USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Greenfield > History of Greenfield : shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 36
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452
EARLY SETTLERS IN GREENFIELD
for many years Judge of the Probate Court of Hampden County, and later Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court from 1866 to 1875, was of the Rowe family. The story of Captain Agrippa Wells of Greenfield is told in another chapter.
WILLARD
Ruel Willard removed to Bernardston about 1795 where he owned an estate, but came back to Greenfield and remained a few years, again making Bernardston his home, and keeping a public house. He died in Bernardston, May 24, 1806.
Samuel W. Willard, son of Ruel, also lived in Bernardston where he had a store on " The Green " at the place owned by Hartley Hale at the time of his decease. He was living at Litchfield, Ohio in 1850.
Beriah and Ruel Willard, brothers, came to Greenfield from Shrewsbury about 1770. They were traders and active busi- ness men. Beriah owned the corner where stands the Frank- lin County Bank and the " Corner store " and kept the " Wil- lard Tavern," and Ruel owned the old " Aaron Denio Tavern " and the corner where S. Allen's Son's store stands.
David Willard, long the faithful town clerk of Greenfield and its historian, was the son of Beriah.
CHAPTER XXXIV
ECCLESIASTICAL
A S soon as a few settlers had built themselves homes at Green Rriver they found that at certain seasons of the year it was very difficult for them to attend divine worship, and send their children to school in Deerfield street. The roads were mere paths, with corduroy laid across low places, and at certain points confined within narrow limits by Virginia fences on each side of the way, or by the natural lay of the land. There was no established ferry across the Deer- field river, and no fording place near where the road ran. The only fords were near the " Carter's " land and later at . Williams ford, near where the Boston and Maine railroad bridge now stands at Cheapside. In order to cross at the old ford, it was first necessary to cross Green river (a turbulent stream) and thence across Petty's Plain and down the hill by the present James Butler's place to the river. The town pre- tended to keep a scow at the north end of Pine Hill, but as it was used by every one who thought they needed such a convenience, it was not to be relied upon for quick transpor- tation. The town ferry was not established until 1758.
Under this condition of things, it is not to be wondered at that the Green River settlers demanded that a certain portion of the revenues of the town should be set out to them to be expended for preaching and schooling. The town assented, but kept the control of its expenditure in the hands of its of- ficers.
The Green River settlers chafed under this restraint, and in 1743 petitioned for a schoolhouse, which the town refused to
453
454
THE DISTRICT OF GREENFIELD
[1743-1753
grant them. The situation being unbearable, later in the same year, they asked to be set off as a district by themselves, which the town would not grant, but did allow them the privilege of expending their own money in their own way.
In 1753 they succeeded in their endeavor to become a separate district,* and within two months of the date of the organic act they had called a town meeting and passed the following votes :
" Voted that the sixteenth day of this Instant (August, 1753) be sett apart and Kept by us as a day of prayer and Fasting, and yt the Reverª Mr. Jonathan Ashley of Deerfield and the Reverª Mr Joseph Ashley of Sunderland and the Reverd Mr Aber Cromby of Pelham be invited to assist us in the work of the day and to give their advice for some Meet person to Settle in the work of the Ministry among us.
" Voted that Benj" Hastings Edward Allin and Timothy Childs be a committee to invite and desire the Ministers to come and assist us."
Another town meeting was held the 27th of the same month, at which it was voted "that Mr. Daniel Graves, Mr. Aaron Denio and Mr. Amos Allin be a Committee to take the Advice or Approbation of the Reverª Mr. Jonathan Edwards of Stockbridge and the Reverd Mr. Hopkins of Sheffield and the Reverd Mr. Stephen Williams of Long Meadow and the Reverª Mr. Hall of Sutten and the Reverd Mr. Jonathan Ashley of Deerfield and the Reverd Mr. Joseph Ashley of Sunderland and the Reverd Mr. Aber Cromby of Pelham with respect to the Qualifications or fittness of the Reverd Mr. Edward Billing for the 'Work of the Ministry in Green- field."
At a meeting held September 24th, it was " Voted that the
* " Districts " had all the powers of incorporated towns, excepting the right to send representatives to the General Court. By action of the Provincial Congress in 1775 all incorporated districts became towns.
