History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 108

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 108

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The first bell was purchased in 1670. It was " brought up by Lieut. Smith and others," and cost £7 10s., in winter wheat, at 3s. per bushel. This bell was small; but in 1675 Henry Clarke bequeathed to the church 40s., besides 40s. formerly given for a bigger bell that may be heard generally by the inhabitants." It is conjectured that the bell-rope hung down in the centre of the church.}

It was a common provision in the early churches that sticks should be " set up in the meeting-house" with fit persons by them, "to use them as occasion shall require, to keep the youth from disorder." Such were provided for this meeting- house in January, 1672.

Mr. John Russell, Jr., the first minister, was an English- man by birth, and a graduate of HIarvard in 1645. He began his ministry at Wethersfield, about the year 1649, and came with his devoted followers to Hadley in 1659 or 1660. He served his flock faithfully until his death, Dee. 10, 1692, in his sixty- sixth year. Mr. Russell, though helpful to others, received little from his people except his small, but sufficient, salary. Even the firewood,¿ so bountifully supplied in some cases,

* This expression would indicate that the meeting-house was used as early as the date of the petition, May 3, 1667. Meetings had been held in a house hired for the purpose. Der. 10, 1663, Mr. Goodwin and John Barnard were chosen to seat persons in it " in a more comely order," and it was also voted to hire the house another year.

+ The east side answered, in April, 1668, in part, " The meeting-house was to be set where it is, for their snkes, to our great inconvenience." The west side replied, in May, " When the meeting-house was put where it is, we declared that it should be no engagement to us, and desired them to set it where they pleased."

# Dec. 21, 1076, the people voted " that the bell in the meeting-house shall be rung nt nine o'clock at night, throughout the year, winter and summer."

¿ The woud furnished by the parishioners of Rev. Mr. Parsons, of Amherst, ranged from 60 loads in 1742 to FO good loads in 1751, and, twelve years later, to 120 ordinary loads.

was not furnished in his. He was hopeful, faithful, and brave, and entertained a noble seorn of all oppression. IIis chival- rous protection, through long and trying years, of the fugitive judges, Goffe and Whalley, has immortalized his name, and made the old home-lot where he resided, and the town itself, famous in history. The impress of his hand is seen in the records of the period, and these evinee his activity and zeal in behalf of his country and his people. Mr. Russell was thrice married.||

After the death of Mr. Russell, the church was served for a portion of the years 1693 and 1694 by Mr. Samuel Moody, who was compensated by a grant of wheat, peas, and corn, valued at £35. Hle was followed by Mr. Simon Bradstreet, temporarily, in 1695. About July of that year, Mr. Isaac Chauncey began to preach in Hadley, and in October was in- vited to settle, the people offering the " home-lot of 10 aeres, and buildings, that belonged to their former pastor, Mr. Rus- sell, and 20 aeres of meadow-land, to be to him and his heirs forever, and a salary of £70 for three years, in provision-pay, and after that £80 per year." He was subsequently allowed a supply of firewood. The conditions appear to have been at once accepted. Ile was ordained over the church Sept. 9, 1696. Some modifications were made in the amount of salary and manner of payment, and occasional extra amounts given "in consideration of the difficult circumstances in his family."T.

Mr. Chauncey was born Oct. 5, 1670, graduated at Harvard College in 1693, and died May 2, 1745. He was assisted in his duties as minister in the last six or seven years of his life. He was twice married : first, Sarah -, who died in 1720; second, Abiel, widow of Rev. Joseph Metcalf, of Falmouth. He had ten children,-four sons and six daughters,-all by . the first marriage. Four of the daughters married ministers.

Mr. Chauncey's ineumbeney was not marked by events of a stirring character, such as distinguished that of his prede- eessor, Mr. Russell, but rather by a pastoral peace and quiet, as down the vale of life, amid his floek, he

" Pursued the even tenor of his way."

