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 112
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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
TWENTY-SECOND MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
lliram Shumway.
THIRTY-FIRST MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
Avery A. Ward, James W. Smith, Joseph Neddeau.
SECOND MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
George Webher, John Vaile.
TWENTY-FOURTII MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY. Joho Haggerty, Jr.
TWENTY-SEVENTH MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
Daniel Howard, Henry Iloward, Frederick S. Prior, John F. Russell, Willard Russell, Silas Cowles, Willard Hibbard, Theodore S. Billings, George A. Boice, Jay E. Nash, Henry Potter, Lucius D. Smith, William R. Moo- tagne (sergeant), Frederick H. Smith, Lewis W. West, Rufus Cook (cor- poral), Charles Elwell, Charles A. Lyman, Herbert Johnson, Irving R. Clark, Clarence P. Hewett, Edwin B. Smith, Franklin Elwell, Joseph Labell, Rollins Cowles, Simeon Preston, Lnman Hibbard, Sydney Davis, Dwight Barrett, Madison Olde, Elijah Carter, Charles G. Howard, Fred- erick B. Kentfield, Marshall Cowles.
THIRTY-SEVENTH MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
William C. Morrell, Edwin D. Beaman, John C. Beals, William A. Champney, llenry V. Fales, Charles D. Hodge, Samuel Hodge, George N. Jones, William F. Leggett, Warren I. Lyman, John D. Miller, George W. Nash, HI. Clement Russell, Joseph F. Smith, Samuel D. Smith, Charles O. Squires, Francis 1. Stockbridge, Sylvester L. Stockbridge, Moses Thessier, Francis P. Wheeler.
FIFTY-SECOND MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
William Perkins (captain), Daniel H. Bartlett, Charles O. Beals, Charles L. Brown, Lyman P. Ballard, Charles W. Clark, Henry C. Comins, Alfred 1. Cook, Elenzer Cook, S. Parsons Cook, George Crabtree, George M. Crafts (corporal), Charles F. Dickinson, Augustus E. Dickinson, John B. Dunbar, Charles S. Enderton (corporal), James Forsyth, Edwin C. Gray, William II. Hayward, Henry H. Hemmingway, Lewis B. Hooker, William II. Hodge, S. Dwight Kellogg, Benjamin Lombard, Jr., Truman Meekins, Harvey L. Rhood, George M. Smith, Joseph O. Spear, Charles H. Wilber, Rodney D. Dovlittle, Hiram M. Bolton, Oscar R. Hubbard, Lnther W. Dickinson, Thomas Nugent, Charles H. White.
FIFTY-FOURTHI MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY.
Charles A. Story.
MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY.
George Williams, Frederick Russell, James Hayden.
FIRST MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY.
John Sullivan, William Baldwin, John F. Hodge, John Fisher (sergeant), Ed- ward Crabtree.
Edward Julinson.
KANSAS CAVALRY.
SECOND MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY.
Silas Febo, Francis Mossoo, Abraham Janette, RuIns D. Marsh, Rufus P. Scott, John W. Beamao, Daniel O. Dickinson, Francis Pilkey, Lewis Lancour, Nona Renjia, Leander Bushman, Jacob Laravie, Joseph Bravo.
REGIMENT NOT GIVEN.
Benjamin Till, Samuel C. Till. NECROLOGY.
Frederick S. Pryor, 27th Mass. Inf .; killed in battle before Petersburg, June 18, 1864.
Jolın F. Russell, 27th Mass. Iuf .; killed in battle of Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864. Silas Cowles, 27th Mass. Inf .; wounded near Petersburg, Va., June 15, 1864; died June 16, 1864.
George A. Boice, 27th Mass. Inf .; died at Andersonville, Sept. 8, 1864. Henry Potter, 27th Mass. Inf. ; killed in battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. Rufus Cook, 27th Mass. Inf .; died in hosp. at Newbern, N. C., Feb. 25, 1863. Ilenry Dunakio (2d), 27th Mass. Inf .; killed in battle of Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864.
