USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Pelham > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 36
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Prescott > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 36
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Then Charon hoists his sable sails, The lazy gales seemed ling'ring ; I leaped into the sulph'rous stream, To cross the flood by swimming.
Then Demon came to Charon's boat And strictly gave him orders To take no more such rebels o'er, Till he enlarged his borders.
" For I have orders sent to me That's very strict indeed, sir, To bring no more such rebels o'er, They're such a cursed breed, sir."
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
"Go tell that rebel to return, And he shall be well-guarded, And for the service done for me I'll see him well rewarded."
Then Charon ordered Shays right back To gather up his daisies, And for the service done for him He gave him many praises.
Then Shays was wroth, and soon replied, " O ! Charon, thou art cruel !" And challenged him to come on shore And fight with him a duel.
Then Charon straightway ordered Shays To leave the river's bank, sir ; For he would never fight a man So much below his rank, sir.
Then Shays returned to Vermont state Chagrined and much ashamed, sir ; And soon the mighty, rebel host Unto our laws were tamed, sir.
Oh, then our honored fathers sat With a bold resolution, And framed a plan and sent to us Of noble constitution.
America, let us rejoice In our new constitution. And never more pretend to think Of another revolution.
Settlement of Salem, N. Y.
BY PELHAM PEOPLE IN 1764.
Less than twenty years after the incorporation of the town of Pel- ham the restless unsatisfied spirit developed itself as it always does among the true pioneers who push out to the edge of civilization and beyond to establish new settlements, and in the spring of 1761 James Turner and Joshua Conkey, Pelham men but not among those who drew home lots in the first division of land in 1739, started out to begin another settlement in the forests of New York state in the neighborhood of Crown Point where it is probable both men had seen service, in the French and Indian war which resulted in the conquest of Canada in 1760.
These men may have discovered that the lands in that section were not so rough and stony as the tract of land on which they had settled in Hampshire county and made up their minds to improve their condition. At any rate they set out from Pelham in the spring of the year 1761 and made the journey through the wilderness, to Charlotte county, New York, since changed to Washington county, and selected lands on the flats where the village of Salem is now situated. Turner and Conkey spent the summer there and returned to Pelham to spend the following winter. In the spring of 1762 they set forth again on horseback for White Creek, as the new settle- ment was called by these settlers from New England, while other settlers in that neighborhood, Scotch Presbyterians from Ballibay, Ireland in 1765, insisted upon calling the settlement New Perth, from Perth, Scotland. On this journey they were accompanied by Hamilton McCollister another Pelham man, and these three were the original settlers of the town now known as Salem, and the spot where their cabin was built is now occupied by the On-da-wa House. Each man selected a tract of land for himself. Turner taking the land west of the cabin, and McCollister went up the creek a little for his selection, while Conkey went up the creek for a mile or so and
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
located. The summer was spent upon the lands they had selected and when winter came they returned to Pelham. The summer of 1763 was spent in making improvements on their lands and the jour- ney back to Pelham was made late in the autumn for the winter sojourn.
In the spring of 1764 the three men, two with families, set out from Pelham to make the journey to White Creek on horseback, with all their household effects also strapped upon the backs of horses. In this way they journeyed through the forests, and forded the many streams along the route.
These people were the first actual settlers in Washington County. Other families from Pelham, Colraine, Sturbridge and perhaps other Massachusetts towns joined them in years following and the settle- ment was quite properly known as the "New England Colony. " They were the founders of the Salem Church known as "The first Incorporated Presbyterian Congregation in Salem, County of Washington, and State of New York. "
The following tribute of respect, and estimate of the character of the settlers from Pelham and other Massachusetts towns, we copy from an Historical Sketch of the Presbyterian Church of Salem by Rev. Edward P. Sprague pastor, 1876.
" The settlers from Massachusetts were persons of a character to place the very highest estimate upon all religious privileges, and whose first care after providing houses for their families would certainly be to secure for them the sacred influences of the church and the preached Gospel.
Whatever they might feel compelled to forego on occount of their loca- tion and circumstances, they would never consent to neglect the establish- ment and maintainance of the ordinances of religion. We find therefore as we might expect, that previous to their leaving New England they took measures for securing to themselves a distinct church organization. And this design they never abandoned, even after the settlement of Dr. Clark's Colony (from Ballibay, Ireland) furnished them with the opportunity of atten- ding Christian worship.
