USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Ashfield > History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 1910 > Part 4
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
first in doubt whether it was not pressing the cause too far; farmers were people that they could not hire their labor without the use of ardent spirits. But on further consideration their difficulties vanished one after another; the members of the society increased rapidly, until in the course of a few months rising of 600 names were found in the temperance constitution. The enemies of the cause were alarmed; they made every effort in their power to stay the work of reform; a strong union be- tween the lovers of strong drink, the lovers of the gain of it, and the lovers of office, was formed, and showed itself at the polls and wherever any attack could be made upon the friends of temperanee. But still the good cause could not be put down; opposition only served to strike its roots deeper into the hearts of its friends; an efficient society was formed in the north see- tion of the town, whose fruits were soon manifest in the work of reform. The friends of temperanee of different religious denom- inations go hand in hand in the eause; and, although one or two distilleries, and a few retailing stores and some temperate drinkers stand in the way, yet a purifying process is in progress which will not stop until the whole town and region is reclaimed from the eruel grasp of this common enemy of God and of man.
"Fly swift around, ye wheels of time, And bring the welcome day."
PROFESSIONAL MEN
The following persons, originally inhabitants of this town, have been edueated at college, viz: Rev. Preserved Smith, graduated at Brown University and settled in the ministry in Rowe; Rev. Frceman Sears, Williams College, settled in Natiek and deceased in 1812; Rev. Samuel Parker, Williams College, residing in the State of New York; Frederick Howes, Esq., Cambridge College, attorney at law in Salem; Francis Bassett, Esq., Cambridge College, attorney at law in Boston; Rev. Elijah Paine, Jr., Amherst College, formerly settled in Clare- mont, N. H .; Rev. William P. Paine, Amherst College, settled in Holden; Rev. Charles Porter, Amherst College, settled in Gloucester; Rev. Morris White, Dartmouth College, settled
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DR. SHEPARD'S HISTORICAL SKETCH
in Southampton; Rev. William Bement, Dartmouth College, settled in Easthampton: Leonard Bement, Esq.,* Union Col- lege. attorney at law, Albany, N. Y .; Francis Gillett, Yale College, attorney at law in Ohio; Rev. John Alden, Jr., Am- herst College, principal of Franklin Manual Labor School in Shelburn: Mr. Adell Harvey, Amherst College, student in Divinity; Rev. Anson Dyer, not publicly educated, laboring as an evangelist. Several young men are now in the process of a public education.
Hon. Elijah Paine, a native of Hatfield, has been the only attorney at law which has settled in this town until very re- cently. Mr. Paine has been a member of the Senate of this Commonwealth and the Chief Justice of the Court of Session in this county until the time of its dissolution. David Aiken, Esq., has recently opened an office as attorney at law in this town.
The following regular authorized physicians have resided in this town in the order in which their names occur: Moses Hayden, Phineas Bartlet, Francis Mantor, David Dickinson, afterwards settled in the ministry in Plainfield, N. H .; Hon. Enos Smith, a graduate of Dartmouth College, once a member of the Senate from Franklin County, now living in Granby; Rivera Nash, Green Holloway, Lee, Atherton Clark, now living in Cummington; William Hamilton, now in Providence, R. I .; Jared Bement, a native of this town; Charles Knowlton. The last two are now practising physicians in the town.
COUNTY AND TOWN OFFICERS
The following gentlemen have been commissioned Justices of the Peace while residing in this town, viz: Jacob Sherwin, Philip Phillips, Ephraim Williams, Elijah Paine, Enos Smith, Henry Bassett, Thomas White, Levi Cook, Dimick Ellis, James McFarland, Russell Bement, Chester Sanderson.
The following gentlemen have represented this town in the Legislature of the Commonwealth, viz: Capt. Elisha Cranston,
*Judge Bement removed to Grand Rapids, Mich., about 1850, where he died twenty to twenty-five years later. He was a highly respected man.
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
Dea. Jonathan Taylor, Benjamin Rogers, Chileab Smith, Wm. Williams, Esq., Philip Phillips, Esq., Ephraim Williams, Esq., Hon. Elijah Paine, Henry Bassett, Esq., Thomas White, Esq., Hon. Enos Smith, Capt. Bcthuel Lilley, Levi Cook, Esq., Dimick Ellis, Esq., Capt. Roswell Ranney, Dea. Samuel Bement, Chester Sanderson, Esq., Jonathan Sears, Seth Church, Anson Bement.
