History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 185

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 185

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The society is in a prosperous condition, having a pleasant Sabbath-school in successful operation, with a membership of 60 and a library containing 300 volumes. The superintendent is S. F. Arnold.

Rev. George E. Chapman, the present pastor, was placed in charge of the church in 1878, and is now in his second year.

The stewards for the present year are L. H. Newell, B. Al- len, Amasa Allen, J. R. Powell, Hugh Anderson, J. G. Ward, Russell Whipple, D. Presho, Hollis Dodge, H. B. Brewer, Timothy Sabin.

A SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

formerly existed in the town at the west end, and was sup- ported by the Kelly, Cook, Buffum, and other families. It was never strong, and has not been in active existence for more than forty years. The meeting-house used by the society is now the barn of J. Willis.

THE UNITAARIANS

also flourished for a time, worshiping in the present town- house, and the movement manifested considerable strength, but no regular society is now in existence.

THE BURIAL-PLACES

of Pelham are quite numerous, most of them, however, being small and devoted to private uses.

The first ground laid out in the town for that purpose was what is known as the "Centre Burying-Ground," situated at the present town-house.

In 1739 ten aeres of land situated in the centre of the town were set apart for a meeting-house, burying-ground, and train- ing-field, and during that year this yard was laid out and used for burial purposes for many years.

It has not been in use for a period of sixty years. Many of its oldest graves have sunken and disappeared from sight, leaving but & crumbled stone, on which the inseription is illegible, to mark the spot where they existed. Some of the oldest settlers of the town repose beneath its sod. The most aneient stones now standing are those of David Houston, who died Oct. 29, 1765, in his forty-fifth year, and his wife, Mary, who died March 18, 1766; Rev. Richard Crouch Graham, who died Feb. 25, 1771, in his thirty-second year ; and John Pei- bles, who died Jan. 1, 1780, in his seventy-sixth year.

The next oldest burying-ground laid out within the present limits of the town was what is now known as the " West Bury- ing-Ground," situated in the western part of the town, near the " Valley School-house." The exact date of the appropriation of that spot to burial purposes is not indicated on the town records. In the year 1819 the feneing around the " East, West, and Centre Burying-Grounds" was sold at auetion, and $65 granted to repair the yards, and it is probable that the west yard was laid out as early as 1760. The yard contains the graves of some of the first settlers of the town, and many old tombstones, the inscriptions upon which cannot be deciphered.

The " Valley Cemetery," situated on the " Valley road," in the west end of the town, near the Gates place, was laid out about the year 1848. It is still in use, and is an attractive and beautiful spot.

The cemetery at the west end, near the Orient Springs, was laid out about 1830, William Harkness being the first person interred there. It is small, and contains but few graves.

The " Quaker Cemetery" was laid out in the first part of

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

the present century, at the west end, near J. R. Sibley's. No stones were ever erected there, and it is seldom used.

The cemetery in the south part of the town, near the farm of Arba Randall, was laid out about 1843, and is owned by James Smith, Daniel Holbrook, and Arba Randall. It con- tains but few graves.

There is another small private burying-ground near the resi- denee of Philander Knight, in the south part of the town.

At Paekardsville there are two burying-grounds, the larger one being just over the line, and within the town of Enfield. The smaller one adjoins the Congregational Church at that place, and was probably established and first used by the Bap- tists about fifty years ago.

NOTES AND INCIDENTS.

From the records of the town we learn that the earliest marriages which took place in Pelham were as follows :

" August ye 25, 1746 .- Then joyned in marriage Robert McKee & Mary Gray, both of Pelham."

" Sept, ye 25, 1746 .- Then joyned in marriage John Diek & Jean McCulloch, both of Pelham.

" Nov. ye 10, 1746 .- Then joyned in marriage Ephraim Whiler & Hannah Marks, both of Quaben, so Called."

The name of " Pelham" was conferred upon the town in honor of Lord Pelham, of England, who passed through the State about the time of the incorporation of the town. In recognition of the compliment, Lord Pelham presented the church with a bell, which was made in England and shipped to Boston for the town. The charges for freight and storage being so heavy, and the difficulty of getting the bell to Pelham being great, the bell was sold to the Old South Church, in Bos- ton, and never reached Pelham.

