USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Leyden > History of Leyden, Massachusetts, 1676-1959 > Part 14
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When the United States entered World War II to the tune of "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition," Leyden had four "Minute Men" in the service. They were: Roger Howes, Navy; Darwin Hine, Paratroop Corps; William C. Orr and David Baker, Air Force.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, many Leyden men volun- teered for service; but two of these men never returned to the hills they loved. The first to lose his life in the service was Harry O. Wilder of the U. S. Signal Corps. Wilder enlisted in June 1942 but was lost at sea betwen Sicily and North Africa in November, 1943.
The second Leyden casualty of World War II was Willard Severance of the East Hill district. He enlisted February 15, 1944, and after very brief training at Camp Blanding, Florida, was sent to the European war theatre where he was killed in action, nine weeks after "D-Day," on August 14, 1944. Four years later, on October 29, 1948, he was interred in the South Cemetery, Leyden.
A complete list of Leyden men who served during World War II follows:
Malcolm V. Bailey, Marine Corps, 1943-45; Pacific Theater
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David C. Baker, Master Sergeant, Air Force, 1941-1945; Served in No. Africa and Italy
Arnold Black, Sergeant Specialist, Medical Corps, 1942- 1946; Served in Africa and Europe
Wilhelm Glabach, Army Combat Engineer, 1943-1945; served on the Rhine River, Germany
Wayne Fisher, P. F. C., 1945-46; Motor Pool, Germany
George E. Howes, Radio Technician, 3rd Army, Germany and France, 1942-1945
Roger Howes, Naval Overseas Service, 1939-1945, Radio Technician, 1st Class; Virgin Is. and Balboa
Darwin D. Hine, Paratroop Service, South Seas, 1941-1945 Philip Koshinsky, Technical Sergeant, Air Force 1942-1945
Rose Koshinsky, Women's Army Corps, Flight Records, 1942- 1945
Andrew McDonald, P. F. C., European Army service, wounded in action. Served 1942-1945
John Metelica, Air Force, Pacific Theater, 1942-1946
William C. Orr, Ist Lieutenant, Air Force "Flying Cadets"; Far East service 1941-1944
Kenneth W. Sevene, Seaman 1st Class; served in the At- lantic and Pacific theaters, 1944-45
Willard Severance, Overseas Army service. Killed in action, August 14, 1944, France
Hugh L. Sloane, Specialist 1st Class, Coast Guard Patrol, Naval Air Base, Georgia, 1942-44
Harry O. Wilder, P. M., Signal Corps. Lost at sea while on duty, November, 1943
Leta Wood, Technician, 2nd Class, in WAVES. Served in California, 1943-1945
During his harrowing experience at the Battle of Lae Darwin D. Hine composed the following verse which first ap- peared in the Montpelier Argus:
Rain on My Old Tin Hat
As I lie in the mud exhausted, My body tormented with pain, My wounds, open and bleeding, Are washed by a drizzling rain. A wind caresses the hilltops And sweeps across the flats, And I seem to hear a message
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From the rain on my old tin hat- It tells me to keep on fighting; That war will not take my life, For the wind is the prayer of my mother, The rain, the tears of my wife.
A feeling of great contentment Is filling a once hopeless heart, And I struggle a little bit farther- Making my way through the dark; For I know I'll keep on fighting- That I'm going to make it back Because I heard the message Of the rain on my old tin hat. It told me to keep on fighting In spite of the pain and the strife For the wind was the prayer of my mother, The rain, the tears of my wife.
Newcomers in Leyden who served during World War II include: Charles Rigoll, X-ray technician who served in the Philippines; Walter Williams, Army engineer in the maintenance department; William Zimmermann, Sergeant-Major in the Army Engineer Corps of the Pacific; Gerald R. Brown; Sherman W. Gray; Walter Johnson; Quentin Weaver.
Leyden men who served in the U. S. Armed Forces after World War II and during the Korean War are: Arthur Beaudoin; George Brown; Frederick Croutworst; Raymond N. Flagg; Ver- non K. Leach; Leo Metelica; Kenneth Phillips and George Pratt. Mr. Metelica served as sergeant in the engineering corps and had 18 months' service in Korea. Mr. Leach is an instructor at the Air Force Musical Academy in Denver.
Early in 1952, five or six years after the first jet plane rumbled through Leyden's skies, an aviation observation post was established west of Leyden's Old Center. This was the beginning of "Cold War" preparedness, and a round-the-clock vigil was kept by Leyden men and women who reported to New Hampshire headquarters whenever a plane of any kind was sighted on the horizon. Thus Leyden took an early part in the war of nerves which began shortly after World War II and con- tinues to this day. The sonic "booms" of jet planes overhead today are a constant reminder of "cold war" preparedness.
