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 19
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
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Joseph, who was the father of Sophia Smith, founder of Smith College. Mary Smith took great interest in her little granddaughter Sophia. Dr. J. M. Greene said in an address at Smith College in 1896 at the centennial of Sophia Smith's birth that she told him she remembered her grandmother well and used to say, "I looked up to my grandmother with great love and reverence. She more than once put her hand on my head and said, 'I want you should grow up and be a good woman and try to make the world better.'" Mary Smith was a woman who had keen interest in education, which she transmitted to her descendants.
Hatfield opened schools for girls in 1796. There is a tradi- tion that before the education of girls was thought necessary, Roger Dickinson, who had a large family of girls he wished to have taught, went to Elijah Dickinson for advice and assistance in bringing up the matter for public consideration. The latter agreed with his relative on general principles, but he seemed to doubt whether the innovation was practical. His advice was, "Roger, it is all right, but do you suppose they will vote any money to teach the shees?" But the town did vote to set up two schools for the training of girls four months in the year. Before this the few girls who had attended school recited their lessons after the boys had finished. The boys went to school about six months in the year at this period. The appropriation for schools was about $200 annually. The brick schoolhouse that stood in the road south of the meetinghouse and is fully described by Mr. Partridge in his reminiscences in Part II. was built in 1783. The girls' schools were apparently "dame schools," kept in private houses. Mr. Partridge seemed to think that in his boyhood they were private schools, but probably they re- ceived support from the public treasury. The younger boys were also sent to the "dame schools" during the earlier part of the nineteenth century.
Isaac Curson, born in Dumfries, England, who landed in Philadelphia in 1784 and who was a teacher in a private school in Northampton for several years, also opened a school in Hatfield shortly after the Revolution, where the classics and French were taught. For attempting to marry Abigail Barnard of Deerfield while his wife was still living in England, he was obliged to leave for the west.
Dr. Lyman was an ardent champion of education for both
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sexes. He was a trustee of Dickinson Academy in Deer- field. In his sermon at the opening of that institution Jan. 1, 1799, he said :-
"As knowledge is essential to wisdom, and the arts and sciences are handmaids to virtue, and give energy and success to the feelings of benevo- lence, so we cannot be too assiduous in acquiring knowledge for ourselves, or in promoting it among those with whom we are connected in society, espe- cially among the youth, the rising hope of our country. Is he to be com- mended who drinks deep at the fountain of knowledge? How much more worthy of our admiration and gratitude is he who liberally devises the ways and means of disseminating science and wisdom among our numerous youth of both sexes! He makes provision not only that the fathers, but that the future mothers of the race may be richly furnished to train up their children to learning and virtue."
The people of the eighteenth century had more time to devote to culture than the struggling pioneers of the sev- enteenth. Newspapers and political tracts had begun to circulate freely and were eagerly read. Books were more numerous, though still confined very largely to religious works. A few copies of Dryden's and Pope's poems were owned in town. The favorite books were the Bible, Watts's "Psalms and Hymns," "The New England Primer," contain- ing the Catechism, "Pilgrim's Progress," Baxter's "Saint's Rest," Fox's "Book of Martyrs," and "The Farmer's Al- manac."
Many of the customs of the early colonial times lingered till long after the Revolution. There was great formality in speech and manner. Men of rank wore ruffled shirts, knee breeches and buckled shoes, cocked hats and queues, and powdered their hair. The ordinary clothing was of homespun. Every woman had a Scotch plaid cloak, called a camlet, and handed down from mother to daughter as an heirloom. The dower given to every girl by her father on her wedding day was a brass kettle and a cow. Many of the brass kettles were cherished family possessions with which tales of savage warfare were connected. It was the custom of the people to bury in the ground the treasured brass kettle whenever the danger of an Indian attack seemed imminent. For much of the cooking heavy iron pots were used. For the table service there was shining pewter ware. Gourds were used for dippers, and for receptacles for milk there were earthen pans like tile, glazed on the inside. A few families had furniture of English workmanship acquired in the palmy days of colonial times, but much of the furniture was of the
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plain, homemade type. There was no covering for most of the floors, which were kept clean and shining by frequent polishings. The sand bank in the highway opposite the land
RUINS OF AN OLD-FASHIONED CHIMNEY, Showing the huge kitchen fireplace.
of E. S. Warner near the Hill bridge was reserved for public use because it contained a deposit of sand of especial merit for scouring purposes. Near the river was an abundance of rushes prized for scouring pewter.
