USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > North Brookfield > History of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Preceded by an account of old Quabaug, Indian and English occupation, 1647-1676; Brookfield records, 1686-1783 > Part 2
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Next below Lashaway, is the New Mill Brook, now known as Ellis's Brook. It rises among the Ragged hills, and forms in part the boundary between West Brookfield and Warren. In 1707 or 1708 John Hayward, jun., had a grant of land for a pond, and built a grist-mill where the old Hadley Path (which ran from the Philip Goss, now Charles H. Fairbanks', place over the top of Coy's Hill) crossed the brook. The remains of the dam may now be seen near the house of Sexton Douglass (see chap. iv., under date 1710). This privilege was abandoned, and a mill built by the brother of John Hayward at Warren Village, as already noted.
Above this Hayward privilege, a saw-mill was built by old Jacob Kent, who sold in 1845 to William R. Thomas. A short distance higher up, a saw-mill was put in by Sylvester Thomas.
Below this Hayward privilege, where the great road crosses the brook, Nathan B. Ellis from East Medway set up a clothier's shop as early as 1790. Whitney, writing in 1793, says, "Ellis and Company carry on the clothier's business in all its branches. About 5,000 yards of cloth are annually dressed at these works. These men have obtained the art of coloring scarlet, which competent judges pronounce equal to any which is imported ; an art which few in this Commonwealth have attained unto."
Cheney's Brook comes from Coy's Hill, and enters the river near the old west bound of Brookfield.
The affluents of Quabaug River from the south are : Mason's Brook (sometimes called by the early settlers "Mason's Kil," from an obso- lete word signifying stream), which enters the river to the south of Brookfield Centre. A grist-mill was built on this stream by Jabez Upham as early as 1748. In 1768 Joshua Upham established on this privilege " one of the first woolen factories ever attempted in this country."
A considerable brook enters the river, opposite the mouth of Hovey's Brook.
I5
AFFLUENTS OF QUABAUG RIVER.
Salmon Brook enters the river near the dividing line between Brook- field and West Brookfield.
Dean's Brook - the Indian Naltaug - rises in Bare-Knoll range, and enters the river in the east part of Warren. It formed the west bound- ary of the Quabaug lands, bought of the Indian chief Shattoockquis in 1665. A grist-mill was put in on this brook many years ago.
Wigwam Brook enters the river at Warren Village. It is an important landmark in the early grants and deeds. Formerly there was a powder- mill where is now Knowles's pump-works, and below was an extensive tannery.
Other streams in town, named in the early land-grants, or later deeds, are : Tuffts's Brook, near the south-west corner of the old township, which enters Quabaug River in Brimfield ; Rattlesnake Brook, which ran into Ware River ; Potepaug Brook, which ran south, and empties into the Quinebaug. Dr. Elisha Rice built a mill near the town line, on this stream, before 1762. Crotchet Brook was a branch of Mason's Brook. Capt. John's Brook was a small stream which entered the head of Wekabaug Pond from the north-west. The Colonel's Brook was a west branch of Coy's, running near Rooke's brick-yard. Matchuk Brook was an upper east branch of Coy's. Millet's Brook was an east branch of Coy's, just north of Slate Hill. Equies Brook was a west branch of Moore's. Mohawk Brook, in North Brookfield, ran between the two Mohawk hills, and into Sucker Brook. Horse-Pond Brook was the outlet of Horse Pond into Five-mile River. John Hinds, jun., built a mill on this stream as early as 1738 ; sold to his son Seth, who sold to Joseph Bartlett, who sold March 3, 1761, to Rufus Putnam. The small stream that enters Five-mile River, next south of Horse-Pond Brook, is called in the early grants Wigwam Brook. Great Brook, named in early deeds, runs into Quabaug Pond from the south-east. Joseph Hamilton built a saw-mill on the only privilege here about 1747.
PONDS. - Quabaug Pond lies in the east part of Brookfield, and cov- ers five hundred and forty acres. It was a conspicuous object and factor in the early annals of the place, as will appear in subsequent chapters. South Pond, a hundred and eighty acres of which lie in Brookfield, is connected with Quabaug by a canal. In times of freshet, the water sets southward ; in mid-summer, northward. Cranberry Pond of ten acres lies north-west of South Pond. North Pond was a natural basin on Five-mile River, where Thomas Ball put in his mill. Horse Pond is in the northerly part of North Brookfield. Perry Pond is in the south part of North Brookfield. It was named from John Perry, who located near it in 1701. Wekabaug Pond of three hundred acres lies near West Brookfield Village, and is an object of great beauty. At one time, large quantities of iron-ore were gathered from its bottom and
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TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.
shores. It will be often referred to in the chapter on "Indian Occupa- tion," as also will Quabaug Pond.
