History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 117

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 117

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Smith for several years past has been postmaster at South Hadley Falls, and is engaged in general mercantile business at the same place. Ile has always taken an active interest in town and church matters, being a member of the Congregational Church of South Hadley Falls.

ERRATUM.

In the biography of Jos. Carew, where mention is made of his marriage, the name Miss Eliza Randall, should read Miss Eliza Bardwell, daughter of Josiah Bardwell.

of Hampshire, and is bounded on the north by the town of Enfield, in the same county, and by the town of Hardwick, in Worcester County ; on the south by the town of Palmer, in Hampden County; on the east by the towns of New Brain- tree and West Brookfield, in Worcester County; and on the west by the town of Belchertown, in Hampshire County. It is about four and a half by six miles in extent, and has an area of about 18,000 acres, and is the second town in point of population and manufacturing importance in the county.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The town is pleasantly situated and well watered. The Ware River originates in the western part of Worcester County, draining most of the country west of the Wachu- sett, and is supplied partly from ponds, which, with the great extent of open country drained by it, gives it a character of stability not gained by mountain streams. It enters Ware at the northeast corner, and goes out near the southwest, keeping near the eastern and southern boundary. This stream

been fully utilized, and is ial prosperity. The Swift River forms the western boundary. Three distinct ranges of bills traverse the town north and south, between which exist intervales of fair productive character, and each of which is watered by a brook of some consequence. Commencing at the east, these are named respectively Muddy, Flat, and Beaver Brooks, all affluents of the Ware River. The highest eleva- tion in the town is Coy's Hill, on the eastern border, which attains an altitude of 500 feet above the river.

The soil of the town is of a somewhat inferior quality, save in the valleys, where it is capable of successful cultivation. Its appearance has frequently excited the comments of strangers and others, which the residents now repeat with some relish, since, in spite of adverse conditions, they have outstripped their neighbors in cultivated crops. Dr. Dwight passed through a corner of the town in 1810, and in his " Travels" makes the following remark :

" Ware borders on Belchertown, southeastward. Its soil is generally of a very inferior quality. A traveler formerly passing through this town observed that

* Deceased.

Photos. by T. R. Lewis.

Avram F.

HIRAM SMITH. [DECEASED.]

359

IHISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

tinned in this position until the spring of 1847, when tlris mill and that of D. & J. Ames, adjoining (the first paper- makers in this part of New England), were burned. How- ard & Lathrop sustained such severe loss as to cause their failure, and terminate their business at South Hladley Falls.

In 1848, Mr. Carew and others organized the Carew Manu- facturing Company, the number of stockholders being twenty- five. Since then they have been reduced to seven, Mr. Carew having a controlling interest. He was elected agent and treasurer, and as such has remained since. The mill was burned in 1873, but immediately replaced by a much more costly structure of brick, 150 by 40 feet, with marble facings and trimmings, three stories high, with a two-story wing 50 hy 20 feet. The machinery includes five five-hun- dred pound engines, one eighty-inch Fourdrinier machine, and two artesian wells with a capacity of two hundred and forty gallons per minute, being the first artesian wells used for this purpose. Mr. Carew was also one of the first stockholders and directors of the Third National Bank of Springfield.

In 1864 be built and presented to the Church Society the Congregational Church at South Hadley Falls, upon which he expended twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1870 he gave a scholarship to Amherst College, and in 1873 presented five thousand dollars for a lectureship in the Theological Seminary at Hartford, Conn.

Mr. Carew's son Frank was associated with him in business up to the time of his death, which occurred on Aug. 1, 1877. Frank was married, Oct. 22, 1863, to Josephine F., daughter of Abram Hawkins, Esq., and left three children,-Mary F., born June 12, 1866, in Paris, France; George and Frank (twins), born in South Hadley Falls, Mass., Jan. 7, 1870. These three grandchildren are all of Mr. Carew's family left to him, their mother having died Jan. 7, 1870.

Mr. Carew was married, Sept. 24, 1833, to Miss Eliza Ran- dall, daughter of Josiah Randall, Esq., and had only two children,-George Bishop, who was born June 17, 1836, and died June 23d of same year, and Frank, born April 15, 1838. Mrs. Carew died May 7, 1874.

Mr. Carew is still an active and enterprising business-man,

although seventy-two years of age, and always ready to assist every worthy enterprise.

