USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Pelham > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 40
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Prescott > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 40
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
account. On June 16, 1875, he was married to Miss Etta I. Lewis, daughter of Enoch T. Lewis, an old and prominent resident of the town. In 1882, he removed to Cambridge, Mass., where there were broader fields in which to labor, and where he has achieved most marvelous success, having contributed much toward the advance ment and progress of the dental profession. Dr. Cooke is a promi- nent man in the dental profession in the city of Cambridge.
Johnson J. Thompson, son of Asa and Ruth Thompson, was born in Pelham, Oct. 14, 1832. He attended the public schools of the town, studied medicine with Drs. Smith and Taylor of Amherst for several years ; attended medical lectures in Albany and Brooklyn, N. Y .; located at Davenport, Iowa. He married a niece of Judge Conk- ling of Brooklyn, N. Y., and a cousin of Hon. Roscoe Conkling. He practiced medicine with much success for thirty years or more, and died at Davenport, March 24, 1894. His wife dying the same night, within less than an hour of his death. He was a contributor to leading medical journals, and was honored by election to offices of trust and responsibility in the city of Davenport, and was largely instrumental in founding an orphan asylum in the city. Four chil- dren, two sons and two daughters, survive.
There are other successful business men who were natives of Pel- ham besides those given more extended notice. Among these are : Edwin and Oliver Bryant; L. V. B. Cook of West Springfield; Lucius W. Cook, Williamsport, Pa .; Marcus D. Cook, Denver, Colo .; Dwight M. Cook, Chicopee Falls, sons of Olney Cook; W. H. H.
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
Ward, Amherst ; Henry C. Hamilton, Springfield ; Augustine H. Rankin, Blackstone ; M. F. Robinson and L. F. Jenks, Springfield ; Charles P. Aldrich, Greenfield ; R. J. D. Westcott, Ware, for many years cashier of First National bank, Amherst; Wm. S. Westcott, merchant, Amherst; William A. Bailey, contractor, Northampton ; Zimri Thurber, shoe manufacturer, Brockton; Seth B. Hall, capital- ist, Lowell ; Charles O. and Lemuel W. Hall, Lowell, sons of John B. Hall ; Warren C. Wedge, Chicopee ; Marcus C. Grout, Provi- dence, R. I .; John T. Fales, Newport, R. I .; Leander L. Bartlett, Montague City ; Eugene P. Bartlett, Pelham; Sanford M. Robinson, Pittsburg, Pa .; Oliver C. Smith, Rock Springs, Wy .; Homer Eaton, Northampton ; Frank Kingman, Enfield; Osmyn Houston, Spring- field ; S. W. Rankin, Springfield; G. P. Smith, Jersey Shore, Pa .; Alfred Taylor, Kansas City, Mo .; Otis S. Lyman, Lagrange, Ill .; George and Albert Davis, clothing dealers, Prescott, Ont .; Edwin Chapman, contractor, Needham ; Levi D. Hall, Lowell.
John Savage was one of the most remarkable men among the set- tlers of Pelham. He was not one of the original settler of the town but came to Pelham with his wife in 1745 or 1747 and was one of the towns' ablest and most trusted citizens for about twenty years, serving the town in almost every position of trust and responsibility while he dwelt within its borders. He was chosen to represent the town before the presbytery in 1747; committee to provide schoolmasters in 1781; moderator at town meetings, and selectman in 1752; on committee to legalize acts of town meetings before the General Court, and also one of the selectmen in 1753 ; on committee to represent the town at the superior court in Springfield in 1757; chosen agent to represent the town before the court of General Sessions in 1762 ; was on a committee to represent the town and make answer to a petition that had been presented to the General Court in 1764. The above are a few of the important positions of service to which he was called as shown by the record. Hardly a year but John Savage was in active service in some capacity from the time when his name first appears until he removed from the town in 1767 to Salem, Wash- ington county, N. Y.
