USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Holland > History of the town of Holland, Massachusetts > Part 6
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Holland, Sept. ye S, 1783. At a meeting legally warned and convened.
.
76
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
1. Voted and made choice of Jonas Blodgett for moderator.
2. Voted to choose a committee to view the situation of the district of Holland to divide the same into proper school districts.
3. Voted that Jonathan Wallis, Jonathan Cram, Jonas Blodgett, Abel Allen and Gershom Rosebrooks serve for the aforesaid committee.
4. Voted this committee shall divide the district and say how many school districts there shall be, and bring in their report to the district.
5. Voted that there be two committee men more to assist the other committeemen in the aforesaid business.
6. Voted that Alfred Lyon and John Wallis be the men to assist the others.
7. Voted that this committee shall determine whether Mr. Joseph Smalladge, Joseph Smalladge Jr. and John Munger shall carry their school money into South Brimfield for the use of schooling there, or whether they shall be considered otherwise.
8. Voted that all the lands within the district of Holland belonging to Deacon Nathaniel Munger, Capt. Jehiel Munger, Jonathan Munger, Jesse Munger and Humphrey Needham Jr. shall be freed from paying taxes to the district of Holland.
9. Voted that Eliphalet Janes, Asa Partridge, Cyprian Stevens, Jonathan Gibbs, John Rosebrooks, Gershom Rosebrooks, William Rosebrooks, Asa Dana, Rufus May, Alfred Lyon, David Bugbee, John Wallis, William Wallis, David Wallis, and Jonas Blodgett, have liberty to build them some pews in the meeting house, each side of the broad alley.
Then the meeting was adjourned to Monday Sept. 22, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
Sept. 22, 1783. Pursuant to the adjournment the district met and voted to accept the report which the committee pre- sented.
The committee recommended that the district be divided into four school districts and the following names are given as householders in each school district.
John Graham Archibald Graham
Andrew Webber
John Perrin
Ichabod Goodell
Joseph Bruce
77
HOLLAND INCORPORATED
James Frizell William Belknap Jonathan Belknap Joshua Clark Abel Allen Eliphalet Janes James Paddock Alfred Lyon Ethel Lyon Asa Dana Daniel Thompson
to be one school district at the northeast quarter of the town Valuation 742 pounds, 5 shillings
Jonathan Blanchard Benjamin Perrin Antipas Bruce Capt. Nehemiahı May Rufus May Lt. John Rosebrooks Gershom Rosebrooks James Ames Capt. Phillips
Benjamin Webber Dr. Thomas Wallis
to be the southeast school district Valuation 734 pounds, no shillings
James Marcy Lt. Daniel Burnett
Capt. Jacob How Silas Smith
Benjamin Smith
Jolın Hinds Darius Hinds
Joseph Smalladge
Joseph Smalladge Jr. Joseph Marsh Lt. Jonathan Cram Lt. Edward Webber David Bugbee Benjamin Beal to be the southwest school district Valuation 622 pounds, 7 shillings
John Wallis
Henry Webber Samuel Webber John Ballard
Daniel Thompson Jonathan Wallis William Wallis David Wallis
John Belknap John Belknap Jr. Reuben Webber
Asa Partridge David Anderson
Caleb Blodgett Solomon Blodgett Lt. Jonas Blodgett to be the northwest district. Valuation 805 pounds, 3 shillings.
By way of petition: Voted that Mr. John Wade's house is found to be within the bounds of South Brimfield; then the
78
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
said John Wade's lands that are in Holland are to be taxed to the said South Brimfield.
Adjourned, Eliphalet Janes, Distriet Clerk.
We notice that at the first town meeting that Holland had, wardens are mentioned as town officers to be elected and that Daniel Thompson and John Wallis are chosen to that office and qualify. No such office as that now exists. The following explanation of their duties is quoted from the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, province laws passed in the reign of William and Mary and revised in 1759, first year reign of George the third.
TOWN WARDENS, THE OFFICE, DUTIES, PENALTIES, ETC.
