History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 8

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 8

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FIRST WHITE VISITOR FROM THE BAY.

It was not until two years after the visit of the Quon-ch- ta-cut sachem Wah-gin-na-cut at the Bay, that it was returned by the whites. From Winthrop's Journal, under date of Sept. 4, 1633, it appears that John Oklham, then an inhabit- ant at the Bay, made an overland journey to the Connecticut River Valley, which visit is the first there appears any account of in history made by the New England people.

The account of Oldham's visit to the valley is in the follow- ing words :

" 1633, 4th September .- About ten days before this time, a bark was set forth to Connecticut and those parts to trade.

"John Oldam, and three with him went overland to Connec- tieut to trade. The sachem used them kindly and gave them some beaver. They brought off the hemp, which grows there in abundance, and is much better than the English. He ac- counted it to be about one hundred and sixty miles. Ile brought some black lead, whereof the Indians told him there was a whole rock. He lodged at Indian towns all the way."#

THE DUTCH ON THE CONNECTICUT.

The Dutch settlement on the Island of Manhattan, at the mouth of the Hudson River, where now stands the city of New York, has the honor of sending the pioneer white occu- pants to the valley of the Connecticut.

Henry Hudson, an English navigator, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, had explored the river which still bears his name as early as the year 1609, but no perma- nent settlements were made on its banks by the Dutch until five years later. In the year 1615 the Dutch began two settle- ments on the Hudson,-one on the island of Manhattan, and the other one hundred and forty miles up the river, where now stands the city of Albany.

Soon after these settlements on the Hudson, the Dutch made voyages to the mouth of the Connecticut, which they called the Fresh River, or the Fresh Water River, and drove a profit- able trade with the Indians on its banks, claiming the stream and its fertile valley by the right of prior discovery. But the Dutch made no attempt to plant a colony on the Connecticut or to take actual possession of the territory adjoining its banks till the year 1633, about the time of Oldham's visit. During

* Col. Reeds. of Mass., Vol. I., p. 73.

+ See Winthrop's History of New England, Vol. L., p. 52.

# Winthrop's Ilist, of New Eng., Vol. I., p. 178.

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

the summer of that year the Dutch sailed up the Connecticut, landing at the point where the city of llartford now stands, and threw up a rude work, upon upon which they mounted two small cannon. But the Dutch, although the first white occupants of the valley of the Connecticut, were not its first permanent settlers.

THE PLYMOUTHI MEN ON THE CONNECTICUT.

The Pilgrim Fathers, from a year or two after their settle- ment at Plymouth in 1620, doubtless from time to time made voyages of trade and discovery to the Fresh River, so called by the Dutch, but they made no attempt to colonize its banks until the year 1633.

In July of that year, having heard that the Quon-ch-to-out River afforded "a fine place both for plantation and trade," the plan was conceived by Winslow and Bradford to form a partnership with certain men at Boston with the view of building a fort and trading-house on its banks, and thus if possible anticipate the Dutch, who, it was said, had pro- jected a similar scheme. The Massachusetts men having formed the opinion that the river was shallow, and that war- like Indians were to be found in great numbers inhabiting its banks, concluded to take no part in the enterprise. The men of Plymouth, not so easily discouraged, fitted out a vessel with the frame of a house and materials for its building, and sailed up the Connecticut in search of a suitable place to plant a colony. This was in October, and the Dutch had already preceded them. At what is now Hartford, where, as above stated, the Dutch had built a fort, they were challenged by the little garrison. After a parley and many threats on both sides the Dutch let them pass on up the stream without mo- lestation. They went up to what is now Windsor, built, for- tified, and provisioned their house. A part of the company remained to hold it, and the rest returned to Plymouth. The next summer the Dutch sent up a company of seventy men to dispossess them. But the Dutch wisely concluded not to attack the spirited little English garrison, and returned with- out accomplishing their object. It was the destiny of the English people and not the Dutch to settle the Connecticut Valley.

THE MASSACHUSETTS PEOPLE ON THE CONNECTICUT.

