USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Middlefield > History of the town of Middlefield, Massachusetts > Part 3
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It seems probable, therefore, that the Indians were kept in ig- norance of the existence of the new plat and grant until they saw settlements being made in the Becket region. That they put forward some claim to this land is shown by the fact that the pro- prietors of Township No. 4 in August, 1752, appointed a com- mittee to investigate the matter and report to the General Court. This action seems to have been taken in response to the General
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THE MOHICAN HUNTING GROUND
Court's act of June 5 to consider a petition of the Stockbridge Indians "that there are divers tracts of land belonging to them upon which the English Inhabitants of this Province are settled without purchasing the Petitioner's Right" and that full satis- faction be given them. No recompense, however, was given them at this time.
An indication that the Stockbridge Indians claimed land as far east as the main branch of the Westfield River running south through Cummington and Worthington is found in a deed executed in 1750 by four Indian owners whereby the tract of land lying east of Pittsfield and bounded on the east by the Westfield River was conveyed to Johannis Mtoksin, also an Indian. This tract included what is now Peru besides parts of Cummington, Worthington, Hinsdale and Washington and also a northern strip of Middlefield including the Smith Hollow . region. An idea of how this trackless wilderness appeared to the Indians may be had from their picturesque description of it in their deed as "consisting of upland Swamp and meadow land wood Timber Clay Stones mines & minerals Springs of water Brooks Ponds of Water Courses." Although signed in 1750 this deed was not recorded until 1758 at which time several other large tracts mostly in northern Berkshire were also conveyed to Johannis Mtoksin by Indian owners. It might be gathered from this that the Indians, after experiencing dif- ficulties in obtaining recompense for lands deemed illegally occupied by white settlers, sought to establish their own title to those lands yet unoccupied, by having deeds recorded after the manner of the white man.
Another section of Middlefield the ownership of which was once a subject of controversy between the Indians and the whites is a triangular piece of land in the uninhabited West Hill region in the northwest part of the town which was ceded by the town of Washington in 1783. Washington was originally a tract lying between Becket and Pittsfield and was called Watsontown from its reputed owner, Richard Watson, of Shef- field, who sold it to a company of Connecticut men in 1757. It soon developed, however, that Watson had neither satisfied the claim of the Indians to his land nor obtained the consent of the Province to its purchase. Watson being in bankruptcy, the
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
proprietors made a new beginning, repurchasing the tract from Konkapot and two other Indian owners and later paying eight hundred pounds for a grant from the General Court.
The conflicting claims of the Indians and the province to the Mohican borderland came to a crisis when the General Court proposed in 1760 to lay out ten townships most of which were in eastern Berkshire and western Hampshire counties, and there- fore covered in part by the Indian deeds to Mtoksin already mentioned. The Middlefield territory was involved in this dis- pute as it contains portions of three of the townships established, which are known to-day as Chester, Worthington and Peru.
In 1762, therefore, Konkapot on behalf of all the Indian owners petitioned that the sale of these townships be stayed until the claims of the Indians could be heard, setting forth that they were recognized by all Indian Nations as the lawful owners of lands as far as Westfield River; that they had always been faithful to the English and had lost many men in their wars; and yet the General Court had granted away several large tracts of their land against which they had formerly pro- tested, but had never obtained redress, although assurances of compensation had been given them; and that they now heard that all lands in western Massachusetts were to be sold by the Province. A committee was thereupon appointed to investigate these claims, and it reported that while the Indians had not produced sufficient evidence of ownership, it was recommended that one thousand pounds be paid them to quiet them and to secure title to all their remaining lands. The Indians must have had friends at court for the amount was raised to fifteen hundred pounds and again to seventeen hundred pounds before they signed away the remainder of their hunting grounds.
The "last of the Mohicans" thereupon retired peacefully to the reservation at Stockbridge and the pioneers of Middlefield and neighboring towns were soon establishing homes in "the green woods between Westfield and Pontoosue" without fear of molestation from its former possessors.