Rollins Cowles, 27th Mass. Inf. ; killed in battle of Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864. Dwight Barrett, 27th Mass. Inf .; killed in battle of Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864. John C. Beals, 37th Mass. Inf .; died at Washington, D. C.
Henry V. Fales, 37th Mass. Inf .; died in hosp. at Falmouth, Va., April 1, 1863. William F. Leggett, 37th Mass. Inf .; killed at Wilson's Creek, April, 1865. Charles W. Clark, 52d Mass. Inf .; died in hospital at Baton Ronge, La., April 20, 1863.
Angustus E. Dickinson, 52d Muss, luf .; taken prisoner near Baton Rouge; probably died in Libby Prison.
George M. Smith, 52d Mass. Inf .; died at Mound City Hospital, III., Aug. 14, 1863.
Joseph O. Spear, 52d Mass. Inf .; died at Baton Rouge, La., July 17, 1863. HIiram M. Boltoo, 52d Mass. Inf .; died at Cairo, III., Ang. 1863.
Charles G. Howard, 27th Mass. Inf .; died in Andersonville Prison, Gs., Sept. 12, 1864.
Nona Renjia, 2d Mass. Bat .; died in New Orleans, April 18, 1864. Leander Bushman, 2d Mass. Bat .; drowned from steamer "North America," April 18, 1864.
Frederick Russell, - Mass. Cav .; wounded at Chantilly, Sept. 1, 1862; died io Donglas Hospital, Washington, D. C., Oct. 2, 1862.
Hiram Shumway, 22d Mass. Inf .; wounded Mny 30, 1864; died in Emory Hos- pital, Washington, D. C., June 28, 1864.
Marshall Cowles, 27th Mass. Inf .; died at Newbern, N. C., Aug. 1865.
WOUNDED.
Frederick II. Smith, 27th Mass. Inf. ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., June 2, '64. Clement Russell, 37th Mass. Inf .; wounded in battle of Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864.
Joseph F. Smith, 37th Mass. Inf .; wounded io arm in battlo of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
FRANKLIN BONNEY, M.D.,
was born in Hadley, Mass., Feb. 2, 1822. He is the son of the late Oliver Bonney, who was born in Hanover, Mass., in 1790, sixth in descent from Thomas Bonney, the first of the family in this country, who came from Sandwich, in Kent, England, in the ship " Herenles," in 1634-35, and settled in Duxbury, Mass. His mother was Betsy F. Hayward, the daughter of Elijah Hayward, of West Bridgewater, Mass.
lle was educated at Hopkins Academy, and afterward studied his profession at the Dartmouth Medical School, at- tending in the mean time a course of lectures at Brunswick, Me. Ile graduated at the former school in the spring of 1847, and immediately began the practice of his profession in his native town, which he has continued up to this time. In 1850 he became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Soci- ety, and also of the Ilampshire Distriet Medical Society. During this period he has held the positions of president and vice-president of the local society, each for three years. Ile has also been councilor and censor of the same body, and is a member of the health department of the American Social Science Society. In 1869, Amherst College conferred upon him the honorary degree of A.M. He represented his district in the Legislature in 1873. During the war of the Rebel- lion he was surgeon for making preliminary examinations of recruits for the army, and also served for a time as volun- teer surgeon at City Point, Va. He is a director of the Massa- chusetts Central Railroad and trustee and secretary of the Hopkins Academy. In addition to his ordinary professional labors, he has prepared and read several addresses before the district medical society, has occasionally prepared papers for the medical journals, and has made frequent contributions to agricultural and other journals.
In 1847 he was married to Priscilla P. Whipple, of Han- over, N. H., daughter of Ilon. Thomas Whipple, M.D., of Wentworth, N. H. By this union there were four children,- two sons and two daughters,-of whom three are still living. Mrs. Bonney died in 1869, and in 1874 the doctor was married to Emma W., daughter of the late Sherman Peck, of Honohiln, Sandwich Islands. By this second union there are two sons.