It has been seen in the last chapter that the people who came over with Winthrop in such numbers to the Massachusetts Bay in the year 1630, and the two or three following years, dispersed themselves into several plantations at and near Bos- ton. Among these plantations were Dorchester, Watertown, Newtown (now Cambridge), and Roxbury. The people of these four towns were destined soon to take an important part in the settlement of the valley of the Connecticut River. Roxbury in particular is of interest to the readers of this his- tory, as from it came Mr. William Pynchon and his little hand,-the pioneers of Springfield and of the "Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts."

While William Pynchon was the leader of those from Rox- bury, who settled in the Massachusetts part of the valley, those from Newtown and Dorchester, who settled in and founded what is now the State of Connecticut, were led by the ministers Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone, and their parishioner, John Haynes, of Newtown, and Roger Ludlow, the principal lay-citizen of Dorchester.

The ministers Hooker and Stone had both been educated at that institution of Puritan proelivities-the Alma Mater of most of the early New England clergy-Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England. Mr. Stone before coming over had been a lecturer in Northamptonshire, and Mr. Hooker had been in the same employment at Chelmsford, in Essex, near the English home of Pynchon. Doubtless the friendship that must have existed between Hooker and Pynchon in their common Eng- lish home led to their association in this new project. John Ilaynes was governor of Massachusetts Bay in 1635, of Con-

necticut in 1639 and other years, and Roger Ludlow was deputy-governor of Massachusetts in 1634, and deputy-gov- ernor of Connecticut in 1639 and other years.

It was at the first General Court, held at Boston in the year 1634, May 14, that the Newtown people, the first to move in the matter, presented their petition for leave "to look out either for enlargement or removal." This general proposition, doubt- less not fully understood, was at once granted. At the next meeting of the General Court, held on the 4th of September following, the purpose was avowed to remove to Connecticut. This proposition to remove to Connecticut met with much opposition and to many days' warm debate in the General Court.

" The principal reasons for their removal," says Winthrop, "were, 1st. Their want of accommodation for their cattle, so as they were not able to maintain their ministers, nor could receive any more friends to help them : and here it was alleged by Mr. Hooker as a fundamental error that towns were set so near each to other. 2d. The fruitfulness and commodiousness of Connecticut, and the danger of having it possessed by others, Dutch or English. 3d. The strong bent of their spirits to re- move thither .*

"Against these," continued Mr. Winthrop, " it was said, Ist. That in point of conscience they onght not to depart from us, being knit to us in one body, and bound by oath to seek the welfare of this commonwealth. 2d. That in point of state and civil policy we ought not to give them leave to depart." In support of this last objection the following reasons were urged : " (1.) Being we were now weak and in danger to be assailed. (2.) The departure of Mr. Hooker would not only draw many from'us, but also divert other friends who would come to us. (3.) We should expose them to evident peril both from the Dutch [who made claim to the same river and had already built a fort there] and from the Indians, and also from our own State at home, who would not indure they should sit down without a patent in any place which our king lays claim to."

The remaining objections urged were as follows, viz. : " 3d. They might be accommodated at home by some enlargement which other towns offered. 4th. They might remove to Mer- rimack, or other place within our patent. 5th. The removal of a candlestick; is a great judgment."

When the matter came to be voted upon, the House of Deputies stood fifteen to ten in favor of granting the privilege of removal. Of the magistrates, all but Governor Dudley and two assistants voted in the negative. So the two houses disagreed, and leave was refused. But the next year-1635 -. " John Haynes was made governor, the magistrates ceased to press their objections, and on the 6th of May, 1635, they con- . ' sented to vote as follows :

" There is liberty granted to the inhabitants of Watertown to remove themselves to any place they shall think meet to make choice of, provided they still continue under this gov- ernment."#

In the mean time, without waiting for the decision of the General Court, during the summer of 1635 a party from Dor- chester went to what is now Windsor, to the spot where the Plymouth colony had planted two years before, and another party from Watertown established themselves at the place now Weathersfield. It was also in the year 1635, as late as October, that another party of sixty persons-men, women, and children-set out overland, driving their cattle before them, to the infant settlements on the Connecticut. The winter set in early, and they had little time to prepare for it. In six weeks from the date of their departure twelve of the number struggled back to Boston, suffering untokl hardships on the way.

* Winthrop's list, of New England, Vol. I., p. 140.

+ This refers to the figure in Revelations i. 11-13, etc.