The following persons have served as Town Clerks, viz: Samuel Belding, Benjamin Phillips, Jacob Sherwin, Esq., Dr. Phineas Bartlet, Dr. Francis Mantor, Levi Cook, Esq., Hon. E. Paine, Capt. Selah Norton, Henry Bassett, Esq., Lewis Wil- liams, Hon. Enos Smith, Dimick Ellis, Esq., James McFarland, Esq., Russell Bement, Esq., Wait Bement.
The following gentlemen have served as Town Treasurers, viz: Benjamin Phillips, David Alden, Dr. Phineas Bartlet, Warren Green, Jr., Ephraim Williams, Esq., Levi Cook, Esq., Hon. E. Paine, Charles Williams, Henry Bassett, Esq., Chester Sanderson, Esq.
The following gentlemen have served as Selectmen, viz: Ebenezer Belding, Reuben Ellis, Nathan Chapin, Philip Phillips, Esq., Moses Fuller, Chileab Smith, Thomas Phillips, Samuel Belding, Dea. Jonathan Taylor, Aaron Lyon, Samuel Allen, Timothy Lewis, Isaac Shepard, Capt. Joshua Taylor, Peter Cross, Dr. Bartlet, Jacob Sherwin, Esq., Dea. John Bement, Rowland Sears, Warren Green, Jr., Uriah Goodwin, John Sher- win, Thomas Stocking, Benjamin Rogers, Chileab Smith, John Ellis, Ephraim Williams, Esq., William Flower, Philip Phillips, Esq., Capt. John Bennet, Lemuel Spurr, Abner Kelley, Joshua Howes, Abiezer Perkins, Hon. E. Paine, Samuel Guilford, Ebenezer Smith, John Alden, Thomas White, Esq., Capt. Bethuel Lilley, Josiah Drake, Chipman Smith, Nathaniel Holmes, Dimick Ellis, Esq., Capt. Roswell Ranney, Jonathan Sears, Samuel Eldredge, Simeon Phillips, Sanford Boies, Austin Lilley, Seth Church, George Hall, Capt. William Bassett.
CASUALTY
In May, 1827, an event occurred near the center of this town of too signal importance in its history to be omitted in these
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DR. SHEPARD'S HISTORICAL SKETCH
sketches. I refer to the accidental drowning of five persons in the Pond west of the Plain. Their names were Dea. David Lyon, a worthy man, aged 63, and his son, Aaron, aged 18, Arnold Drake, aged 28, and two sons of Mr. Eli Gray, William and Robert, one 15, the other 13. These persons, attended by a few others, left their families and friends on a beautiful morn- ing in May, to follow their flocks to the place of washing, under as fair a prospect of returning at evening as ever they went out with in any previous morning in their lives; but, alas! they were all borne home lifeless corpses. In a fit of merriment, excited by a poisonous stimulant which was then deemed a necessary appendage to the washing of sheep, six of the com- pany seated themselves in a log canoe, with two sheep, for the purpose of a short sail. On reaching deep water, about eight or ten yards from the shore, the canoe dipped water, filled and went under. Two of the company-the eldest son of Deacon Lyon and a boy-with the sheep, sprung for the shore and reached it safely; Drake, Lyon and the young Grays immediately sunk and disappeared. Dea. Lyon, from the shore seeing his son in danger, sprang in to his assistance, but on stepping suddenly from shoal to deep water immediately disappeared. It is remarkable that not one of them, after sinking the first time, ever rose again until their bodies were raised by others. Alarm was immedi- ately given by those from the bank, the people of the village were soon on the spot and measures immediately set in opera- tion to raise their bodies. A young man dove and brought up Dea. Lyon, who had been under perhaps fifteen minutes. They next succeeded in bringing up Drake, after perhaps thirty minutes' immersion; next, the body of young Lyon; and last, after being under about an hour, were brought up the bodies of the young Grays locked in each other's arms. Measures for resuscitation were immediately commenced on the shore, and prosecuted after they were carried to the house of Mr. Asa Sanderson for several hours, but all in vain; the vital spark had fled, nor could it be recalled; not the least sign of reanima- tion appeared in either of them. They were ensnared in an evil hour. In an unexpected moment their souls were required of
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
them. After all hope of reeovering the drowned persons was given up messengers were dispatched to earry the sad tidings to the widows, children, parents, brothers and sisters of the deeeased. Soon the messengers returned, bringing with them the widows of Dea. Lyon and Drake, and the daughter of Dea. L., who was the stepmother of the young Grays. The affeeting scenes of that interview may in some faint measure be imagined, but not described. On the following day the funeral of these five eorpses was attended in the presence of a large eoncourse of sympathizing friends and strangers, at the late dwelling of Dea. Lyon. An appropriate diseoursc was preached on the occasion by Rev. Mr. Martin, from Eecles. ix. 12, after which their remains were deposited in the graveyard by the Baptist mectinghouse, in the north part of the town. Who that wit- nessed any part of that appalling seene ean pass by the banks of that secluded pond without reealling fresh to mind the events of that melaneholy day? And who that ponders upon the events of that day ean think lightly of the Saviour's exhortation: "Wateh, therefore, for ye know not the hour when the Son of Man eometh."
