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 74
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235
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.
and has lahored assiduously in the ranks of that party. He was selectman and assessor of Northampton in 1875-76, mem- ber of the House of Representatives in 1878, and at present is a member of the State Senate from the llampshire District. Ile was married at the age of twenty-one to Catherine Preston, of Northampton, Mass.
Whether upon the battlefield, in the work-shop, or in the Senate-chamber, Gen. Otis has ever discharged his duties with honor and marked ability.
J. HONE DEMOND
was born in Rutland, Worcester Co., Mass, Oct. 5, 1825. He lived with his father upon a farm until he was ten years old. His father then became engaged in the manufacture of rakes, and subsequently bought a grist-mill. Young Demond worked in the shop and mill for three years, excepting the winter months, when he attended the common school. In January, 1828, his father removed to Springfield, and was without capital or means of subsistenee, having lost his entire property by fire. Springfield at that time was but a village, without even a rail- road. They moved into a house on Main Street which was connected with the old Springfield Bakery, and situated on the spot now occupied hy the Second National Bank. The son worked one year in the bakery, and afterward wherever he could find employment, meanwhile attending school during a part of each winter. Among other things, he was paid two shillings per week for attending to the street lamps. It was his duty to fill, trim, and hang the lamps in their places, and to bring them in at ten o'clock. lle worked one season for Justin Lombard, feeding silk-worms and cultivating the mul- berry on the land where Pynchon Street is now. He worked three summers for Deacon Bontacue, and received for his labor at first eight, and afterward nine, dollars per month. Mr. Bontacue was wont to say that Demond was the most faithful and trusty boy he had ever employed.
When eighteen years of age he took charge of Judge Hook- er's farm, on what is now North Main Street. The place had been sadly neglected. Going to work with energy and per- severance, he brought it nearly all under cultivation in the four and a half years he remained upon it, and for his labor he received the munificent (?) sum of sixteen dollars per month and board, and house-rent for his parents. IIc was allowed to manage the farm according to his own judgment, his employer not seeing him oftener than once a month. lle set out a fine orchard of different kinds of fruit-trees, and considered this one of his greatest achievements. When twenty-one years of age
he purchased of John Mills seventeen acres of land situated in what was then Plainfield, now " Brightwood," for which he agreed to pay two thousand and eighty-seven dollars. IIe gave him four notes, running a number of years, and eighty- seven dollars in money, which was all he possessed. It was with difficulty that he was able to meet the notes as they be- eame due, but he succeeded at last in paying them, and sub- sequently purchased of Day & Morgan seven acres adjoining his farm, and stocked it with cows and engaged in the dairy and milk business, selling the milk in Springfield.
With his father's assistance he built a house, and improved his farm by planting fruit- and maple-trees, and setting out hedges. He increased his purchases of land until he had fifty aeres running from the Connecticut River to Chicopee Street. He raised vegetables and tobacco, and did his own marketing. He followed this business until he liquidated all his debts in 1861.
He was married on the 6th of March, 1866, to Emma W. Browne, of Bernardston, Franklin Co., Mass., by whom he has had three children, only one of whom survives.
In 187I he sold his farm to Hyde & Fisk for $60,000. He then purchased a residence in Northampton, on Elm Street, the surrounding grounds consisting of seven acres, mostly covered with different kinds of fruit. He removed there in February, 1872.
The esteem in which Mr. Demond is held by his townsmen has been shown by his election to numerous offices of public trust. He has been connected with the Hampden Agricultural Society for many years, and has expended a great deal of time and money in improving Hampden Park, attending to the building of dykes and fences, and setting out trees and shrub- bery. He has also won a number of premiums,-one of fifty dollars for the best-conducted farm, and a silver cup, presented by Francis Brewer, to the owner of the best herd of milch cows. In agriculture he was a leader, and among the first to avail himself of the improvements in farming ntensils. He bought the first mowing-machine brought to Springfield, which, it may well be suid, was far inferior to those of the present day. He was one of the four gentlemen who originated the Hampden Harvest Club. In 1861 he was elected council- man, and served four years. He is president of the village im- provement society, and of the Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin Agricultural Society, and of the Western Massachu- setts Poultry Association. Mr. Demond looks back with pleasure to the struggles and privations of his earlier years, and he owes his snecess, as expressed in his own words, " to great industry, good health, temperate habits, honesty, good parents, and a kind Providence."
