USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Leyden > History of Leyden, Massachusetts, 1676-1959 > Part 3
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have settled for a brief hour on these sites, to go on, who knows where, to an unrecorded fate.
1744: For one, two-three years, the hardy Leyden pioneers of the early '40's cleared their lands, planted their corn, strength- ened and enlarged their stockaded cabins, fought off bear and wolves and "black panthers," - lived in constant dread of In- dian attack, but managed to come through unscathed. The off- spring of the early pioneers increased; and by the end of the third year of trial, in the Spring of 1744, the most difficult tasks had been accomplished. The hard, cold Winter was over. Planting was done. Silas and Peter Newcomb, with the other early settlers - the Lees, Perry's, Cunnabells, Burks, Hunts - could sit back for the first time "to smoke a pipe" and enjoy life of an evening . . . .
But just as the goal seemed reached, the stillness of the late Spring woods was broken by stealthy footsteps and the crack- ling of underbrush near the isolated white settlements. Brown forms were seen stealing like moth shadows along the edges of the clearings. Unknown to the "pale faces," a new French and Indian war was in the making.
At Leyden's approaches, near the foot of Eden Trail, an early settler, having loaded his gun, went out to his fields, leav- ing his wife and children in the log cabin. Her morning tasks completed, the young wife sat down to spin, but hearing a slight sound outside an open window behind her, turned, and to her horror beheld two war-painted Indians, armed with knives and guns. Instantly realizing the impossibility of escape or of sum- moning help, with almost superhuman effort, she turned back to her work with apparent outward calm. To her amazement, the Indians quickly turned and glided away as noiselessly as they had come, suspicious, no doubt, that her calm attitude was a trap to lure them into ambush.
Experiences of this nature were increasingly common during the early days of 1744; and at the first sign of unfriendly Indians in the neighborhood, it is safe to say that Silas and Peter New- comb checked and carefully loaded their muskets, made sure their shutters were tightly fastened at night, added double bars to their doors and reinforced their stockades. Silas doubtless kept in close touch with his brother "over the hill" and made sure his line of retreat - eastward along the frontier road to Burk's and Cunnabell's forts - was clear.
But the constant danger of Indian attack did not sooth
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the nerves of the womenfolk with babies in their arms. At Ley- den's southern gateway they knew the spot where one of their kind, Eunice .Williams of Deerfield, had been summarily des- patched by her Indian captors; and at the eastern gateway to the town they knew the place in the deep Couch Brook chasm which held the death secret of a baby girl, thrown headlong into the abyss by a murderous foe.
Background History of King George's War: In order to form a clear picture of the situation in which the first settlers found themselves early in 1744, it might be well to review the back- ground causes of the French and Indian war then impending, and to point out what had been done in the Leyden area to prepare for the fight.
Franco-British rivalry for American lands had begun in earnest with King William's War in 1689. War followed war; but no decision was reached. Intervals of peace, such as the 19-year span from 1725 to 1744, misled settlers into believing that peace had come to stay. But as long as Britain and France remained rivals for North American supremacy, war was in- evitable. Hence, the conflict which began in the Spring of 1744 was the continuation of a war which had begun fifty-six years before - a war which was to drag on for sixteen years to come.
To offset surprise attack by Indians on the British northern frontier, the General Court on November 11, 1743, ordered forts to be built from the Connecticut River to the New York State line. The northeastern frontier was already protected by forts at Charlestown, N. H., and at "Dummer" south of Brattleboro. From Fort Dummer a scout path ran southwestward to Sheldon's Fort in Fall Town. This stockaded homestead was linked with the palisaded bastion in the Fall River Valley built by pioneer, John Burk.
In 1744, Burk's Fort was the largest and stoutest in the Ley- den area. It was six rods square, built of timbers 12 feet long. These were pointed at the top and placed in the ground perpen- dicularly. At each corner, a watch tower was built for sentry duty. The fort contained eight houses and was the rendezvous for neighboring settlers in times of danger. Legend tells us that Samuel Cunnabell, who lived north of Burk, constructed a secret passageway from his block house to Burk's Fort for emergency use in case of Indian attack. Though Cunnabell came through the war unscathed, attacks on Burk's Fort were frequent, and
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but for the stalwart John Burk, the northern frontier might have collapsed at this point.
