USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Middlefield > History of the town of Murrayfield : earlier known as Township No. 9, and comprising the present towns of Chester and Huntington, the northern part of Montgomery, and the southeast corner of Middlefield : 1760-1763 > Part 2
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Huntington > History of the town of Murrayfield : earlier known as Township No. 9, and comprising the present towns of Chester and Huntington, the northern part of Montgomery, and the southeast corner of Middlefield : 1760-1763 > Part 2
USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Chester > History of the town of Murrayfield : earlier known as Township No. 9, and comprising the present towns of Chester and Huntington, the northern part of Montgomery, and the southeast corner of Middlefield : 1760-1763 > Part 2
USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Montgomery > History of the town of Murrayfield : earlier known as Township No. 9, and comprising the present towns of Chester and Huntington, the northern part of Montgomery, and the southeast corner of Middlefield : 1760-1763 > Part 2
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GREEN'S DEED TO KIRTLAND.
George Green sold 1632 acres of his part to John Kirtland of Mur- rayfield by deed dated July 4th, 1772.
West Line of Northampton. N. 5º E
HazEl Staddle with Stones about it 295 1/2 Rods9
11 E. 5º5.
Hemlock TREE
with Stories
about it
542 Rods. Fuller
POND 96 ACRES
1000 Acres
Joseph Green
427 Rods
168/4 Rods
500 Acres Isaac Walker's Heirs With Stones Hard Mahle 302 Rods
6 BEEch TREE With Stones about it
N.5º E
797 Rods.
500 Acres
About , 700 Acres.
N. 5°E
THE DE VISEES of Dr Bulfinch
Williams Grant
with Stone about/ it 3331/2 Rods - Birth Tree
370 Auds
Hemlock
Trees with 370 Rods 240 Rods E. 505. 302 Rods West Branch of Mahan River Stones about them.
North Line of Ingersol Grant
Plan of the Green and Walker Grant. and of the Williams Grant.
131% Rods 295/2 Rods
17
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
WILLIAMS GRANT.
The Williams grant contained 700 acres of land, and was granted by the General Court of the Province to the heirs of the Rev. John Williams, formerly of Deerfield, whose name is familiar to all who have read of the Indian wars in New England. The grant was made in answer to the petition of the Rev. Stephen Williams of Spring- field, June 1st, 1737; it was laid out October 6th, 1737. The record of the General Court shows the following:
"On petition of the Rev. Mr. Stephen Williams of Springfield, in the House of Representatives, June 1st, 1737, read & in answer to the petition, ordered, that the petitioner have leave to survey & lay out by a surveyor & chainman on oath 500 aeres of unappropriated lands of the province, in lieu of 700 aeres laid out & confirmed at the session of this court held the 24th of Novem- ber last which fall within a former grant & therefore is hereby vacated; & return a plan thereof within twelve months for confirmation to satisfy the grant within mentioned."
Sent up for confirmation,
J. QUINCY, Speaker.
In council June 2d, 1737. Read & ordered consented to.
The plan returned read as follows: " A tract of seven hundred acres of land lying west of the township of Northampton, viz; the- sontheast corner of said :00 acres being about half a mile westward of the north end of a great hill known by the name of Break-neck Hill, and said corner is near the west bank of the west branch of Mahan River, laid out to satisfy the grant of the General Court to the heirs of the Rev. Mr. John Williams, late of Deerfield, deceased.
Proportioned to a scale of 100 perch in an inch.
EBENEZER KINGSLEY & ROGER MILLER, Chairmen. Laid out October 6, 1137.
OLIVER PARTRIDGE, Surveyor."
Accompanying this was a plan of the grant.
WILLIAMS' DEED TO JOIN KIRTLAND.
The deed of the Rev. Stephen Williams, then of Springfield, to John Kirtland, yeoman, then of Norwich, New London County, Con- nectient, conveyed 400 acres for 180 pounds; and as it gives a descrip- tion of the whole tract I will copy the description part in full:
" A tract of land in Murrayfield in said County of Hampshire, containing 400 acres, being 4-7 parts [the whole in seven equal parts to be divided ] of
18
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
a tract of land in said Murrayfield containing 700 acres, which said tract of 700 acres was granted by the general court of the province aforesaid & laid out to the heirs of the Rev. John Williams, late of Deerfield, deceased, & is bounded as follows: The south east corner of said 700 acres is about half a mile westward of the north end of Break Neck Hill, at a hemlock & beech tree marked 'W'; from thence said land runs N. 5° E. 370 perch to a black birch marked ' W' with stones around it; from thence running W. 5º N. 302 1/2 perch to a maple marked 'W' & stones; from thence S. 5º W. 370 perch to a beach tree marked 'W'; from thence to the first mentioned bound."