The ministers who were called at times to aid Mr. Chauncey were Messrs. Edward Billings, Hobart Estabrook, Daniel Buckingham, Benjamin Dickinson, of Hadley, Noah Merrick, and John Woodbridge.

Chester Williams, of Pomfret, was ordained Jan. 21, 1741 .** He had accepted a call to Hadley on Dec. 5, 1740, and had occupied the desk since the previous September. A precinct, meeting of Nov. 3, 1740, had offered as a settlement the "town home-lot of 10 acres, and £300 in money, and dur- ing Mr. Chauncey's life an annual salary of £140, and the the use of the town land, or instead thereof £30, as he shall choose; and after Mr. Chauncey's decease, £180 in money,"

| He married, first, Mary Talcott, June 28, 1649; second, Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Newbury, of Windsor, Conn., who died Nov. 21, 1688, aged fifty-six ; third, Phebe Gregson, who died Sept. 19, 1730. Says Dr. F. D. Huntington, "I take the liberty to say-here among neighbors-that I count it among my best ancestral honors to be descended, through my mother, from Mr. Russell's third wife, Phehe Gregson,-Thebe Whiting by her first marriage,-asking no other warrant for her goodness than that she was the chosen companion of two good divines; nor for her talents and those of her two predecessors as housewives, than the fact that on a salary ranging from £80 to $90 a year, paid mostly in produce, her husband, besides supporting his family, educating two sons, dis- charging all debts, providing for funeral charges and tombstones, and delivering to his wife, Phebe, about one hundred pounds sterling, which was more than she brought him, left to his children £830. Tho only iteurs I could wish out of the inventory of the estate are three negroes,-a man, woman, and child."-Bi- Centennial Address at Hadley, June 8, 1859.

f Israel, a son of Mr. Chauncey, and a graduate of Harvard in I724, became deranged, probably alomt 1729. He was burned, in a small building in which he was necessarily confined, some time in November, 1736. A contemporary account says, "He used frequently to cry ' fire,' iu the night, and for this reason his cry now was not heeded till too late." In 1731 meution is made of " two indigent persons in Mr. Chauncey's family." Israel Chauncey had taught the grammar school in Hadley. Mr. Chauncey had slaves as family servauts,-Artbur Prutt and his wife Joan.

** " At the ordination," says Mr. Judd, " 106 pounds of beef, pork, and veal were provided for the dinner."

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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

and the town laud, or equivalent. A sufficiency of firewood was also voted.

Mr. Williams was a graduate of Yale College, in 1735, and remained in the ministry at Hadley until his death, Oct. 13, 1758, aged thirty-five. Ile left a wife, two sons, and three daughters. His wife was Sarah, daughter of Hon. Eleazer Porter, of Hadley, and sister of Col. Elisha Porter, of Revo- lutionary fame .*

The interval between the death of Mr. Williams and the settlement of his successor was filled, in part, by Mr. Josiah Pierce, Mr. - Mills, and Mr. Abel Newell.

Samuel Hopkins, the third minister, was ordained over this church Feb. 26, 1755, his father, Rev. Samuel Hopkins, and Rev. Stephen Williams officiating. He was allowed £200 as a settlement, a salary fixed at £60,-which it was ingeniously arranged should fluctuate with the market price of certain commodities,-the use of all the precinct land, and a supply of fuel.

Mr. Hopkins adapted himself to the situation by marrying the widow of his predecessor, and occupying her house. This house was burned in 1766, March 21, and another immediately erected over its ashes .; Mr. Hopkins-afterward Dr .- re- tained the relation of pastor to this people, and continued to preach until stricken with paralysis, in February, 1809. 1Iis death occurred March 8, 1811, in his eighty-second year.