The frontier road which led west from Burk's Fort - the pioneer Leyden road on which Silas and Peter Newcomb had settled - was undoubtedly improved early in 1744 so that easy communication betwen forts could be maintained. On a very early map, surveyed by William Dawes of Boston, this road is clearly defined.
After passing through Leyden and Colrain where forts al- ready had been built, this road linked Fort Shirley in Heath, Fort Pelham in Rowe and Fort Massachusetts in the town of Adams -the last three forts having been built in 1744 as a result of the General Court order of November, '43. The road, and the line of forts was later extended to Pontoosuc near Pittsfield.
The exact course of this road, based on old records, prob- ably ran from Burk's Fort to Couch Brook, followed the brook to Peter Newcomb's stockaded house, then wound up over the drumlin hills, north and westward past the present Glabach farm, then dipped down into Beaver Meadow where it passed the Silas Newcomb fortified house. From this point, the pioneer road meandered westward to the Green River where another fortified house (one of the "lost farms" in Boston Township #2) is reported to have been located east of the river. The trail then turned northwestward from the west side of the river and led to Fort Lucas and to Fort Morrison, at the extreme northern frontier of Colraine. At various locations along the route of this pioneer Leyden road, traces still may be found of the ancient "highway," and the general course of the old trail may be found on U. S. topographic maps upon which early, discontinued roads are in- dicated by thin, dotted lines.
The land which Silas Newcomb had chosen for a home was perhaps the farthest north of any white settlement in the im- mediate area. To the north lay a vast, unbroken wilderness inhabitated by wild animals and Indians; to the west lay wild and sparsely populated country. In case of attack, Newcomb's only escape lay to the east - to John Burk's sturdy fort.
Because of his dangerous position, it is likely that Silas and others who had settled in remote Leyden areas, were warned they would have to evacuate should Indian attack become imminent.
Believing the rumors of war would pass, the Newcombs lingered on their hard-won clearings. But the face of a redskin
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at a window in the dead of night, depredations to crops and cattle, or the report of nearby homes fired by war-whooping Indians, forced a decision.
The following records in the Newcomb genealogy fill out the story: "Owing to the hostility of Indians, Mr. Newcomb was compelled to leave the country in 1744." And: "When he was but three years old, his (Daniel Newcomb's) parents (Silas and Submit) were driven from their home in Fall Town (Leyden) by Indians." Of Peter Newcomb it is written that he, with his wife and child, also was driven from Fall Town in 1744.
So it was that with sad hearts, Silas and Peter Newcomb and other early Leyden settlers packed up what belongings they could carry, and with slow, cautious steps retraced their way toward the safety of nearby forts, leaving behind their dearly cherished wilderness firesides, never again to be seen by any of the pioneers who had built them. The virgin woods now closed in on the Leyden Hills and for nearly twenty years, all was still.
King George's War - 1745-1748: As Leyden's early settlers hastened to nearby forts, Indian attacks on all sides of the town- ship increased, and so severe were Indian threats in the east part of town that the Reverend Norton, who had been granted a special allowance for "preaching to the Soldiers," was removed from his pulpit for the duration.
Burk's Fort, into which many of the pioneers had crowded, was attacked many times. During one onslaught, in which John Burk himself was wounded, his wife and the wife of Sergeant Caleb Chapin loaded the defending guns so frequently, the barrels became hot and "they could not bear their hands upon them." Needless to say, the enemy was repulsed.
To the west of Leyden, Colrain also was swarming with Indians; and Fort Massachusetts, the great stronghold of the English, was captured by a large force of the enemy. John Perry of Leyden was made prisoner at this time. Southward, in the town of Old Deerfield, two families were nearly wiped out by Indians at a spot called "The Barrs."
Though Leyden's hills were quiet as far as actual attack was concerned, its summits doubtless served as watchtowers for both French and Indian scouts, particularly from those van- tage points overlooking the Greenfield Meadows.
The trail which the enemy used to reach these vantage points was probably the same used forty years before on the second day after the fateful Deerfield massacre. This wound up
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the hill from the Green River where Eunice Williams was slain, veered in a northeasterly direction toward the present Dyer farm and Erhardt waterfall to the camping flat on the south side of Couch Brook where Peter Newcomb later settled. From here, the trail followed the Couch Brook to the deep ravine where one of the captives met death in a headlong plunge.
