USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Ashfield > History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 1910 > Part 2
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Among the earliest accessions to the settlement as it now consisted of three families, was Dea. Ebenezer Belding, from Hatfield, and Samuel Belding, from Deerfield, with their fami- lies. Other settlers came in from time to time, from different quarters. A number of families joined them from the southern
#He died in the year 1843, aged 100 years and 8 months .- H. S. R.
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part of Connecticut, so that by the year 1754 they numbered from ten to fifteen families and nearly one hundred souls.
TRIALS OF THE SETTLERS-SETTLEMENT ABANDONED
This little colony of immigrants, thus removed from their friends and from civilized society, in the midst of a mountainous wilderness, with scarcely any means of intercourse with those they had left behind, were permitted, under the watchful hand of Providence, to pursue their labors with comfortable success, subjected, of course, to a thousand self-denials incident to the pioneers of the forest, of which we, in these days of pampered indulgence, can form no adequate conception. For a number of years they had no other means of grinding their corn than by a mill turned by a horse. They had also to contend with bad roads, with rapid streams without the convenience of bridges, and with deep snows in the winter without the means of main- taining a beaten path. But all these inconveniences could be endured so long as they were secure from the attacks of the merciless savages, that still prowled around the infant settle- ments of our country, seeking whom they might devour. Such security and quietness, however, they were not long permitted to enjoy. The year 1754 was memorable for the breaking out of fresh hostilities between the French and the English. This war let loose again the Indians upon the defenceless frontier settlements of our colonies. During the month of June of this year a party of men at work near Rice's fort, in the upper part of Charlemont, was attacked by a body of Indians, and two of their number were killed and two taken prisoners. The tidings of this Indian massacre spread abroad and quickly reached the settlement in Huntstown and occasioned great alarm. Being few in number, and with small means of defense, they had no other alternative than to fly back to the older set- tlements, or to expose their wives and children to the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the savage foe. After a hasty deliberation the former course was resolved on. Accordingly, on the same afternoon in which they received the tidings from Charlemont, they abandoned thcir houses, improvements, stores, etc., except
.
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such as could be transported on horseback, and set off, one and all, for the older settlements on Connecticut River. A middle- aged woman, the mother of the present Chileab Smith, traveled ten miles on foot before they eneamped for the night. What is now Conway was then a part of Deerfield and a howling wilder- ness, without an inhabitant or a shelter to protect the refugees. Their first halt was at Bloody Brook, where they spent the night. Early the next morning the few inhabitants of the latter plaee abandoned their dwellings and joined them in their various dispersions to places of greater seeurity. This sudden abandon- ment of their possessions, after having just gotten into a condi- tion of comfortable living, could not have been otherwise than a sore trial to the first settlers of this town. It must have in- volved them in very considerable loss of property, besides being a very serious disappointment to their plans and prospeets. But it appears to have been submitted to by them with that patient enduranee and undaunted fortitude for which the men of that perilous period were so eminently distinguished.
RETURN OF THE SETTLERS-MEANS OF PROTECTION
According to the best information within my reach, the time during which the settlers were absent from their possessions was between two and three years. It is not unlikely, however, that during this period individuals might have visited this place; but they did not presume to return with their families until the time speeified. After the return of the refugees to their possessions in Huntstown, the war still continuing, their first object was to erect a fort for their common defense. This was accomplished on the ground oeeupied by Mr. Smith, and prineipally at his own expense. The area inclosed by the fort was a square piece of ground containing 81 square rods. It was constructed of upright logs of sufficient thickness to be bullet proof, set three feet into the earth and rising twelve feet above. The inclosure had but one gate, opening to the south, which was always shut and strongly barred during the night. Within the fort stood the dwelling of Mr. Smith, which served as a garrison within which the settlers felt secure from attack during
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the night. On its roof was constructed, of logs, a tower of suffi- cient magnitude to contain six men with their arms. Port-holes were so arranged in its sides as to afford its inmates a fair aim at their assailants without, while secure from their balls within. This house stood in the center of the fort, and on the same ground now occupied by the dwelling of Chileab Smith.
