USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Ashfield > History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 1910 > Part 12
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TOPOGRAPHY OF THE TOWN
enty-Six, " and More's Hill in Goshen, then farther two conical peaks in Blandford and Chester, also with a glass the villages of Chesterfield, Worthington. Chester and the Highland Fair Ground buildings in Middlefield. A little more to the west may be seen the birthplace of William Cullen Bryant, a little more to the right French Hill in Peru, also the church there. Farther towards the northwest comes Greylock Mountain, 3,600 feet high, the highest in the state; a little to the right, Parker's Hill in Hawley, the highest land in the county; beyond, the Hoosac Range over the Hoosac Tunnel; then to the north, Adams Mountain in Rowe near the Davis mine; farther on, in the state of Vermont. Haystack Mountain just west of Wilmington; just beyond that slightly to the right, Stratton Mountain. Then the eye sweeping over Mt. Pocumtuck in Heath, also Colrain, the hills in Halifax, Vermont, and Buckland Valley, we come to Mt. Massaemet in Shelburne with its new Merrill tower. Beyond that, nearly in the same direction comes Mt. Grace in Warwick, and still further on in southern New Hampshire looms up grand old Monadnock. On a clear day the hotel or half-way house this side of the mountain can be plainly seen, also probably Kear- sarge Mountain, north of Monadnock. To the east can be seen the Montague Plain with the smoke of the engines coming out of Miller's Falls on the Fitchburg road or turning south on the New London road. Deerfield Mountain stretches from north to south beyond Deerfield, terminating with Sugar Loaf, while just beyond is Mt. Toby. In the east, sixty miles away, is the rounded top of Wachusett.
The east end of the Holyoke Range can be seen in the south- east, but Mts. Holyoke and Tom are hidden by "High Ridge" in Williamsburg. Dr. G. Stanley Hall is very much attached to Peter Hill and is sure to make it one or more visits every time he is in town. He has bought the pasture on the west side reaching to the summit, while Professor Norton owned the east side to the summit.
The hill can be reached easily on foot by those who are good climbers with "good wind." Some twenty years ago, Dr. Hall made the trip from the hotel to the top and back in forty minutes.
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Ashfield is described in a magazine artiele as a "town with fine drives full of pleasant surprises." A favorite drive is from the village up past the Sullivan place and "Little Switzerland," on the Watson road past the reservoir through "Bear Swamp," then, turning to the left, return over "Bug Hill" just before sunset. Of one of the views on this drive, Mr. Curtis said in one . of his October lectures here, "The Vale of Tempe in all its beauty was not fairer than the Buekland Valley is today."
Another good trip is over Briar Hill, around past Chapel Falls and home through South Ashfield.
A place little known, but worthy of a visit for those who like a novelty and a good tramp, is the Old Bear's den in the pasture of Williams and Bates. Materials for a light should be carried that the cave may be explored.
The story of the origin of the name "Peter Hill" may as well be told here.
Peter Guinea, or Peter Wells was born in Guinea, Africa, and taken by a slave trader from there when about seven years old. He was held a slave in Connecticut and belonged to Dr. Bart- lett's father. He married "Sue." At that time, slaves were uncertain property. Peter asked Sue's master what he would take for her. The master says, "You can take her and pay me what you are a mind to, something to answer the law." Peter took her and paid two coppers. In a short time they ran away and followed Dr. Bartlett to Ashfield. They lived in a cabin where Chester Bronson's house now stands. Sue was a good cook and a great scold. She would say of Peter, "Poor cretur, without a head." When soundly berated, Peter would some- times say, "I didn't give but two coppers for ye, and ye ain't wuth that." Sue did service for her neighbors, raised nice garden seeds to give them, and made gingerbread for publie oeeasions. Uncle Alvan Hall, when nearly a centenarian, used to say, "I've eaten Sue's gingerbread at trainings, and I tell you it was good, too." Peter tilled the lot on the hill which after- wards bore his name and lived a simple, honest life. One fall, hay being searee, Esq. White advised him to sell his steers; so he proposed to Dr. Smith to buy them. On being asked the
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TOPOGRAPHY OF THE TOWN
price he said, "Esq. White says they are worth $60, but thinks I'd better sell 'em for $50 than keep 'em." The doctor got the steers for $50.
