USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Rowe > History of Rowe, Massachusetts, third ed > Part 8
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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. Merrill. The succeeding cap- tains have been Paul Thayer, John Wells, Pardon Haynes, Zebulon Benton, Jonathan Marsh, Stephen Brown, James Brown, Solomon Reed, Noah Wells, Samuel H. Reed, John Taylor, William Taylor, M. Shumway, S. Wheeler, J. W. Wheeler and John Thomas.
THE MUSTER-ROLL OF CAPT. P. HAYNES, MAY 5, 1795 Pardon Haynes, Captain
Shadrick Chapin, Lieutenant William Fuller, Ensign
Ambrose Potter, Sarjeant Samuel Bell, Music Benjamin Merril, Music
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Stephen Brown, Sarjeant
Samuel Kellogg
Jonathan Marsh, Sarjeant
Jonathan Hartwell, Corporal
John Cheney, Sarjeant
Asa Foster, Corporal
Eleazer Ames (?)
John Thomas, Corporal
Isaiah Adams
John Hamelton
Consider Brown
Joel Hill
Jacob Bliss
Jonah Hill
Cornelius Barr
Gideon Langdon
Abel Basset
Sleuman Langdon
Isaac Braman
Amzi Langdon
Jeddediah Coburn
Thaddeus Merrill
David Corbet
Joseph Merrill
Thomas Cheney
Eli McNitt
Gideon Chapin Jr.
James Streeter
Alpheus Chapin
Obadiah Stafford
Silas Colton
Job Stafford
Eli Colton, Jr.
Benjamin Tuttle
Reuben Clark
Henry Wilson Jr.
Abner Chapin Jr.
Martin Wilson
David Chapin
Warren Wilson
Eliphalet Cutting, Jr.
Erastus Wait
Louis Chandler
Calvin Bellus
Festus Foster
Jeddediah Barret
Nathaniel Gleason
Isaac Coopper
Jonas Gleason Jr.
Baldwin Potter
Stephen Gleason
Daniel Gleason
Thomas Goodnow Jr.
Nathan Nolton
Benjamin Horley
Levi Ray
Abner Goodnow
Reuben Gleason
Stephen Goodnow
Timothy Knolton
Joseph Knolton
Elishu Graves
Benj. Knolton
Juna Adams Wilson
There were 51 muskets, 33 bayonets, 52 cartridge boxes, 41 iron rods, 12 bayonet belts, 120 flints.
In 1956 the town voted $500 for an Honor Roll and All Wars Memorial. In 1958 the appropriation was increased to a total of $1600 and a "Goshen Stone" monument was erected just south of the library. This monument has four bronze tablets. The World War 1 tablet was moved from the old memorial in front of the town hall, and three new ones contained the names from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and World War II. The dedication of this All Wars Veterans Memorial was part of the ceremony on "Old Home Day" in July 1958.
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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 sec- ond only to that Cornelius Jones in the old Plantation days. He was a deacon in Rev. Morehead'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 child- ren born in 1769 and 1770. His daughter Margaret was
We see his hand in the peti- born in Rowe in July 1773.
tions for incorporation sent to the General Court in 1782 and 1783, the latter proving successful. He was the town's
Mr. Thomas first constable and later held various offices. He and Jonas Gleason were the first deacons in Rowe.
died in 1793 in his 86th year. Deacon Jonas Gleason had a son in July 1774, and he died in April 1815. Capt. William Taylor was one of the Worcester county men to follow Cor- nelius Jones in the early days of the settlement, perhaps be- fore 1770, although his deed is dated 1777. Humphrey Taylor's deed is dated 1778, but he had a daughter born in Rowe in February 1773. In March 1786 the town voted to allow "Capt. Willm Taylor for his extraordinary services in the (year) 1785 for the Town 13/6 To Mr. Isaac Langdon do 15/0 Moses Streeter do 12/0."
Tradition has it that Eldad Corbet was the first pioneer to follow Cornelius Jones, although his deed from Mr. Jones is dated 1777. His farm is now known as the Everett-Smith- Brown place. Captain Nathaniel Corbet built the old stone
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house, but his farm was on the west side of the road and his house-site a few rods northerly of the stone house. We find him a highway surveyor in 1785. Nathaniel Corbet was in Milford in 1765, in Charlemont from June 1767 to October 1770, and in Rowe as early as September 1772. He died in 1812. Capt. Benjamin Brown had a son born in Rowe in 1772, Moses Streeter a son in 1773, William Lamb a daughter in 1772, Seth Howard a daughter in 1776, and John McNitt a daughter in 1777. The Chapins were early settlers. Lieut. Abner Chapin having a son in March 1770 and Lieut. Gideon Chapin a son in 1771.