Concluding Leyden's military history, we mention here the
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Leyden Rifle Club which maintains a shooting gallery near the Old Center; and a rifle range in the northwest part of town. Aside from use by Leyden citizens, the State Militia uses the Rifle Club facilities for "preparedness" practice.
CHAPTER X
Leyden - 1945 - To the Present Day
TI he Farm Picture - Old and New: During Leyden's early history, oxen were used almost exclusively for heavy farm work, and as late as 1945, oxen still were seen in the Leyden hills pulling the spring plough. With the post-war advent of Diesel tractors, giant harvesting machinery and chain saws, the oxen have vanished and today even a horse is a rarity on Leyden farms. Since 1945, the Leyden population has increased by 35%.
In the past, Leyden has produced many interesting crops including broom corn, tobacco and cranberries. In olden times, Leyden was well known, too, for sheep raising and each year produced large quantities of wool. One farmer turned out as much as 10,000 pounds annually. In 1837, nearly 3,000 Saxony and Marino sheep produced over 3 pounds of fleece each.
The general character of Leyden soil is loamy. Due to the moderately high altitude, which averages about 1100 feet, grass and fruit thrive on the Leyden hillsides. As we have pointed out, the first orchard was established in West Leyden during 1780. Since that time many old-fashioned varieties of apples have been grown in Leyden. As many of these are now extinct, the following old-time varieties, as recalled by a Leyden native, are listed: Seek-No-Farther; None-Such; Sixteen Ounce; Sheep Nose; Pippin; Banana Apple; Golden Sweet; Crab; Blue Pearmain; Russet; Lyscom; Roxbury and Pumpkin. In 1820, when potatoes were selling for twenty-five cents a bushel, these apples brought just ten cents for a four peck measure!
Across Green River, in East Colrain, Aaron Carey, his son and grandson made names for themselves in honey production. In 1860, the Careys introduced the Italian bee to America. They built up production and soon had over 200 stands of hives.
The introduction of electric power and modern farming equipment in the New England hill towns, revolutionized farm- ing methods. Less than thirty years ago, Leyden farmers were employing 19th Century practices in ploughing, planting and harvesting; they lighted their barns with lanterns, and their homes with kerosene lamps. In the early 1930's electric power was brought into the south and central sections of town, and in 1940, the REA supplied current to east and northern Leyden.
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With the introduction of electricity, milking machines were in- stalled everywhere, and within a few years elaborate milk coolers replaced the 40-quart milk can. Washing machines soon took the place of the tub and scrubbing board; and the ice house, once supplied from local winter ponds, soon vanished. One by one customers of the noisy ice truck dropped off as electric refrigerators and deep freeze units were installed. The battery radio was soon replaced by the "all electric," and now strains of such songs as "Yellow Rose of Texas" and "Patricia" issue from home and barn alike. Television screens, first in- troduced in Leyden experimentally on January Ist 1951, were particularly popular because of excellent reception in the high Leyden hills.
Tractors and bulldozers, a rarity on Leyden farms fifteen years ago, have become commonplace. One of the especially beneficial uses of the bulldozer is in opening up picturesque, fire protection ponds in swampy areas. Three such ponds were created during the great droughts of 1953 and 1957. These are located in East Leyden on the Howes, Hine and Baker farms.
In Leyden, as in other New England hill towns, farmers often share the use of agricultural machinery, and at harvest time help each other in neighborly fashion and bring in crops of hay, corn and potatoes - Leyden's chief farm products.
In July, Leyden's hilltops are dotted with city dwellers who flock to the cool slopes to pick large quantities of the wild blueberries for which Leyden is well known. In the Fall and Winter, the woods nearby are "populated" by householders who cut necessary fuel for their stoves and wood-burning furnaces.
Aside from the State Forest Reservation on the old Brown homestead, several Leyden residents have set out young trees as part of the Tree Farm program. In West Leyden thousands of hardy evergreens have been planted; in Central Leyden, Lewis R. Muka, has put in 10,000 locust, spruce and balsam trees, and plans to add 40,000 more soon. In East Leyden, near the wilderness waterfall, Charles W. Erhardt has set out many red, white and Scotch pines.
Homemade butter, attractively packaged maple syrup, milk and eggs are Leyden's chief by-products, and several prize herds of cattle, including the European Brown Swiss, stand out from Leyden's many blue ribbon bovines. In Leyden's active 4-H Club group, young members of the Herron family have
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received a number of fine awards at the Eastern States Exposi- tion for prize "heifers" raised on their father's farm.