In early lite the doctor was identified with the Whig party, and is now a Republican. As a physician Dr. Bonney ranks among the first. He is a public-spirited citizen, and enjoys the esteem of all who know him.
J. Bowy. I. D.
Photo. by Hardie & Schadee.
Eleazar Porter.
DEACON ELEAZAR PORTER is descended from one of the oldest families of New England.
Samnel Porter, who came to Hadley with the first settlers in 1659, was one of the king's justices. His son Samuel was the first male child born in Hadley, held the office of justice of the peace, was judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1711, and was a large land- holder and of other estates. His son Eleazar was a justice of the peace, and was one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas from 1727 to 1757.
Eleazar, son of the latter, was born Jan. 27, 1728, graduated from Yale College in 1748, and was a justice of the peace in 1779. He was judge of Probate in same year, and one of the judges of the first court after the Revolution, which consisted of himself, Timothy Donaldson, of Brimfield, John Bliss, of Wilbraham, and Samuel Mather, of West- field. Ile was commissioned in 1777. Ilis second wife, whom he married Sept. 17, 1761, was Susanna, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton. Their son, the late Col. Moses Porter, was born Sept. 19, 1768. He married, Aug. 30, 1791, Amy, daughter of Benjamin Colt, of Hadley, who made the first seythe in Hamp- shire County, if not in Massachusetts. He was the grandfather of the late Col. Samuel Colt, the inventor of Colt's revolver.
Eleazar Porter, whose portrait is given with this sketch, was the fourth son and seventh child of the thirteen children of Moses and Amy Colt Porter, born Jan. 21, 1806. He was educated at Hopkins Academy and on the farm, under the ministry of Dr. John Wood- bridge and the Westminster Catechism, until his twenty-third year.
During this period, in the winter of 1821-22, he taught school in the eentre district of Easthampton. In the spring of 1829 he went to Ware, Mass., engaged in business with the late C. P. Hitchcock, removed in 1833 to Worcester, Mass., and in that year opened a temperance honse, about the first hotel of that class in Massachu- setts.
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In 1840, on account of impaired health, he discontinued business, and in 1841 traveled South and West ; returned to Worcester, engaged in business again, and soon after had a return of his illness, which caused him to retire from active business life. In 1855 he removed to Ware, Mass., and remained there on a.farm until 1858, when he came to Hadley, where he has since enjoyed comfortable health. In 1832 Mr. Porter married Mary Augusta, daughter of Alpheus Demond, of Ware, Mass. In connection with Col. Thomas Denny, of Leicester, Mass., Mr. Demond was the first to engage in cotton manufacturing in Ware, sixty-five years ago.
Mr. Porter has held many offices of public and private trust. July 23, 1830, he received the appointment of adjutant in the 5th Regi- ment of Infantry, Ist Brigade and 4th Division of the State Mi- litia, which office he held until the regiment was disbanded.
In January, 1852, he was commissioned a justice of the peace for
the county of Hampshire, and was reappointed to the same office in February, 1859, ia 1866, in April, 1868, and in March, 1875.
In May, 1854, he was commissioned a coroner, and recommissioned in 1863 and 1870, holding the office until it was abolished, in 1877. Alle is one of the inspectors of the State Almshouse at Monson; was first commissioned in February, 1866, subsequently in February, 1869, and in February, 1872.
In his political affiliations Mr. Porter was first a Whig, and is now a Republican. During the late war he was a warm supporter of the Uniou cause. He and his wife have buth been members of the Congre- gational Church for over forty years, and he is a deacon in the church. Ile has given freely of his time and money to promote charity and religion : is now a member of the Russell Congregational Society, and has been its clerk and treasurer for twenty-one years. Has been treasurer of the Hopkins Academy for twelve years; was made a life member of the A. B. C. F. M., in 1855; was elected a corporate mem- ber of the same board. Oct. 8, 1870 ; was made a life member of the Massachusetts llome Missionary Society, Feb. 7, 1846 ; of the Ameri- ican Bible Society, May 28, 1856; of the American and Foreign Christian Union, Aug. 1, 1867; and of the American Home Mission Society, 1855.
