USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Middlefield > History of the town of Middlefield, Massachusetts > Part 27
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A more thrilling experience, which must have occurred at an earlier date was that of John Gordon, who lived in what is now known as the Holcomb Hill region, just south of the Middlefield line. He had been in "the Den" one cool autumn day, helping a neighbor slaughter his hogs, and started home on horseback early in the evening, taking with him a torch from the fire. He had not gone far when he was attacked by a pack of wolves. He kept them off for a time with his torch. Finally thinking to get rid of them once for all, he detached from his saddle a large piece of fresh meat, and threw it to the ravenous creatures. There was a moment's respite while the pack were snarling over this tidbit, but this only whetted their appetites and they were soon snapping at his horses flanks more savagely than ever. For nearly two miles he kept the animals at bay with his torch while he encouraged his horse up the hillside trail, reaching the house in safety just as his steed sank exhausted at the door.
The days of "raisings" furnish a number of anecdotes, most of which seem to be connected with the drinking customs of those days. Probably the general use of liquor on such oc- casions, which was furnished free, gave rise to unusual incidents
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the narration of which under the circumstances would be given wide circulation. That the raising of a building in the old- fashioned way was not unattended with danger is indicated by the death of Alpheus Russell, one of the early builders, in the raising of his own barn. There is no reason to suppose that he was the workman, who after having helped himself too liberally to stimulants, shouted, "See me walk on the dildin" as he at- tempted unsuccessfully to walk aloft on a top beam. Whoever he was, his fatal ending has been handed down as a horrible example of the evils of intemperance, against which Deacon Alexander Ingham started his vigorous campaign about 1830.
An incident which is no doubt typical of the merrymaking at "raisings" occurred at the erection of the house of William Church on the West Hill in 1834. Young Alexander Dickson, a nephew of Mr. Church, and later a Methodist minister, was just riding up on horseback with a jug of spirits to replenish the depleted supply, when a sportive youth from Washington also on horseback, at an opportune moment seized the jug and dashed up the road toward his native heath. Alexander pursued in haste and the level stretch along the West Hill ridge saw as furious a race as ever took place on the Cattle Show grounds. The Washingtonian was overtaken and the riders raced back to the starting point amid the applause of the interested crowd when they saw that the brown jug had been recaptured by its Middlefield owner. Such exploits as these, no doubt, enabled Dickson about twenty years later to discharge efficiently his duties as official dispenser of spiritous liquors for medicinal pur- poses during a brief period of state prohibition. A former promi- nent Middlefield resident recalls his impressions of this same occasion as a small boy. It seems that he followed the example of his elders in the use of liquid refreshments for on his home- ward walk down the West Hill the "thank-you-ma'ams" rose in front of him to such an extent that he thought he was going up hill instead of down. When he finally reached home his parents were mystified at his actions and condition until vomiting re- vealed the source of the disturbance.
An incident which is told in connection with the raising of Deacon Newton's barn on the north road occurred at a much earlier date. Among those who attended were John Pinney,
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sometimes called "Deacon," and his neighbors, Captain John Ward and Andrew Meacham. The "Deacon," being one who was easily overcome by liquor, was often a victim of the jokes of his sport-loving neighbors. As the "raising" progressed Meacham and Ward watched with amusement Mr. Pinney as he sampled the liquid refreshments from time to time, as they ex- pected to have some fun at his expense, and were somewhat disappointed to find when the work was over that he had dis- appeared. As they were leisurely returning home, Meacham on horseback and Captain Ward on foot, they came upon Pinney lying by the roadside apparently the worse for his indulgence of the afternoon. Being unable to walk or even stand, the "Deacon" was lifted onto Meacham's horse, and with Meacham on behind to steady him and Ward leading the animal, they pro- ceeded slowly toward Pinney's home, passing their own dwellings on the way. As they drew up to the doorstep, the "Deacon" straightening himself, suddenly slid gracefully from the horse, and remarked with huge enjoyment, "There boys, you're a couple of cussed fools."