Kirtland had previously purchased two undivided sevenths, one by deed dated March 16th, 1768, from Samuel Woodward and his wife, Abigail Woodward, of Weston, Mass., Jacob Cushing and his wife, Anna Cushing, of Waltham, Mass., Joseph Parsons and his wife, Sarah Parsons, of Brimfield, Mass .; and the other by deed dated April 25th, 1768, from Nathan Williams, clerk, of Hartford, Conn. Each of these deeds conveyed 100 acres, and the price named in each deed was 45 pounds. Thus John Kirtland became the owner of six-sevenths of the Williams grant.
KIRTLAND'S DEED TO CLARK.
By deed dated June 20th, 1768, John Kirtland sold to James Clark, also of Norwich, Conn., a carpenter, 50 acres which he described as " being a part of 700 acres of land granted by the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and laid out to the heirs of the Rev. Mr. John Williams, late of Deerfield, deceased, beginning at the southwest corner of said 700 acres at a beech tree marked 'W,' thence E. 5° S. 160 rods to a stake & heap of stones; thence N. 5° E. 50 rods to stake & stones; thence W. 5º N. 160 rods to stake & stones in the west line of said grant; thence S. 5º W. 50 rods to first men- tioned bound." And by deed dated May 9th, 1769, John Kirtland sold 115 acres of the 700 acre tract to Daniel Kirtland, Jr., also of Norwich, Conn., and bounded it as follows:
" Beginning on the east line of a tract conveyed to me 6212 rods from the southeast corner of said grant, then W. 5º N. 134 rods; thence N. 5° E. 137 rods; thence E. 5° S. 134 rods; thence S. 5º W. 137 rods to the first mentioned bound." The two Kirtlands and James Clark took up their abode in Murray- field shortly after the dates of these deeds.
These two grants, the Green & Walker and the Williams grants together, formed a parallelogram, the Williams grant occupying the southeast corner.
19
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
THE BOLTON GRANT.
Immediately west of Ingersoll grant and bounded south 208 rods by Blandford and east 210 rods by Ingersoll grant was a tract of land containing 250 acres and known as Bolton grant. Its south line was south of the west branch of Westfield River. Huntington village, for- merly Chester village, and earlier known as Falley's X Roads, occupies a large part of the land which was comprised within this grant. This tract of land was occupied and claimed by John Bolton without legal title. He was what in our time would be called a " squatter."
FOYE'S DEED TO BOLTON AND BOLTON'S TO BURT.
In the year 1737 John Bolton purchased of John Foye, one of the original proprietors of Blandford, about 27 acres of land lying between the east and west branches of Westfield River at their intersection, and having as its northerly line the north line of Blandford. This piece of land he sold to Noah Burt of Southampton, the description of which will be of interest to persons who now own land within its bounds. The deed was dated January 30th, 1761, and is recorded in book 12 on page 208, now in the Hampden County Registry of Deeds. The grantor is described as "John Bolton, living on Province land be- tween the branches of Westfield River between Blandford and South- ampton in the county of Hampshire." The description is as follows:
"Twenty-seven acres of land in the town of Blandford, in a 500 acre lot number 38, which 27 acres I bought of John Foye. It is bounded as follows: Beginning at the east branch of the river on the line of the town of Bland- ford, & measured W. 20° N. to the other branch 74 rods; thence S. 10° E. by the river 40 rods; thence S. 20° E. 20 rods; thence southward by said branch or southerly to where the branches meet 66 rods; thence N. 9° E. to the first bound by the river." The price was fifty pounds.
The original proprietors of township No. 9 spoke of Bolton grant as a tract of land in the possession of John Bolton, as though there was some question in their minds as to whether Bolton was the right- ful owner of it.
BOLTON'S PETITION TO THE GENERAL COURT.
The following appears upon the records of the General Court early in 1762: "A petition of John Bolton, living in the branches of Westfield River, setting forth that in the year 1736 the Great & Gen- eral Court made a grant of 200 acres of land in the township of Me- thuen to Capt. John Foot of Amsbury, who soon after sold the same;
20
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
that upon the line between this province & New Hampshire 127 acres of said land, purchased by the petitioner fell within the bounds of New Hampshire, and that in the year 1757 he petitioned the general court for relief, & was then encouraged by a committee of the Court to be relieved, but nothing was done; & praying that the case may be now considered. In the House of Representatives Ordered. That the Committee for the sale of Western Lands be directed to except the 250 acres of land (now in possession of John Bolton) in the sale; and that the said 250 acres be reserved to the further order of this Court.