AMHERST.
THE town of Amherst, formerly a part of Hadley, lies east of the Connecticut River, being separated therefrom by the present town of Hadley, and is bounded north by the towns of Sunderland and Leverett, in Franklin County ; east by Shutesbury, in that county, and by Pelham and Belchertown, in Hampshire County ; south by Granby and South Iladley ; and west by lladley. The town contains in the vicinity of 18,400 acres, having received additions from the mother-town, Hadley, at fonr separate times.
By the State census in 1875, the town contained 3937 inhab- itants, of whom 2006 were males and 1931 females. Of the whole number, 334 were of foreign birth. (See general census tables.)
TOPOGRAPHY.
Amherst presents an uneven surface, interspersed with low and level reaches-some of which are swampy-and wide ranges of broken upland. The principal village, Amherst, unincorporated, occupies a picturesque position upon a wide, flattened ridge of considerable extent from north to south, of which Mt. Pleasant at the north, and the elevation occupied by the college buildings at the south, are prominent features.
" Laurence Swamp" is a large tract of wet land in the southeastern portion of the town. The Holyoke range, with its several peaks, forms the town's southern boundary and hems in the southward view, while the hills of Pelham and Shutesbury, just over the eastern border, present a similar
236
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
barrier in that direction. Northward loom up the high and rugged prominenees of Sunderland and Leverett, above the less ambitions " Flat Ilills" of Amherst, which intervene ; and westward lie the broad, rich intervales and. wooded swamps of Hadley. The greatest elevation is " Hilliard's Knob," of the Holyoke range, 1120 feet in height, standing mid way of the southern boundary.
STREAMS.
The streams of note are two,-" Fort River" and " Mill River." The former rises in Pelham, enters the town about two miles south of the northeast angle thereof, flows southerly under the Pelham hills, and thence south of west across the town, passing the western bounds into Hadley two and a half miles from the southwest angle. Mill River rises in the hills of Shutesbury, crosses the southeast corner of Leverett, enters Amherst a short distance west of the northeast angle, traverses the town in a general southwesterly direction, and escapes into Hadley across the south line of the 800 aeres added to the town of Amherst in 1814.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The first settlers of Amherst were chiefly from Hadley, Ilat- field, and Northampton. Hadley and Hatfield had been settled by residents of Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford, in Con- necticut, which towns had been colonized respectively from ancient Dorchester, Watertown, and Cambridge, in " Massa- chusetts Bay." Of the immigrants who settled in the latter towns in 1631 it is written that they " comprised men of gentle birth and life, men of learning and mark, men of heroism and deep-toned piety, and women and children."* The historian could have shown that among the " women" were many noble, intelligent, and brave, who planned and toiled, who suffered and endured beyond what is or ever can be known.
The territory known as " Amherst" was set apart for settle- ment by legal action of the inhabitants of lladley in town- meeting, March 4, 1700, as follows :
"Voted by the town, that three miles and one-quarter eastward from the meet- ing-house, und so from the north side of Mount Holyoke nuto the Mill river, shall lye as common land forever, supposing that the line will take in the new swamp.
" Voted, that the rest of the commons eastward shall be laid out in three divi- sjons, that is to say, between the road leading to Brookfield and the Mill river, not withstanding there is liberty for the cutting of wood and timber so long as it lieth unfenced ; there is likewise to be left between every division forty rods for highways, and what will be necessary to be left for highways eastward and West through every division is to be left to the discretion of the measurers, and every one to have a proportion in the 3d division, and every householder to have a £50 allotment, and all others who are now the proper inhabitants of Hadley, 16 years old, und upward, to have a £25 allotment in said commons."
The principle which governed the distribution of the com- mon lands among the proprietors varied at different periods,- the interests of the rich inelining to a property, and of the poor to a per capita, basis. By the third day of May, 1703, the town measurerst had laid out the lands known as "outward commons" into three divisions.
