USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Hatfield > History of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in three parts: I. An account of the development of the social and industrial life of the town from its first settlement. II. The houses and homes of Hatfield, with personal reminiscences of the men and women who have lived there during the last one hundred years; brief historical accounts of the religious societies and of Smith Academy; statistical tables, etc. III. Genealogies of the families of the first settlers > Part 15
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"Afflicted & very Humble Servt "SAMUEL PARTRIDGE"
The experiences of a scouting party sent in pursuit are narrated by Dr. Hastings in the following letter :-
"To the Hon'ble the Gentlemen of the House of Representatives in General Court Convened:
"May it please your Hons, I being desired by Sergt Clesson and Sergt Wayte to inform what I know of their Expedition in June last to Otter Creek, Do Inform on my Certain Knowledge that the Expedition being suddenly formed Suitable Nessessaries was wanting for such a Long & hard Journey ; Saw most of ye men when they went forth, they were Lusty and in good Plight-Effective men; Saw them when they returned & they were much emaciated & their feet so Swolen & galled that they could scarce Travel on their feet, for some they necessitated to hire horses, some one or more applied to me to dress their feet & were under my care a week or more in bathing & emplastering before they were anything Tolerably Recruited, in Fine they underwent much, & I believe they were hearty in their desires & faithful in their Indeavors to overtake the Enemy & make Reprisals.
"With Leave humbly says its Pitty Such Persons undergoing such Diffi- culties for ye Country's cause should fail of a suitable Reward.
"Excuse me, I pretend not to prescribe to yr Hon's Wishing the Blessings of Heaven on your persons & on your Consultations for the Good of the People whom you Represent, I crave Leave to subscribe yo'r most humble & ob't Sevt, THOMAS HASTINGS.
"Hatfield, May 26, 1725."
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The aid of Connecticut was again sought, with the result that money was sent to Colonel Partridge to pay soldiers for keeping a constant outlook and for scouting expeditions. This was felt to be more advantageous than maintaining a large garrison of troops.
Negotiations with the Mohawks to secure their coopera- tion against the Eastern Indians failed of the desired results, though a large sum of money was expended by Massachu- setts for presents and the services and maintenance of the commissioner. Lieut. Col. John Stoddard attended the con- ferences, which were held in Albany in 1724. The influence of the Dutch traders kept the Indians from taking the war path. A few scouts served in the pay of the English at various times.
The casualties of the summer of 1724 and the year 1725 are given in Dr. Hastings's narrative. Dr. Hastings was of great service to the soldiers in this and the previous war. The state archives show many accounts allowed him for treatment of wounded men and for medicines and supplies. In an account of the wounding of Dea. Samuel Field at Greenfield, by Rev. Stephen Williams, the same particulars of the severity of the wounds are given as by the physician, and he goes on to say, "All the wounds thro' the blessing of God upon means were heal'd in less than five weeks by Dr. Thomas Hastings whose death since ye war is a great frown upon us."
In the last part of June, 1724, great alarm was caused by reports of another expedition from Canada and reinforce- ments of white and Indian soldiers from Connecticut were sent to Colonel Partridge. The expected attack was not made.
The authorities at Boston sent an army of 280 against the Eastern Indians in Maine. August 12 they surprised Nor- ridgewock and killed 30 or 40 of the savages. Father Rasle was also slain and his church was burned.
The end of the war was brought about by the death of Governor De Vaudreuil on Oct. 10, 1725. The Indians had become tired of the fighting and were ready to make peace when the pressure from the French commander and priests was removed. A treaty of peace was signed at Boston, Dec. 15, 1725.
During the war there were two troops of cavalry recruited
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from Hampshire County, that from the northern towns num- bering 39, under command of Capt. Henry Dwight of Hat- field. The other officers were Westwood Cooke of Hadley, cornet, and Nathaniel Coleman of Hatfield, quartermaster. The names of the troopers are not known.
CHAPTER XIII.
A PERIOD OF GREAT PROSPERITY, 1725-1765. THE GOLDEN AGE. PROMINENT AND INFLUENTIAL CITIZENS.
" There were giants in those days."
The "River Gods."-The last two Indian wars .- Petition for more land west of the town .- The "Hatfield Equivalent" in Ashfield .- Installation of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge .- Death of Rev. William Williams .- Building of the third meetinghouse .- A tan yard and an oil mill built .- Col. Israel Williams .- Col. Oliver Partridge .- Col. Ephraim Williams, founder of Williams College.