At the close of King George's War, only small overgrown clearings, made by the Newcomb brothers and their neighbors, bore testimony to white man's settlement in Leyden. The stock- aded cabins of the pioneers were soon reduced to ashes.
1749-1753: King George's War ended in 1748, and the 4 years' peace which followed was marked by half-hearted at- tempts to resettle the northern frontiers of Western Massachu- setts. Records for this period are scant, but one Proprietors' meeting was held in Deerfield March 29, 1750 "to encourage and bring on the inhabitants of Fall Town." This "encouragement" took the form of offerings of money to those settlers who would return to the dangerous hills of Leyden. A follow-up meeting was held a month later at the Ebenezer Sheldon fort where plans for re-establishing the ministry, clearing highways and levying taxes were discussed. Sporadic meetings were held during the remainder of 1750.
On December 25th, 1751, the following petition was issued by the resident proprietors of Fall Town, a number of whom later settled in Leyden. This petition was addressed to "The Hon'ble Spencer Phips, Esq, Lt. Governor & Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England."
The petition read: "Resident Proprietors of ye Plantation call'd Falltown in the County of Hampshire humbly shew . . . yt it is about Twenty years since sd Plantation or Township was Granted by the Gover't and yt one Condition of the Grant was yt Sixty families should be settled in sd Plantation within three years from the time of sd Grant. Yet notwithstanding so much time has lapsed . .. there are now but fifteen families resident in sd Plantation all the other proprietors having made default in performing ye above condition . .. We therefore humbly pray yr ... Honours wise and compassionate Consideration of the premises and that he make an order for them as shall appear Necessary and best . . . "
This petition was signed by the following Fall Town residents: Ebenezer Sheldon, Caleb Chapin, Ebenezer Sheldon, Jr., Moses
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Scot, Jn. Severance, Jn. Hooker, Aaron Field, Saml Cunnabel, Jn. Burk, Danl Dexter, David Rider, Chas. Cotes, Remembrance Sheldon.
This document plainly demonstrates the caution the early settlers exercised in "taking up" their Fall Town claims during the early 1750's.
For the year 1752, the following are the only available Fall Town records: (1) A State Archives list of proprietors dated January 14; (2) Record of a March 17th meeting held at Sheldon's Fort to decide "what measures should be taken to remove the Meeting House from the danger of fire or other injury." (3) An April 8th record ordering Samuel Cunnabel to make repairs on the Meeting House and to build a road from his house to the saw mill (probably on Couch Brook).
During the year 1753 two meetings occurred. War clouds again loomed on the horizon, and caution is noted in the pro- ceedings. At a May 15th meeting in eastern Fall Town, it was voted that "Sam Cunnabell help underpin the Meeting House and board up the windows and hang the doors to prevent ruin & to burn grass and brush around." On October 26th a meeting was called to "abate the proprietors for lands lost above the Province line, and to raise money for preaching."
The year 1754 was one of preparedness. The English and French were building for the final great struggle, and early in the year representatives from the Colonies met in Albany to organize for war. Benjamin Franklin called on all Americans to "Unite or Die." The cordon of forts on the northern frontier was strengthened and soldiers were ordered from Deerfield to reinforce the Fall Town bastions.
In the Fall Town records themselves, there is little to indi- cate that war was imminent. Though the outpost fort at Charles- town, N. H. already had been captured, and every stockade southward was bristling with guns, not one mention is made of the war in the Fall Town report of Nov. 6th, 1754. This document authorizes the townsmen to levy taxes for "preaching," to settle a minister, and provides that each acre of land laid out in the Fall Town grants be taxed "except that cut off by the Hampshire survey of 1741." The Nov. 6th report lists the lots in Fall Town then settled, and proposes 32 additional lots for settlement. It gives its blessing to the proposal that "any who shall actually perform the Condition of Settlement shall receive out of the Treasury twenty-two pounds Old Tenor." This concluding note
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certainly suggests that lands in Fall Town (including Leyden) were not too popular at this juncture, and judging by the scant records of this period, the 22 pound bribe was not enough to woo the unwary into Leyden's Hills at this perilous time.
By the end of 1754, the Franco-British war was raging and all Fall Town settlers crowded into Burk's Fort where it is said fifty colonists lived for nearly five full years! These settlers, some of whom were forebears of Leyden's homesteaders, are listed as John Burk, James Couch, Samuel Cunnabell, John Severance, Zebulon Allen, David Rider, John Foster, Deacon Aaron Field and Caleb Chapin - all with their families.