A lineal descendant has kindly furnished the following interesting sketch of the life of John Savage. "The ancestors of Captain John Savage were French, being Huguenots they were driven from France
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PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS MEN.
by the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. They settled in or near Londonderry in the north of Ireland. The father of John Savage married a Scotch lady, Miss Eleanor Hamilton; he died leav- ing three sons, who came to America with their mother and step- father in 1717, and settled at Rutland, Mass. John Savage was ten years old at that time and followed the seas as a sailor during the early part of his life. He gradually accumulated property and became sole owner of the vessel which he commanded. In a storm the vessel was wrecked off Cape Breton, his men and cargo being all lost, and he barely escaped with his life. After this experience he aban- doned the sea, and in 1733 married a daughter of his stepfather also a Miss Hamilton, and settled upon a farm in Pelham, Mass.
In 1758 he was selected as captain of one of the Massachusetts companies in the old French War, and served under General Brad- street in his expedition against Fort Frontenac, and under General Abercrombie in his disastrous assault upon Fort Ticonderoga. Cap- tain Savage was lame at the time of the latter engagement, but not- withstanding this he placed himself at the head of his men and led them into the fight.
After residing twenty-two years in Pelham, Captain Savage moved to Salem, Washington county, N. Y., in 1767, where he died Jan. 27, 1792, aged eighty-five years, and now rests in Evergreen Cemetery, at Salem.
The following is the quaint and curious inscription upon his tomb- stone.
" Near this stone are deposited the remains of Captain John Savage, whose useful life (which Heaven protected to an unusual length) was dis- tinguished by the dangerous hardships and deliverences he experienced in a long series of adventures both by land and sea.
In recounting these to his latest moments, he gratefully acknowledged the wisdom, goodness, and power of Divine Providence ; that he was atten- tive to the duties of religion; that he undauntedly advocated the faith which he firmly believed ; that amidst the temptations peculiarly incident to the stations of a seaman and soldier, he preserved an unsullied and exem- plary character, diligently discharging the several duties of life was his distinction.
Mr. Savage was born in the Kingdom of Ireland about the year 1707, in his youth he emigrated to America and settled in the Province of Massachu- setts. In the year 1767, he, with his family removed from Pelham to this town, (Salem) then an uncultivated wilderness.
January 27, 1792, aged eighty-five year ; his pilgrimage being ended in the certain hope of a blessed immortality. He rested in Jesus."
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
The descendants of John Savage have been distinguished for ability and learning. Edward Savage, son of John, was born in Rutland, Mass., and removed to Salem, N. Y., with his father when the latter left Pelham in 1767, being then 2 1 years of age. He mar- ried Mary McNaughton and was the first sheriff of Washington County, N. Y., after the Revolutionary war ; he was also surrogate ; and a member of the state legislature for twenty-one years, and was three times elected a member of the council of appointment. He was in the battle of Plattsburg in 1814, and died in 1833, aged 87.
His son John Savage was born in Salem in 1779, educated at Salem Academy and Union College ; studied law and opened a law office in Salem in 1803 ; served two terms in Congress in 1814 and 1816 ; in the latter year he married Ruth Wheeler of Lanesboro, Mass .; resided in Albany from 1821 to 1837, when he removed to Utica. He was chief justice of the Supreme Court of the state of New York from 1822 to 1836. He died at Utica, October 19, 1863, aged 84.
The opinions of Judge Savage on legal questions while chief jus- tice are quoted in law reports of the various states, and are cited in the current volumes, having stood the test of nearly a century.
John Stinson and descendants. John Stinson or Stevenson was one of the original settlers of the town of Pelham and drew Home Lot No. 48, situated on the middle range road nearly a mile west of the center of the town, and is the farm now owned by C. H. Hanson. His father's name was John who came to this country with other Scotch-Irish immigrants in 1718, and died at Rutland in 1743, leav- ing a will of which John Savage was sole executor.
John Stinson, the subject of this sketch, was known as a man of responsibility upon whom the early settlers could rely, and conse- quently he was chosen treasurer of the town at the first town meet- ing after the act of incorporation on the 19th of April, 1743. He was moderator of the town meeting held in June of the same years and filled many other responsible offices in the town during the year until 1774. He, with his son Isaac Stevenson, were soldiers in the colonial wars, and John went with the New England expedition to Lake"George in 1758.
