History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 94

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 94

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On the morning of the 25th of January, without the co- operation of Day, Shays marched toward Springfield, and upon arriving near the armory was met by messengers from Gen. Shepard, demanding his intentions, with a declaration that if he continued a forward movement be should fire upon the column. Shays' reply to the messenger was, "I propose to capture the hill, and to-night I shall sleep in the barracks !"

The invading columns pressed forward, and finally, thinking to frighten them, Gen. Shepard ordered a discharge of can- non at their right and left and over their heads. This did not, however, in the least check their forward movement, and Gen. Shepard, convinced at last that Shays was deter- mined on the consummation of his plot, brought his artillery to bear upon the advaneing forces and fired. One discharge was suthcient to convince the mischief-working Shays that

Shepard intended to hold the arsenal at any hazard. Three men were killed, and the ranks broke in utter confusion and fled to the hills of Ludlow, ten miles distant, and no further attempt was made to capture the armory.

The following history of the Springfield gun is copied from the columns of the Springfield Republican, and may be relied upon as accurate :

" Among the most important improvements in the manufacture of the gun is the machine for making the stocks, invented by the late Thomas Blanchard, of Boston and this city, and the present method of making the barrels, which, for a wonder, was introduced from England. The old process was to take a scalp or plate of iron, two feet long and three inches wide, roll it over an iron bar while heated, and then weld the edges together under a heavy hammer. A few years before the last war an officer returned from England and reported that they had a machine there for rolling barrels, when the late James T. Ames, of Chicopee, was sent over by the government to look at it. He brought home with him a set of rollers, and an Irishman named Onion to operate it. With this machine a scalp only one foot long is used, which is heated almost to the melting-point and passed through the rollers, These force it to its proper shape and size, and the metal is made entirely homogeneous throughout the length of the barrel. Down to the breaking ont of the war, Onion was the only man in the country who knew how to operate the rollers, as he guarded the secret very closely ; Imt when the work increased so fast, other machines had to be made and men taught to run them. But England has had more than one machine from us. In 1-55, Jeffer- son Davis, then Secretary of War, allowed agents of the British government to take dranghts of the entire establishment here, in order to duplicate the machi- nery for their works at Enfield, and copies of the most novel machines were made for them at Chicopee, while an American mechanic was taken over to superin- tend their operation. It is said that Prince Albert used to sit honis watching them, being especially interested in the machine for making the stocks. Another very important improvement in the manufacture of the musket was the system of making all the parts interchangeable. This was introduced during the time of John Robb, mainly through the skill and enterprise of Thomas Warner, still living in this city, and father of Thomas Warner, Jr., cashier of the Chicopee National Bank. Although the improvement had been used at Harper's Ferry for some years, the matter was kept so secret that the officers here did not know of it until it was fully in operation at this armory.

" The history of the arm itself and of the changes that have been made in it is an interesting one. From the establishment of the armory down to 1842 the smooth-bore, Hint-Jock muskets were made, and, although they were superseded then by the percussion-cap, Gen. Scott used them in the Mexican war, five years afterward, in preference to the new guns, which, he said, had not been tried. It is saidl, too, that the people of Mexico and Texas preferred the flint-locks for many years, hecanse flints are so plenty there they can pick them up almost any- where to repair the Jocks. The next radical change was made in 1855, when the old smooth-bore gave way to the rifled musket. though the system had been used for many years in Hall's rifled carbine, which was made at Harper's Ferry. Dur- ing the Rebellion the government bought a good many In cech-loading guus of different make, and in 1865 the historic Springfield musket, which had aided su materially in carrying the country through the war, was voted obsolete, and the more modern breech-loader was ordered to be made in its place. This gun-the latest model being that of 1873-i- the one now manufactured, and it is consi.]- ered the best single-loader in the world, having been adopted by a competent board of officers, after a long series of experiments with all the best gnus they could get. But even this is likely soon to be dis placed by the magazine gun, and the officers say it is not safe, in these days, to get many of any kind of firearm made ahead of present needs, Col. Benton and Capt. Greer have been very much interested, for some time, in experiments with magazine guns, and a small amount was allowed by the last appropriation to make some of them and put them into the field for trial. The Hotchkiss gun, which is thought to be the best there is, has been selected for the trial, and, to save the expense of altering the machinery here, most of the parts are bought from the Winchester Repeating- Arms Company, of New Haven, and brought here to Le put together and finished. The magazine holds tive cartridges, and the gun can be used as a single-loader if desired, leaving the magazine Full for an emergency. If the gun is as successful in the field as the officers here expect it to be, it will probably be adopted and manufactured in place of the single-loader. But it is stated by some that the present gun can be fired about as fast as one with a magazine, and that the many objections to a magazine gun as an aum for every-day service will prevent its adoption for general use, though some regiments of an army, on special service, might use it with profit. All the European nations use at present the single- loader, except Switzerland, whose entire army is furnished with a magazine gun.