That the custom of using intoxicating beverages was uni- versal in early times cannot be denied, and many are the stories that are narrated in regard to that indulgence. Minis- try and laity alike practiced and encouraged their use. One of these stories is laid in Pelham, and, whether true or not, seems to illustrate the prevailing tendencies of the times. The records of the town indicate that difficulties arose between the town and their first minister, Rev. Robert Abercrombie, and that he was dismissed and compelled to sue the town for a por- tion of his salary. The foundation of all this trouble is con- fidently asserted to have been the too frequent use of the eup by the minister, and the story is told that upon one occasion u committee, of which Deacon MeMullen was one, was ap- pointed to confer with the pastor upon his shortcomings. The committee repaired to the house of the reverend gentleman, and were received with great hospitality, some excellent West India rum being immediately set before them. The result was the committee lingered through the night without dis- closing the purport of the visit, and coneluded the next morn- ing to make a report to the church that Mr. Abercrombie had given them Christian satisfaction. They are said to have made such a report, and the matter was thus amicably adjusted.

Pelham was the scene of the pastoral labors of the far-famed Stephen Burroughs. Ile made his advent in the town about the year 1784, after the withdrawal of Rev. Mr. Merrill, hav- ing previously preached one Sabbath in the town of Ludlow, Hampden Co. Burroughs was the son of Rev. Eden Bur- roughs, of Hanover, N. H., and came armed with a few old sermons of his father's, and bringing a letter from the Rev. Mr. Baldwin, of Palmer, to Deacon Gray, of Pelham. Bur- roughs arrived in Pelham under the assumed name of Davis, and was favorably received by the people. He was first en- gaged to preach four Sabbaths, and after them sixteen more. During this time he was suspected of preaching sermons not his own. To test the matter, the people determined to select a text from which he was to preach, giving him notice of the request just before the time that church was to assemble. The text selected was the first clause of the fifth verse of the ninth chapter of Joshua, the words being, " And old shoes and

clouted upon their feet.7 Burroughs acquiesced in the re- quest, and succeeded in delivering such an excellent discourse from so poor a text that he silenced all carpings upon that point. Things went along swimmingly until the time for which he was hired bad nearly expired, but one Sabbath re- maining. But his career in Pelham was now ended. The news of his character and duplicity reached the town, and he was obliged to flee in the night. He was discovered in his flight through Greenwich by a young man named Powers, of that town, and was followed by the enraged inhabitants of Pelham, and overtaken in the town of Rutland. Here, after laying Dr. Nehemiah linds senseless with a stone, he took refuge in a hay-mow, from whenee, after a long parley with the people, they all adjourned to a tavern kept by one Wood, and enjoyed "Christian satisfaction" at Burroughs' expense. Trouble again arising, the latter fled to a swamp, pursued by the people, but was not again overtaken.

THE INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS OF PELHAM,

aside from agriculture, have never assumed any great import- anee. The cultivation of the soil and the cutting and selling of lumber have occupied the principal attention of the town.

Some manufacturing, however, has been done in the west end of the town, along the Fort River, and on the Swift River, at the eastern border.

At the west end saw- and grist-mills existed at an early day. Nathan Jillson, father of Amasa and Riley, moved into Pel- ham in the year 1806, and purchased both the water-privileges at the west end. At that time a saw- and grist-mill was in operation at that point. For a time also John Parmenter had a fulling-mill at the lower site, and George Macomber en- gaged in the manufacture of clothing.

The Jillsons utilized these privileges for some time. A grist-mill was erceted at one privilege about the year 1826, and it was used for that purpose until 1845, when it was pur- chased by Robert Cutler. Part of it was then converted into a saw-mill. Buffum & Ward suceceded Cutler. In 1863 the site was bought by Horace Gray, who, in company with his son, engaged in the manufacture of jointed fisb-poles, made of ash and maple wood, until the year 1874, when the business was sold to J. Ward & Co., who are still engaged in that manufacture.

The other site was used as a saw-mill for many years, and in the year 1828 the mill was used in turning bobbins. In that year a heavy flood swept down the river, carrying the improve- ments at both places with it. Horace Gray purchased this privi- lege also in the year 1835, and engaged in the manufacture of bedsteads and other general wood manufacture. In the year 1860 it was used in the manufacture of fishing-poles. Andrew Mitchell afterward ran it as a saw-mill. In the year 1867 it eume into the hands of Darius Eaton, who now runs it as a saw- and planing-mill.

