History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 112

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896

USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II > Part 112

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Mr. Southworth was one of the first to aid Miss Lyon in the founding of the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, and filled the office of trustee of that institution from its opening until the time of his death. He was also trustee of the fund for indigent students at Amherst College.

Mr. Southworth was for many years a member of the Con- gregational Church, and for thirty years was a deacon in the First Congregational Church at West Springfield. Their desire that the principles of that form of church government might be understood and appreciated, which form they considered to be thoroughly republican, prompted Mr. Southworth and his brother, Mr. Wells Southworth, to found a lectureship on Congregational Polity, at the Andover Theological Semi- nary.

Mr. Southworth was three times married : first, to Ann

Elizabeth Shepard, daughter of Rev. Mase Shepard, of Lit- tle Compton, R. I. ; second, to Mary Woodbury Shepard, daughter of Rev. Thomas Shepard, LL.D., of Bristol, R. I .; third, to Mrs. Harriet Aun Deane, nee Thurston, daughter of Rev. David Thurston, LL. D., of Winthrop, Me., and widow of Melvin G. Deane, Esq., of Portland, Me. This lady sur- vived him. He left six children, two (George Champlin Shepard, of West Springfield, and Mase Shepard, of Wil- liamstown, Mass. ) being the children of his first wife; three (Edward Shepard, of New Haven, Thomas Shepard, and Mary Woodbury Shepard ) being children of his second wife ; and one (Alice Harriet S.) the daughter of his third wife. Ile died Dec. 11, 1869, aged sixty-five.

MR. JOHN H. SOUTHWORTH,

of Springfield, Mass., a son of Deacon John Southworth and Betsey Willis Heywood, daughter of Luther Heywood, and a grandson of Perez Southworth, of Bridgewater (who was a brother of Mr. Wells Southworth's father), was born on the 9th of October, 1818. He was educated at North Bridgewater, Mass., and commenced business as a clerk in the dry-goods house of Charles Atherton and Enoch Herton, in 1836, at New Bedford, Mass., but, his health failing, be removed to Chicopee Falls, Mass., and acted as merchant for the firm of F. A. L. Adams & Co. ; but, not regaining his health, he went to Dartmouth, his native place, and remained during the years 1840 and 1841. In 1842 he entered into a copartnership with Capt. Michael Baker, for the purpose of engaging in the business of general merchandising, in South Dartmouth. In the year 1844, Mr. Southworth removed to Westfield, Mass., and there engaged in the business of staple and fancy dry- goods. In 1817 he became interested at Mittencague, with Mr. Wells Southworth, in building the Agawam Canal Com- pany Cotton-Mills, acting as resident engineer, paymaster, and book-keeper for the corporation. In 1849 he accepted an offer from Mr. William H. Inlay to become the business agent of two paper-mills, situated, one in Poquannock and the other in Rainbow, Con., where he remained until the winter of 1851, the business proving successful under his man- agement.

In the winter of 1851, Mr. Southworth took up his residence in Philadelphia, Pa., taking charge of the paper warehouse of the Southworth Manufacturing Company in that city. He soon increased its business more than sixfold, besides largely increasing its business in paper-stock, and in 1854 he was made a director in the company. In 1860 he was elected alderman of the Tenth Ward, Philadelphia, over the Demo- cratie and Independent candidate, by a large majority. He was also a member of the Union League. In answer to a newspaper threat growing out of the Southern ditheulty, he was one of those who marched down Chestnut Street and up Walnut, pa-sing the office of the publication on their way.

In this year he, in connection with his kinsmen, Messrs. Wells and Edward South worth, bought a controlling interest in the Glasgow Paper Company, of South Hadley Falls, Mass. (it now being the Hampshire mill), and acted as its agent and as a director, and in 1868 also became its treasurer, and in 1870 its president. lle had also become interested in the Greenleaf & Taylor Manufacturing Company, and was presi- dent of the same. In the year 1872 he removed his residence from Philadelphia to Round Hill, Springfield, Mass. In the previous year (1871) he had become largely interested in the manufacture of gas-fixtures, in company with Benjamin Thackary and W. S. Buck, of Philadelphia, under the name of Thackary, Buck & Co., of 718 Chestnut Street, Philadel- phia. In the year 1872 he became largely interested in the Wilcox & Gibbs Sewing-Machine Company, and in 1874 was elected the president of and a director in the company. In 1873 he was elected a director in the Agawam National Bank, of Springfield, Mass. ; in 1874 a director in the Glasgow

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Gingham-Mills, of South Hadley Falls, and has been their president since 1876.