The middle portion of the eighteenth century brought increasing wealth and influence to Hatfield. The later Indian wars did not involve for its people a life and death struggle for their homes and the fields that furnished them sustenance. A chain of protecting forts across the northern frontier ren- dered the villages less exposed to attack, and the settlement of other towns made the brunt of the conflict fall less on the older ones. The stress of the conflict with the French and Indians developed a group of leaders of strength and ability, who came to be known as the "River Gods." Conspicuous among these powerful men who gained such prestige for western Massachusetts were Col. John Stoddard of North- ampton, Col. John Worthington of Springfield, Col. Israel Williams of Hatfield, and Col. Oliver Partridge of Hatfield. The story of the town during this period is in large measure the record of the careers of these two last mentioned leaders, who succeeded Col. Samuel Partridge in military and political influence.
The details of the last two French and Indian wars are so well known as matters of general history that they need not be fully repeated in these pages. In the first one, known as the Old French war, lasting from 1744 to 1748, occurred the capture of Louisburg on June 17, 1745. For this expedition many men were recruited from the Hampshire towns, but few of the names have been preserved. There was again a period of scouting and fighting on the Massachusetts fron- tiers and the losses suffered in the various towns are noted in
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Dr. Hastings's diary, continued through this period by Oliver Partridge.
The chain of forts across the frontier comprised the greatly strengthened and enlarged Fort Dummer, Fort Shirley in Heath, Fort Pelham in Rowe, and Fort Massachusetts in Adams. There were blockhouses at Northfield, Greenfield, Charlemont, Fall-town (Bernardston), and Colrain.
The second war, called the French and Indian war, in which George Washington became prominent, occupied nine years, from 1754 to 1763, and was concluded by the conquest of Canada by the British after Wolfe's victory over Mont- calm on the Plains of Abraham. The Hatfield soldiers who are known to have taken part in the expedition are noted in Mr. Partridge's reminiscences in Part II.
From the close of Father Rasle's war in 1725 the colonists enjoyed a period of peace for nearly thirty years. It was a time of business expansion throughout the region. Facilities for transportation were greatly increased by the opening of good highways on the so-called Bay Paths to Boston. Very high prices were received for the produce of the farms. All the beef, pork, and mutton that could be raised were easily disposed of, and flax, wool, and yarn were extensively traded in. Little grain seems to have been sent away. It served still to some extent as a medium of exchange, very fortu- nately so, for the currency of the province was greatly depre- ciated in value. The records of the change in the minister's salary serve as a good index of prices. Mr. Williams's was gradually increased from £50 or £60 to £160 in bills of credit in 1737. Regulations fixing the prices of grain, which appear from time to time on the town records, do not show a great advance over earlier values. The market was held steady by the grain, which was apparently readily received as currency in the absence of silver or bills.
Hatfield men appointed as trustees of the public funds helped to float a loan of £50,000 in bills of credit in 1721 after Queen Anne's war and £60,000 in 1728. Hatfield's share of the first was £233 15s .; of the second, £238 10s. Money was plenty and an era of great speculation in land began. Whole townships in the unsettled hill country both east and west were bought by individuals or small groups of partners.
In 1736 the town of Hatfield voted to petition the General
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Court for a grant of a township six miles square on the west of their boundary, or, if they failed in that, to get one mile and a half additional. The petition was not granted. At this time it was voted to allot among the inhabitants the Wil- liamsburg land, "the Hatfield Addition," but it was not staked out for private owners till 1750. The lots were laid out in four ranges running north and south, divided by highways cach ten rods wide, of which two probably remain, at least in part, in use, the road through Great Plain and Mountain Street in Williamsburg. The old road westward across the ranges was over the top of Horse mountain.
Agreement was made in 1744 to divide the 8,064 acres secured for the town in Ashfield as the "Hatfield Equiv- alent" for land taken by the town of Deerfield. It was not divided, however, till after the last war, in 1765. Two years later a carriage way was cut through the woods to get to it. By the time this land was divided the town had increased in population so that there were 159 polls on the lists. Divi- sion was made according to polls and estate in both these divisions, and polls were reckoned as equal to £20 of estate. The population in 1765 was 803, including those residing in Whately and Williamsburg. (See Appendix, Note 8.)
Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, a graduate of Yale College and a tutor in that institution, was installed as colleague of Mr. Williams, Nov. 14, 1739. The long pastorate of Rev. William Williams was ended by his death, Aug. 29, 1741. His funeral sermon was delivered by Rev. Jonathan Edwards, who paid high tribute to his character and services. Mr. Woodbridge continued his pastoral labors until his death in 1770. The tablet that marks his grave in the old burying ground bears this inscription: "In memory of the Rev'd Timothy Wood- bridge for 30 years Pastor of the Church of Christ in the Town of Hatfield. This Man of God who called on the Lord out of a pure heart followed after Righteousness, Godliness, Faith, Love, Patience, Meekness, Apt to teach, charitable and gentle unto all men, departed this life on the 3 day of June A. Domi : 1770 in ye 58 year of his age."
During Mr. Woodbridge's pastorate a new meetinghouse was built, 56 feet long and 45 feet broad, at a cost of over £4,000 in old tenor province bills. The structure was built in the summer of 1750. The second house of worship was torn down and some of the timbers were used for the new
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one. This third meetinghouse is still standing, in use as a barn on F. H. Bardwell's place, whose father, Elijah Bard- well, bought it when the present church was built in 1849. Some of its red oak beams, still sound, were undoubtedly used in building the meetinghouse of 1699. This building had a belfry and a tower with Gothic points. The beams were cased and "decently coloured" and ornamental step stones were provided. It stood in the street where the others had. In the belfry was hung a bell weighing about 900 pounds. This was cracked in a Fourth of July celebration in 1876 and recast into a larger one. The large, square pews of the meetinghouse, with their high backs, are remembered by several of the inhabitants of the town. There were pews in the galleries on either side over the stairs for the unmar- ried people, the old maids' pew on the south and the bach- elors' on the north. They were built in the first place by groups of young people so that they might sit together, but as the original occupants became ineligible their places were assigned to others by the seating committee, and the pews were reserved for spinsters and bachelors till well into the nineteenth century, though there came to be much opposition on the part of some of the young ladies at the unpleasant prominence. The first seats in the gallery were reserved for singers, and back of them sat the children, the boys on the north and half of the east side, the girls on the south and the other half of the east side. Two seats in the gallery were reserved for the colored men and women.
There is little else of importance to record of the events in the life of the town during this period. Schools were maintained as they had been previously. The schoolmaster's salary was raised to about £50 per year. A new schoolhouse was built in 1730.
The Partridges built their tan yard at some time during this period and also established a store which brought them trade from a large region.
John Fitch built in 1737 a mill for making linseed oil, the first in Massachusetts. The first in New England had been built in 1718 in New Haven. Fitch had a patent from the province on his mill for fifteen years. It was on Running Gutter brook, about a half mile above A. L. Strong's saw- mill. The Hubbards had a sawmill at this spot till the middle of the nineteenth century.
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The movement known as the "Great Awakening" in the eighteenth century, which caused considerable controversy in parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, seems to have had little effect in Hatfield. George Whitefield preached in Hadley, but was not invited to Hatfield, where Rev. William Williams, though seventy-five years old, still ruled with a firm hand and was opposed to such revivals. His son, Col. Israel Williams, was also active in opposition to Whitefield. It is reported that Whitefield's stentorian tones were heard across the river. Some of Mr. Williams's parishioners took the opportunity to hear him in Hadley and Northampton.
To note now some of the remarkable men who appeared on the stage during the portion of the eighteenth century under consideration, attention is first drawn to Col. Israel Wil- liams. He was born in 1709, the youngest son of Rev. William Williams. After graduating from Harvard in 1729, he returned to Hatfield and became at once prominent in its affairs. He was elected to the board of selectmen in 1732 and continued to serve on it yearly till 1763. He was a representative to the General Court from 1733 to 1737, 1748 to 1760, again in 1768 and 1771-1772. He was influential in county affairs, serving as clerk of the courts in Northampton during most of his life and as judge of the Probate Court from 1764 to 1779.
As the wealthiest man in the community he built a mag- nificent residence on which he lavished money unstintedly. It was a large gambrel-roofed house standing on the site of the present town hall, and remained till 1852, when it was torn down to make way for the town hall. The front rooms had high wainscoting, paneled and carved by hand, and rich paper was on the walls ; that of the parlor was a deep crimson velvet. Immense fireplaces were found in every room, and elaborate hand-carved mantels and beautifully-designed cor- ner cupboards abounded. The front door stone was con- sidered a marvel of the stonecutter's art, with its beaded and molded edge. This stone is preserved and now in use at the Congregational parsonage.