Rounding out Leyden's farm picture, we mention here the Leyden Mink Ranch, a novelty in this area. This establishment is owned by Thomas E. List, Leyden's first selectman.
Particularly commendable, is the organic farming carried on by Mrs. Stanley Richardson of West Leyden. Huge vege- tables and flowers of great beauty are raised on carefully pre- pared mulch beds built up from leaves, dead grass and other natural organic materials.
Recent road development in Leyden, while not condusive to heightening Leyden's natural beauty, helps the delivery of farm produce to the market. The trend is toward hard-surfacing direct routes to all sections of the town, with branch roads lead- ing to remote areas. There is a tendency to eliminate any roads not essential for everyday travel, particularly those roads made impassable in the 1938 hurricane.
Leyden Weather, Past and Present: Extreme temperatures are not known in Leyden. Within a fifteen year period, 89 degrees above is the highest recorded; and with one exception, ten below is the lowest recorded during that period. But be- tween these two extremes, there is weather aplenty!
Winters are rough in Leyden, as in most New England hill towns, and he who made the statement, "Winter is not a season - it's an occupation!" must have lived through a few Leyden stove-stoking seasons.
In the old days, as early as 1791, the snow on Leyden roads was "trod down" with oxen. Later it was pressed with huge wooden rollers. Today, roads are ploughed with a large Diesel crawler, and after heavy snowfall, private driveways also are ploughed out.
Twenty-five foot drifts were commonplace at the time of the "Blizzard of '88" and during the winter of 1946-47 banks of snow were piled "mountain high." The snows from the great March blizzards of 1956 and 1958 lingered in the hills till after May 1st. A few years ago, a freak spring storm dumped over four inches of new snow in Leyden on May 10th!
Leyden's first big hurricane was recorded in 1788; in Octo- ber, 1797, a second tropical storm "with greate Rains" washed out all the roads in town; in 1818, a spring "freshit" hurled all Green River bridges downstream in a few minutes' time. In mid-19th century a "great blow" ripped through the town
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Chapin Farm, Beaver Meadow, 1875
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carrying barns and outbuildings sky-high over the neighboring hilltops. Winds, during the 1952 November storm, estimated at over 100 miles per hour, collapsed two large barns and tore the roof from one East Hill home. So strong are the winds on some Leyden elevations that houses are chained to ledge, alpine fashion, to keep them from blowing into the valleys.
Because of the proximity of bedrock, mild earthquakes are felt in Leyden, even when the center of the quake is hundreds of miles away. For this reason, a government seismograph station was erected near Leyden Center in 1949. With the change of administration in 1952, however, the project was abandoned before instruments were installed.
Rainfall in Leyden averages about 3.5 inches per month; but there have been rather frequent off-schedule down-pours. During the 1954 hurricanes, "Carol" and "Edna" dropped rain measuring 3 and 4.5 inches, respectively. The 1955 August storms dropped a total of nine inches, or an average of one inch per day from the 11th to the 19th of that month. In June, 1956, three inches of rain fell on Leyden's hills in exactly three hours.
Extensive research into the problem of Leyden's water supply, reveals that in East Leyden, water is stored in the under- lying ledge, forming a "water table" which rises and falls according to the amount of rain fed into the ledge reservoir. Heavy rains may bring the level up a foot in one day; but in normal summer weather the table drops about one inch per day. A study of water levels in four wells at different elevations in one area of Leyden disclosed an inclined water table existed over the entire area. Water veins, so-called, are usually de- pressions in the underlying ledge - ledge valleys where water collects to the level of the surrounding water table. Indicative of the water-bearing ledge in the East Leyden area, one has only to go from a dry Summer location to a location 30 or 40 feet below, and there he will find water oozing from the "strike" of exposed ledge. Our erstwhile President, Herbert Hoover, once stated flatly that the water vein theory was the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American public; that water tables exist everywhere underfoot, at varying depths.
During the past decade, it has been noted that summer seasons have followed a rough pattern of one dry, then one very dry; one wet, then one very wet season. Thus the 1953 drought was followed by a normally wet summer; the 1955 summer was very wet; 1956 was on the dry side; then came the
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very dry summer of 1957. The year 1958 was normal for rainfall, but abnormally cool. In fact, there were over 2000 degrees less heat than in 1957!