The east privilege was also in use at an early day, being first utilized for the use of a saw-mill. About the year 1850, Dwight and IIenry Ilill engaged in the manufacture of spools. That business was carried on until the burning of the mill, a few years ago.

Among the carly blacksmiths of the town, mention may be made of Thomas Harlow, who had a shop near the Methodist meeting-house, in the west part of the town ; David Hannum, who had one near the residence of Horace Gray, also in the west end; und Nathaniel Dodge, who had one the last part of last century, near the residence of his son, Ellison Dodge, in the south part of the town. He was suceceded by his son, El- lison Dodge, who, though at an advanced age, still prosecutes the business to some extent.

The quarrying of " Pelham granite" has also been engaged in by the inhabitants. The first stone taken out was by John Gray, over fifty years ago, in the west part of the town. Levi B. Hall next engaged in business there, who finally sold out

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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

to .J. G. Ward, who still owns and condnets the business. The stone is of a peculiar grayish tint, and has been much used in the surrounding towns. The Amherst College chapel is built of it. Stone has also been quarried in the east part of the town.

Considerable quantities of asbestos have also been mined in the southwest part of the town. This work was first un- dertaken by Lemuel HI. Newell about eight years ago, the deposit being on his farm. Mr. Newell subsequently disposed of the business to a Hartford man. About 1871, Rev. John Jones engaged in the enterprise, and took out considerable material. Two years later it was opened by James HI. Murray on a royalty. It is now owned by A. F. & J. Jones, and is not much worked at present. The quality of the asbestos is said to be good, and it meets a ready sale in the Boston and New York markets.

At Packardsville, Joel Packard and John Thurston engaged in the manufacture of wagons and carriages about 1830. The business was afterward removed to Belchertown.

The business of braiding palm-leaf hats has constituted an extensive branch of industry for over fifty years, especially on the part of the females of the town. Other small industrial and manufacturing enterprises have existed elsewhere in the town.

MILITARY.

The town has taken an active part in the various wars that have agitated the country since its incorporation. There is every reason to believe that numbers of its citizens took part in the carlier Indian wars, though the only name mentioned in the records of the town in that connection is that of James Ferguson in 1747, who was released from taxation because he was " in the war."

THE REVOLUTIONARY RECORD

of the town is eminently characteristic. On Nov. 9, 1773, in response to the circular letter that had been issued by the Committee of Correspondence at Boston, the town voted a long and philosophical reply, breathing the spirit of patriotism, and nearly covering three closely-written pages of the records. Something of its spirit may be judged from the following extract :

"And if things should ere long Proceed to an Unhappy Rupture Betwixt the mother Country and these Plantations, Which Heaven forbid, we are not at present much intimidated with that pompous boasting on the other side of the waters, viz., that Great Britain could blow America iuto atoms, as we consider the sighs of the oppressed and Good Wishes of milions in the mother Country to the Liberty and Weal Both of themselves and their own flesh, their Beloved Americans."

Committee, Robert Hamilton, John Hamilton, Thomas Cochran, David Cowden, aud George Petteson.

Throughout the war the town contributed its full share of men and supplies to the Continental army, and on June 20, 1776, thirteen days before the declaration of independence, passed the following :

" Voted by unanimous vote that We are willing to Come under Independency from under the yoke of the King of Great Britain, Provided the Continental Coogress see fite, in their Wisdom, to Establish Independence in the Colonies for their Safety."

It is said that nearly all the male residents of the town served in the cause of independence. Among these may be mentioned Oliver Smith, whose principal service, however, was performed upon the water, privateering. Ile assisted in the capture of two ships. Nathan Jillson, a resident of the town in later years, also served in the army. Daniel Shays, afterward the leader of the rebellion which bore his name, served in the Revolutionary war from Pelham. At the battle of Bunker Hill, at the storming of Stony Point and the cap- ture of Burgoyne, he did gallant service, attaining the rank of captain, and carried to his grave an honorable scar received in fighting the battles of his country.

SHAYS' REBELLION.

In this rebellion the people of Pelham took an earnest and active part. In the first place, the leader of the insurrection lived in their midst, and aroused the inhabitants by personal exhortation to that point of indiscretion where they were will- ing to take up arms in the endeavor to obtain that relief from the manifest burdens of the times that should properly have been sought by constitutional methods. In the next, they had just passed through a struggle involving, to some extent, the same principles, and had imbibed a warlike spirit and been blinded by success. So it was that almost the entire town actively co-operated with Shays in his movements, and its hills at one time sheltered the entire insurgent force. The records of the town from 1787 to 1816 having been lost, it is impossible to give the names of those who served in the rebellion.

