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 5
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
side of the river; and the whole accommodations of Nathaniel Dickin- son, sen. and half of Mr. Webster's accommodations there, and John Hawks his whole accommodations, and all Joseph Kellogg's, and all Adam Nicholls his, and that which was Samuel Gardner's in Little Ponset, and Goodinan Crow's in Little Ponsett, and Nathaniel Stanley's in Little Ponsett, and Richard Montague's in Great Ponsett ; and Jos. Baldwin's whole accommoda- tions, and John White's in Great Ponsett, and John Dickinson's in Little Ponsett; and except 12 acres and a half above and besides all this when it shall be given or sold to an inhabitant or inhabitants on the west side of the river ; all the other land within the lower part or S. West side of the high- way and the forenamed fence to be to the town on the east side of the river forever.
"And the Society on the west side of the river are to have for their bounds all the land on the west side of the river of Connecticut, except what lies within the highway from the river to the widow Fellows her house, and within the fence abovenamed. All the rest of the land not within the said highway and fence to be to the town and society on the west side of the river and at their free and full dispose forever, for the main- taining of all common charges respecting things civil and ecclesiastical. And they also are to have all the land within the highway and fence on the south west or lower side of the river, that is already given or sold to any inhabitant on the west side, which land in all the particulars and parcels of it is above specified, with 121/2 acres more, which shall be next given or sold to any inhabitants etc .; to be to the society and town on the west side for the maintaining of all common charges forever. Only provided they shall not dispose of any land without the consent of the town, to any that are not approved and settled inhabitants of the town, until the General Court have granted them to be a town of themselves, and then forthwith and forever to have the full dispose of all the land on the west side of the river except that above excepted, for the maintenance of all common charges.
"3. It is mutually agreed and covenanted that the society or town of Hadley on the east side of the river, have liberty to get fencing stuff on the west side of the river, for their land lying on that side of the river, both now and from time to time always, as also to get timber if any see cause to build a barn or shelter for securing his fruits raised there. The present fence in being, and the rest of the common fence [an omission here].
"4. The inhabitants of the west side shall allow to those on the east side the sum of £6 as the remainder of what is due for purchase money to the said inhabitants on the east side.
"5. In case there shall hereafter be a ferry between these two places, this agreement shall be no detriment with respect thereto to those on either side more than if they continued one town.
"Hereunto as a full and final issue of all controversy respecting our bounds of each society, and the manner or way of maintaining their public charges. (notwithstanding all manner of sales or gifts that shall or may be,) we who were chosen by each Company, viz. those on the east and those on the west side the river respectively, and impowered to issue the said differ- ence, have set to our hands, this present 22d of December, 1669.
"HENRY CLARKE, JOHN RUSSEL, JR., SAMUEL SMITH, NATHAN'L DICKINSON, SR., PETER TILLTON,
THO. MEEKINS, SEN., WILLIAM ALLICE, JOHN COULE, SEN., ISAAC GRAVES, SAMUEL BELDEN."
CHAPTER V.
A CHAPTER OF ESTABLISHMENT. THE INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH.
"And plant amid the wilderness The hamlet and the town "
The act of incorporation .- Name .- First town meeting .- The freeman's oath .- Application of colonial laws regarding citizenship .- Establishment of the church society .- Building of the meetinghouse .- Rev. Hope Atherton accepts call .- Specifications for his house .- The burying ground .- Organiza- tion of the church.
The town of Hatfield was incorporated May 31, 1670, authorized by the following act of the General Court :-
"In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Hadley on the west side of the riuer, that they may be allowed to be a toune of themselves, distinct from Hadley on the east side, the deputy of Hadley certifying that that toune haue consented to release them if this Court doe approove thereof, etc. this Court doe therefore allow them on the west side of the riuer, to be a touneship distinct from them on the east side of the riuer, and doe grant them a tract of land westward, sixe miles back into the woods from the great riuer ; their southerly bounds to be Northampton northerly bounds, and the land which Hadley reserves to themselves, and from their sajd southerly ljne to runne vp the riuer northerly upon the square sixe miles; their north- erly bounds likewise to runne backe from the great riuer sixe miles westward, as before, reserving proprietjes formerly granted to any person; and that this toune be called Hattfeilds."
