History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 49

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 49

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Joshua, the oldest of this family, became a minister of considerable prominence, was for many years editor of the New York Independent, and a well-known pioneer in the anti-slavery cause.

Roger H., after attending the common schools of his native town, was also classically instructed in the flopkios Academy at Hadley. Reared on his father's farm, he at an early age assisted in the farm labor, and when he reached his nineteenth year taught school during the winter months. This he continued to do nine years, teaching one term near Auburn, N. Y., and in the mean time studied and practiced surveying. In 1835 he removed to his present place of residence ia Charlemoot, where he has devoted a part of his time to farming, and has been for many years prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the county. Ile has been forward in getting up local cattle shows and fairs for Charlemont and neighboring towns, When the Deerfield Valley Agricultural Society was chartered he was chosen its first president, and the following year was re-elected by a unani- mous vote. He was also for three years the delegate of this society to the State Board of Agriculture. With agricultural pursuits he has combined active public service, and has done his full share in advau- cing the schools, charitable institutions, and manufacturing and com- mercial interests of the town and county. He was one of the first to

engage in the anti-slavery movement, and throughout the Rebellion made his influence felt in favor of the Northern cause. The spirit which filled the hearts of the " fathers" during the days of the Revo- lution animated him during our late civil war. In local offices he has served as selectman, and held oearly all the other minor town offices. In the militia he held the rank of colonel. He was a director of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, and one of the three corporators men- tioned in the charter, the other two being Judge Grinnell and Sheriff Reed, of Greenfield. In 1866 he served in the State Senate, and in 1868 represented his distriet in the lower house, and was uoanimously re-elected for the next term, in a district composed of five towns, and in which he is the only than ever returned for a second term since its organization. Mr. Leavitt was early convinced of the practieability of the floosac Tunnel as projected hy that great civil engineer, Loami Baldwin.

In 1847, at a convention at North Adams, held with reference to building a railroad from Greenfield to Troy, he predicted the success of the enterprise, and said: "This will eventually become the great thoroughfare across the continent, and more, from Liverpool to Pekin ; and the English mail and English ambassadors will pass np the Deerfield valley on their way to China."

He spent much time and money in the early days of its struggles, and in his "farewell address" advised that " the ownership and con- trol of the Hoosac Tunnel should always remain the property of the commonwealth."

A true history will accord to R. H. Leavitt and John Porter the credit that belongs to them, not only as pioneers, but as most faith- ful workers in the cause; and we trust their names will take the pre- cedence of those who have sailed in, since favoring breezes began to blow.

In the discharge of his official duties Mr. Leavitt was always fear- less and independent, taking what he deemed the right course, with- out consulting public opinion. He has ever felt an earnest desire to promote the welfare of society, and, believing that all permanent civilization is based on morality as taught in the Bible, has through life supported the institutions and ordinances of the Christian Church, of which he has been a member fifty years, and also deacon.

Hle was married, in 1829, to Keziah, daughter of William Hunt, of Heath, by whom he had three children. Mrs. Leavitt died in No- vember, 1838, and he married ber sister, Eliza Hunt, on the 29th of March, 1839. She died June 1, 1866. ITe was married to his present wife, Mrs. HI. Ryland Warriner, of Philadelphia, Pa., and daughter of Capt. Edmund Longley, of Hawley, Mass., on the 28th of February, 1877.

But two of Mr. Leavitt's children are now living (March, 1879). His eldest son, John Ilooker (born Oct. 11, 1831), is a resident of Waterloo, Iowa, and a member of the banking-house of Leavitt & Johnson, of that place, and has served one term in the Iowa State Senate. William Ilunt (born Sept. 4, 1834) is a farmer in Cedar Valley, Iowa. Henry Jenkins, the youngest son (born Aug. 8, 1836), was a lawyer in Chicago, and served two years in the war of the Rebellion. He died in Yazoo, Miss., July 8, 1866.

I am A Winsley

JOHN A. WINSLOW was born in Dover, Vt., on the 7th of September, 1807. Joshua Winslow, his grandfather, was a noted sea-captain, who spent the greater part of his life on the "ocean wave," and died during a sea-voyage. He was a cousin of Ed- ward Winslow, the second Governor of Massachu- setts. His son Elisha, father of the subject of this sketch, was born on Cape Cod, Mass., but removed to Worcester County at an early date, and there learned the trade of carpenter and joiner. He en- gaged also, to some extent, in agriculture, and attained considerable prominence. He always promoted, so far as lay in his power, all social reforms and public enterprises, but was of a retiring disposition, and delighted to perform his aets of benevolence in secret. He held various local offices, and was active in for- warding the interests of education and of the Masonic order, of which he was a member.