SPRINGS. - "There are several springs, whose waters are sufficiently impregnated with iron to be highly useful in some diseases. The chalyb- eate springs in the South Parish, east of Quabaug Pond, have been a resort of invalids ; and many are said to have been relieved by the use of the water " ( Foot's Discourse).
SWAMPS AND MEADOWS. - Great Swamp lies north of Quabaug Pond. Equies Swamp was near the old Josiah Beamon place in (now) Warren. Great Meadow was the name applied to the mow-lands lying on the north side of Quabaug River. Matchuk Meadow, or Great Matchuk, was on Coy's Brook above the Ayres saw-mill ; Little Matchuk was below the said mill. Cattail Meadow and Slate Hill Meadow were lower down on the same brook. Millet's Meadow was on Millet's Brook. Ditch Meadow was on Sucker Brook, so called from a ditch which was dug to turn the water from Sucker into Old Mill Brook, to furnish a summer supply for Pynchon's grist-mill. Potebaug Meadow was on the east side of Potebaug Brook, in the south part of the town.
BEAVER DAM. - Two of these curious structures are named in the early records : one was at the inlet into Wekabaug Pond of the little brook coming from the east, and which flooded a considerable tract of swamp; the other beaver dam was near the outlet of Horse Pond.
PLAINS. - What was known as The Plain covered the large part of West Brookfield Village site. Most of the early settlers had a tillage-lot here. It was the great " Planting Field " of the Indians, and the " Great Field " of the English, and was surrounded by a "common fence," in the making and repair of which all the owners had a proportionate share. As near as can be ascertained, the fence enclosed not less than ninety acres.
Quabaug Plain included the cultivable land lying on the northerly shore of Quabaug Pond. Pine Plain was near the John Woolcott place. Indian Plain was on the old Samuel Edmands place. Slate Hill Plain lay in North Brookfield, north of Slate Hill. This was the proposed site of the new meeting-house in 1747.
HILLS. - Foster's Hill is the modern name for what was originally called " The Town Plot," where Sergt. John Ayres and his co-planters pitched in 1665.
The Rocky Hills lie to the east of Foster's.
Wigwam Hill, in West Brookfield, is north of Foster's, between the upper branch of Coy's and Old Mill brooks.
Whortleberry Hill, also in West Brookfield, is between Old Mill and Sucker brooks.
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HILLS- OBJECTS OF INTEREST.
Coy's Hill is north of Warren Village, partly in Warren and partly in West Brookfield.
The Ragged Hills, Great and Little, are to the north and north-east of Coy's.
Pautauge Hill is between Coy's and the west Ragged Hills.
Marks' Mountain, south of the river, is on the west line of old Brook- field Township.
Indian Hill, in the south-west corner of the old township, is partly in Brimfield.
Perilous Hill is south of the river, and west of Dean's Brook.
Bare-Knoll range is south of the head of Dean's Brook.
Long Hill is south of the river, in West Brookfield, near the Warren line.
Ashquoash, named in the Indian deed, must have been south of Long Hill, at the southerly point of West Brookfield.
There were two Pine Hills, one near Cranberry Pond and the other near Ditch Meadow.
High Rock is the name applied to a hill situated east of South Pond.
Teneriffe Hill is north-east of Quabaug Pond.
Fort Hill was where the East Brookfield railroad-station now is. The corporation removed it for filling the meadows.
The hills in North Brookfield are Slate Hill, at the south-westerly corner of the town ; Buck Hill, west of Matchuk ; Hogg Hill, south of the Lower Village ; Tower Hill, north of the meeting-houses; Grass Hill, next north of Tower (now called Bell Hill) ; the two Mohawk Hills, near the north line of the town ; Ball Hill, in the east part of the town, west of Five-mile River ; Walnut Hill, by the Walnut-Grove Cemetery ; Gibbs Hill, near the south line of the town, named from Thomas Gibbs, who built in 1714 on its western slope.
Other places and objects of note in our early annals are Mason's Point, the hard land that reaches the river opposite the mouth of Mason's Brook, where the causeway is built ; Plum Gutter, south of the river, near Perilous Hill ; The Skulls, on Ware River ; the Stone House, a rag- ged pile of shelving rocks, on the road from West Brookfield to Ware ; Warding Rock, to the north-east of Gilbert's Fort site ; Whitefield Rock, near the top of Foster's Hill, from which Mr. Whitefield preached in October, 1740.
The Horse Shades are named in a grant made to Joseph Perry in 1710 ; probably were a clump of trees beside the highway, where the traveller could rest his horse.