When Peter was old, he became a town charge and was taken care of for a number of years by George Stocking's father who took his hill lot in payment. This lot was sold by Mr. Stocking to Jehiel Perkins who called it his "Peter," hence the name, "Peter Hill." Afterwards, Peter lived with Israel Williams, who had charge of the town poor, living where W. S. Williams does. Here, deeply bowed with his 95 years and troubled life, he died and was buried as noted elsewhere in the lone Northwest cemetery.
In the extreme southwest corner of the hill cemetery in a cluster of unmarked graves, lie his family. Only one small stone shows their resting place, this of a daughter, which is marked,
(Sally Wells d. 1821 agd 37.)
The sweet remembrance of the just Shall flourish, tho' they sleep in dust.
DIVISION OF LOTS
The manner in which the first division of lots was made is given in Chapter I. A second division was made of one hundred acres each in 1761. A large portion of these lots was laid out in South Ashfield, the rest were scattered. Between this time and 1800, three more divisions were laid out-the third of one hun- dred, the fourth and fifth of fifty acres each. The third division was mainly in the south and southwest part of the town, the fourth mostly in the northwest part, and the fifth over the town to fill up vacant places that were left. These irregular gores and the four-rod roads left between the lots have made many dis- putes between landholders, and some serious neighborhood quarrels.
Some thirty-five years ago a map was made about two feet square showing these three hundred and fifteen lots, five divi- sions of sixty-three lots each. This was deposited in the town clerk's office and cared for by Mr. Ranney. Later, our County Register hearing of its existence had it sent to the office, a number of blue prints made from it, one retained in the office
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there, and several sent back for the use of the town. One is now in a frame in the selectmen's office and several are held by dif- ferent individuals. This map has been found useful in tracing out lines where old deeds have to be consulted. Of course, the variation of the compass and other matters must be taken into consideration. It will be noticed that instead of laying out the first lots due north and south as is now done in government surveys, they were twenty degrces from the magnetic meridian. This was probably done to correspond with the east linc of the town which was known to run in that direction. In the north- west part of the town they werc laid out eight degrees from the meridian. In the plan it is seen that in some instances the lots are laid over on to each other. When we consider that the land was all forest, the divisions sometimes twenty or thirty years apart, and the work done by different men, this was not strange.
According to provisions of the grant, in each of the five divisions of the sixty-three lots there must be "One for the Minister, one for the Ministry, and one for the School." This, of course, would locate them in different parts of the town, and the early claim of each of the two religious societies to the ministerial lands was the main cause of the dissensions between them. In 1820, a committee chosen to investigate the matter, reported that these lands belonged to no particular sect, but to the town. The ministerial lots were soon after sold by the town to different individuals.
Like the ministerial, the five school lots were in different parts of the town. In the first division the school lot was No. 54 on the hill south of the village, in the second division it was No. 1 south and west of Blakeslce's mill, in the third northerly from F. H. Smith's farm, in the fourth and fifth divisions, in the northwest part of the town. In 1880 all these lots were sur- veyed, located, and a map made of them. These maps are recorded in the clerk's office. Sometimes more than half a dozen individuals would occupy and each pay a small school tax on his portion of the lot. To collect this occasioned so much trouble that the town voted to sell the school lands, and with
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TOPOGRAPHY OF THE TOWN
the exception of a small portion of No. 54 they have been sold. The town annually pays $54 which is 6% on the original ap- praised value of these lands for the support of schools.
The first houses here were, of course, of logs. The trees had to be cut down to make a elearing, the logs were then cut off the proper length, two sides roughly hewed, then placed upon each other for the walls of the house. Clay was plentiful, and crev- ices between the logs could easily be filled with that substance. Richard Ellis' house just north of where Mr. Lanfair lives, Thomas Phillips' house in the northeast part of what is now Mr. Kendrick's pasture and Chileab Smith's house north of Mr. Wait's (the first three houses built in town), also, shortly after, the Belding, Alden and Standish houses were built in this way. A large stone chimney laid in clay finished the structure. Near the remains of these old chimneys can usually be found a spring or shallow well.