Dr. Hopkins was not of the most rigid type of Calvinists ; he had a fund of humor, and yet a becoming dignity which enforced respect, and was watchful against interloping sects .;

After the death of his first wife, Feb. 15, 1774, he married, October, 1776, Margaret, daughter of Rev. Sampson Stoddard, of Chelmsford. Of his nine children-all by his first mar- riage-six were daughters, of whom four married ministers, one married Benjamin Colt, another, Moses Hubbard.

The fifth pastor, Rev. John Woodbridge, D.D., born Dec. 2, 1784, a native of Southampton, and a graduate of Williams College in 1804, was ordained as colleague of Dr. Hopkins June 20, 1810, and remained pastor of the church until Sept. 15, 1830, when he was dismissed to take charge of the Bowery Presbyterian Church in New York City. During Dr. Wood- bridge's ministry the church enjoyed several revivals. The most remarkable occurred in 1816. It is still spoken of as " the great revival." During that year 187 persons were re- ceived into the church.

Rev. John D. Brown, the sixth pastor, was born in 1786, in Brooklyn, Conn., graduated at Dartmouth College in 1809, and before coming to Hadley was settled first at Cazenovia, N. Y., and then over the Pine Street Church in Boston. He was installed over this church March 2, 1831, and retained the pastoral relation until his death, March 22, 1839.

Rev. Francis Danforth, the seventh pastor, was born in 1793, at Hillsborough, N. H., graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in 1819, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1822. He was installed over this church Dee. 11, 1839, dismissed Feb. 2, 1842, and died at Clarence, N. Y., Jan. 29, 1844.

Rev. Benjamin Nicholas Martin, a graduate of Yale Col- lege in 1837, succeeded Mr. Danforth, as the eighth pastor.

lle was ordained at Hadley, Jan. 19, 1843, and dismissed June 9, 1847. His successor, Rev. Rowland Ayres, the present pastor, is a native of Granby, graduated at Amherst College in 1841, and was ordained Jan. 12, 1848.

The second meeting-house was erected during the long pas- torate of Rev. Mr. Chauncey, in 1713, in the middle of the broad street, opposite the " town lot," where stands the ven- erable " Hopkins house," occupied by Horace Richardson. It stood ninety-five years, until near the close of the ministry of Dr. Hopkins.

From the several votes of the town it is apparent that this structure, which was 50 by 40 feet in size, had tower and belfry, was plastered, " both the walls and overhead," had twelve windows below and thirteen above, some or all of which were "joiner's windows,"-diamond-shaped panes, set in lead frames,-and was furnished with galleries. The or- dinary-seats or benches, which it first contained, were slowly supplanted by the high-backed box-news, between the years 1719 and 1783. The people generally were opposed, and rightfully, to making invidious distinctions within the church, and would not provide pews for the principal families alone. Men and women sat apart in the church as late as 1762. Husbands and wives, " whom God had joined together," were in his house "put asunder."

Whatever may have been the rule observed in allotting the seats, the " seaters" had a difficult task, and often new com- mittees were chosen for " reseating the house."

The steeple,? above the belfry, was added after 1753. The belfry itself was round, " with eight pillars and some orna- mental work."

Mr. Eleazer Porter built and gave to this church a hand- some pulpit with a sounding-board,-the latter inscribed " M. R. H., 1739."

A horse-block was provided in 1762. The tower, at the north end, contained an entrance, and was built up from the ground, separately,-not within the body of the church. There were two other entrances,-central on the east side and south end.

The present house was erected in 1808, and removed to the position it now occupies, on the cast side of Middle, south of Russel Street, in 1841.||