He married Olive, daughter of Whitney Jones, of Milford, Mass., by whom he had seven children. Of this family the third is John A.

His educational advantages were very poor, and, with the exception of two terms of select school taught by the clergyman of their church, were con- fined to an attendance at the public schools during the winter months.

When seventeen years old he suffered from a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism, and as soon as he was sufficiently recovered he journeyed to Chautauqua Co., N. Y., where he remained a short time. After he returned he was again prostrated by

the same disease, and was unable to perform any labor for a year. He remained at home until he reached his majority, after which he worked on a farm for three years. He was then married, on the 22dl of November, 1831, to Wealthy Rice, daughter of Artemas Rice, of Charlemont, Mass., and in the same year removed to Rowe, where he purchased a farm. He remained there thirty-one years in agri- cultural pursuits, and by industry and frugality ac- quired a competency. In 1862 he sold his farm, and took a trip to the West. After an absence of two months he returned to Rowe, where he resided for two years, at the expiration of which time he removed to Charlemont, and bought the property he now owns, and built his present residence.

He is a man of strict integrity of character, and for thirty-five years has been a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, holding various offices therein. He has also rendered valuable public service in the capacity of selectman, assessor, member of school committees, and trial-justice; and never, while hold- ing the latter office, was an appeal taken from any decision he made. He assisted in organizing the Conway National Bank, in which he is a stock- holder, and also in the Shelburne Falls National Bank.

Mr. Winslow is strictly a self-made man, and has attained his present prosperity through his own un- aided efforts. While farming he dealt largely in cattle and wool, and in all branches of agriculture was particularly successful.

709

HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

Sales of land were made by Keyes, as a proprietor and as attorney for Chickley, in 1742-43, to William Ward, David Baldwin, Nathaniel Martin, John Stearns, Benjamin Hay- ward, and Elisha Dyer, and on the 27th of January, 1743, he sold all his remaining interests to William Ward, as shown by the following memorandum :

" The contents of a deed from Gershom Keyes to William Ward, dated 27th January, 1743: The one moiety or half part of a certain township called Charle- mont, lying on Deerfield River, in the county of Hangj shite, it being the whole I purchased of John Reed, as may appear by a deed of sale bearing date the 14th day of Decenter, 1737, and recordel at Springfield the 30th day of the above December. Excepting my part of all that is sold to Mr. Thomas Hancocks, Capt. Rice, John Stearns, and to a number of other persons, as may appear by their deeds recorded at Springfieldl."

About ten years later Joseph Wilder, Jr., became the pro- prietor of a large part of the Ward purchases and the remain- ing interests of John Chickley.

With the exception of a few of these proprietors, their lands had been purchased for speculation, and as yet no steps had been taken to fulfill even the least provisions of the grant. No permanent homes had been reared, and the Indian yet held undisputed sway in the beautiful Deerfield valley. But the eve of settlement was nigh. A few months later, in the spring of 1743, eame Capt. Moses Rice and his family from Rutland, Worcester Co., as

PIONEER SETTLERS.

and were the first to locate permanently in town. It is be- lieved that Capt. Rice and his older sons had spent some time on their land the previous summer, and bad put up a tempo- rary house near the buttonwood-tree, which sheltered then until other accommodations were provided. This venerable tree is yet standing near the Long Bridge, at the village. His home was on the extreme frontier, and eastward there was no house nearer than Coleraine, at that time also a feeble settle- ment. His supplies had all to be brought from Deerfield, distant twenty-two miles, and thither he had to carry his corn to mill over roads but little used, and very often no more than mere bridle-paths. Yet with undaunted courage he applied himself to the work of clearing his lands and ereeting buildings, cheered by the thought that plenty would soon abound, when the hostile Indians of the north, urged on by their French allies, made an incursion into the province. On the 20th of August, 1746, they invested Fort Massachusetts (the most westerly of the chains of forts erected in 1744 in this section) and com- pelled its surrender. The approach of the enemy warned Capt. Rice and his family to flee to Deerfield, the latter part of the same month, just in time to save their lives. His house was burned by the savages, and his "erop of grain,-at least 300 bushels,-with all his hay, husbandry tools, and many other things, were destroyed, his loss being at least £1500, old tenor."

