History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 109

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 109

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MANUFACTURES,

Mills .- The first mill erected in the present town of Hadley was for the manufacture of luumber. It was situated on Mill River, or the stream ever after so called, and was put up by Thomas Meekins and Robert Boltwood in or near the year 1664. Until this time the inhabitants used riven boards, for those made with pit-saws. The mill of Meckins & Boltwood was continued by them until 1674.

Grist-Mills .- No grist- or corn-mill was erected in lladley, east of the river, until the year 1670. Thomas Meekins had put up a mill on Mill River, in what is now Hatfield, in 1661, and was, by vote, to have all the town patronage, " provided he make good meal." Thomas Wells and John Hubbard were employed by the east-side residents to carry grain to mill and return with the meal at regular times. This method of sup- plying grists ceased when the Hopkins school-mill was erected

in 1670. A lot near by was provided for the miller in October, 1671. The mill was guarded by a small garrison during the Indian war, and remained intact through the period of great- est uprising, but was burned by a roving band of redskins in September, 1677. The mill at Hatfield was then for a time resorted to, until the one on the east side was rebuilt by Robert Boltwood, a period of one or two years. The town, in a con- troversy with the trustees of the Hopkins grammar school, ; twice obtained possession of the mill-property, but delivered it finally to the latter in 1687. Five years later it was dam- aged and destroyed by a flood and was again rebuilt, and was renewed in 1706 and in 1721.

John Clary was the miller in 1683. In November, 1687, Joseph Smith,¿ a cooper, was engaged, and remained many years,-

" Tending the mill in its clattering round,

Till his hair was as white as the flour he ground."

None of these early mills seem to have been provided with facilities for bolting the products. The bolting or sifting was a domestic operation, and several small " bolting-mills" were owned by families in Hadley. | Some flour was barreled and sent to market down the river.

A grist-mill has been kept at or near the site occupied by the first mill most of the time since 1670; part, if not most, of the time in connection with a saw-mill. A grist-mill and a saw-mill were in operation on Fort River, near Hadley village, in 1771.

Other Manufactures .- For a time a carding-mill was at- tached to the grist-mill,-probably in 1775,-and was con- tinned to near the beginning of the present century, and subsequently an establishment for drawing wire was con- ducted successively by Nathan Clark and Horace Lamb. Cattle and wool cards made there at one time by Jobn Clark.

A mill privilege farther up the river, at Plainville, was improved at a later date for the manufacture of wagons and other wood-work.

The manufacture of brooms, which is now a principal in- dustry in the town, is the joint product of her fertile soil and the no less fertile genius of her adopted son, Levi Dickinson, a native of Wethersfield, Conn. lle planted the first broom-corn in Hadley in 1797, and the year following raised " the first half-acre cultivated for brooms in America." llis brooms met with good sale, and in spite of ridicule he persisted in pro- dueing them, and gradually improved the processes for man- ufacture. His devotion did not appear so visionary to the people of Hadley when, in 1850, that town was eredited in the census with the production of 769,700 brooms, valued at $118,478, and 76,000 brushes, valued at $5970.

Certain of his neighbors, seenting success from afar, began the culture of broom-corn about the first year of this century, among whom are mentioned William Shipman, Solomon Cook, Levi Gale, and a negro named Cato. The manufacture became of national importance before the death of Mr. Diek- inson. He died in 1843, aged eighty-eight.

Present Manufactures .- There are at present within the town a grist,- saw,- and planing-mill, owned by Rodney Smith ; a grist- and saw-mill, owned by George E. Smith ; and a saw-mill, owned by Samuel Dickinson.

AGRICULTURE.

The first plowing in what is now the town of Hadley was done for the Indians by the settlers at Northampton in 1654, the year that town was settled.

Wheat grew readily with rich soil, and was raised in con-

* It was at the time of this rebuilding that the bones of Gen. Whalley were discovered.

+ Riven or cloven boards, hence, clove-boards, cloboards, claboards, clapboards. The town voted, Dec. 17, 1660, " that if any men fell any rift timber, and do not rive it out into bolts, pales, rails, clapboards, or shingles within six weeks, any inhabitant may fetch it away for his own nse ; and if any man fell any pine tim- ber and cart it not away in three months, any man may make use of it."

