History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 36

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 36

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Photo, by Popkins.

CHAS. B. MERRITT is a native of Conway, Frank- lin Co., Mass. He is of English ancestry, and the family to which he belongs is descended from two brothers who came to this country at the time of the Restoration, or shortly before, one of whom set- tled in Massachusetts, and the other in New York. Of the former, Charles B. Merritt is a direet de- seendant. He is the great-grandson of Asa Merritt, grandson of Simeon Merritt, and son of Pliny Mer- ritt.

Asa Merritt was one of the earliest settlers in Con- way, and removed to that place from Brimfield, Mass., about the year 1768. He died Oct. 17, 1802, aged seventy-four years.

Simeon Merritt was born in Brimfield, Mass., in July, 1762, and when six years old came to Conway with his father. As a man he was noted for his courage and firmness. He served in the Revolution, and at the time of Shays' rebellion was one of the six who stood for the government. He was married at Conway, on the 14th day of November, 1792, to Pamelia Baker. Ile died Jan. 29, 1829.

Pliny Merritt was born in Conway, Jan. 19, 1794, and died Oet. 14, 1863. He married Sophia, daughter of Josiah Boyden, on the 14th of October, 1819. She was born July 16, 1794, and died Feb. 19, 1867. They had one child, Charles B., subject of this notice.

Charles B. Merritt was born Mareh 3, 1823. He obtained the rudiments of his education in the

district school, and was afterward instructed in Deacon Clary's Select School. At the age of eight- cen he commenced teaching school, and taught during the winter for eight years, the remainder of this time being oeeupied in working upon his father's farm. In 1844 he went to Michigan, and while there engaged in the lumbering business. He re- mained but a few months, and then returned to Con- way, and united with his father in managing the farm. At his father's deeease he inherited the prop- erty, and by industry and good management he has sinee considerably increased the original estate. He is at present engaged in general farming.

In politics Mr. Merritt's ancestors have been Democrats sinee that party was first organized, and some of them have been among its stannchest sup- porters. He is also a Democrat, but not a partisan, and easts his vote rather with reference to the prin- ciples of the man who is to fill the office than to the party to which he belongs.

Mr. Merritt has held the office of assessor for the past fifteen years, and in 1868 was also a member of the board of selectmen, and is a member and trustee of the Franklin County Agricultural Society. He is a man of integrity and honor, and by these qual- ities has won the respect of his townsmen.

He was married, Nov. 26, 1857, to Mary A. Stearns, daughter of Joel Stearns. She was born in Conway, May 24, 1832. They have one child, Ella E., born Jan. 14, 1859.

Photo. by Popkins, Greenfield.

Carlos utehaber

KIMBALL BATCHELDER, father of the subject of this notice, was born in Francestown, N. H., on the 8th of August, 1796. He removed to Conway, Mass., in March, 1825, and settled on the Farnum place. His occupation was that of a farmer, and he held various local offices. He was married, Nov. 9, 1825, to Ar- menia, daughter of George Stearns, of Conway, who was born May 4, 1803. They had a family of four daughters and one son, as follows: Mary, wife of Geo. A. Waite, of Amherst ; Carlos and Caroline, twins; Fanny A. (deceased) ; and Roxie, wife of Caleb E. Forbes, of Buckland.

CARLOS BATCHELDER was born in Conway, Jan. 16, 1829. He received a good education, which he " finished," technically speaking, at the age of nine- teen. When twenty-two years old he united with his father in managing the farm, in which partner- ship he remained until his father's decease. In poli- tics he is a Republican, and takes an active interest not only in local, but also in the general political movements of the State and nation.

In 1869 he was elected to the Legislature, and by his ability won credit for himself and for those whom

he represented. He was seleetman from 1861 to 1870, and for thirty-five years has been a member and trustee of the Agricultural Society. He was also one of the commissioners appointed by the Legislature to superintend the building of Turner's Falls bridge. In 1874 he was elected to the office . of county commissioner, and still serves in that ca- pacity. He has, besides, held the office of notary one year, and has been a director of the Conway National Bank for two years.

Mr. Batchelder is a deacon in the Congregational Church of Conway, of which he has been a member for thirty-three years.

He is a man of great business enterprise, and has been uniformly successful in his undertakings.

He was married, May 28, 1851, to Minerva A. Forbes, who was born in Buckland, Franklin Co., Mass., Aug. 25, 1830. They have had four chil- dren, only two of whom survive,-Wm. K., born Oct. 1, 1854, who is married and lives on the old homestead, and Frederick C., born Ang. 15, 1861. Those deceased are Minnie E., born Dec. 29, 1873, and Carrie, born Jan. 11, 1875.

