USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Rowe > History of Rowe, Massachusetts > Part 6
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world and a future world." The donation of $200 in 1803 would be equivalent to close to $1000 today.
LIBRARY.
Rowe's Social Library was organized December 18, 1797 as the result of the efforts of Rev. Preserved Smith with probably the assistance of Col. John Wells. The original agreement of 1797 stated the purpose of the society to be that " of promoting friendship & use- ful knowledge, & with a particular view of purchasing a Library, which is to be the property of said Society Jointly." The name of the " Literary Society in the town of Rowe " was adopted and so remained until the reorganization in January 1806, when it was changed to " The Social Library in Rowe." The first officers were Col. John Wells, Librarian; William Langdon, Clerk; Asa Foster, 2nd, Treasurer; Deacon Jonas Gleason, Censor; Rev. Preserved Smith, Capt. William Taylor, and Dr. Pardon Haynes, Judges. The duties of the Librarian were to have possession of the books, and keep a catalogue and record of their cost. The Censor collected "fines and taxes " and the Judges " tried and determined all causes laid before them by the censor,"- namely, any delinquencies on the part of the proprietors. The dues the first year were $3, and a fine of 17 cents was imposed for non- attendance at a meeting and 8 1-2 cents for late atten- dance. Members could sell their interest to non-mem- bers only with the society's consent, but could obtain a refund of their subscription upon moving away more than twelve miles. The original members were,- John Wells, Preserved Smith, Asa Foster, 2nd, Moses Streeter, Pardon Haynes, Standish Foster, William Langdon, William Taylor, Lewis Chandler, Jonas Gleason, Zebulon Benton, Lemuel Barret, Asa Foster,
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Nathan Foster, Sylvester Nash, Caleb Blakslee, Noah Brown, Abel Basset, Joel Hall, John Thomas, Jona- than White, Andrew Carnegie, Benjamin Olds, James Smith, Amos Negus, Matthew Middleditch, and Ezra Brown.
At first books could be borrowed and returned at any time, but this privilege was restricted in 1802 to the period from " twelve o'clock to sunset " on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month. At the reorganiza- tion in 1806, the 77 volumes, two blank books, and " Book Desk " were sold under the hammer for $41.24 " at the house of Ezra Tuttle Inholder in Rowe," and were nearly all acquired by the new Society.
STAGES AND STAGE-DRIVERS.
Rowe, being nearly four miles from the railroad, has to depend upon Uncle Sam's stage for mail service. The stage driver is always an important person and is on intimate terms with everyone on his route. John Ballou stands pre-eminent in the list of drivers and his route lay between Colrain and Monroe. Another stage connected Colrain and Greenfield. Later he became a merchant tailor with headquarters in the old Ford Hall still standing at the old centre.
Jacob Sherman traversed the same route. He used to leave his house, a short distance above Monroe Bridge in time to be ready to start from Rowe centre for Colrain at four o'clock in the morning with the mail and any passengers who might be going to the metropolis. It was a great event to take the stage in those days. Maturin Ballou of Monroe for 17 years drove the stage across the hills from Greenfield to North Adams. The railroad was completed as far west as the Tunnel in August 1868 and the stage route was shortened to connect Rowe directly with Zoar.
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Various additions have since been made to include the small group of farms in the northwestern part of Heath known as Cyrus, and even the western part of Rowe. But the main line remains Zoar to Rowe. The drivers have been Alonzo (Lon) Wilson, Horace Smith, Arthur Haynes, Jude Tuttle, Will Shumway, Charles Bishop, Leon Mishler and Will Upton.
The writer well remembers being driven up the hill to Rowe by Jude Tuttle in his sleigh one winter's day; and the driver to show his skill founded on long expe- rience, undertook without slowing up to thrust a large bunch of letters and papers bound for the western part of the town into the narrow aperture of the wooden mail box, when a sudden jerk of the horse threw him slightly off-balance and every piece fell into the snow.