Although actively engaged in business, Mr. Southworth has found time to visit many of the countries of the Old World, having made three trips to Europe. In 1871 he visited the most of Europe, with the exception of the Russian empire. In 1874 he visited Great Britain and France, and in 1875 most of the Continent. During the last summer Mr. South- worth was on a train on the Union Pacific Railroad when attacked by robbers, and was quite severely wounded in the arm. In the year 1843, Mr. Southworth married Miss Sarah Law, of Nantucket, Mass., and there were born to them three

children, Sarah Elizabeth, in 1844, who died the same year ; in 1845, John Wells, who died at the age of twenty-eight in 1873 ; and in 1847, Sarah Law, who lived to be only nine months old. Mrs. Southworth died in 1847, at the age of twenty-nine years. In 1854, Mr. Southworth married Miss Elizabeth Henderson, of Philadelphia, Pa., and under this marriage there have been born four children,-Charles II., Nov. 1, 1856 (now associated with his father in business) ; Ida M., March 18, 1858; Edward Courtlandt, Aug. 25, 1860,-he graduates at Andover this year (1879), and enters immediately into the paper-business with his father; and Nina E., Nov. 7, 1862, who lived only until the following luly.

WEST SPRINGFIELD.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

THIS township is situated on the west side of Connecticut River, very near the geographical centre of the county, and is bounded on the north by Holyoke, on the south by Aga- wam, on the east by the city of Springfield and the town of Chicopee, from which it is separated by the Connecticut River, and on the west by the town of Westfield.

It lies in the triangle formed by the two rivers, and its dimen- sions approximate three and a half by five miles, with an area of about 11,000 acres.

NATURAL FEATURES.

Its distinguishing features are a broad level plain, extending parallel to the Connecticut River along its eastern side, falling away to a lower, narrow " terrace" along the two rivers, with hilly uplands in the west, culminating in the lofty trap ridge which forms its western boundary.

The soil of the plain is a sandy loam, while the bottom- lands along the Connecticut and Agawam Rivers consist mostly of a fine alluvium. The scenery in places along the Agawam, particularly at Mittencague and where the river passes through the trap range, is rugged and interesting. There is considerable drift, and in some localities extensive moraines of bowklers are found.

The geological formations consist of the red sand-rock of the valley, the greenstone or dolerites of the trap forma- tion, drift, and lacustrine and alluvial deposits. A small deposit of rotten and impure limestone is said to exist in the northwestern part of the town, which has been utilized to a considerable extent in the manufacture of hydraulic cement, or water-lime .* A few fossils, principally from the vegetable kingdom, have been found. Various minerals, such as horn- blende, mica, tourmaline, graphite, quartz, feldspar, etc., are found in the drift deposits; and many relies of the prehis- torie period have been unearthed in the soil of the terrace formations along the Agawam and Connecticut Rivers. The various soils of the town are generally well adapted to grazing and grain-growing, and the business of the people has been, until recently, mostly agricultural. Besides the two rivers which bound the town on the east and south, there are a number of small streams, the most important of which is Pau- catuck Brook, which takes its rise in the town of Holyoke, and, passing through the Ashley ponds, discharges into the Agawam River, near the southwest corner, after a course, bearing a little west of south, of about eight miles.

Lying parallel to this stream, along its eastern bank, is an outlying and inferior range of the trap formation, which is finely exposed at the railway cutting near the mouth of the

brook. Here the trap may be seen overlying the sandstone in a position perpendicular to the dip of the latter.

Block Brook rises in a peat marsh in the northwestern por- tion of the town, and, running south, discharges into the Aga- wam, about one mile above the village of Mitteneague. On the eastern side of the town are the Darby, Barker, and Ash- ley Brooks, which rise in the hilly uplands of the central portions and discharge into the Connecticut River. The Pau- catuck Brook furnishes considerable power near the outlet of the Ashley ponds. There are also several small ponds in the township.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

In 1633 the government of Great Britain, becoming alarmed at the increasing emigration to the New England colonies, which were spreading with remarkable rapidity, as was evi- dent from the fact that already a half-score of parishes had been established and churches erected, took measures to check the movement. An order was issued by the king forbidding further emigration, and many who had made preparation to settle in America were prevented from leaving the kingdom. But means were found whereby the order was evaded, and a colony of about 200 persons, including Cotton, Hooker, and Stone, quietly left England, and arrived safely in America in that year.