Chelsea, look

STEPHEN COOK, father of the subject of this notice, was born in Tolland, Conn., in 1784. He was a descendant of Aaron Cook, one of the carly settlers of Windsor, Conn., and married Elizabeth Tueker, of Tolland, by whom he had seven children, four sons and three daughters, viz. : James, Marcellus, Hiram, Chelsea, Sarah, Harriet, and Eliza.

CHELSEA COOK was born in Tolland, March 4, 1828. His father removed to Manchester, Conn., in 1837, and engaged in manufacturing, and there the children received a common-school education and were instructed in their father's business. To Chelsea was given the superintendency of the Globe Cotton Mill, of South Manchester.

He was married, Nov. 24, 1850, to Julia R., daughter of Richard and Delia R. Tucker, of South Manchester.

He removed to Conway, Franklin Co., Mass., Sept. 1, 1858, and there engaged in the manufacture of cotton warps in company with R. Tucker, his father- in-law, under the firm-names of R. Tucker & Co. and of Tucker & Cook. The business has always been in a flourishing condition, and from year to year has taken a wider range, and in the twenty years which have elapsed their establishment has never been closed. Their success is due not only to good management and perseverance, but also to the excellent quality of the goods they manufacture.

They have devoted their attention exclusively to the manufacture of cotton warps, yarns, and knitting cottons, of which the firm turns out one-half million pounds annually.

In polities Mr. Cook is a Republican, but has never sought political preferment. In the social, religious, and educational enterprises of the town, however, he has always been actively interested.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Conway, to the support of which he has been a liberal contributor. In the Sunday-school connected therewith, of which he is superintendent, he has been an earnest worker, and has given his example and influence to aid in the cause of Christi- anity and the well-being of society.

Mr. Cook's first wife died in 1864, and he married, for his second wife, Helen M., daughter of Rev. Edwin Jennison, of Winchester, N. HI. She was born April 23, 1844.

Mr. Cook's children were Arthur M., bookkeeper and paymaster for R. Tucker & Co. and Tucker & Cook ; Marcellus T., who died in 1864; Richard M., bookkeeper for R. M. Tucker; Charles L., engineer for Theker & Cook ; Edward S., who died in 1864; and Chelsea, Jr., by his first marriage.

Of the present union there are Julia R., Edwin, Cyrus, Walden, and May Delia. They are all now living at home, February, 1879.

673

HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

was erected by Deacon Joel Baker, about a mile north of the centre.

Beulah, daughter of Cyrus Rice, the first settler, was the first child ; and David, son of Josiah Boyden, was the first male child born here. Josiah Boyden's daughter, Mary, was born in 1767, and died in 1869, the widow of Medad Critten- den, aged one hundred and one years and six months.

The first county road, laid out in 1754, has already been re- ferred to; the second county road, laid out in 1765, extended from the meeting-house in Pumpkin Hollow, over the hill, through what is now Burkeville, up the river, and so on to Ashfield Roads, to Broomshire, and south, was built in 1767; and to West Street, Cricket Ilill, and Poland in 1769.

Traces of the old stage-road which once passed from Northi- ampton to Ashfield are still to be seen on the farms of Na- thaniel Smith, Zelotus Bates, Charles Wrisley, and the old Crittenden place.

The first chaise seen in the town was owned by Parson Emerson, and was of the kind known as a two-wheeled chair. Robert Hamilton built the first one-horse wagon about 1800, and thought it was the only one in America.

The first grist-mill was built as early as 1767, and probably before, by Caleb Sharp, a hall' negro and half Indian, as he was called, but a wide-awake and industrious citizen. This mill occupied a site on South River, where John Sprague now has a grist-mill, just below Burkeville. The second grist-mill was built in 1770, on the South River, near the Thwing mill, now in the north part of the town.

There are in the town twelve farms now occupied by de- scendants of the first occupants, the names of the first owners being Josiah Boyden, John Wing, Consider Arms, Israel Rice, Theophilus Page, Timothy Thwing, Samuel Newhall, Jabez Newhall, Solomon Field, Richard Collins, Malachi Maynard, Lucius Allis. The names of the present occupants in the same order are Josiah Boyden, Lucius B. Wing, Elijah Arms, Austin Rice, Elijah Page, Amariah Thwing, Joseph Newhall, Rodolphus Newhall, Consider Field, Hiram Collins, Lucy Maynard, and John Allis.

REVOLUTIONARY RECOLLECTIONS.