Isaac Stevenson married Thankful Savage, daughter of Capt. John Savage of Rutland, Oct. 23, 1764. Capt. Savage was afterwards a prominent citizen of Pelham until 1767. Isaac removed to Enfield
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PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS MEN.
about the year 1789 and a bought a pew in the church there when first built, paying £8 therefor.
Margarett Stevenson, daughter of John, became the wife of Rev. Robert Abercrombie, the first settled minister of Pelham, Jan. 7, 1743 and was the mother of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters.
Samuel, son of John Stinson or Stevenson, married Martha Sloan of Pelham and was a voter in Pelham in 1799.
Mary Stevenson, daughter of Isaac and Thankful, married Alden Lathrop, first town treasurer of Enfield, Mass., and a descendant of John and Priscilla Alden. Their son Sylvanus Lathrop, was born in Enfield and was a noted builder in early life, having erected the steeple of the church at Enfield before he was twenty-one years of age, and became a noted civil engineer and contractor. His first extensive contract was on the Erie canal, and later executed a con- tract on a canal at Akron, Ohio. He built the third rolling mill at Pittsburg, Pa., and engaged in the iron business. The first acque- duct over the Allegheny river at Pittsburg was built by Sylvanus Lathrop in 1829, and he was the first to plan a bridge over the Mississippi river at St. Louis.
Concerning the Women of Pelham.
The names of very few women appear upon the town records from 1738 to 1825 inclusive. They did not vote even in church affairs. They did not teach school, and were hardly allowed to attend school in the early years. They were taught to sew, to spin, to knit and to weave ; these plain useful accomplishments were thought to comprise all that it was necessary for women to possess. That the wives of the Scotchmen of Pelham exerted great influence, as they always do, is unquestionably true : but they made their influence tell at home rather than as directors of the sewing society, as managers of the woman's board of missions, or as members of women's clubs.
We know that they must have taken a lively interest in all that pertained to the well being of the town and the church, and must have taken sides in the troubles which existed for much of the time during the pastorate of the first minister, but they are not on record. They had borne their share of the burdens of the war for liberty and saw their husbands and sons march away to fight against King George, and were pinched and oppressed by the heavy taxes imposed to carry on the war. While their husbands were away with the army, they were left at home on the farms with the old men and boys, doing the best they could to keep their children fed and clothed. Yet not a written word of their struggles and their self- denying actions is left on record for our perusal now, when we would be pleased to learn about it.
That the women of Pelham held radical opinions concerning that clerical impostor and rogue, Stephen Burroughs, does not admit of a doubt, and that they used their tongues in denouncing the wily youth quite as freely and effectively as did their husbands, sons and brothers cannot be questioned for a moment ; but no criticism of their's has come down to us. They felt the pressure of debts and sympathized with their husbands when the burdens pressed heavily and creditors seemed intent upon evicting them from their homes almost in their determination to force payment of claims; they criticized the laws and lawyers, and inveighed against the courts as volubly as their
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CONCERNING THE WOMEN OF PELHAM,
husbands during the stirring times of the Shays rebellion; but we can only guess the strong expressions they used, for the records are a blank on the subject. Probably the first name of a woman on the records of the town is that of Eloner Gray in 1760. It appears in the record of a town meeting, Nov. 14, 1760,-" first voted that there is Six Pound thirteen Shilling & four pence allowed for the Support of Eloner Gray for the Present year."