Israel Williams was the possessor of one of the two riding chairs owned in Hampshire County in colonial times, the other being owned by Moses Porter of Hadley. These rid- ing chairs had a sort of chaise body but no top. Chaises and carriages did not appear till after the Revolution.
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Israel Williams became a captain of militia in 1734. He was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with the New York Indians at Fort Dummer in 1737. This confer- ence amounted to little except the securing of a few vague promises of friendship from the savages, evidently not sin-
A CORNER CUPBOARD.
cere and soon broken. When war broke out in 1744, Capt. Williams was commissioned major and was second in com- mand to Col. John Stoddard, who was in charge of the defense of the western frontier. He was an able assistant
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to his chief, and when Stoddard died in 1748 he became commander in chief of the western forces after Lieutenant Colonel Porter of Hadley resigned the post, for which he was unfitted.
When the last French and Indian war was threatening, Gov. William Shirley of Massachusetts sent orders to all the towns to lay in a supply of ammunition and to make preparations for defense. In August, 1754, he appointed Colonel Williams to be the commander of all the forces to be raised for the defense of Hampshire County and of the chain of forts. The experience he had gained in the pre- vious war and his thorough knowledge of the country led him to submit to Governor Shirley a plan of defense which was accepted with only slight modifications. Forts Shirley and Pelham, which had been of little use in the previous war, were abandoned. Dummer and Massachusetts were strengthened and supplied with cannon. The blockhouses between were well garrisoned, a few new ones were erected, and swivels were placed in some of them. There were gar- risons at Bernardston, Colrain, Charlemont, Pontoosuck (Pittsfield), Williamstown, Sheffield, Stockbridge, and Blandford. As a commander, Colonel Williams showed fore- sight and sagacity and the men under him worked loyally together. He kept closely in touch with all the operations of the enemy, forestalling expected attacks by sending out scouting parties. The valley towns were unmolested.
Colonel Williams at the height of his civil and military power was known as "ye monarch of Hampshire." He was autocratic and domineering in manner, the most august and imperious of all of the "Lords of the Valley." His opinion had great weight with the governor and council and his word was law at home.
Another trusted and able commander was Col. Oliver Partridge. He was born in Hatfield in 1712. His father, Edward Partridge, was the son of Col. Samuel Partridge. Oliver graduated from Yale College in 1730, where he gave much attention to the study of surveying. He was appointed in 1734 joint clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamp- shire County with Israel Williams and the same year was married to Anna Williams, daughter of Rev. William Wil- liams of Weston and granddaughter of Rev. Solomon Stod- dard of Northampton and of Rev. William Williams of
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Hatfield. His alliance with such influential families, in addition to the renown of his grandfather, Col. Samuel Partridge, who took especial interest in him, gave him as a very young man a commanding position. He was high sheriff of Hampshire County from 1741-1743. His knowl- edge of surveying caused his appointment to survey the boundaries of many of the grants that were then being made to individuals and towns in the western hill country that became Berkshire County. He surveyed the township of Hadley and established its bounds in 1740.
The deeds in Berkshire towns show that at about that time he was owner of large tracts of land in that county in Lee, Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Pittsfield, which he bought as agent for others and for himself. He and Israel Williams and others had grants from the General Court of Massa- chusetts in the southern part of New Hampshire, known as the "Ashuelot Grants." When the territory was added to New Hampshire in 1740, after a dispute between the colonies, the grantees were allowed to choose land elsewhere, which they did in the present town of Dalton, then known as the "Ash- uelot Equivalent." He aided in the building of the forts in Berkshire County in the French and Indian war of 1744- 1748 and in the rebuilding of Fort Massachusetts, which was burned in 1746. He drew a lot in the township of Williams- town, when that was distributed in 1752, which he owned till 1768, thus being one of the 46 original proprietors of that town, though never a resident.