The first action taken by the town touching matters which led to the war of '76 was Aug. 5, 1774, when, the pamphlet from the Boston committee of correspondence being consid- ered, a committee, consisting of Captain French, Deacon Wells, Robert Oliver, Mathew Gould, and Consider Arms, was chosen and instructed to prepare a reply, which they did in the following :

" Having read and considered the letters sent us from Boston, respecting the rights of the colonies, and the infringements of those rights, we fully agree with you that those rights and privileges are invaded, and of this province in particular. We shall join with you in all lawful and salutary measures for the recovery of those inestimable privileges wrested from us and firmly to secure those that remain, for we are sensible that should we renounce our liberties and privileges we should renounce the quality of men and the rights of humanity. We fully pay our proportion of money desired by the General Court, in order to the support of the Hon. Committees of Congress, greatly relying and depending un their resolutions."

In September, 1774, a committee, being appointed to " reg- ulate mobs for fourteen days," reported as follows :

" Ist. Resolred, That the Committy have power to Inspect, Judge, and Deter- mine with respect to ye conduct of any person or persons that shall Do or speak anything that tonds to Hender uniting of the people in opposing ye King's laws yt Infringes on our Rights Contrary to our Charter; that when any complaint shall be presented to sd Comumnitty against any person or persons, sd persons shall appear before said committy, and Upon Having good evidence, they shall have power to appoint a certain competency of punishment to be inflicted on them, not exceeding the Punishment of contempt and neglect, sl punishment to be ordered by the su courmitty.

" 2d. Resolved, Yt the sd Courmitty nor no other person shall not have liberty to go out of this town, except it be to assist a mob in the General Good Cause, in prohipiting persons taking or holding commissions under the present constitu- tion, except it be for their own juutienlar business.

"3d. Resolved, With regard to the late acts of Parliament, we look upon them to be unconstitutional, tirranuical, and oppressive, tending in their upperation to the Total Subversion of our natural and Chartered Rights ; Do look upon it our 85

duty, from a regard to the true interests of our Selves, our country, and posterity, to oppose ye sd cruil arts in every vertions manner to prevent their taking place, and we hereby manifest our Readiness and Resolution, Reather than sub- mit to them, that we will resist them, even to the shedding of blood."

Consider Arms, who was one of this committee, and one of the first committee of correspondence, was also selected, in 1774, to attend the Provincial Congress. Later on, as will be seen, he became a rank Tory, and with others suffered some persecution.

In December, 1774, a committee was chosen "to observe the conduct of all persons in this district touching the asso- ciation of the Continental Congress."

In 1775, Daniel Dunham was chosen a delegate to the Con- gress at Concord, and it was agreed also " to allow Minute- Men the assistance of one barrel of powder, lead, and flints, on condition that they are called to march in defense of their country ; to provide them forty bayonets and forty cartridge- boxes, and to give them $40 when they march."

May 24, 1776, the town made the declaration that " If the Honorable Continantial Congress Should think it Requisit for the Safety of the North-american Commeys on this Continent to Declare a State of Independency of Greatbriton, that we will abide By and Conform to their wisdom to the Expense of our lives and fortunes."

Conway was nobly patriotic in furnishing men and means for the struggle, and at one time, in 1777, every able-bodied man within the town's limits was under arms.

In the summer of 1775 the Toryism of some of the inhab- itants began to manifest itself, and in July of that year it was

Voted " that the town will acquiesce with what the committee have done with respect to Consider Armis, viz., taking away his arms; also, voted they did right in clearing Messrs. Deacon Dickinson, Jona. Oaks, Sam'l and David Fields; also, in what they did in disarming James Oliver; also, that they did right in what they did Wmn. Galloway, Elijah Wells, Joseph Catlin, and Elias Dickinson, and that the resolves of the committee respecting Joseph Brunson and Simeou Hawks shall be put into execution, which is to commit them to goal."

Consider Arms would not willingly relinquish his sword when commanded to do so, and hid it in a grain-bin, where it was, however, found and confiscated. Upon the close of the war it was restored to him, and is now in the possession of Elijah Arms, Esq., of Conway.

August, 1777, it was resolved to proceed to some measure to secure " the inimical persons called Tories," it being first voted that those who were " dangerously inimical to the Amer- ican States" were Joseph Catlin, Elias Dickinson, Joseph Brunson, Elijah Wells, Elijah Billings, James Dickinson, William Billings, John Hamilton, Jonathan Oaks, Capt. Consider Arms, Ebenezer Redfield, and David Field.