Richard Ellis took immediate advantage of the sawmill built in 1753-4 and put up the first frame house in Huntstown so that the record of the first road laid to the settlement in 1754, reads "from the west side of Thomas Phillips' lot in a straight line to Richard Ellis' new house." This house stood a few rods southwest of where Will Lanfair now lives. With the new saw- mill near them other frame houses were soon built. The house lately occupied by Joshua Hall is probably the oldest now standing in town. Dr. Ellis seems to think that this house was first occupied by Capt. Lamrock Flower, but there is some evidence that Dea. Ebenezer Belding lived there in 1763 as the first Congregational church was organized that year in this house and Dea. Belding was one of the fifteen members. Prob- ably the two next in age now standing in town are the house occupied by Chapin Elmer, built by John Blackmer before 1770, and the house just below occupied by Harlow Phillips, built by Dea. Isaac Shepard in 1764. Dr. Ellis thinks the house now occupied by Addison Graves was built in 1765 by Mary Lyon's grandfather, Aaron Lyon. Mr. Ranney said he had heard that the old Dea. Ziba Smith house was formerly the Mitchell tavern, standing on the east side of Bellows Hill.
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
The first frame houses built werc usually one story like that opposite the Joshua Hall house, those in which Clayton Eldredge and Charles A. Hall livc, the Wright and Josiah Smith houses on the "Flat," the houses in Cape Strcct and others. They were usually first built with a long kitchen in the rear, two "square rooms" in front with a huge stone chimney in the centre. Sometimes a smaller one-story house was built, then as the occupant became more prosperous, a one-room wide, two-story front was added to the end of the old part. The Charles Rich- mond, Sanford Boice, George Pease and other houses were built in this way. From 1790 to 1810, many very substantial two-story houses were built nearly alike. The Mrs. Amanda Hall house built by Esq. White in 1794, Professor Norton's built by Dr. Phineas Bartlett in 1792, Clarence Hall's built by Esq. Williams in 1800, Albert Howes' also built in 1800 by George Ranney were among the houses of this style. The first floor still had the long kitchen in the rear, the two square ones in front. From 1820 to 1845 one and one-half story houses all nearly of the same pattern seem to have been decidedly in favor. The houses owned by Anton Dige, Ceylon Bates, Will Turner, Edward Guilford, George Morton and more than a dozen others now standing in town were built in that way. Asa Davis, a carpenter from Buckland, did considerable work here and recommended this style of house as he had built one for himself in Buckland village. In the earlier years a man was likely to build a house patterned after some other he had seen, but in these later times he builds after a plan of his own. Hoyt Smith was another energetic carpenter from Buckland who did a good deal of work here. Jonathan Lilly, Jr., and Elisha Wing were the principal town carpenters. Luther Chapin and George Braman came later.
The moving of buildings was formerly more common than at present. The house where Mrs. Prouty lives was moved from near where Mrs. Curtis' house now stands, Mr. Maltby's house formerly stood on the opposite side of the street, and the Jasper Bement store which stood in the front part of what is now Henry Taylor's yard is now the building occupied by Riggs & Eldredgc.
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TOPOGRAPHY OF THE TOWN
A large two-story house built by Jonathan Lilly about 1830 and occupied by him for a number of years, which stood nearly opposite the Sullivan place, was moved to Shelburne Falls in 1863, and is now owned and occupied by the Elijah Shaw family. Walter Shaw's house was moved from "Bug Hill" and many others have changed their location from the place in which they were built.
Barns were moved with cattle over the ground on shoes with- out rollers, frequently quite a distance in a single day. Uncle Ebenezer Robbins, "Old Robbins" of Cummington, was the great building mover. He was a man of large stature, a tre- mendous tobacco chewer and with a voice that it was said could sometimes be heard a mile in his commands. When twenty or thirty yoke of cattle were hitched to the building Robbins would take his station at a short distance and after rolling his quid from one cheek to the other give the word of command. "All ready-Straighten your teams-Now, All together." The whips would fly and the great building would move on several rods, when the breakage of a chain or some other balk would call forth a majestic "Wh-o-a."
Oh, for the youngsters the spectacle was sublime. After the moving was over, came the bountiful lunch of doughnuts and cheese. In the earlier days there was a liberal supply of "Rhum" to go with it.
These neighborhood gatherings were very pleasant, and as nearly every farmer had a yoke of cattle it gave them a good chance to inspect each other's property and trade or "mis- mate" if desirable.