# See account of the Hopkins school in this volume.

¿ He received for his labor one-half the toll, the use of a house and land. His part of the toll for several years was but £13 per year. "He was the first per- manent resident on Mill River."-Vide Judd's Hist.

|| Richard Montague, a baker, had a mill valued at 60 shillings in 1680. " His widow sometimes l'olted flour for others by the barrel."

338

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

siderable quantity before the eighteenth century, and much was shipped to Boston. The other cereals were also grown, with the exception of buckwheat, which seems to have been unknown or disregarded until after the Revolution. Beans and peas flourished from the beginning.

Indian corn was always an important crop, increasing in acreage and yield per acre as the manner of cultivating was improved and a just system of returns to the soil, by way of fertilizers, was begun and followed. In the earlier years but a small number of domestic animals was kept, and the nearest lots alone were fertilized. In 1855 the corn on 1142 acres was estimated at 37 bushels per acre,-nearly double the yield a century ago.

Potatoes were introduced about the middle of the last cen- tury,-probably from Pelham,-and are now a staple crop. The quantity has increased and the quality improved.

Flax, which entered so largely into the manufactures of the early days of Hadley, was grown extensively as a necessity. Hemp became a product in the later years, and for a time yielded handsome returns.

Large areas of the rich lowlands-some of which were periodically overflowed and received silt from the river-have been kept as meadow-lands. Many pieces have never been plowed, or but rarely. The yield of hay from these lands- of a quality more or less desirable-has been, and still is, large. Hay is now (1870) an important erop with Hadley farmers. Fruit has been produced in limited quantity, and, in later years, of fair quality. Few apple-trees were grown for a long time after the first settlement, and, until after the Revolution, were grown for making eider, which had begun to take the place of other things potable. Hladley is recorded as one of four towns whose cider product, in 1771, averaged more than four barrels to a house. Grafted fruit has been introduced since 1800.

Tobacco enlture was commenced by the farmers of Hadley about the year 1840, and the encouraging success at first at- tained-financially-led to the displacement of other leading crops, whose production had become unprofitable or impossi- ble in competition with the West. A local writer intimates that the moral aspects of this industry were counter to the sentiments of right and justice which actuated the faithful " planters" of Hadley, as though the fumes of the Indian weed had dulled and stupefied the once alert consciences of the inhabitants. However this may be, Hladley was not alone in feeling the reaction which in 1875 followed a high tide of seeming prosperity. She is yet rich in her meadows and up- lands, and the farmers are already responding to the demand for a new and less exhaustive industry.

Hadley claims to antedate all other towns in the use of the revolving horse-rake. It was first used on the farm of the late Rev. D. Huntington. It is doubtless also true that the " first scythe made in America was made in Hadley by Ben- jamin Colt," who also introduced the use of sleds. Improved breeds of cattle were introduced about 1839.

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.

Highways .- After laying out the highways of the village proper in 1650-60 others were laid in the meadows near by, making the whole number, as recorded in 1665, eleven. A " passable cart-way" was ordered in 1667, extending over the Forty-Acre Meadow to Mill Brook. Before 1659 the settlers at Northampton had a road to Springfield by way of Hocka- num, on the east side of the river. With this early connec- tion was made by the people of Hadley. The original road, which was used nearly a century, was " below the steep part of the acclivity," some distance above the present road. In 1664 roads " sufficient for travell with carts" were laid out on both sides of the river between Hadley and Windsor, Conn. The road on the east side crossed the Chicopee River at Chicopee Falls; but eight years later one was laid to cross

"at the islands, near Japhet Chapin's," now Chicopee Centre. Over the latter produce could be taken directly to the head of navigation, below Willimansett.

The earliest way or path to Boston was north of Fort River and called " Nashaway Path," and was probably laid out in 1662. In 1674 the " Bay road" crossed that river near the south end of Spruce Hill, and in 1688 was changed to its present route, but would allow the passage of vehicles. Such a broad road was pronounced not feasible in 1692. The wide roads were constructed later.

