History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 83

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 83

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Peter was for many years a cloth-manufacturer at North Amherst. After being burned out he moved to Fond du Lac, Wis., where he died. He left two sons and one daughter.

John P. also moved to Fond du Lac and died there, leaving one son and two daughters.

Four of the six daughters married and settled in Western New York. Naomi married M. C. Darling, who was the founder of Fond du Lac. Ellen A. married Col. Josiah Tryon, both of whom died in Fond du Lac. Ebenezer In- gram, the father, died in Amherst, Nov. 30, 1819. His wife died in Fond du Lac while on a visit to her daughter, Mrs. Tryon.

Ezra Ingram being the only son living at home at the time of the death of his father, which occurred when he was twenty years of age, the care and responsibility of the family devolved largely on him. Up to that time he had been employed on the farm and assisting in the grist-, carding-, and cloth-mills, which were owned and run by his father. His education was confined to the district school of the neighborhood. By the terms of his father's will he became the owner of the home- stead farm, and a half interest with his brother Peter in the mills, they to pay a stipulated amount to the younger brother and sisters. He gave his personal attention to the farm, and

his brother ran the mills. Eventually he sold his interest in the mills to his brother.

He was married, Nov. 24, 1824, to Susan E. Roberts, daughter of Ephraim and Jerusha Roberts, of East Hartford, Conn. By her he had children as follows : Francis Il., born Dec. 13, 1825, who went South as a teacher, which occupation he followed a number of years. He was book-keeper in a wholesale hardware store in Nashville, Tenn., at the time of his death, which occurred Nov. 9, 1862.

Luey M., born Dec. 8, 1828; married, Sept. 2, 1862, to Bela U. Dickinson, a retired farmer, living in Amherst. They have one son, John Francis.

Ebenezer M., born June 24, 1831 ; in the employ of Wells, Fargo & Co., San Francisco, Cal.

Wells Woodbridge, born Aug. 27, 1833; killed by the kick of a horse, Aug. 22, 1842.

Mr. Ingram remained on the homestead farin till the spring of 1843, at which time he sold it to Ephraim Cushman. In 1847 he purchased what is known as the Eastman farm, about one mile north of the village of Amherst, where he remained ten years. He then bought the Dr. Gridley place in Amherst, where he remained also ten years. He then purchased the Dr. Smith place, next to Gunn's Hotel, where he still resides. llis wife died Jan. 24, 1835. He married, May 25, 1838, Mrs. Nancy Judd Edwards, widow of David Edwards, of North- ampton, and daughter of Frederick and Nancy Judd, of South- ampton, with whom he lived over forty years. He had no children by his second wife. Mrs. Ingram died March 21, 1879.

Mr. Ingram has filled various offices of publie trust. Was selectman and overseer of the poor eighteen years, and town assessor four years ; was elected a representative to the State Legislature in 1842. Is a Republican in politics, and bas missed but one gubernatorial election in fifty-seven years. Though not a member of any church, he has been a regular attendant of the Congregational Church of Amherst. Honest and honorable in all his dealings, whether of a private or public character, temperate in his habits, of a genial, social disposition, an obliging neighbor, and a steadfast friend, Mr. Ingram well deserves the high esteem in which he has always been held in the community in which he has lived.

Photo. by J. L. Lovell, Amherst.

Simeon

SIMEON CLARK was born in Amherst, Hampshire Co., Oct. 15, 1807. The ancestor of this branch of the Clark family, who came to this country from England, was William Clark. He sailed from Plymouth, England, in the ship " Mary and John,"' March 30, 1630, and was among the first settlers of Dorchester, near Boston. He moved his family to Northampton in 1659. IIis wife rode on horseback, with two baskets, called panniers, slung across the horse, carrying one boy in each basket and one in her lap, her husband on foot. In 1661, with others, he formed the first church in Northampton, and was chosen lieutenant of the train-band,-an important office at that time. He died July 18, 1690. He had four sons, -- William, John, Samuel, and Nathaniel. His son John, Simeon's ancestor, married his second wife, Mary Strong, March 16, 1679, by whom he had eleven children,-six sons and five daughters. The names of the sons were John, Nathaniel, Ebenezer, Increase, Noah, and Josiah. These brothers all lived near each other in Northampton, had large families, lived with their wives more than fifty years and survived them, and all of them were living when the youngest child was seventy years old ; and all of the children lived over eighty years,-one ninety-nine and three over ninety years. When the youngest, Josiah, died, in 1789, aged ninety-two years, he was the last of the six sons and five daughters, and at the time of his death there were known to have been descendants of the six brothers only to the number of eleven hundred and fifty-eight children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, of whom more than nine hundred and twenty-five were living. Increase, the fourth son of John, above mentioned, died Aug. 27, 1775, the father of eight children.