Eloner Gray was poor, possibly a widow and alone in the world. Her's is the first name of a woman assisted by the town. Later, came others whose names appear regularly for years, or until death relieved them of their poverty and distress. At a meeting Jan. 20, 1764, " It was Likewise Voted that Elizabeth Clark is allowed four Shilling for Tendance at Ordination time." The services of Eliza- beth Clark that brought her four shillings reward by vote of the town, was at the ordination of Rev. Richard Crouch Graham. She was probably one of those helpful women that know just what needs to be done on all occasions, whether it be a wedding, a funeral or an ordination, and it was well that the town appreciated her ser- vices, and still better to show their appreciation by an appropriation of money from the town treasury as partial payment-it could not have been but partial payment, for services rendered by such a woman as we conceive Elizabeth Clark to have been was worth much more than four shillings for " tendance " at such an interest- ing occasion as an ordination. In the warrant of another town meeting is the following :-
" To see what Method the town will take to help Rebeckah Selfradge for Maintaining and taking care of her Mother Elisibeth Selfradge."
This name is more frequently written Selfridge, and there were several men of that name who held responsible positions as officers of the town ; so that both Rebeckah and her mother were unquestionably worthy people, and it is fair to infer from the language of the town warrant, that Rebeckah had striven heroically to take good care of her mother and maintain her without calling upon the town, and that her efforts had been noticed by some people, who had, without any suggestion from the Selfridges, taken this method of calling the attention of the people of the town to the unselfish and plucky struggle of Rebeckah. Edward Selfridge died in 1761 and his widow Elizabeth lived until 1799 or 1800 when she died aged 95 years,
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
Rebeckah caring for her all of the nearly forty years of her widow hood.
At a town meeting, April 1, 1793, the town "Voted Rebeckah Conkey f1-ros for Boarding and Nursing Lydia Miller and child eighteen days." There is no explanation of the circumstances under which Rebeckah Conkey rendered the service for which the town voted the above sum from the town treasury, but it being an unusual form for service rendered the town poor, we assume that it was a special case of suffering, and there was need of special service, which Rebeckah Conkey rendered.
From these few isolated cases in which the names of the women of Pelham appear on the public records of a century or more ago, we are bound to assume that in the limited sphere to which the habits and customs of the times in which they lived restricted them, and under which they lived and moved and had their being, they exercised all the womanly qualities as opportunity offered, and were not troubled very much by reason of being kept in the background. They cared for the sick; they helped the unfortunate; they sympa- thized with the distressed. No young woman's marriage outfit was complete without the little linen wheel. The whir and hum of these little linen wheels in their humble homes was as melodious and more harmonious than the sounds that come from many a modern home piano under the merciless thrumming of the girls of to-day, who are no more successful in producing harmonious sounds than they would be in trying to spin flax on the little wheel.
Then came a time when the little wheel for spinning flax was laid aside because the cultivation of flax was suspended. And as factory made goods came into use, the larger and more noisy wheel for spin- ning wool, that had been carded into rolls either by hand or at the carding machine, was stored in the attic and was at rest. Early in this century the braiding or plaiting of split straw braid was taken up by the women. About the middle of June a rye field was selected where the growth was thick and vigorous, which was usually on new land from which the wood had been cut the year previous, and the green rank growth of rye was cut and tied in small bundles. These bundles were placed in hot water for a short time and then spread upon the ground, and in a few days was bleached nearly white. This straw was cut into length at the joints, submitted to the
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CONCERNING THE WOMEN OF PELHAM.
fumes of burning brimstone and the white supple straw was split in narrow splints and the women plaited them into braids of various kinds which was gathered by dealers and sold for making ladies bonnets, it being paid for by the yard. Many women occupied the spare time from domestic duties in plaiting this domestic braid. About the year 1827 the palm-leaf hat business was started. Palm- leaf cut from the trees in Cuba was imported, bleached and split by men, and distributed among the women of Pelham and other towns to be braided into hats. The women and girls and boys of the town were employed for many years at this work, and many thou- sands of hats were turned out yearly. Then came the weaving of palm-leaf into webs for making Shaker Hoods. This weaving by the women was commenced first about 1840, and was continued at inter- vals until after the War of the Rebellion when it was suspended, because women and girls preferred hats to the close unwieldly Shaker Hood, and it went out of use because fashion decreed it. Very few women braid palm-leaf hats at present, as the rebellion in Cuba pre- vents the importation of palm-leaf.