They might have joined themselves with the church thus transplanted hither from Ireland, and the two colonies thus have been merged in one ecclesiastically, as well as socially, but the points of difference between themselves and the Scotch seem in the main to have presented almost insur- mountable obstacles. There were at intervals certain more favorable sea- sons when such a union was contemplated, and even appeared ready for consumation, but it was never actually accomplished, and the New England people remained, what they had been from the first, a distinct religious congregation."
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SETTLEMENT OF SALEM, N. Y.
The desire and purpose of those who had journeyed from Pelham for the early establishment of Gospel privileges in the new settlement seems to have been the same as was manifested by the settlers of Pel- ham, and the first sermon ever preached in White Creek or Salem was delivered in the cabin of James Turner by Rev. Dr. Clark a Scotchman from Ballibay. Three years after the settlement of Con- key, Turner and McCollister with their families, or in the year 1767, and soon after there had been further accessions of Massachusetts people, they felt that they must secure a preacher of the Gospel to settle among them, and a letter was written to Rev. David McGreg- orie of Londonderry, N. H. a member of the Presbytery which was organized or constituted in 1745 by Rev. John Moorehead of Boston, Rev. David McGregorie of Londonderry, N. H., Rev. Robert Aber- crombie of Pelham with Messrs Alexander Conkey of Pelham and James McKeon and James Hughes, at a meeting in Londonderry on the 16th of April of that year, and called the Boston Presbytery.
The reason for writing to Rev. Mr. McGregorie was unquestion- ably the fact that many of the Pelham men who had settled at White Creek were acquainted with Mr. McGregorie, having met him at Pel- ham before moving to the state of New York. The letter follows.
To the Reverend Mr. DAVID MCGREGORIE
Reverend and Dearly Beloved - Grace and Peace be Multiplied, &c.
This Comes to you by the hand of Dea. McMullen A Gentleman Chosen and Appointed by us for the purpose VIZ .- Once more to Implore your pres- ence and assistance, in our Destitute Circumstances in order to open a way for the resettlement of the Gospel among us- The reason which induce us to send for yourself Rather than for any other of our Fathers in the presby- tery are our Sensibility of your more peculiar acquaintance with our People, Backed by their unanimous Voice for you in particular,-We hope that the knowledge you have of our State, the Love and Regard we trust you bear for us, together with the prospect you herein have of the promotion of the Interests of our Common Lord, will by no means fail to preponderate in our Favor-and that our Sister Church will sympathise with us so far as cheer- fully to part with you till you can come over to our Macedonia once more to help us, since we hope that God is in his tender providence putting an end to our Difficulties in some good measure and that this is one of the Last times we shall be necessitated to entreat your presence in an affair of like Nature. For further particulars Please enquire of Deacon McMullen. And now that God may incline your heart to assist us, Bring you safe on your Journey and make your Coming and our concerns to terminate Ultim- ately in his own Glory is the prayer of Reverend Sir
Your servants in Christ,
JOHN GRAY, JOHN SAVAGE, ALEXANDER TURNER, JAMES BERRY, Elders.
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
These names signed to the above letter are all of them men who had only recently come from Pelham and joined the pioneers, also from Pelham, who first took up lands at White Creek in 1761. John Savage, married Eleanor Hamilton of Rutland Jan. 16, 1733.
The name of John Savage appears on the records of Pelham as early as 1747 when he was chosen to represent the town at the Presbytery.
He was on a committee to provide school masters April 30, 1751, was moderator of a town meeting in 1752, was on a committee to see about legalizing certain town meeting actions, 1753, was on com- mittee to represent the town at the Superior Court at Springfield, in 1757, was on a committee whose duty it was to make answer to a petition that had been sent to the General Court in Jan. 1764.
John Savage was allowed 12 shillings for pasturing horses at the ordination of Rev. Richard Crouch Graham in 1764, John Savage and James Harkness were alloted pew No. 10 in the Old Meeting House at Pelham March 28, 1766.
From this last date the name of John Savage does not again appear on the records of the town, nor is there mention of his leav- ing the state of Massachusetts, but there can be no doubt of his removal from Pelham in 1766. Pelham lost an able and valuable citizen and the settlement of White Creek gained one.