The first division-the most westerly-lay next the three- and-a-quarter-miles line, and was 240 rods in width, extending from the Brookfield road to Mill River, a "measured distance" of 1961 rods, which included three east and west highways, each 40 rods in width. This division contained 60 lots, of various widths, aggregating 2760 acres.
The second division was also 240 rods wide, and in length measured from the Brookfield road 1674 rods, inclusive of three east and west highways,-two of 40 rods and one of 32 rods. This division contained 37 unequal lots, compris- ing only 2343 acres, and so was much shorter than the first division.
Those who were entitled to lots in these two divisions drew them in the order given in the following table, commencing
* As quotedl hy Dr. Holland, Ilist. of West. Mass., p. 18.
+ Capt. Aaron Cooke, Cornet Nehemiah Dickinson, and Samuel Porter were the mensurers, and laid out the lands withont a compass.
at the Brookfield road and proceeding northward. The width of each lot is given in rods and feet. Hatfield people are marked thus *; other non-residents, thus + :
First Division-Brookfield Road.
Rondls. Feet.
1. Jonathan Marsh
57
7
2. Samuel Nash
16
1
3. Ebenezer Nash.
4. Samuel Marsh *, 21
13
5. Ephraim Nash.
6. Samuel Crow,
35
7. Thomas Selding
70
8. John Selding ..
20
9. William Rooker
26
3
0
13
7
14. John Cole*
15. John Graves*
4
16. Stephen Belling $
10
5
17. Ebenezer Billing*
5
18. Samuel Belding, Jr .*
3
19, Daniel Warner*
7
20. Widow Warner *..
8
7
Ilighway 40 rods wide, south of Fort River.
21. Joseph Smith *
4
22. Ebenezer Wells*
21 1-4
23. Nathaniel White
11
24. John Smith, Tailor ..
44
25. John Preston ...
23
26. Nathaniel Warner,
45
27. Daniel Hubbard.
60
28. Col. Sammel Partrigg *
40
29. Samuel l'artrigg, Jr.
75
30. Samuel and Ebenezer Moody.
12
33. Samuel Ingram ..
17
34. Nathaniel Ingram
35. Jonathan Ingram.
17
36. Thomas Goodman ..
52
37. John Smith, orphan.
38. Samuel Barnard 15
A highway 40 rods wide gueth over New swamp, and runs to Foot's Folly. 39. Samuel Church. 15 =
40. Josiah Church
4.5
41. Joseph Church
1
42. John Taylor, Sr ....
11
43. John Taylor, Jr.
17
20 00
45. John llilyard.
17
Y.
46. William Brown.
17
X
47. Nathaniel Dickinson*
1
48. Elward Church*
35
=
50, James Smith ..
51. Preserved Smith 17
llighway 40 rods, N. end of Wells' Ilill.
52. Samuel Gaylord.
25
53. William Gaylord.
17
54. Widow Hannah Porter. 10
55. Sammel Porter 151
56. Hezekiah l'orter.
31
57. John Porter
13
58. Experience Porter,
32
59. Ichabod Porter. 23
GO. Peter Montagne .. 89
0
Mill River, North.
Second Division-Brookfield Road.
Rails. Feet.
1. John Goodman
07
1
2. Aaron Cook, Esq.
39
3. Thomas Ilovey 48
9
4. Westwind Cook 73
5. Samuel Cook. 1
llighway, 40 rods-removed 1734.
G. Moses Cook
44
15
7. Samuel Boltwood
1
8. Daniel Marslı ..
134
02
9. Thomas Dickinsont 14
13
10. Deacon Samuel Smith 10 45
11. John Montagne ... 5.4 0
12. Isaac Warner ..
17
13. Daniel Warner.
13 15
14. Widow Cuuke ..
39
10
16. Samuel Smith (son of Ch.).
34
17. Lnke Smith.
55 21
18. Ebenezer Smith
26
20. Mr. Isaac Channcey.
52
21. Town lot, 60 acres 40 =
22. George Stillman
23. Ichabod Smith = 38
24. Jacob Waruer.
44
1 Highway, 40 rods, "runs down to Foot's Folly from New Swamp."
25, Land of Coleman
39
26. John Kellogg
27. Elward Kellogg 17
28. Lieut. Joseph Kellogg.
55
G
29. Nathaniel Kellogg ..
17
OC
30. Mr. Samuel Russellt.
4
31. Mr. Jonathan Russell ;.
7
G
32. John Nash ...
31
33. Joseph Nash ..
31
34. Thomas Nash* 8 13
llighwry 32 rods in I readth.