The Connecticut River first became known to the English in 1631, and early in the fall of 1633 John Oldham, Samuel Hall, and two others, from Dorchester, traveled through the wilderness and stood upon its banks. Pleased with the kind- ness of the natives, the meadows on either side, the abundance of game and fish, and the apparent fertility of the soil, they returned to their friends and made a favorable report.

A number of men, led by William Holmes, left the Ply- mouth colony by water, in October of that year, and sailed up the Connecticut River as far as the present town of Windsor, Conn. Here they built the first dwelling-house erected by a white man in the Connecticut Valley.

In July, 1634, six men from Newtown (Cambridge) visited the river with a view to settlement, but permission was not granted them by the General Court to remove. The next year, however, a petition was presented by the inhabitants of Cambridge, Dorchester, Watertown, and Roxbury, to the General Court, then in session at Newtown, for leave to emi- grate to the Connecticut River. This petition was granted, May 6, 1635, with the condition that they should locate within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and persons were appointed to govern them one year.

Early records lead to the opinion that William Pynchon, Henry Smith, and John Burr visited the spot where now stand- Springfield, and selected the location in 1634.

* There is a quarry of sand-rock near the month of Block Brook.

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PRESENT RESIDENCE OF WELLS SOUTHWORTH, ( A NATIVE OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY IN MASS .) 13 YORK SQUARE, NEW HAVEN, CONN.

V39N1

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HISTORY OF HAMPDEN COUNTY.

In the spring following, John Cable and JJohn Woodcock were sent forward to build a boat for crossing the river and a house for the plantation, the boat and house together cost- ing £6. They came to the place called by the Indians Aga- wam, or Aguam, and built a cabin on the west side of the Connecticut River, and on the south side of Agawam River, in the meadow, called from that circumstance and still known as the " Housemeadow" lot. They were informed by the In- dians, who were friendly, that the ground on which they had built was subject to inundation .*

William Pynchon, Esq., with seven others, came from Rox- bury in the spring of 1636, to what is now Springfield, and on the 14th of May of that year they drew up and signed an agree- ment concerning their government. Allotments of land were soon made on both sides of the river, the lots on the west side being located as near as possible opposite the " home-lots" on the east side.

As yet no title had been derived from the Indians, and it was deemed advisable, as an act of justice to the natives and a measure of safety to themselves, to make a formal purchase of the land. This was accomplished, and the land on both sides of the river was conveyed to William Pynchon, Esq., Henry Smith, Jehu Burr, and their heirs and associates, It is the first deed ever executed in Western Massachusetts, and is now on record in Hampden County, bearing date July 15, 1636.

This deed ineluded "all that ground or meadow Accomsick, viz. : on the other side of Quana, t and all the ground and meadow on the side of Agawam except cottinackeesk, or ground that is now planted" (by the Indians). The total consid- eration paid for the land deeded on both sides of the river was 18 fathoms of wampum, 18 coats, 18 hoes, 18 hatchets, and 18 knives, of which 10 fathoms of wampum, 10 coats, 10 hoes, 10 hatchets, and 10 knives was the price paid for land on the west side of the river.

A third deed was made June 20, 1666, " of the right of those who gave it to the land at Agawam and Quana, and also the higher meadow and uplands, from the mouth of Agawam River up to the ponds west of it, and all the land into the woods where Ensign Cooper and Samuel Marshfield had a meadow."

The Hon. George Bliss, in his address delivered at the open- ing of the town-hall in Springfield in 1828, says :

" It is very difficult to fix the time when the inhabitants began to build on the west side of the river. The land then was improved as a comm m field, as well before as after settlements were commenced. There were, as I believe, three dis- tinet parts of West Springfield, occupied about the same time. One was south of Agawam River, begun by the ancestors of the Leonards and Coopers. Another was in the first parish under the hill, and a third on Chicopee plain above. These commenced, as far as I can ascertain, in 1653, and soon rapidly increased and ex- tended."

As early as 1654-56 a number of house-lots were granted on Chicopee Plain, on the west side of the river, to Francis Pepper, Anthony Dorchester, Samuel Terry, Hugh Dudley, John Dumbleton, Miles Morgan, John Stewart, Obadiah Miller, and Simon Sackett.

March 5, 1659, John Dumbleton had granted to him land on Paucatuck Brook.