THE SECOND CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY, NORTH HADLEY, was organized Oct. 26, 1831, with 24 members. Its house of worship, dedicated in 1834, is located between three and four miles from that of the First Church, to which its members had previously belonged. Rev. Samuel M. Worcester, D.D., of Salem,-then of Amherst College,-was instrumental in or- ganizing the society, became the first supply, and preached in a hall fitted up for that purpose. lle commenced his labors in April, 1830, and served three years. Rev. Philip Payson succeeded Dr. Worcester, and preached about three years. The first settled pastor, Rev. Ebenezer Brown, a native of Brimfield, and graduate of Yale College in 1813, was installed April 8, 1835, and remained until June, 1838. The succeed- ing two years Rev. David L. Hunn served as a supply, and May 10, 1840, Rev. Warren H. Beaman-a graduate of Amherst College in 1837-began to serve the society, but was not formally settled until Sept. 15, 1841. Ile was dismissed July 8, 1872. Rev. James M. Bell served from October, 1872, was installed May, 1873, and dismissed April 20, 1876. His suc-

* Mrs. Williams had received from ber father, who was the "most wealthy man in Hadley" in that day, a considerable portion. Mr. Judd says that Mr. Williams rode a horse valued at £20, and that his wardrobe contained leather breeches and waistcoat, four wigs, silk stockings, silver slive-, knee-, and stock- Imckles, two gold rings, and a tobacco-box and a snuff-box ; also a silver tankard, valued at £22, a cane with a gold ferule, and one with a white head. Ile left to his wife, in the language of his will, " my negro woman, Phillis, my cows and sheep."

+ Ang. 10, 1768, Mr. Hopkins purebased the lot and Imildings for .£266 138. 4d. Mrs. Hopkins previously had a right to the use of one-third. The town added half an acre in 1773. In 1814, John Hopkins, his son, sold this homestead to Rev. John Woodbridge for $3100, reserving his shop on the southwest corner. This house, now-1879-112 years old, is occupied by Mr. Ilorace Richardson.

# The characteristics of Dr. Hopkins are clearly shown in Dr. Sprague's " An- nals of the American Pulpit," in a contribution by Rev. Parsons Cook, a native of Hadley, dated Oct. 29, 1854.

¿ The cock, which still surmounts the steeple of the third meeting-house, is believed to have been put up when the spire of the second house was added, not long after 1753. . . . He was removed from the west to the middle street on the steeple in 1841." Zebulon Prutt, a slave of Oliver Warner's, climbed the steeple, sat on the "copper bird," and crowed. He was then 22 years old. Roguish fel- lows removed the gallinaceous vane in 1808, but were mile to replace it.

[ William Goodwin was the first ruling ebler of the church, and had no suc- cessor, as appears by the records. Nathaniel Dickinson and Peter Tilton were the first deacons.

336

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

cessor, Rev. John W. Lane, the present pastor, was installed May 1, 1878, having supplied from the preceding November.

In 1854 a spire was added to the meeting-house, its pulpit remodeled, walls frescoed, and the building repainted. In 1866 an addition was made in the rear, to admit a pipe-organ and to accommodate the choir, behind the pulpit.

The present officers are Deacon Francis S. Russell and Dea- con Baxter E. Bardwell, who is also elerk. The number of resident members is now (March, 1879) 124.

THE RUSSELL CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY*

was organized in 1841, with about 90 members, who withdrew from the First Church to constitute a new parish, upon the removal of their former church edifice from its previous posi- tion on West Street to its present location on Middle Street, and took its name from the first pastor of the original church, Mr. John Russell.

Rev. John Woodbridge, D.D., was installed as the first pas- tor, Feb. 16, 1842, and dismissed July 15, 1857. His successor, Rev. Franklin Tuxbury, was ordained over the church at the last-named date, and continued until Oct. 23, 1862. The pres- ent pastor, Rev. Edward S. Dwight, D. D., assumed the charge of the pastorate in June, 1864, and was installed in the follow- ing September. The present deacons of the church are Eleazer Porter and George Dickinson.

The church edifice of this society occupies a part of the front of the home-lot upon which Mr. Russell so long resided, and fronts west on West Street. It was ereeted in 1842.

CEMETERIES.