2
44. Eleazar Warner.
17
1
32. John Ingram, Jr. 31. John Ingram, Sr ..
1
10. Joseph Smith
II. Widow Craft
12. Samuel Dickinson*
13. Mr. William Williams*
7
19. John Smith ..
2
15. Ensign Chileab Smith
55
C
49. Samuel Smith, Sr. 17
5
237
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.
Rods. Feet.
35. Neh'h Dickinson & Sons. 113 13
36. Timothy Eastinan. 69
37. Peter Tilton, 5913 acres Conunons, North.
39
The third division, separated from the second by a highway forty rods in width, was two miles in width east and west, thus making the lots two miles long. The number of lots was 93; length of the division, 1971 rods. No lateral highways crossed this division, whose total acreage was 7884.
In laying out these lands the measurers encroached upon what were afterward known as the "equivalent lands,"* now in the towns of Pelham and Belchertown. By subsequent survey of the line between Hadley and the equivalent lands this division was reduced to a half-mile in width at the north end, and a gore of about 3000 acres taken off.
To 31 persons owning lots in this division, who had suffered most by the later survey, the town of lladley made a grant of "about 600 acres, on the 'Flat Hills,' so called, and west of them, between the second and third divisions and Mill River."
The highways separating and intersecting these divisions were subsequently reduced in width from time to time. The latest reduction was by Amherst, in 1788, when the portion taken off was sold to the adjacent land-owners.
It is not positively known when the first settlement was made on the lands so laid ont.+
To provide a place for worship and a place for burial required the action of the inhabitants in town-meeting assembled. Much has, therefore, been preserved in the town-records that would else have been lost concerning these early communities. Jan. 5, 1730, the town of Hadley provided a " burial-placet for the cast inhabitants." It is, therefore, probable that settle- ments began some time prior to that date. The following per- sons were residents in the year 1731: John Ingram, Sr., John Ingram, Jr., Ebenezer Kellogg, John Cowls, Jonathan Cowls, Samuel Boltwood, Samuel Hawley, Sr., Nathaniel Church, John Wells, who soon removed, Aaron Smith, Nathaniel Smith, Richard Chauncey, Stephen Smith, John Nash, Jr., Joseph Wells, Ebenezer Scovil, died 1731, Ebenezer Ingram, died 1735, Ebenezer Dickinson. Within the succeeding eight years the following persons became residents : Joseph Clary, Zachariah Field, Jonathan Atherton, died 1744, Solomon Boltwood, Charles Chauncey, William Murray, Joseph Haw- ley, Samuel Hawley, Jr., Nathan Moody, Pelatiah Smith, John Perry, Ebenezer Williams, John Norton, Moses Smith.
Another six years-1739 to 1745-brought the following : Samuel and Elisha Ingram, John Field, David and Jonathan Nash, Moses Hawley, Moses and Aaron Warner, Nathaniel Coleman, Jonathan Moody, Samuel Church, Daniel, John, Moses, Nathan, and Jonathan Dickinson, Jonathan, Peter, Phinehas, David, and Daniel Smith, Nehemiah Strong, Noah Baker, Charles Wright, Preserved Clapp, Westwood Cook, Jr., Joseph Eastman, Jr., Deacon Eleazar Mattoon, Rev.
* " Massachusetts, adhering to a wrong south line, which was run in 1642, and crossed Connecticut River several miles too far south, granted south of the true line 105,793 acres of land, mostly to Suffield, Enfield, and Woodstock, but partly to individuals and to other towns. After a long controversy it was agreed, in 1713, that Massachusetts should give to Connecticut the same number of acres as an equivalent, and that the towns named should remain to Massachusetts. In 1715 two men from Connecticut and one from Massachusetts laid out for Connecticut 105,793 acres, viz., 51,850 acres east of IIaudley, afterward in Belchertown and Pelham,* 10,000 acres, afterwards in Ware, and 43,943 acres at Coasset, above the present village of Brattleboro', Massachusetts, then claiming the lower part of Vermont and New Hampshire."