Thomas Cooper and Abel Leonard settled on the southwest side of the Agawam, near where their descendants now reside, about the year 1660, and in a short time Thomas Merrick was there also.

There is in possession of J. N. Bagg, Esq., a slip of paper containing the following :

" March 13, 1660-61 .- There is Grantd to Robt. Ashley Six Acres of Meddow

on the back side of Chicopee Plain, within 2 or 3 mile of the great River where he can find so mich undisposed of.

" A copy from Springfiehl Records, Ex' hy Wm. Pynchon, flerk."

Within a few years after this there were several grants of house-lots in various places, some as far west as Paucatuck Brook.

The following are the earliest settlers whose names are to be found on record, who were ancestors of the inhabitants in West Springfield : Thomas Horton, Thomas Merrick, John Leonard , and Robert Ashley. These all had allotments of land originally on the east side of the river, and are first mentioned there in January, 1639. Rowland Stebbins, Thomas Steb- bins, and William Warriner are mentioned in January, 1641. Thomas Cooper removed from Windsor to Springfield in 1641, but mention is first made of him in what is now Agawam in 1660. Samuel Chapin, first mentioned in 1644; Miles Morgan and Francis Pepper, the next year. Benjamin Cooley, Francis Ball, Nathaniel Bliss, Joseph Parsons, Geo. Colton, and Grif- tith Jones, in 1646. Soon after 1660, persons by the names of Riley, Foster, Jones, Scott, Barber, Rogers, Miller, Parsons, Morgan, Fowler, Leonard, Bodurtha, Ely, Bagg, and Day settled on the west side of the river. Many of these early families have descendants living in West Springfield and Aga- wam.

In 1673 the number of inhabitants had so increased on the west side of the river that a petition was presented to the town in their behalf, setting forth and asking " that by reason of their great trouble in getting over the river to attend publick worship and other meetings, a boat might be provided at the charge of the town for their accommodation."

This would appear to be the first movement toward a public ferry, as a ferry was established in 1683.

In May, 1695, the population on the west side of the river had increased to 32 families, numbering about 200 people, who, being desirous of more convenient religious advantages, presented a petition to the General Court " that they might be permitted to invite and settle a minister," and stated as their reasons " their distance from the place of meeting for the publie worship of Gud, and the difficulties and dangers attending their passing the river, beside many other incon- veniences."

The town appointed a committee to protest to the General Court against the petition being granted. The court ap- pointed a committee of several judicious and indifferent per- sons to investigate the matter, and report at a subsequent session. This report was made favorably to the petitioners on the west side of the river. The following is a literal copy of the record by which West Springfield first became a parish :

" The Great and General Court or Assembly for his Majesties Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, begun and hekl at Boston upon Wednesday ye 27th of May, 1696, In the Eighth year of his Majesties Reign, and Continued by several Adjourninents unto Wednesday the Isth of November following.

" L'pon reading the petition of the Inhalitants of the Town of Springfieldl on the West Side of the great River running through the sd town, Commonly called Connecticut River, therein setting forth their distance from the place of meeting for the publick worship of God in sd Town, and the difficulties and danger at- teuding their passing of the sd River, besides many other inconveniences they lye under by reason thereof, being about Thirty-two Families, and in number upwards of Two Hundred Souls, Praying that they may be Permitted to invite and settle a minister on that side of the River, that themselves and families may enjoy the Ordinances of Christ, and their Children not be in danger of becoming licathens for want of Instruction. And a Committee appointed by this Court of indifferent and Judicious persons belonging to the several neighboring Towns to inquire into that matter, having given a Meeting to the Inhabitants of the sd Town, and heard what was offered on both sides, Reporting that they judge the desire of the Petitioners to be reasonable, and that the granting of their Petition will not only promote Religion, but be much also for the worldly advantage of the Town.

"Ordered, That the sd Petitioners be, and hereby are, permitted and allowed to invite, procure and settle, a learned and orthodox Minister on the West side of the sd River, to dispense the word of God unto those that dwell there, and

# An account is given, iu 1683, of Reice Bodnrtha, John Bodurtha, and Mrs. Joseph Bodurtha being drowned by the upsetting of a boat while crossing the river at the ferry.

* Probably those who came lodge l there until the fall, for the original record of the trial of Woodcock es. C'able speaks of occupying and cultivating the grounds near them all that suunner.

+ The land designated in the deed as Quana is the mi hlle meadow, adjoining Agawam Meadow.