The railroad early in 1868 was extended west to Shelburne Falls and travellers were compelled to con- tinue their journey by stage to North Adams. A stage left Shelburne Falls and another left North Adams each day shortly after noon, arriving about six o'clock. Stops for change of mail were made at Charlemont, Zoar and Florida. When the railroad reached the eastern end of the terminal the route was shortened and six-horse stages were established. It was an ex- citing trip as the horses were driven at full trot from the top of the mountain to the foot. The roads were rough, yet no serious accident ever occurred.
POUNDS.
There have been town pounds at various places. In September 1785 a committee was chosen " to build a Pound at the Northwest corner of the meeting house Lot 30 feet square with poles," which was the first town pound; but it must have been a temporary affair, for in 1794 it was " voted to build a pound thirty eight
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feet square seven feet high from the top of the sills to be framed with sills and plates and sawed ( !) rails 12 feet long framed into posts sufficient for said pound , be well underpined with stone six inches from the ground on the highest spot and the sills laid level." It was placed on the northwest corner of Ambrose Pot- ter's lot. Mr. Potter was the lowest bidder, was paid £5-10 in neat cattle, and became the pound-keeper. In 1822 the town voted to establish as the pound, " the Barn Yard owned by Solomon Read, near the Meeting- house." The present stone pound with wooden gate was built in 1835.
BURYING-GROUNDS.
The " center cemetery " or " north yard " as it is now called, contains the oldest gravestones in Rowe. In a deed dated March 13, 1792, from Cornelius Jones, two acres for a meetinghouse and 17 1/2 square rods for a burying ground were given to the town of Rowe. The three oldest grave stones are those of the children of Deacon William Hartwell and his wife Mary Hart- well. All three bear the date 1777 and are Lovell aged 2; Daniel, aged 5; and Mary C., aged 8. The next in point of chronology is the stone of Andrew Nelson who died in 1786 at the age of 31.
In 1802 it was voted " to allow Sherman Langdon ten Dollars for half an acre of land where the Burying place is near his house . . . or three quarters at fif- teen Dollars." This represented the actual transfer of the land now known as the West yard, but it was seven years before (1795) that a second sexton was elected to care for this cemetery. Thaddeus Merrill was so honoured. He lived a scant half mile north of the West yard and the gravestone marking the grave of his two-year old son David who died July 8, 1788, is the oldest.
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The oldest marked grave in the East yard is that of Henry Babbitt dated November 1828. However, in March 1820, there was an article in the warrant, " to hear the report of the committee for repairing the east burying ground. " At the same meeting it was " voted to choose a Committee of three to invite the People and attend to fencing " the "Burying Grounds." Joseph Chapin was the first sexton for the East yard, in 1829.
On the so-called " upper Noyes Wheeler lot," about three quarters of a mile west of the old Readsboro Road and a little distance east of Deerfield River, a half mile from the Vermont line, are four gravestones. The oldest is that of Thomas Wilcox who died in 1814 at the age of 77.
The Cressy-Peck burying ground on the Old Cres- sy farm in the southwest part of the town is another private yard.
The burying ground at Monroe Four Corners was just west of Rowe and the oldest gravestone bears the date of 1821 and the initials K. R. and C. R. Nathan Ballou, the writer's grandmother's grandfather, was buried there in 1838.
One of Rowe's old " characters " once lived on the Ebenezer Starr-Browning place midway between the old and new centres, and the story is told that his grave bears this epitaph, -
" Here lies the body of old John Dodge, Who always dodged an evil ; But after dodging all he could, He could not dodge the Devil."
In the East yard is a marble headstone erected to Angeline R. Chapin, wife of Lyman T. Chapin, who died in 1853. Inserted in a square cut in the stone, is a daguerreotype of Mrs. Chapin which is in an excel-
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lent state of preservation. There is a similar cut but no daguerreotype in a neighboring stone erected in 1858. The writer remembers several of these cut stones in the Whitingham cemetery and one daguer- reotype was legible before it was removed. In fact, it was not uncommon to insert these likenesses in grave- stones in other parts of New England in the 1850's.
In the West yard we find several stones of especial interest. One is erected to David Barrett who died " at Wms. College 4, April 1825 AE 16."