"Through all its changes the Springfield musket has had a world-wide repu- tation, and the government has generally succeeded in making a more perfect arm than any other nation, by taking advantage of every improvement which the inventive genius and mechanical ingenuity of the country have been able to sng- gest. During the war the Scientific American once said that the government de- manded such perfection in making the Springfield miskets that, for accurary and general beauty of workmanship, they would bear comparison with any math- ematical instruments ever made."

The armory grounds proper embrace 74 acres, delightfully located on an elevated plateau overlooking the city. The various buildings are pleasantly located, and a handsome park adds to the beauty of the location. It consists of a few

846

IIISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

aeres nicely shaded by trees, but devoid of ornaments save here and there a cannon. From the tower of the arsenal build- ing is afforded a commanding view of the surrounding country. To the north and only three miles distant lies the village of Chicopee, while five miles farther in the same direction rise the spires of the manufacturing city of Holyoke, and in the distance the peaks of Mounts Tom and Holyoke rise against the blue horizon. To the west may be seen the villages of West Springfield, and Agawam, while at your feet lies the pleasant city of Springfield, with the grand sweep of its noble Connecticut wending its way oceanward, presenting, all in all, a panoramic view unsurpassed in beauty and grandeur by any in the Connecticut Valley.

THE CITY HOSPITAL.

The City llospital property was purchased in 1869, and consisted of a dwelling-house and two acres of land. Since the building was erected it has been remodeled and added to, and is now complete in all respects, and will accommodate ten or twelve patients. It is located on the Boston road, about one and a half miles from the centre of the city. Su- perintendent, S. P. Howard ; Matron, Mrs. S. P. Howard.

THE CITY ALMSHOUSE

and Farm are located on the Boston road, two miles from the city-hall. The almshouse is a brick structure, and was erected in 1873, at a cost, including the land, of $59,488. The house and farm are under the management of A. S. Pease.

TIJE SPRINGFIELD GAS-LIGHT COMPANY

was organized in 1848, and commeneed the manufacture of gas from rosin, which method was continued until 1850, when coal was substituted. This was one of the first companies or- ganized in the State outside of Boston. At first there were 75 consumers, which number has now increased to 2500. The first gasometer had a capacity of 6000 feet, and the present one has a capacity 300,000 feet.

The first officers of the company were as follows : Lyman Merrick, President; Theodore Stebbins, Clerk, and George Dwight, Treasurer. Mr. Merrick was succeeded by James D. Brewer. Mr. Brewer was followed by Marvin Chapin, who was succeeded by the present president, Col. James M. Thomp- son. Mr. Stebbins was succeeded by the present clerk, George Dwight, who is also superintendent. Mr. Dwight, the first treasurer, was followed by James D. Brewer, the present in- cumbent. The present board of directors are James M. Thompson, Charles W. Chapin, Marvin Chapin, J. D. Brewer, Wm. Merrick, George Dwight, and Elisha Gunn. The com- pany is in a flourishing condition, and thirty miles of pipe are now being operated. The works are located on Water Street, foot of State.

THE STREET RAILWAY COMPANY,

This corporation was organized in 1859, with a capital stock of $100,000, only $50,000 of which has been issued. The route of the railway extends from Brightwood along Main Street and Locust to Mill Street, and from Main up State Street to Winchester Park. The present officers of the corpo- ration are John Olmsted, President ; G. M. Atwater, Homer Foot, C. L. Corell, James Kirkham, and John Olmsted, Di- rectors ; F. E. King, Superintendent ; A. E. Smith, Cashier ; and Gideon Wells, Clerk.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. THE FIRST CHURCH.