As a result of the state laws regarding military training in force during the early part of the last century, "training days" occurred at stated periods. On these occasions certain citizens who were officers in the militia appeared in uniform and put their friends and neighbors through the drill. Among the officers remembered are Captain Orrin Millard, Lieutenant Mil- ton Ingham and Ensign John Ward. David Mack, Jr., who was a major in the Massachusetts troops during the War of 1812, became a general of militia, and directed tactics on a larger scale in other localities. The music for the drill was furnished by a fife and kettle drum, the latter being played at one time by Warren Wheeler. At least twice the Center resounded with the din of a sham battle, events which elicited from the small boys much admiration and patriotic enthusiasm, and caused as mnuch excitement as the more serious military maneuvering of Shays' Rebellion.
The muster ground, located just north of the meetinghouse, was sold to the town by Oliver Blush as early as 1793 when the only buildings at the Center were the meetinghouse and Blush's Tavern. Blush certainly lost nothing by this step. This land
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with its generous outcropping of bed rock was worthless for any other purpose, and its proximity to the tavern gave his bar a monopoly of the patronage of the town's people in the general jollification which took place after the drill was over. To at least one of the older generation the remembrance of the delicious smell, and perhaps the taste, of the toddy served on these occa- sions lingered vividly into the twentieth century.
Before the time when overseers were appointed to look after the poor, it was the custom to auction off the support of town paupers to the lowest bidder at town meeting. Although the lowest bidder gave a bond to the selectman for proper care of the poor, this practice was open to abuse, as it was a temptation to make the low bid yield an undue profit at the expense of the unfortunates. The poor are pictured as attending the meetings and shivering with apprehension during the bidding as their comfort for the coming year was largely dependent upon the character and disposition of the low bidder. Sometimes, how- ever, the winner got the worst of it as in the case of Uncle Runey Matoon of Washington, a man of generous disposition, who had charge of the poor one year. His remark that the town charges had had "a devilish good living" indicated that the care he had given them was not recompensed by the low bid he had made.
There was one unusual problem concerning the town poor which required the exercise of inter-town diplomacy. Among the dependents of Middlefield was Betty Crowell, daughter of a pioneer who lived on the West Hill, while in Washington lived an old friend of Betty, Russell West, a former resident of Mid- dlefield, now a town charge. It was their desire to get married, and in the usual course of events this would have removed one dependent from Middlefield and added one to Washington. As the latter town objected to this, the town of Middlefield agreed to support the indigent couple for six months of the year, and the course of true love was permitted to "run smooth."
Johnnycake Hill has been mentioned a number of times with- out any explanation of the origin of such a peculiar name. This name was first applied to the steep western slope of the central ridge down which ran the old Becket road leading from Blos- som's Tavern by Loveland's gristmill on Factory Brook. The destruction of the gristmill by the flood of 1874 and the burning
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of the Loveland homestead on the maple-sheltered side road, caused this highway to be abandoned, leaving none on the hill- side to tell how this old thoroughfare came to be called "The Johnnycake Hill Road."
One story, which has been confirmed from several sources, runs as follows: At one time when there were a number of farmers in that region working on the road for a few days, there was one of the men who always went off by himself to eat his lunch. This action stimulated the curiosity of the others to such an extent that at a convenient opportunity they investigated his dinner pail and found that it contained only johnnycake. This caused so much amusement that the name has clung to the locality, though to-day it is more generally applied to the bare, rounded eminence at the top of the ridge past which the road originally ran.
In the good-natured, social intercourse which characterized the industrial life in Factory Village, many must have been the pleasantries arising out of the clash of different nationalities and personalities, yet but few anecdotes of this kind have been preserved. The general contentment of the employees was no doubt due to the less agreeable conditions of existence in the countries from which they had recently emigrated. The absence of records of criminal offenses and general quarrelsomeness makes it seem likely that wherever ill-will arose, it rarely passed beyond violent language and practical joking.