To the war of 1812 the town contributed, among others, the following persons : Capt. John Taylor, John T. Conkey, Grove llannum, Luther Thompson, Sydney Ilannum, Henry Hannum, Luther Lincoln, James Smith, Amasa Jillson, and Leonard Blue.

To the late war the town contributed liberally in money and means in support of the preservation of the Union. The following persons served in the army :

Henry E. Wheeler, Otis Griffin, George A. Griffin, Erastus S. Southwick, Stephen Rhoads, Charles R. Cleaveland, Sanford M. Lovett, Joseph F. Bartlett, Salmon Rhoads, Maoly Jinson, Harrisoo Z. Horr, Chas. Il. Horr, John Shaw, Otis B. Ilill, Patrick Bailey, Henry Birrows, Otis Kimball, Frank- lin Bramble, John T. Nichols, Joseph E. Boynton, Joseph D. Whitney, Frederick Dane, Stilman Abercrombie, Joseph D. Allen, Dexter R. Barnes, Daniel Cook, Edmund S. Elsbree, Amos D. Leonard, William P. Mont- gomery, Amaziah Robinson, Nelson Witt, Charles S. Sawyer, Thomas Linds, James D. Moore, Joel Cutting, Francis A. Blodgett, John O. Rhoads, George A. Gardner, George W. Allen, Truman Squires, Thomas Ferisson, Garrett O Neal, l'hilander Pike, Charles Griffin, Salmon Rhoads, Franklin Bramble, John T. Nichols, Joseph F Bartlett, Charles Griffin, William O. Kimball, George Wethrell, Henty Wood, Madison L. Fales, Norman Fales, James Heal, George M. Gnogle, Charles Steward, George A. Gardner, S meon Gilbert, Charles A. Abbott, Henry Wood, Madison L. Fales, Frederick Grover.

For assistance rendered in compiling the foregoing history the writer is indebted to A. C. Keith, Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. Arba Randall, Horace Gray, Ellison Dodge, Rev. John Jones, Rev. W. K. Vaill, Albert Firmin, and other citizens of the town.

PRESCOTT.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

THE town of Prescott is in the northeast corner of the county, and is bounded on the north by the town of Salem, Franklin Co .; on the south by the towns of Enfield and Greenwich, Hampshire Co. ; on the east by the towns of Dana, in Worcester County, and Greenwich, in Hampshire County ; and on the west by the towns of Pelham, Hampshire Co., and Shutesbury, Franklin Co. The town is shaped in the form of an inverted L, and is about six miles long, four and a half miles wide in the widest part, and two and a half in the nar- rowest, and contains 12,706 acres of land, 187 aeres occupied by roads and 322 covered by water.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The town is somewhat rugged in aspect, especially in the southern and western parts. In the centre is a pleasant valley, which contains many good farms nestled among the hills. The scene from Prescott Hill, in the west part of the town, is grand, a fine view being afforded of the surrounding towns, and the range of vision is only limited by lofty mountains in the dis- tance. Mount Ell, in the northeast part of the town, is the marked feature in that section, and attains a considerable ele- vation. Rattlesnake Mountain, in the west part, rises abruptly to an altitude of about three hundred feet, and almost perpen- dicular for half that distance. At the base of this rocky bas- tion a den or cave has been formed by the debris from above, in -which ice is present the year round. This den was once the favorite hiding-place of large numbers of rattlesnakes, and is known as " Rattlesnake Den," whence also the name of the mountain. Other hills exist in different parts of the town.

STREAMS.

The west branch of Swift River forms the western boun- dary of the town, and derives several small affluents from its territory. The middle branch of the same river passes through the extreme eastern part of the town for a short distance. Russ' Pond, in the northeastern section, is the only natural body of water of any consequence in the town. Several smaller ponds and streams exist in different parts.

The soil of Prescott is good and capable of easy cultivation, producing the cereals, with the exception of wheat, in fair abundance, and varying from a gravelly to a clayey loam. The geology of the town is not of a character to require special notice here. Stone of a granitie character has been quarried in the eastern part of the town. The Springfield, Athol, and Northeastern Railroad, crosses a corner in the eastern part of the town.