After the desolation of his home ('apt. Rice returned with his family to Rutland, where he remained about three years, till the close of the war. Meantime, his second son, Aaron, was engaged as a volunteer in garrisoning Fort Pelham, in Rowe, serving more than a year. Peace having been settled, Capt. Rice and his family came back to their homestead in Charlemont, and vigorously began the work of restoration. A new house was built on the site of the old one in 1749, and another house was put upon the meadow, farther east, for the accommodation of his oldest son, Samuel .* They had not

* Samuel Rice was born at Sudbmy, Ang. 10, 1720. In 1741 he married Doro- thy Muitin, ot Rutland, and had, when they moved to Cha: lemont, three chil- dren, Moses, Asa, and Martin. Their son Sammuel was born April, 1753, and was the thi d child born of white parents in town. Their other chillien were Alte- Dias, Rachel, and Lucy. Samuel Rice, Sr., died at Charlemont, Sept. 20, 1793, and part of lis homestead is now occupied by his great-grandson.

Aaron, the second son of Capt. Rice, was born Jan. 31, 1725, and married Free- dom French, of Deer field, in 1754. Ile lived upon the homestead, in the western part of the Rice purchase, and was, in his day, one of the most useful men in the town, as will be seen in this sketch, showing his connecti'm with various inter- esta. In 1780 he helped form the State constitution. His children were Sarah,

long to remain alone. Others came to share their hardships and help reap the promised reward. The first to permanently locate were Othniel and Jonathan Taylor, of Deerfield, who came in 1749 to improve the land purchased by the former seven years before. They built themselves houses directly opposite the present Buckland station, and here they became to the eastern part of the town what the Rices were to the western part.

Othniel Taylor was born April 16, 1719, and in 1743 mar- ried Martha Arms, of Deerfieldl. They had three children before their removal, viz , Samuel, born Sept. 21, 1744; Lem- uel. born Feb. 11, 1748; and Mary, born June 23, 1746. Both of the sons became citizens of Buckland, and are noticed in that connection. The fourth child of Othniel Taylor, Enos, was born Feb. 3, 1751. and was the first white child born in town. The other children were Othniel, born Jan. 10, 1753; Tertius, born July 25, 1754; Martha, born Dec. 21, 1756; William, born Jan. 27, 1758; Lydia, born March 16, 1760; Rufus, born April 3, 1763; Lucinda, born Nov. 26, 1765; Tirzah, born Jan. 2, 1769; and Dolly, born Dee. 12, 1772,-" in all thirteen. every one of whom lived to old age, the youngest dying at sixty-six and the oldest at ninety-two. Their average age was seventy-seven, and their aggregate ages one thousand years." The last to depart this life was Tirzah, the wife of Dr. Silas Holbrook, who died in 1858. Enos, the first born in Charlemont, married Eunice Longley, of Hawley, and lived in Buckland; Rufus lived in Charle- mont, on the place now occupied by S. B. Rice; and Tertius remained on the homestead, where Capt. Othniel Taylor died in 1788, and his wife ( Martha Arms) in 1802. The sons of Tertius Taylor were Elias and Tertius. The former lived on the old Taylor place, which was afterward occupied by his son, Milner, and is now the property of the latter's descend- ants, thus having been occupied by six generations of Tay- lors.

Jonathan Taylor removed to Heath some time about 1760, and is more fully noticed in that town.

Not long after the settlement of the Taylors, probably in the fall of 1750, Eleazer Hawkst and his sons, Gershom, Seth, and Joshua, came from Deerfield, and settled on both sides of the river, above the Rice grant. Their first houses probably stood near the present residence of N. Warner. About 1777, Gershom built the large house now occupied by Myron Hawks, his great-grandson ; and Joshua built himself a more substantial home near the old place. Others of the Hawkses made improvements on the south side of the Deerfield

John, Anna, Ennice, Aaron, Joseph, Luke, Silas, and Freedom. Deacon Aaron Rice died in 1808, aged eighty-four yen:s.

The third son of Caft. Rice, Sylvanus, was born Jan. 6, 1729, and married Esther Nimus in 1700. He lived on the site of the present village, and cied in town in 1819, and his wife in 1824. Their children were Luther, who died at West Point, i .. r e Revolution, Calvin, Atigail, Qua tus, Alfred, and Mathew.

Artemas, tha forth son, was born O.t. 22, 1734, and was therefore nine years oll when his father moved to Charlemont. He married Mary Stevens, of Deer- field, and lives on the eastern part of the Rice grant. His children were Lucre- tia, Lydia, Anna, David, Paul, Dinah, and Ezra, Artemas Rice died in I>01.

Abigail, the oldest daughter of Capt. Rice, was born in 1723, and married James Heaton, in 1743. They were the parents of Dr. Moses Ileaton, the first physician of Cha: lemont.