In Council read & noncurred, & ordered that the petition be dismissed. In the House read & concurred.
In the House of Representatives Ordered. That the Committee for the sale of lands at the westward be directed to except 250 acres of land now in possession of John Bolton & adjoining his house, & that the same be reserved for the further order of this court.
In Council read & concurred.
Consented to by the Governor."
BOLTON'S DEED TO ELDAD TAYLOR.
Bolton never was disturbed by any controversy about his title; and in 1763, on the 21st of September, he sold to Eldad Taylor thirty acres from the northeast corner of his grant, a description of which may not be uninteresting:
" Beginning at the northeast corner by a beech staddle with stones about it, thence W. 15º N. 40 rods; thence S. 15° W. 120 rods; thence E. 15° S. 40 rods; thence N. 15° E. to the first mentioned bound; containing 30 acres, & bounded west & South by Bolton's land, north by land of John Murray, & east by lands of John Moseley, Josiah Parks & John Bidwell."
BOLTON'S DEED TO BURT AND LYMAN.
By deed dated April 16th, 1764, describing himself of township No. 9, in consideration of £200, he sold to Samuel Burt and John Lyman, both of Northampton, the larger part of the grant, and described it as follows:
"Being part of a grant of land made by the General Court of said Province to the said John Bolton, which part of said grant lieth on the southerly side of said grant adjoining the town of Blandford; the length of said grant being 208 rods. The part hereby conveyed is as follows: beginning at a bass staddle with stones about it at the south east corner of land belonging to Eldad Tay- lor; thence running southerly 90 rods to Blandford line; thence W. 20º N. 208 rods to stake & stones standing on the bank of the west branch of West-
21
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
field River; thenee running northerly on land of David Bolton 90 rods to stake & stones; thenee easterly to a hemlock tree which is the southwest corner of said Taylor's land; thence easterly to the bass tree first mentioned."
THE SALE TO TEN TOWNSHIPS JUNE 2, 1462.
These five grants, Shelden and Clapp's. Ingersoll's, Williams', Green and Walker's, and Bolton's, were all included within the bounds of Township No. 9, which was sold by auction June 2d, 1762. Ten townships were sold at the same time by auction at Boston. The order under which these sales were made, and committee appointed to make the sale. was passed by the General Court February 17th, 1762.
Concerning this sale Dr. Ilolland, in his " History of Western Mas- sachusetts," makes the following statement: " As the finances of the Colony were embarrassed, and money became accumulated in individual hands. private enterprise found more extended fields of operation, and land speculations came to mingle in the schemes of those who had the means to engage in them. The peace which followed the events of 1160 gave opportunity for these operations, and the General Court ordered ten townships in the western part of the colony, on the 2d of June, 1762, to be sold at Boston, by auction, to the highest bidder. They were sold by their numbers, in order, as follows:
" No. 1. East Hoosac, now Adams, to Nathan Jones. for £3200.
No. 2. A tract embracing the present towns of Peru and Hinsdale, to Elisha Jones, for £1460.
No. 3. The present town of Worthington, to Aaron Willard, for £1860.
No. 4. The present town of Windsor, called Gageboro' at first, to Noah Nash, for £1430.
No. 5. The present town of Cummington, to John Cummings, for £1800.
No. 6. The present town of Savoy, to Abel Lawrence, for £1350.
No. 7. The present town of Hawley, to Moses Parsons, for £875.
No. 8. The present towns of Lenox and Richmond, to Josiah Dean, for £2550.
No. 9. The present town of Chester, at first called Murrayfield, to William Williams, for £1500.
No. 10. The present town of Rowe, to Cornelius Jones, for £380."
THE EARLY CUSTOM OF CONVEYING TOWNSHIPS TO TENANTS IN COMMON.
" When our ancestors first came to America, it was usual, in some of the New England states, for the legislatures to grant township of
22
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
land to a certain number of proprietors, as grantee's in fee, to hold as tenants in common; and a great portion of the lands of Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies were originally granted in this way by the colonial legislatures." (See 2d Dana's Abridgement, p. 698; 4th Dana's Abridgement, p. 20; Angle & Ames on Corporations, c. vi. §1 ; Sulli- van on Land Titles, pp. 39, 40, 44-48.)