HIRAM SMITII,*

son of Deacon Silas Smith, born Sept. 23, 1793. His mother was Mary, daughter of Eliphaz Moody, of South Hadley Falls, Mass., born Aug. 13, 1796, whom his father married June 2, 1817. Hiram Smith early turned his attention to navigation on the Connecticut River, and by his energy and business ability probably did more than any other person to open up the commerce of the Upper Connecticut. This was before the days of railroads, when the river was the great highway of commerce in Western Massachusetts. Indeed, so great was his influence at one time, and so far reaching his ideas and plans, that he was universally known on the river as " King Hiram." He was a valuable and useful citizen, and served his town in various offices for many years. He represented South Hadley in the General Court of Massachu- setts. He was frequently called upon to set off widows' dowers, and to administer on the estates of deceased friends, as well as attend to other kinds of public services, being known far and wide as a man of most excellent judgment and of strict in- tegrity. In the latter part of his life he was engaged in farming.

IHRAM SMITH,

son of the above, was born July 24, 1824, and like his father has taken a prominent place as a citizen and business-man in the old town where so many of his ancestors have resided be- fore him. Jan. 19, 1848, he married Harriet S. Coney, niece of Capt. Broughton Alvord, and has had a family of four children, viz., Ellis Dwight, born July 10, 1849, died April 22, 1851 ; Hattie V. A., born July 11, 1850, died Oct. 10, 1852; J. Belle, born Nov. 22, 1858; and Fred Merwin, born Sept. 18, 1862.

Mr. Smith for several years past has been postmaster at South Hadley Falls, and is engaged in general mercantile business at the same place. He has always taken an active interest in town and church matters, being a member of the Congregational Church of South Iladley Falls.

WARE.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

THE town of Ware lies in the southeast part of the county of Hampshire, and is bounded on the north by the town of Entiell, in the same county, and by the town of Hardwick, in Worcester County ; on the south by the town of Palmer, in Hampden County ; on the east by the towns of New Brain- tree and West Brookfield, in Worcester County ; and on the west by the town of Belchertown, in Hampshire County. It is about four and a half by six miles in extent, and has an area of about 18,000 acres, and is the second town in point of population and manufacturing importance in the county.

NATURAL FEATURES.

affords fine water-power, which has been fully utilized, and is the foundation of the town's material prosperity. The Swift River forms the western boundary. Three distinct ranges of hills traverse the town north and south, between which exist intervales of fair productive character, and each of which is watered by a brook of some consequence. Commencing at the east, these are named respectively Muddy, Flat, and Beaver Brooks, all affluents of the Ware River. The highest eleva- tion in the town is Coy's Ilill, on the eastern border, which attains an altitude of 500 feet above the river.

The soil of the town is of a somewhat inferior quality, save in the valleys, where it is capable of successful cultivation. Its appearance has frequently excited the comments of strangers and others, which the residents now repeat with some relish, since, in spite of adverse conditions, they have outstripped their neighbors in cultivated erops. Dr. Dwight passed through a corner of the town in 1810, and in his " Travels" makes the following remark :

" Ware borders on Belchertown, southeastward. Its soil is generally of a very inferior quality. A traveler formerly passing through this town observed that

* Deceased.

360

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

he thought the land was like self-righteousness, for the more he had of it the poorer he would be."

Some ingenious rhymster has also produced the following stanza in regard to the town :

" Dame Nature onee, when making land, Had refuse left of stone and sand. She viewed it well, and threw it down Between Coy's Hill and Belchertown, Aml says, ' You paltry stuff, lie there, Aud make a town and call it Ware !' "

RAILROADS.

The Ware River Railroad, now under lease to the Boston and AAlbany Railroad for the term of nine hundred and ninety- nine years, traverses the town diagonally, following the course of Ware River. The company was incorporated May 24, 1851, and the section was built from Palmer to Gilbertville (Hardwick) in 1870 at a cost of $250,000, and at an expense to the town of Ware of $50,000. The original company be- coming embarrassed, a new corporation was formed in June, 1873, retaining the name. The road is fifty-two miles long, and has a station at Ware village.

NEWSPAPERS.