Another bears the name of Miss Anna Searles who died in 1832 at the age of 60. The stone in its solitary position testifies to the single loneliness of the lady. There are also two very old native stones crudely worked, one with the initials W. T. and the other E. T. Can this be that of William Taylor, the town's first selectman? Another stone in a remote corner is that of " Margaret O'Flaherty Late from Ireland," who died in 1848 at the age of 20. What induced this young girl to migrate to the hill-tops of Rowe? Did she die friendless? We trust not, for though her grave is re- moved from the others, it is provided with both head- stone and footstone.
POSTMASTERS.
Following is a list of the postmasters who have served at Rowe, from the establishment of the office to the present time, together with the dates of their appointment, -
Samuel H. Reed Samuel H. Reed .John Ballou Edward Wright George M. Ballou
January 27, 1820 April 27, 1837
March 31, 1854
March 16, 1868
March 17, 1873
Edmund E. Amidon
March 25, 1875
Benjamin T. Henry
July 21, 1884
Gilbert A. Christie
October 8, 1914
Mrs. Grace G. Stanford
July 13, 1917
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HISTORY OF ROWE
The above names and dates were furnished by the U. S. Post Office Department, but tradition would add the names of Solomon Reed, Solomon R. Drury, and John C. Drury. The post office was at the old center until 1874 or 1875 when it was removed to the village.
The representatives to the General Court for Rowe have been as follows, -
1831 Col. Noah Wells 1842 Ebenezer Starr
1832 Ebenezer Merrill
1843 Samuel H. Reed
1833 Col. Noah Wells 1846 Solomon R. Drury
1835 Samuel H. Reed 1848 Solomon Amidon
1836 Samuel H. Reed 1851 Col. Noah Wells
1837 Moses Gleason 1852 Col. Noah Wells
1839 Solomon Reed
1853 John C. Drury
1841 William Taylor
1854 Col. Noah Wells
In the other years, Rowe sent no representative. In 1857, the state was apportioned under the revised con- stitution, with one representative for 850 votes, and the district included besides Rowe, - Buckland, Charlemont, Heath and Monroe. From Rowe, E. H. Stamford represented the district in 1861; Rev. Sam- uel P. Everett in 1866 and again in 1871; Veniah M. Porter in 1881 and 1882; Charles B. Newell in 1891; and Henry D. Wright in 1912, 1913 and 1914.
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CHAPTER VIII.
JOHN ROWE.
" We shall never be all of one mind in our political principles. I desire no more candour from those who differ from me, than I ever have been, and ever shall be ready to shew to them."
Thomas Hutchinson.
We have seen in a previous chapter that the Legis- lature bestowed upon the town in 1785, the name, not of Exeter as was asked for by the petitioners, but of Rowe, in all probability in honor of John Rowe, a well- to-do Boston merchant and man of affairs.
John Rowe was born in Exeter, England, November 27, 1715, the oldest of the eleven children of Joseph and Mary Rowe. Three of the sons came to America, John, Jacob and William Syntol. John must have come over when a young man, as in 1736 he purchased a warehouse on Long Wharf, from which fact by the way, we infer that he brought some means with him. William Syntol came in 1749 or 1750 to visit his broth- ers and then sailed to Oporto. Jacob came seven years after John, later went to Quebec where he became assistant commissary general; and after John's death returned to Boston. Jacob's descendants, through his son John, are the only members of the family in Amer- ica today.
John Rowe in 1743 married Hannah Speakman, a beautiful and accomplished woman, whose sister mar- ried Ralph Inman, the Cambridge Loyalist. The Rowes were childless, but their house was often filled with young people, - Mrs. Rowe's nephews, the Speakmans and Inmans, her nieces the In- mans and her cousin John Inman. They adopted Mrs. Rowe's niece, Susanna Inman. Susanna or
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" Sukey " as she was called by her uncle John, mar- ried September 1, 1772, at the age of eighteen, Captain John Linzee, then in command of the British warship Beaver. Three days after the wedding Captain Linzee sailed away with his bride, not to return until the out- break of the Revolution. On Easter Sunday, April 16, 1775 they entered Boston harbor and the Linzees with their first-born at once were welcomed to the home of the Rowes. April 19, 1775, John Rowe records in his diary : " Capt. Linzee and Capt. Collins in two small armed vessels were ordered to bring off the troops to Boston, but Lord Percy and General Smith thought proper to encamp on Bunker Hill this night." This, of course, refers to the disastrous expedition of the British to Concord and the ignominious retreat to Charlestown. Mrs. Linzee and her child remained with the Rowes until January 1776 and Captain Linzee visited them frequently. After Sukey Inman's mar- riage John Rowe adopted Jack, son of his brother Jacob who was then at Quebec.