The fifth child, Simeon, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born Oct. 20, 1720; married Rebecca Strong, Nov. 2, 1749. They were married by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards. lle moved from Northampton to Amherst in 1750, where his twelve children were born, and located on a farm at the centre of Amherst, the homestead being still held by the Clark family. He was one of the first deacons in the First Congregational Church of Amherst.

Simeon, the second child of the twelve children, was born .June 25, 1752; was twice married. By his first wife, Lucy Hubbard, he had three children,-viz .: Elijah, Eunice, and Philomela,-each of whom raised large families, their children numbering thirty-one. His second wife was Irene Lewis, to whom he was married April 23, 1795. Their children were Lucy, Lucy (2d), Asahel, and Simeon. Lucy and Asahel both died young. Lucy (2d) married, Dee. 3, 1817, Fred- erick A. Palmer, by whom she had one son, Albert R. Palmer, who was a graduate of Amherst College, and became an emi- nent lawyer in Racine, Wis., and died there. Simeon, the father, died May 8, 1831 ; the mother, May 11, 1855.

Simeon Clark married, May 21, 1829, Myra Cowles, daughter of Silas and Zilpha Cowles. She was born Oet. 31, 1806. By this union there were nine children : Juliette, born

Clark

July 30, 1880; married, Nov. 26, 1856, George H. Estabrook, of Worcester, Mass., by whom she had four children, all deceased. Asahel Lewis, born July 25, 1832; graduate of Amherst, class of 1857; married Phœbe P. Gooch, Sept. 19, 1860; four children, three living ; studied theology at Union Semi- nary, New York City, and is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Florida, Orange Co., N. Y. Royal Washburn, born April 28, 1834; a graduate of Amherst, class of 1858; studied the- ology at Union Seminary ; from loss of eyesight and health was prevented from entering his chosen profession or any active occupation ; died March 28, 1879. Zilpha Gilbert, born Jan. 21, 1836; married Theodore J. Briggs ; four children, three living ; a graduate of Amherst, class of 1857 ; a teacher in San Antonio, Texas.

Edwin Warren, born Sept. 21, 1837; died May 5, 1838. Emily Maria, born May 28, 1839; died Sept. 15, 1839. Emily Adelia, born June 28, 1840; married, May 24, 1866, Francis II. Boynton, a graduate of Amherst, class of 1861; pastor of Congregational Church at Baynham, Mass. ; three children, two living.

Edwin Warren, born Dec. 2, 1842; married, Dec. 1, 1868, Louise M. Kellogg, who died July 18, 1869. He was again married, Feb. 28, 1872, to Lizzie L. Henry, daughter of John P. and Laura Henry, of Chesterfield, N. H. They have had two children, viz .: Walter Edwin, born April 13, 1874 ; died July 18, 1875. Howard E., born Nov. 17, 1876. Edwin W. lives at the homestead and earries on the farm.

Albert Simeon, born May 14, 1848 ; died Sept. 18, 1848.

Mr. Clark received a common-school education, supple- mented by attendance at Amherst Academy nearly two years. He has always lived in the house where he was horn, which was built by his father in 1780, situated at Mill Valley, one mile south of Amherst village. llis occupation has been princi- pally farming, though he studied field-surveying, and followed it, more or less, for forty years. His services have been often demanded as administrator of estates. He has been justice of the peace thirty years, selectman, assessor, and overseer of the poor for many years ; was captain of a militia company of the State for a number of years. He has been a member of the First Congregational Church of Amherst since 1831, and a deacon in the church sixteen years. In polities he has been identified with the Whig and Republican parties.

His wife, with whom he had lived nearly half a century, died June 8, 1871. A resident of Amherst for a period beyond the allotted time of man, always taking a lively interest in the growth and upbuilding of her institutions, he has lived to see the church of which his grandfather was one of the founders become a rich and prosperous society and a powerful factor in shaping the religious sentiment of the community, and the college, for the first building of which he helped to draw the bricks and sand, grown to rank among the foremost institu- tions of the land.