The following account of the First Church of Springfield is abridged from a history written by Judge Henry Morris, and published by permission of Messrs. Whitney & Adams, pro- prictors of the " Old Corner Book-Store," Springfield, Mass. :

" When the first settlers of Springfield, under the leal of William Pynchon, came here from Roxbury, in 1636, and founded a new town, they brought with

them the religious principles which had induced them, years previous, to for- sake their native land and seek a home in America. Appreciating the impor- tance of a Christian church and a Christian ministry to the prosperity, both spiritual and temporal, of their new community, they early made provision for their establishment.

" Accordingly, they drew upand signed an agreement containing fifteen articles for the regulation of their town affairs, the first of which is in these words : ' Wee intend by God's grace, as soon as we can, with all convenient sprede, to procure some Godly and faithfull minister, with whom we purpose to joyne in church covenant to walk in all the ways of Christ.' This agreement bears date May 14, 1636, and was signed as an original document by right of the twelve settlers who first came here.

" Precisely at what time this purpose was accomplished by the organization of a church, no record informs us. If any separate record was kept of the trans- actions of the church in that early period of its history, it was long since lost or destroyed. None can now be found relating to transactions earlier than Jan. 27, 1735. There can be little doubt that the church was organized about the time when Rev. George Moxon, its first minister, settled here, in 1637. In that year he came to this country from Yorkshire, Englund, bringing with him a wife and two danghters. He had been educated at Sidney College, in the Uni- versity of Cambridge, where he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1623. Ile went first to Dorchester, perhaps with the intention of making that place his home, but after a brief sojourn there, he was induced by his attachment to Mr. Pynchon, with whom he was intimate, to follow that gentleman to Spring- field, and to become the minister of the church here. He had received ordina- tion in England, and, on his arrival here, at the age of thirty-five years, was prepared at once to enter upon the work of his ministry with this people. Hle remained here the pastor of this church fifteen years, till the year 1652, when he accompanied Mr. Pynchon to England, from which neither of them ever returned .*

" At this distance of time, and in the absence of any ecclesiastical records, it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossibile, to form any adequate conception of the character of Mr. Moxon, or of the value of his ministerial labors in this church. From the declared purpose of the first settlers to procure 'some godly and faithful minister,' and from the fact that he had been long and intimately known to Mr. Pynchon, it may fairly be inferred that Mr. Moxon was a man of that stamp. That he enjoyed the confidence and respect of the people here is manifest from the fact that in April, 1638, they chose him a deputy to represent them in the General Court at Hartford, within which jurisdiction Springfield was then thought to fall. Another token of their regard is found in the cir- cumstance that they assigned him a home-lot of nearly dont le the usual width, and in 1639, by a voluntary assessment, built him a house 35 by 15 feet in size, having a porch and study. In this house, located on the westerly si le of Main Street, near what is now Vernon Street, the minister lived during the last thir- teen years of his residence here, and in the first meeting-house, erected in 1045, abont where the large elmu stands, near the southeasterly corner of Court Square, he met his people, as they assembled on the Sabbath at the sound of the drum, and proclaimed to them the words of eternal life. This meeting-house was fonty feet long and twenty-five feet wide, and faced south on the one-rod road lending to the training-field and burial-ground, since made wider and called Elin Street. It had two large windows on each side, and one smaller one at each end; one large door on the southerly side, and two smaller ones; it had a shingle roof-a rare thing in that any-and two turrets, one designed for a bell, the other for a watch-tower. Among the people to whom Mr. Moxon minis- tered, and whose confidence he enjoyed, there were some eminent not only for their party, but for their intelligence. William Pynchon and his son, John Pynchon, his two son-in-law, Henry Smith and Eliznr Holyoke, and the two deacons of the church, Samnel Chapin and Samuel Wright, were all men of more than ordinary capacity, capable of conducting the worship of the sanctu- ary or the municipal concerns of the town. In those days there was accorded to the clergyman, as incident to his office, a degree of respect and consideration, amounting almost to reverence, rarely manifested at present.