The Fosters filled a large niche in town and church affairs. Jude Foster came between 1780 and 1782. Nathan Foster came from Western (now Warren) and had a daughter born in 1782.
Little is known of Henry Wilson outside of the fact that he was a deacon in the early days. In January 1786 the town allowed him £2-0-8 "for services which he has done for the Town in the course of seven years past." He held various offices including chairman of the selectmen from 1792 to 1794 and of the school committee.
Henry Wilson, Jr., was born in 1760 and came to Merry- field in 1777. He served five years in the War of which ten months was spent in a "loathsome prison."
It is difficult to state who was the first physician in Rowe. Dr. I. Ward Clary was an early settler and he is mentioned in March 1786 in the description of the road east of the meeting house. He had children born in Rowe in 1785 and 1789. He was elected town clerk in 1788. Dr. Heaton is mentioned in March 1787 as owning property a short dis- tance north of the meeting house. Dr. Pardon Haynes was elected hogrief in 1790 having come to Rowe in 1788. Can it be that this region supported three doctors? Mrs. Archi- bald Thomas antedated them all, if the brewing of herbs is
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considered the work of a medical practitioner. As a testi- mony to her skill, she lived to be 106. Her neighbor Judah Goodspeed,* who dwelt south of Adams Mountain, lived so long (to the age of 101), that he was wont to say, "God has forgotten me."
Pardon Haynes was the town physician for many years, namely from 1788 to 1832. In the seating of the meeting house in 1820 he was rated second only to Rev. Preserved Smith. The town in 1825 allowed only a part of his bill of $81.87 "for doctoring" various families in the town and he was oblidged to enter suit in order to collect the whole. He was born in New London, Conn., in 1762 and when 15, came with his father to Hoosac. He studied medicine with a brother; and after a short practice in Hebron, N. Y. he came to Rowe where he built up a large practice. His travelling was mostly by horseback and in winter occasional- ly on snow-shoes; and many tales are told of his narrow escapes when fording the Deerfield or the like. Under commissions from Governors John Hancock and Samuel Adams he commanded the military company and had the best-disciplined company in Gen. Mattoon's regiment. We should not confuse old Doctor Haynes with his son Pardon Haynes who was a practical joker. The son lived on the Canedy farm on the County Road (more than one road was thus called in the old records and later dropped). Often preferring to work than to attend church, the younger Hay- nes one Sunday perceived his neighbor Josiah Carpenter ap- proaching on his way to the sanctuary. Being in the potato patch, he had no time to dodge behind the house, but sought a hiding place in a hogshead. Now his brother Anson Haynes who was known to be a little "queer", took in the situation and quietly came up and set the hogshead rolling
*'There is an old story that Mrs. Goodspeed refused to ride behind her husband, on the pillion attached to the rear of the saddle: but always rode in front, with Judah meekly astride behind her.
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down hill. The sequel may be left to the reader's imagina- tion. Pardon Haynes liked to play jokes on the other fellow. It seems that Abijah Burnap was elected to the school com- mittee which was an agreeable job, all except-travelling to obtain new teachers, for he had no team. He was heard to complain on this score and thought that some of his neigh- bors might lend him a horse. One morning he found a horse of wood near his door with tail and mane made of small spruce trees. Grandma Grundy says that it was the work of "that Pardon Haynes."
Dr. Humphrey Gould came to Rowe as successor to Dr. Haynes, whose daughter he married. He also lived on the farm later owned by the late Edward Wright, and his daugh- ter, the latter married. The old inhabitants remember Dr. Gould as "a fine courtly man, well educated, a good neighbor," and a constant attendant at church. He was absentminded and of course this led to many ludicrous mis-
takes. He was usually the first one to bring out his sleigh, after the first fall of snow. The writer's grandmother was born in Monroe in 1833 and Dr. Gould assisted on that oc- casion. Amzi Langdon one day came for the doctor in great haste and said that the well-sweep had fallen on his wife and knocked her sensible! Dr. Gould died in 1874 at the ripe age of 77.