The Village Gazette was the first newspaper started in Ware. The first number was issued July 7, 1847, by Hemenway & Fisk, and was neutral in politics. On March 15, 1848, Mr. Fisk disposed of his interest to Mr. Hemenway, but continued its editor until Jan. 1, 1849. During the same month Mr. Hemenway soll out the establishment to Mandell & Hatha- way, who continued it, with an alteration of its title to The Ware Gazette, until the summer of 1850, when the subserip- tion list was purchased by J. F. Downing. Mr. Downing founded upon this list the Ware American, and by the aid of an association of gentlemen was enabled to enlarge his paper, and to continue its issue until the following autumn, when he disposed of his list to the proprietors of the Springfield Re- publican.

The Ware Offering, a monthly publication, designed for factory operatives, was started in January, 1848, by S. F. Pepper, but only reached three or four numbers. The Warc Weekly Courier was commenced Jan. 1, 1848, by C. H. & W. F. Brown. The paper was a sort of reprint of the Worcester ¿Egis, having a Ware heading and special Joeal items. But three numbers were published. Two newspapers are now dis- tributed in the town, made up on the same plan as the Egis, and are entitled the Ware Standard and Ware Gazette. The former is issued by the Palmer Journal, of which it is a par- tial reprint, and is under the local management of Marvin L. Snow ; the latter is a similar offshoot from the Burre Gazette, and is locally represented by R. L. Hathaway. Each has a Ware heading, and contains Ware local items.

SETTLEMENT.

Two different versions of the circumstances that preceded and attended the first settlement of the town have been given :

" The story in Barber's ' Historical Collections of Massachusetts' is, that the prin- cipal part of Waro was a tract of 10,000 arres, granted to the soldiers in the Nar- rugansett war,-that they viewed the lands as of little valne, and afterward sold them to John Read, E.g., of Boston, for two coppers per acre .* The true history of the 10,000 are tract is this. The first settlements in the western part of Mas-

* " There is a deed on record at Springfield, dated Sept. 10, 1740, from John Read to Thomas Read, of 'one full half right or share in a township lately granted by the Great and General Court of the Province to the officers and sol- diers which was formerly in ye tight with the Indian Enemy at the falls ou Con- Decticut River, commonly called the Falls Fight, which township lyeth near or adjoining to Deerfield, in ye county of Hampshire, of which fight my honored Father, Thomas Read, deceased, was then and there one of the soldiers.' The township hore referred to is Bernardston, and the fight the battle at Turner's Falls, during Philip's war, in 1676. It may have been confounded with the tract in Ware owned by Mr. Rend, who was a lawyer of some eminence in Boston, and owned other large tracts of land. Another deed is on record at Springfield, of 23,040 acres, on the southerly side of Deerfield, made by agents of the town of Boston to him. Templeton und Westminster were Narragansett towns."

sachusetts were made at Springfield, in 1636, which in process of time embraced Suffield, Enfield, and Somers within its bounds. Those towns, as well as Wood- stock, were settled from Massachusetts, and were mer her jurisdiction. The charter of Connecticut, granted by Robert, earl of Warwick, in the reign of King Charles, in 1631, conveyed 'all that part of New England, in America, which lies and extends itself from a river there called the Narragansett Biver, the space of forty leagues upon a straight line near the sea-shore towards the southwest, west and by south or west, as the coast lieth towards Virginia, all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main lands there, from the Western Ocean to the South Sea,' When the line was run by Connecticut, it took in the towns above named. Massachusetts declined giving them up. A long controversy en- sued, which lasted sixty-six years. In 1713 an agreement was made between the colonies that the line should be run according to the charter, Massachusetts should retain jurisdiction over the towns settled by her, and should grant as an equivalent as many acres of unimproved land to Connectient.

"On running the line, it was found at Connectient River to run ninety rods north of the nor theast bounds of Suffield, and that Massachusetts had encroached upon Connecticut 107,793 acres, She made a grant of that quantity of land to Connecticut, which was accepted as an equivalent. This tract included Belcher- town, l'elham, part of Enfield, and the 10,000 acres in Ware. The whole was sold soon after, in 1716, in sixteen shares, for the sum of £683, New England currency, which was a little more than a farthing per acre. The money went into the funds of Yale College.

" The towns of Suffield, Enfield, Somers, and Woodstock continued in Massa- chusetts till 1747, when they were taken into Connecticut.