CONCLUSION
But it is time to bring these sketehes-already, perhaps, too far protracted-to a elose. Permit me then, my brethren and friends, with whom I have been permitted quietly to sojourn for a time, in conelusion to say:
It is now about ninety years sinee the voice of the eivilized emigrant first broke upon the silenee of this, then lonely, wilder- ness. Three generations of men have come up and passed off the stage sinee your fathers eame hither. The lofty forests which then erowned these hills and valleys have bowed to the power and industry of man, and given place to eultivated fields and thriving villages. The haunts of wild beasts have been supplanted by the abodes of civilized society. You of this gen- eration roam seeurely over your fields, and sleep quietly on your beds, where onee lurked in ambush the mereiless savage, and where your fathers toiled by day and lay down at night
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DR. SHEPARD'S HISTORICAL SKETCH
with their arms by their side. This goodly heritage, with all its civil, literary and religious blessings, purchased by their toils, privation and blood, you now enjoy. God forbid that you should prove so ungrateful as to despise such a birthright. Think not lightly, brethren and friends, of the talents committed to your care. Ninety years to come, and where will most of you be? Who will occupy your possessions? Who will dwell in your houses, roam over your hills and through your valleys, sit in your sanctuaries? Who will break the bread of life to the generations who are to come after you, and point the dying sinner to the Lamb of God? And what will be the character of the history which will fill up the intervening years? These are questions of solemn import, and the practical answer must be given by you of this generation. God in mercy grant that you may so live, and train up your children, and so aid in laying broad and deep and strong the foundations of knowledge, morality, religion and good government, that future genera- tions, as they come to reap the happy fruits of your labors, may rise up and call you blessed, as you are permitted to do the mem- ory of your fathers, now no more.
THOMAS SHEPARD.
7.4. Howves
CHAPTER I
BEGINNINGS
Very few towns have been so fortunate in the preservation of their records as Ashfield.
The earliest records of the Proprietors were begun in 1738. These original papers have not been preserved, but two years after, in 1740, a record book was purchased and the previous records copied into it. A committee chosen for the purpose certify in 1743 that "We have Proceeded and Carefully Ex- amined and Compared the Said Entries with the Said Minutes or Coppys Recorded in the present Proprietors' Book and we find the Said Entries Truly and Exactly Recorded."
William Crane was the first clerk, and after his death Richard Faxon was chosen, the new clerk who so faithfully transcribed the records.
The Proprietors' Book purchased in 1740 cost thirty shillings, and is now in a fair state of preservation. It was a substantial volume bound in sheepskin, size 8 x 121/2 inches and contained about 500 pages. The first part of the book, 146 pages, is filled with the votes and doings of the Proprietors, and the last part with the pages reversed contains 78 pages relating to the divisions of lots and their various changes. Some 270 pages in the middle of the book remain blank.
The first entry in the book is a copy of an Act of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, passed Dec. 5, 1735, which reads:
A Petition of Ebenezer Hunt & Others who were Officers & Soldiers (or their Descendants) in the Expedition Against Canada under the Command of Capt. Ephraim Hunt deced in the year 1690, Praying for a Grant of land for a Township in consideration of their hardships & Sufferings in the said Ex- pedition
Read & in Answer to this Petition,
Voted That the prayer thereof be Granted and that [Mr. Speaker Quincy, Mr. Adam Cushing] together with such as shall be joined by the Honble Board be a Comtee at the Charge of the Government, to lay out a Township of the Contents of
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
Six Miles Square, in Some Suitable placc Westward of Deerfield in the County of Hampshire, and that they Return a plat thereof to this Court within twelve Months for Confirmation; and for the More Effectual bringing forward the Settlement of the said Newtown.
Ordered that the said Town be laid out into Sixty three Equal Shares, One of which to be for the first Settled Minister, One for the Ministry and one for the School, and that on each of the other Sixty Shares the petrs do within three years from the Confirmation of the plan have Settled one good family who shall have a house built on the Homlott of Eighteen feet Square and Seven fect Stud at the least and finished, that each Right or Grant have Six Aeres of Land brought to and plowed or brought to English Grass or fitted for mowing, that they Settle a Learned Orthodox Minister and build and finish a Convenient Meetinghouse for the Publick Worship of God and that each Settler give Bond to the Province Treasurer of twenty pounds for fulfilling the Conditions of this Grant; provided that in Case any of the Lotts are not duly Settled in all Regards as aforesaid; then sueh Lott with the Rights thereof to Revert to and be at the disposition of the Province.
