History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 129

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 129

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).

Under the State government the following constitute the list :

John Hastings, 1779, yearly to 1786; Benjamin Smith, 1787; John Hastings, 178%, uml yearly to 1791; Benjamin Smith, 1792; John Hastings, 1793, and yearly to 1807 ; Isaac Maltby, 1808-9; Samuel Partridge (21), 1810, yearly to 1814; lernel Billings, 1815; Isane Maltby, 1816.

" Voted not to send from 1817 to 1822 inchisive." The

" There seems to be an omission of four years.

393

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

town was then fined by the General Court for failing to be represented. It was voted to pay the tine, but they do not seem to have elected in 1823.

Levi Graves, 1824; Israel Billings, 1826; Oliver Smith, 1827-28; Israel Ril- lings, 1829; Remembrance Bardwell, 1832-33 ; Elijah Hubbard, 1835; Solomon Graves, Jr., 1836 ; Austin Smith, 1838; Justin Wait, 1839-40; Roswell Hubbard, 1$11; Samuel D. Partridge, 1842; Joseph Smith, 1843; Josinh Brown, 1846; Elisha Wells, 1848; Elijah Bardwell, Jr., 1832; Wm. H. Dickinson, 1853 ; Ros- well Hubbard, 1854; Reuben II. Bellen, 1856; Silas G. Hulourd, 1857; Wm. 11. Dickinson, 1859; John T. Fitch, 1862; Joseph D. Billings, 1865; Henry S. Porter, INGS ; Elisha Hubbard, 1871; Sammel P. Billings, IST ; Joseph Billings, 1878.

VILLAGES.

" HATFIELD STREET" of old times is the village of to-day. Its early settlement was the settlement of the town itself, as already shown. The street is still a broad and beautiful avenue, laid out with regard to convenience and not with any deference to the narrow business views of modern times. On either side of it were the dwellings of the first settlers of 1661, as there are now located the citizens of the present time. It is emphatically a street of the fathers, full of old historie as- sociations, wild stories of danger as well as the gentler metno- ries of long years of peace, contentment, and prosperity.

Here successive generations of the same families have come and gone,-" their name and memory liveth still."

Here are yet left some of the aged elms beneath whose branches the children of other days played as the children of the present do. Mingled with them are the graceful maples of later years, together adorning the ample grounds around the dwellings and the broad street between.

In the buildings all the ages of settlement and growth are represented, except the log houses of the first and the fortified buildings of the few succeeding years.

Abandoned, doorless, windowless, are some of the old houses, around whose ample firesides the stories of the French war must have been told as the fresh news of to-day.

And some still in use have a substantial appearance, as if their foundations were laid and their superstructure erected when the men of the Continental Congress, encouraged by the resolutions from these New England towns, were luying the strong foundations of the national government and building wide and high the edifice of constitutional liberty.

Then there are the dwellings of the intervening years, and finally the elegant residences of the modern era,-since the war of 1861-65.

The business of the village is given with the sketches of the town.

The post-office in Hatfield village was probably established early in this century. Before that the town received its mail from Northampton, while newspapers were delivered by post- riders.

Dr. Daniel White was appointed postmaster about 1806. He retained the office until 1831, when John Hastings, Jr., was appointed. His successors have been the following : Alphous Longley, Dr. Stacy, S. G. Hubbard, Josiah Brown, Erastus Billings, Josiah Wells, and the present incumbent, Mrs. Edwin Graves. She was appointed in 1869, the office being gracefully conceded to her as the widow of a soldier who lost his life in the defense of his country.

NORTH HATFIELD is a station upon the Connectiont Valley Railroad, near the north line of the town. It has a few pri- vate dwellings, a store, a school-house and post-office, the husk-factory of the Dickinson Brothers, and a saw-mill of considerable age. A grist-mill is located just over the Whately line. The station forms a convenient point of business for a neighborhood of some extent, both in Hatfield and Whatoly. The post-office at this village was established in 1868. Reuben JI. Belden was appointed postmaster, and still retains the office.

HATFIELD STATION is near the south line of the town, some two miles from the centre of Hatfield village, and the business

of the village is accommodated at that point. There are three or four private dwellings near, and the camp-meeting ground of the Methodist Conference is a little to the south, within the town of Northampton.

SCHOOLS.