The women of Pelham, wives and daughters of the first settlers, were none of them brought up in the lap of luxury ; there were none of the farmer settlers who were rich, or able to live without work, consequently all worked,-both men and women, and the latter have been noted for their industrious habits during all the years since the town was settled.
There are a few pages of the record books on which the names of women are found but they are not the pages on which the records of the many annual and special business town meetings are spread, but it is on the few pages, where the publication of marriage intentions- marriages and the deaths are found. Omitting the record of deaths, the record of publications and marriages furnish almost the only source from which the names of women who lived in town can be obtained. No attempt will be made to give the marriages from the settlement of the town down to the present time, but from the earliest records,-the marriages from 1746 to 1822 are given so far as they are obtainable from the early record books, and the " publications " from 1769 to 1815, or such of them as do not show a record of mar- riage of the parties whose marriage intentions appears. Publication was good evidence that marriage should and did follow ; breach of promise of marriage was not common 125 years ago.
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
MARRIAGES.
Aug. 25, 1746, Robert McKee and Mary Gray, both of Pelham.
Sept. 25, 1746, John Dick and Jean McCulloch, Pelham. Nov. 10, 1746, Ephraim Whiler and Hannah Marks, of Quabin, so-called. Jan. 23, 1747, Jacob Ramsdell and Hannah Owens, of Quabin, so-called. April 2, 1747, James Hood and Easter Gray, Pelham. April 16, 1747, James Conkey and Isabel Maklem, Pelham. Jan. 7, 1748, Alexander Conkey and Sarah Maklem, Pelham.
April 25, 1748, Joseph Rinken and Elisebeth Gray, Pelham.
May 18, 1748, Andrew Smith, Holden, and Jean Clark, Pelham.
Nov. 13, 1746, Robert McCulloch, Pelham, and Margarett Smith, Kingstown.
Dec. 4, 1746, James Fergerson and Ester Thornton, Pelham. July 28, 1748, William Harkness and Ann Gray, Pelham.
Oct. 27, 1748, James Smith, Kingstown, and Margarett McCulloch, Pelham. April 14, 1749, Alex'dr McNutt and Elisebeth Maklem, Pelham.
May 18, 1749, William Petteson and Margarett King, Pelham. Feb. 8, 1750, Robert McCulloch and Sarah Cowan, Pelham. April 24, 1750, David Thomas and Elisebeth Cowan, Pelham. May 16, 1751, Robert Barber and Sarah McFarland, Pelham.
Jan. 16, 1753, Nathaniel Tagert, Blandford, and Janet Hamilton, Pelham.
Feb. 8, 1753, John Crawford and Susanna Kelso, Pelham.
Sept. 10, 1754, Isaac Gray and Mary Maklem, Pelham. Feb. 20, 1755, Alexander McCulloch and Sarah Peebels, Pelham. April 17, 1755, John Gray, Jun., and Martha Savige, Pelham.
Nov. 17, 1755, William Conkey aud Rebeckah Hamilton, Pelham. Nov. 18, 1755, David Thomas, Pelham, and Elisebeth Harper, Lancaster.
Dec. 11, 1755, Samuel Cowden, Worcester, and Margarett Gilmore, Pelham. April 8, 1756, Sam'l Wallas, Rutland, and Mary McCelland, Pelham. Dec. 28, 1756, Oliver Selfridge and Ester Smith, Pelham. Jan. 4, 1757, Sam" Cowan and Margarett Hunter, Pelham. Mar. 8, 1757, Patrick Pebbles and Margarett Taylor, Pelham.