It was then voted " to draw a line between the Continent and Great Britain," and subsequently,

" Voted that all those persons that stand ou the line of the continent take up arms, and go on hand in hand with us in carrying on the war against our un- natural enemies. Such we receive as friends, and all others treat as enemies. Voted the Broad ally be the line, and the South end of the meeting-house be the continent, and the North end the British side. Then moved for Trial, and found six persons to stand on the British side, viz. : Elijah Billing, Jonathan Oaks, William Billing, Joseph Catling, Joel Dickinson, and Charles Dickinson. Voted to set a gard over those Enemical persons. Voted that the town clerk Emediately desire Judge Marther to issue out his warrants against those enem- . ical persons returned to him in a list heretofore."

As an evidence of the depreciation of currency during the war, it may be mentioned that in 1780 it was voted to give a bounty of $700 to men drafted into the militia service, and to raise £10,000 to pay bounties.

Among the men of Conway who fought in the first Revolu- tion were Josiah and John Boyden, Lient. Robert Hamilton, Jason Harrington, Daniel Newhall, Maj. James Davis, Lieut. Alexander Oliver, Lucius Allis, Amos Allen, Abel Dinsmore, Isaac Nelson, Moses Childs, William Marble, and William Gates, the four latter being killed in the service.

The declaration of war in 1812 did not meet Conway's ap- proval, and in that year Joshua Billings and John Bannister represented the town at the Northampton peace convention.

674

IIISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Under the draft ordered in 1814, several Conway men went to Boston prepared for active service, but returned luckily to their homes shortly afterward, without having been called upon to take part in bloody strife.

NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS.

Many interesting stories are still extant of the peculiar ex- periences that beset the early settlers of Conway, and the primitive conveniences with which they were compelled to make existence endurable. Of one, William Warren, it is said that his entire stock of goods upon which to begin farmi- ing consisted of a cow, an axe, hoe, chain, and one " bung- town copper." Oxen or horses were among the sighed-for but unattainable things, and carrying grist to mill upon his back was, if not a favorite performance by the settler of the period, a common one.

Amos Allen is reported to have thus conveyed three bushels of rye from Hatfield, from which place, too, Malachi Maynard carried to Conway nineteen shad and two good-sized pigs, all lodged in the same bag. For a wager of £8, John Sherman ran, one hot day in 1785, eight miles on the highway in fifty- six and a half minutes, but there appears no evidence that this pedestrian fever spread throughout the town.

In 1760, or thereabouts, there was one man at least whose opinion of the value of the territory now occupied by Conway was graded very low. This was Eliphalet Williams, who, upon returning from a prospecting tour through "Southwest," declared he would not give the horse he rode upon for the entire tract.

The experience which met Israel Rice and William Warren at the outset was a damp and disagreeable one. They settled close together in 1766, Rice preparing a frame for his house and Warren putting up a log cabin. Before either could get his roof on rain set in, and continued almost incessantly for twelve days.

Gideon Cooley made his first appearance in the settlement on the back of a horse, upon which he carried also his wife and all the goods he owned in the world. Rev. Mr. Emerson, in an early record, wrote :

" These men planted themselves down on new and unimproved spots of land, and with small property, but good resolution, commenced the arduous but honest and respectable business of varning bread by the sweat of their brows."

It was the custom in the early days for the young maiden to walk barefoot to meeting on Sunday, carrying her best shoes in her hand, which, just before reaching church, she would put on at some convenient place, and straight way march into the house of worship, conscious of the high respectability, at least, of her feet-coverings. Until a few years ago the curious might have behield, at the foot of the Jonas Rice hill, a chest- nut-tree whose spreading boughs furnished full many a time and oft a covering for the favorite " dressing-place" of these young women.

When Parson Emerson took up his residence in Conway, his wife sensationalized the community through the possession of a table-cloth and a silk umbrella,-articles which, because of their rarity, continued long to be objeets of veneration and awe among the innocent pioneers.

During the Revolutionary period the Conway fathers en- deavored to combat the evils of paper-money inflation by fixing upon a schedule of prices for labor and supplies, as the following examples will show :

" Men's labor, three shillings per day in the summer season ; fresh Poark of the best quality, three pence per pound; good grass-fed heef, two pence one farthing; Best cheas, six pence; good Spanish potatoes, in the fall of the year, one shilling; Yern Stockings of the best soit, six shillings a pure; good Sap berials, three shillings, and all other cooper work in proportion ; good common meals of Victuals at Taverns, Exclusive of Sider, nine pence, and other meals in proportion ; Horsekeeping a night, or twenty-four hours, ten pence; shoving horses all round, Steal tow and heal, six shillings four pence; good yerd-wide toa cloth, two shillings three pence ;" and so on.