Ferries .- A ferry was kept up between the south end of the wide street in Hadley and Northampton by Joseph Kel- logg and his descendants for nearly one hundred years, or from 1661 to 1758. Mr. Kellogg built a house on the lot which had been reserved for ferry purposes, on the south side of the " south highway to the meadow." He was to provide, by arrangement with the town in 1675, "a boat for horses and a canoe for persons, and receive for man and borse cight pence in wheat or other pay, or sixpence in money, for single persons threepence, or, when more than one, twopence each." Night and storm-bound travelers were at the mercy of the ferryman, and were obliged to negotiate terms with him. The ferrymen were, successively, Joseph Kellogg, his son John Kellogg, and his grandson Joseph Kellogg, and, after 1758, Stephen Goodman, who married a daughter of James Kellogg. The ferry was named "Goodman's Ferry," from the last proprietor.

In 1692 and subsequently a similar ferry was operated be- tween Hadley and Hatfield, from the north end of the street, whose first Charon was John Ingram, the second John Pres- ton. A bridge connecting Hadley and Hatfield was burned many years ago, since which several ferries have been opened, but only one of these is now operated, viz., between North Hladley and Hatfield. One, operated from the north end of West Street, Hadley, and another, called " Hunter's Ferry," some distance above, were abandoned before 1855. A ferry is now run between Hockanum and Northampton.

Bridges .*- A bridge was built over Fort River " for horses, oxen, and carts" in 1661, on the road to Springfield ; and an- other, lower on the stream, in 1667; and a third, still farther down, in 1681. The cost of the last was £44 158. 3d. The first bridge on the Bay road was one for carts, in 1675; was "near the south end of Spruce Hill, and much used by the troops in Philip's war.17

A bridge was built over Mill River, "at the mill," in 1684. In the absence of other means for crossing streams, trees were often felled to form foot-bridges.

The first bridge over the Connectiont at Iladley was an- thorized March 8, 1803, and connected that town with Hat- field. Lemuel Dickinson and seventy-four others were the incorporators. This bridge long since ceased to be main- tained.+

The first bridge between Hadley and Northampton was con- structed under an act passed March 2, 1803. The present iron bridge, erected in 1877, is the successor of a covered wooden structure, which was destroyed by a hurricane in June, 1877. At this casualty several persons were injured, and others mi- raculously eseaped.

INDIAN OCCUPANCY AND WARS.

Several Indian forts were in Hadley. One of the most im- portant was on Fort River, and " had the almost perpendicular bank, rising forty or fifty feet above Fort River, on the south and west sides, while the river flowed at the bottom of this bank on the west side. Lawrence's Plain, a high, pleasant tract of land, extended easterly." The site could be, within a few years, easily identified. Another fort was north of North

* The Connectient bridges are described more at length elsewhere in this volume.

t It was a toll-bridge, as were all the early ones on the Connecticut River.

339

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

Hadley, on a ridge between the upper and lower School Mead- ows. This is supposed to have been the abode of Quonquont and his dusky followers. His deed to Mr. Pynchon, in 1658; mentions " the brook Wunnaquickset," which runs through the upper School Meadow, north and cast of the fort. Many bones of Indians have been found in the vicinity, more than in any other place in Hadley. All the forts in Hadley east of the river were abandoned some years previous to the opening of hostilities with the whites in 1675.

The Mohawks* made occasional predatory and warlike in- cursions from the westward, in which the inhabitants of the river-towns suffered considerably from the loss of hogs and cattle, which were allowed to roam the wood -. Hadley shared in these losses in 1667. Other Indians were involved or under suspicion,-even the Norwottucks.

Philip's War .- After his many disasters and losses in battle and by defection, Philip moved with what forces he could muster upon the Hampshire towns late in the summer of 1675. It was supposed he had proceeded to the vicinity of Paquayag, now Athol, and troops under Capts. Lothrop, Beers, and Watts were sent up the river in pursuit. The latter re- turned to Hadley on or near August 22d, but proceeded soon after to Hartford. Capts. Lothrop and Beers entered Hadley with their troops on the 23d of August, or about that time.

The valley Indians had shown signs of disaffection toward the whites, and an effort to disarm them occasioned open war- fare. The first confliet was about ten miles above Hatfield, at a place called " Sugar-Loaf Hill," where Capts. Lothrop and Beers were both engaged with about 100 of their troops from Hadley. Of the nine soldiers slain on that occasion, one was a resident of that town,-Azariah, son of Nathaniel Dickinson.