Hatfieldl usually had a school after 1678 and probably be- fore, and a school-house was built in 1681. Dr. Thos. Hast- ings was one of the teachers, but most of them were educated at Harvard College. They received from £30 to £35 a year in grain at the usual prices, and boarded themselves previous to 1700. A few girls attended the school, or might attend if they paid the same as the boys. The scholars paid about two-thirds of the salary, and the town one-third. * The schools beenme free in 1722. These facts are shown by the town records, from which we make a few extracts :

May 21, 1688 .- " Voted that the Key. Pastor of the church be desired to see out for u schoolmaster suitable to be discharged and maintained ; one-third part of the charge by the town in general, by rate or otherwise, and two-thirds by The schools, viz., male children from six years old to twelve years of age, except- ing poor men that have many sons to be educated, as the selectmen shall judge meet ; the sum in all to le 30 pounds."

The year before, in August, it is recorded that the

" Town huth agreed that the Selectmen shall hire a good able-bodied school- master, nad to nllow him 30 pounds a year; and that all the boys in town thut are nbove six years of age atul under ten shall al pay to the schoolmaster 12 shillings a year, whether they gu to his school or not; and that all that are midler or above that age, whether boys or girls, shall also pay 12 shillings a year for the time they go to school, and this not to be undersfinal of such na come to write; but ns for such as come to write they shall allow 16 shillings per year, and what the rufe shall fall short upon the whole of the sum shall be paid by the town as other sums are paid."

For a long period there was only one school in town,-prob- ably for the first hundred years. But the fostering care of the town was steadily given to see that the boys were all taught to read and write. The girls were not supposed to require these advantages, although Hatfickl broke over the old tradi- tion against the education of girls quite carly.

Ang. 27, 1688,-" Voted, Whereas in the month of June It was referred to Mr. Williams, the pastor, to get a schendmaster, which he hath done, and procured Mr. Stephens, Now he being present, the selectmen have agreed with him that be keeping school and schooling all children sent to him between six years and Twelve years of age that have first been entered in spelling and reading, and all those that are writing to be learned to write (though such as exceed that agr he in tu edurnte, as nforesaid, to their best advantage as much as in him lyes) ; for which the said Mr. Stephens is to receive from the selectmen the full and just sum of 30 pounds for one year, or proportionate of that som if he should teach but half a year or three quarters of a year."

Town-meeting, Der. 7, 1702,-" Voted to hire Thomas Hastings, Jr., to keep the school in Hatfield for the year ensuing; for which to pay him 35 pounds in such pay as they pay their other town debts; and which year is gone on so far ns from the 20 of November to the date hereof."

Dec. 1, 1783,-The town voted they would build a new school-house, and that it shall be of brick, and that it be made 25 feet long and 20 feet brond, and that Col. Chapain, Samuel Dickinson (20), John Allis, Lient, Samuel Partridge, und Capt, Perez Graves be a committee to build the same,

April 4, 1791 .- On a motion whether the town would drop the schoolmaster and set up three schoolmistresses in his room, it was voted in the negative.

Fifty pounds was a customary appropriation for schools, 1790 to 1800.

April 4, 1796 .- Voted to set ny additional schools, and appointed a committee for that purpose,-John Hastings, Samuel Dickinson, Benjamin Smith, Isaac Maltby, Perez Graves.

At an uljourned meeting the town voted to set up two schools for the schooling of girls in the town four months in the year.

Der. 7, 1812 .- Voted to district the town for schools, and appointed a committee for that purpose, viz. : Joseph Smith, Daniel Wait, Perez Morton, Ebenezer White, Benjamin Smith ; and the mpopropriation that your for schools was $550.

We add the following interesting extract from ancient records :

An icount of the boys that came to school in the year 1699, from the loth of March to the 35th of September:

Writers : Ebenezer Marsh, Samuel Wells, Joseph Waite, Jno. White. Renders: Thomas Graves, Ebenezer Field, Ar's., son, Samuel Dickinson, Wm. Chamberlin, Jonathan Frary, Ebenezer Dickinson, Daniel Smith, Nathaniel Warner, Isaac Graves, Stephen Belding, Daniel Warner, Abram Charles, Elisha Williams, Sam- uel Billings, Abram Graves, Daniel Dickinson, Jno. Brooks, Manonh Bodman, Thomas Nush, Joseph Kellogg, John Hubbard, Isaac Hubbard, Thomas Graves, Josiah Field, Josbun Fiehl, Ebenezer Billings, Jeremiah Alvord, John Belding, Juhn White, Ebenezer Wells, Dated Jnn. 9, 1699-1700,

394

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

The sum assessed, £15, is to be " payed" to Doctor Hastings for his son's school- ing" " the above sd tyme of half a year, &c."