CHAPTER III
THE MIGRATION TO THE BERKSHIRE HILLS
T HE secluded hill-town country of western Massachusetts, in the heart of which Middlefield is situated, would be classified to-day as one of the "abandoned farm" districts of new England. Foundations and cellar-holes of old home- steads are constantly seen along the winding thoroughfares between the scattered and sometimes untenanted farm houses still remaining. If one is enticed into the overgrown side roads which end deep in the wooded vales or high on the bare and seemingly inaccessible hill-tops, even here cellar, lane and barn- yard are clearly outlined by the enduring stone walls, some of which have sunk to a level with the ground.
The full extent of the removal of the native population from this region, of which these landmarks are the evidence, has not been generally realized. The abandonment of the farms has usually been accounted for by the growing competition of the West in the production of grain, beef and wool, during the last fifty years, and the concentration of industry in the larger towns and cities. A great many of these cellars, however, have re- mained in their present undisturbed state for more than half a century, especially those which are remote from the main high- ways. They are the result of a much earlier emigration, begin- ning as early as 1790 and ending about 1830, during which many sons of pioneers, and even some of the pioneers themselves, after a brief stay in the rocky and wind-swept hills, pushed on to the more easily cultivated valleys of New York and Ohio which were then attracting large numbers of settlers. In the case of Middlefield, which has received no marked increase in its numbers through immigration since the days of the early settlers, this movement away from the farms has been going on with greater or less regularity for one hundred and twenty years.
Between the two seasons of marked exodus just mentioned, Middlefield was able to maintain for fifty years a stable popula-
16
HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
tion averaging seven hundred twenty persons, or more than twice the present number of inhabitants of the town. During this time a considerable degree of prosperity in trading and manufacturing as well as in agriculture was enjoyed which re- acted favorably upon the social and intellectual life of the community. The achievements of this period, however, of which the older inhabitants of the town have pleasant recollections, can be accurately estimated only by a full understanding of the underlying forces which impelled the pioneers to seek a livelihood in this rugged region and by an appreciation of the unique and difficult problems which they encountered and solved in organizing the town during the economic and political chaos which existed throughout and after the Revolutionary War.
This inquiry is the more necessary when we remember at the outset that the township of Middlefield was not established in the usual manner. Before the incorporation in 1783 its territory belonged largely to what are now the neighboring towns of Becket, Chester, Worthington, Peru and Washington. There was also an independent tract enclosed by them known as Prescott's Grant. It was not until all these lands had been well settled under the direction of different groups of proprie- tors, that the dwellers in Prescott's Grant and the bordering por- tions of the adjacent towns, feeling the need of better highways and a more accessible political and religious center, initiated the movement which led to the incorporation of Middlefield. The history of the people who formed the town, therefore, begins with the history of the towns of which they were formerly citizens.
The map facing page 28 shows where these sections of former townships lay with respect to the later boundaries of Middlefield. The large northeastern portion of the town, including Middlefield Center, was the southwest corner of Worthington. The smaller southeastern quarter was the northwest corner of Chester. The large southwest quarter, including the land directly south of the Center, was the northeast corner of Becket, as indicated in the previous chapter. Prescott's Grant and the smaller por- tions on the west and north contributed respectively by Wash- ington and Peru occupy the northwest portion of the township. For convenience we shall hereafter designate each of these ceded sections by the name of the town ceding it.
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THE MIGRATION TO THE BERKSHIRE HILLS
The first portion of Middlefield territory to be granted by the Province for settlement was the southwest corner originally belonging to Becket. This township, as we saw in a previous chapter, was first known as No. 4, and was established with three others as a result of the General Court's measure of 1735, for the ultimate purpose of defeating by colonization the claim of New York to all Massachusetts territory west of the Con- necticut River. It was the intention to have these townships adjoin one another, two on each side of the Albany road leading from Westfield to the Housatonic Plantation through what are now Blandford, Otis, Sandisfield and Tyringham. No. 4, how- ever, on account of the resurvey mentioned in the preceding chapter, was finally located to the northward at a considerable distance from the only channel of travel. Moreover, the other three townships which are to-day included in Sandisfield, New Marlboro, Monterey and Tyringham, were contiguous to settle- ments already well established either in Massachusetts or Con- necticut, while No. 4 was practically surrounded by wilderness at the outset. Fortunately the township of Blandford, which was begun just at this time, touched No. 4 at its southeast corner and brought it eventually into communication with the rest of the world.