The War Year 1755: Old records, barely legible now, record that while the guns were blazing and every tree in the forest was a potential ambush, the Fall Town proprietors calmly pro- posed a Town Meeting at Sheldon's Fort "to consider renewal of a bridge across Fall River and to review the report of Com- mittees appointed to see about building a Mill." This meeting actually was held, apparently in haste, since it was voted "not to act on the proposed articles." Probably a tribe of yelling In- dians appeared outside the fort to interrupt the proceedings!
As Fall Town records betwen 1755 and 1760 are very scarce, the above record of a 1755 proprietors' meeting stands alone, and reflects the courage and determination of the early settlers to carry on in fair weather or foul.
During the year 1755, a volunteer regiment was raised in western Massachusetts by Colonel Ephraim Williams, founder of Williams College. In one of his companies were Sergeant Caleb Chapin and his sons, later to become citizens of Leyden. The chief seat of war that year was near Lake George where Wil- liams' regiment was ordered to attack the forces of Baron Dies- kau. In passing through a wooded ravine the regiment was ambuscaded by the French and Indians. Col. Williams was killed and Sergeant Chapin mortally wounded. His strength failing, he realized it would mean death to his sons were they to remain with him, so he commanded them to leave him to his fate. By this most courageous act, the lives of his sons were :spared.
Next day, returning to the spot where they had left their father, the sons found the elder Chapin with a tomahawk in his skull. Thus died one of Leyden's valiant forebears.
The year 1756 finds only one town record - a petition by the proprietors of Fall Town filed on October 5 "for exemption
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from taxes." The property owners felt that as long as their lands were not safe to live on, they should not be taxed.
The war records of the men who lived in Leyden or at the approaches to Leyden at this time are very interesting. In 1756, John Burk led a company of volunteers against the enemy at Fort Edward, and Stephen Webster, the historian, led an ex- pedition to Crown Point. Ezekiel Foster, forebear of the Leyden Foster clan, was out "twenty days on the western frontier," while John Workman, pioneer settler in the Colrain Gore, also was out on this perilous front.
Historian George Sheldon, in a classic paragraph, describes the life of the colonial scout at this period in American history. "We picture him," Sheldon writes, "in cold and heat, in snow and rain, sleeping if he could sleep on some ice-capped peak or in a malerial swamp . .. miles away from the world of thought, with the boundless forest with its real dangers and shadowy horrors shutting him in on all sides."
Early in the war, fifteen pounds of powder and 30 1/2 pounds of lead with three dozen flints were delivered to the full garrison at Burk's Fort. Nineteen gallons of rum were added to round out the requisition. This latter allowance evidently was used for sun- dry purposes! On one occasion, 5 qts. of rum were prescribed "for a Sick Soldier; and 1 qt. for his Game Leg."
Meanwhile, Sheldon's Fort on the east was attacked by In- dians many times; but each time Ebenezer Sheldon and his sons drove off the old enemy.
Ebenezer Sheldon, when only 12 years of age, was one of the Deerfield captives who trudged through Leyden's woods in 1704. Returning from Canada many years later, he built his fort in Fall Town so he and his children might live in safety. When the wars were over, Sheldon's grandchildren settled in Leyden close to the lands their grandsire had trod as a captive. The same may be said of Joseph Stebbins' descendants from whom we ourselves trace direct ancestry. Other "Leyden ancestors" in the Deerfield captive band included Thomas Baker, Nathaniel Brooks, Elizabeth Corse, Abigail Brown and James Alexander.
1758: Early in the year, the valiant Captain John Catlin, in command of the northern cordon of forts in Massachusetts, died in the service at Burk's stronghold on Fall River. June 25th, three future citizens of Leyden, while on a scouting trip under Capt. Burk, were captured at Sabbeth Day Point near Lake George. "These men were: Agrippa Wells, Matthew Severance and Wil-
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liam Clark - each one with history written on his sleeve. Wells; later to became captain of a Minute Man company, was taken to Canada, ran the gauntlet, and reached home years later via England and France. Clark, one of the early settlers of the Col- rain Gore, also had perilous experiences before he was releas- ed. Severance, said to have been the first white child born at Fort Dummer, escaped his captors by hiding in a hollow log for 3 nights and two days. It is said he went in feet first, then pulled in leaves and grass to cover the opening. Indians look- ing for him, walked over the log, even sat on it but failed to find him and he reached home safely.