The baking was done in huge brick ovens. There was not
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a stove of any description in Hatfield before 1800. On bak- ing days the fire was built early in the morning on the floor of the oven and kept replenished till all the surrounding walls were heated. Then the embers were removed and the floor was carefully swept to receive the loads of bread and pies that the housewife and her daughters had prepared. A portable tin oven was used for warming up food when com- pany came unexpectedly. This could be set upon the hearth in front of the fireplace and put away when not in use. It was the custom to keep a batch of dough in the cellar under a damp cloth to be ready for emergencies, and when guests arrived the hostess would prepare biscuits to be baked in the small oven before the fire while she chatted with her callers. Callers in those days always came to spend the whole after- noon and expected to be invited to tea.
Thanksgiving was always a time when large quantities of provisions were cooked for family use for weeks to come, and preparations were begun a week before Thanksgiving day, such as paring apples and making mince meat. Some- times as many as fifty pies were baked and set aside in the guest room for future use. Plenty of good New England rum entered into their composition, so that they were in no danger of freezing. Large quantities of rich pound cake were also prepared, which would keep in good condition for a long time. During the fall each family made a barrel of apple sauce as soon as cool weather came. It was allowed to freeze and when wanted for use had to be cut out with a hatchet. It was made of sweet and sour apples cooked together in a brass kettle out of doors, sweetened with the syrup of boiled cider.
The fall was a busy time in the preparation of other house- hold supplies. It was the season for hog killing, when the pork was salted, hams and shoulders cured and smoked, and sausages made in great strings to hang from the rafters in the attic. Some sausages were always put in earthen jars in melted lard and in this way would keep till the next sum- mer. Some of the fresh pork, and beef and mutton as well, was stored in the grain bins at the barn. Buried deep in oats or rye the meat was protected from changes of temperature after being thoroughly frozen before storing.
The fall was also the time for carding and spinning the flax and wool. Two pairs of woolen stockings for each member of the family had to be made before Thanksgiving,
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no small task in some families. Long woolen leggings were worn by the men and boys as a protection when going through deep snow. These were manufactured at home. The winter's supply of candles had to be prepared and pumpkins must be cut in strips and dried. The pumpkins were used not only for sauce, but also to sweeten the home- brewed beer. This beer was the common drink in every household. In summer it was brewed as often as once a week. A hop pole stood in every garden.
Large quantities of cider also were made and consumed. There were several cider distilleries in town where cider brandy was made. It was an age of hard drinking. The toddy glass and flip iron occupied a conspicuous position over every fireplace, and along the sideboards were arranged decanters of rum flavored with native fruits. The most common flavors were wild cherry, raspberry, and elderberry. These were called cherry brandy, raspberry brandy, etc., and were used for flavoring the toddy that was passed around on every social occasion.
Rum was brought from Hartford by boat and of course a supply for the winter had to be secured before navigation was stopped by the ice. A story is current of one merchant who was obliged to send teams to Hartford in March of one year. He said he had seven hogsheads of rum before winter set in, but it had all gone.
Spring was the season for making a leach of hardwood ashes for lye for soap making and for the making of maple syrup and sugar.
Summer was the time for cheese making. Before "dog days" the garden herbs had to be cut and cured,-sage, sum- mer savory, mint, rue, and rosemary. Dill and caraway grew wild in the yards. The latter furnished the flavoring for savory seed cakes that the younger members of the household clamored for. Rushes for scouring the pewter were always gathered in August. The warmer months of the year were those in which the weaving was done, for the cumbersome looms took up too much space in the living rooms and so were usually placed in a shed or an upstairs chamber which was unheated. Almost all clothing and bed- ding was made at home. Each girl was ambitious to have her "setting out" completed before her twentieth birthday. Her outfit often included a big bedspread worked in blue and white, brown and white, or green and white. The women,
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when not otherwise employed, were busy with their knitting, and so constant was their employment that they did not need illumination, but could knit by the dim light of the fireplace.