The land reserved by Hadley was the part on the South Meadow owned by east side proprietors as stated in the articles of agreement.
The name was taken from that of a town on the river Lea, Hertfordshire County, in England. Whether any of the settlers came from there is not known, but it is highly probable that some at least were from that vicinity. The names of Allis and Morton were borne by former residents of the English town. Hadleigh and Northampton in the old country are situated not far distant, though not as close as in New England. (See Appendix, Note 4.)
The first town, as distinguished from "side," meeting was held Aug. 8, 1670, and the following votes are recorded :-
"At a Town meeting in the Town of Hatfield the eighth of August 1670 the Town hath manifest that they were willing to grant to Mr Caleb
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
Wattson a hundred pound allotment with an eight acre houselot provided they and he do agree upon terms when they shall speak together.
"The 8th of August 1670 the Town of Hatfield hath granted to allow Mr Hope Atherton sixty pounds per year during his work in the ministry amongst us, provided they are free from providing him wood for his firing. "The 8th of August 1670 the Town of Hatfield hath granted Richard Billings liberty to mow the grass yearly that is in the Highway which goeth through the hollow in Little meadow to the great Bridge."
It was apparently a great source of pleasure to the clerk to be able to write in full "the town of Hatfield." After a few meetings this longer form was dropped and the record says merely, "The town hath voted," or "at a meeting in Hatfield."
The first selectmen were Nathaniel Dickinson, Sr., William Allis, John Cowles, Sr., Isaac Graves, John Cole- man.
To become a legal citizen of the Massachusetts Bay Colony every man over twenty years of age and six months a householder was required to take the freeman's oath, the original draft of which, made by John Winthrop, is in the Boston Public Library. It is interesting to note that the first work of the first printing press set up in the English speaking colonies of America was to print this oath, in 1638. It read as follows :-
“I, being by God's providence, an Inhabitant and Freeman, within the Jurisdiction of this Commonwealth; do freely acknowledge my self to be subject to the Government thereof; And therefore do here swear by the great and dreadful Name of the Everlasting God that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and support there- unto, with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound; and will also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all the liberties and priviledges thereof, submitting my self to the wholesome Lawes & Orders made and established by the same. And further, that I will not plot or practice any evil against it, or consent to any that shall do so; but will timely discover and reveal the same to lawfull Authority now here established, for the speedy presenting thereof.
"Moreover, I doe solemnly bind my self in the sight of God, when I shall be called to give my voyce touching any such matter of this State, in which Free-men are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may but conduce and tend to the publike weal of the body, without respect of persons, or favour of any man. So help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ."
According to the early laws of the colony none but church members could be freemen and none but freemen could hold office or vote, but before Hadley and Hatfield were settled the laws had been modified so that non-free- men could vote in town affairs and hold town offices. Judd says: "In Hadley the distinction of freemen and non-free-
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
men is seldom alluded to in the records. It is evident that the town meetings were open to all and that all came together and debated and voted freely respecting town affairs. Only freemen voted for Magistrates or Assistants, County Commissioners, and Treasurer, and they chose dep- uties to the General Court." The Magistrates were a legislative body similar to the Senate.
The holding of town office was thought by some to be burdensome and for that reason some men neglected to qualify as freemen to escape holding office. Later it became a law that all who were chosen to office should serve or pay a fine. Even then some chose the fine rather than the work.
The early records of Hatfield contain nothing to indicate that the niceties of the law in regard to who should par- ticipate in town affairs were considered of great importance. The severities of the struggle for existence,-the physical battle against natural obstacles-and the greater struggle for independence, begun in the towns on the Bay, continued in Hartford and Wethersfield, and culminating in the long- drawn-out and bitter contest with their brethren on the east of the river had so united the settlers in spirit as well as in action that finespun distinctions were disregarded. All who were freemen in spirit were probably regarded as freemen within the meaning of the law when it came to action in town affairs.
