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 181
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Dr. John Goodale is supposed to have been the first physician who established himself in the town. He lived just south of the centre, and practiced the early part of the present century. His descendants still reside in the town. Dr. Holt lived at the centre, and followed soon after Dr. Goodale. He died of ty- phoid fever quite suddenly, about 1810. Dr. Daniel Ufford succeeded him, and practiced for a number of years. He sub- sequently removed from the town. Dr. Edwin McCray studied with Dr. Ufford, and practiced for a short time. He removed to Longmeadow, and thence to Agawam, where he enjoyed a good practice until his death. Dr. Marcus Cady engaged in practice about 1825, and lived at the centre until his death. Dr. Abial Bottom commenced about 1840, and is still in practice, as is also his son, Dr. D. W. Bottom. Dr. George T. Ballard commenced about 1861, and is still in prae- tice.
The only lawyer who ever practiced in the town was Otis Norcross, about 1825. Hle remained but two or three years, and lived at the centre.
ORGANIZATION.
The inhabitants of the town of Hampden were set off as the South Parish of Wilbraham by act of the General Court, June 11, 1782, and from that time the religious history of the two sections has been distinct and separate. The preamble to the act of incorporation indicates the object of the division to have been the "greater convenience of attending the public worship of God."
The division into parishes, however, does not seem to have allayed the animosities which had been engendered by the continued rivalry and antagonism which had existed since the first settlement of the town, between its northern and southern sections. Difference of opinion upon matters re- lating to the government of the town continued, and on Jan. 19, 1824, a vote was taken upon an article "to see if the town will petition the General Court, at their next session, to divide the town of Wilbraham into two towns," but the proposition was rejected by 114 nays to 67 yeas. The subject was again agitated at different times, and not unfrequently with some degree of asperity.
Finally, on March 28, 1878, an aet passed the Legislature which established the town of Hampden, the territory as- signed to it being nearly identical with the boundaries of the South Parish, as follows :
" Beginning at a stone monument on the east line of the town of Longmeadow,
and eighteen hundred and thirty-two feet southerly by said line from the stone monument marking the northeast corner of said town of Longmeadow ; thence sunth eighty-eight degrees and twenty-five minutes east, fourteen thousand one hundred and fifty-eight feet to a stone monument ; thence north twenty-seven degrees and fifteen minutes east, three thousand three hundred and thirty-two fret to a stone monument ; thence south eighty-eight degrees and twenty-five minutes east, nine thousand eight hundred and fifteen feet to a stone monument on the west line of the town of Monson."
The first town-meeting of the new town was held in the vestry of the Congregational Church, on April 8, 1878, and was duly " notified and warned" by S. C. Spellman, justice of the peace. William R. Sessions was chosen moderator. The following persons were chosen to fill the principal offices of the town : Sumner Smith, Clerk and Treasurer; Wm. R. Sessions, Freeman W. Dickinson, and Patrick E. Wall, Se- leetmen ; S. M. Staunton, Andrew Beche, John W. Isham, Assessors ; A. B. Newell, J. N. Isham, and M. H. Warren, School Committee.
On April 18, 1878, another meeting of the town was held, when the following appropriations for the year were made: $1000 for schools, $100 for permanent repairs of school-houses, $1000 for paupers, $600 for highways and town officers, and $450 for contingent expenses.
The town is now fully organized, and in a prosperous con- dition.
VILLAGES.
The only village is situated at its geographical eentre, on the north shore of the Seantie Brook. It is ranged along the principal road, running east and west through the town. The houses are neat and tasteful in appearance, and a brisk busi- ness air pervades the place, which may properly be termed a manufacturing village. Three woolen-mills are within the proper limits of the village, while other industrial enterprises are carried on near by. Besides these, the village contains Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist Churches, and an academy, each in good condition, which add much to the architectural beauty of the place. The nearest railroad sta- tions are at Stafford Springs, Conn., and North Wilbraham.
The principal stores in the village are kept by Sumner Smith and Albert F. Ballard. Elbridge Vinnicke is also in trade.
The post-office was established about 1826, the first post- master being Dudley B. Post. The office has since been filled by Samuel Beebe, S. C. Spellman, William Spellman, Horton Hendrick, and Sullivan M. Staunton, the present incumbent.
The scenery around the village is wild and picturesque, the hills on the west and south rising to an elevation of sev- eral hundred feet. In the valley, nestled close along the bank of the Scantic, may be seen the little village, noisy with the hum of industry, while beyond and around it lie the broad and well-cultivated acres of the husbandman.
SClfOOLS.
Much that relates to the early seliools of the town has been incorporated in the history of Wilbraham. Some of the early teachers of the town were Moses and Stephen Stebbins, Sam- uel Beebe, Samuel Henry, Mareus Cady, Betsey Sessions, Sally Sileox, and Lydia Ames.
Hampden Academy, an institution that has acquired a fa- vorable reputation among the schools of the day, was built by private subscription about the year 1844, and was estab- Jished to supply a demand for higher educational facilities. The first teacher was Elijah Brooks, and the second E. J. Howe. Others have been Charles Marsh and a Mr. Bliss, the Jatter since a minister. Alonzo B. Newell, an efficient and popular instructor, has had charge of the school for a number of years past, which holds regular sessions at present only in the winter season.