After remaining in this state for about one year, standing on their own defense-keeping watch by night, and laboring by day with their arms by their side they solicited and obtained from the authorities of the colony a company of nine soldiers, under the command of a sergeant by the name of Allen, for their greater security. This guard arrived, under the general order of Col. Israel Williams, June, 1757. This company con- tinued in the settlement until the close of the war, which was about two years from the time of their arrival. Their duty was to go, under arms, with the people, to protect them in their labors during the day, and to return with them into the fort and, in their turn, stand sentinel during the night. In the process of time. and before the close of the war, another fort, six rods square, was built by the settlers, in the same manner as the first, about one mile and a half southwest of it, near the house now occupied by Mr. Sears. This fort was used for the same purposes as the other.
In the good providence of God the settlement was prescrved safe from the attack of the enemy. Nor were any Indians dis- covered near it except in one instance. As a daughter of Mr. Smith was walking out one evening, just as the sun was setting, she discovered an Indian within about twenty rods of the fort, surveying it very attentively. With great haste and terror she flew back to the gate and gave the alarm: "The Indians are upon us!" The soldiers immediately rallied and commenced pursuit; but darkness soon coming on, they returned without discovering the enemy. During the night they slept upon their arms and early next morning renewed their search through the woods, but saw nothing save the evident trail of a small hunt- ing party, probably sent out to reconnoiter the settlement; but, finding it well garrisoned, they presumed not to molest them
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afterward. For about two years the first settlers of this town were destined to live in this state of constant agitation and alarm. Often were their sympathies deeply exeited by the narration of savage barbarities committed upon theirmore unfortunate fellow- eitizens in other places. They felt themselves in jeopardy every hour. As they retired to rest each night they knew not but that they should be aroused by the yell of the war whoop, to behold their dwellings in flames, and their wives and little ones in the merciless grasp of the wild men of the woods. The taking of Quebee by the enterprise and daring of the gallant Gen. Wolfe, in 1759, restored peace to the colonies. The soldiers stationed here were disbanded, and the settlers, to their unspeakable satisfaction, were again permitted to pursue their daily avoea- tions without fear of molestation .*
PROPRIETORS' ACTS
The first meeting of the proprietors was held in Weymouth, or Braintree, as the town was originally ealled, March 13, 1738. They afterwards met at Hadley, then at Hatfield, and finally, in 1754, in Huntstown. The following gentlemen, in the order in which their names are here recorded, served as proprietors' elerks, viz: William Crane, Riehard Faxon, Israel Williams, Esq., Ephraim Marble, Reuben Belding, Jacob Sherwin, Esq., Ephraim Williams, Esq.
The proprietors took early measures to supply the settlement with mills. They built, at their own expense, in the year 1743, the first grist mill on Pond Brook, about 100 rods northeasterly from the Episcopal Church, where the remains of a similar establishment may now be seen. Subsequently, in the year 1753, they ereeted a saw mill on Bear River, about half a mile east of the dwelling of Israel Phillips.
At the eommeneement of this sketeh we notieed in the original grant express provision for the support of an orthodox ministry. The fathers of New England were the deseendents of the Puri- tans. Although they sought no alliance between Church and State, they knew full well that no government eould seeure the
*In 1761 there were 19 families residing here.
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morality and happiness of a people without the prevalence of pure and undefiled religion. Actuated by the same spirit, the proprietors took early measures to secure to the town the stated ministration of the Gospel. At a meeting held November, 1751, a sum of money was raised to supply the settlement with preach- ing. In 1763 they settled a Congregational minister, and in 1767 they erected and finished a convenient house for public worship. But more concerning these things will be related in its more appropriate place.