The work of the men in the fields was all performed by hand as it had been since the first settlement of the town. The same staple crops were raised as had been a hundred years before, and the chief source of revenue was from the sale of fat cattle and hogs. In the winter every farmer made a trip to Boston with a load of produce. There were no carriages or sleighs in Hatfield before 1800, but almost every farmer had a pung, a long, low sled with a pine box body. He would fill this with hogs he had butchered, and perhaps a few extra cheeses, and set out early Monday morning. The trip to Boston took three days each way, so he could arrive home before Sunday if not delayed by storms. The first stop was in Brookfield, where he would put up at the tavern, eating his own lunch, which he carried with him, in the public bar-room and paying only for his rum and his lodg- ing and the stabling of his horse. Fodder for the horse was also carried on the load. The second day's trip was usually as far as Framingham. In Boston the load was exchanged for a quintal of codfish, some New England rum, a supply of tea for the year, some nutmeg as a flavoring for toddy, the year's supply of loaf sugar, and silks and ribbons for the women of the family.
Sleighs were introduced early in the nineteenth century, and it was required by law that bells should be attached to the harness when sleighs or sleds were in use. The story is told of how one independent Hatfield citizen showed his resentment at this regulation, for failure to comply with which offenders were liable to arrest. Solomon Graves was a man with a keen sense of humor and ever ready for a practical joke. He attached some bells to the end of his reins and put them in the box of his new sleigh, spreading over the seat a large buffalo robe. Then he drove to Northamp- ton, where he was promptly espied and halted by a vigilant constable, who proceeded to inform him he was under arrest. A crowd quickly gathered. The constable was growing angry. Mr. Graves after some delay, appearing not to understand why he was stopped by the officer, pulled the reins from under the seat and showed his bells attached to the harness as the law required. The constable beat a re- treat in the face of the jeers of the bystanders.
CHAPTER XVI.
A LONG PERIOD OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY, 1800-1861. INDUS- TRIAL CHANGES. IMMIGRATION.
" What's new to speak, what now to register."
The bridge across the Connecticut .- The war of 1812 .- Cattle and sheep industries .- Broom corn .- Tobacco .- Manufacturing .- Growth of the outlying villages.
After the close of the Revolutionary war the town of Hatfield enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity, the events of part of which were narrated in the last chapter. The war of 1812 created little disturbance and the Mexican war none at all. The first half of the century brought many important industrial changes and saw the beginning of the immigration movement that has so changed the character of the population of the town. The agricultural industries reached a higher stage of development than they ever had before.
At the very beginning of the century plans were laid for the building of a bridge across the Connecticut river. The act of incorporation was passed by the state legislature March 8, 1803. The bridge was formally opened Oct. 20, 1807, with a great public demonstration, the following ac- count of which appeared in the Hampshire Gazette of October 28 :-
"On Tuesday the 20th inst., this elegant and costly edifice was compleated and opened for public use.
"After struggling with uncommon resolution and fortitude, for four years, against every species of difficulty and misfortune, this was truly, a proud and joyful event to the proprietors. To the public at large it was a cause of sincere gratification.
"A very large concourse of people from the adjacent towns, together with Hadley and Hatfield bands of music, and Capt. Breck's company of artillery under command of Lieut. Dwight, joined with the proprietors in the cere- monies and festivities of the day. At 11 o'clock A. M. the corporation with the artillery and music, proceeded from Roberts' Inn to the meetinghouse, where an appropriate sermon was delivered by Rev. Dr. Lyman, to a very crowded audience. After the services were concluded the artillery and music, gentlemen spectators, the architect, the president, directors and cor- poration, and the Rev. clergy were formed in procession by the Marshall of the day, and marched to the bridge.
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"After passing and repassing the bridge in inverted order, under an alternate discharge of artillery from the opposite banks of the river, the procession returned to White's Inn, and partook of a handsome entertain- ment. A few appropriate toasts with a discharge of artillery, concluded the ceremonies of the day."