There are four school districts in the town, with an average total attendance of ahout 125 scholars.
* Not the Bay Path.
1110
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
CHURCHES.
CONGREGATIONAL.
The South Parish was incorporated June 11, 1782. Pre- vious to this, however, there had been preaching at private residences and in the open air. The first meeting-house was raised in June, 1783, and was placed in the street nearly op- posite to where Mrs. Aaron Warren since resided. For ten years it was a mere shell, rough-boarded on the outside, with board windows, and the timbers of the walls and root were all exposed. In 1793, £246 15s. were appropriated to finish the house and "see it glassed." A church was organized in 1785, and Rev. Moses Warren was ordained pastor, Sept. 3, 1788, when the church contained 65 members. His settlement was £150, and his salary £58 14s. ($188.33), one-half to be paid in commodities, including 24 cords of wood yearly. Un- successful attempts were made to remove the meeting-house out of the road in 1817, 1822, and 1824. In 1838 it was re- moved by private subscription, and a bell was put in, the first in the town. Mr. Warren continued his ministry until his death, Feb. 19, 1829, in the seventy-second year of his age. He had baptized 478 adults and children. The subsequent pastors of the church have been Rev. Mr. Clarke, Rev. Ebe- nezer R. Wright, Rev. James A. Hfazen, ordained Jan. 30, 1839, dismissed June 22, 1847; Rev. Ilubbard Beebe, installed April 19, 1848, discharged April 1, 1852; Rev. E. Skinner, ordained May 19, 1853, dismissed April 11, 1855; Rev. James C. Houghton, installed April 11, 1855, dismissed Oct. 1, 1856 ; Rev. John Whitehill, ordained Dee. 11, 1861, dismissed May 27, 1868; Rev. Edward B. Chamberlain, ordained March 3, 1869, dismissed March 10, 1873. The present pastor, Rev. Edward Payson Root, became the acting pastor Oct. 14, 1875, and the ordained pastor June 1, 1876.
The church at the present time is in a prosperous and har- monious condition. The number of members is 119; Sabbath- scholars, 60; number of families attending and contributing to the support of the society, 50. The Sabbath-school library is small, but is about being re-established.
BAPTISTS.
The early history of the Baptist movement, which finally resulted in the establishment of the present church in Hamp- den, has been treated of in the history of the town of Monson. At the time of the dissolution of the Monson Society, in 1855, the strength of the movement concentrated in South Wilbra- ham, or Hampden, and the pastor of the society, the Rev. J. C. Foster, established himself there, and a church edifice was then erected. The history of the church since that time has been more favorable, and the following have served as pastors : Rev. Ilenry S. Stevens, Rev. Moses Curtis, Rev. Bailey S. Morse, and Rev. E. S. Hill. Rev. Charles A. Cook was then hired for a year. An arrangement was then effected with the Baptist Church at Longmeadow, whereby one pastor should supply both societies, and still continues. Rev. O. R. Ilunt is the pastor. The present membership is about 80; of Sab- bath-school, about 40; with a Sabbath-school library of 300 or 400 volumes. The church building is in the centre of the vil- lage, and cost about $4500.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL.
The Methodist Episcopal Church at Hampden (then Wil- braham) was organized about 1830, by a number of persons who left various other churches, though mostly Congrega- tionalists. A leading person was Mr. Sessions, a strong Ar- minian, who exercised a controlling influence until the time of his death, in 1861. Ilis large family of children are all strong Methodists, and his son, Horace Sessions, has long filled the position occupied by his father.
This church has been kept up since its organization, and is prosperous at the present time.
The records have either been lost or are inaccessible.
The present pastor is Rev. W. Herbert Atehinson, and the society occupy a neat and attractive house of worship.
BURIAL-GROUNDS.
The town contains two places of burial. Of these the older is located about a quarter of a mile from the centre, and com- prises two or three acres. It was laid out early in 1755, and the first person buried therein was Lydia, a child of John Bliss, on March 29, 1755. The oldest monuments now in the yard are those of Sarah, wife of John Langdon, who died July 22, 1755, aged twenty-one years ; Lieut. Paul Langdon, who died Dee. 3, 1761, in his sixty-ninth year ; and Stephen Stebbins, who died Feb. 26, 1768, in his fifty-seventh year ; Ezekiel Russell, Isaac Morris, David Burt, Comfort Chaffee, Capt. Steward Beebe, Moses Warren, and John Bliss are also buried there, besides others of the earliest settlers of the town. The yard is still in use, although the portion first set apart as a burying-ground is full.
The new cemetery is eligibly located about a quarter of a mile from the village, on the road to Stafford. It was laid out in 1876, and contains about four acres. It is a pleasant spot.
INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS.