At first the settlers were content with the spring near by, or a shallow well. One of these shallow wells may be seen near where the cabin of Thomas Phillips stood in Mr. Kendrick's pasture, another in Church & Broadhurst's pasture near the site of the Phillips and Ellis fort, now marked by a large millstone. Water was either dipped up by hand or drawn up by a bucket on the end of a short pole. Then, as houses were built on higher ground at a distance from springs, deeper and more substantial wells were dug and the well-sweep and "old oaken bucket" came into
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
vogue; later, the windlass and pumps, either wooden, iron, or ehain. There are probably few houses in town seventy-five or a hundred years old, but have a deep well very near, covered per- haps with a flat stone and a foot of soil, its location very likely unknown to the present occupants. When Jonathan Lilly was digging his well at the house now owned by Mr. Belding and occupied by Dr. Jones, a good sized stone fell from the surface to the bottom just missing Mr. Lilly's head. Mr. Sanderson's diary for 1808 relates that a man in town was killed by the caving in of a well. By and by people began to make use of the "gravity system" and aqueducts were laid to the houses. A straight, elean, hemlock tree, some eight or ten inches in diam- eter was cut down, and logs six or eight feet in length were cut from it with a crosscut saw. These logs were placed upon a wooden horse about three feet high and a man with an auger a little longer than the logs would bore usually an inch hole through the centre of each from end to end. One end of the hole was then rimmed out with the "rimmer," the other end of the log sharp- ened with an axe, then smoothed over with the " sheep's head" so as to perfectly fit the rimmed hole of the log next to it. Then beginning at the lower end of the ditch one log was firmly driven into another until the spring was reached. A plug was tightly fitted into the end of the lower log, a shorter perpendicular log was inserted into this, eoming about three feet above the surface of the ground, and from this the water run through a "penstoek" into a wooden trough usually dug out from a large tree eut on the premises. The boring and fitting of these logs was quite a trade, as it required a pretty good eye and no little skill to come out at the centre of the other end of the log when boring. Experts at the trade were Heman Howes and Charles Elmer in the east, and William Fuller and others in the west part of the town. Lead pipe for aqueducts began to appear in the thirties and forties but came slowly into use as people were afraid of lead poison.
CHAPTER IX
THE CHURCHES
A history of the Baptist Church in this part of the town is a history of the Smith family at this period, and their peculiar traits of character can be shown no better than by giving extracts from the early records of this church.
Record of the Planting, Gathering and Proceedings of the Baptist Church of Christ in Ashfield :
In the spring of the year 1753 Chileab Smith moved it to his Neighbors to set up Religious Meetings, which they did, and a Blessing followed; and a Number (in the Judgment of Charity) were brought savingly home to Christ.
Oct. 25. 1753. A number met for solemn fasting and prayer, . and Chileab Smith and Sarah his wife, Ebenezer Smith, Mary Smith and Jemima entered into a written covenant together to keep up the Worship of God, and to walk up to farther light as they should require it.
Nov. 29, 1753. Ebenezer Smith, being desired, began to improve among them by way of Doctrine.
At this time Chileab Smith was 45 years old; his son Eben- ezer, just named, 19; the daughter Mary, older than Ebenezer, and Jemima, younger. The records continue:
In the years 1754 and 1755 they were forced to leave the Town for some months, for fear of the Indians.
1756. They continued in the Town and kept up the Publick Worship of God on the first day of the week continually, Re- freshing all that Came to Hear and Attend the Worship with them.
July 2, 1761, they were embodied as a church of ten members, of whom six were members of Mr. Smith's family. Chileab, Enos and Eunice, three more of his children, a short time after, united with the church. The records, after giving the formation of the church, articles of faith and the covenant, with a list of those baptized and joining the covenant, continue thus:
Feb., 1763. The people of another Persuasion settled a Minister in the Town, and obliged the Baptists to pay their
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proportion of his Settlement and Salary till 1768. Then the Church sent Chileab Smith to the General Court at Boston, with a petition for Help; but Got Nonc.
In 1769 the Church made their case known to the Baptist Association at Warren (Worcester Co.) and Received from them a Letter of Admittance into that Body.
In April, 1770, the other Society sold 400 acres of the Bap- tist Lands for the support of their Minister and Meeting-House.
Under our Oppression we sent eight times to the General Court at Boston for help but Got None.
In Oct., 1771, We were set at Liberty by an order from the King of Great Britain, and our Lands Restored.
Between 1771 and 1785 the records are meagre and incom- plete, eight pages being missing during this time. The church seems to have flourished and received large accessions under Elder Ebenezer Smith's ministrations. The church on the hill was built during this time, about twenty rods north of Chileab Smith's house.