There was little demand for lands in the hill country at this period. After the waste of the Indian wars the activities of pioneers did not extend beyond the Connecticut and Housatonic Valleys. The unbroken forests which stretched to Canada were still inhabited by tribes who were always ready to attack the Massachusetts settlements at the instigation of the ever hos- tile French. Although the lands of No. 4 had been divided and allotted by Joseph Brigham and the other proprietors at a meeting in Marlboro in August, 1737, few were willing to make actual settlement. The situation as it existed in 1743 is well shown by the petition of the three settlers to the General Court asking that the proprietors show cause why their right to the grant should not be forfeited on account of the expiration of the period set for performing the conditions of the grant and the great hardship which had arisen by the neglect of the other grantees. Although the petition was granted, the outcome of the matter was no doubt deferred by the important events which soon followed.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
In 1744 war with France broke out. Berkshire county was now a part of the frontier and was exposed to the dread attacks of the Indians and French as the Connecticut Valley had been in the former wars. Fort Massachusetts, which had been erected at what is now North Adams to protect the Housatonic Valley settlements, fell before an attacking force of seven hundred in 1746, and its defenders were carried captive to Canada.
Rudimentary forts were erected åt Pittsfield, No. 4, and Bland- ford at this time, but the fear of the Indians was such that Pittsfield and No. 4 were wholly abandoned, while all but four families in Blandford fled to other towns for safety. A party of red-skins visited Blandford in 1749, but inflicted no serious damage.
With the peace of 1748 the pressure of emigration from Con- necticut into the Housatonic became manifest. Pittsfield was repopulated largely by families from Wethersfield while men from West Hartford and Wallingford established Lenox. The menace of the French and Indians was still present, however, and in 1753 the final struggle for the supremacy of North America began. The following year Hoosick Falls, New York, not far from the Massachusetts border, was laid waste by a band of Schagticoke Indians. Passing by Fort Massachusetts, a few of them attacked a house at Stockbridge, killing one man and a child. Exaggerated reports of these raids caused the temporary abandonment of Pittsfield and Lenox, but settlement was re- sumed as soon as troops could be furnished for their protection.
So far as is known, the only pioneer of Middlefield region who participated in these anxious times was Samuel Taylor, one of the earliest residents of Pittsfield. The story goes that one day when her husband was at work, Mrs. Taylor, seeing the Indians approaching the house, caught her infant child in her arms, mounted a horse and rode for her life. She escaped and joined her husband soon after. One version of this tale states that they were chased by Indians as far as Peru. At any rate, the family abandoned Pittsfield and chose a home on Middlefield hill-top where there was no danger of Indian attacks.
Although the war continued for several years, it was carried on in other sections of the frontier. That the danger of invasion of Berkshire county was considered as past is shown by the re-
19
THE MIGRATION TO THE BERKSHIRE HILLS
settlement of No. 4 on a permanent basis in 1755, the new delegation of pioneers coming mostly from eastern Connecticut. Two years later the Hartwood plantation just north of No. 4 was purchased by families from Hartford and Suffield, Connecticut. Although these communities enjoyed a steady growth from this time on, it was fifteen years before the demand for cheap lands was sufficient to attract settlers to the remoter sections later ceded to form Middlefield. Before this happened, No. 4 and Hartwood were incorporated in 1765 and 1777 respectively under their present names of Becket and Washington.
With the capture of Quebec in 1759 and the downfall of French rule in Canada, the exciting cause of the Indian attacks which had harassed the Massachusetts settlements since the beginning of the century was now removed. The effect upon immigration, which had hitherto been greatly restricted, was immediate, and western Massachusetts offered an inviting field for homeseekers. As a result of the demand for land the General Court was able to replenish the depleted treasury of the Province by marking out ten townships in this region which were sold at auction in 1762.