The Mile Square was a tract of six hundred and forty acres, laid out in a body to eight of the heirs of Sergt. John Ayres, in 1714, eighty acres
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TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.
to each. It lay about a mile and a quarter south of the river. The north-east bound was a white oak that stood in what is now the angle of the West Brookfield and Warren line. The old Crawford and Shepherd farms adjoined the tract. The white oak, and the tract itself are often referred to in the early deeds.
The 800 Acres. - A tract known as the " 800-Acre Farm " is often referred to in the records, but the original grant has not been found. It lay on the westerly side of Coy's Hill, and extended to near the west line of the town. The following grants show how it was disposed of : " March 25, 1768, granted to James Nichols one-third of 800 acres on Coy's Hill and Pautauge ; also to Joseph Gilbert one-third of the 800 acres ; and to Ezra Hamilton one-third of said 800 acres, the whole in common " (Book of Land Grants, 173).
Capt. Kellogg's 200 Acres. - A plot of two hundred acres of land was laid out to Capt. Joseph Kellogg of Fort Dummer, by virtue of a grant made to him by the great and General Court at their session, November, 1727, on the top of Coy's Hill, where the line of the west side of Brookfield Township crosses the road leading from Hadley to Boston. Surveyed by T. Dwight. (The plan is in possession of Mrs. E. P. Cutter of Warren.)
The clay-pits are named in the early records. They were situated on Colonel's Brook, where is now Rooke's brick-yard. At first, the clay was used in laying up the stone chimneys and ovens : later, bricks were made and burnt as at present.
Training-field and Common. - Oct. 9, 1773, Solomon Banister deeds to Capt. Phineas Upham and others, committee of the town of Brookfield, a tract of five acres, bounded west on county road, north on Meeting-house Common, to be used and improved as a public training-field, always and at all times to be common and open, and not fenced or enclosed, nor used or improved for any private purpose, and never to be appropriated to any other use than that of a public common training-field, nor divided. A tasteful building, known as the Banister Public Library, has been erected on the south-easterly part of this field by Hon. William B. Banister, a collateral descendant of Solomon Banister, and presented to the town of Brookfield. "The Mall" lies directly north of the training- field.
The Common in West Brookfield. - " Nov. 7, 1791, David Hitchcock of Brookfield grants and quitclaims to the First Parish in Brookfield a certain tract of land in said parish containing three acres, more or less, to be held by said parish in its corporate capacity forever ; provided said tract shall never be sold to any individual or individuals, but shall always remain open as a common for public use."
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THE MERRIAM LIBRARY BUILDING.
Same date, Dwight Foster quitclaimed all right and demand in three and a quarter acres of land, described as above.
The Merriam Library Building in West Brookfield, tasteful and well arranged for its uses, was erected, and given to the town, by Charles Merriam of Springfield, a native of West Brookfield.
CHAPTER II.
QUABAUG: INDIAN OCCUPATION, 1647-1665.
THE WILDERNESS. - RIVER INDIANS. - QUABAUGS. - NIPNETS. - NASHAWAYS .- IN- DIAN NAME. - THE SEVERAL NATIVE VILLAGES. - WEKABAUG. - QUOBAGUD. - ASQUOACH. - QUASSOCK. - POOKOOKAPPOG. - MENAMESET. - DISCOVERY OF TWO INDIAN TOWNS. - TRIBAL HISTORY. - WILLIAM PYNCHON'S LETTER. - ELIOT'S VISIT. - ELIOT'S GRANT. - ANNOACHAMOR. - UNCAS' RAID AND ITS RESULTS. - MASSASOIT A RULER HERE. - SALE OF QUABAUG LANDS TO IPSWICH MEN. - TEN YEARS OF PEACEFUL CO-OCCUPATION.
A T the date of the opening of our narrative, 1647, the only English settlement in Western Massachusetts was at Springfield, where a plantation was begun in 1636. The nearest towns towards the Bay were Lancaster (1643), Concord (1635), Sudbury (1637). Except these isolated spots, the broad region now comprising Hampden, Hamp- shire, Franklin, Worcester, and most of Middlesex counties, was wilder- ness, inhabited by Indian tribes, and crossed by Indian trails and one or two English bridle-paths. The wet swamps were heavily wooded, and impenetrable : the dry uplands, having been burnt over by the fires set by the Indians in the late autumn of each year, were covered with a sparse growth of old timber, without underbrush ; so that the first explorers could cross the country on horseback, wherever the way was not obstructed by miry swamps and large streams. Both the Indian trails and the early English paths followed the " divides," and crossed the streams at natural fordways.