EASTHAMPTON.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

EASTHAMPTON may be properly termed one of the river- towns, though its territory borders the Connecticut for only a short distance south of the "Oxbow." At that point East- hampton divides Northampton, so that the latter is not made up of contiguous territory ; Northampton has a sort of out- lying province, consisting of Mount Tom and a section of narrow river valley. This separates Easthampton from what would seem to be its natural eastern boundary, the Connec- ticut.

Easthampton is bounded north by Northampton, east by Northampton and the Connecticut River, south by Hampden County and Southampton, west by Southampton and West- hampton.

It is the smallest town in the county, having an area of 6613 acres, as reported in the census of 1875.

Easthampton is a portion of the original purchase from the Indians by the proprietors of Northampton, and the title to the soil is, therefore, traced back directly to the treaty by which the tract was obtained.

NATURAL FEATURES.

This town in its topography differs from all the other towns of this county west of the river. There are few elevations sufficient to be called bills in the entire town.

It is walled in on the southeast by the precipitous heights of the Mount Tom range, but has no jurisdiction over them.

At the northwest the town line just clears the southern spurs of the Mineral Hill group. At the southeast corner it cleaves a slice from one of the lower declivities of Mount Tom.

The two branches of the Manhan River, one flowing south from Westhampton, the other north from Southampton, unite upon the western border and flow eastward through the centre of Easthampton to the Connecticut, joining the latter at the south part of the Oxbow. The tributaries of the Manhan from the north are Pomeroy Brook, Saw-Mill Brook, and several smaller rivulets. It has one tributary from the south, of considerable importance, named Broad Brook. This fur- nishes the water-power for most of the great manufacturing enterprises, rather than the Manhan. Broad Brook itself has a small tributary in the south part, bearing the suspicious name Rum Brook.

The town has many landscapes of quiet beauty, and all around it, within easy drive, is some of nature's grandest scenery. It is a charming place for the summer tourist who may desire to retain his connection with modern civilization, newspapers, and all the pleasures of a cultured town, and yet enjoy nature in her loveliest forms. A recent author writes with enthusiasm of his native town :

"It is snch a spot as a lover of nature might select for a residence. Its streams flowing down from the mountains which encircle it, bearing fertility on their bosoms; the mountains themselves standing like watch-towers guarding it; its variation of hill and dale and plain ; its beautiful trees and streets; all combine to render it a delightful retreat from the cares and turmoils of city life."

EARLY SETTLEMENT-SUBSEQUENT GROWTH.

John Webb was undoubtedly the first settler upon the pres- ent territory of Easthampton. In the town-records of North- ampton, nnder date of Dec. 13, 1664, it is stated that the town granted John Webb a piece of land at Pascommuck to build

a house upon. In February of the same year the following language appears in a legal document : " I, John Webb, Sr., of Pascommuck, do engage," etc. This would indicate that he was already located out there at the time the town con- firmed his title. It is known that he was a citizen of North- ampton as early as 1657, as his name appears in a transaction with certain sachems for the purchase of land. As this was only three years after the settlement of Northampton, it might be inferred that he was one of the first proprietors, and that he might have settled at the Oxbow upon his arrival. In 1663 or 1664 it was recorded that John Webb brought in several wolves' heads, probably to secure the colonial bounty offered.

In Lyman's History and in his Centennial address there are given the facts above stated, but his conclusion does not locate Webb at Nashawannuck until the spring of 1665, though the legal document above quoted by Mr. Lyman expressly de- scribes bim as " of Pascommuck," February, 1664. The house of Mr. Webb was near the present residence of IIenry Clapp (late of Augustus Clapp). Its precise location is said to have been on a little rise of ground near the bank of the river, at the westernmost bend of the " old bed," at that time the only channel. Ilere, then, was the pioneer opening in the forests of Easthampton, nearly two and a quarter centuries ago. It is said that Mr. Webb died in 1670, though some authorities regard the date as uncertain.

Robert Danks, of Northampton, married his widow, and, with two sons of Webb, resided at Nashawannuck many years, and the descendants of Mr. Webb were at the same place seventy-five years or more.

The next place of settlement was probably on Saw-mill Brook, north side of the Manhan and near the present Bassett place.

Permission to erect a saw-mill was given in 1674 to David Wilton, Medad Pomeroy, and Joseph Taylor. There seems to be no evidence showing whether the mill was built about that time, or, if it was, whether a dwelling-house for any of the parties was erected near it.