" Among the purchasers of the equivalent lands were Gov. Belcher and John Read, Esq., of Boston, Nathan Gould, Esq., the deputy-governor of Connecticut, and Peter Burr, Esq., one of the assistant judges.

" The records of Springfield contain a deed of mortgage from John Read, Dec. 12, 1722, ' Of all that my Ten Thousand acres of land, being near Brookfield, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, being that two-sixteenth parts of the lauds commonly called the Equivalent Lands, which in the late division of the Equivalent Lands fell to the Hlon. Nathan Goukl and Peter Burr, Esq., and to the said John Read.' It was known afterward as ' the Manor of Peace,' as being a peace-offering to Connecticut.

" The southeast corner of the Read tract was near where the barn of George Gould now stands ; thenee the line run due north to Hardwick line, passing west of Muddy Brook, and bear George Osborn's Land; thence west to Swift River, and south by the river to Palmier, or the ' Elbows,' as it was then called, from the angles made by the branches of the Chicopee River. The south line was a continua- tion of the south line of Belchertown, bearing E. hy N. This tract covered all the western portion of the town. The tract west of Swift River was called Cold Spring, and went into the hands of Gov. Belcher, and, when incorporated, was called Belchertown.

" The eastern part of the town was included in a purchase made of the In- dian proprietors Dec. 27, 1686. 'John Magus, Lawrence Nassowanno, attorneys to Anogomok, Sachem of the tract of land called Wombemesisecook, James aud Simon, sons and heirs of Black James, Sachem of the Nipmug country, for divers good causes and considerations, especially for and in consideration of the sum of twenty pounds current money of New England,' conveyed to Joshua Lamb, Nathaniel Paige, Andrew Gardner, Benjamin Gambin, Benjamin Tucker, John Curtis, Richard Draper, and Samuel Ruggles, of Roxbury, Mass., 'a certain tract or parcel of land, containing by estimation twelve miles long, north and south, and eight miles wide, east and west, situate, lying, and being near Quabang, com- monly known by the name of Wombemesisecook, being butted and bounded south- erly npon the land that Joseph Dudley, Esq., lately purchased of the Indians, East- orly the southernmost corner upon a pond called Sasagookapaugh, and so by a brook that runneth into said Pond, and so up Northerly unto a place called Ueques, aml so still northerly until it meets with a River called Nenameseck, and Westerly by the River until it comes against Quaboge bounds, and joins unto their boutkls, or however otherwise butted and bounded.'

" It would be difficult now to trace these lines, except the one formed by Ware River, which it appears was called by the Indians 'Nenavieseck.' It appears from the proprietors' records, where the deed is recorded, that they claimed the land from Rutland, now Barre, on the north, to the Quabaug River, in Warren, covering Hardwick, parts of Ware, Palmer, and Brookfield, and that part of Warren north of the river. Sonth of the Quabaug belonged to Brimfield. The same proprietors bought about the same time, of the Indians, the tract now forming the towns of Leicester and Spencer.

" The first attempts made to survey and lay out the lands was in 1727 at which time only two of the original proprietors were living, when they petitioned the Legislature to confirm the territory to them, which was refused. In 1728 at committee, one of whom was the Rev. Timothy Ruggles, of Rochester, son of one of the purchasers, and father of the afterward famous Brigadier Ruggle's, was chosen to lay out a town six miles square within their claim; but it was not until 1732 that the Legislature confirmed to Joshua Lamb and others the tract of six miles square, then called Lambstown, and which was afterward incor- porated as the town of Hardwick."

The southern part of the town, and all east of the Read manor, as far north as Brookfield line extends, was included in what was then called the " Elbows," for the facts relating to the grant and early settlement of which the reader is re- ferred to the history of the town of Palmer, in this volume.

The most ancient document relating to the history of Ware is the following petition, dated in 1673, thirteen years before

361

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

the Indian deed to the proprietors of Hardwick, which is copied from the original in the archives of the commonwealth; and with the grant, and the deed following it, the title of the terri- tory of Ware village can be easily traced to the present pro- prietors :

"To the Honoured Governour, Deputie Governour, Magistrates, and Deputies now assembled and holding Generall Court in Boston.