Jonathan Curson, the noted teacher, was a foreigner. In the old town records of Northampton there is this entry :

Jonathan Curson was born in Dumfries, in North Britain, in 1755, March 4th, landed at Philadelphia Aug. 4, 1784, and arrived at Northampton the 8th of September following.

Like other towns, Hatfield organized under the law of 1826 by the appointment of a committee to examine teachers.

The progress of the schools since that time is shown clearly by the statistics herewith given, taken at intervals of about ten years each from the reports of the secretary of the board of education in the State.

There are now some fine school buildings in town. Besides the Smith Academy, there is a handsome public school-house

in Northampton. Miss Smith died in 1870, founding and endowing the academy with the sum of $75,000. In her will the following gentlemen of Hatfield were named as trustees : Joseph D. Billings, George W. Hubbard, Jonathan S. Graves, Alphens Cowles, Silas G. Hubbard, Frederick D. Billings, William H. Dickinson, and Daniel W. Wells, their office to continue during life, and vacancies to be filled by the board. George W. Hubbard, removing from the town. resigned, and Chas. K. Morton, of Hatfield, was chosen to fill the vacancy. The board of trustees was incorporated by act of Legislature, in 1871, and organized with the following officers : Joseph D. Billings, President ; William H. Dickinson, Vice-President ; and Silas G. Hubbard, Secretary and Treasurer. To the trustees is committed the entire oversight of the academy, and the care and management of its funds.

SMITH ACADEMY, HATFIELD, MASS.

near it, and in other parts of the town good schools exist in buildings of fair size and convenience.

From Hatfield has gone out the educational influence and the wealth that has founded Smith College, intended to be the most advanced school for the education of girls in the Union or the world.

SMITH ACADEMY.+

The Smiths, of Hatfield, trace their ancestry back to the early settlement of the town. Amongst the many members of the family distinguished for thrift and enterprise, two, Oliver and his nephew Austin, amassed princely fortunes, and the wealth of both was bequeathed to the public good,-that of the former to the founding of " the Smith Charities" in Northampton ; that of the latter, falling to his sister, Miss Sophia Smith. of Hatfield, was by her devised to the estab- lishment of Smith Academy, in Hatfield, and Smith College,

The foundress' wishes as to the character of the school are expressed in her will. It is to consist of an English and a classical department, but other branches of learning may be taught in subordination to the above departments. True to the instinets of her sex and her enlightened sentiments, Miss Smith insists on both sexes having equal advantages in the school, and expresses it as her opinion that, in order that these may be secured, the number of female teachers should equal or nearly equal that of the males, and that the female teachers should have a voice in the management of the institution.

Of the funds, $20,000 was appropriated for the purchasing of ground and erection of a building; $30,000 for a fund the income of which is to meet the current expenses of the school ; $15,000 for the erection of additional buildings when needed ; $10,000 for a fund the income of which is to be used to pay the tuition and board of indigent students.

Upon their organization the trustees proceeded to execute their trust. A central and beautiful location on the corner of

* Son's schooling" means son's teaching.

+ By Prof. W. B. Harding.

395

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

Main and School Streets was selected, and a building of brick, fine in architectural design and well adapted to its purpose, was erected. The basement story contains the laboratory, a room now occupied by the town library, and two large rooms for gymnasia. In the second story are the cabinets, the library, two large rooms devoted to school purposes, various recitation- and dressing-rooms.

In the third story is the hall, capable of seating 400, finished in Gothic style and finely frescoed, also ante-rooms, etc. The building is capped by a steeple, containing a bell weighing 800 pounds. The building was finished in the spring of 1872.

Wilder B. Harding, A.M., was chosen principal. Mr. Harding was born in Putney, Vt., in 1839; graduated at the State Normal School, in Westfield, Mass. ; fitted for college at Williston Seminary; and graduated at Yale College in 1867. Subsequently he was admitted to the Bar, but his tastes led to his discarding law for the vocation of teaching. At the time of his election to the principalship of the academy, Mr. Hard- ing was associate principal of Stamford Military Institute, at Stamford, Conn. Mrs. W. B. Harding was chosen pre- ceptress ; William B. Russell, of Hatfield, instructor in vocal and instrumental music ; and Miss Louisa M. Graves, of Hat- field, instructor in French and drawing.

The school was opened Dec. 4, 1872, with an attendance of 32 boys and 25 girls. In July, 1878, Mrs. Harding resigned her position, and Miss Mary E. Houghton, of Putney, Vt., a graduate of the normal school, in Westfield, was chosen her successor.