During the first six months of 1955, an interesting "weather forecasting" experiment was carried on between this writer and Dr. J. B. Rhine of Duke University. Through the scientific appli- cation of "extra sensory perception," Leyden weather was "fore- cast" for each 12-hour period, six months in advance, with amazingly good results.
Before concluding this section, we should like to record here a few of the original sayings and customs which have evolved in Leyden. It is said that on Candlemas Day in mid- winter the old-time farmer measured, with his eye, the cracks in the side of his barn, and noted the distance the sun reached through onto the floor. From this practice, according to Mildred Severance, the New England saying came about: "Just so far as the sun shines in; just so far will snow blow in."
The sight of barn swallows, in field or pasture, flying under the cows' bellies indicated that rain was near, according to Leyden's Elizabeth McDonald. When these swallows first ap- peared in the Spring, it was a sign that Leyden children might go barefoot.
A Leyden ghost story which ties in with the farm picture tells of robbery and murder which came as a prelude to spectral visitations. According to Herbert Darling, two Leyden yeomen, returning from a five-day oxen trip to Boston, reached a camp- ing site on the Ethan Allen Highway about dusk. On a spot at the foot of the hill below the Old Center, they tethered out their oxen and pitched camp. Both men lay down to sleep. The older man, who had sold his produce for a good price, used his money bag for a pillow. During the night, the younger farmer, who had not fared well with his produce, murdered the old man in his sleep and made off with his money.
From that day to this, it is said one may hear the moaning and groaning of the murdered man if one happens past the dread spot at the exact hour the crime was committed on a sultry mid-summer night.
The Leyden Central School - 1951: Leyden Schools in Review. On September 10, 1951, a modern elementary school was opened southeast of Leyden Center, ending forever the days of "The Little Red Schoolhouse" in this town. The new building, erected at a cost of $28,500, contains two well-lighted
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classrooms, a kitchen and lunch room. In contrast to the old- time crackling woodstove, the modern school is heated by an "oil-fired boiler." The children are toted to and from the modern school building, seldom having to walk more than quarter of a mile.
The new central school replaces the five one-room school- houses, which for over 160 years sheltered the Leyden youth. These compact little buildings have been converted, one by one, into private homes.
We have already touched on the early history of the Leyden schools, beginning with the log schoolhouse in Beaver Meadow, the establishment of four, five and six Leyden school districts, the building of the first frame schoolhouses and the early intro- duction of coeducation in Leyden.
Though actual Leyden school records are rare indeed, we have been able to unearth the 1822 "Merit Awards" of Joseph Foster who attended the pioneer Beaver Meadow School. Be- tween 1822 and 1823, Foster was presented with five awards by Edward Denison, Schoolmaster; in 1825 he was rewarded for good scholarship by Joseph A. Denison and A. C. Morgan. Similar awards were presented successively by Maria New- comb, Eliza P. Flagg and F. M. Morgan - early Leyden teachers.
A very interesting statistical picture of the Leyden grammar school districts during the Civil War period is gleaned from the following 1865 record: Number of Leyden schools, 5; value of schoolhouses, $2,000; pupils in school: Summer, 89-Winter, 111; pupils over 15 years of age attending, 40; between 5 and 15, 121; teachers, 4 male, 6 female; money appropriated for each child, $6.45 (cost per pupil in 1958 was about $300. or 45 times the 1865 outlay). Male teachers were paid $30 per month in 1865; females $23. The average length of the school year was 6 months, 4 days. As an example of the discipline maintained in Leyden schools at this time, the School Committee ordered that "schoolrooms be kept so still you can hear a pin drop at all hours of the day."
In 1879, the History of the Connecticut Valley reports that $700 were appropriated for the support of Leyden schools and that the daily attendance that year averaged 100 pupils.
Under an 1845 heading, we referred to Leyden's first High School, the Wilkins' Leyden Glen Academy. The next school of higher learning in Leyden was the "Select School" which was
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located in the old factory building where, according to Miss Ellen Brown, pupils were expected to furnish their own desks and chairs.
Next we hear of the "Select School" in the hall above the church. Though this hall was not licensed for school use, classes were held there, nevertheless, between church suppers. After the Town House was erected in 1884, and until 1910, the "Select School" pupils numbering as many as 45, attended classes in the new town building.
Today, Leyden "Select School" pupils, from Junior High School up, attend the large Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield. A few Leyden scholars attend schools of higher learn- ing in Greenfield; others attend Arms Academy in Shelburne Falls.