Mar. 17, 1757, Willm Selfridge, Pelham, and Catrin McMaster, Palmer. April 7, 1757, James Harkness and Nancy Gray, Pelham. April 19, 1757, Robert Hamilton and Elisebeth Kid, Pelham. April 26, 1757, David Stoughton, Londonderry, and Mary Pebels, Pelham. Oct. 27, 1757, Henry Strongman, Greenfield, and Jennet Alexander, Pelham. Nov. 17, 1757, Rev. John Houston, Bedford, and Mrs. Ann Peebles, Pelham. Dec. 8, 1757, William Brown, Blandford, and Agness King, Pelham. Dec. 13, 1757, John Thompson and Prudence Clark, Pelham. Dec. 22, 1757, James Cowan Jun. and Elisebeth Hunter, Pelham. Jan. 19, 1759, James Hamilton and Sarah Lucore, Pelham. Feb. 22, 1759, John Young and Margerett Conkey, Pelham. Aug. 17, 1759, John Pebels, Pelham, and Mary Cunningham, Brookfield. Sept. 13, 1759, Abraham Nut, Pequige, and Sarah Gray, Pelham. Sept. 13, 1759, Robert Oliver, Pequige, and Lydia Gray, Pelham.
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CONCERNING THE WOMEN OF PELHAM.
Dec. 27, 1759, John Hamilton and Agness Sloan, Pelham. Jan. 15, 1760, William Henry, Coldrain, and Isabel Gilmore, Pelham. Feb. 12, 1760, Joseph McCraken, Worcester, and Sarah Turner, Pelham. April 1, 1760, James Turner, Pelham, and Susanna Thomas, Worcester. Oct. 21, 1760, John McCreelless, Coldrain, and Hannah Conkey, Pelham. Oct. 23, 1760, Daniel Gray and Mary Dick, Pelham.
Feb. 26, 1761, James Tafts, Worcester, and Martha Gray, Pelham.
Nov. 23, 1760, James Halburt and Janet Hunter, Pelham.
Oct. 13, 1761, John Walless, Coldrain, and Agness Linsey, Pelham.
Nov. 24, 1761, Samuel Wilson, Coldrain, and Sarah Cowan, Pelham. Dec. 3, 1761, John Sloan, Salem, and Mary Butler, Pelham.
Dec. 17, 1761, John Lindsey and Mary Thompson. Pelham. Feb. 2, 1762, John Clark, Blandford, and Ann Maklem, Pelham,
Feb. 11, 1762, Thomas Morrison, Londonderry, and Martha Clark, Pelham. Mar. 2, 1762, Robert Clark, Pelham, and Mary Patrick, Rutland.
April 13, 1762, Joshua Conky and Dinah Dick, Pelham.
Dec. 9, 1762, Thomas Hamilton, Jun., and Jennet McCulloch, Pelham. June 2, 1763, Robert Gilmore and Jean Gray, Pelham. Oct. 27, 1763, Isaac Hunter and Ketrin Dick, Pelham.
Feb. 14, 1764, James Hamilton, Coldrain, and Phebe Henderson, Pelham.
Nov. 15, 1754, Isaac Stevenson, Pelham, and Thankful Savage, Rutland.
Nov. 22, 1764, William Clark, Coldrain, and Mary Petteson, Pelham. Dec. 20, 1764, Robert Young, Athull, and Elisebeth Gray, Pelham.
Dec. 27, 1764, John Halbert, Chesterfield, and Elenor Colester, Pelham. Jan. 10, 1765, John Sloan and Ann Fergerson, Pelham.
Feb. 19, 1765, James Clark, Coldrain, and Mary Clark, Pelham. Oct. 17, 1765, George Gilmore, New Cambridge, and Elisebeth Blair, Pelham. Dec. 5, 1765, George Thompson and Mary Crosett, Pelham.
Dec. 19, 1765, Samuel Hyde and Hannah Meklem, Pelham.
June 17, 1766, Jonathan Sprague, Ashfield, and Elesebeth Clark, Pelham.
July 24, 1766, James Thompson and Mary Cowan, Pelham.
Oct. 9, 1766, Thomas Torrance, Braintree, and Agness Cochran, Pelham. Oct. 30, 1766, Mathew Gray and Sarah Barber, Pelham.
Nov. 18, 1766, William Campbell, Murryfield, and Mary Young, Pelham.
Dec. 11, 1766, James Hunter and Susanna Fergerson, Pelham.
Dec. 25, 1766, John Black, Murrayfield, and Jennet Blair, Pelham.
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