Three of these townships contained land which later became parts of Middlefield. No. 2, which included Peru and Hinsdale, was purchased by Elisha Jones, of Weston, for 1,460 pounds, and was first called Partridgefield when Oliver Partridge, of Hatfield, became part owner. No. 3, which was bought by Aaron Willard for 1,860 pounds, was transferred to John Worthington, of Springfield, and Major Barnard, of Deerfield, and was named in honor of the former. No. 9, which included Chester and Huntington, though purchased in the name of William Williams for 1,500 pounds passed at once into ownership of John Murray, of Rutland; Abijah Willard, of Lancaster; and John Chandler and Timothy Paine, of Worcester. This township, incorporated in 1765 under the name of Murrayfield, was divided into an eastern portion called Norwich, (now Huntington), and a west- ern section incorporated in 1783 under the name of Chester.
Enclosed by these three townships and those of Becket and Washington lay a tract of province land of some 2,600 acres which included the hills forming the upper valley of the stream
20
HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
now known as Factory Brook.1 This land remained ungranted for several years after the settlements in the neighboring towns were well advanced. In the spring of 1771, however, the ap- pearance of surveyors indicated that this tract would soon pass into private possession.
These surveyors represented James, William and Oliver Prescott, to whom the General Court had granted the preceding year an amount of land in lieu of certain territory in the town of Groton, which their father, Benjamin Prescott, had lost by the settlement of the boundary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The heirs had a choice of 5,880 acres on the Saco River in Maine, or 4,400 acres in the western part of the Province "provided they can find the same." As western Massachusetts at this time offered a more attractive opportunity for a ready sale of lands to prospective settlers, the latter offer was accepted.
By this time, however, there were very few large sections of Province land remaining. When their arduous task was ac- complished, the surveyors found that the tract containing Fac- tory Brook had an acreage of only two thirds of the amount granted. But they discovered at the northeast corner that the north line of Hartwood and the south line of Partridgefield did not quite adjoin, and that there was a narrow strip of land, scarcely a hundred yards wide, which extended four miles to another piece of ungranted land now situated in Washington. Even with this addition it was still necessary to survey a sep- arate parcel of two hundred seventy acres further west in order to secure the total number to which they were entitled.
We can hardly imagine the difficulties which the surveyors must have encountered in determining the boundaries of a section so long and of such an irregular shape, especially in a region where the unbroken forest was relieved only by ledges, swamps and ponds. Worst of all, the north and south lines, seven miles in length, lay directly across the hill ranges and valleys which parallel each other in this vicinity. The running of the northern boundary, for instance, starting west from the Worthington town line near the beginning of the Den Stream,2
1 See Map of 1775, facing p. 28.
" For full account see Appendix A.
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THE MIGRATION TO THE BERKSHIRE HILLS
necessitated a climb of three hundred feet in the first mile to the summit of Robbins Hill, the highest point of land in Hampshire County. In the second mile a drop of five hundred feet to Factory Brook was followed in the third mile by another climb of four hundred fifty feet to the present Washington town line, the remainder of the line traversing territory nearly as irregular.
In spite of the difficulties, the work was expeditiously per- formed. In June of the same year the General Court bestowed on the Prescotts the land as surveyed." Under the circumstances the provision that this grant should not contain more than 4,400 acres naturally went unchallenged. Later surveys, however, showed the area to be larger by over five hundred acres.
The Prescotts lost no time in disposing of their property. In December the large tract was purchased by William Spencer, of Sheffield, who immediately transferred the eastern quad- rilateral now lying in Middlefield to Josiah Arnold, of East Haddam, Connecticut. In spite of its changes of ownership this property was commonly known as Prescott's Grant up to the time of its incorporation into the township of Middlefield.