"The humble petition of Richard Hollinworth, of Salem, most humbly sheweth :

" That your humble petitioner's ffather came into this country about forty yeares siure, and brought a great ffamily with bim, and a good estate. And being the first builder of vessells, being a ship-carpenter, was a great benefit to this countrey, and as great or greater than any one in the infancir of the coun- trie of a private man, as it is fully knowne, yett gained not himselfe an estate, Imt spent his own that he brought; and notwithstanding all his service and the largeness of his family, lwing twelve in number, he never had more granted him by the countrie but fortie-one acres of upland, and not one acre of meadow, and the land lying soe remote from the towne of Salem it proved little worth to him or his, and none of his children have never had anything, but have lived by their labonr with God's lessing; and your petitioner hath used maretan em- ployment, and through many dangers and with much difficultie gotten a lively- hood for himselfe and his family, and, being brought very low by his foss by the Dutch takring all from him, is constrained to apply himself unto yourselves whom God hath sett as ffathers of this Commonwealth.

" And doth most humbly beseech yon seriously to consider the premises, and if it may stand with your good likeing and charitie to grant unto him a come- tent parcell of land that he may sitt downe upon with his family, viz., his wife and six chil Iren, for he would leave the seas had he competeprie of land whereby, with his own industry and God's blessing, he might mainetaine his family. And he shall take it as a great favour. And, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c."

" In answer to this petition, the Deputys judge meet to graunt the petitioner five hundred neres of land where he can find it free from any former grauut, ye Honorable Magistrates consenting hereto.

4 8, 11, 1673.

" Consented to by the Magistrates.

" WILLIAM TURREY, Chairman.

"EDWARD RAWSON, Sec'ry."

" Hollingsworth never located the land granted by the General Court to him. llis heirs afterward sold the grant to Samuel Prince, of Rochester. June 14, 1715, it appears by the records of the council, 'a plot of 500 acres was presented by Samuel Prince, lying on Ware River, surveyed by William Ward, being a grant of that quantity to Richard Hollingsworth in 1673,' ' It was ordered, that the plat be confirmed as Hollingsworth's grant, if that grant has not been laid out before.'

"The plat and the order indorsed on the back of it cannot be found. . Very few papers of that kind between 1710 and 1730 are among the archives of the commonwealth, and it is supposed they were destroyed when the State-House was burned in 1741.

" Tradition has always connected with this grant an obligation to maintain mills at the falls, but the records disclose no such condition. The following decd, copied from the Springfield Records, will throw light on the earliest conveyances :

"' To all People unto whom this Present Deed of sale shall come, Jonas Clarke, of Boston, within the County of Suffolk in New England, Mazier, Sendeth Greeting.

"' Know Ye, that 1, the said Jonas Clarke, for and in consideration of the sum of Four hundred pounds to me in hand at and before the ensealing and delivery hereof well and truly Paid by Jabez Olmsted, of Brookfield in the County of Hampshire," in New England atoresnid, Husbandman, the Rec't whereof 1 do hereby acknowledge, have given, granted, bargained, soll, conveyed, and cen- firmed, and by these Presents do give, grant, bargain, sell, convey, and confirm unto the said Jabez Olmsted, his heirs and assigns forever, all that my certain tract or parcel of land situate, lying, and being within the Province of the Mas- snehusetts bay, in the Road from Brookfield to Hadley, Containing by estimation five hundred acres, more or less, as the same is delineated and decyphered in a Plau thereof on file among the Records of the General Courtor Assembly of this Province, which said land, npon Wednesday, twenty-fifth day of May, was al- lowed and confirmed as the Five hundred acres of land granted unto Richard Hollingsworth, Anno 1673, by the said General Court, and is the same land which the said Hollingsworth's heirs sold lately unto Samuel Prince, late of Rochester, Yeoman, who sold the same to Thomas Clarke, of Boston, aforesaid, Merchant, of whom I purchased the same land, together with all and singular the trees, woods, underwoods, profits, privileges, and appmitenances, to the said grauted land belonging or in anywise appertaining, and the Reversion and re- mainders thereof.' [ Here follow the usual corenants of warranty.] 'To Have and to Hold the said given and granted land and premises with the appurten- ances, unto the said Jabez Olmsted, bis heirs and assigns forever, to his and their only proper use, benefit and behoef from henceforth and forever.

"' In witness whereof, I, the said Jonas Clarke, bare hereunto set my hand and seal the second day of April, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine, and in the second year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second, King over Great Britain, &c.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 117

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