DOINGS OF THE TOWN-ACT OF INCORPORATION
The records of the town previous to 1776 are very imper- fectly preserved. There are remaining in the town clerk's office only a few separate scraps of paper bearing date prior to the aforesaid year. Of this early period I have been able to glean only the following items:
The first town meeting of which any record remains was held March 8, 1762, at the dwelling house of Jonathan Sprague. Ebenezer Belding was chosen Moderator, and Samuel Belding town clerk. The business was not of sufficient importance to be noticed here.
In June, 1765, by act of General Court, the town was incor- porated by the name of Ashfield. The warrant to call the first meeting under the act of incorporation was issued by Thomas Williams, Esq., of Deerfield, and directed to Samucl Belding, clerk of this town. The first town officers under the incorpora- tion were: Benjamin Phillips, Town Clerk; David Alden, Treasurer; Chileab Smith, Moses Fuller, Thomas Phillips, Selectmen .*
The subject of common schools began carly to engage the attention of the fathers of this town. They seemed fully to understand the orthodox doctrine-that a free government can only be sustained by an intelligent population. Accordingly, they voted, in 1772, to divide the town into three school districts and to build a schoolhouse.t
*See the Town Book of Records-copied in 1857-page 6 .- H. S. R.
tIn the year 1766, at the first annual meeting subsequent to its incorpora- tion, they voted £4 for the school.
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
According to the records, the first representative chosen for the purpose of acting in the affairs of the State was Capt. Elisha Cranston. In 1775 this gentleman was chosen to represent the town in the congress to be convened at Watertown, Boston then being in the possession of the British troops.
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
A period now approached fraught with the most trying scenes ever experienced by the citizens of these United States. It was the War of the Revolution. In the events which preceded and attended that trying period, the citizens of this town, although removed from the principal scene of action, were nevertheless deeply interested, and in them they took a decided part. As early as September, 1774, when events in and about Boston began to wear the aspect of hostilities, and the first Continental Congress had commenced its session in Philadelphia, the follow- ing covenant, previously drawn up by a committee chosen for the purpose, was signed by Benjamin Phillips and sixty-four others, citizens of this town:
"We, the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Ashfield, from a principle of self-preservation, the dictate of natural con- science, and a sacred regard to the constitution and laws of our country, which were instituted for the security of our lives and property, do severally and mutually covenant, promise and engage, with each other and all of us:
"1. That we profess ourselves subject to our Sovereign Lord the King, and hold ourselves in duty bound to yield obedience to all his good and wholesome laws.
"2. That we bear testimony against all the oppressive and unconstitutional laws of the British Parliament, whereby the chartered privileges of this province are struck at and cashiered.
"3. That we will not be aiding, nor in any way assisting, in any trade with the Island of Great Britain, until she withdraws her oppressive hand, or until a trade is come into by the several colonies.
"4. That we will join with our neighboring towns in this province, and sister colonies in America, in contending for and
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DR. SHEPARD'S HISTORICAL SKETCH
defending our rights and privileges, civil and religious, which we have a just right to do, both by nature and by charter.
"5. That we will make preparation, that we may be equipped with ammunition and other necessaries, at town cost, for the above purposes.
"6. That we will do all we can to suppress petty mobs, tri- fling and causeless."
That the signing of these articles of covenant was not a mere matter of unmeaning form appears evident from the fact that in the following August the town voted to send an agent to Albany for the purpose of purchasing guns and ammunition, at the expense of the town. At length affairs at headquarters came to a crisis. On the 19th of April, 1775, an attack was made by a column of the British army, under the command of Maj. Pitcairn, upon our unoffending yeomanry at Lexington; and thenceforth commenced that unequal conflict which, after eight years of toil, privation and blood, resulted, in the providence of God, in the independence of these United States.