Although Prescott's Grant and the neighboring townships were originally owned by men who lived mostly in the eastern part of the state, probably not one half of the actual settlers came from this locality. Partly on account of the topography of south- ern New England and partly for economic reasons the general movement of immigration from the coast assumed a northern as well as a western direction. Families in the Massachusetts coast towns, for instance, who were engaged in occupations connected with the prosperous sea trade, naturally moved northward to harbors along the Maine shore. But seafaring life had its dangers and hardships. George Conant, of Barnstable, moved to Becket, being afraid that his sons would become sailors, and perhaps his fellow-townsmen who came to the Becket section of Middle- field were influenced by the same motive. Emigrants from the inland towns in general preferred to move across the border into New Hampshire and Vermont rather than to take up the western lands of their own province across the Connecticut River which were less accessible and situated at a greater distance from their old homes and trading centers.
3 For full account see Appendix A.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
An exception to this northern movement, however, is noted in the case of many of the Scotch-Irish immigrants who began to arrive in Massachusetts in 1718. As the Province offered them special inducements to locate on the frontier in order to assist in repelling the attacks of the Indians, a large number settled at Worcester from which town they spread to Rutland and other places in the vicinity. Farther west the towns of Blandford, Pelham and Coleraine were founded by them in the same manner. As the proprietors of Murrayfield all lived in localities in central Massachusetts where the Ulsterites had settled, quite a number of the latter, some of whom had friends or relatives in Blandford, were induced to purchase lots in the adjoining town of Murrayfield. There seems to have been no other organized movement of eastern Massachusetts families to the towns in the Middlefield region. There were, however, many individual settlers from many eastern towns who for reasons known only to themselves decided to try their fortune in the western hills.
But the great impulse for immigration into the hill country lands of western Massachusetts came from the farmers and tradesmen in the overcrowded inland towns of eastern Connecti- cut. The succession of Indian Wars had not only restricted the natural emigration of the rapidly increasing population of this region, but it had also driven back from the Massachusetts frontier into Connecticut many of the families of pioneers, some of whom were originally from eastern Massachusetts. By the end of the French and Indian War the only vacant lands lay to the north and northwest. Consequently many families moved up the Connecticut Valley to New Hampshire and the Grants west of the river which later became the state of Vermont. Some of the more adventurous pushed on to the New York frontier where the untamed Iroquois and other Indian tribes held sway. Others from Windham County and elsewhere formed the Con- necticut-Susquehanna Land Company which purchased a large and fertile domain in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania.
But those who did not wish to settle so far from their old homes could secure wild lands at reasonable prices in the com- paratively nearby region of western Massachusetts. Moreover, the roads already existing in the Connecticut and Westfield Val-
1
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THE MIGRATION TO THE BERKSHIRE HILLS
leys, on which the trading centers of Hartford, Springfield and Westfield were situated, formed a convenient pathway to them for the larger part of the distance. The impression gained ground that the highlands were more healthful than the low- lands. But, even so, it seemed likely that the steepness of the hills and the narrowness of the valleys characteristic of this sec- tion would have prevented a large immigration had not the other portions of the northwestern frontier with their broader valleys been made less attractive for settlement just as this movement was gaining headway.
New Hampshire and New York now became engaged in a protracted controversy over the ownership of the land lying between them, known as the New Hampshire Grants, and even the validity of individual titles to land in this section was at times impaired. Under the leadership of Ethan Allen, settlers who had purchased lands from the New Hampshire government and were ordered by the British Privy Council to repurchase them from the New York authorities, resorted to arms to protect their rights. Not until the independence of the Grants was acknowl- edged and the state of Vermont formally recognized and admit- ted to the Union in 1791 were these problems entirely solved.
In the Wyoming Valley, even before the Revolution, attacks by the Indians and destructive civil strife between the Con- necticut and Pennsylvania pioneers who both claimed the land led many stockholders in the Susquehanna Company to dispose of their shares. Among these were several Middlefield pioneers, such as Obadiah Rhoades and James Dickson. Another stock- holder, Giles Churchill, got no further than Orange County, New York. His son, Elijah, returning to Connecticut, later chose Middlefield as his home.
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