We can see that the conditions imposed on the petitioners made their duties very heavy, in requiring so much to be accomplished in so short a time. A later Act extended the time from three years to five.
In 1736 the Committee report that there were not sixty men in Captain Hunt's company who served as soldiers as named in the Grant, but that a portion of them went as mariners, therc- fore it was ordered that these men be ineluded. The Committee appointed to lay out this land having reported, Jan. 19, 1736, the Province Acts reeord
A Plat of the Township Granted to the Company Under the Command of Capt Ephraim Hunt laid out by Nath! Kellogg Survey" & Chainmen on Oath bounded East on Dearfield West bounds on all other sides on Province Lands, Begining at a Stake in Stones in Deerfield Westline thence Running North 22 Deg. East Two Thousand two hundred and forty perch to Deer- field River thence; West 17 Deg. North Seventeen hundred and Thirty perch then South 32 deg .; West Twenty one hundred and thirty perch then East 22 deg. South Seventeen hundred perch to the first Station.
51
BEGINNINGS
Read and
Ordered that the plat be Accepted and the Lands therein delineated and described be and hereby are confirmed to the officers and soldiers of the Company in the Canada Expedition Anno 1690 under the Command of the late Captain Ephraim Hunt deceased, and to the Heirs, legal Representatives and Descendants of such of them as are Since deceased and to their Heirs & assigns respectively for Ever, they fulfilling and per- forming the Conditions of the Grant, provided the plat exceeds not the quantity of Six Miles square of Land, and does not interfere with any former Grant.
This survey as recorded, must have begun somewhere near the present Conway line south of where George Chapin now lives then running northerly on the course designated to the Deerfield River to a point probably a mile and a half or so below Shelburne Falls, then going westerly as described, would take in a large share of the present town of Buckland. This survey must have been made in a very careless manner, or there was some mistake in copying the minutes, as by the survey the last line could not reach the starting point by several hundred rods. It will be seen later that there was destined to be a good deal of trouble over this imperfect survey. The survey recorded in the Proprietors' Book is much worse, as there the minutes read, "Beginning on Deerfield west line thence North 32 degrees east 2240 rods to Deerfield river, then west 17 degrees north 1730 rods, then south 82 degrees west 2130 rods then east 22 degrees south 1700 rods to where we begun." The last line would not reach the starting point by several miles.
The record of the first meeting at Weymouth reads in part: "A Proprietors Meeting of the Officers and Soldiers under the Command of Capt. Ephraim Hunt of Weymouth, Deceased, that were In the Expedition to Canada in the year 1690, viz., of them or their Legal Representatives &c. A Township laid out by Order of the General Court, (Bounding) on Deerfield West Line.
"Upon the thirteenth day of March Anno, Seventeen hundred and thirty eight."
The same day it was put to "Vote Whether the First Lots Laid Out in Said Township Should at the Least be Fifty Acres, and
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
on the Account of badness of Land the Said Lots Should Extend to the Number of Sixty Five Acres According to the Goodness or Meanness of the Land in the opinion of the Committee that shall be appointed to Lay out the Same and it passed in the Affirmative."
Five men were chosen to lay out "Said Lots and Highways," Capt. John Phillips, Capt. Adam Cushing, James Mears, Mr. Ephraim Keith and Daniel Owen. It appears that some of the committee at least attended to their duties in person for the well authenticated story comes down to us that in these early days a surveyor by the name of Owen beeame lost in the woods and spent the night on a mountain, hence the name Mt. Owen.
The Committee was also "Empowered to Endeavor the Set- tlement of the Line Between the Township and Deerfield, Said Committee to have twelve Shillings a day for their services."
The Committee was "Empowered to Lay out so much Land for to Set or Build a Meeting House on, for a burying Place and for a Training Field as they shall think Proper."
No other mceting is recorded until a year after, April, 1739, in Weymouth it was "Voted that Any three of the Comtee be a Quorum to Aet in the Settlement of the Line Betwixt the Town- ship and Deerfield, also that a Major Part of the Committee be a Quorum to lay out the First Lots and Ways to their best Discretion. Voted That the Proprs Meetings for the Time to Come (Until the Pro's see Cause to Alter it) be at Mr. John Hobarts in Braintree and that Meetings be Called by putting Notifications in public print and by posting up Notifications in Weymouth Braintree & Stoughton."