The other daughters were Dinah and Tamar, whose husbands lived in Rutland and Shelburne. The wi low of Capt. Rice (Sarah King) died at the residence of Deacon Aaron Rice, about 1788.

The Rices inter married with some of the oldest families in Cha: lemont, and their descendants have always ranked among the nu st useful citizens.

f Eleazer Hawks was born in Deerfield in 1693, and was an older brother of Col. John Hawks, the defender of Fart Massachusetts. His sons coming to Charlemont were Gershom, born Feb. 23, 1716; married Thankful Corse, of Deer- ficha, in 1744. He died in 1799, and his wife in ISOG. Their children were Ger- shom, Jonathan, Elilm, Israel, Rufus, Ephraim, an I Reuben. Joshua, born Jan. 25, 1722; married Al igail Hastings in 1744. Their children were Alizail, Eleazer, Joshua, Jared, born March 17, 1752,-the second chil I born in Chatlemont,- and diel in 1:28, Asa, and Ichabod. Seth, botn Ort. 5, 1729, married Elizabeth Belding in 1761. Ile had several children, but, as he remained in town only a few yens, no further account of him is here given. Eleazer Hawks had also six daughters.

710

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

River at an early day. The descendants of this family became very numerous, and have always been prominent in the town.

Other settlers joined the foregoing, so that in 1752 there were at least a dozen freemen living in Charlemont, who had to contend with many disadvantages, arising from a non-com- pliance with the conditions of the proprietorship. Aid came in response to a petition to the General Court, which voted a penny tax on every acre of land in the town, to build roads and mills, and to supply the necessary educational and relig- ious facilities. When this tax was collected, and the proprie- tors were now required to attend more strictly to the affairs of their plantation, the humble home of the pioneer arose in every part of the valley, and even on the hills a colony was about to locate itself, a few having already come and built comfortable houses. But this prosperity was suddenly checked. The peace that had inspired the pioneers with dreams of a happy future was suddenly broken, and the country was again thrown on the defensive to ward off the blows of the savage foe. For the better protection of the people of Charlemont, Forts Pelham and Shirley were abandoned in 1754, and the settlers in the valley were advised to build forts around their homes or strengthen them for defense by surrounding them with pieke's. This was at onee done by the three families already named. Gershom, Joshua, and Seth Hawks moved the two houses they occupied nearer each other and " pallisaded from one house to the other on one side, and made a parade with boards on the other," and, after building a mount and watch-box, inclosed the whole with pickets. On the 17th of October, 1754, they asked the General Court to pay for this work, done and proposed, and that a garrison of soldiers might be provided for the defense of their fort, and to scout to the other forts, erected in a similar manner by Capt. Moses Rice around the house under the hill, and the Taylors. On the 18th of the same month Othniel Taylor presented a like petition to the General Court, stating that he had expended £10 4s. 4d. in preparing his defenses, and accompanied the bill with a plan of his fort. Ilis house and that of his brother Jonathan were made to serve as the ends of the fort proper, the sides being inclosed by a stockade. At the end of Jona- than Taylor's house was the watch-box, so built that it com- manded a view of the road up and down the river. The whole was inclosed with pickets, the line being 140 feet long and 80 feet wide.

The General Court did not regard the settlers on this fron- tier as being in immediate danger, and paid no heed to these petitions for protection, although the inhabitants lived in constant apprehension. Spring coming on, in 1755 they began work on their farms, not without fear, knowing that the enemy was lurking around and needed but a favorable moment to gratify his murderous desires. They carried their muskets with them when they went to work in their fields, and the women and children were not allowed to go outside the inclosure without guard. Thus had passed many weeks of that spring season, and, though the settlers had not alto- gether lost their vigilance, they had, perhaps, become less apprehensive of immediate danger, and had been lulled into a sense of security. But this illusion was soon and sadly dis- pelled.

"On Wednesday morning, the 11th of June, 1755, Capt. Moses Rice, his son, Artemas Rice, his grandson, Asa Bice,-a boy nine years of age,-Titus King, Phineas Arms, and others, went into the meadow which lies south of the road in the village, having Mill Brook on the east and Rice's Brook on the west, for the purpose of hoeing corn. Capt. Rice was plowing, and the boy riding the horse; the others were engaged in hoeing, except oue who acted as sentinel, passing through the field frum brook to brook with musket in hand, while the firearms of the others were placed against a pile of logs near the western brook. This, instead of Rowing in a direct line to the river, as at present, entered the field at some distance below where the road now runs, and passed in a south- easterly direction nearly to the mouth of Mill Brook. Meanwhile, a party of six Indians, according to tradition, having carefully observed their victims frou the neighboring hill, stole cautiously down the western brouk ( Rice's), and, con- cealed by the thick brushwood upon its banks, watched till the working-party

were near to Mill Brook and farthest from their firearms, when they suddenly fired and rushed npon the defenseless party.