The Langdons cannot be passed by without mentioning Gideon Langdon, a name which strikes the ear as most eupho- nious. All that is left of his homestead is a cellar-hole with the remains of a once massive chimney. His was the next house north of Preserved Smith's on the Readsboro road. The floor boards of the house were pinned down with inch pins of wood, a process called "tree-nailing." The late Joseph A. Sibley, one-time blacksmith and a good friend of the writer, used to point out the abandoned farms along this once populous road; and pointing to this one said, "When a boy I often used to toast my shins in front of Mrs. Lang-
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don's fire." One Monday morning Gideon Langdon and his wife drove to church "all dressed up in their Sunday best," and did not discover their mistake until they saw the usual week-day activities around the store. He died in 1860, aged 81.
Deacon John Thomas, the grandson of Deacon Archibald Thomas, was born in Rowe in 1774 and lived to the good old age of 86. It is said that he did not attend school until he was fourteen, so that he had to study hard to make up and ever after took an interest in local education. He taught school when there were many scholars, was captain in the militia, selectman and town clerk, superintendent of schools, and what he probably desired to be remembered chiefly for was superintendent of the Sabbath School in the Church. His old two-story house no longer stands in the north part of the town on the Potter-Porter cross road, de- fying the winter winds in its exposed position. A later tenant once remarked, "Yes it is a real sightly spot."
One Peter Louden went to work for old Martin Wilson, and Mrs. Wilson apologized for her "pick-up" dinner as she had been washing and expected no one. Peter felt he should say something, so ventured, "There's plenty of it such as 'tis," then thought something was wrong, so continu- ed, "I mean there's enough of it without 'twas better."
Before giving our attention to the later worthies, it might be of interest to touch upon the early lay-out of the town. Cornelius Jones held on to what is now known as the Wells- Ford farm, a half-mile east of the meeting house, and his mowing lots were perhaps the nearest to level land of any in town. Gideon and Shadrach Chapin took land east of him.
Matthew Barr settled in the north east corner of the old Myrifield plot on what we know as the Veniah Porter farm (deed dated 1781). Next west on the Deacon Thomas farm settled Archibald Thomas, Jr. (deed dated 1775), and Mr.
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Jones deducted the 2-rod highway across from east to west. John Taylor bought in 1777 the farm next to the west, owned recently by Amos Underwood, with allowance for a 4-rod highway, Humphrey Taylor in 1778 bought the next place south (known as the Bolton farm) with similar highway allowance, and in January 1777 William Taylor of Pelham bought the next place south (known as the Bullard-Potter farm), with similar 4-rod allowance. Next west of John Taylor's on the Vermont line, and bordering on the old Readsborough Road, we find a deed of 1778 from Ebenezer Saunders of Leicester to Joel Dickenson of Shutesbury. It is not clear that either of them were settled there, but in 1784 Joseph Cressy of Tolland, Conn. bought the farm for £ 155. He was father of Jonathan and Washington Cressy who later settled in the southwestern part of the town. Next south of the above, and west of Humphrey Taylor's, we find a deed of May 1778 from Mr. Jones to Seth Howard, and another deed of January 1779, from Howard to Joseph Steel, who later got into trouble in connection with Shays' In- surrection. The house site is discernible on the old cross road which ran westerly from the Bolton cellar hole to the Wheeler-Wilcox place, and the peaceful cinnamon roses offer no trace of their former owner's belligerent proclivities. Perhaps they were planted when Asa Foster of New Salem subsequently lived on the place. Next south and west of William Taylor's we find Standish Foster and later Gideon Langdon. Returning to the Vermont line again on the west side of the Readsborough-Bennington Road, we have Benjamin Brown of Leicester, followed by Edward Upham. Next south is Ebenezer Saunders again, now known as the old Wilcox place, then next south is Nathan Wheeler of Mendon (1774), who in turn sold to John McNitt. Coming back to the old center of the town, we find Abiel Lamb as the first owner of the land on the west side of the highway, extending from the former road opposite the Wright farm, northerly to include the Robert Wells farm. He sold in
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1778 to Jason Cady of Shutesbury. After this the property
was split up into various parcels. Jonas Gleason in 1774 bought the Bullard-Shippee farm, and the farm next to the north was bought by Eldad Corbet in 1777, which lies to the west of Nathaniel Corbet's. The latter's house site is on the crest of the knoll on the west side of the old road north of the old center and a few rods northwest of the old stone house. Phineas Ward in 1775 bought the farm south of Jonas Gleason's which includes the present house of the late Ide Brown and the Nelson cellar hole. The farm on the south side of the road, where the Amidons later settled, was first bought in 1786 by Michael Wilson.