An apocryphal account states that a prayer was offered by "Priest" Wells of Whately,-presumably at the bridge,- in which he prayed for everybody up and down the street
THE DR. DANIEL WHITE TAVERN.
and across the bridge. As he was hemming and hawing, about to begin all over again, he was interrupted by Roger Dickinson, who shouted, "Jump ashore, parson, jump ashore."
Dr. Lyman's sermon was printed. He was enthusiastic over the possibilities in store from the improved means of communication, believing it foreshadowed the coming of the millennium.
The funds for building the bridge were raised partly by the sale of lottery tickets, a common method for raising money at that time. The first bridge lottery was authorized in 1803. The drawings were held at the tavern kept by Dr.
.
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Daniel White in the house now the residence of D. W. Wells. Dr. White was the most noted inn keeper of the period and his tavern was a popular resort. He studied medicine in his youth and went to Whitestown, N. Y., to practice. Losing one of his first cases, in which the opera- tion of bleeding the patient, then in general use by physicians, had fatal results, he packed his baggage and returned home at once, never again attempting to practice his profession. He was the first postmaster in Hatfield, being appointed in 1806 and serving till 1831.
One hundred and fifty-nine shares of the stock of the bridge corporation were taken by subscribers. The par value of the stock was not recorded in the corporation book, which has been preserved, but it is thought to have been $100. The first dividend, of $238.50, was declared on Jan. 1, 1812, and was followed by twenty-one others, the last on Nov. 6, 1820. They were declared at irregular intervals, about three a year, and varied from 50 cents to $1.50 per share, averaging not over $2.00 per year. The first officers were Jonathan H. Lyman of Northampton, president; Nathaniel Smith and Samuel Partridge, 2d, directors; Joseph Billings, treasurer ; Samuel Partridge, 2d, clerk; the last all of Hatfield. A toll house was erected on the Hatfield side of the bridge. The rates were as follows, established by the act of incorpora- tion :-
Foot passengers $0.03
Horse and rider .07
Horse and chaise, or sulky .16
Coach, chariot, phaeton, or other four-wheeled car- riage for passengers .33
For each curricle. .25
One horse sleigh. .10
Sleigh drawn by more than one horse. .121/2
Cart, sled, or other carriage of burden : Drawn by one beast .16
Drawn by more than one beast. .20
Horses, without rider, and neat cattle .03
Sheep and swine. .01
Only one person to each team was allowed to pass free of toll. Persons crossing the bridge in the performance of military duty or ministers on an exchange of pulpits were not required to pay for passage. A few tickets for passage for a year or a shorter period were issued.
The bridge was built of arches resting on abutments and piers, the remains of which are still seen in the river opposite
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"the old bridge place." The planking followed the curves of the arches so that driving across was a series of rises and descents.
The bridge did not prove a profitable investment for the shareholders. In 1821 the question of rebuilding was agi- tated, but the proprietors had lost their interest. The bridge had become unsafe for use. July 7, 1823, sale of the toll house and the land on which it stood was made to Peter Ingram of Amherst, the highest bidder, for $375. The old iron and bolts were also sold at auction. The bridge by that time had been pulled down. In 1824 the directors voted to rebuild, but the vote was not carried into effect, and, June 15, 1826, the piers and abutments were sold to Capt. Isaac Damon of Northampton for the payment of $4.50 per share, "that being the highest value thereof." He removed all the stone which could easily be secured. A bridge between Had- ley and Northampton was built in 1808, which, with a greater volume of travel, proved profitable. ยท
The original proprietors of the Hatfield bridge were mostly residents of Northampton, Hadley, Amherst, and Hatfield. A few shares were transferred before the final settlement of the affairs of the company. The original owners of the shares as recorded in the corporation book were Nathaniel Smith, 12; Isaac Abercrombie, 15; J. H. Lyman, 1; Rev. Joseph Lyman, 1; Nehemiah Waite, 2; C. & S. Partridge, 24 ; Jonathan Clark, 14; Josiah Morton, 2; Calvin Merrill, 2; Evan Johns, 26; Elijah Boltwood, 10; Elijah Dickinson, 5; Samuel Smith, 9; Medad Dickinson, 5; Caleb Strong, 3; Wil- liam Porter, 15; Joseph Billings, 3; Samuel Porter, 2; Enos Baker, 2; Ebenezer Ingraham, 2; John Russell, 1; Robert Cutter, 1; Jason Mixter, 2.