+ The tradition is recorded that a Mr. Foote, from Hatfield, put up a hut in the east precinct, north of the present meeting-house of the second parish, as early as 1703. Hle failed of his object,-that of gaining a support by hunting and fish- ing,-and abandoned the spot. From this incident the castern portion of the town was for a long time called "Foote-Folly Swamp."
# This burial-place was laid out in March, 1730, "in the west highway, in length fifteen rods adjoining Nathaniel Church's lot on the west, and in width twelve rods east in the highway, making one acre and twenty rods."
David Parsons, Nathaniel and Ephraim Kellogg, Alexander Porter, Joseph Morton, Seth Kibbe.
In 1738 there were 29 settlers or heads of families, who had " 35 taxable polls, 49 horses, 39 oxen, 52 cows, some hogs, and 350 acres of improved land, and 6 non-residents had 43 acres of improved land."¿
Between 1745 and 1763, the following settled in East Hadley and Amherst, the latter title having meantime been conferred : Ebenezer, Jr., Abraham, and Daniel Kellogg ; Joseph Church, Isaac Hubbard, Moses Cook, Jacob Warner ; Gideon, Reuben, Etenezer, Jr., and Joseph, sons of Deacon Ebenezer Dickin- son ; Nathan, Jr., and Ebenezer (3d), sons of Nathan Dickin- son ; Simeon, Noah, and Jonathan, Jr., sons of Jonathan Dickinson; Jonathan, Azariah, Nathaniel, and Nehemiah, sons of Deacon Samuel Dickinson, who had removed from Hadley to Shutesbury; David, son of Israel Dickinson, of Hadley; Thomas Hastings, Simeon Strong, Ensign Josiah Chauncey, Isaac Goodale, Elijah Baker, Simeon Pomeroy, John Keet, Jonathan Edwards ; Alexander, Edward, Pelatiah, Jr., Simeon, Jonathan, Jr., David, Martin, Noah, and Eleazar Smith ; John Petty or Pettis; John, Jr., and Oliver Cowls ; Thomas Morton, Benjamin Harwood, Samuel Elmer, Eli Col- ton, James Merrick; Solomon, Jr., and William Boltwood; Ebenezer Mattoon, Simeon Clark, John Nash, Jr., Noadiah Lewis ; John (3d), Philip, and Reuben Ingram ; Hezekiah Bel- ding, William Murray, Jr., John Field, Jr., John Allis, John Billing, Preserved Clapp, Jr., David Blodget ; Jonathan, Jr., and Asahel Moody; Benjamin Rhodes, Justus Williams, Thomas Bascom, Gideon Ilenderson, Abner Adams.
The lands in the first and second divisions were estimated at about one shilling per acre; in the east, or third division, from four to six pence. The prices increased when the Indian wars ceased and settlement became safe.
The lands north of Mill River were divided in 1742, and those south of the Brookfield-Boston road, extending to Mt. Holyoke and to the southern limit of the present town, in 1743. The latter remained in Hadley until 1812.
ROADS.
The earliest of the roads of Amherst was probably the Bay Road, or Boston Road, which has undergone more or less change in its position. Mr. Judd says :
" In early days there was a ' Nashaway Path' north of Fort River, which still bears the old name. In 1674 and many years after, the Bay Road crossed Fort River near the south end of Spruce Hill. The road was laid out where it now is after 1688, but no record of the change is found."
The roads first made did not admit of the passage of ve- hieles, but were mere " paths for men and horses." The broad highways, laid out in 1703, separating and intersecting the three great divisions laid out in the same year, were at different periods reduced in width, until now few are left ex- ceeding four rods. The decay and obliteration of the original monuments caused much trouble to the town and serious con- tentions with the adjoining proprietors. The most noted of these was occasioned by the supposed encroachments of John " Morton and Nathan Dickinson, whose lots were " in the east- ern division, north of the Pelham Road." Morton was the first settler in that division. They had been beaten at home, and applied to the General Court for relief. The town author- ities, in a lengthy document, || set forth the facts, justified their action, and prayed that the petition of Morton and Dick- inson might be dismissed. The prayer was granted.