One of the most important public services of Oliver Par- tridge was as member from the province of Massachusetts to a convention of delegates from the northern provinces called by the British government to meet at Albany in 1754 to formulate plans for defense against a common enemy. The assembly was empowered to treat with the Indians about war or peace, trade regulations and the purchase of lands, to raise and pay soldiers, build forts and ships, and to lay imports, duties, and taxes. A plan for union and confedera- tion was presented at this assembly by Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, which was discussed along with the negotia- tions with the chiefs of the Six Nations, with whom many conferences had been held before. The historian Bancroft says of this assembly :-
"America had never seen an assembly so remarkable for the states
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represented, or for the great men that composed it. They were detained in this hospitable old Dutch town for more than three weeks. * *
* Frank- lin's plan was not approved by a single one of the colonial assemblies before which it was brought. *
* * No action was ever taken on it in England. Yet there is no contribution to constructive statesmanship preceding the year 1776 which had a profounder effect on the subsequent growth and develop- ment of the idea of American nationality."
Franklin's plan was, however, favorably received by the delegates and adopted and signed by them July 4, 1754. Franklin had printed in his paper at Philadelphia a wood cut, in which was the representation of a snake cut into pieces with the sections lettered to represent the scattered colonies and the inscription "Unite or Die." The design, which showed graphically the weakness of the colonies, was after- ward used as a flag.
Oliver Partridge had been a delegate to conventions at Albany to treat with the Six Nations or with New York in regard to boundaries in 1746, 1747, 1751, and 1753. Imme- diately after his return to Massachusetts in 1754 he was com- missioned colonel and sent back to Berkshire County by Col. Israel Williams with "orders to strengthen the fron- tiers, but not to build forts anywhere. If the inhabitants can supply themselves with provisions Col. Partridge will supply the soldiers and the necessities." In 1757 he succeeded Colonel Williams in command of the western forces. In the last years of the French and Indian wars Colonel Partridge was a recruiting officer for the County of Hampshire under royal authority, stationed at Fort Massachusetts.
In 1762 he, with Governor Shirley and Elisha Jones of Weston, purchased at auction township No. 2, which included the present town of Peru and a part of Hinsdale and Middle- field. It was first called Partridgeville and was incorporated in 1771. He sold many of his lots there between 1767 and 1775, but some were sold by his heirs as late as 1792. His holdings of real estate in Berkshire County were in twelve separate towns as divided to-day, and his influence in building up that part of the state was as important a contribution as his military service.
In his native town he was highly honored and offices of trust were freely bestowed upon him as they had been upon his grandfather. He held the office of town clerk from 1731 to 1784, was elected selectman in 1733 and re-elected almost every year till 1774, again in 1780 and 1781, and served as
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representative in the General Court from 1741 to 1747, in 1761, and 1765-1767.
Another noted commander of the western troops in the French and Indian wars was Col. Ephraim Williams, a nephew of Rev. William Williams and Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, with whom he made his home when not engaged in active fighting. He was born in Newton in 1715. A rov- ing disposition led him to take up the life of a sailor, and as a young man he made several voyages to Europe, visiting England, Spain, and Holland. He abandoned the sea at the outbreak of hostilities between England and France in 1744 and enlisted in the army in New England for service against Canada. He was stationed at Fort Massachusetts in com- mand of a company and for gallant action he was soon raised to the rank of major. After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 he returned to the Connecticut valley to live, dividing his time between Hatfield and Deerfield. Hatfield had strong attractions for him, for he was seeking the hand of his fair cousin Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. William Williams. Tra- dition says that he was rejected in their last interview because of his excessive use of liquor. She remained single all her life. Her bequest in his will was £20 and his cream pot and silver teaspoons.
When fighting was resumed in 1753, Ephraim Williams, then commissioned colonel, was sent with a regiment raised chiefly in Hampshire to assist Sir William Johnson in the expedition against Crown Point. He fell at Lake George in the engagement called "the bloody morning scout," Sept. 8, 1755. His force was ambushed by a large party of French and Indians and was practically cut to pieces. In this regi- ment were several other noted men of the name of Wil- liams,-Rev. Stephen of Longmeadow, the chaplain; Dr. Thomas of Deerfield, the surgeon; Capt. William of Deer- field, and another William, son of Rev. Solomon Williams of Lebanon, Conn., and grandson of the Hatfield pastor. This William Williams was then adjutant general and in later years was one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. A letter of Dr. Thomas Williams to his wife, from which some extracts are here given, furnishes particu- lars of the engagement. The letter is printed in full in the "Williams's Family Genealogy."
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