Great care was exercised, however, regarding those who were allowed to become residents and none who were con- sidered undesirable were permitted to take up land. At the early date of 1672 a vote of the town prohibited even the entertainment of strangers, except relatives or friends for short visits, without permission from the selectmen.
Equal in importance with the establishment of civil gov- ernment was the establishment of a church society, or, in the language of the early settlers, "the setting up of ordinances," for in those days there was no distinction between town and parish. No plantation was considered a town till it had made or was able to make provision for a minister and a meetinghouse. The action of the Hatfield men in opening negotiation for securing a minister and in building or preparing to build a house of worship before
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
the dispute with the mother town was settled by the tri- bunal to which it was referred undoubtedly had great weight with the members of the General Court, so that in spite of the arguments of the Hadley men their cause fell to the ground and the separation was authorized. The delay in building the Hadley meetinghouse must have been known at Boston.
The meetinghouse in Hatfield was built in 1668, though evidently not wholly completed. The records of that year relate chiefly to the work upon the structure, which was pushed as rapidly as possible, each man doing his part. It stood in the middle of the street facing east and west, probably not far from the site of all the subsequent meet- inghouses till the present Congregational church was built in 1849, a few rods south of the present edifice. A pulpit was built at the west and about two years later another one, the boards of the old pulpit being given to Isaac Graves "to recompense him for maintaining the committee that came up to decide the difference between Hadley and us." The seats were rude benches at first, making a divi- sion of the house, which was thirty feet square, into four sections, though perhaps the benches in front ran without break the whole width of the interior except for side aisles, for at the time of the renovations it was voted that an "alley" should be left from the east door to the pulpit. Probably square pews and galleries were then built. Per- haps there were doors at the north and south sides also and several windows closed with shutters. It had a four sided roof flat on top. There were no means of heating. In 1669 a rate was ordered to purchase glass for the windows, but it is doubtful if the windows were glazed at that time. The selectmen were appointed to arrange for the seating of the people.
Rev. Hope Atherton of Dorchester, a graduate of Har- vard College in the class of 1665, accepted the call extended to him in May, 1669. It was voted to give him in addition to his house lot a ministerial allotment in the meadows, to build him a house and to allow him £60 a year, two thirds in good merchantable wheat and one third in pork, with the stipulation that "if our crops fall short so that we cannot pay him in kind, then we are to pay him
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
in the next best we have." It was also provided that if he left the church before his death he was to refund certain sums. If he remained in his pastorate till his death the allotments of land and the house were to become the pos- session of his heirs. His meadow allotment was in East Division, the six acres now owned by D. W. Wells just below the houses on South Street. His house lot was the Goodwin place now owned and occupied by G. A. Billings. The specifications for his house given in the records show that he was to have a dwelling much superior to any others in the settlement: the side agreed to build a house "forty foot long and twenty foot wide, double story and a porch seven foot square below to be fitted proportionately above the first story and to lay two floors of joists throughout the house and in the porch and to close the house with clapboards and to board the roof of both and to cover them with good shingles and to build fire chimneys and to under- pin the house well with stone and also lath and fix up the walls of the house and to set up at each gable end priamidy and flueboards." The meaning of "priamidy" is rather obscure. Probably it refers to ornamentation on the out- side of the house. The "old Indian house" at Deerfield had pinnacles projecting as ornaments and George Sheldon, who was consulted for an explanation of the term, sug- gested that ornamental pyramids were probably to be a feature of the gable ends. The flueboards, more commonly called flashboards, were probably projected as an ornamental cornice.
Another act accomplished before separation was author- ized was to provide for a burying ground on the west of the river. These votes are taken from the town records, the dates being old style (really in 1670) :-
"Feb. 14, 1669. The side hath chose a committee being John Cowles, Senr., Richard Billings, Isaac Graves, Samuel Belden and Daniel White for to view a piece of land for a burying place upon the Plain near Thomas Meekins his piece of land that lyeth on the southwest side of the mill river beyond the bridge that is in the highway that goeth over toward Northampton."
