
By the vote of the town in 1749 allowing thirty shillings old tenor per week to the schooldames at Green River, it is apparent that more than one school existed, though no schoolhouse appears to have been built. This year the se-
175
DEERFIELD PROPOSES A LINE OF DIVISION
1749-1753]
lectmen of Deerfield prepared and put on record a plan of " Green River Street" which is our Main street of to-day.
December 18, 1750, it was " Voted to allow the People of Green River a School master two months, provided they can procure a suitable room to keep the school in."
A year later Deerfield voted that Green River have a school three months in the winter season, and that preaching be pro- vided on that side of the river when it would be difficult for the people to attend at Deerfield. A schoolhouse was prob- ably built that year, for Deerfield, in the spring of 1752, passed a vote " to allow the people living at the 'Farms ' the liberty of the School House on Sabbath Days, they finding their own wood."
With the return of peace with the Indians, came the renewal of the old quarrel with the mother town. The people of Green River were determined to set up for themselves in the man- agement of their own prudential affairs. Once more they petitioned the old town for separation with "such meets and bounds as may be thoat proper for them and us." January 3, 1753, the old town " Voted that the Town are willing and do consent that they should be set off Into a Seperate District or Precinct, provided their bounds and limits be as follows, viz :- To begin at the northeasterly corner of the Township on Connecticut River and to proceed Southerly on sª River until they come to the Line of the Eight Thousand acres & then proceed Westwardly on said Line to the end of it & con- tinuing sd Line to the West end of the first Tier of Lots west of the seven mile line and from thence to proceed Northerly taking in said lots to the north end of our bounds & then go East on the Town Line untill they come to the first men- tioned boundary on Connecticut River."
This did not satisfy the petitioners and they again tried their hand, but what they asked at this time is unknown. The Deerfield record says, March 5, 1753, “ Green River Peti- tion being heard and Considered, voted to dismiss the same."
176
[1753
COMMITTEE SELECTED TO FIX A LINE
" Eternal vigilance " seems to have been the watchword of the petitioners, for they compelled another town meeting to be called April 2d, when they renewed their claim that the Deerfield river be the southern boundary of the new district. After much discussion the town "Voted that Colº Oliver Part- ridge Docº Samuel Mather and Lieut Ebenezer Hunt be Desired to Consider and Determine where the Dividing line shall be between the Town and the Proposed District on the north side of Deerfield River ; and also to Consider and De- termine where the Meeting house shall be placed in said Dis- trict & also consider and determine whether the alloted and Divided lands in sd District shall be subject to a tax towards building a Meetinghouse and Settling a Minister, and if they think it proper it should be taxed then what Tax it shall pay pr acre p" annum and for how many years, and also to Deter- mine what part of the Publick tax they shall have laid on them, and also what part of the Sequested land they shall be entitled to and for what term. In all these things to act and Determine as if there had been no votes of the Town Previous to this with Regard to said Land or District with respect to the Boundaries."
" Voted that the said Committee shall be paid for their Trouble by the Town if the Committee shall bring their South Line further South Than the Town have voted already, and if they do not then the Inhabitants of Green River are to pay them."
"Voted that Mr. Aaron Denio be Desired to notifie the Gentlemen of their being chose and to get them to do the business they are chose for."
" Voted that Messers Elijah Williams Aaron Denic Capt. John Catlin & Ebenezer Wells the second, be a Committee in behalf of the Town to wait on the Committee before chose and to let them know what is expected they will take into consideration and to acquaint them with the Land as far as they are able."
177
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
1753]
Aaron Denio and Ebenezer Wells were to represent the interests of the petitioners, and Captain Catlin and Elijah Wil- liams the interests of the old town.