The plan must have miscarried, for not long thereafter it

was announced that $20 a day would be paid for labor on the highways.

Conway took a stand against the general government in the controversies which led to the Shays rebellion, and in April, 1782, voted "that the Inferior Court, at its last sitting at Northampton, did go contrary to the orders of the General Conrt and the County Convention." A committee was at once chosen to go to Northampton " to attend upon the Supe- rior Court and to form a Convention." This committee con- sisted of the following persons: Samuel Wells, Samuel Ware, Thomas French, Elisha Amsden, Oliver Wetmore, Malachi Maynard, Prince Tobey, Elias Dickinson, Elijah Billings, Jesse Warner, Aaron Howe, James Gilmore, Daniel Dunham, Jonathan Dunham, Tertius French, Elijah Wells, Alexander Glover, Noah Tobey, Daniel Newhall, Samuel Shattuck, Jon- athan Whitney, Isaae Amsden, Joel Baker, Abner Sheldon, Samuel Wilder, Samuel Newhall, Robert Hamilton, John Wilcox, Samuel Crittenden, Ebenezer Maynard, Sherebiah Lee, Jonas Rice, Caleb Allen, Silas Rawson, George Stearns, Aaron Hayden, Abel Dinsmore, Wm. Gates, Gideon Cooley, David Parker, Mathew Graves, Elisha Clark, Simeon Graves, Elisha Smith, and Jabez Newhall.

This committee did service at Northampton as an element in the mob raised by Samuel Ely to disturb the sessions of the courts there, and later, when Ely was in prison at Springfield for that offense, Capt. Abel Dinsmore, of Conway, was arrested as one of the leaders of another mob, which sought to rescue him from durance vile. Still later, Capt. Dinsmore took a prominent and active part in raising men for Shays, and ob- tained not a few in Conway.

Conway was the proud possessor, in 1798 and 1799, of a vil- lage newspaper, published weekly by Theodore Leonard. It was called The Farmers' Register, was published at Pumpkin Hollow, and on its title-page proclaimed its fearless indepen- dence in the following couplet :

" Here truth unlicensed reigns, and dares accost Even kings themselves, or rulers of the free."

Advertisements were few, and news generally mildewed with age when printed in The Register, although it would sometimes get Washington news only three weeks old, and London items in about ninety days. Its local columns were one day illumined with a bold notice from Asahel Wood, a negro, to the etl'eet that he would "ring the bell but once a day, unless encouragement were given to him by subscription or otherwise."

The struggles for the possession of the old Deerfield gun were notable events in Conway's history, and stirred up much bad blood between that town and Deerfield.

The gun was a legacy which Deerfield received in the Indian wars, but the town, showing, after the commencement of the nineteenth century, strong Jeanings toward Federalism, it was deemed best by Conway-the child of Deerfield-that the pre- cious relic should be transferred to worthier custodians, to wit, the Republicans of Conway, and the latter accordingly carrying off the gun one day to their native hills, awakened the echoes by its deep-toned thunder ; which Deerfield hearing, and directly learning of the spoliation, set out to recapture the weapon.

The invaders, in large force, headed by Gen. Hoyt and Sheriff Saxton, appeared in Conway and demanded the re- turn of the gun, threatening in default thereof to take it by force of arms. Conway carried the apple of discord into the boarding-house of old Bill Redfield, who, determined to have a fight rather than yield, wrought his partisans up to fighting-pitch, and would no doubt have shortly brought on a bloody conflict had not law-abiding citizens interfered with counsels of submission. Happily, therefore, bloodshed was avoided, and Deerfield got her gun back, but found after- ward that it required much vigilance and alertness to keep it from the hands of the raiders from Conway and Greenfield.

Photo. by C. L. Moore, Springfield.

M. Buchen

RICHARD M. TUCKER, son of Richard and Delia R. Tucker, was born in Bozrah, New London Co., Conn., Aug. 28, 1842. He was educated in the com- mon schools of his native town, and on the 1st of September, 1858, removed with his father to Con- way, Franklin Co., Mass. He soon after commeneed working in a cotton-mill owned by his father. He acted in the capacity of overseer in the spinning-room eight years, and at the expiration of that time com- menced business upon his own account. Ile pur- chased the stock of merchandise belonging to Lucius Smith, and formed a copartnership with Thomas A. Dickinson. Two years afterward he bought Mr. Diekinson's interest, and has since that time been sole proprietor.

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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 36

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