Act of the General Court 1760, regulating the observance of the Lord's Day. Among other things it enacts as follows :- Be it further enacted, That each town and district within this province, shall at the time of choosing town and district officers, annually and every year choose certain persons, being of good substance and of sober life and conversation to be wardens of such town or district, of which officers the town of Boston shall choose twelve, viz .- one for each ward in said town, and every other town or distriet shall choose any number not less than two, and not exceeding six; and all such wardens shall be under oath, and to serve in such office. Every such person in the town of Boston shall be liable to the penalty of ten pounds; and in any other town or district to the penalty of five pounds; and every town or distriet shall forthwith proceed to the choice of other or others in room of any person or persons so refusing or neglecting, and so toties, quoties.
THEIR POWERS AND DUTIES.
1. They had the right to enter, and were obliged to inspect Inns, or houses of public entertainment on the Lord's Day and in the evening.
2. To examine persons suspected as unnecessarily travel- ling on the Lord's Day.
79
HOLLAND INCORPORATED
Warden's oath shall be deemed full and sufficient evidence in any trial for any offence against this act, unless invalidated by other evidence.
3. Wardens shall not be compelled to serve only once in five years.
4. Wardens shall be exempt from military duty the year of service. This was called "privilege" of wardens.
5. Wardens were to carry a white wand not less than seven feet long as a badge of his office, and may command assistance, and anyone refusing shall be fined forty shillings.
6. Parents and guardians and masters of servants could be fined by wardens.
7. Profaning the Lord's Day or Christian sabbath, made the offender liable to jail sentence of five to ten days.
S. No sheriff, grand juror, tithingman, constable or other officers or persons shall be exempted.
9. This act shall be read in every town or district by town or district clerk at the March meeting every year and imme- diately before the choice of wardens.
10. The fine for neglecting to read this act shall be twen- ty shillings.
Enacted Anno Regni Regis Georgii III Primo.
From the Charter of 1759, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Charter of Reign of William and Mary revised.
This proves that our ideals of liberty and of worship have undergone a radical change. Has anything really valuable to the commonwealth, or essential to genuine public worship been lost by the change ?
FROM CHARTER OF WILLIAM AND MARY, 1759.
Tythingmen were to have a black staff two feet long tipped at one end with brass about three inches as a badge of his office ; to be provided by the selectmen at charge of the town. Refusal to serve as tythingman subjected the offender to a fine of forty shillings, or to jail till it be paid, with charges for levying.
Tythingmen were allowed the benefit of informers, i. e. part of the fine, in 1698.
80
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
The following is the tythingman's oath which he was re- quired to take.
You, John Smith, being chosen a tythingman within the town of Holland for one year next ensuing and until another be chosen and sworn in your stead, do swear, that you will faithfully endeavor and intend the duty of your office, so help you God.
The office of tythingmen dates from the time of Alfred the Great. Originally they were assigned the care of ten families to see that they attended church regularly, paid their dues and maintained proper decorum in church. They could arrest strangers driving through town, or others believed to be break- ing the proper observance of the Lord's Day. To maintain order in church came to be their chief function. The children sat, not as now, in pews with their parents but in stall pews or box pews, the boys in one side of the church, and the girls on the other. Naturally they would get to playing in sermon time and then the tythingmen would rise and shake the staff at them as a warning. If that proved insufficient for restoring order and maintaining it the refractory boy was summarily taken out of his stall, sometimes over the side and given a les- son in decorum by laying on of hands, not apostolic, but pro- phetie of a change in him in the immediate future. Some de- clare that a cord and tassel was tied to the tythingmen's staff. No mention is made of it in the above charter. It was probably a later custom. In Holland we find tythingmen elected an- nually until about the time the Baptist church was started, 1817, when the town neglected to elect them. But they were restored again, for in 1823 we find Nehemiah May (Jr), Judah Back, Benjamin Reeve and Elbridge G. Fuller, elected tything- men. Two were Congregationalists and two were Baptists. Tythingmen were elected as recently as 1858.