Such was the poverty of our government, and such their inability to raise the necessary means of sustaining an army sufficient to face the hosts of Britain, that at the commencement of hostilities it, of necessity, devolved upon the patriotism of the towns from which the soldiers were draftcd, to furnish them with supplies and, in many instances, to become responsible for their wages during servicc. The citizens of this town, as their records fully evince, did not remain idle spectators of this con- test. They fell not behind the spirit of the times in their devo- tion to the cause of freedom, and their willingness to sacrifice almost any temporal comfort in securing it to themselves and their posterity.
It would extend altogether beyond the limits of this sketch to quote at length the patriotic doings of this town in lending their aid to encourage and carry forward the War of the Revolution. A few facts selected from their records is all that my limits will permit me to notice.
In fully estimating the sacrifices made by our fathers in com- ing forward with their voluntary contributions in sustaining the
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War of the Revolution, we must take into the account two im- portant circumstances: first, the fact of their having just begun to subdue the wilderness, and the consequent state of depend- ence in which most of them were placed in regard to the neces- sary means of subsistence; and, secondly, the uncertain and changeable state of their monied currency. Notwithstanding these pressing embarrassments, we find the inhabitants of this town at one time voting, in open town meeting, to furnish the army with a lot of coats. At another time we find them offering a bounty to such as might enlist from among them to serve in the war; and at another, voting a sum of money to purchase provisions to be sent to the famishing army. In 1779 the town voted to pay the soldiers enlisted from among them, for nine months' service, forty shillings per month in addition to the bounty offered by General Court-the value of the money to be regulated by corn at 2s. 6d., rye at 3s. 4d., and wheat at 4s. 6d. per bushel. In 1780 the town voted to give, by way of encour- agement, to each man who should enlist in the army for three years, "twenty calves." Said calves were to be procured in the following May and kept at the town's cost until the three years had expired. How many of these men returned to receive their bounty, then grown to be oxen and cows, does not appear. In 1781 the town voted to raise "ninety silver dollars" to purchase the amount of beef that fell to their share for the army. The same year eight men were enlisted from this town for three months' service who were to receive from the town treasury £4 per month, and $10 each before they marched. In 1777 Rev. Nehemiah Porter, in consequence of the enfeebled state of his people, and the consequent depreciation of his support, joined the army on the North River [Hudson] in the capacity of Chaplain, and continued with them until the capture of Burgoyne.
During this severe and protracted controversy with the mother country the people of this town, in common with their brethren in other parts of the provinces, suffered great embar- rassments in consequence of the fluctuating state of their paper currency. The enormous depreciation of this currency in 1780
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may be learned from the fact that during that year the town raised and expended upon the highways three thousand pounds! It was the custom of the town, at their annual meeting in March, to choose a "Committee of Safety, to do what in them lay to regulate the price of provisions and to ease the burdens of the people." A Committee of Correspondence was also appointed annually, to confer with similar committees in other places, in relation to the trying and critical state of public affairs.
One item of record in these troublous times-"times which" emphatically "tried men's souls"-I cannot omit to notice, although it is somewhat of a delicate nature; but inasmuch as it evinces that ever vigilant and stern spirit which characterized the patriot of that generation, I shall be excused by omitting names in the narrative: At a legal meeting held July 18, 1777, it was voted "that Aaron Lyon be a meet person to procure evidence against certain persons who are thought to be inimical to the American States." At a subsequent meeting, in August following, the Selectmen were requested to bring in a list of persons whom they viewed to be of the above description. This report contained the names of nine persons, among whom were some of the most respectable and leading men in the town. Whereupon it was voted that the persons thus reported "appear so unfriendly to the American States that they ought to be brought to proper trial." It was also voted at the same meeting, these suspected men "be committed to close confinement in this town." One of the prisoners, however, in consequence of the sickness of his family, was exempted from confinement on condition of delivering up his arms and ammunition. The others were forthwith dispatched to a private dwelling, under a strong guard selected and supported by the town. After continuing thus imprisoned for about seven days and nights the town mct again and voted "to dismiss the guard and release the prisoners from close confinement." This transaction is but a faint speci- men of what transpired in every section of the country between the resolute and the timid, the friends and the foes of war. Many a house was divided against itself; friends, neighbors, brethren, took different sides in the contest and were fiercely
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arraycd against each other. Nor can it be a matter of wonder that men of wisdom and foresight should have opposed resistance to the power of Britain; so unequal was the contest and, in human view, so very improbable the attainment of any permanent good on the part of our infant colonies. But the ways of Provi- dence are not as our ways; the result exceeded the most san- guine expectations of the friends of the Revolution; the God of Heaven went forth with our armies and the victory was on our sidc. Never was there a contest between nations in the decision and determination of which the overruling hand of God was more manifest; and the patriots of that day were led to feel that deliverance from the overwhelming power of Britain could alone proceed from the Power that ruleth the nations. Hence they looked to Heaven, and fasted, and prayed for help from above; nor did they pray in vain. In July, 1777, in legal town meeting, it was voted that "this town will do all that lies in their power to suppress vice, and especially that they will use their endeavors to prevent profane cursing and swearing, that the name of God be not blasphemed among them."