Being a practical abstainer from all intoxicating liquors, and realiz- ing the advantages of abstinence, he is necessarily more or less identi- fied with the temperance movements of the day, and was one of the executive committee of the Massachusetts Temperance Alliance for a number of years. lle is a director of the Northampton Bridge Corpo- ration, succeeding Hon. Eliphelet Williams as president. For twenty- five years he has been annually elected a director of the Northampton National Bank; for eighteen years a trustee, and the last two years the vice-president of the Northampton Institution for Savings.
In a communication to the writer, the officers of these institutions bear willing testimony to the traits of his character that have rendered his life a " useful and beneficent one," in the following words :
" In his fidelity to public trusts confided to him, in his punctuality in meeting his public and private engagements, in fact, io all the walks uf life, he has enjoyed an unblemished reputation and kept himself unspotted from the world."
Mr. Porter has ever manifested a lively interest in educational mat- ters, and in Dr. W. S. Tyler's History of Amherst College we notice this record : "Eleazar Porter has the honor of establishing the first scholarship in Amherst College ;" and after naming the commissioners of the Amherst College Fund, continues : " Eleazar Porter, Esq., the founder of the Porter prize and the Porter scholarship, whose pru- dence and thrift as a man of business are so evenly and so beautifully balanced by his intelligent and Christian liberality. In the hands of such men the charity fund will be safely kept and wisely adminis- tered."
Photo. by Hardie & Schadee.
LONGrangero
LORENZO NOBLE GRANGER was a grandson of Captain Caleb Smith, who was a native of the town of Hadley, and lived on the place now occupied by Mrs. Granger. His father was Enoch M. Granger, who was born in the town of Washington, Berkshire Co., Mass., Jan. 23, 1778, but who in early life re- moved to Madison Co., N. Y., where, June 30, 1811, Lorenzo N. Granger was born. When seven years old he removed with his grandparents, Capt. Caleb Smith and wife, to the town of Hadley, and settled on the place now owned and occupied by Mrs. Granger, where he continued to reside until his death, March 27, 1876.
March 26, 1846, Mr. Granger was united in mar- riage to Mrs. Sophronia Smith, daughter of Joseph Cummings, of the town of Ware, Hampshire Co., Mass. Mr. Granger was essentially a self-made man, his educational facilities being limited to the district school of his own town. His life, although not eventful, was remarkable for striet integrity and unswerving devotion to principle. In early life he engaged in the humber and milling business in con- nection with two uncles, Cotton Smith and John Smith. Cotton Smith's interest afterward passed into the hands of his son, George C. Smith, who sold the entire interest to Mr. Granger. He also eon- ducted a large farm. He was a man who did not aspire to political honors, but was once, in 1852, elected to represent his people in the State Legisla- ture.
During the war of the Rebellion he held the office
of selectman. He was also one of the trustees of the Hopkins Academy. We elip from an article in the Hampshire Gazette, written on the occasion of Mr. Granger's funeral, the following : " His numer- ous employés, together with all the workingmen of the community, were present in a body, and none seemed to be more deeply moved by the loss than they. Mr. Granger was the workingman's friend. The funeral was the most imposing one that has ever oeeurred in North Hadley, and the fact is to be at- tributed to the deep personal interest which all had in him as their friend. His death is the greatest loss this community has ever sustained. For business ca- pacity, energy, promptness, and success he has long towered over all others in this vieinity; for striet integrity in all his dealings he remains unimpeach- able. For kindness to the poor, for his liberal and constant gifts to the church and benevolent eauses, for his general moral influenee and publie spirit, he has long stood forth among his fellow-citizens a pillar. For childlike simplicity, with his sturdy, manly qualities, for greatness of heart and native nobility of soul, he died without a peer. A man of few words, he will be remembered and revered most for his deeds. . . . At a time when we needed him most he is taken away. But, like his own massive monument, he has left behind him a character which, in spite of its minor failings, will be long remem- bered by those who knew him best as one of the purest and strongest that has ever appeared among the people of his town."