"Phineas Arms fell dead in the corn-field; Cant. Rice received a severe wound in the thigh, and was taken prisoner, together with the lad, Asa, on the horse, and Titus King, a young man related to Capt. Rice. Artemas Rice escaped after a hot pursuit, and reached Taylor's Fort at noon. The inmates of the house in the adjoining Held, hearing the firing, lled into the fort, one of the daughters, Dinah, making jumps of from fourteen to eighteen feet in her flight.

" The Indians, however, made no further attack, hut withdrew with their three captives to the high plain in the rear of the present public-house. Here the aged and wounded man was left alone, with a single savage, to meet his fate. After a fearful struggle he fell beneath the tomahawk, and was left, scalped and bleeding, to die. Late in the day he was found yet alive, and was brought to his son's house, where he expired in the evening.

"The other prisoners were led to Crown Point, and thence to Canada. The lad was ransomed after a captivity of six years.

" King was carried to France; thence to England, whence he at length re- turned to Northampton, his native place."*

On receiving the news of the attack, Othniel Taylor at once hastened to Deerfield for help, and returned the same night with a force of 25 men. The next morning they proceeded up the river, but the enemy had fled, and nothing was left for them to do but assist in burying the dead. They laid them in graves dug on the hillside, near the dwelling of the fallen sire, where their remains repose to this day.

In this sad manner were the infant settlements deprived of one of their most useful, energetic men. Capt. Moses Rice was born at Sudbury, Oct. 27, 1694, and was, therefore, at his death in the sixty-first year of his age. He married Sarah King, Nov. 16, 1719, and removed from Sudbury to Woreester, where he kept a tavern, and while living there became the captain of a company of cavalry. He subsequently removed to Rutland, and from there to Charlemont, as we have seen in the narrative.

Happily, the people of the town suffered no further Indian depredations after Capt. Rice's death. The campaign against the allies of the North transferred the contest to Canada, and there was theneeforth to be no more blood shed in Charlemont. But to assure the alarmed settlers 24 men were stationed in the town, none, however, at Rice's Fort. Its location was deemed too exposed for prudent defense. Having the promise of a garrison of soldiers if a new fort should be erected on a more favorable spot, Samuel Rice and his brothers removed the timbers around their father's house to the bouse on the meadow, in the summer of 1756. The following year the province allowed Samuel Rice to enlist 6 men to be stationed at this fort, who were " to receive the same pay, and be dis- charged at the same time, as the other soldiers stationed in the town."

Although the town had now subsided into a state of com- parative security, but little progress in its settlement was made, and the improvements begun by the proprietors were at a standstill until after 1762, when matters took a more hopeful turn. There were now 30 families in town, and application for a charter was to be made. The act of incorporation was duly granted June 21, 1765. Nine years later (in 1774) the following were the residents of the town subject to taxation :

Oliver Avery, John Brooks, Samnel Brooks, Joseph Bingham, Jeremiah Bing- ham, Calvin Bingham, Joseph Butler, William Brown, John Brown, William Buck, Nathaniel Corbett, Eliphalet Cutting, Champion Crocker, Josiah David- son, Ebenezer Fales, Jeremiah Gould, Thomas Gleason, Gershom Hawks, Ger- shom Hawks, Jr., Reuben Hawks, Joshua Hawks, Jared Hawks, Samuel Innt, Jonathan Hastings, Nathaniel Harris, Stephen Harris, Valentine Harris, Wil- liam Hartwell, Moses Heaton, David Kingsley, James Hannan, Stephen Keys, Isaac Lind, Benjamin Leland, Hugh Maxwell, Thomas Nichols, John Nichols, William Negus, Samuel Negus, Ahner Nims, Samuel Pierce, Gershom Pierce, Jo- siah l'ierre, Samuel Rice, Aaron Rice, Sylvanus Rice, Artemas Rice, Martin Rice, Paul Rice, Reuben Rudd, Edward Shinar, Othniel Taylor, Samuel Taylor, Lemuel Taylor, Enos Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan Thayer, Jonah Thayer, Asahel Thayer, Dependence Thayer, Seth Temple, Solomon Temple, Joh Warfield, Josiah Warfield, John Ward, Gershom Ward, Nahum Ward, Josiah Ward, James White, Asaph White, Benjamin White.

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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 49

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