But there were other quaint customs which obtained in the memory of some now living. Mr. J. T. Shepard Parsons who lived in Holland when a boy says," An old custom in Holland was
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HOLLAND INCORPORATED
to have the cobbler come in the fall to mend or make the footwear for the household. His pay included board. His stay in the house might last from one to three weeks. Two straight lasts was his supply of forms to fit the entire family from baby to grandpa. The leather used was the hide of the animal slaughtered the year before to supply the table with meat. The product of the cobbler's art was like himself, "Fearfully and wonderfully made." They would attract attention, if not admiration, any- where today and were about as comfortable as the wooden shoes used in some European countries. Nicholas Aldrich was the cobbler when he was a boy and the custom was styled "whipping the cat."
The cloth for the family-clothing was spun and woven from the wool of the flock; the spinning and weaving being a part of the good housewife's task, and when her task was done the cloth was taken to Mr. Stevens' mill to be dressed which put a nap or finish on the cloth. Before it went there the cloth was dyed with the juice of butternut bark or sometimes in the dyepot that stood in the chimney corner, which yielded a rich indigo blue to whatever was put therein, and a most of- fensive odor to whatever was taken out, to one that had sense of smell, especially when a fresh product had been abstracted. We were always told that one of the articles composing the dye was indigo blue, or indigo, but the other, the solvent, we beat a retreat without asking. The seamstress came in the same way as the cobbler, and mother produced the web of cloth from which the various suits were to be made. Comments were made over the quality of the cloth and cautions were given by the mother "to be sure and cut large enough for the boys would grow to their garments," and many a boy had a prob- lem in proportion when on Sunday morning he tried on his suit, to ascertain how long, at his present rate of growth, it would be before his suit would fit him. However, there was no shoddy in the cloth and the boy did sometimes "grow to the suit."
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CHAPTER IV
HOLLAND'S GENERAL, HISTORY.
In the act of incorporation we have seen that the east side of South Meadow Road was made the boundary between South Brimfield and Holland. Holland naturally declined all juris- diction and responsibility over said road. This inevitably led to a dispute, to say nothing of questions arising over the just proportion that Holland should pay of the town, county, and state taxes, until such time as the act of incorporation could be rendered effective. Arms and ammunition, town stores, and taxes, had to be divided by local official agreement, for the act of incorporation did not designate what the just propor- tion would be. For example, at a meeting held March 15, 1784, it was voted "that the selectmen of Holland do reckon and settle all the accounts and arrearages with the selectmen of So. Brimfield." On May 3, 1784 a town meeting was held and Mr. Joseph Bruce, Capt. Nehemiah May and Capt. Alfred Lyon were appointed a committee to examine all debts brought against the town and district, and to give security for what they find the district indebted to said town as "our just pro- portion." On July 19, 1784, 150 pounds were voted to pay "our just proportion," Jan. 10, 1785 it was voted to reconsider the vote of May 3, and appoint a new committee. Capt. Ne- hemiah May, Lieut. Jonas Blodgett, and Capt. Alfred Lyon were elected a committee to assist the selectmen of Holland in making a settlement with So. Brimfield, and 160 pounds are mentioned, to be assessed immediately. In a warrant for town meeting April 4, 1785, Art. 3 reads :- "To see if the district will raise their proportion of 160 pounds which So. Brimfield have voted to defray the debts which lie against said town." At the meeting Fifty-six pounds were voted. But a discrepancy had
83
HOLLAND'S GENERAL HISTORY.
been found in the books of the town constable*, and that caused Holland to rescind its vote of 56 pounds. This led to a contention which was not fully adjusted for ten years.