455
REV. EDWARD BILLING CALLED
1753]
Reverd Mr. Edward Billing Shall be invited to settle in. the work of the ministry amongst us." *
" Voted that Joshua Wells and James Corse and Benjn Hastings, Eben" Smead & Jonathan Smead, Daniel Nash and Timothy Childs be a committee to acquaint the Reverd Mr. Billing that the inhabitants of Greenfield are desirus of his Settling amongst us in the work of the gospel ministry and Likewise to acquaint him with the proposalls for his Encourage- ment and if acceptable to make Report at the next district meeting."
" Voted that the Reverend Mr. Billing shall be allowed upon settling amongst us in the ministry a settlement of Six Hundred pounds Old Tenour and three Hundred pounds Old Tenour Salary for the first year ; and for the Second Year Like- wise with the addition of twenty Five pounds of Like Tenour, and so the Same addition from Year to year until it amounts to four hundred ; and the sª District to provide his fire wood."
The Reverend Mr. Billing answered to the inhabitants of Greenfield :
" I have taken into consideration Your Call of me to settle as minister of the gospel among you and their upon Determine to accept of it though there be some Circumstances attending my Settlement among you that are far from being Pleasing. I wish you may be Directed by God in managing the Important Affair of Settling the gospel ministry and that I may be Inter-
* Without much doubt Mr. Billing was well known to the Greenfield men and perhaps had taught the Green River school ; at all events his diary shows that he had preached here, before the district was set off. He had also been chaplain at Fort Dummer. The following receipt shows that he had been employed by the mother town :
" August 24, 1737.
" Received of Thomas French Town Treasurer the sum of twenty-nine pounds which is the whole sum of my demand upon the Town of Deerfield for keeping Schole and all other things.
" as witness my Hand
"EDWARD BILLING.""
456
A COUNCIL CALLED
[1753
ested in Your Prayers that when I come to you I may come in the fulness of the Blessing of the gospell.
" Your Servant
" Edward Billing.
" Greenfield November the fifth 1753."
On the 9th of November a committee of five was appointed "to wate on the Reverd Mr Billing with Respect to his being Installª amongst us and to Determine with Mr. Billing the time and number and the ministers that Shall be Desired to assist in the Installment of Mr. Billing, and Likewise pro- vide a place for the entertainment."
The twelve men who proposed to form the new church in Greenfield were John Allen, Joshua Wells, Benjamin Hastings, Aaron Denio, John Cochran, Daniel Nash, Edward Allen, Daniel Graves, Jonathan Smead, Samuel Munn, Thomas Nims and William Mitchell. They were all members in good standing of the church in Deerfield of which Reverend Mr. Jonathan Ashley was the gifted pastor. At this time none others but members of the church could share in the elective franchise or take part in the government of the people. A person could be drafted into military service and sent away to war without any voice or vote as to his own liabilities, if he were not a member of the church. In the latter years a strong protest had been made against these wrongs, and especially against the dogma that none but the children of church mem- bers should receive baptism. Many not willing themselves to unite with the church greatly desired that their children should be baptized. This class had largely increased and their views were upheld by many church members and pastors. Non- concurrence with these views had recently ousted Reverend Jonathan Edwards from his pulpit in Northampton. The liberal view was taken by Reverend Mr. Ashley and a large majority of his people. Reverend Mr. Billing and the. men in Greenfield were as strongly in the belief that none but the children of church members should receive baptism and that
457
1753]
" UNREASONABLE CONDUCT"
none but church members should vote in public affairs. The Greenfield people wanted a formal letter of dismission from the mother church in Deerfield with a recommendation to the proposed new organization. This the Deerfield church re- fused to give, but they accepted the invitation to attend the installment of Reverend Mr. Billing. Reverend Edgar Buckingham in a paper read before the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association a few years since said : " Nevertheless it (the Deerfield church) gave no letter of dismissal, so that, apparently, whenever an attempt should be made to proceed to installation, Parson Ashley could make objection that the Greenfield members had not been properly dismissed; and while the church at Deerfield voted to attend the installation of Mr. Billing, it chose three delegates instead of one, as it had been requested to choose, and as was the custom of the churches at the time of holding the council." Greenfield was much grieved at the conduct of the parent church, and so ex- pressed themselves in a letter written in January, 1754, to the Deerfield pastor. At a meeting of the Deerfield church held in February following, the Greenfield men were charged with " being guilty of several things " and of " unreasonable conduct towards " Mr. Ashley and the Deerfield church. (I quote largely from Mr. Buckingham's paper.) "Therefore it was voted ' that this church do not think it convenient to rec- ommend them till those matters can be enquired into, and the Deerfield church desire their Pastor to send for those persons, who, it is said, are able to give information in those matters, and the persons themselves who are said to have offended."