This house was on the hill nearly opposite the Baptist Corner burying ground. Its exact location is marked by a stone tablet erected about eight years ago at which time there were public exercises, with historical addresses by Rev. C. S. Pease and by Sidney Smith, Esq., of Boston, a descendant of Chileab.
In the year 1785, with Enos Smith as clerk, the records give a minute account of a difficulty which arose between Elder Ebenezer Smith and his father, Chileab, respecting the salary of a minister, the Elder contending that he should have a fixed salary, and his father that ministers should not be hirelings, but should preach for a love of the work, and be content with what the church sees fit to give him. The church and Mr. Smith's family were divided on the question. Meeting after meeting was held, and the advice of neighboring churches sought without avail; the breech grew wider. Finally, (resuming the record) :
Oct. 25, 1786. The Church Concluded that any further Labour with the Elder amongst ourselves would be fruitless, agreed once more to send to sister churches for help.
The Council, being convened December 27, after hearing both sides, decided: "That the Elder was justifiable in his conduct; and advised the church, after they had concluded that their
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acts were invalidated, to receive the Elder into his office in the church again, and to let him know that we have made him a Reasonable Compensation for his Labours amongst us, and then to continue the Relation as Church and Pastor, or Dismiss him in Peace.
Jan. 24, 1787. The Church considered the Result of the Council before mentioned, and found that it wanted the Testi- mony of Scripture for its support, by which we desired to be tried; and that if we followed their Result and advice we must leave God's word as to our understandings. Therefore, Voted, That we cannot agree with their Result, for many obvious and Scriptural Reasons, which may be seen at Large in the original Records.
Aug. 29, 1788. Friday the Church met for solemn fasting and Prayer to Almighty God, it being a dark time with us, we being despised by men, Elder Smith and his party having taken from us our meetinghouse, and we turned out to meet where we could find a place, and the Association, on hearing his story, having dropped us from that body.
But Chileab Smith did not despair. In his paper on the Bap- tist persecution Charles Hall says, "Mr. Smith was a man with a tremendous disposition to have his own way. He had not the slightest doubt that his own opinion on any subject was right, and he would fight for his convictions with the courage of a lion. In his quarrels, he
"Spared neither land, nor gold, Vor son, nor wife, Nor limb, nor life, In the brave days of old."
He was interested to have a church in the rough new country where he had settled, but he must be the infallible head of the church, whose opinions must not be questioned." In this case it was a difference with his own son, who probably inherited some of the qualities of his parent. It was Smith blood against Smith blood. While Ebenezer, the son, kept on with his church on the hill, Chileab, the father, set about organizing another church without the aid of ministers or other churches, and, Janu- ary 14, 1789, Chileab Smith, Sr., then over eighty years of age, and Enos Smith. his son, were ordained as elders and leaders in the church and Isaac Shepard and Moses Smith, deacons. They
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united with the Baptists from Buckland and built a church on the corner a little northwest of the house where George Howes now lives, a few rods north of the Ashfield line. It was a one-story building, with a four-sided pointed roof. There is good evidence that they built this house in 1789. By the records, the church seemed to gain in numbers and was by degrees received into fellow- ship with other churches. The two churches remained separate some seven years. The records do not state just the manner of union.
In 1796, it was voted to remove our meetings to the church, and in 1798 it was "voted to receive back Ebenezer Smith with such members as are willing to tell their experience." This record may be misleading, for Chileab and Enos' party went back into the house on the hill from which they had seceded, taking their minister, Enos, with them, Ebenezer having re- signed, making the union appear like a compromise. These records are of their church. The records of Ebenezer's church were in the possession of William Stetson and were burned when the Whiting house near Buckland Four Corners was destroyed by fire about thirty ycars ago.
After 1798, Elder Ebenezer preached in other parts of the state, finally removing toStockton, N. Y., in 1816. Elder Enos con- tinued to preach in the old church on the hill into the twenties, living up to his father's theory of no stated pay for ministers and charging nothing for his preaching beyond voluntary con- tributions. Erastus Elmer said he remembered that his father used to carry in a quarter of beef in the fall for Elder Enos' winter use. Mrs. Lydia Miles recalls Chileab's arguments against "hirelings" for preachers; that Christ didn't choose college cducated men for his disciples, but took them from the lowest walks of life and they served without pay. In 1826, it was voted to have the Elder render an account to a committee annually in December what was done for his support.
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