Artemas Ward settled to the southward of the centre and he became the first miller. Abijah, Levi, Jedediah and Jonathan also settled in the neighborhood of Factory Vil- lage .* Aaron Gleason settled to the east of the Chapins towards the Green and Walker Grant. Later, in 1794, Moses Gleason built the house later occupied by David Henry and George Stanford and now owned by Prof. E. Elwood Stanford, Ph. D. John Adams settled on the southwestern slope of Adams Mountain, and his house lot now belongs to the author. An old story has it that nearer the top and on the northeast slope is springy land which sends up a mist before stormy weather, and neighbors would say, "Old John is putting on his night-cap, a storm is brewing." John
Dr. Clary lived be- Adams died in 1813 at the age of 93.
tween Jones and the meeting house. Reuben Clark lived on the Sanford-Legate-Newell place this side of the top of the hill leading down to Monroe Bridge, but soon moved down onto the Zoar road. Obed Foote of Waterbury, Conn. is said to have built the first two-story house in town near Cornelius Jones. £ He sold his farm to Samuel Wells in 1785. For some years the town developed more rapidly to the east and north of the centre.
*A deed of 1821 indicates a blacksmith shop by the bridge over Pelham Brook in Factory Village.
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John Henry Haynes was born in Rowe in 1849, the son of John W. and Emily Taylor Haynes. He grew up on his father's farm, attending the district school, and entered Drury Academy in North Adams in 1868 where he graduated in 1872. He then entered Williams College and took his degree in 1876. Thereafter he served as principal of the Williamstown High School for four years. After a brief period in South Hadley Falls, he took charge of an explora- tory expedition to Crete; but owing to Turkish opposition, was forced to remain in Constantinople, where he acted as tutor in Robert College. Later he taught in a small College
in Syria. In 1888 he became business manager of the first and second archeological expeditions under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania. He was United States Con- sul at Bagdad from 1888 to 1892; but that for which he is best remembered is his directorship of the Nippur expedi- tions from 1893 to 1895 and from 1899 to 1900. He re-
turned to North Adams where he lived quietly until his death, June 29, 1910. Many scientific men paid tributes to this well-known archeologist, and contributed to the cost of his monument which is a replica of the black obelisk of Shalmaneser who lived in Babylonia in 850 B. C.
Another graduate of Williams College was John Wells, son of Noah Wells. Born on the old Wells farm in Rowe which once was the Cornelius Jones homestead, he attended the centre school and later took his bachelor's degree at Williams College in 1838, when he delivered the valedictory address. After a short period of teaching, he studied law in the Greenfield office of his uncle Daniel Wells and at the Harvard Law School. He then practised law in Chicopee with George M. Stearns and with Judge A. L. Soule in Spring- field. He represented Chicopee in the Legislature in 1849, 1851 and 1857. When the probate and insolvency judge- ships were united the following year, John Wells was ap- pointed to the position. He attended the Chicago Conven- tion which nominated Lincoln in 1860, as an alternate dele-
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gate, and in 1864 he was a Presidential elector. The next year he was returned to the Legislature, but the following year was defeated as a result of his courageous stand on the question of volunteer bounties .* His ambition, however, was achieved by his selection in 1866 for the State Supreme Court, a choice which pleased the entire bar of western Massachusetts.
As a Judge he was just and considerate although perhaps not brilliant. To quote an associate,-"His opinions con- tain few dicta, which as has often happened to many showy judges, ... will have hereafter to be denied, qualified or ex- plained." Judge Wells was one of the founders of the Chicopee Unitarian Church, for many years superintendent of the Sunday School and leader of the choir. He was pre- sident of the old Cabot bank, treasurer of the Cabot and West Springfield bridge, president of the American Uni- tarian and of the Williams College Alumni associations.
The Wells family has played a large part in the history of the town. John Wells came from Greenfield in 1785 to the farm purchased for him by his father Samuel Wells from Obed Foote, which is situated at the north-east corner of the junction of the main east-west road and the north road lead- ing to Sadawga and Readsboro. He served the town in many capacities and was commissioned Lieut. Colonel, of the Fifth Regiment, Second Brigade, Fourth Division of the Militia of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in 1797. He was also appointed Justice of the Peace, and we know of his handling the problems of the Rowe malefactors at the time of Shays' Insurrection in 1786-1787. His son Noah Wells also became a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Sheriff, Colonel (1823-1826) of the Fifth Regiment, County Commissioner (1835), and he was elected to the State House of Representa- tives five times and to the State Senate in 1841. Altogether
*The same problem with regard to the Veterans' Bonus, plagued legislatures after the two Great Wars.