Soon after, the Deerfield church held a meeting and voted that Daniel Wells, one of the Greenfield men who had spoken disrespectfully of Parson Ashley and the Deerfield church, should be dealt with, and decided not to give any recommenda- tion until these charges were answered, and expressed a will- ingness to have a council to judge of the disagreements be- tween the parties.
458
A NEW COUNCIL
[1754
One day in August, some eight or nine months after the Deerfield church had voted to send delegates to help install Mr. Billing, some parties made application for letters of rec- ommendation to the Greenfield church. In reply, Parson Ashley and the church tell the applicants, that the Greenfield church was formed without the consent of the Deerfield church and they do not think it necessary that they should give let- ters of recommendation to the new one-" and we let you know we cannot recommend you or anybody else to that church," and followed up with much more very spicy lan- guage and winds up with, " All we have to add is we should be glad to see a more Christian temper toward us whom you call your brethren."
But to return to our story of the organization of the first church in Greenfield. Late in the fall of 1753, a council was convened for the purpose of forming the new church and the installation of Reverend Mr. Billing as its pastor. Reverend Mr. Ashley and his three delegates appeared and the friends of Mr. Billing were not willing that the council should pro- ceed with the business for which it was summoned, with the certainty of a quarrel already apparent in the make-up of the council. The council was dissolved without action.
On the 28th of March, 1754, a new council convened, of harmonious elements, and the First Congregational Church of Greenfield was organized from eleven of the twelve named as its proposed members. The name of the missing applicant is unknown. Reverend Jonathan Edwards of Stockbridge was the moderator and made the installing prayer and gave the charge to the pastor, Reverend Edward Billing. Reverend Thomas Frink of Rutland was scribe and gave the fellowship of the churches and the right hand of fellowship to the new pastor.
Mr. Billing was son of Ebenezer and Hannah (Church) Billing and was born in Hatfield, August 10, 1707. His father removed from Hatfield to Sunderland about 1713.
459
REVEREND EDWARD BILLING
1753-1760]
Edward graduated at Harvard in 1731, married August 12, 1741, Lucy, daughter of Reverend David Parsons of Lei- cester, and was pastor of the church at Cold Spring (Belcher- town), until he was dismissed in 1752.
The reasons for the dismissal of Reverend Mr. Billing from his charge at Cold Spring were as follows :
" When the council which dissolved the relations between Rev. Jonathan Edwards and his people in Northampton was held June 19th, 1750, the church at Cold Spring had been invited to become members of the council, which invitation the church refused to accept. Mr. Billing, the pastor, being in Northampton on the day the council assembled, was de- sired by Mr. Edwards and the church to sit and act in the council, and was admitted to that body. As he had no dele- gate with him the council was not full.
" This act of Mr. Billing cost him his pastorate; within two years he was dismissed, ostensibly on the same grounds as was Mr. Edwards. When the church at Cold Spring was invited to join the council by Mr. Edwards, it declined on the ground that it did not agree with his principles, and was unwilling that its pastor, who was of the same opinion as the Northampton pastor, should represent it there."
Mr. Billing wrote and published an exposition of the dif- ferences in belief between himself and Mr. Ashley, in the form of a dialogue, a copy of which may be found in the library of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. He lived while in Greenfield at "Stocking Fort," his house being palisaded during the French and Indian War. He died in Greenfield during the year 1760 and was buried in the old graveyard, but his descendants placed no monument at his grave, and the place of his burial became unknown. Within a few years the town has erected a stone to his mem- ory. He left a widow, four sons, and several daughters.
* Trumbull's History of Northampton.
460
ROGER NEWTON CALLED
[1761
The names of the sons were Edward, Ebenezer, Jonathan and Ethan. Edward, Jr., graduated at Harvard and was licensed to preach, but became a physician and druggist, and died in Greenfield, May 8, 1806, aged fifty-six. The annals of Bel- chertown say of Mr. Billing, that he had " unusual energy of character, ardent zeal and devotedness to the work in which he was engaged."