Rowe became one of the principal merchants of Bos- ton. His imported merchandise included such varied articles as salt, teas, wines, silk stockings, Spanish silk, ribbons, linens and woolens. He was one of the Pro- prietors of Long Wharf, and today Rowe's Wharf bears his name. His ships crossed the ocean and entered the coastwise trade. He was part owner of one of the ships which brought over the tea destined to be thrown into the harbor, and in his diary he records : " I would rather have lost five hundred Guineas than Bruce should have taken any of this Tea on board his Ship." There is a tradition that Rowe sat on the plat- form with Samuel Adams in the Old South Meeting House on the evening of Dec. 16, 1773, and uttered the prophecy, " Who knows how tea will mingle with salt
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water;" but his diary records a different story. " Dec. 16. I being a little Unwell staid at home all Day and all the evening. . . . A number of People appearing in Indian Dresses went on board the three Ships Hall, Bruce and Coffin, they opened the Hatches, hoisted out the Tea and flung it overboard - this might I believe have been prevented. I am sincerely sorry for the Event. Tis said near two thousand People were pres- ent at this affair."
He became the owner of considerable property. This included his residence on Pond Lane, now Bedford Street, where he lived until his death, February 17, 1787, and where his widow remained until her death in 1805. He owned various houses and lots in other parts of Boston and an estate in Milton. He also owned property in Dighton, Plymouth, Malden, Med- ford, Gloucester, Stoughton, Grafton, Hardwick, Deer- field, Shelburne, and also in Hartford and Woodstock, Connecticut. The Massachusetts Centinel, in noting his death, called him " an eminent merchant of this place." John Adams listed him among the very rich men, and one of those who had acquired wealth by his own industry, - unlike Hancock, Bowdoin, and Pitts, who had acquired it by marriage or descent.
His biographer describes Rowe's political senti- ments as those of a moderate. We may be sure that he was public spirited. He served on many committees appointed by the town or by merchants to set forth the grievances of the Colony. While not a leader among the Sons of Liberty, he enjoyed the full confidence of his fellow citizens, and we find his name linked with those of such red-blooded patriots as Samuel Adams, John Hancock and James Otis. In fact it was upon the motion of Samuel Adams that he was chosen a Rep- resentative to the General Court in 1766. The follow-
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ing year he was a selectman with John Hancock and Samuel Sewall.
The crisis was rapidly approaching, and John Rowe in common with most of the Boston merchants was thinking of his property. Although he had held vari- ous offices, he had met defeat at the hands of Otis, Samuel Adams, Hancock and Cushing. After his defeat in 1767, he was not afterwards a candidate for Representative for thirteen years. We give little weight to any theory that personal pique may have actuated his motives, but it is natural for a man of property to be repelled by the thought of forcible resis- tance to the established government. Nevertheless, Rowe was not a Loyalist. He endeavored to steer a middle course. His sympathies for the most part were with his countrymen, yet he could not forget as Han- cock did, his large property investments. To do him justice, we must put ourselves back, in imagination, into the circumstances amid which his opinions were formed. He could not foresee the subsequent events ; and although we may heartily disapprove of his lack of action, yet to paint a true picture we must depict John Rowe as a man of high character and real patri- otism.