The same uncertainty appears to exist with reference to the grist-mill, the privilege of building which was granted twelve years later to Samuel Bartlett, at the falls of the Manhan. It is generally understood that both of these mills were built soon after their respective grants were made; but tradition locates Joseph Bartlett as the first settler there, some thirty- eight years later, and states that he opened a tavern. It must be supposed, then, that these mills were not built at the time the grants were voted, or that they were run by non-residents for forty or fifty years, with nobody living anywhere in that neighborhood, nor even in Southampton,-all of which seems decidedly improbable. Even the Pascommuck settlement was twenty to twenty-five years later, and, judging by reliable records, it is not easy to see that there were any settlers at the time these mills are said to have been built in Westhamp- ton, Huntington, Southampton, and Easthampton, with the single exception of the Webbs or Danks at Nashawannuck.

Neither tradition nor documentary evidence locates the Pomeroys at the mountain until fifty years later than the date of the mills, and Sergt. Ebenezer Corse was not "on the plain" until near 1730. Yet these mills, only distant from Northampton four or five miles, may have been carried on ex-

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

aetly as it has been supposed ; but the grinding and the saw- ing must have been wholly for Northampton, or nearly so, for fifty years. This unsettled problem we respectfully refer to the antiquarians of Easthampton.

If we accept the usual account, the next settlement in point of time was that of Pascommuck. In 1699 the town of North- ampton granted lots to five families at Pascommuck. The five were Moses Hutchinson, John Searl, Benoni Jones, Samuel Janes, and Benjamin Janes. It is understood they removed there in 1700. The settlement was about opposite the mouth of the Manhan, on the present farms of L. W. Parsons, Jo- seph Parsons, and Gilbert A. Clark. After the fearful slaugh- ter which broke up the settlement in 1704, some ten years elapsed before the place was again occupied.

" The new settlers were Nathaniel Alexander, who married the widow of John Searl (the latter one of the slain) and lived several years on the place, Sammel Janes took the place of his father. In 1720, John Lankton bought the place formerly owned by Benoni Jones. He lived, however, only nine years to enjoy it. Ilis widow married a man by the name of Wharton, Imt for some cause he soon after left her, and she was known for many years as Widow Wharton. Her son, John Lankton, afterward removed to West Springfield. His father owned a slave while he lived in Pascominck, who was valued at $60 in his inventory. It appears also that Joseph Bartlett was also a slaveholder, from the fact that he set free two slaves by his will. There is also a slave mentioned in the list of Major Clapp's estate, but whether it was one he purchased, or one of those set free by his Uncle Joseph Bartlett, is not certain.

" The place of John Searl was occupied by his son Elisha, after the latter re- turned from captivity. Ebenezer Ferry, from Springfield, at a later period, bought the Hutchinson place, and lived on it twenty-five years or more."

The notes given elsewhere from the Northampton town- records indicate pretty nearly the precise location of the five families who settled in 1700.

Returning to the falls of the Manhan " at the old cartway," we find that Samuel Bartlett, in 1705, gave the mill and land about it to his son Joseph Bartlett, and that the latter finally built a dwelling-house and settled there about 1720 or 1725. It is not related that he had any children, and when he died most of his property was left to his nephew, Jonathan Clapp, who lived with him.

As early as this it is probable some expectation was felt that a town and village would grow up around this point, as he left some property to his brothers on condition that they should give £100, old tenor, to the first church of Christ that should be erected and celebrate divine ordinanees within half a mile of his house. This condition was afterward complied with.

About the same time that Joseph Bartlett built his house, his brother, David Bartlett, built and settled about forty rods west of where Julius Pomeroy now resides, and his son fol- lowed him upon the same place nearly to the time of the Rev- olution. To this house during the war were brought persons afflicted with the smallpox. Col. Hosford, of Northampton, died there, and also Rev. John Hooker, the successor of Rev. Jonathan Edwards. The first was buried in the field a little way from the house, and Mr. Hooker in the Northampton cemetery.

Not far from the same time, 1726-28, four brothers by the name of Wait settled between these Bartlett brothers, not far from where R. C. Dresser now lives.

Next perhaps in order of time were the Pomeroys, Eldad and Samuel, who are counted as pioneers of both Southampton and Easthampton. Prot. Edwards' Centennial address upon South- ampton infers that they were located as early as 1725. Other writers make the date 1732. The earlier is probably correct. In the division of Southampton land, June 8, 1730, the Pom- eroys were permitted to loeate their share " near their mea- dows." This proves their possession and cultivation at that date, though not positively their residence.