When the English came to New England, they found the country parcelled out by different native tribes or clans, which claimed owner- ship of particular tracts of territory. These claimed domains varied greatly in extent and productive capacity, while they had certain charac- teristics in common. Every such tribal possession contained three essentials of savage life ; viz., a hunting-ground, a good fishing-place, and _ arable land for cornfields. These, with oak, walnut, and chestnut groves (which were often carefully protected from their annual burnings), sup- plied the natives with summer and winter food. The foot of the falls in the larger rivers was esteemed a kind of common property ; and
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RIVER INDIANS- QUABAUGS-NIPNETS.
friendly tribes collected at these places in great numbers in the spring, for shad and salmon fishing, and a good time generally. After gorging themselves during the " run " of these fish, the surplus catch was dried in the smoke, and stored in their barns for future use. Early summer was often a time of scarcity with the improvident natives ; and small fish, clams, ground-nuts, greens, and berries were depended on for daily supplies. But the warm weather did not require stimulating food ; and the corn and beans, planted and tended by the squaws, began to fill in August sufficiently for boiling into " succotash," and for roasting on the coals. Corn and nuts furnished the supply for the fall ; and rabbits, coons, deer, and the larger game made up the winter stores. Cloth made of bark or wild hemp, and the skins of fur-bearing animals, fur- nished the summer and winter clothing.
THE RIVER INDIANS. - The tribes dwelling in the Connecticut river valley within the Massachusetts limits, at this date, were the Agawams, who held both sides of the river from Enfield to the Holyoke range of hills, and sold Springfield to William Pynchon; the Waranokes, who lived on the Westfield river ; the Naunotuks (Nonotuks, Norwottucks), who held the lands on both sides of the river, from Mount Holyoke and Tom to Sugar Loaf, and sold at a later date to the Northampton and Hadley settlers ; the Pacomptucks, who owned the valley lands on the east side as far up as the mouth of Miller's river, and on the west side still higher, together with the valley of Deerfield river ; the Squakheags, who occupied the territory now included in Northfield, Vernon, and Hinsdale, and the Miller's river valley. These River tribes had each on its own territory all the essentials of food, clothing, shelter, and defence, and so in time of peace led an independent life. In time of war they usually made common cause of the quarrel, and united in a sort of con- federacy, of which the Pacomptuck, the more warlike and energetic of the clans, was the acknowledged head and leader. Of their numbers, Mr. Fudd, in his " History of Hadley," says, "When most numerous, they may be reckoned at ten or eleven hundred. Their numbers were con- siderably reduced before they left this part of the country, and did not perhaps exceed eight hundred in 1675."
THE QUABAUGS. - Next east of the Agawams were the Quabaugs, who held the territory which now comprises the towns of Sturbridge, Brimfield, Warren, the three Brookfields, and New Braintree. At an early, as well as a later, date, they occupied lands still further up the Menamesick (Ware) river. But the north and south limits of the tribe are not well defined.
THE NIPNETS. - To the east of the Quabaugs lay the possessions of the Nipnets or Nipmucks. What was known as the "Nipmuck Coun- try," as described by Gookin and other writers of the time, took in the
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QUABAUG: INDIAN OCCUPATION, 1647-1665.
southern central part of Worcester county, from near the present State line as far north as Worcester city. The word Nipnet signifies "the fresh-water country ; " and the natives dwelling at the ponds in Dudley, Webster, Douglas, Sutton, Oxford, Auburn, etc., were known as fresh- pond Indians, to distinguish them from the River tribes of the Connecti- cut basin, and the shore Indians of the seacoast. At a later date, the Nipnets claimed and sold territory extending some miles southward of the Massachusetts line.
THE NASHAWAYS lived north of the Nipnets, with headquarters in Lan- caster. They are sometimes called the Washakums, from a large settle- ment of the tribe near the ponds of that name in Sterling, and sometimes called the Wachusetts, from their strongholds in the mountain of that name in Princeton.
It has been customary, with most writers, to class all these tribes under the general name of Nipnets. Mr. Gookin gives countenance to such a classification. They certainly were all "fresh water" Indians. And there is not wanting evidence, that they were more or less nearly allied, either by blood, or by marriage, or by both. When a chief, or a com- mon warrior of one clan committed an offence against an outside clan or the English, he would fly to another of these allied clans, and find protection ; and, when the great uprising of Indians against the whites took place in 1675, all these tribes promptly united in a common cause. And it is not unlikely that this latter fact may have been a leading reason for classing them under the common name of Nipnets. But Mr. Gookin, in his " Historical Collections," enumerates "the Pokomtakukes, the Squakheags, the Quabaugs, the Nipnets, and the Nashaway or Washakim Indians," in a connection to show that he understood each to have a distinct tribal status. And it is certain that they never acknowledged allegiance to one local, resident head chieftain, either in time of peace or war. Eliot and Pynchon, as well as Gookin, speak of these several tribes as independent in their possessions and jurisdiction. And the Massa- chusetts authorities uniformly treat with each of them, as occasion requires, without consulting with the others. When the Pacomptucks, in 1657, made war upon the Mohegans, the English Commissioners sent an official message directly to Deerfield, without stopping to get the sanction of any sagamore in the Nipmuck Country.