# Mass. Col. Rec., Vol. I., p. 146.

William Pynchon

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

It was in the same year-1635-that John Cable and his assistant, John Woodcock, built the first rude dwelling in the " House Meadow," at Agawam, which led the way to the planting of Springfield.

But the year 1636 witnessed the great emigration of the founders of the settlements in the valley of the Connecticut.

Early in that year William Pynchon, and six other heads of families from Roxbury, removed to Agawam, now Springfield; and Mr. Hooker with his whole flock, consisting of about one hundred persons, followed in June to near the little Dutch fort, at what is now Hartford. Later in the summer the church of Dorchester, under Mr. Warham, settled at Windsor; and the church at Watertown. under a new pastor, Mr. Henry Smith, found their way to the valley and settled Weathersfield.

The reader must bear in mind, however, that in the month of October, of the year before this important removal, John Winthrop the younger came the second time to New England, bearing a commission from Lord Say and Sele, Lord Broke, and others, proprietors of the patent, as governor of Con- necticut for one year, and laid the foundation of Saybrook, at the mouth of the river.

The General Court at Boston of course knew this, and were also aware of the fact that the lower towns on the river were not within the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts, but as a matter of necessity a commission was granted to the emigrants for their government the first year, which was as follows, viz. :

" AT the General Court, holden at Newe-Towne, March 30, 1635-6.

" A COMMISSION granted to several persons to gorerne the People att Connecticott for the space of u yeare noire neste comeing, an exemplification whereof ensueth ;

" WHEREAS, npon some reason and grounds, there are to remove from this or commonwealth and body of the Mattachusetts in America dyvis of or loveing friends, neiglibrs, freemen and members of Newe Tuwne, Durchester, Watertown, and other places, whoe are resolved to transplant themselves and their estates unto the Ryver of Connecticott, there to reside and inhabite, and to that end dyyrs are there already, and dyyrs others shortly to goe, wee, in this present Court assembled, on the behalfe of or said membrs, and John Winthrop, Jun", Esqr, Govnr, appoynted by certaine noble personages and men of quallitie inter- ested in the said ryvr, wch are yet in England, on their behalfe, have had a serious consideration there(on), and thinke it mecte that where there are a people to sitt down and cohabite, there will followe, upon occasion, some cause of difference, as also dyvers misdemeanors, wch will require a speedy redresse ; and in regard of the distance of place, this State and government cannot take notice of the same as to apply timely remedy, or to dispence equall justice to them and their affaires, as may be desired; and in regard the said noble per- sonages and men of qualitie have something ingaged themselves and their estates in the planting of the said ryver, and by vertue of a pattent, ilne require jurisdiction of the said place and people, and neither the mindes of the said personages (they being writ unto) are as yet knowen, nor any manner of gov'm't is yet agreed on, and there being a necessitie, as aforesaid, that some present gov'm't may be observed, wee therefore thinke meete and sve order, that Roger Ludlow, Esqr, William Pinchon, Esqr, John Steele, William Swaine, Henry Smythe, William Phelpes, William Westwood, and Andrewe Ward, or the greater parte of them, shall have full power and authoritee to hear and determine ju a judicial way, by witnesses npon oathe examine, within the sail plantation, all those differences weh may arise betweene partie and partie, as also, upon misde- meanor, to inflicte corporall punishinte or imprisonment, to fine and levy the same if occasion soe require, to make and decree such orders, for the present, that may be for the peaceful and quiett ordering the affaires of the said planta- tion, both in trading, planting, building, lotts, militarie dissipline, defensive warr (if need sve require), as shall best conduce to the publique good of the same, and that the said Roger Ludlow, Wm. Pinchon, John Steele, Wmn. Swaine, Henry Smythe, Wm. Phelpes, Wm. Westwood, Andrew Ward, or the greater parte of them, shall have power, under the greatr prte of their hands, att a day or dayes by thent appoynted, upon convenient notice, to convent the said inhabitants of the said townes to any convenient place that theye shall thinke meete, in a legal and open manner, by way of Court, to proceed in executing the power and authoritee aforesaidle, and in case of present nessesitie, two of them joyneing togeather, to inflict corporall punishment upon any offender if they see good and warrantable groundes soe to doe; provided, alwayes, that this commission shall not extende any longer time than one whole yeare from the date thereof, and in the meane time it shall be lawfull for this Court to recall the said presents if they sce cause, and if soe be there may be a nmutual and settled gov'm't con- descended unto by and with the good likeing and consent of the saide noble personages, or their agent, the inhabitants, and this comonwealthe ; provided, also, that this may not be any predindice to the interst of those nobile personages in the sd ryver aud configes thereof within their severall lymitts."