"There is recorded in the private record, which William Pynchon kept of va- rious matters that came umuler his cognizance as a magistrate, an entry in his hand under date of Sept. 24, 1640, of a trial before him, and a jury of six men, which is interesting, not only as illustrating the primitive character of litigation in those days in this remote settlement, Init as als , showing the kind of super- vision which the minister exercised over his people. It seems that John Wood- cock, one of the carly settlers, of n litigions turn, had a controversy with Henry Gregory, another early settler, about some hogs, and had brought two snits against Gregory to recover damages. The two cases were tried before Mr. Pyn- rhon and a jury of six, comprising Deacon Samuel Wright and five other re- spectable inhabitants. The jury rendered a verdict against Gregory in each action for some 20 shillings and costs. The record says, 'Henry Gregory, after the ver- diet, was much moved, and said, " I marvel with what conscience the jury can give sncb damages; seringe in the case of John Searles I had of him but twenty shillings for three standers ;" and he added, " But such juries-" He was abont to speake more, but Mr. Moxon bul him " take heed, take herd," und so gave him a grave admonition. Presently, after the admonition, Henry Gregory acknowl- edged his fault and earnestly craved pardon, and promised more care and watch- fulness for tyme to come; and so all the jury acknowledged satisfaction in hope of reformation.'

" It was not always in the character of a spectator, or to give grave admoi- tions to unsuccessful but irritated litigants, that Mr. Moxon attended these primi- tive courts, He was himself at one time an interested party, seeking to vindicate

* See General llistory.

John Goodrich

JOHN GOODRICH was born in West Springfield, Oct. 22, 1802. His grandfather Goodrich was a native of Sharon, Conn., where he resided for many years, and removed to Delhi, N. Y., where he lived to be nearly one hundred years of age. The ances- tors in America of the Goodrich family first settled in Wethersfield, Conn., where they landed npon coming to this country. They are of Scotch and English descent. His father, Elijah Goodrich, was born at Sharon, Conn .; settled in West Springfield about the year 1796 ; was married to Rachel, daugh- ter of Major John Lloyd, of New York (who served through the Revolutionary war, and died in West Springfield, at the house of his son-in-law, Mr. Ed- mund Palmer, Aug. 11, 1817, at the age of eighty- four), and raised a family of four sons and five daughters, of whom only the subject of this narra- tive is now living (1878). His father, Elijah, was among the first in the staging business between Al- bany and Boston before the days of railroads. He kept a public-house in Springfield for many years, and occupied the corner of Main and State Streets, and also the corner of Main and Worthington Streets; the latter he ocenpied during the war of 1812-14. Mr. Goodrich spent his minority at home and until

the death of his father, in 1835, engaging most of the time after reaching his majority in the livery busi- ness. On the same day that the Boston and Albany Railroad was opened, Oct. 16, 1839, he opened a public-house on the corner of Main and Hampden Streets, which, however, he continued only some two years.

Since leaving the public-house he has been en- gaged in a general business way, mostly in dealing in real estate. His life has been one of activity and industry, and characterized by such integrity of ac- tion in all his dealings and sagacity in business transactions as to secure the confidence of the citizens of Springfield.

Mr. Goodrich has never been an active politician, but supported the old Whig party, and upon the formation of the Republican party became one of its members.

In the year 1826, September 18, he married Miss Betsey, daughter of Elisha Curtis, of Spring- field, Mass. She was born June 7, 1806.

His children were Henry (killed in 1853, in his twenty-sixth year, by a railroad accident in Indiana, the cars going through a bridge); James W .; and Mrs. E. B. Vinton, of Springfield.

HORACE JACOBS was born in Royalston, Worcester Co., Mass., April 5, 1816. His paternal grandfather was a native of Connecticut ; in early life moved to Oneida Co., N. Y., and was one of the pioneers of that section of the State. For some forty years he was an active laborer as a clergyman of the Baptist Church, and preached his last sermon on his seventy-fifth anniversary, at Floyd, in that county, and died at the age of seventy-seven.

His maternal grandfather, Enoch Kenuey, was also a Baptist clergyman ; was supposed to be a native of Roy- alston, Mass., where he preached many years, and died in the place of his nativity.

His father, Simeon Jacobs, was a native of Royalston, Mass. ; was married to Mary Kenney, of that place ; spent his life as an agriculturist. There were nine children of the family, all sons, and all grew to manhood, of whom only three are living in 1878,-Simeon, of Columbia, Conn. ; Enoch, of Sacramento, Cal .; and the subject of this nar- rative.

Dr. Jacobs spent his boyhood until he was ten years of age at home, at which time his father died, and thenccfor- ward until he reached his majority he lived with his uncle, Dr. Isaac Jacobs, of Exeter, Me., for several years, and the balance of the time taught school winters and labored on a farm summers. While with his uncle, Dr. Jacobs became accustomed to the preparation of bills of medicine, and then first became impressed with the idea of being a physician.