At one time Job Robbins was keeper of the old boarding- house in the upper village. In his daily round of duties Job was accustomed to cross a footbridge over Factory Brook to fetch drinking water from a spring, but one day when he was return- ing with a full pail in each hand, one of the wooden cross boards of the bridge gave away, precipitating the surprised water- carrier into the shallow but icy stream below. As Robbins had incurred the displeasure of "Captain" Bracket, one of his boarders, it was generally concluded that the "Captain" or some of his friends, had been at some pains to loosen the support of the board just enough so that it would succumb only under the extra weight of the water carried by Robbins on his return trip across the bridge. The fact that Brackett happened to be passing just as the accident occurred and appeared to show
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MISS MARY LEACH ALBERT GORDON
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH JOSEPH BENNETT
JACOB ROBBINS LYMAN CHURCHILL
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undue surprise rather gave strength to the idea that he somehow had something to do with the affair.
It was perhaps natural that after the flood the people in the "Hollow" should be a bit nervous about the recurrence of any such disaster. One day during the long process of rebuilding the dam, a workman strolled into Church brothers' store and told about the giving away of a certain portion of the embankment. This so fired the imagination of George Suriner who lived in the lower village that without further inquiry he started on a head- long run down the road and across the bridge, shouting, "Dam's gone again, Dam's gone again," whenever he saw anyone. It is presumed that those who heard him kept on high ground until the predicted flood failed to materialize, and felt them- selves victims of a joke. When they heard the whole story and learned that Suriner had continued on his mad career all the way to his home near Leach's gristmill they concluded that the joke was on him rather than on them.
Daniel Leach, who once owned the saw and gristmills on Factory Brook, was a victim of consumption, but being of a stubborn disposition was determined not to die. However, to his surprise no doubt, he succumbed, after a ride on horseback through the street at Jehu-like speed, a daily practice which he fancied would lengthen his days. Mr. Leach married for his second wife Fanny Wolcott, a distant relative of Governor Wolcott of Connecticut. Of her a prominent citizen once wrote, "Fanny was a tailoress and the writer has never had a very kindly remembrance of her, she being the architect of several misfit garments, which under circumstances beyond his control, he was once a week obliged to exhibit in the sanctuary much to his disgust and mortification."
One of the interesting characters of the lower village was Daniel Leach's son, Hiram, who carried on his father's mills for some years, but retired from active life earlier than was usually the custom for Middlefield citizens. Some said he was lazy, while others attributed his inactivity to ill-health. But probably his cider mill furnished him with sufficient income to keep him in comfort in the old Simeon Wood house to which he and his sister, Mary, retired. He was a great reader, sitting up far into the night with his books. He was also mathematical and
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exact in his accounts, placing a monetary value on the most insignificant of his activities whether for himself or for other people.
In some way Hiram Leach came to a disagreement about some financial transaction with a certain neighbor. Unfortunately this neighbor had to pass the Leach house every day and all too frequently when he stopped at the watering trough below Hiram's on his return trip to the Center, he would find his accuser there with his usual question, "Why don't you pay me what you owe me," followed by others in similar vein as he walked along beside the slow moving vehicle for nearly half a mile. As this went on for some time without any settlement of the dispute, it seemed to outsiders that Hiram was getting his money's worth in thus tormenting the gentleman and was receiv- ing the benefit of some needed physical exercise at the same time.
The traditional shrewdness of the Yankee appears in the remarks of Daniel Leach, Jr., who went to Ohio, following the death of his mother and his father's second marriage in 1830. In May, 1832, he wrote from Bainbridge saying that he made seventy dollars on the purchase of fifteen cows from the Dutch. "Cows never was known so high on the Reserve as now,-and the Dutch sell cow just as cow, not knowing that they are rising." A year or two later there was a demand for apples and he offered to buy a thousand bushels of dried apples from his Middlefield relatives, giving horses in exchange. In 1835 he made thirteen dollars a day for eighteen days in the cheese business, but the following year, this article was a drug on the market, and he lost money on a trip to the south, also contract- ing illness from which he died upon his return.