During the year 1758, Hugh Morrison of Colrain picketed his house and built a watchtower 23 feet high on the road lead- ing east through Leyden. Corporal Preserved Clapp, first owner of the Newcomb lot on Leyden's East Hill, was sent with ten men to Huntstown (Ashfield) where he "garded the inHabitance."
Captain John Burk's enlistment role, ending November 30th '58, included the following from Fall Town. They were known as Burk's Rangers:
John Foster James Couch Michael Frizzell
Caleb Chapin Joshua Wells John Severance
Other Fall Town men listed as veterans of the French and Indian wars include:
John Perry Hezekiah Chapin Richard Carey
Agrippa Wells William Clark Drummer Fuller
John Evans John Workman Matthew Severance
Following the 1759 capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Lord Jeffrey Amherst and the collapse of the great fortress of Quebec, all in the Colonies believed the end of the war was at hand, and there was great rejoicing. By October 8, the soldiers guarding the forts along the Western Massachusetts frontier were dismiss- ed "except," writes Sheldon, "those serving at Fort Massa- chusetts and Hoosuc."
Eleven months later, the last bastion of the French at Mon- treal fell under the hammer blows of General Amherst, and the great conflict which had raged, intermittently, for nearly 75 years came to a close.
Peace with the French and Indians came just two hundred years ago. Two hundred years ago, the red skin laid down his tomahawk and scalping knife. From that day to this, no Indian war cries have been heard in the Leyden hills.
CHAPTER III
Second Settlement Period
W ith the fall of Montreal in 1760, the stage was set for a huge wave of settlement in the Northeast. The Leyden area was in the direct line of the oncoming tide, and on April 16th a meet- ing was held at Sheldon's Fort. At this meeting, new bridges were proposed and mill sites chosen. It also was voted to lay a road north to the Province Line. In fact, the men of Fall Town, and all Colonists living near the northern frontier, now felt it was safe to expand - to reach farther into the wilderness. Though the April record is the only one dated in 1760, it is enough to convince the historian that the Fall Town settlers now meant business.
The year 1761 opened with the first proprietors' meeting at Major Burk's fort. At this gathering on March 25, the clearing of highways was the chief topic, with Samuel Cunnabell voted head surveyor. The next month meetings took on a religious character when it was voted to purchase "3000 boards for the ordination ceremony of the new minister, the Reverend Job Wright." This event was publicized in the leading Boston news- papers.
On December 16, the Fall Town residents filed a petition with Francis Bernard, His Majesty's Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, begging that the Fall Town Grant be incorporated into a township by the name of Bernard. The question of more land for the township also was brought up at this time.
On March 6, 1762, Fall Town became incorporated under the new name of Bernardstown,* and took its place beside the growing communities of the state. Though the township then in- cluded all of present Bernardston, Leyden and part of East Col- rain, only the eastern approaches to Leyden were settled. In the entire township because of the disastrous wars, only 34 acres of land were then under cultivation. About 25 families resided in the township at this time - an increase of 8 since 1743; a rise of 15 since 1755. Such names as Joshua Wells, Mr. Frizzell, Ezekiel Foster, Selah and Daniel Chapin, begin to appear on the Leyden horizon at this period - but the important name of Hunt stands out in particular.
*Note: The name "Fall Town" will be used in this text through the year 1783.
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In the official Newcomb genealogy, a Charles Hunt is re- corded as "born in Leyden . . . 1763." And according to the Hunt genealogy, Charles' father was Samuel Hunt of Lebanon, Con- necticut. This is interesting, historically, because it ties in Charles Hunt, the earliest recorded Leyden native of the second set- tlement period, with the pioneer Newcombs of the first settle- ment period, who were also from Lebanon. Add to this the fact that Hunt Hill in Leyden leads directly to Beaver Meadow where the Newcombs settled; and the record that Charles Hunt married the daughter of Daniel Newcomb, it then seems conclusive that the Newcombs and the Hunts, both coming from the same Con- necticut town, one family with a recorded birth in Leyden dur- ing 1741, the other with a recorded Leyden birth in 1763 - may well be Leyden's two "first families."
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