At the age of twenty-one he began the study of medicine with his brother, Sumner Jacobs, of South Hadley, Mass., and after two years entered into the practice of medicine with him, which partnership continued for five years, when Dr. Jacobs removed to Chicopee Falls, and afterward to Chicopee, where he practiced as an eclectic physician for some fifteen years. After two years' partial respite from practice, residing in Westfield, he removed in the year 1857 to Springfield, where he opened an office for the practice of his particular theory of medicine, and was the first representative of the eclectic practice in Springfield, as his brother, with whom he studied, had been in the Con- necticut Valley of Massachusetts.

As is nsnal with any new theory, Dr. Jacobs met with strong opposition from the practitioners of other schools of medicine ; but time alone has not only developed the feasi- bility and benefit of this new theory, but has gradually overcome all opposition, and deservedly commanded the confidence of the public. From a meagre support, Dr. Jacobs has, by his integrity of purpose and skill in his pro- fession, for many years enjoyed the support of a large circle of friends, including in its numbers many of the most intelligent families of the country.

In the year 1849, Dec. 23, he married Emily L., daughter of Abijah Owen, of Westfield. By this nnion there were born five children, now living,-Chauncey A., a practicing physician, of Boston ; Mary L .; Mrs. Charles Rice, of Neponset ; Rachel B. ; and Horace H.

847

HISTORY OF HAMPDEN COUNTY.

his own good name from the aspersions of a slanderer. It was on this wise: The same John Woodcock had had a lawsuit at Hartford, in which Mr. Moxon was a witness against him. Probably Woodcock was defeated in this Hartford suit, and, being an unprincipled fellow, sought his revenge by circulating a re- port that the minister had taken a false oath. This produced a decided sensation among the good projde of this plantation of Agawam, as Springfield was then called. Woodcock was summoned by a warrant to appear before Mr. Pynchon, the magistrate, to answer for this slander. Desirous, it possible, to avoid a trial before a jury of their neighbors, to whom they were both well known, he 'desyred,' as the old Pynchon record states, 'that this difference might he tried by a private hearing below in the River-,' meaning at Windsor or Hartford, these bring then the nearest settlements down the river. 'Mr. Moxon,' continues the record, 're- ferred himself to the judgment of ye plantation present whether it were fitter to he heard by a private refference below in the river, or tryed here publickly by a Jury. The general voat of the plantation is that, seeing the matter is publik, it should be publikly herd and tryed here by a Jury. Liberty is granted to John Woodcocke to produce his witnesses against this day fortnight, being the 26 of December. Also at the said tyme Jo. Woodcocke is warned to answer for his laughinge in sermon tyme,-this day at the Lecture. Also he is then to answer for his mislemenor of idlenesse.' The trial of this important snit was afterward deferred to the 2dl of January, at which time Mr. Moxon produced the testimony of five witnesses, and the jury rendered a verdict in his favor for $6 138. 4d.

"In the alenee of any church records, there exist nu materials for a biography of the first minister of this church for the next eleven years. It may fairly he presumned that he was engaged during this period in the ordinary duties of a pastor, enjoying the respect of his people, sharing in their joys and sympathizing in their sorrows, preaching to them on the Sabbath, morning and afternoon, be- sides delivering the usual lecture every Thursday, at half-past ten in the forennon. In addition to the family which he brought with him when he first came here, he had three children born to him here-all sons. He had certainly three ulder children, one a son, bearing his father's Christian name, and following his father's vocation afterward in England. There were also two daughters, Martha and Rebeckah. These two girls passed through an experience that was remarkable even in their day, and appears stranger still to us. In fact, they became the early, if not the very first, victims, as was supposed, of that delusion which for a time created an intense excitement in the Massachusetts colony, and culminated in the most fearful tragedies, connected with the famous Salem witchcraft. One Mary Parsons, wife of Hugh l'arsons, who lived quite at the south einl of Main Street, was suspected of having bewitched these two girls. She had killed her own child, and was probably deranged. Her strange conduct was ascribed to her familiarity with the evil one, and some disorders, real or imaginary, with which Mr. Moxon's daughters were afflicted, were imputed, in accordance with the pre- vailing superstition, to Mary Parsons, as an agent of the devil. She was accord- ingly committed to prison, charged with witchcraft and the murder of her own child; for both which offeners she was tried before the General Court at Boston.

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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 94

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