The records of the town impress the reader with this fact whatever faults of grammar or of spelling or lack of elegant' phrase, that the purpose has been to tell the exact truth. They bear in their wording the evidence of absolute sincerity, in which the reader may put absolute confidence. When the town was incorporated, matters of detail were left by the Gen- eral Court to mutual agreement between the officers of the new district and the officers of what was left of South Brim- field (now Wales). Questions as to division of the year's tax levy and the just proportion each should have, required ad- justment. What served to complicate the situation, was the fact that the constable, Solomon Hovey, of South Brimfield before division was faulty in his accounts and Holland natur- ally was loath to assume her legitimate part of the account until she knew what it was. In addition, the act of incorpora- tion had put the whole of South Meadow road into South Brim- field, which they naturally charged upon Capt. May, the repre- sentative for the year 1783 when Holland was incorporated. That reason more than any other prevented Holland from hav- ing a representative till the matter had been rectified, John Polley being the next representative in 1798.
Daniel Shay's insurrection agitated the region greatly and appeals were made by circular letters for each town and district to send delegates to a county convention to be held at Hatfield, 1786. "Massachusetts was the most heavily in debt of any of the states. An average of two hundred dollars apiece was the debt and no money was obtainable with which to pay it. They were willing to pay but could get nothing to pay with. Seizure of goods or prison drove many to desperation." Letters
*The town constable was Solomon Hovey.
84
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
were sent out inviting towns to send delegates to a county con- vention. It is manifest that Holland received such letters for Abel Allen was chosen to go to the convention at* Hatfield, and Joseph Bruce was sent to Hadley for the same purpose and both were paid twelve shillings for expenses.
How they voted on the questions presented we have no means of knowing but we may assert that these men were warm friends of law and order.
We notice that in 1789 the district vote that the constable warn Jethro Story and family to leave town. They were stop- ping in the house of Abijah Shumway. What the reason was for such action we are not informed, but we find him later a resident of the town. Here is the perambulation of the town lines made in 1789. It is given as being of interest for sev- eral reasons.
The boundaries on the north line of Holland, betwixt Brim- field and Holland by a perambulation in May 1789 made by Lt. Aaron Myghill of Brimfield, and David Wallis and John Polley of Holland, is as follows :- viz., Beginning at a large black oak tree marked and stones, being the northeast corner of said Holland from thence running westerly on the same line to a walnut stump and stones from thence to a black oak tree and stones in the northwest corner of Abel Allen's land, from thence to a pitch pine treet and stones in the road north of John Graham's house. From thence to an old black oak stump in the northwest corner of the land formerly owned by Win- throp ?. From thence to a white pine stump and stones the south side of the road near William Wallis' house, from thence to a large rock and stones in the road north of David Ander- son's house : from thence to a stake and stone on the §east side
#See J. G. Holland's "History of Western Massachusetts" for the re- sults of these conventions.
tThe pitch pine tree mentioned in this perambulation was cut by James Roberts, November 1, 1913 on road to East Brimfield. It had been dead for a number of years.
#To this point the town line is coincident with north line of Winthrop's farm. See page 17, act incorporating South Brimfield.
§Now the west side of the road, by agreement of 1796.
85
HOLLAND'S GENERAL HISTORY.
of the country road a little south of Capt. Browning's house and barn, it being the northwest corner of Holland.
David Wallis, Clerk.
The boundaries on the east side of the district of Holland by a perambulation in May 1789 betwixt Holland and Stur- bridge, beginning at the northeast corner of said district at a heap of stones and running from thenee to a large black oak tree marked, from thence to a chestnut tree marked, from thenee to a gray oak marked, from thence to a heap of stones on a rock in Simeon Allen's land, from thence to a white pine stump and stones, from thence to a stump and stones by said Allen's door, from thence to a heap of stones in Allen's orchard east of the road, from thenee to a chestnut tree marked in Steven's land, from thenee near to a white oak staddle in Steven's pasture, from thence to an oak stump and stones, from thenee to a white oak tree in Lechmere's land, from thence to a stake and stones, it being James Gibbs' northwest corner, from thence to a heap of stones, from thence to a chestnut tree marked, it being said Gibbs' southwest corner, from thence to a white pine stump and stones by the county road, from thence to a hemlock tree marked in the edge of the swamp, from thence to a white ash tree marked in the swamp, from thence to a red ash marked in the swamp, from thence to a red ash marked in the swamp, from thence to a white pine marked in the swamp, from thence to a large white pine tree marked, from thence to a hemlock tree marked, from thence to a white oak marked, from thence to a white pine marked, from thence to a white pine marked, from thenee to a large red oak marked, from thence to a large red ash marked, from thenee to a black ash marked, from thence to a large hemlock stake marked by the root of a hemlock tree that is blown down. that being the southeast corner of the dis- trict of Holland, according the perambulation, which is on the state line.