"Feb. 16, 1669. The side at a meeting did agree that it should be twenty rod long easterly and westerly and eight rod wide southerly and northerly, and that it should be in the place where they have determined it should be, which is by the side of the aforesaid land of Thomas Meekins."
It may be taken for granted that it was located forth- with where they "determined" and has been from that
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
time onward. No permanent markers for the graves werc used at first. The earliest date on a stone in the old burying ground on "the Hill" is on the grave of Capt. John Allis, 1691. There is a tradition that at first a portion of the South Meadow near the street was used as a ceme- tery and another that some land near the Connecticut
A CORNER OF THE OLD BURYING GROUND.
at the end of the house lot of John White, Jr., was the site of the first graves, but no discoveries have ever been made tending to confirm these traditions. The probability is that the settlers who died before 1670 were buried on the other side of the river in the Hadley burying ground.
The exact date of the organization of the church in Hatfield is problematical. Holland in his "History of Western Massachusetts" places it at the beginning of the year 1671. Hubbard in the sketch in the "History of the Connecticut Valley" gives the date as Feb. 1, 1671, and Temple in his "History of Whately," April 1, of the same year. The reason for these dates being taken is the refer- ences in the town records to a fast held in the last part of January of that year "in view of the great work of setting up the ordinances" and to the "gathering in of the church." In 1670, Rev. Hope Atherton requested of the County Court liberty to "enter into church estate." A letter from
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
Rev. Stephen Williams, pastor in Longmeadow and author of the Appendix to "The Redeemed Captive," to President Ezra Stiles of Yale College, dated June 8, 1781, mentioned by Sheldon in his "History of Deerfield," states that Mr. Atherton was ordained May 10, 1670. Where was he ordained except in Hatfield?
The Hatfield church is the fourth in point of age in the Connecticut valley in Massachusetts, the others being Springfield, 1637; Hadley, 1659; Northampton, 1661.
Mr. Atherton had been with the people some of the time at least for two or three years previous to 1671. The haste to finish the meetinghouse would seem to indicate that preaching services were held in it by the fall or winter of 1668. The difficult question to determine is whether the first inhabitants considered the establishment of the church made when the minister was installed or whether a further formal organization was necessary, probably the latter. The votes alluded to in a previous paragraph are here given in full, the dates being old style :-
"Jan. 13, 1670. The town considering of the great and weightiness of the work they have hitherto by the help of God been endeavoring after, viz; the setting up of God's ordinances amongst us, and having by the goodness of God been carried in our desires that way so far as we are, do think it our duty to undertake the gathering of a church in this place and in preparation to that work have appointed the twenty-first day of this instant February to be kept a day of humiliation to ask the Lord for his help and guidance in a work of so great concernment and do give liberty to as many of the town as do desire to be present upon that day.
"Jan. 26, 1670. The inhabitants of Hatfield now present at a meeting do unanimously consent that the choice of such as shall begin a church in this place shall be attempted amongst ourselves we have also manifested that they were willing that Mr. Atherton and all the members of other churches that are inhabiting this place shall be the persons that shall first begin the gathering of a church in this place and have also farther manifested that they were willing to have full power of chosing three persons to make up nine to join in the aforesaid work into the hands of the persons aforesaid, viz: Mr. Atherton and the members aforesaid."
These eight men, who with the pastor were the nucleus of the church, are supposed to have been Thomas Meekins, Sr., William Allis, John Coleman, John Cowles, Sr., Isaac Graves, Samuel Belden, Richard Billings, and William Gull.
Himself well versed in church and local history, Temple in his "History of Whately" makes this comment on the puzzling records: "The exact import of this last clause is not apparent. As seven is the least number by which
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
the rule of church discipline in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew can be reduced to practice, that number has been held necessary to form a church. Also at Westfield, in 1679, seven men called 'foundation men,' were selected to be formed into church state."