One of the drawbacks to emigration to Ohio seems to have been the climate. The lowness of the lands was for the first year or two, an unwelcome change from the higher and drier hills and ague and rheumatism flourished. From Aurora the report came in 1832 that "health in this section of the country as a general thing has been very poor; a great many people are complaining."
Town politics in Middlefield, with its various factions and the rise and fall of leaders, exhibited on a small scale the char- acteristics of politics in general. So long as the Baptist and
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Congregational Societies flourished, their members had a tradi- tional antagonism to one another long after the bitterness engendered by early theological differences had disappeared. Many minor circumstances, such as an intermarriage of mem- bers of opposing groups or the sudden switch of a prominent leader from one society to the other as the result of some quarrel, arose to cause the balance of power to shift from time to time, but the fundamental cleavage still remained for many years.
In Congregational circles the Church brothers with the back- ing of their factory employees and the business connections established through their store exerted a large influence, though they followed the well-considered policy of business men in not becoming personally active in managing town affairs. None of them ever held the office of selectman. As they were the heaviest tax-payers of the town, at one time paying more than one half the total assessment, they naturally advocated the election of men who would listen to their counsels, and the continued service of John L. Bell, Morgan Pease and Hiram Taylor as selectmen was to some extent due to their influence. Oliver Church was the leading politician of the Church brothers, and he was gen- erally on hand at caucuses and elections with slips of paper con- taining the names of the favored candidates for voters who had not made up their minds on the subject.
The Smiths, Roots, Wrights and Aldermans formed the nucleus of the Baptist Church. In later years the opinions of Metcalf J. Smith were often sought after, and he was the nominal leader in many campaigns. Broadly educated, he fought hard for increased appropriations and better management for the schools and the library, encountering much partisan opposition, but leaving a marked impress on these institutions. Two promi- nent citizens waged a strong fight against appropriations for the library, especially when it was proposed to use the revenue from the Dog Tax for that purpose. The vote at one meeting on this question was a tie, but the moderator, Matthew Smith, cast the deciding vote in the affirmative. It is interesting to note that the two vigorous opponents to the appropriations for the library were in after years among the most diligent patrons of that institution.
The numerous Pease family and their followers formed another influential group which acted more independently of religious
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affiliations than either the Churches or the Smiths. When allied with the former they could command many votes, but there were times when the Blush Hollow contingent, arriving in full force at the critical moment of a town caucus, would upset their plans. Arnold Pease, Morgan Pease and Asher Pease all had their turn at controlling town policies, and while their opponents may have considered some of their methods at times too dicta- torial, they could be depended upon to give the town a good business administration.
Town meetings had their pleasantries as well as their serious business. In the early days Jim Dickson was always on hand to oppose anything that his nephew, 'Riah Church, had to propose. Spencer Knox is remembered as one who had much to say, usually on the unpopular side of any question. It was an annual performance for Orrin Pease to rise and nominate Deacon Ing- ham for pound keeper, after which some newly married citizen would we chosen for this office.
For many years Hiram Taylor was a bachelor, -- due largely, it was thought, to his mother's influence,-and he was the subject of much joking on this point. At one time he made an elaborate speech in town meeting protesting against the high taxes for school purposes. When he had finished, Matthew Smith jumped to his feet and exclaimed, "Well, Mr. Moderator, Mr. Taylor says that he hasn't a chick nor a child. I hope he doesn't blame the town for that !"'