The British evacuated Boston March 17, 1776. Two days later Rowe records: " Gen1 Washington and his Retinue were in Town yesterday, I did not hear of it otherwise should have paid my Respects and waited on him." A few days later he sent an invitation to Wash- ington to dine and received " a very Polite Answer." Through this trying period Rowe attended town meet- ings faithfully and in 1780 he was again chosen a Rep- resentative, which office he retained until 1784. In Fleet's Almanack and Register for 1787 we find the following: "J. Rowe Esq obt 17th Feb 1787 Etat anae
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-72 - Gratitude demands a Tear." Here we find the key, - the General Court after his last term was ended, out of gratitude named the new township in the northwestern part of the State for one of Boston's true benefactors.
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CHAPTER IX.
ROWE'S MILITARY HISTORY.
"Every particle of historical truth is precious."
Benjamin Church.
During the Revolutionary War, Rowe was known as Myrifield Plantation; and the soldiers who enlisted usually spelled it Merryfield. In response to the alarm of April 19, 1775, two companies of minute-men set out for Boston on April 21st., one composed entirely of Myrifield citizens under Capt. Gideon Chapin, and one recruited from Charlemont, Shelburne and Myri- field under Capt. Oliver Avery of Charlemont. August 14, 1777 a detachment from the Myrifield company under Sergeant Nathaniel Corbet marched to Ben- nington, probably by way of Readsboro. Outside of these two brief " campaigns," the records of Myri- fieldians are scattered. Several were at Valley Forge, and tradition has it that one was a member of Wash- ington's Body-guard .* Aaron Barr was the first man killed at Bunker Hill. Rev. Cornelius Jones is said to have borne arms until the surrender of Burgoyne. Some were in the northern campaign around Ticon- deroga.
The seventeen volumes compiled by the State give their records in some detail and below we list the names only.
Aaron Barr (Burr) Darius Barr
Alexander Teakels Dependence Thayer Craft Davice
Moses Barr Thomas Bartlett
Ezekiel Davice
* The name of Jonathan Cressy is not mentioned in the State Archives, but Mrs. Peck states that he was for three years in Wash- ington's Body-guard.
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George Bennet
Theodorus Doty George Gaby
Bartholomew Bartlett
Benjamin Brown
Josiah Gilbert
Consider Brown
John Gill ( ?)
Matthew Brown
John Gilley
Robert Brown
Aaron Gleason
Charles Cambell
Asa Gleason
Gad Chapen
Henry Gleason
Shadrach Chapen
Jonas Gleason
Abner Chapen
Jonathan Gleason
Gideon Chapen
William Hartwell
Jesse Collis ( ?) Eldad Corbet
Cornelius Jones
Nathaniel Corbet
Patrick King
Andrew McNitt
Jonathan Lamb
John McNitt ( ?)
William Lamb
Samuel Moore
Joseph Thomas
Timothy Nolton
Samuel Tower
Nathaniel Parker
Nathan Wheeler
Leonard Pike
Jonathan Whight
Leonard Pique
Timothy Whight
Caleb Robinson
Jonathan White
Thomas Shearman
David Wier
Jacob Streeter
Henry Willson
William Stel (Steel)
Noah Willson
Charles Stewart
Henry Wilson
John Taylor
Malachi Wilson
Humphrey Taylor
Michael Wilson
William Taylor
David Wire
John Gill's address is "Maryfield."
In a number of cases apparently the same name is spelled differently. Eldad Corbet is listed in four dif- ferent places; there is a Gad Chapen and a Gad Cha- pin. David Wier and David Wire probably are one and the same. Henry Willson was a lad of 18; per- haps Henry Wilson was our good deacon who was one of the town fathers ten years later. Timothy Whight may be Timothy White. John McNitt had no address against his name but he was in the same company with Andrew McNitt and a John McNitt lived on the north road to Readsborough.
James Howard
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HISTORY OF ROWE
There are available no good records of the War of 1812, or Madison's War as it was then called and should be so named today. In September 1814, orders were issued for calling out the militia of the state for the defence of the sea-coast. October 6, 1814 the town of Rowe voted " to pay the Expense of the Waggons for Transporting the Soldiers, by the Town " . and " to raise one Hundred and thirty Dollars to de- fray the expense of the detached Militia who have been called into service." History does not enlighten us as to the names of those who were so called.