The classical and English courses are wholly separate, and each is four years in length. In their seope, and the culture imparted, they resemble closely like departments in the best schools of New England. Boys and girls are thoroughly fitted for college, business, or teaching. Culture in orthoëpy, elocution, reading, and in the various rhetorical exercises is made an object of special attention. The sentiment of the trustees, its teachers, and its friends has ever been that the forces of the school should be devoted to solid attainments, rather than mere effect.

The institution graduated its first class of five members in June, 1876,-Carrie E. Graves, Charles A. Wight, M. An- toinette Morton, Emma E. Porter, all of Hatfield, and Fannie E. Woodard, of Halifax, Vt.

The library, cabinets, and laboratory are not yet extensive, but they are sufficiently full, and are well adapted to meet the present wants of the school. The town library, numbering upward of 2500 volumes, is accessible to the students.

Upon the basis indicated by its founders, the academy will develop its strength and influence. in a sense, its coming history is not problematical. Both sexes will always assemble beneath its roof, and its course will always flow hard by the time-honored landmarks of learning. Possessed of a solid financial basis, and situated in the garden of the Connecticut River Valley, amidst a population enterprising and refined, Smith Academy is destined to occupy a prominent place among the foremost educational institutions of the State.

To this notice of the schools of Hatfield we add the follow- ing list of graduates, natives of Hatfield, prepared for this work by Samuel D. Partridge, of Orange, New Jersey :

Rev. Sammel Allis, Harvard College, 1724 ; Edward Billings, Harvard College, 1731 ; Joseph Billings, Yale College, 1797; Elward C. Billings, Yale College, 1×53; Charles MI. Billings, Amherst College, 1863 ; Arthur W Billings, Scientific Course, Yale College ; Nathaniel Chauncey, Yale College, 1702 (the first graduate of Yale College) ; Jonathan Dickinson, Yale College, 1706 (the first president of New Jersey College) ; Moses Dickinson. Yale College, 1717; Benjamin Dickin- son, Harvard College, 1723; Azariah Dickinson, Yale College, 1730; Josiah Dwight, Yale College, 1715; Joseph Dwight, Harvard College, 1722; William Graves, Yale College, 1785; Thaddeus Graves, Amherst College, 1856; Jonathan Hubbard, Yale College, 1724; John Hubbard, Yale College, 1747; John Ilast- ings, Yale College, 1815; Jonathan II. Lyman, Yale College, 1802; Joseph L. Morton, Yale College, 1857; John Partridge, Harvard College, 1705 ; Oliver Par- tridge, Yale College, 1730; Samuel Partridge, Yale College, 1767; Samuel D. Partridge, Amherst College, 1827 ; Joseph L. Partridge, Williams College, 1828; George C. Partridge, Amherst College, 1833; Charles Smith, Amherst College,

1841 ; William Williams, Harvard College, 1705; Elisha Williams, Harvard Col- lege, 1711 (the third president of Yale College); Solomon Williams, Harvard College, 1719 ; John Williams, Harvard College, 1751; Israel Williams, Yale Col- lege, 1762; George W. Waite, Amherst College, 1861.

SCHOOL STATISTICS.

January, 1837 .- Six schools; attending in the summer, 196; average, 171; winter, 303; average, 282; in town, between 4 and 16, 300; summer schools, 22 months; winter, 18 months; summer teachers, 7 females ; winter, 3 males, 6 females; average wages of male teachers per month, $26; female, $11.71.

January, 1847 .- Eight schools; attending in summer, 131 ; average, 118; win- ter, 197; average, 160; in town, between 4 and 16, 241; attending under 4, 6 ; over 16, 29 ; summer schools, 27 months; winter, 29 ; total, 56 ; summer teachers, 7 females ; winter, 4 males, 4 females ; average wages of male teachers per month, $22.75; female, $13.

January, 1857 .- Seven schools; attending in summer, 175; average, 133; win- ter, 221; average, 181 ; attending under 5, 17; over 15, 26; in town, between 5 and 15, 191 ; summer teachers, 6 females ; winter teachers, 1 male, 6 females ; summer schools, 27 months, 11 days; winter, 26 months; total, 53 months, 11 days ; average wages of male teachers per month, $37.50 ; female, $19.90.

January, 1867 .- Eight schools; attending in the summer, 243; average, 188 ; winter, 298; average, 251; attending under 5, 6; over 15, 26; in town, between 5 and 15, 250 ; summer teachers, & females ; winter, 9 females ; summer schools, 23 months, 15 days ; winter schools, 25 months, 5 days ; average wages of female teachers per month, 827.