David Wallis, Clerk.
Dated May 1789.
This roll of taxpayers with a brief description of property assessed with the total assessment was obtained from the
S6
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
records of Brimfield for that year, 1798. Since the seleetmen acted as assessors also, we may feel assured that David Wal- lis, John Polley, and William Belknap were the men that made up the roll. This roll as compared with the preceding list affords much material for comparison and study. Some of the non-resident tax-payers of 1793 have become resident tax- payers in 1798, showing that they had built homes meanwhile, while some disappear altogether. Did they die or move away? We hope that the posterity of the families may find answer.
ABEL ALLEN
Bounded north on Cyrus Janes.
East on Simeon Allen. South on Cyprian Stevens West on James Fuller
Barn 40 x 50 feet 2200
REUBEN ALLEN.
Bounded south on Colony line.
West on Rufus May North on Mark Stacey East on county line 400
TIMOTHY ANDERSON
Bounded north on David Anderson
East on John Belknap South on Reuben Webber West on John Polley Barn 40 x 28 feet 1000
DAVID ANDERSON
Bounded north on Brimfield line East on Jeremy Sherman South on Timothy Anderson West on Joseph Browning Barn 30 x 40 feet 1000
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HOLLAND'S GENERAL HISTORY.
AARON ALLEN Non resident land
24
CHYAS ALLEN
Non resident land
136
SIMEON ALLEN Non resident land
300
PEREZ BRADFORD
Bounded north on John Polley East on Jacob Thompson South on Ebenezer Weatherbee West on Asa Houghton
Barn 30 x 40 feet
1300
WILLIAM BELKNAP
Bounded north on Rinaldo Webber
East on James Paddock South on James Frizell West on a pond Barn 26 x 38 feet
1600
JOSEPH BRUCE
Bounded north on Andrew Webber East on Quinnebaug River South on Hallowell Perrin West on Ephraim Bond Barn 30 x 40 feet Corn barn 14 x 12 feet 1300
Wood lot. north on Isaac Partridge East on Sarel Perrin
South on Alanson Wallis
West on Sewall Webber
300
88
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
EPHRAIM BOND
Bounded north on the road East on Edward Webber South on James Marcy West on Ebenezer Morse Barn 30 x 40 feet
1500
JONATHAN BALLARD
Bounded north on Alfred Lyon
East on Joseph Browning South on Alfred Lyon West on Ezra Webber Barn 28 x 36 feet 500
BENJAMIN BEALS
Bounded north on Isaac Partridge
East on Thomas Wallis South on the road West on Darius Hinds
Barn 28 x 36 feet 500
AMOS (AMASA) DOLPH
Bounded north on Ezra Reeve
East and south on the road
West on Reeve 115
JOHN DEXTER
Bounded north on Samuel Webber
East on Alfred Lyon
South on said Lyon West on Quinnebaug River
Woodlot called Belknap lot 206
Bounded north on Thomas Wallis 30
89
HOLLAND'S GENERAL HISTORY.