Rowe furnished 65 men in the Civil War (1861-1865) or three more than her quota. The list includes the following : -
Emory P. Andrews
Jasper C. Miller
James M. Allen
Houghton Paine
William Bemis
James H. Paine
Abel C. Bliss
Nathaniel R. Rice
Carpenter Bliss
Albert Scott
Waitstill Bliss
Charles H. Scott
J. Franklin Brown
Thomas L. Scott
Newton L. Brown
Lyman Scott
Reuel Bullard
Russell Sears
Everett E. Cressey
Russell Stafford
George Cressey
Chauncey Stafford, Jr.
Rodolphus D. Fish
Luther Stafford
John Fitzgerald
Joseph A. Sibley
Adoniram J. Gleason
Philo Sibley, Jr.
J. H. Harrington
Leroy S. Stanford
Charles H. Hathaway
E. M. Stephens
John W. Haynes David Henry
Royal W. Stone
Hiland H. Hicks
George A. Wilcox Luman Wilcox
George R. King
Alonzo M. Wilson
John Leonard
Richard Woffenden
Judson Lovely William Lynet
Henry C. Wright
R. M. Wilson
Thomas Love
Amos Temple Andrew Thorrington
George R. Jeffords
William Kelley
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In the Spanish War (1898) Rowe was not directly represented. The town's sole claim rests in Timothy Kiley of Montague who enlisted as a volunteer at Miller's Falls, May 3, 1898, in Company E. 2nd Regi- ment. He was not discharged until the following No- vember, but was absent on sick leave; and the writer remembers riding past his father's house (now owned by Adelbert Truesdell) in August of that year, and on hearing the strains of " Johnny Comes March- ing Home," young Kiley hobbled to the door to wave his acknowledgment of the serenade.
In the spring of 1922 a memorial was built in front of the town hall to those who saw service in the Great War (1917-1918). The bronze tablet contains these names, -
Harry Blakeslee
Sylvester Kidd (killed)
Howard Blakeslee
Clifford Laplant
Edward Boulli
Oscar Larsen
Leon Brown
Austin Liese
Herbert Carroll
Cyrus Liese
John Deane
Howard Liese
Louis Farley
Hugh Murphy
Levi Gamache
Arthur Sartori
Edward Henderson
Harry Woffenden
Harry Hunt
The inscription reads, -
" The right is more precious than peace and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts."
In the early days the town maintained a militia company. The first officers were : Captain, N. Corbett; 1st Lieutenant, A. Chapin; 2nd Lieutenant, N. Mer- rill. The succeeding captains have been Paul Thayer, John Wells, Pardon Haynes, Zebulon Benton, Jona- than Marsh, Stephen Brown, James Brown, Solomon Reed, Noah Wells, Samuel H. Reed, John Taylor, Wil- liam Taylor, M. Shumway, S. Wheeler, J. W. Wheeler and John Thomas.
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HISTORY OF ROWE
CHAPTER X. OLD PEOPLE AND TRADITIONS.
" Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us." Psalm 78.
The name of Deacon Archibald Thomas stands out as second only to that of Cornelius Jones in the old Plantation days. He was a deacon in Rev. Mr. More- head's First Church in Boston when the Reverend Mr. Jones purchased this tract at the auction in 1762 at the Royal Exchange Tavern in King Street, and perhaps it was on this occasion that these two gospel lovers met each other. Not long after 1770 Deacon Thomas took his family into the barren wilds of the new Township No. 10 from Colrain where he had had two children born in 1769 and 1770. We see his hand in the peti- tions for incorporation sent to the General Court in 1782 and 1783, the latter proving successful. He was the town's first constable and later held various offices. Mr. Thomas and Jonas Gleason were the first deacons in Rowe. He died in 1793 in his 86th year. Capt. Wil- liam Taylor was one of the Worcester county men to follow Cornelius Jones in the early days of the settle- ment, probably before 1770. In March 1786 the town voted to allow " Capt. Willm Taylor for his extraordi- nary services in the (year) 1785 for the Town 13/6 To Mr. Isaac Langdon do 15/o Moses Streeter do 12/0."
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