The burying-ground at Hadley, the oldest in the town, was reserved for the purpose in 1661, in the great meadow, and was in size 103 rods east and west by 20 rods north and south, and adjoined the west end of the home-lot of Edward Churcht for 16 rods, and projected into the middle highway, from the north side thereof, 4 rods. A strip 6 or 7 rods wide was added to the east side in 1792, and another, 16 or 17 rods wide, in 1828. The grounds now contain a little more than 4 acres.

The first burial in this cemetery was that of an unnamed infant, son or daughter of Philip Smith, Jan. 22, 1661. The first adult buried was John Webster,-an ancestor of Noah Webster,-who died April 5th, in the same year. Tablets, erected in 1693, rest above the remains of Rev. John Russell and his wife Rebekah. Mr. Judd, who wrote in 1858, says, " There are only ten stones in the yard with dates earlier than 1720,-only ten when the town had been settled sixty years !"

The early monumental slabs were heavy and of rude work- manship, and all of sandstone.

In this old burying-ground, resting from the labors, the trials, the dangers, that beset them, many of the accomplished, many of

" The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

One of the honored sons of this venerable hamlet has said but recently; concerning this cherished spot, " Here are an- cestral memorials, rekindling in us and our children the holy courage of those who have won incorruptible crowns. Scatter along those ridges the seeds of fragrant blossoms that shall breathe their perfume of benediction over the green sods. Twine there the delicate graces of the sweet-brier, the wood- bine, the ivy, the clematis, and the rose. Multiply, by every avenue and pathway, the voiceless preachers of hope,-

": Floral apostles that, with dewy splendor, Weep without woe and blush withont a crime.' "

There are four other cemeteries in the town : one, at North . Hadley, containing about an acre and a half of land, is

situated in the northern part of the village; one near the Sunderland line, at " Russellville ;" one at " Plainville ;" and one at Hoekanum, in the extreme southern portion of the town, at the foot of Mount Holyoke.

HOTELS.

Richard Goodman kept the first house of public entertain- ment in Hadley, for which he received a license in 1667. In 1675, and perhaps earlier, Joseph Kellogg, ferryman, was permitted to entertain travelers. The bar or bottle was quite as essential an adjunct of inns and ordinaries two centuries ago as of hotels and taverns now, but was perhaps under a sharper surveillance .¿ Other inn-keepers of that period were Heze- kiah Dickinson, 1692-93; Joseph Smith, 1696; Luke Smith, 1700-1 and 1711-31; Westwood Cooke, 1704-7. Nathaniel White, near Mill River, at North Hadley, for some time kept a tavern, from a period anterior to 1770; probably the same which until a recent period was kept by Thaddeus Smith, who succeeded John Hibbard.

Inns have been kept also in the following places : on the west side of West Street, north end, on the lot occupied by the residence of D. S. Baker, by Solomon Cooke, and afterward by Esek Baker down to 1864. At the south end, on the " Goodman place," or "Ferry lot," an inn was probably kept many years. Stephen Goodman married a daughter of the third ferryman, James Kellogg, whose grand- father there "entertained travelers." Joanna Kellogg may have become a landlady. Nearly opposite, on the east side, on the lot occupied by Mrs. W. P. Warner, there was once an inn ; another, on the same side, south of Russell Street ; and three others at the north end, east side,-one on the river-bank, near where David Foley resides (1879), one on the corner south, now occupied by Thomas MeGraff, and a third on the lot next south of the last named, where Thomas Reynolds resides.

Not many years since, an inn occupied the corner north of the Bay road, on the east side of Middle Street, where Mrs. George Allen now resides, and was kept successively by Maj. John Smith, Benjamin Smith, and Augustus Smith.

Zadock Lyman opened a public-house at Hockanum in 1746, which at his death, seven years afterward, was continued by his widow. The house stood a short distance north of the present cemetery, and was kept and known as the " Lyman ITouse" until 1869.

Farther north, a short distance, an inn was established by Ebenezer Pomeroy, brother-in-law of Zadoek Lyman. In front flaunted " the sign of the White Horse."