On a fly leaf of the old first book of the town records is the following receipt :
"February ye 26 : 1756. Know all men by these presents that I Edward Billing Clark of the District of Greenfield in consideration of the sum of thirteen pounds six Shillings & Eight pence Secured to be paid unto me ye said Billing by ye sª District have Fairmª Let and do hereby Leas to them the said District one half of the Sequestered land to ye ministry of Deerfield Lying in Town Swamp West meddow and Point Judah so called During the time of my ministry in Greenfield in witness whereof I do Set my hand this twenty Sixth day of February Signed and Delivered in Presents of us
" TIMO CHILDS
" EBEN" WELLS.
EDWARD BILLING"
In December, 1760, the town voted to give Reverend Bulkley Olcutt a call to settle, offering him a salary of £66, 135, 4d, for the first year, to rise £1, 6s, 8d each year until it amounted to £80, and a committee was appointed to get subscriptions for a settlement. The records show no response to this offer.
On the 3d of August, 1761, the town voted " unanimously to Give Mr. Roger Newton a call to Settle with us in the Work of the Ministry.
" Voted to give Mr. Newton as an Incouragement to settle amongst us one Hundred Thirty Three Pounds six shillings and Eight pence as Settlement and Sixty Six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence as Sallary and to Rise one pound
461
MR. NEWTON ACCEPTS
Six Shillings and Eight pence a year till it amounts to Eighty pounds." A committee was appointed to "Lay before Mr. Newton the proposals of this District."
It is probable that the committee were obliged to make some further concessions to Mr. Newton, for at a meeting held September 17th, the same year, it was voted "that Mr. Newton shall have Fifty Loads of wood yearly in adition to the other proposals already mad him." This tender closed the bargain, and Mr. Newton made the following answer :
" Gentlemen : I take this Opertunity to acknowledge your favors in manifesting Such an Esteem of my Labours among you that you have so Unanimously invited me to Set- tle among you in the work of the Ministry and have accord- ing to your ability been Liberal in your Offers to me Your Affections Manefested to me from time to time inclines me to Settle amongst you hoping I may be Servicable to your Spiritual Welfare relying on your abiding in your good opin- ion of me, and Esteem of my Labours So long as I am faith- full in the work of the Ministry and depending upon your Catholic Sentiments with regard to them who differ from you about terms of Communion, that there be no Contention pro- vided no Scandelously ignorant or imoral person are admitted to your Communion, that all persons of Competant knowl- edge and Sober Lives be allowed to ye Communion who think it their duty to come to the Ordinances of the Lords table and it is upon this proposal I accept your Invitation, and de- sire to give my self to the Service of your Souls in the work of the Ministry Humbly depending upon the Grace and Strength of Christ that I may be faithful, requesting an In- terest in your Prayers that I may save my Self and them that hear me."
Mr. Newton was born in Durham, Conn., May 23, 1737, and was but little more than twenty-four years old when called to take charge of this church in the wilderness. He was grad-
462
REVEREND DR. NEWTON
uated at Yale in 1758 and married Abigail Hall of Middletown, Conn., in August, 1762. He received the decree of D. D. from Dartmouth in 1805. His favorite son, Roger, a tutor in Yale College, died August 10, 1789, and Dr. Newton ever after mourned his loss, never allowing the return of the date of his death to pass, without some mention of his son in his diary. Dr. Newton died December 10, 1816, in the eightieth year of his age, having ministered to a united people for fifty- six years. He came to them when they were a weak and feeble folk, and at his decease they had become numerous and prosperous.
The local paper published at his decease a long article re- lating to his life, and in it said : " His public discourses were well studied, sound, compact, weighty, and full of useful and important instruction. An attentive and willing hearer could not fail of being profited and made better by his labors. A man of uncommon strength of mind, and discriminating powers, and richly furnished by study and con- templation, he held an eminent rank and station among his brethren in the ministry."
" God's finger touched him, and he slept."
David Willard, a contemporary of Dr. Newton, in his "History of Greenfield," says : " His religious character was far from that of the bigot, partisan, or zealot. He possessed great mildness and equanimity of temper and manners ; al- ways dignified, and appeared among his people like a kind father among his children. The single circumstance, that the town enjoyed peace and union for nearly the whole period of his ministry, fifty-six years, is strong evidence of his virtue and prudence, his moderation of manner, conciseness and per- spicuity of style ; the sound sense of his sermons, and their particular brevity in cold weather (meetinghouses had no stoves in those days), as well as the dignified and venerable form of the good man, are still fresh in the memory of many.