¿ Judd's Hist. p. 424. Of these settlers, Joseph Wells, Aaron Smith, Nathaniel Church, and John Perry removed about 1744; in addition, "David Nash re- moved to South Hadley, Phinchas Smith to Granby, and David Smith returned to Hladley. Noah Baker removed to Sunderland; he was a Baptist preacher. Joseph Morton and Seth Kibhe died. Daniel Smith was crazy."-Ibid.
1 A copy of this interesting document, and other papers relating to Amherst, were recently depositel hy M. F. Dickinson, Jr., of Boston, in the library of Amherst College.
* Judd's Hist. of Hadley, p. 298.
238
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
INDIAN OCCUPANCY AND WARS.
Norwottuek was a favorite possession of the Indians. The rich bottom lands produced corn with little labor, and the higher ground, clad in a various foliage, sheltered the game which supplied so many of their needs. The custom followed by many of the tribes prevailed here,-that of burning annually the dried grass upon the meadows and the leaves and under- brush of the adjacent woodland. Thus extensive openings were made here and there favorable to the spread of grasses, and obstructions removed from the path of the savage hunter long distances through the forest. The " boundless and im- penetrable wilderness," so often associated with the cabin of the pioneer, lay not in the path of the settlers at Norwottuck and other portions of the Connecticut Valley. Those at HIad- ley, learning the advantage of the annual burnings, " not only burnt over their own lands, but extended their fires to the hills of Pelham and Belchertown, in order to increase their pastur- age."*
The savages did not yield their plantations and hunting- grounds without a prolonged struggle, in which, though they were at last vanquished, many of the whites were sacrificed.
French-and-Indian War, 1744-53 .- List of ye mounted sol- diers that went in quest of ye enemy to Capt. Bridgman's Fort, above Northfield, under ye command of Capt. Seth Dwight, Oct. 22, 1747, and were out six days,-Sergt. Solo- mon Boltwood, Joseph Clary, Aaron Smith, Pelatiah Smith, IIezekiah Belding, Samuel Ingram, David Nash, William Boltwood.+
In the company under Sergt. Wm. Lyman, at Fort Massa- chusetts, November 16th to Jan. 12, 1747-48, was William Murray.
In Capt. William Williams' company, out from March 10th to October 26, 1748, were Jonathan Dickinson and Eleazer Mattoon.
In Col. Joseph Dwight's company, on the Western frontiers from August 7 to 21, 1748, were the following, mostly from Amherst : Ens. Solomon Boltwood, Sergt. Solomon Keyes, Corp. William Montague, Corp. Timothy Nash, Corp. Jo- seph Hawley, Gideon Parsons, Reuben Smith, Joseph Kel- logg, Eleazar Nash, Josiah Chauney, Joseph Alexander, Ebenezer Dickinson, Ebenezer Kellogg, William Boltwood, John Ingram, Stephen Smith.
French-and-Indian War, 1754-63 .- In Capt. Israel Wil- Hams' company, from Aug. 31, 1754, to March 14, 1755, were Corps. Preserved Clapp and Nathan Dickinson.
In Capt. Moses Porter's company, ¿ in the Crown Point ex- pedition, April 1st to Dee. 25, 1755, were Sergt. Reuben Dick- inson, ¿ David Dickinson, David Smith, Jonathan Moody, Jr., Nathan Diekinson, Preserved Clapp; and in Col. Joseph Dwight's regiment, on the same expedition, were Joseph Clary, Oliver Cowls, Benjamin Eastman, Samuel Hawley, Jr., and his son Elijah, | aged nineteen.
Martin Sinith was impressed into the service April 22, 1756.
In Lieut. Jonathan Dickinson's company, Col. Israel Wil- liams' regiment, called out to defend the Western frontiers when Fort William Henry was besieged in 1757, were Lieut.
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