The only hotel in the town at the present time-March, 1879-is the "Elmwood House,"? a title apt as regards its situation among the beautiful elms of West Street, but which does not recall the memorable incidents of its previous his- tory. Situated on the old home-lot of Mr. Russell, the first minister of IIadley, it still retains, despite the changes, some portions of the old house he occupied, and in which the judges were so long concealed.||

The Russell House, and 12 acres of land attached, were sold to the town of Hadley in 1694, by Rev. Samuel Russell, third son of the first owner. The town gave 10 acres and the build- ings to Mr. Isaae Chauncey, the second minister, in 1696, as a settlement. Josiah Chauncey, the youngest of Mr. Chaun- cey's children, sold the property in November, 1749, to Samuel Gaylord, from whom it passed to his son, Samuel. Chester Gaylord, a son of the last named, succeeded to the west half of the property, including the dwelling, the kitchen part of

¿ The quality of beer was defined by the law, and a penalty attached to the sale of any inferior article. The lawful heer of 1674 required four bushels of barley malt to each sixty-three gallons.

| So suggestive is the situation of the present " Judges' Chamber," in which this history is written, that the occupant readily imagines that the white-haired fugitives Goffe and Whalley-have but just retired to the "dark closet" behind him to escape the spying intrusion ; but Edward Randolph, long ere this, hus fol- lowed, perchance discovered, them.

* A portion of this account of the churches of Hadley is from the appendix to Mr. Judd's history.

+ Now owned by Mr. J. S. Bell and the Richardson brothers.

# Dr. F. D. Huntington's Bi-Centennial address, June 8, 1859.

337

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

which his father had rebuilt previous to 1782, and the main part, on Russell Street, in 1795 .* The house and 4 acres passed to the possession of George H. Gaylord, son of Chester, thenee to Horace Cook, who sold to Edward Kingsley, the present owner, in the spring of 1878. The house, in Mr. Kings- ley's hands, has been much enlarged and improved, and adapted to the purposes of a hotel.

MOUNT HOLYOKE AND THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE.

This elevation of greenstone forms the division between Hladley and South Hadley, and yields from its summit exten- sive views of rare majesty and beauty. There were occasional visits to the summit by travelers during the last century, but the spot was not improved for the accommodation of sight- seers until 1821. A building was erected in June of that year, by individuals from Northampton and Hadley, and dedicated in an address delivered by Mr. E. Il. Mills. The approach from the northwest side was made a short time afterward. Mr. John W. French built another house on the summit in 1851, and has since constructed a railway, by which ascents and descents are made with ease and safety. This house is partly in Hadley and partly in South Hadley.

TOWN POOR.

The town had few dependents upon its charity in the earlier years. William Webster and his wife Mary, the reputed witch, were given assistance, and lived in a house called the " town- house," in the middle highway, and east of the cemetery. Some of the poor were "boarded round ;" one is named, a widow, who was " to go from Samuel Porter's, Sr., southward, and round the town." Thomas Elgarr, a soldier in the In- dian war, was assisted ; John Hillier ( Hilliard ?) was to be pro- vided with " a small log house, " in 1718. Ten years afterward £10 were appropriated for the poor. In 1793, 8 paupers were sold to Maj. John Smith for £11 each,-he receiving instead of paying the amount, however,-among whom was Rebekah (Crow) Noble, once fair and quite a belle in Hadley. She had been wooed and won ; but, having dismissed her lover in a fit of jealousy, her after-life was embittered by regret and sorrow. She died in 1802, a pauper, at the age of ninety years.

The present poor-farm of 25 acres was purchased in 1867 for $2000, and the buildings then standing have been improved at a cost of $1200. There are but 9 inmates at the present tine ( March, 1879). Net cost of support of poor in poor-house, 1878-79, $724.79; ontside poor, $779.12; total, $1503.91.

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 108

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 700

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700