January, 1878,-Seven schools; repairs, $10; attending, 314; average, 205; nudler 5, 5; over 15, 14; in town, between 5 and 15, 313; teachers, 12 females; school, 6l months, 5 days; average wages of teachers per month, $30.50; taxa- tion, $2000: expense of superintendente, $30; printing, $15; vested funds, $36,000, yielding an income of $3500; income of local funds and dog fax, $86.70 ; I incorporated academy; 60 scholars; tuition, $460,41; town share of State fund, $216.50.

CITURCHES.

In the movements for a separate town, convenience of divine worship and attendance on ordinances were made the princi- pal reasons. The crossing of the river and its dangers are graphically depicted in the petition to the General Court .*

Without waiting for the formal action of the General Court, the people determined to provide themselves with preaching. In a west-side meeting, held Nov. 6, 1668, a committee was chosen to provide a boarding-place for a minister during the winter, and to arrange for his comfortable maintenance. On the same day a committee was named to draw up a list of all the timber suitable for building a meeting-house 30 feet square, to proportion out the work to each man, and to call on men to fell timber or do other work in connection with the project.

On the 21st of November they chose Thomas Meekins, Sr., William Allis, and Isaac Graves a committee to procure a minister. A call was extended to Rev. Hope Atherton, May 17, 1669, at a salary of £50.

The next year separate action by the " west-side" people as a part of Hadley came to an end, and the " town of Hatfield," Nov. 25, 1670, voted to Mr. Atherton the ministerial allot- ment in the meadows and a home-lot of 8 acres, and voted to build for him a sufficient dwelling-house and to allow him £60 a year salary, two-thirds to be paid in good merchantable wheat and one-third in pork. This additional provision was mentioned : " If our crops fall so short that we cannot pay in kind, then we are to pay him in the next best way we have."

The date of the formation of the church is not known. It has been stated at 1670. Records show that a fast was held on the 21st of January, 1671, in view of the great work of "set- ting up the ordinances ;" also, that on the 26th of the same month the town voted that all the members of other churches in the town should be those "to begin in gathering the church," and that they should have power to choose three per- sons to make up nine to join in the work. All this shows that the organization of the church followed the fast rather than preceded it, making the organization to date somewhere near the Ist of February, 1671. The historian of Whately states the organization as about April 1, 1671.

Mr. Atherton died comparatively young. He never recov- ered from the hardships suffered in the Turner's Falls fight and the retreat, May 17, 1676. He died in June, 1679.

The first meeting-house, mentioned above as having been

* See page 333 of this work.

396

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

commenced November, 1668, was soon after completed,-at least, sufficient for public worship. It was improved about twenty years later. The early records include a great variety of town votes with reference to the meeting-house, provisions for sweeping, bills for shingling, and all the details of work. Very little discretion was left in these early times to a building committee. They were instructed very precisely when, where, and how. At the time of the repairs, in 1688, the vote of this town was not so minute as on some other occasions : " Voted, as to repairs upon the meeting-house, that Deacon Church and Goodman Belden, Sr., hire workmen and get it forthwith done on the town's charge." The location of this first house was probably not far from the site afterward occu- pied by the second.

BUILDING OF THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE.

March 6, 1748,-Voted to build a new meeting-house, 58 feet in length and 45 in width, the height to be left to the advice of the carpenters employed to build.

Building committee, Col. Williams, Oliver Partridge, Capt. Coleman, Capt. Dwight, Capt. White, Ens. Dickinson, and Deacon Hubbard.

Dec. 4, 1749,-Voted an appropriation of 4000 pounds, old tenor, for the new house.

March 5, 1749,-Voted by the town that the sum granted in December last to be employed for building a new meeting-house shall, by the assessors, be reduced to lawful money, and the rates be made by them accordingly ; yet, notwithstand- ing, the several persons that shall be contained in said bills of assessment shall have liberty to discharge the respective sums assessed, in bills of credit of this province, at the rate set or fixed by law.

June 8, 1750,-Voted, that they will speedily pull down the meeting-house now standing in the town, in order to employ such of the timbers as are suitable in building the new house.

Dec. 3, 1750,-One hundred and sixty pounds more were voted to finish the house.

The house was probably finished during the next year, but the whole business was not adjusted until 1755, when the committee to settle with the building committee reported that there was left of the sum granted by the town " £45 138. 5d. and If.," and that the accounts of the committee were " right east and well vouched."

At the same meeting, voted that suitable ornamental step- stones be provided for the meeting-house, and that the casings of the timber in the meeting-house " be decently colored."

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 129

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