The number of church members secured is also unknown, but the little band, firm in faith if few in numbers, deter- mined and resolute, had secured for themselves and their children the liberty to worship as they pleased, a liberty dearer to them than freedom from civil restrictions, and they were not daunted by the prospect of supporting the pastor of their choice.
CHAPTER VI.
A PERIOD OF GROWTH AND OF PREPARATION FOR THE INDIAN WARS, 1670-1675.
" Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joy and destiny obscure."
Growth of the town in population and territory .- Additional home lots granted by 1675 .- Increase of wealth .- Methods of payment .- Currency .- Public works .- Division of the swamps .- Relations with the Indians .- Re- straints on the sale of firearms and intoxicants .- The River Indians and their tribes .- Their numbers .- The United Colonies and organization of militia .- Hampshire County .- Contribution for Harvard College.
In the preceding chapters the birth of the town has been recorded and the events of its period of adolescence dwelt upon with some degree of fullness. To pursue the figure further, May 31, 1670, should be called the date when it attained its majority, and this and succeeding chapters will relate its progress toward maturity and age.
The rhythmic or periodic development of the life of indi- viduals is a phenomenon which has been observed by investigators. There are periods of rapid physical growth followed by periods of rest and of preparation for other changes; at other periods the mental development is rapid, followed by a period of inactivity that surprises the ob- server. There is a recurrence of these periods all through life and each has sharply defined characteristics, though the transitions are gradual in many cases. While no exact rule can be laid down that covers all individual cases they seem to follow a general law of growth. That history repeats itself is a rather trite saying. The student of history can but mark the periods or eras into which his subject naturally divides itself, seen no less in the history of a town than on a larger scale. This rhythmic, seemingly wavelike, progress, with periods of growth, of storm and stress, of rest, perhaps also of decline, in the history of Hatfield follows very closely the rhythmic movement of the great national development of which it is a part, with
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
some variation due to particular circumstances affecting the town or region alone.
Hatfield's growth for the first five years after incorpora- tion was not rapid, but it was steady. The years 1670 to 1675 were a period of peace and of preparation for the struggle against the Indians, which resulted in the complete mastery of the Connecticut valley by the whites and the settlement of other frontier towns.
Additional territory was secured by the purchase from the Indians of the meadows and uplands comprising the present town of Whately in 1672. This purchase has been spoken of in Chapter I. There is a note in the town records of approval of the terms of the bargain. At about the same time the planting field of the Indians in the South Meadow was secured and the Indians rented land for use, the settlers often doing the fitting of the land and the cultivation of the crops.
An attempt to extend the town boundaries southward failed. In 1672 a petition was sent to the General Court to "preserve the bounds within Northampton." There was dispute over the matter till 1720.
The town records from Apr. 7, 1673, to Aug. 17, 1677, are missing and with them beyond any question of doubt a valuable treasury of first hand information.
Many grants of home lots to prospective inhabitants were made by the "side" before 1670 and by the town from 1670 to 1673. The chart on the opposite page shows the location of the homesteads on the street above Middle Lane, now School Street, in the year 1675, those printed in italics appearing also on the chart showing grants made in 1661-70. Not all the lots were built upon, however, till after King Philip's war. They were mostly of eight acres each. The highway north from Philip Russell's was to be seven rods wide.
Some changes should be noted in the locations on the earlier chart, as some of the lots had been forfeited and regranted. No one occupied the Bull lot for many years and it was granted to Mr. Atherton, though not used by him for residence. He lived, as previously noted, on the Goodwin lot. Nicholas Worthington married the widow of John White, Jr., and took his allotment.
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HISTORY OF HATFIELD.
Barnabas Hinsdale married the widow of Stephen Taylor in 1666 and lived in her house. Nathaniel Dickinson, Sr., had moved from Hadley and lived for a few years on the Benton lot. He returned to the other side of the river, where he died June 16, 1676. Thomas Meekins, Jr., lived on his father's lot when the latter moved his residence to the mill. Richard Fellows, 2d, and John Field owned the lots originally granted their fathers, who had both died.
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