The first settlement " on the Plain" was made by Sergt. Ebenezer Corse. This was probably about 1728. He built the house where Spencer Clapp formerly lived, now owned by Theron Pomeroy. To him the town is indebted for one of its finest streets, he having cut away the woods and opened what

is now Main Street, straight for more than a mile from the centre of his house. Tradition relates that he was a bold and fearless man and declined to move into the fort at the time other citizens did. When, however, he discovered traces of an ambush actually laid for him, he prudently allowed " dis- cretion to be the better part of valor," and eame in.

Ebenezer Corse is mentioned in the records of Southampton. At the drawing of lots, June 8, 1730, it was voted that Ebene- zer Corse should have his share "near his house." This indicates that he was then settled there. It thus appears that a settlement of considerable importance was fairly begun 1725 to 1730. The early annals are silent as to other names for nearly fifteen years, but it is hardly probable that this length of time intervened without any addition to the settlement. There were doubtless others whose names have not come down to the present,-families who perhaps remained a short time, and, moving away, left no line descending to preserve the tra- ditions of settlement. This is indicated, though not proved, by the fact that previous to 1745 the town of Northampton LEASED the school lands to various individuals. In that year the town sold the school meadow of eighty acres above the grist-mill to Deacon Stephen Wright and Benjamin Lyman.

The former settled where Samuel Hurlburt now lives, and the latter near doel Bassett's present house. Benjamin Lyman, Jr., and Stephen Wright, Jr., both settled in the neighborhood of Ebenezer Corse, but not " soon after" Corse, as one writer states, for Benjamin Lyman, Jr., was not born until 1727, a year or two before Corse's settlement. It may be inferred that, as young men of twenty to twenty-five years, they may have located there in 1749 or 1750,-that is, " soon after" their fathers did on the school lands.

Benjamin Clapp and Aaron Clapp also probably moved there about the same time. The descendants of each of these four families occupy their respective aneestral homesteads, viz., Ansel B. Lyman, James Il. Lyman (through his wife), John and Luther L. Wright, and William N. Clapp and son.

In 1750, Joseph Wright and Titus Wright were established in the north part of Easthampton.

About this time also-1750-Josiah Phelps settled on Park Hill, upon the place long occupied in later times by J. Rock- well Wright. Mr. Phelps had no children, and at his death his farm passed into the hands of Jonathan Bartlett. Park lill is said to derive its name from an inelosure built to capture deer.

About 1760, John Hannum and Eleazer Hannum settled upon the place now occupied by J. M. and Edwin Hannum.

Israel Hendrick came from Connecticut about 1774, and settled in the southeast part of the town, where there have been so many of the same name in modern times. His first log house stood on the east side of Broad Brook, where in late years Pearson Hendrick lived.

Other families in this neighborhood, probably before the Revolution, were Joel Robbins, Benjamin Stephens, and Ben- jamin Strong.

With the thirty families thus mentioned, from John Webb down for a hundred years, there were undoubtedly others whose names are not preserved.

Perhaps the true pioneer period of a town may be said to be the time of settlement preceding eivil organization. In the case of Easthampton this is longer than usual, owing to the territory remaining for many years, both ecclesiastically and civilly, a part of Northampton.

No early assessment-roll of polls and estates seems to be preserved in the town-elerk's office of Easthampton, and a complete list of settlers at the time of incorporation cannot be easily made.

The names appearing in the proceedings of the early town- meetings are mentioned in the following list, with their loca- tion in town, as far as ean be readily stated after the lapse of nearly one hundred years :

RESIDENCE OF HON. EDMUND H. SAWYER, EASTHAMPTON, MASS.

L. H. Everts, Pub'r, Phila.

20 45

L. H. Everts, Pub'r, Phila.

RESIDENCE OF MRS. EMILY G. WILLISTON, EASTHAMPTON, MASS.

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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

Elisha Alvord, Pascommuck, homestead where Edward Clark now lives, the late Luther Clark place ; he had one son, Elisha. Bildad Brewer, homestead where Joseph Bos- worth now resides. John Brown, homestead probably in the Pascommmek neighborhood, near East Street school- house. Aaron Clapp, Sr., lived on James II. Lyman's present place ; and Aaron Clapp, Jr., where Martin Wood now lives; Levi Clapp was a brother of Aaron, Jr. Jona- than Clapp, homestead the present Fargo place. John Clapp, homestead in the west district, buildings gone; they stood on the brow of the hill, a little southeast of where Mirick Clapp now lives. Capt. Joseph Clapp, homestead the old hotel on the place now owned by the heirs of Lucas W. Ilannum.

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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 83

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