Aaron Denio promptly performed the trust committed to him, which was "to notifie the Gentlemen of their being chose," and in one week the committee were upon the ground, and in their report, after reciting the vote of the town which com- mitted the trust to them, they say :
" In complyance therewith we met at the Town of Deer- field upon the ninth day of said April and on the next day we proceeded to view the Lands proposed for a District being attended by a Committee of said Town two whereof belongeth to the old Town and two to the proposed District after we had made a thoro view of lands by the passing thro the same in various places we heard the alligations of the Committee on both sides upon articles above mentioned and having ma- turely considered the same do adjudge and Determine it to be Reasonable that said District be set off in the manner follow- ing, viz :
" That a line-be run as far northward as the line known by the name of the Eight Thousand acre line to run from Con- necticut River West to the west end of the first tier of Lots which lie west of the seven mile line so called, thence North 19 degrees east to ye north side of ye Town bounds, thence East on the Town line to the Connecticut River, thence as the River Runs to the first Bounds."
" We further judge it Reasonable that the lands lying in a certain meadow or Intervale which lies north of Deerfield River known by the name of Cheapside which belongs to Timothy Childs Jr and David Wells who Dwell in Said pro- posed District should pay taxes to said District when set off."
" We are further of opinion that it is Reasonable that a tax of one penny farthing p" acre Lawful money be levied upon the unimproved cleared lands in sª District so soon as the
12
178
THE EIGHT THOUSAND ACRE LINE SELECTED
[1753
frame of a Meeting house be erected in said District and a further tax of one penny pr acre upon said unimproved lands so soon as a minister is settled in said District to be Im- ployed for building the Meeting House and settling a minister."
" We have fixed the place for erecting a Meeting House at a place called Trap plain where we have fixed a white oak stake. We further judge it Reasonable the same proportion of the Country tax laid on the town of Deerfield hereafter, be paid by the said District when set off as was laid upon the In- habitants and Ratable Estates in the limits of said District for the last Tax, and that the said District have the Improvement of one half of the Sequestered lands in said Town of Deer- field lying north of Deerfield River.
" OLIVER PARTRIDGE " SAMLL MATHER " EBENEZER HUNT
"Deerfield, April ye 12th, 1753."
So the die was cast, and Green River lost one of the prin- cipal points for which its people had for so many years and with such persistency contended. Elijah Williams was the representative from Deerfield, and he undoubtedly immedi- ately took the report to the General Court, and June 9, 1753, a bill was passed authorizing the separation of the new dis- trict from Deerfield.
From the Journal of the Massachusetts Legislature, 1753 : " A Petition of the Inhabitants of a Place called Green River in Deerfield ; shewing that they are under great Difficulty in attending the public Worship of GOD in the Town of Deer- field; and as the said Town have voted them off, according to certain Bounds determined by a Committee mutually chosen ; they therefore pray that they be made a distinct District, for the Reasons mentioned.
" Read and Ordered, That the Prayer of this Petition be so far granted, as that the Representative from Deerfield have
179
THE ORGANIC ACT
1753]
Liberty to bring in the Draft of a Bill for the Purpose men- tioned."
The attention of the reader is called to those portions of the following act which are printed in italics, as those few words caused a quarrel between the two towns, which existed for generations, and at one time actually led to a hand to hand fight as to who should control the products of the se- questered land, which question was only settled by a suit at law, in which the Green River people were beaten, and had to pay the costs.
" Organic Act.
" Be it enacted by the Lieutenant Governour, Council and House of Representatives,
" That the northeasterly part of the town of Deerfield, bound- ing south by the line called the Eight-thousand-acre Line, to run from Connecticut river west to the west end of the first tier of lots, which ly west of the Seven mile Line, so called, from thence north nineteen degrees east to the north side of the town bounds, thence east on the town line to Connecticut river, thence on said river to the first mentioned bounds be and hereby is erected into a separate district by the name of GREENFIELD ; and that the said district be and hereby is in- vested with all the privileges, powers and immunities that towns in this province do or may enjoy, that of sending a representative to the general court only excepted ; and that the inhabitants of said district shall have full power and right, from time to time, to join with the said town of Deerfield in the choice of a representative or representatives (who may be chosen either in the town or district) in which choice they shall enjoy all the privileges which by law they would have been entitled to, if this act had not been made ; and that the said district shall, from time to time pay their proportionable part of the expence of such representative or representatives, ac- cording to their respective proportions of the province tax, and that the said town of Deerfield, as often as they shall call
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