John Gray, another of those whose names are subscribed to the letter to Mr. McGregorie, married Martha Savage, April 17, 1755. His connection with the Savage family is reason sufficient for his being at White Creek at about the same date as John Savage.
Alexander Turner was one of the original settlers of Pelham and drew home lot No. 46, and built a sawmill.
The surname Berry was not among the original settlers of Pelham but there must have been men of that name in town not long after the first settlers took up the tract, and there never has been a time since until now when there were not families of that name in the town or its immediate vicinity.
James Turner of Pelham was married to Susannah Thomas of Worcester, April 1, 1760. Joshua Conkey and Dinah Dick, both of Pelham, were married April 13, 1762. These last are the two young men who spent the summer of 1761 on lands they had secured at White Creek, only one of them married at the time.
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SETTLEMENT OF SALEM, N. Y.
Joseph McCracken, of Worcester, was married to Sarah Turner, of Pelham, Feb. 12, 1760. Miss Turner was doubtless the sister of James Turner. McCracken was a prominent man at White Creek and a captain in the Revolutionary war.
Thomas Morrison, of Londonderry, N. H., was married to Martha Clark, of Pelham, Feb. 11, 1762. He was an early settler at White Creek.
Hamilton McCollister, the companion of Conkey and Turner on their return to White Creek from Pelham in the spring of 1762 and who was with them in 1764 when they made the new settlement their permanent abiding place, came back to Pelham three years later, and was married to Sarah Dick, Oct. 15, 1767.
The royal grant of the land on which the New England colony settled was given August 17, 1764 ; it consisted of 25,000 acres, and was granted in response to a petition presented by Alexander and James Turner, and twenty-five others in January 1763. The terms were an annual quit-rent of two shillings for each hundred acres, with all the mines, and all pine trees above a certain size, reserved to the crown. One-half of this tract they conveyed by deed to Oliver DeLancey and Peter Dubois of New York. Following the plan they knew was adopted at Pelham twenty-five years previous, the tract of land was divided into 304 lots, each half a mile long and containing 88 acres. Three lots drawn by DeLancey and Dubois and three belonging to "the proprietors " were reserved for the support of the minister and a schoolmaster.
The colony from Ballibay, Ireland, that came in 1765, purchased DeLancey's and Dubois's land under Dr. Clark the leader of the colony. The two colonies, viz. the Scotch colony from Ballibay and the New England colony lived near by each other under the most friendly relations socially, but a certain society rivalry sprang up between them and prevented them from joining harmoniously in one- church organization under Rev. Dr. Clark as their minister. The New England colony charged the people of the Scotch colony with a desire to secede from them. A document drawn up by Joshua Con- key, one of the three first settlers from Pelham, explaining the purposes of the New England colony, bearing as an endorsement " The petition presented to Dr. Clark and his Elders," dated Sept. 16, 1771, exhibits to some extent the disturbed feeling existing .: between the two Presbyterian bodies.
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
"Whereas we for sometime have had it in our hearts to Build a house of Pub- lick Worship for God & for fear of further Disputes & Contention we think proper to enter into agreement in writing as we have hade some Evidence of late of a separation by those who take to themselves the name of seceders by there staying from publick Worship when a member of the Philadelphia Signod priched in this place who was Regerly sent forth to prich and admin- ister ordinances wherever he might be cold in this vacant part of Gods vin- yard-therefore We the subscribers do unanomesly agree to joyn in build- ing a house for the Worship of God with those who subscribe the foloing articles, viz.
I. that we the Subscribers do bind our selvs we shall have and give free liberty to ordain or install a minister of the philadelphia Signod or one in connection with them in said house or at least to joyn in the ordination or Instalment of any one that shall be coled by the Majority of the Inhabit- ance of this place that subscrice to this.
2. that we shall not be consigned to that set of people Coled soceders. White Creek, 16 Jept. 1771.
Joshua Conkey, James Moor,
Alexander Turner,
Edward Savage,
Hugh Moor, John Gray,
Frances Lammon,
John Nevens,
Samuel Hyndmand,
Hamilton McCollister,
John Savage,
Edward Long,
Timothy Titus,
James Turner, James Savage,
Ebenezer Russell, Joseph McCracken, Reuben Turner,
Daniel McCollister, Moses Martin, his
Launard + Webb. mark
The foregoing document with the signatures was not received with satisfaction by Dr. Clark and his people, and at a session of that society it was taken up and considered carefully and replied to.