Deerfield was attacked September 1st by the united hostiles, Norwottucks and Pocomtucks, and 18 men slain at Squakheag -Northfield-on the following day. On the 3d, " this onset being unknown, Capt. Beers set forth from Hadley with about 36 men and some carts to fetch off the garrison at Squakheag, and, coming within three miles of the place the next morning, were set upon by a great number of Indians from the side of a swamp, where was a hot dispute for some time."+ Capt. Beers and many of his men were slain, including William Markham, Jr., of Hadley, a teamster. A demonstration was made by the Indians against Deerfield on the 12th, but within a few days thereafter the savages had all disappeared. A body of troops, about 60 in number, arrived at Hadley under Capt. Mosley, September 14th, and others were then on their way. There were more or less soldiers in the town from the 23d of August, 1675, until the elose of this, the first Indian war in the valley.

The Nipmucks and Wampanoags under Philip, it is prob- able, had not participated in any of the conflicts west of the Connecticut River up to September 14th. Mr. Judd, who apparently was guided by the statement of Rev. Increase Mather in 1676, says these Indians " first showed themselves upon the Connecticut River on the 1st day of September (1675), and made an attack upon Hadley."

The following is Mr. Mather's statement of the affair :

"On the first of September, one of the churches in Boston was seeking the face of God by fasting and prayer before him. Also, that very day, the church in Hadley was before the Lord in the same way, but were driven from the holy ser- vice they were attending by a most sudden and violent alarm, which routed them the whole day after."#

On the 18th of September, Capt. Lothrop and "above 70

* Part of a band of Mohawks, who had visited Boston, in 1723, " with sham pro- posals of alliance against the eastern Indians," but whose real ohjert seems to have been junketing and caronsal at the public expense, were entertained by Mr. Inke Smith, of Hadley, who had a score therefor against the commonwealth. + For detail of this conflict, and of others incidentally menti med in the text, see chapters relating to the towns where they severally occurredl.

# For further account of this " alarm," see " Tradition concerning Gen. Goffe," in another part of this work.

men"2 were sent to Deerfield to convoy a train of wagons, loaded with grain, from that place to Hadley. The train and guard were surprised, and there resulted the battle of " Bloody Brook," or rather a massaere seldom equaled in the annals of savage warfare for systematic and appalling completeness. Seventy-one were slain, including Capt. Lothrop. Among the slaughtered teamsters was John Barnard, son of Francis Barnard, of Hadley.

The Indians, having caused the abandonment of Northfield and Deerfield, artfully dodged the other northern towns; then, being strengthened, they fell upon defenseless Springfield, which they burned and pillaged October 5th. News of the threatened assault reached Hadley in the night previous, whereupon Maj. Pynchon, then in the town, with Capts. Ap- pleton and Sill, whose forces had been in Hadley but a few days, set out for the beleaguered village on the very morning of its calamity. It was then, if at all during the war, that Hadley was left entirely ungarrisoned and defenseless. The Rev. John Russell wrote on the sixth to the Governor-Leverett -and council, giving an account of the destruction of Spring- field, and says: "Our town of Hadley is now like to drink next (if mercy prevent not) of this bitter cup; we are but 50 families, and now left solitary. We desire to repose our confi- dence in the eternal God, who is the refuge of his people, and to stand ready to do and suffer his will in all things. To his grace I commend you." The sturdy minister manifestly had a lurking faith in the " strongest battalions."Il

Capt. Appleton, who had taken command of the troops, re- turned to Iladley October 12th, whence he made frequent ex- cursions in quest of the Indians, but did not encounter them.

Hatfield was desperately attacked by a considerable body of Indians October 19th, but was relieved by troops from Hadley, under Capt. Appleton. In this affair, Freegrace Norton, a sergeant, was mortally wounded, and died in Hadley soon after, at the house of Lieut. Samuel Smith.

The continued efforts of the savages to destroy the settle- ments caused much uneasiness, and many of the inhabitants contemplated removal with their families to safer situations, but were prevented by a proclamation issued by Capt. Apple- ton on the 12th of November. Soon after the 19th of the same month most of the troops were withdrawn from the river- towns, a small garrison being left in cach. The garrison at Hadley, under Capt. Jonathan Poole, consisted of 30 men. Hadley, like the other towns of the valley, was without artiti- cial defenses ; no palisades were erected until the following your.