The reader will see that this instrument constituted a new General Court similar to that at Boston, and the sequel shows that the colony of Connecticut was organized under it, and

General Court held by virtue of its provisions the first year, and that Mr. Pynchon, of Agawam, now Springfield, attended its sittings.

CHAPTER IX.

THE FOUNDING OF THE MOTHER TOWNS-THE PLANTING OF SPRINGFIELD IN 1636-WILLIAM PYNCHON AND HIS BOOKS-THE PLANTING OF WESTFIELD IN 1640-NORTHAMPTON IN 1654.

I. TIIE PLANTING OF SPINGFIELD.

SPRINGFIELD, the garden town of the old Bay State, is at once the mother settlement and the queen city of the Valley of the Connecticut in Massachusetts. Its name was bestowed upon it by William Pynchon, its illustrious founder, in honor of his country-seat of that name, near Chehnsford, in Essex County, England. As the reader has seen in the preceding chapter, Springfield was settled in the year 1636, in connection with the movement to the valley of the Connecticut River of that year, which resulted in the founding of the State of Con- nectient.

In this chapter it will only be attempted to give some ac- count of the first planting of the mother towns in the valley, leaving the main incidents of the settlement and development to the several town histories, which will be found farther on in these pages.

THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS.

Ax has also been seen in the last chapter, the inhabitants of the infant towns at the Bay, who had, for want of more room, determined to remove to the valley of the Connecticut, expe- rienced considerable difficulty in obtaining the consent of the General Court. At length, on the 6th day of May, 1635, that consent was reluctantly given to the people of several towns, and among others to Roxbury, in the following words, viz. :

" The inhabitants of Rocksbury hath liberty granted them to remove themselves to any place they shall think meet, not to prejudice another plantation, provided they continue still under this government."

To carry out his undertaking, and to provide some shelter for the families of the new wilderness home, in the summer of 1635, Mr. Pynchon sent on two men to build a home at Ag-a- wam, the Indian name of the new settlement. These two men were named John Cable and John Woodcock. They built a small house on the Agawam meadow, on the west side of the Connecticut River, and south side of the Agawam River, about one-half mile above its mouth. This meadow has since borne the name of the " House Meadow." It now lies in the town of Agawam, and is beautifully situated in what was once a bend of the stream, afterward cut off by a change in its bed. Its surface was mostly some ten feet higher than the adjoining meadows, which were subject to overflow. The Indians, however, told them that it was likewise subject to overflow in extreme high water, and therefore, as a place of settlement, it was abandoned. The house, however, probably stood there for a year or more.

It was not until the spring of the next year, 1636, that everything was in readiness for the departure of the emigrants. But before we follow them to their new homes, along the old Indian trait leading west from Boston, afterwards known to the people of Springfield as the " Bay Path," and since cele- brated in story and song, let us first take a survey of the situation in the early spring of that year, and attempt to form some notion of the magnitude and danger of their undertak- ing. From ocean to necan, from sea to sea, from the frozen Northland to the flowing Gulf-Land, the whole vast continent was one unbroken solitude, covered with limitless forests filled with savage beasts, and still more savage men, and within it

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

all were only a few feeble white settlements at vast distances from each other. On the north Champlain was nursing his little colony of Quebec. On the west there was a small fur- trading Dutch colony at Fort Orange, now Albany, and another at Manhattan, now New York. Farther to the sonth, in small numbers, were the English on the James, and the Spaniards in Florida ; but it was two years before the Swedes landed on the banks of the Delaware. But neither of these settlements, if it would, could afford them any aid or sympathy. But this was not the worst of it. As they jour- neyed through the State from east to west, the Bay Path on which they trod was flanked on their left with no less than four powerful Indian nations,-the Wampanoags, the Narra- gansetts, the Pequots, and the Mohicans, either of which could send a thousand warriors into the field. Along their route lay the villages of the Vipmucks, and in the valley of the river which was to be their future home dwelt four or five tribes more. Would the time ever come when all these tribes throughout New England should rise and rend them ? Alas! too soon.