There was quite a little spicy correspondence between the two societies resulting from the document written by Joshua Conkey and the result was, to make a union of the two societies impossible, and the New England colony proceeded to carry out their purpose to continue as an independent organization and to build a meeting house for their own use. Their first meeting-house was sometime building and perhaps not used much previous to 1774, and was never finished.
They began to worship in it when there was only a roof to protect them from the weather, and before the sides were boarded or a floor laid. After the Revolutionary war broke out the uncompleted ineet- ing house was used first as a barrack by the patriot forces and then strengthened and made to serve as a fort. Logs set close together in the ground made a stockade about sixty feet from the building and extending around it, and was finished July 26, 1777. The meeting house having been changed into a fort it was first called the
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SETTLEMENT OF SALEM, N. Y.
Salem fort, the name was afterwards changed to Fort Williams, in honor of Gen. John Williams.
In the autumn following the erection of the stockade all the peo- ple, save perhaps a few tories, were obliged to leave the place, leaving their homes and property because of the advance of Gen. Burgoyne and his forces upon the town. The meeting house fort was burned to the ground during the last days of August or early September.
Col. Joseph McCracken, was at one time in command of the pat- riot forces that occupied the meeting house fort,-and the same man already referred to as the husband of Sarah Turner of Pelham. He was a brave soldier and later lost an arm at the battle of Monmouth ..
At the close of the Revolutionary war the people of the New Eng- land colony were very poor, having lost heavily by reason of Burgoyne's. army invading the town, and no attempt was made to erect a meeting house in place of the one burned for about ten years, and in the mean time they worshiped with the people of the other presbyterian church or had a minister occasionally to preach to their own people.
A new meeting house was erected on the same lot on which the first one stood, and a part of Hamilton McCollister's original tract, which is held in trust by the society for use as a church and for no other use. In 1788, Nov. 14, Savage and Conkey attorneys for the propri- tors executed a deed which conveyed to the trustees of the New Eng- land congregation the three lots, numbered 91, 188, and 192 "for the sole use of supporting a regular gospel minister of the presbyterian per- suasion belonging to the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, in and over said congregation in Salem." The second meeting house was seventy-five feet long and sixty feet wide with the pulpit and sounding board on one side of the audience room, and the pews were the usual square high box-like enclosures of the olden time.
The first pastor settled over this church was the Rev. John War- ford of Amwell N. J. who commenced his labors in 1788, laboring with great success until his death in 1802.
The original membership of the first incorporated presbyterian congregation in Salem, the one founded by New England people, quite a number of whom were from Pelham, Mass., consisted of fifty -. two persons. For fifty years following the membership is said not to have exceeded one hundred. In 1828 there was a membership of two hundred and eighty. In 1832 the number had increased to four hundred and twenty-six. This was the highest number ever reached,
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
and from that time the decrease in membership began. In 1842 there was only three hundred and five members, in 1876 the num- ber was one hundred and seventy-three, and a little over two hun- dred in 1896.
The little settlement begun by James Turner and Joshua Conkey in 1761 makes a much better showing to-day than the old town of Pel- ham from which they sallied forth, and plunged into the wilderness to reach and establish their new home.
The village of Salem contains about twelve hundred inhabitants and in the whole town there was about four thousand, while Pelham has only four hundred and eighty-six. The main facts of the above sketch of the settlement of Salem were gathered from The Salem Book printed in 1896, and other historical pamphlets relating to the town of Salem, N. Y.
The people who went out from Pelham through the forests to begin a new settlement at White Creek were quite peaceable men and women who respected the rights of others and at the same time resented any and all invasions of their own rights and privileges, and would not hesitate to oppose any one whom they believed was endea- voring in any way to prevent the full enjoyment of their liberties. They made no exceptions when the King's officers came among them armed with authority from the King's representatives, if they knew the charges had no basis of fact to rest upon ; any officer who came among them under such circumstances was liable to meet with a hot reception. This estimate of the temper of Scotch farmers of that time is borne out by the reception extended to Sheriff Solomon Bolt- wood of Amherst who made an official visit to Pelham on the twelfth of February 1762. Just what his official business may have been does not appear, but the manner in which he was received makes it quite clear that the official errand was considered an affront which justified resistance by every means at hand, the men and the women taking part in resisting him, the weapons selected being those that were most handy when the determination to resist seized them.