The number of whites slain in the county of Hampshire up to this time, according to the return made by minister Russell, was 145.

The recent experience of the inhabitants admonished them to take steps for the better protection of their settlements. The principal defenses were called palisades, and consisted of stakes or pales set closely together, with about two feet of their length in the ground and eight above, forming a tight fenee about each plantation. These pales were probably joined together in some effectual manner, to prevent their removal singly. Simple as were these structures, they afforded ad- equate protection against the Indians, who soon came to re- gard them as traps to be avoided."

¿ In Dr. Holland's history, the number given is eighty.

| Mr. Russell conelndes his report with the following exhortation from Joel : " Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gatber the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those that suck at the breast. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, werp between the porch and altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the heathen shall rule over them. Where- fore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people."

" In lubbard's history it is related that "although they dil in the spring (1676) break through the palisades at Northampton, yet as soon as they began to be repulsed they saw themselves, like wolves in a pound, that they could not fly

340

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Such a palisade was constructed at Hadley, concerning which the first town vote recorded bears date Feb. 11, 1676,* and is as follows :

" Voted and ordered by the towne that the whole fortification set up for the defence and security of the town on east and west side shall be sufficiently main- tained and kept up, and that on the west side the streete to defend the meadow from spoile and damage, and to be subject to the inspection of the fence-viewers, and no man in any part of the fortification above said shall have or make any pertienler outlett for himselfe or cattell into the meddow or lotts, under the pen- altie of five shillings, which shall be forthwith dis trained by warrant from the selectmen for the town's use."

Provision was also made at the same meeting for clearing the passage to the corn-mill, and cutting all bushes on the home-lots which might harbor an enemy.

The Indians, if many remained in the vicinity during the winter of 1675-76, made few demonstrations, and none of magnitude, against the river-towns. Philip's Wampanoags- possibly, though not certainly, accompanied by Philip him- self-had passed over to the country of the Narragansetts soon after the failure at Hatfield, and doubtless bore a prominent part in the bloody scenes which there signalized the winter's cam- paign. Driven finally from the eastern settlements, the sev- eral bands of hostile Indians concentrated near the Connecti- ent River, and again beset the towns upon its borders. A large portion of the Narragansetts had escaped at the destrue- tion of their fort on the 19th of December, 1675, and joined the frontier foray.

Not to be caught napping, the inhabitants of Hadley were divided into several "squadrons" for watch-duty, and a forti- tieation committee was appointed.

Capt. William Turner entered Hadley March 4, 1676, and was joined by a body of dragoons, under Maj. Thomas Sav- age,; on the 8th. On the 14th, Northampton was attacked by Indians, who came from the northward. The following portion of a letter from minister Russell, of Hadley, to Gov. Leverett, as quoted by Mr. Judd, portrays the feeling inspired by that occurrence:

" RIGHT WORSHIPFUL,-Although the Lord hath granted us an interval of quietness this winter, yet since the coming on of the spring the war here is re- newed. On the 14th inst. the enemy, to the number of 2000; as judged, made a most sudden and violent irruption upon Northampton, broke their works in 3 places, and had in reason taken the whole town, had not Providence graciously so ordered it that Maj. Treat was rome in with his men the evening before; yet they burnt five houses and five barns,-one withont the fortification,-slew five persons, and wounded five. There are said to be found slain about a dozen of the enemy. Above Deerfield a few miles is the great place of their fishing, which minst be expected to afford them their provisions for the year. We must look to feel their utmost rage. My desire is we may be willing to do or suffer, to live or die, remain in or be driven ont from our habitations, as the Lord our God would have ns. Capt. Poole, who hath been left here for the government of the soldiers, doth earnestly entreat for liberty to repair t > his own very much suffer- ing family, at least for a while. With prayers to the God of all blessing to guide and strengthen and carry you through this day of temptation, I am, Sr, yr worp's must obliged serv't,

"Joux RUSSELL.

" HADLEY, March 16, 1675-6."

In the latter days of March much excitement was engen- dered among the settlers by a proposition or quasi order, ema- nating from the Massachusetts council, that all the plantations

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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 109

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