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

that they be a distinel and separate Precinct for that purpose, the River to be the dividing Line ; And that the present inhal itants on the west side of the kd River, together with anch as shall from time to time artde among Goon, have lileity to convene together, to advise, agree upon, and take sich methods, as may le suitable and convenient for the poeming, encouraging, settling, and support of a minister qualified as aforest, and for the building of a Meeting-House, areund- ing as shall be determined by a Major Vote, and also to nominate and appoint a Committee of three or more persons among themselves to transact and manage that aflair. And all the inhabitants and Estates muler their improvement lying on the west side of the sail River shall stand charged towards the settlement and support of the ministry in said place in manner as the law relating to the main- tainanre and suppen t of ministers does direct and provide, and be assessed theirto proportionaldy by two or more assessors, as shall from time to time to elected and appointed by the major part of the said inhabitants for that pin pose, who may also nominate and appoint a Collector to gather and pay in the same as by warrant or order under the hands of such assessors he shall be directed, and when and so soon as the Inhabitants of said Precinct shall have procured a learned and orthodox minister to preach the word of God among them they shall be freed and varmt frem paying towards the support of the ministry on the other side of the River, and for so long a time as they shall continue to Lave and enjoy such a minister.

" By onler of the Lieutenant Governonr Council and Assembly.

" I consent, " WM. STOUGHTON.

" JAS, ADDINGTON, Seert'y.

A subsequent petition from the inhabitants on the west side was presented to the court, and was considered by that body, and granted ; and it was ordered " that the inhabitants of the east side should pay them £50 toward building a meeting- house, and that there should be a division of the land that had been set apart for the use of the ministry."

This order seems not to have been promptly complied with, for in the parish register, of date Nov. 11, 1708, at a meeting of the inhabitants, it was

Voted "that the Present Commitye demand of the other side the fiftye pound granted by the General ('ourt."

And December 14th of the same year,

" At this meeting Deacon Barber, Benj. Leonard, and John Miller were chosen a Committye to treate with the inhabitants, or whom they shall aj point, with respect to the settleing of the ministrey lands and the obtaineing the fiftey pound granted to us by the Court, and to make report of what they due to the people."

On the 14th day of February, 1703, at a meeting of the in- habitants, it was voted " to rase £7 cash, in order to the de- fraying the charge in sending a man to Boston about the concern of the ministry-land."

" Mar. 12, 1706 .- At this meeting the inhabitants of the West side of the River put in their petition, which was read, wherein they desire that the east side in- habitants would pay the fifty pounds In provision fay that the Honored Gen. Corte ordored them to pay to the West side.

" Andly. That the said east side luhabitants would allow them the hundred acres of land the sd Honored Gen. Corte and whome to have fer ye ministry on the West side of ye get Hiver.

" & Buly. That the sd West side inhabitants might have Immediately one-halfe of the ministry land on the West sile the grt River.

" Which answer as follows:

" Ist. Fer the provision pay The said East side Inhabitants have Two yeeres from ye time of said order to pay said £50.

" 21. For the 2ud the West side inhabitants signify no place where they would have ther hundred acres allowed snid West side inhabitants.

"3d. For the 3d branch of said l'etition The vote was Negative, yet the dis- course was that it might be put to the Ministers to agree about said Division.""

The last notice concerning the £50 bears date Dec. 11, 1711, when it was

Voted " that the present comittey shall have power to demand, and, if need he, to sue for the money that is yet behind of the fiftey pounds, and that the pre- cinet will defend them in the management of that concern."t

The trouble arising from the ministry-land is explained in the following, taken from an old reeord : The terms and con- ditions on which the west side of the river was set off as a separate parish were not satisfactory to the new parish.

* From the Town Records of Springfiell.

+ The following is a survey of the Ministerial or First Parish Lot of what is now West Springfield, in Agawam meadow: " Beginning at the South West Corner, at a Poplar Stump, and running N. 21° 45' E. 553g rods; thence 8. 58º 45' E. 3725 rods across the Agawam River, through a large Oak-tree, to a Stone; thence, by land of Thomas Kinhland, S. 0º 45' W. 1929 rods, S. 79º W. 719 rods; thence &. 77º W. 46 rods by land of the heirs of Marvin Kirkland, Dec'd, to the place of beginning,-containing 9 acres, 2 qrs., 22 rods, including tho Agawam River." Surveyed by Wmn. I. Butler, Si veyor, March 16, 1863.

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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. II, Part 112

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 896

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896