The Quabaugs come into history as one of these distinct tribes, small in numbers, somewhat isolated in position, and living in scattered vil- lages. Evidently they are not an aggressive people : the facts rather imply that they have the reputation of being inoffensive, - perhaps con- scious of their inability to resent and redress wrongs suffered from their more warlike neighbors. But if this was true in earlier times, then the children were unlike the fathers; for, in the war of 1675, our Indians were noted as daring fighters.
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NAME OF THE PLACE AND TRIBE.
And the singular circumstance appears at the outset of their introduc- tion to public notice, that, having suffered injury from other Indians, they appeal for help, not to any of the neighboring clans, but to the Wampanoags, a powerful tribe living in the eastern part of the State. And the still more suggestive fact will by and by appear, that Massasoit, the renowned Wampanoag chieftain, in his old age came hither, and was for a time ruling sachem at Quabaug.
This tribe is first named in our official records in the year 1647. And no legends or traditions have been discovered, to throw light on their origin or earlier migrations. We have to take them as we find them ; and we shall be content to set forth in order the somewhat fragmentary history of their tribal life for the ensuing twenty-eight years, till the grand overthrow which followed the death of King Philip.
NAME OF THE PLACE AND TRIBE. - It was a common rule with the English settlers to designate a native tribe by the name which said tribe gave to their principal seat or residence. But to the grievous perplexity of historians, this name-word is often spelled by the early scribes in a great variety of ways. This was partly due to carelessness in catching the word as spoken by the natives ; partly to ignorance of the peculiar force of Indian syllabic sounds ; and partly to the fact, that specific affixes and terminations to the generic word were used by the natives to indicate the different villages of the cluster occupied by them.
In the Indian language, the name of a place was descriptive of the distinguishing feature, or production, or use, or tradition of the location. The Indian was a keen observer ; he noted characteristic sounds of water or air; he detected characteristic colors of soils, or rocks, or prominent objects ; he saw and heard and marked whatever constituted the individuality of places and things, and gave them names accordingly. A knowledge of the Indian name-words would be a knowledge of de- scriptive geography as the native saw his immediate domains, or as his hills and valleys and streams stood related to his individual or tribal life.
There is little doubt that the name of our place, as pronounced by the Indians, was Squapauke, or Squabaug. It is a compound word, which signifies "red water-place," or " red pond," - so called from the red- dish, iron-stained gravel which forms the bottom and shores of the sev- eral ponds in the cluster near which the native villages were built, and to which collectively the general name was applied. Some of the early variations in the spelling of this name are : Squabauge, Squabage, Squaw- boge, Schobauge. But the English writers more often omitted the sibil- ant, and wrote Quabauke, Quabaug, Quabaugue, Quaboag, Quoboag. The apostle Eliot wrote it (1649) Quobagud. In some official papers, dated 1661, the name stands indiscriminately Quabaconk, Quabacutt, and Quabauke. Rev. John Russell of Hadley writes (1675) Quababaog.
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QUABAUG: INDIAN OCCUPATION, 1647-1665.
When our tribe first appears in authentic records, it was not holding any one central cite, to which the name was applied ; nor did it own allegiance to one head chieftain. It was divided into several detached clans, living in scattered villages, each under its own sachem. These villages appear to have been located with special regard to good fishing- places at the outlets of the ponds, and conveniency of large and easily tilled planting-fields. Perhaps one of them was chosen for its good planting-ground, and strong position for a defensive fort. At that date, our river was a favorite resort of shad and salmon, which ran up into the ponds for the purpose of depositing their spawn. When ascending, these fish were caught with scoop-nets and spears, or shot with arrows ; and, when descending, were taken in rudely constructed wiers. These wiers were simply stone walls built from opposite sides of the river, point- ing down stream, till they nearly met each other. At this narrow open- ing a large cage was placed, formed of twigs fastened to hoops by strips of young elm or other tough bark. When caught in this cage, the fright- ened fish were easily captured. Some of these fishways remained in the river till within the memory of men now living.
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