Photo. by Hardie & Schadee.
Joseph Smith
From the records we learn that, about the year 1680, Sergt. Joseph Smith, son of Joseph Smith, of Hartford, removed to Hadley, and from him the subject of this notice is descended, being the fifth generation.
Hon. Joseph Smith was born in Hadley, Feb. 12, 1796. He was educated at the high school of his native town, and at the age of nineteen he taught school in Amherst, and again, in his twenty-first year, in North Hadley.
He has always taken a lively interest in public affairs. In 1834 he was commissioned an officer in the 3d Regiment, 1st Brigade and 4th Division, of the militia of the commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In 1842 he received his first appointment as a justice of the peace from Gov. John Davis, and held the position three terms. Has been foreman of a jury more frequently, perhaps, than any other citizen in Hampshire County.
In 1842 he was a member of the Legislature, and during the session was chairman of the committee on State charities. He was county commissioner in 1844, 1845, and 1846.
In 1853 he was elected to the State Senate, and during that period was a member of the committee on Maine lands, and was again chairman of one of the most important committees-that of State char- ities. His course in the House and Senate was ex- ceedingly satisfactory to his constituents, by whom he is held in the highest regard.
He is a member of the Russell Congregational Church.
Jan. 28, 1818, he was united in marriage with Sophia, daughter of Caleb Smith, of Hadley, by whom he had eleven children, five of whom are deceased.
The writer of this sketch visited this venerable couple on the anniversary of their sixty-first wed- ding-day, and although both are on the down hill of life, having passed the scriptural age of three- score and ten, he found them still in the full pos- session of their mental faculties, retaining much of the vigor and elasticity of youth.
Mr. Smith still resides upon the old farm, which has been in the possession of his family from the earliest settlement of the town.
Sylvester Smith
MAJOR SYLVESTER SMITH was the sixth in deseent from Lieut. Samnel Smith, who came from England, with his wife Elizabeth and four children, in 1634, in the ship Elizabeth, of Ipswich, and set- tled in Wethersfield, Conn., where he became a lead- ing eitizen.
In 1659, Samuel removed to Hadley with the first settlers of that town, and was prominent in its affairs, holding important offiees both in Church and State. He died about 1680.
Chileab, son of Lieut. Samuel, was born in 1635, was a freeman in Hadley, and died March 7, 1731.
Luke, son of Chileab, was born in Hadley, was a captain, and died in 1748. The remaining an- cestors, in a direet line of the present family, were as follows : Deaeon Jonathan Smith, son of Luke, born in Hadley, Mareh 4, 1702, and died April 4, 1774; Enos Smith, son of Deacon Jonathan, born in Hadley, Nov. 19, 1734, and died Mareh 14, 1836.
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Major Smith was the eighth child of the ten children of Enos Smith, and was born in Hadley, April 15, 1789. His education was received in the public schools, and his life was passed in his
native town until his death, July 15, 1876, at the advaneed age of eighty-seven. He was a farmer, a thorough business-man, and had many friends.
Major Smith was married twice. His first wife was Polly, daughter of Lemuel Warner, and his second, Elizabeth Edwards, daughter of John Smith. By the first union three children were born to them.
The following obituary notiee is from the Hamp- shire Gazette : " Hadley suffers a great loss in the death of Major Sylvester Smith, aged eighty-seven, and one of her oldest inhabitants. He had always lived at Hadley, and was identified with its history, both by participation and knowledge, beyond any other man. Prominent in the town, a deacon of the Congregational Church, he indneed the late Syl- vester Judd, ex-editor of the Northampton Gazette, to begin his valuable history of Hadley, in the proseeution of which Mr. Smith gave tenfold more information than any one else.
" His knowledge of the family histories of the town was marvelously complete, and he was able to supply information oftentimes nowhere else to be found."
SOUTH HADLEY.
GEOGRAPHICAL.