With his natural aptitude for public affairs, Henry Hawes' would have achieved eminence in a broader field. As moderator in town meeting he presided with ease, dignity and impartiality, relieving with timely jokes the tense situations created by harsh criticisms and heated debates. One of the most amusing in- cidents on record occurred during the election of officers at one annual March meeting. On this occasion an esteemed citizen. after having voted early in the day, later in a moment of pre- occupation deposited a second ballot in the box and had returned to his seat before the checkers were aware of the error. Henry Hawes, the moderator, upon being advised of the matter, made it known in a tactful manner, without giving the name of the offender, and asked what was the pleasure of the citizens upon this unusual situation. Instantly the name was requested, but
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the moderator politely yet firmly refused to give it. Finally Ambrose Newton rose and sternly demanded that the name be given, putting his request in the form of a motion, so that the moderator reluctantly had to yield to the will of the meeting. 'The man is Ambrose Newton," calmly announced Mr. Hawes, and everyone was thunderstruck, none more so that Mr. Newton himself, who finally broke the dead silence by rising again, and in a much less peremptory manner than before apologizing pro- fusely for his absentmindedness which made necessary the preparation of a whole new set of ballots.
It is a frequent observation that a very large percentage of the people who become successful in all departments of life in the cities are from the country. It has recently been stated? that the progress of every city comes from the energy, imagination and courage of two percent of the people, and that ninety-five percent of this two percent comes from the country. As Middle- field has been a town from which a very large number of people have gone out to make their fortunes it will be of interest to follow the careers of a few of these in the effort to determine how well their early training helped them to achieve success and what particular lines they followed.
One of the first to achieve prominence after leaving Middle- field was Azariah, son of the pioneer, Matthew Smith, whose example has been cited as typical of pioneers from western Massachusetts settling in New York State.3 Some of his Smith relatives from East Haddam, Connecticut had already emigrated to Onandaga County, when, preceded by his counsin, Calvin Smith from Middlefield, and with a winter term at Westfield Academy to supplement his district school learning, Azariah Smith started on horseback for Onandaga Hill in 1807 to become clerk in the store of his cousin. After a few months he opened a branch store in Manlius, New York, for John Meeker, a former Middlefield man, and became unusually successful in this line as well as later in the manufacturing of cotton goods. He returned in 1810 to marry Zilpha, the daughter of Deacon David Mack. Smith became widely known for his business capacity, in- tegrity and public spirit, and was selected for many important
2 New Tasks for Old Churches, p. 14 by Roger W. Babson.
3 Expansion of New England by Lois Kimball Matthews.
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positions of trust. He was a presidential elector in 1824 and a member of the state assembly from 1838 to 1840. He was zealous in the cause of education, being a particularly generous supporter of Manlius Academy, and at the time of his death a trustee of Hamilton College and of Auburn Theological Seminary.
Among the distinguished descendants of Middlefield emigrants to New York State was the late Andrew Dickson White, author, educator and diplomat, the first president of Cornell University, and United States Minister to Berlin. In his autobiography he describes his grandfather, Andrew Dickson, who left Middle- field as a young man about 1800 and became a prosperous busi- ness man in Cortland, New York. He was known as "Colonel" and "Squire," and was representative of his county to the state legislature. He was an ardent Democrat, taking his practical creed from Thomas Jefferson, and admiring Andrew Jackson, while his son-in-law, Mr. White's father, was an adherent of Henry Clay and Alexander Hamilton. "My grandfather," says Mr. White, "loved the Hampshire Hills of Massachusetts from which he came. Year after year he took long journeys to visit them." This was, no doubt, to visit his parents who were up to the time of his death, in 1835, living on the old homestead near the Robbins farm. Mr. White says, "When I was ten years old 1 saw my great-grandfather (John Dickson) at Middlefield, eighty-two years of age, sturdy and vigorous; he had mowed a broad field the day before, and walked four miles to church the day after."
Several families in which business talent was conspicuous were the Durants, Newtons, Macks, McElwains and Hamiltons. William Durant was a prominent merchant in Albany, while his brother, Clark Durant followed the example of his brother in Albany and New York City. William Newton and John Newton built up a merchandizing and milling business in these same cities. Here also their nephew, John Andrew Newton learned the milling business, and then developed an enterprise of his own in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. His son, William Newton, follow- ing the family tradition, is now president of Haskins and Brothers, soap makers, in Omaha, Nebraska.
In the Mack family General David Mack continued in Amherst the successful store business he developed in Middlefield, and
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