DAVID FAY
Bounded north on Jacob Thompson
East on Samuel Webber
South on Trenanee Webber West on Reuben Webber Barn 30 x 40 feet Barn 25 x 36 feet
1200
JAMES FULLER
Bounded north on Alfred Allen
East on Abel Allen
South on Rinaldo Webber West on Moses Graham
Barn 30 x 50 feet
1900
JAMES FRIZELL
Bounded north on William Belknap East on James Paddoek
South on Alfred Lyon West on Samuel Webber
Barn 30 x 40 feet 800
Mountain lot, bounded north on Timothy Anderson
containing 30 A. 150
ICHABOD GOODELL
Bounded north on Gershom Rosebrooks
East on Calvin Glazier South on Rufus May West on Gershom Rosebrooks
Barn 30 x 40 feet 900
Woodlot bounded north on Zephaniah Gibbs 170
MOSES GRAHAM
Bounded north on David Wallis. East on James Fuller South and west on the road Barn 26 x 25 feet Joiners shop
410
90
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
CALVIN GLAZIER
Bounded north on Chandler Webber
East on the county line South on Mark Stacey West on Ichabod Goodell Barn 18 x 36 feet
420
DARIUS HINDS
Bounded south and east on the road 355
ROBERT HENRY
Bounded north. east, south and west on John Smalledge
Barn 24 x 30 feet .
340
ALFRED LYON
Bounded north on James Paddock
East on John Holbrook
South on Ezra Webber and Jonathan Ballard West on Trenance Webber
Barn 30 x 40 feet
Barn 30 x 40 feet
Barn 28 x 36 feet
Horse shed 22 x 26 feet
Woodlot bounded north on Jonathan Ballard
East on the road from stone
South on Gershom Rosebrooks
West on Ezra Webber Pasture called "Blodgett Farm" bounded
North on Perez Bradford
East ou Moses Clark
South on Joseph Browning
West on the road 3350
JACOB THOMPSON AND OTHERS
Land on which now stands a powder mill 130
HOLLAND'S GENERAL HISTORY.
JAMES MARCY
Bounded north on Ephraim Bond East on the road South on the Rockwell land West on Simeon Munger Barn 25 x 36 feet
3000
NEHEMIAH MAY
Bounded north on "Sarel" Perrin East on Rufus May South on colony line West on Zuriel May Barn 18 x 24 feet
1200
ZURIEL MAY
Bounded north on Sarel Perrin East on Nehemiah May South on the colony line West on Alanson Wallis
Barn 28 x 36 feet
1200
RUFUS MAY
Bounded north on Ichabod Goodell East on Mark Stacy South on Asher Badger West on Nehemiah May . Barn 28 x 38 feet 1400
SIMEON WIGHT
Ebenezer Morris on the farm Bounded north on Nehemiah May East on said Max South on the colony line West on Zuriel May Barn 18 x 24 feet Blacksmith shop
91
.
400
92
THE HISTORY OF HOLLAND, MASS.
SIMEON MUNGER
Bounded north on Ezenezer Morse East on said Morse South on John Munger West on road Barn 26 x 36 feet
230
EBENEZER MORSE
Bounded north on Rev. Ezra Reeve
East and south on James Marcy West on Simeon Munger Barn 28 x 38 feet
Corn mill and set of stones
1400
HALLOWILL PERRIN
Bounded north on Joseph Bruce East on the Quinnebaug River South on Isaac Partridge West on Joseph Bruce Barn 30 x 40 feet 1200 Janes lot 300
ASARAEL PERRIN
Bounded north on Seth Smith East on Quinnebaug River South on Nehemiah May West on Joseph Bruce Barn 30 x 40 feet 1000
ISAAC PARTRIDGE
Bounded north on Hallowell Perrin East on the Quinnebaug River South on Seth Smith West on James Marcy Barn 30 x 40 feet 1000
93
HOLLAND'S GENERAL HISTORY.
JOHN POLLEY
Bounded north on Joseph Browning East on Timothy Anderson South on Perez Bradford West on the highway. 115 A. Barn 26 x 35 feet
1200
JAMES PADDOCK
Bounded north on William Belknap East on the road
South on Alfred Lyon West on James Frizell Barn 20 x 26 feet Blacksmith shop
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