SETTLEMENT.

Much of interest relating to the first settlement of the town of Prescott will be found in the histories of the towns of Pel- ham and New Salem (in this volume), from which the present town was formed.

It is altogether probable that the south part of Prescott, which was taken from Pelham, was first settled, as the latter town contained forty families in the year 1742, a date when the town of New Salem had but just commenced to receive settlers.

Among the first to settle in the present town of Prescott were the MeConkeys (now Conkeys), McMullens (now Mel-

lens), Grays, Berrys, Crossetts, and Peirces. Of the Conkeys there were brothers,-John, William, Alexander, and Thomas. The last three settled along the banks of the river, near " Bob- binville." John lived on Prescott Hill, near the present loca- tion of the Congregational parsonage. The old house used by William Conkey is still standing near the old " east ceme- tery," and bears upon the heavy stone which overhangs its ancient fire-place the inscription, neatly chiseled, " William Conkey, June ye 21st, 1776."

The MeMullen family settled in the southeast part of the town, in what is now known as " Mellen Hollow." John Mellen lived there in the first part of the present century. These two families were probably the first to settle in the ter- ritory of Prescott, and are still represented in the town. The date of their settlement was about 1740.

The Berry family settled in the town about 1755. Their first settlement was made at Deerfield, in Franklin County, but they were compelled to leave there on account of the In- dian troubles which attended the first settlement of that town. They then removed to Rutland, Mass., and finally settled on the old farm occupied by Betsey Berry, a descendant. The great-grandfather of the present John Berry was a cloth- weaver as well as a farmer, and had four sons,-James, Alex- ander, and two others, who went West. Alexander located on the old farm, and James on the Gilbert place. Alexander had four sons,-John, James, Locker, and Alexander. John set- tled on the old Berry place, and died there in January, 1873, at the age of eighty-four. John and Betsey, his children, still live in town, and are the only representatives of the Berry family left in the place.

William and two other members of the Crossett family came from the North of Ireland and settled in Pelham about the year 1750. One of them settled in the north part of the town, and William in the valley in the south part, now in Prescott. James Crossett, father of Liberty, now living in the town, passed his life on the original Crossett place, and was a man of influence and worth.

Daniel Gray was an early settler, and lived where Alden Reed now resides. He was a descendant of John Gray, who at an early date located in the west part of Pelham, and was one of the original proprietors of that town. Moses and Aaron Gray lived at an early day where George H. Allen now re- sides.

The Peirce family, now more numerously represented in the town than any other, is also one of the oldest. David Peirce came from England at an early day, and became one of the first settlers of the north part of the town. He served in the Revolutionary war from New Salem, which then included the north part of Prescott, and died in 1779, on his return from the army, before he reached his home. He was carried four days on a bier by his companions before he expired. He left four boys,-Alden, John, Caleb, and Alexander. John and Alexander removed to Maine ; both afterward returned, Alex- ander dying soon after, and John going to Ohio. Alden re- moved to Leverett, but subsequently settled in Ohio.

Caleb was born about the year 1775, and lived in the old Peirce house. lle was a farmer by occupation, and had a family of sixteen children,-four girls and twelve boys,-be- coming the progenitor of a large number of the Peirce family of

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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

the present day. Ile was one of the agents appointed to secure the incorporation of the town of Prescott. Of his children, Appleton (2d), Madison, Clesson, David F., Pomeroy, and Caleb settled in the town, the first four of whom are still living there, and the other two being represented by their de- scendants.

John Pierce, of another family from Middlebury, settled in the closing years of the last century, and lived where H. N. Grover now lives. Ile was the father of Appleton Peirce (1st), now living at an advanced age.

Peleg Peirce, a half-brother of John, located in Prescott about 1812-15, and resided where John Vaughan now lives.

Simeon Pierce (still another family) was also one of the first settlers, and lived where Park Hannum now resides. A number of his descendants still live in the town.

A few of the other early settlers of the town deserve special mention :

Obadiah Cooley lived where F. B. Paige now resides, the first part of the present century, and John Mecklem, a de- scendant of one of the original proprietors of Pelham, lived, at the same time, where West C. Paige now resides.

Seth Peibles settled at an early day where Henry Grover now lives. Ilis widow married a Mr. Savage, who lived near the original No. 4 school-house, that stood twenty rods east of the present main road, on the Jarva Shaw road.

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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 185

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