The resistance to the sheriff evidently occured on the twelfth of February 1762, but the record of the trial and acquittal is dated a year later and is copied from the court records at Northampton.
" NORTHAMPTON FEB. 18, 1763.
DE REX VS SAVAGE &C.
John Worthington Esq. Attorney to our Soverign Lord the King in this behalf here instantly complains and give this court to understand and be informed that John Savage of Pelham in the County of Hampshire Gent.
4II
SETTLEMENT OF SALEM, N. Y.
Alexander Turner Yeoman, Alexander Turner Jun. Yeoman, James Turner, Yeoman, Robert Gilmore, Yeoman, Hamilton McCollister, Yeoman, Jane Savage, Spinster, wife of John Savage Jun., Elisibeth Savage, Spinster, Eleanor McCollister, Spinster, and Sarah Drane, Spinster, all of Pelham aforesaid, did at said Pelham on the 12th day of February last past, with force and arms, that is to say, with Axes, Clubs, sticks, hot water and hot soap in a riotous and tumultinous manner and riotously and unlawfully meet and assemble themselves together to disturb the peace of the said Lord the King, and the said John Savage, Alexander Turner, Alexander Turner Jun., James Turner, Robert Gilmore, Hamilton McCollister, Jane Savage, Eleanor Mc- Collister, Elisibeth Savage, and Sarah Drane, being so met and assembled together did then and there with force and arms made an assault on one Solomon Boltwood of Amherst, then, and ever since being a Deputy Sheriff under Oliver Partridge Esq. Sheriff of said County, he being then in due execution of his said office and in the peace of God and of the said Lord the King, and then and there uttered menace and threatenings of bodily hurt and death against said Solomon, and then and there, with force and arms obstructed, opposed, hindered and wholly prevented said Solomon from the due execution of his said office contrary to law, and against the peace of the said Lord the King, his crown and dignity, and now comes before ye court the said John Savage, Gent., and Alexander first above named, the said Jane, Elisibeth, and Sarah being held by Recognisance for this purpose, the said James, Robert and ye other Alexander not being present, and being set to the bar and severally put to plead and answer to the premise, they the said de'fts severally plead that they were in nothing guilty of the same and thereof put themselves on ye County.
A Jury being sworn according to law to try the issue between our said Lord the King, and the said Def'ts after a full hearing return their verdict therein, that is, the jury on their oath say the said Def'ts are not guilty. It is thereupon ordered that the Def'ts be dismissed and ye go without day."
The result of the trial being a verdict of not guilty for the heinous offence charged was so complete a vindication of those whose names appear in the indictment that we are forced to the conclusion that " axes, clubs, sticks, hot water, and hot soap" were fit weapons for resistance to injustice of some sort at the hands of the sheriff of said Lord the King.
We cannot but admire the grit and vim displayed by these men and women in resistance to what this King's officer was commissioned to preform if they knew there was no valid reason for his presence among them. It seems to have been a case of justifiable self defence, and the jury by their verdict were evidently unaminous in that view of the case.
A year later and some of these men and women started out on horseback on the long journey through the forest to begin the settle- ment at White Creek now Salem, Washington county N. Y. If there could have been any question of their qualifications for pioneering and taking care of themselves in a new settlement the above episode from the court records would be amply sufficient to dispel all doubts on that score. Not all of the self-reliant and plucky men and women went out from Pelham to White Creek, there were others[of the same self-reliant positive sort left in the old town.
Professional and Business Men,
NATIVES OF PELHAM.
The Southworths. - The Southworth family, a branch of which settled in Pelham during the latter part of the last century and probably after the Revolutionary war, is traced in an unbroken line from Sir Gilbert Southworth of Southworth Hall, Lancaster, England, in the fourteenth century through ten generations in that country. The following is the line : Sir Gilbert, Sir John, Sir Thomas, Richard Southworth of Salisbury, Sir Christopher, Sir John, Sir Thomas of Warrington, Richard of London, Sir Thomas, recorder of wills, Somersetsthire, to Edward who in 1598 married Alice Carpenter, daughter of Alexander Carpenter.
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