The very next year after their arrival in the valley the ter- rible struggle with the Pequots ocenrred. In this war the inhabitants of Springfield took no active part, yet towards it they contributed their full share of the expenses .*

Of the journey of William Pynchon and his little band of settlers in the early spring of 1686 over the old ludian trail which led from the Bay to Agawam on the Connecticut, and often called in the early records the " Bay Path," we have no authentic account. It must be left to the imagination, there- fore, to picture the incidents of the journey.

Of their leave-takings and tearful farewells from old and long-tried friends; their daily march through the alnost path- less forest for weeks together; their arrival at their new home in the old wilderness, welcomed only by its savage occupants ; of their first ravishing view of the fertile meadows of the beau- tiful river, the largest in New England, there is no recorded word.

Their household goods were sent around by water, as will be seen by an extraet from a letter written by Governor Win- throp to his son John at the time, ; in the "Blessing of the Bay :"

"Sox,-Blessed be the Lord who hath preserved and prospered you hitherto.

"I received your letters by the . Blessing,' which arrived here the 14th of this present, and is to return to you with Mr. Pyuchon's goods so soon as she can be huden.

* * * * * * *

"I think the bark gorth away in the morning. Therefore I bere end with salutations to all our friends with you.

" This 26th of the 2 Mv. (April), 1636.

"To my very loving son, Mr. Winthrop, Jun., Gor, of the new Plantation upon Con- neelieut.'

Upon their arrival at the site chosen by Pynchon, finding the " House Meadow" unsuitable for their settlement, they pitched upon the spot which lies over against Agawam, on the east bank of the Connecticut, now the site of the city of Spring- field.

Not far from the present line of the Boston and Albany Rail- road a small stream of pure water ran down from the hills across the marshy ground, and striking the higher level of the sandy plain which borders the river's bank, separated into two parts, one running south and the other north, each emptying into the river a mile or more from the point of separation.

The part of this stream which turned toward the south they called the Town Brook. It ran along the easterly side of what is now Main Street, and emptied into Mill River just above the point where that stream enters the Connecticut.

Along this stream of pure water running southerly they laid out their first street, now known as Main Street, and be-

* See Trumbull's Hist. of Coun.

+ Winthrop's Hist. of N E., Vol. I., p. 389.

tween this street and the river extended the home lots of the settlers, of different widths.

On these home lots bordering the Main Street the settlers built their first rude log cabins opposite the town brook, and began their life in the wilderness.

To each settler a portion of the " Hasseky Marish," which lay between the town brook and the hill to the eastward, was allotted, as well as parts of the meadow land and corn-plant- ing ground lying on the opposite side of the river in Igawam and Quana.

The further interesting incidents of their history, with copies of the compaet they entered into for the government of their plantation, and the Indian deed which they took, will be found farther on in these pages, in the history of the town and city of Springfield, to which the reader is referred.

II.

WILLIAM PYNCHON.

William Pynchon, the founder of Springfield and the pioneer settler of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, was no com- mon man.

He was possessed of a considerable estate in England, and on its inception became interested in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He was one of the assistants named in the charter, and came over with Winthrop when that instrument was brought from England to the Massachusetts Bay in the year 1630. He was one of the founders of Roxbury, near Boston, and remained there until his removal to the Connecticut Valley. His wife died soon after his arrival, leaving an only son and daughter, John and Mary, who accompanied him to the Connecticut River.

JOHN PYNCHON remained at Springfield, and became dis- tinguished in history in after-years as the " Worshipful John Pynchon." John Pynchon, on the 30th day of October, 1645, married Amy, daughter of George Wyllys .;

MARY PYNCHON, on the 20th day of November, 1640, was married to Elizur Holyoke, another name distinguished in the early annals of Springfield. A simple, upright slab of the Old Red Sandstone which underlies the valley of her home in the cemetery at Springfield tells the story of her death and good qualities in touching language, a copy of which is herewith given :

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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 8

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