SOUTH HLADLEY is the southwest town of that part of Hampshire County which lies east of the Connecticut River, and is bounded north by the towns of Hadley and Amherst, being separated from them by the Holyoke range, east by Granby, south by Chicopee, in Hampden County, and west by the irregular line of the Connecticut River. It contains between 9000 and 10,000 acres, and has a population, by the census of 1875, of 3370, of whom 1910 are females. The town was set off as a precinct of Hadley in 1732, and was incorpo- ratedas a district in April, 1753. Granby was set off June 11, 1768. The town united with Hadley and Amberst in the choice of representatives until 1775.
Bachelor's Brook and Stony Brook are the principal streams, upon each of which are several mill-seats. The former enters the town from Granby, and passes in a general course west- ward to the Connecticut. Nearly or quite one-third of the town lies north of this stream. Stony Brook likewise enters from Granby, and passes in a zigzag course near the centre of the town, and finally northwesterly, emptying into the Con- nectient a half-mile south of the mouth of Bachelor's Brook.
South Hadley and South Hadley Falls are the principal villages. Other considerable settlements are called " Pearl City" and " Moody Corners."
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
A few grants of land south of Holyoke were made by Ilad- ley in the seventeenth century, the first of which was to Thomas Selden, in 1675. This grant comprised 6 acres at the mouth of Dry Brook, adjoining the Connecticut. Seven years later Timothy Nash acquired a quantity of land between Bachelor's Brook and Stony Brook, on the Connecticut River, which land was recently owned by Emerson Bates and II. Moody. In 1684, four persons were allowed to erect a saw- mill on Stony Brook or Bachelor's Brook, and to cut timber ; and four others, five years later, had like permission. These mills seem to have answered a temporary purpose, and only one remained in 1720.
The lands south of Mount Holyoke were distributed among the proprietors of Hadley in accordance with a vote taken Jan. 25, 1720. These proprietors were 117 in number, and represented estates valued at £6063 8s.
Falls Woods Field was the first land actually laid out by authority of a vote taken March 14, 1720. This field con- tained 1775 acres, and was bounded west by the great river, south by 500 acres owned by Mr. Pynchon,* north by Stony Brook, and east by a north and south line, 361 rods and 9 links east from the great river, as measured on Mr. Pynchon's north line. The lots into which this field was divided ran east and west, but were fenced as a common field, each pro- prietor building his proportion.
Home-lots were voted at the meeting of March 14th, com- prehending 1000 acres of the land most suitable for the purpose, and were laid out soon after.
Meadow-land to the amount of 500 acres was laid out in
1722 in seven parcels, named Stony Brook, Chapin's, Great, Little, Long, Taylor's Brook, and Pichawamiche Meadows, most of which were in what is now the town of Granby.
Five distributions, amounting to 16,500 acres, were made between 1722 and 1772, in which each proprietor in his order, as determined by chance, selected his portion from the lands remaining unappropriated. The whole amount drawn in the eight divisions for each pound of estate was in excess of three and a quarter acres.
Accounts differ respecting the time of the first settlement of the town .; A burial-place was laid out by the proprietors March 26, 1728, and the settlement doubtless began some time before No- vember, 1727. At the last date a petition to the General Court was made by 21 persons, who represented that they were " resi- dents on a designed precinct in Hladley, south of Mount Ilol- yoke," were distant from the place of worship, and that the intervening way was mountainous and bad. They asked to be made a separate precinct. The following are the names of the petitioners: Daniel Nash (2d), Richard Church, Samuel Taylor, Samuel Smith, Samuel Kellogg, John Smith, John Preston, Nathaniel White, Thomas Goodman, Jr., John Tay- lor, Joshua Taylor, Joseph Kellogg, William Smith, Jonathan Smith, Luke Montague, Joseph White, Ebenezer Smith. The other four-Ebenezer Taylor, John Smith, Ephraim Nash, and John Lane-settled in what is now Granby.
Of the seventeen, John Preston died March 4, 1728, leaving heirs, and Ebenezer Smith was accidentally killed in 1729, and left a son John, who was possibly the one above named .
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