It will be remembered that in 1690 Captain Hunt's company was raised in Weymouth and vicinity, and at the date of this meeting-nearly fifty years after, most of the descendants of this company were probably living in that seetion. A notice was posted June 23, for a meeting to be held July 24, 1739. This gave one month's notice of the meeting at which a large amount of definite business was done. It was "Voted that the Twenty Fourth Lot be for the first Minister, the Fifty first for the Ministry and the Fifty Fourth for the School." The dispute
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BEGINNINGS
on the Deerfield line coming up again, it was voted that the Proprietors be at the charge of Defending any part of the Town- ship that may be controverted.
It was voted that "if Any Person Dislike his first Lot Laid out in the Plan Described he Shall Have Liberty Within Twelve Month's Time from this Day at his Own Cost and Charge to Lay Out Fifty Acres of Land in Any of the Undivided Lands in proper form and Not farther distant from the Meeting House Lot than farthest Lot already Laid Out." The Committee that laid out the Lots brought in their account for time and expenses in laying out the same, amounting to one hundred and thirty pounds, sixteen shillings and eleven pence which was Allowed and Accepted. "Voted that Mr. Nathaniel Kellogg be appointed at the Cost of the Proprietors to Clear a Way to the Township. Voted that there be thirty Pounds paid in Equal Proportions by the Propriety to the first man that shall build a Sawmill in Said Township Within One Year, And Saw for the Proprietors for Twenty Shillings per Thousand for Seven years After Said Mill is built."
The Proprietors then proceeded to draw the lots that had been surveyed and laid out by the Committee named. This first division of lots was laid out mostly in the northeasterly part of the town extending northerly to No Town or what is now Buckland line, easterly to near what is now Conway line, southerly about one-half mile from what is now the village, and the lot farthest west extending westerly from where Allison Howes now lives. The plat selected was quite irregular, some of the lots projecting much farther than others on the same side. These lots were of fifty acres each, mostly laid out one hundred and sixty rods long and fifty rods wide, a few irregular, and some gores left between lots. As an illustration of the manner in which the lots were laid out we give a description of Lot No. 1 as recorded. "The Northwest Corner is a Stack which stands about 23 Rods South of Bare River where there is a Beaver Meadow then so called on Said River from Which it Runs South 20 Dgs West 160 Rods, Thence East 20 Dgs South 50 Rods, Thence North 20 Dgs East 160 Rods, Thence
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
West 20 Dgs North Fifty Rods and Closed; contains Fifty Acres, Bounds West on No. 2, East on No. 7, North and South on highways of four Rods Wide Each. "
This lot now would begin near the Center of the mowing lot of Wm. H. Gray's "Beaver Meadow farm," then the line would run southerly a few rods east of the Gray's buildings as desig- nated to a point near the old Squire Phillips cellar hole just north of the road some one hundred rods east of the house of Harry Eldredge, then easterly fifty rods over Bellows hill to a point, then northerly as described, the 160 rods line passing a few rods westerly of the Factory Bridge to a point on an old wall between the farms of Wm. H. Gray and George B. Church. The main street of the village running westerly passes through the southerly portion of what were the lots 18, 17 and 51.
The Proprietors were now about to draw for each one his share of the grant which the colony, poor in money, but rich in wild lands, had given as a recompense for the services of their ancestors. Its value was doubtful, but few if any of the grantees had ever seen it. It was more than a hundred miles away, an unbroken forest, almost inaccessible by reason of poor roads and no roads, and liable to be infested by hostile Indians. Each of the Proprietors was to draw not only the 50 acre lot, but with it one sixtieth part of the whole township, or about 370 acres. The drawing was as follows:
At a Proprietors Meeting July 24 Seventeen hundred & thirty nine (after some votes were past)
Then ye Proprietors Proceeded to Draw their first Lots
Descendents or
1739 July 24 A List or Record of ye first Lots of ye Original Viz their Legal Proprietors of ye Township granted to ye Officers & Soldiers under ye Command of Capt. Ephraim Representatives Hunt of Weymouth in ye Canada Expedition in that Enteried alfa the year 1690 viz to them or their legal Repre- thofe that Drew sentatives or Descendants &c west of Deerfield As Each one drew his first Lot in whose Right as appears by the List &c-viz ye former Clerks & Mr. Cushings one of ye Courts Committee
by Virtue thereoff
This Collum
1 Lt. John Hunt of &c viz. Ephraim Hunt 38
No.
Sheweth ye
in his Fathers Right
Order of
Draughts
2 Dea. Thomas White in his Fathers Right viz Ebenezer White 20
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