463
DR. NEWTON'S COLLEAGUE
1816]
Consummate prudence, caution, and shrewdness were distin- guishing traits of his character. His prayers in public worship had much of sameness and formality, yet no one found fault therewith ; they were seldom varied, except on particular oc- casions, yet he was always pertinent, and on many occasions remarkably so. In his later days he frequently read for the choir to sing, the Psalm of Watts, commencing,
"' Now to the Lord a noble song,'
the reading of which always affected him to tears." Mrs. Newton died October 21, 1805.
SETTLEMENT OF MR. OLDS
For fifty-three years Dr. Newton had been the only minister in the town. The town and the parish were iden- tical, and all the parish business transacted through the medium of the town meeting. That the town had dur- ing the whole of this long period been harmonious and united, speaks volumes for the " great mildness and equanimity of tem- per and manners " of Dr. Newton. He had passed the age limit of threescore years and ten, and the loss of his favorite son and the death of Madame Newton in 1805, together with the expressed feeling that he was not fully satisfying his peo- ple, had so borne down upon him, that he felt called upon to give away to a younger man. This his people would not per- mit, and a movement was made towards the settlement of a colleague. The town took the following action :
April 5, 1813. "Jonathan Leavitt, Elijah Alvord, Solo- mon Smead and Jerom Ripley Esqrs were chosen to hire a Preacher of the Gospel for such time & upon such Terms as They Think expedient."
Reverend Dr. Newton was getting quite feeble. In the summer of 1813, Reverend Ebenezer Tucker preached several times, for which the town paid him twenty-four dollars. He was then landlord of the old Willard tavern.
464
[1813
PROFESSOR OLDS SETTLED
At a town meeting held August 13th, "Jerom Ripley was chosen moderator. The Throne of Grace was addressed in prayer by the Reverend Dr. Newton. A vote of the Church of Christ in this Town was read, giving Mr. Gamaliel S. Olds an invitation To settle in colleague with The Rev. Dr. New- ton, in the work of The Ministry over the church and people of this Town.
" Voted unanimously that the Town invite Mr. Gamaliel S. Olds to settle in the work of the Ministry over this place.
" Voted that the Town give Mr. Gamaliel S. Olds the sum of Seven Hundred dollars annually during his ministry in this town.
" Capt. Isaac Newton, Jerom Ripley and Capt. Moses Arms were chosen a committee to acquaint Mr. Olds with the proceedings of this meeting and request from him an an- swer."
A council was called upon the receipt of Mr. Old's accept- ance of the call, and again the church at Deerfield was the disturbing element in the settlement of a Greenfield minister. Reverend Dr. Samuel Willard had a few years before been settled in Deerfield by a council entertaining Unitarian belief, and had accepted a seat in this council. A portion of the members of the council, under these circumstances, refused to sit and act with him, as they believed that in so doing, they might appear thereby to endorse sentiments which they con- sidered heretical. So the council dissolved without proceed- ing to the work of ordination. This action, and the ordina- tion of Dr. Willard, was the cause of the publication of many pamphlets written by different authors. Several of these may be found in the library of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association.
Another council was called and Mr. Olds was ordained as colleague to Dr. Newton, November 19, 1813.
" Mr. Olds was born in Marlboro, Vt., in 1777; graduated at Williams in 1801 ; was a tutor in that college from 1803
465
PROFESSOR OLDS
1816]
to 1805; was also professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the same college from 1806 to 1808 ; was pro- fessor of the same branches in the Vermont University at Burlington from 1819 to 1821 ; was a professor of the same branches in Amherst College from 1821 to 1825; afterwards resided several years at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., and was em- ployed in teaching in several places in New York ; removed to Circleville, Ohio, about 1842, where he died. He was dis- missed from Greenfield, October 31, 1816, upon his own re- quest, in order to accept a professorship in Middlebury Col- lege ; but some difficulty occurring between him and the presi- dent of the college, he did not enter upon the duties of the office." (Packard's Franklin County Churches, etc.) Mr. Old's death was caused by injuries received from being thrown from a carriage by a runaway horse. Reverend Milton A. Sackett, at his funeral, said : " Professor Olds was one of the great men of the age in which he lived. From his early man- hood up to the meridian of his days, he filled a brilliant sphere in the educational and literary history of New England.
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