ADOPTION OF A STATE CONSTITUTION
The question whether this Commonwealth should form for itself a constitution in consonance with the national compact already signed and adopted, became the subject of general dis- cussion. In August, 1779, Capt. Benjamin Phillips and Capt. Samuel Bartlett were chosen delegates to attend a convention about to be held at Cambridge for the purpose of forming a con- stitution for the Commonwealth. These gentlemen were in- structed by the town, among other things, to use their endeavors that an article be inserted in said constitution, "that each Representative, previous to his belonging to General Court, shall be solemnly sworn not to pass any acts or laws where his constituents shall be in any sense, name or nature, oppressed or forced in matters of religion." On this subject a portion of the people of this town felt peculiarly sensitive, for reasons which will hereafter be noticed.
In the following year came up the important question re- specting the adoption of the constitution prepared by the afore-
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said convention and sent out by them for the approval of the people. In open town meeting this constitution was taken up, debated and acted upon, article by article. The result was, that while many of its provisions were approved by a majority of the town. others were rejected. The third article in the Bill of Rights. which proposed that the preaching of the Gospel should be supported by taxation, was rejected, on the ground that it was "unconstitutional to human nature and nothing in the word of God to support it." The article specifying the appoint- ment of the judges of the Supreme Court by the Executive was rejected, and a substitute proposed, viz: that they should be elected annually by the Legislature. The article constituting the Senate an essential part of the Legislature was rejected, on the ground that such a distinct body was unnecessary. Those articles specifying the pecuniary qualifications of the different officers of government, and of voters in town meeting, were rejected by a majority of the votes of this town. An amend- ment was proposed that Justices of the Peace, instead of being appointed by the Governor, should be elected by ballot annually, in legal town meeting, and commissioned by the Governor. It was also proposed that town clerks bc the acknowledgers and registers of deeds, and that the Probate office be lodged in the hands of the Selectmen, and the Town Clerk be ex officio Clerk of Probate.
These transactions are referred to for the purpose of exhibit- ing the views of our fathers respecting the science of civil gov- ernment. While it was happy for our Commonwealth that most of the alterations here proposed did not prevail, it is worthy of notice that the views expressed in relation to the Bill of Rights on the prevailing views of the Commonwealth at the present day, and after the lapse of half a century, have effected an essen- tial alteration of this article in the constitution.
In the order of chronology it may be proper here to notice an incident which occurred here in 1781. During this year the north part of this town was infested with a company of vagrant religious fanatics called "Tremblers." Such extravagance and disorder and indecency were exhibited by them in their inter-
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course with the inhabitants, and especially in the acts of wor- ship, that the people living in the vicinity where they located themselves became very seriously annoyed and presented them to the authorities of the town as a public nuisance. Whereupon it was voted in legal town meeting that "the Selectmen be re- quested to warn said straggling Tremblers now in town, and those that shall come in hereafter, to depart in twenty-four hours or expect trouble."
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