Miscellaneous School Notes: Reaching back over the years to 1793, we find that Mayflower descendant, Daniel Newcomb, was a member of the first Leyden school committee. While New- comb was appointed to oversee the Beaver Meadow school dis- trict, the Dorrilite, Ezra Shattuck, had charge of school matters on Frizzell Hill. Deacon Benjamin Baker was the first school com- mitteeman in West Leyden; Israel Bullock and Elijah Wilbur supervised the first south and central schools in Leyden.
Early school districts were carefully laid out with definite boundaries. In 1793, for instance, the Frizzell Hill district was outlined as follows: "Beginning at the Northeast Corner of the lot that Wm. Dorril lives on, thence to the NW corner of sd. lot, from thence to the NW corner of Ezra Shattuck's land, thence southerly to the West side of Julius Chapin's land, thence south to Greenfield line."
Such surveys not only indicate the bounds of a specific school district, but are valuable in determining the approximate location of early settlers' homesteads. Space does not permit us to include all the early school district records which may be found complete in Leyden's Record Book #I.
According to Emily Foster Grant who attended the Beaver Meadow School when a girl, this schoolhouse was originally built with its back to the cemetery; but after its destruction by fire in 1909, the school site was moved south to a more cheerful location. We are told that the blue clay from Beaver Meadow Brook was used by Beaver Meadow students for modelling purposes.
Early in the 20th Century, both high school and grammar
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school pupils attended classes in the Frizzell Hill one-room schoolhouse. The late Bessie Black recalled that one year she taught first grade "A. B. C's" and sophomore Latin in the same classroom!
Attesting to the hardiness of olden day schoolteachers, it is recounted that one Leyden school mistress, Mrs. Gertrude (Keet) Cook, rode 24 miles on horseback to and from her school each day. In order to reach her destination, she covered miles of dif- ficult, hazardous roads, and forded a river!
The Leyden Camp and Summer School Picture Today: While Boy Scout troops have had sporadic organizations in Leyden, Scouts from neighboring towns now use Leyden's hills for Sum- mer camping sites. One favorite site is in West Leyden near the one-time hermitage of William Dorril.
From 1938 to 1941, Leyden Boy Scout Troop #20 was active as an organized unit. Members of this Troop included, John Me- telica, George Howes, H. O. Wilder, Roger Howes, William Orr and Douglas Barton.
A Girl Scout camp, known as Stonehenge, was organized in 1931. With the help of Greenfield Rotarians, a lodge was built on high ground near Leyden's southern border. Stone for the lodge was taken from a mill site near Greenfield's Factory Hol- low. Though the camp originally accommodated local girls only, it now has broadened its membership so all Franklin County girls may attend.
Recently, an informal "riding club" was organized in Ley- den. During Summer and Fall week-ends, members meet at the old Foster place on East Hill, now owned by Henry Labbee of Hatfield. Those who have joined the group transport their riding- horses in trailers to the Labbee farm then set out together on Ley- den's old "Scout Paths" and Indian trails so admirably suited for horses.
In 1958, a Leyden club for young girls was organized with the aid of the Greenfield "Lions." This beautiful camp is close to "Stonehenge" and covers nearly thirty acres overlooking Greenfield Meadows. The club, now known as 'Lion's Knoll," was opened in July, 1958. The land was donated, tax free, by the Town of Leyden.
A new school for speech therapy, known as "Merlin Farms," soon will appear in Leyden's hills. This institution will be lo- cated on the old Wood place in "The Meadow." It will be under the direction of speech experts from Glens Falls, N. Y.
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Leyden's Stores, Shops, Mills and Taverns in Review: Dur- ing the Eisenhower business boom in 1954 while dozens of mod- ern roadside stands and shops were operating full tilt within the old Leyden Annex on Florida Mountain's Mohawk Trail, Leyden's last remaining general store gave up the ghost. With the depar- ture of this and many similar hilltown country stores, we say "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" to the village storekeeper, the striped pep- permint sticks, the molasses barrel and pot-bellied stove.
With the passing of this, Leyden's last store, a review of the long line of Leyden's shops and public places is in order. Ac- cording to C. W. Severance, Leyden's informal historian, the first public tavern and store was kept by Thomas Wells (a neph- ew of Captain Agrippa Wells) on the old County Road. This statement is in dispute, as some authorites credit Joseph Fuller of Beaver Meadow with the first Leyden store. Doubtless this is cor- rect, as we now know that the Beaver Meadow area was opened up in 1760. The County Road area, however, was not laid out till 1771. Added to this, we have old records which show that Joseph Fuller owned Lot #93 in Beaver Meadow at an early date. Hugh L. Sloane, antique expert, says that the back part of his house on Lot 93 in Beaver Meadow has a room which shows where store shelves were built into the walls.
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