The earliest industrial enterprises of the town of Wilbra- ham were undertaken in the south part, now Hampden. Lewis Langdon erected the first saw-mill about eighty rods below the Hampden Woolen-Mills, on the Seantie, in 1750. Abner Badger had a saw-mill on Third Brook, near Capt. Chaffee's before 1772. About the time of the Revolutionary war Lewis Langdon erected a grist-mill, afterward owned by Benanuel Leach, about one hundred yards below his saw-mill. David Burt erected one shortly after in the southeast part of the town. Another was also erected about the same time by Mr. Wright, not far from the residence of Benjamin 1I. Rus- sell (deceased), on Middle or Second Brook. In the early part of this century, Mr. Bacon, of Brimfield, built a grist- mill where the Hampden Woolen-Mill stands, but sold it soon after to Christopher Langdon. It afterward passed through the hands of Jacob Wood and Hubbard Arnold into the pos- session of William Moseley, who thoroughly remodeled the mill, rebuilt the dam, erected a saw-mill, and added a shingle- mill. It was afterward destroyed by fire, and a wrapping- paper manufactory built on its site.
At the " turn of the river," so called, was the saw-mill of Capt. Charles Sessions, and after it fell to pieces another was erected on the north side of the river, where the Lacousic Woolen-Mill now stands, and to make place for which the saw- mill again crossed the stream to the south side. Meantime, a saw-mill had been erected by Caleb Stebbins at his grist- mill, and David Burt also erected one on his dam. About 1850, Milton Stebbins erected a grist-mill and saw-mill just south of the bridge on the west side of the mountain.
Fulling-mills and carding-machines were carly erected by Walter Burt, near Burt's Mill, and by Jonathan Flint just below the village bridge ; and Laban Button. near Burt's, had a fulling-mill. Beriah Smith & Brothers, who bought out Flint, did a large business in dyeing and dressing cloth. Just below Smith's was Roper's elover-mill, which was famous in its day. He added the manufacture of chain to the cleans- ing of .clover-seed.
The amount of wood consumed by the early inhabitants gave an overplus of ashes for home consumption, and Wil- liam King manufactured potash near the old meeting-house, and Paul Langdon by Potash llill.
Mr. West followed the business of tanning at the foot of the hill by the brook near the bridge. Daniel and Joseph Chaffee also engaged in that brauch of industry.
The first woolen-mill in the town was built by Sumner Sessions on the Seantic in 1845. It was rented and operations commenced by Levi Bradford and Eleazer Scripter in April,
1111
HISTORY OF HAMPDEN COUNTY.
1846. Business was commenced with one set of machinery for the manufacture of satinet. In April, 1847, Mr. Bradford retired from the firm, and Luther E. Sage, William V. Ses- sions, and Samuel Beebe became partners, and the firm-name was changed to Scripter, Sage & Co. Another set of ma- chinery was added by the new company, and the manufacture of satinets, tweeds, cassimeres, and doeskins was carried on until January, 1856. An act of incorporation was then ob- tained from the Legislature, and a new company was formed Jan. 30, 1856, with a capital of $20,000, under the name of " The South Wilbraham Manufacturing Company." In 1862 a large addition was made to the mill and other machinery added, and a large business was done by the company for a number of years. A new company was afterward formed and the name changed to the Lacousic Woolen-Mill, which is still in operation. The mill contains 5 sets of machinery, 16 looms, furnishes employment to from 75 to 80 persons, and produces about 16,000 yards of fancy cassimeres each month.
The Hampden Woolen-Mill was built by Eleazer Scripter, about 1858 or 1859, and was known as the " Ravine Woolen- Mill." Luther Sage ran the mill during the war. It was then small, and he erected a larger mill farther down the stream. A Mr. Hollister operated the mill for a time. It was destroyed by fire Feb. 8, 1878, but, having been rebuilt, is now owned by ll. A. Kimball, and is under the manage- ment of L. Reynolds, agent. It is in size 50 by 96 feet, and is a four-set mill, furnishing employment to about 75 persons, and producing about 1000 yards of fancy cassimeres daily.
The Scantic Woolen-Mill was erected about 1865, by the Scantie Woolen-Mill Company, who engaged in the manu-
facture of faney cassimeres until 1875. It then passed into the hands of Judson A. Leonard, who owned and operated it for several years. In February, 1877, Kenworthy Brothers bought the mill and engaged in the manufacture of yarn of different grades and qualities, a business which they are still pursuing. It is a two-set mill, making about 200 pounds a day, and employing about 12 men. The cloth machinery is not much used.
Mortimer Pease has a small mill just above the Seantic Woolen-Mill, which is used in preparing the waste of the different woolen-mills for re-carding.
The manufacture of paper was once carried on to a consid- erable extent in the southeastern part of the town, but the enterprise is now numbered among its past industries.
MILITARY.
The military history of the town of Hampden is necessarily identical with that of Wilbraham. The south part of the town has never been backward in the manifestation of prac- tical patriotism, and from its mountains have gone forth many who have contributed strong hands and willing hearts to the cause of liberty and union .*
In compiling the history of the town we have been assisted by Sumner Smith, William V. Sessions, the pastors of the churches, and other citizens; and much assistance, of which we thankfully availed ourselves, was derived from the his- torical address of Rev. Dr. Rufus P. Stebbins, delivered in 1863, upon the occasion of the celebration of the eentenary of the incorporation of Wilbraham.
* See history of Wilbraham.
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