The war of 1812 was not popular in Massachusetts, where Madison's policy was considered detrimental to the best interests of the country. Hatfield adopted the following resolutions at a town meeting held Feb. 8, 1809 :-
"Whereas, the people have a right in a peaceable manner to request the Legislature, by way of addresses and petitions or remonstrances, for a redress of grievances they suffer; and whereas, the aspect of our public affairs is alarming almost beyond a precedent,-our citizens suffering (as we think) needless and most extraordinary privations, public confidence tottering to its base, and the government endeavoring to palm upon us laws in our judgment unconstitutional, arbitrary, and oppressive; and whereas, during the administration of Washington and Adams, when our country was emerg- ing from the horrors of a cruel and relentless war, when a form of govern- ment was to be established embracing the union of these States, when the
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hatchet of war with the savages upon our frontiers was to be buried, when ways and means were to be devised to cancel our national debt, when com- mercial treaties with European nations were to be established, our country rose to wealth and greatness unparalleled in the history of the world; there- forc,
"Resolved, That it is a departure from their policy and measures that has produced these evils and brought the nation to the brink of wretchedness and ruin.
"Resolved, That the embargo is unnecessary and oppressive.
"Resolved, That we view the late law for enforcing the embargo as a death blow to our civil liberties; as by it the sanctuary of our dwellings is made liable to search and our property to seizure upon the suspicion only of the mere creatures of the President; as by it the breath of the Executive may constitute the law of the land; and, above all, that the civil is made subservient to the military power.
"Resolved, That we view with anxiety and concern the late extraordinary augmentation of military power, without so much as an intimation from our government of their object and design.
"Resolved, That the President ought to distrust, and that we hold in contempt the opinion of, those who would treat us as rebels and term us the most worthless part of community, because we do not hold out our hands to the chains and tamely submit to arbitrary power.
"Resolved, That we have ever viewed the returning of the British treaty by the President without submitting it to the Senate as an impolitic measure, and in our opinion it is through the means and measures of our Administra- tion that all essential differences with Great Britain have not long since been amicably and honorably adjusted.
"Resolved, That we esteem our national Constitution as an invaluable legacy from our political fathers, and if necessary will yield our lives and fortunes a cheerful sacrifice to defend it, and we do hereby exhort our fellow-citizens to rally around it as the standard of political safety, and to esteem no sacrifices too great to preserve it. And as we have heretofore petitioned the President and Congress in vain, therefore,
"Resolved, That the selectmen be a committee to prepare a respectful petition to our Legislature, praying that honorable body to use all constitu- tional means in their power to procure our enlargement, that so agriculture and commerce may again receive the rewards of industry and enterprise."
Brig. Gen. Isaac Maltby of Hatfield was in command of the Hampshire militia during the war. They were called out by Gov. Caleb Strong for the defense of Boston in 1814. Hat- field's quota in the expedition was 14, but the names of the men have not all been ascertained. Mr. Partridge in his reminiscences in Part II. speaks of Murray Maltby, Israel Billings, and Moses Morton, and one other is mentioned in the sketch of Hatfield in the "History of the Connecticut Valley," in which the following account of the services of Mr. Morton are related in what proved to be a picnic cam- paign for the soldiers :-
"For these valiant services they gave me two land warrants, and at last a pension ; curious idea wa'n't it, after seventy years to give me a pension for just that nice little parade down to Boston? I was quartermaster under Col. Valentine. I was a sergeant in the home company. They called on Hatfield for a detail of fourteen men, among them a captain and a lieutenant ; but they two whined and took on so dreadfully the officers let them off and took two sergeants, Jonathan Porter and me. That is the way I got into the excursion."
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Jeremiah Bardwell, Horatio Strong, and Henry Wilkie were also with the squad that marched from Hatfield to the defense of Boston.
The news of the ratification of the treaty of peace was received with rejoicing. The treaty was ratified by the Sen- ate, Feb. 17, 1815, and the news was quickly sent about the country by post. It traveled from Washington to Philadel- phia in 14 hours, from there to New York in 9. The time for the distance of 240 miles from Washington to New York in 23 hours was considered remarkable.
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