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he was a substantial citizen. He purchased the saw-mill in 1818 and Chapin's Grist Mill in 1822, and became interested in the Franklin Manufacturing Co. (the satinet factory). There is a paper showing his purchase of four shares in 1845, (par $100) for $300, which price indicates the decline in the company's affairs.
The Amidons came to Rowe from Readsboro. Their first house lot was southeast of the town pound and on the crest of the knoll, and the cellar-hole is still to be seen. A pretty jingle goes like this-Amidon Roger, Amidon Joseph, Amidon Daniel D., Amidon Harry, Amidon Elbert, Amidon Edmund E. The latter, known to all as Uncle Ed,* injured his leg during logging operations so he kept the store from 1852. He had previously worked in the saw-mill, and in 1848 turned out wooden bowls which were forwarded to James Ford in California for the purpose of "washing" gold.
Jim Zeland was an "itinerant cobbler" going from house to house with his kit of tools and probably carrying a few lasts in a leather apron slung over his back. We can pic- ture the barefoot boy standing on the kitchen floor or on a paper having the shape of his foot outlined with charcoal. The cobbler measured the long slender foot of Mrs. Amidon three times, then held up the string and said, "Ah-mazing!"
Asa Foster II in a deed of 1797 is described as "Cordwain- er" (shoemaker).
The tailoress followed the cobbler, with goose, buckram and shears, cutting and making the garments of homespun. Prudy Fellows is remembered as one who "went around sewing," and an earlier tailoress was Jemima Middleditch who lived "over west." She received an offer of marriage from a widower with several children; and in her indecision
*As a boy I used to watch "Uncle" Ed Amidon make handmade shingles. He would quarter, split and then shave them on a wooden "horse", and later dip them. Dipped, hand-made, shingles would last for many years more than the sawed kind.
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as to the wisdom of accepting, she sought outside advice.
She was told that if she refused, she would probably re- gret it, and if she accepted the result would be similar; so she chose the latter course with the conclusion that if re- grets were inevitable, it were better to have help in bearing them.
Lucinda Bullard was born in Rowe, March 17, 1835 north of the old center in the picturesque old stone house which was an object of interest for many years after the family moved away from it to another farm and it gradually fell to ruins. It was built entirely of field stone and dates from the latter part of the eighteenth century at which time such a structure was rare indeed. Her girlhood was spent in Rowe and she had only the advantages of a district school education, but she was a natural student and was always studying as long as she lived. She taught herself Latin and Botany after she reached middle life, and was especially keen in mathematics. As was the custom of the bright village girls, she taught school while still very young and was very successful. At nineteen, she was married in the stone house to Stephen J. Ballou (grandson of Nathan the pioneer) of Monroe and went there for a time to live with his parents. Later, they moved to Eastern Massachusetts where her husband engaged in various business enterprises. He was never a robust man and died at the age of forty-six. To him, and to their three children, she was a devoted wife and mother. After his death, she took up the study of medicine and became a successful homeopathic physician until ill health came upon her and she passed away at the age of fifty-four. She had great strength of character, an active and fearless mind, and a tender and loving heart. Her life held many disappointments and much sorrow, but she rose above all and was always brave, strong, and hope- ful. Besides the closer relationships, she was a devoted daughter to her husband's parents in their old age, and the
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true and valued friend of her patients. In the days when it took courage to stand for temperance principles she was one of their staunchest supporters, and never allowed self- interest to silence her voice or mar her influence. She had much musical talent and was for years the leading singer in Concord where she lived though she never had the time or money to cultivate her voice as she longed to do. A splendid type of strong, intelligent, conscientious woman- Rowe may well be proud of her as a daughter.
No history of Rowe would be complete without a sketch of the centennial celebration in 1885. Although incorpora- ted in February 1785, the town chose to celebrate at a more propitious season and selected August 26th. A cash appro- priation of one hundred dollars was made at the March town meeting and the arrangements were entrusted to a committee consisting of J. Frank Brown, chairman; J. Herbert Starr, Secretary and Treasurer; Christopher C. Wheaton, Assistant Secretary; Charles Demons, E. E. Amidon, Obed Peck, R. J. Smith, Reuel Bullard and David Henry. Everybody as- sembled at the old centre near Ford Hall and the procession headed by Chief Marshal J. F. Brown with five aids and the Colrain Band, marched to the grove on the Robert Wells farm. A large flag bearing the word "Welcome" was stretch- ed above the road, a flag was flying from a staff at the grove, and behind the speakers' stand, in letters of evergreen, was the motto, "Love and good-will to all." Probably fifteen hundred people were here assembled.
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