This custom did not apply to private grants, such as have been re- ferred to and described. The plats of the Shelden & Clapp grant and of the Bolton grant were lost. Many others have been lost wholly or in part through inattention to the importance of their preservation. Those that remain are now carefully cared for in the Secretary of State's Department in the State House at Boston.
CHAPTER SECOND.
TOWNSHIP NO. 9.
Township No. 9 was bounded north by Chesterfield, then called New Hingham, and by Worthington, then called township No. 3, in the same group with township No. 9; west by Becket, then called township No 4, but not of the same group of townships with No. 9; on the south by Blandford and by Westfield New Addition; on the east by Southampton and by Northampton. It was estimated as containing 32.200 acres of land, including the former grants. Out of township No. 9 were carved the whole of the town of Chester and the whole of the town of Norwich, including the Green & Walker, the Williams, and the Ingersoll grants. When the town of Montgomery was incor- porated, about half the Ingersoll grant was included. In the year 1183 the northwest corner of this township was severed from Chester and became part of Middlefield.
THE ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS OF No. 9.
This township, as we have seen, was sold by auction at Boston, June 2d. 1462. to William Williams of Hatfield, for £1.500. For some rea- son, which does not appear, Williams did not take it, and it passed at once into the possession of John Chandler and Timothy Paine of Worcester, John Murray of Rutland and Abijah Willard of Lancaster, all in the county of Worcester, who took Williams' place in the trans- action and were recognized by the provincial government as the pur- chasers and original proprietors of township No. 9. They did not at this time receive any instrument conveying to them an absolute title in fee; but they took it subject to certain conditions which they were to fulfill as conditions precedent, and which will fully appear further on. called conditions of settlement. Their title was not confirmed to them until the year 1766.
NAMES OF SETTLERS BEFORE JUNE 2, 1762.
Prior to the sale of this township, nineteen settlers, with their fami- lies, other than settlers within the grants mentioned in the preceding
24
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
chapter, had taken possession of tracts of land within the limits of the proprietors' purchase and had settled upon them. These persons were David Bolton, James Bolton, James Clark, Abraham Flemming. Zebulon Fuller, David Gilmore, John Gilmore, Thomas Kennedy, William Kennedy, Moses Hale, William Mann, Ebenezer Meacham, William Miller, Moses Moss, Israel Rose, David Scott, Ebenezer Web- ber, John Webber and Jonathan Hart Webber. These persons had settled near the west and the middle branches of Westfield river. The settlers on Ingersoll grant were in the immediate vicinity of the east branch.
LEASING THE LANDS BY PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT.
In 1760 the General Court of the province empowered Benjamin Pratt, John Worthington and Joseph Hawley to look up cases of vio- lation of the laws against purchasing lands of the Indians; and they were directed to " enter, in the name of the province, into any and all unappropriated lands of the province west of the Connecticut river, and to execute leases of any land or lands, as they might judge proper, to any person or persons." It does not appear how many of these set- tlers upon the unappropriated land of No. 9 held under these leases, or how many were there unlawfully.
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.
Hampshire county at first comprised all the territory of the province of Massachusetts bay lying west of Worcester county. Berkshire county was established April 21st, 1761, at the same time the township which had been known by the name of Pontoosic was incorporated and named Pittsfield. Blandford, at first called Glasgow, was incorpo- rated in 1741, and New Hingham was incorporated and named Chesterfield in 1762. Settlements and towns had sprung up all around township No. 9 at the time of its sale, but it was still substan- tially a wilderness, and settlers were attracted because it promised them homes at little cost aside from their own labor. Most of them were in low circumstances and brought little with them except great health and bodily endurance, willing hands and indomitable energy. Let us consider for a moment to what they came and what they had to contend with in this rough, wild and wonderfully picturesque region.
TOPOGRAPHY OF No. 9.
It is in the midst of the Green Mountain range. The formation is mostly mica schist, the strata standing vertical and the strike so nearly
25
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
north and south as to serve some of the purposes of the compass. The highlands range from 1.000 feet to 1,200 feet above sea level, and present great diversity of surface, very little of it being level. This diversity of surface is the result of erosion. The great number of streams, mostly brooks, which, find their way into the branches of Westfield river, have furrowed out valleys wonderfully diversified in depth and width. Up these valleys the settlers found it possible to build roads of convenient grade. Here and there in these highlands are hollows or basins, scooped out of the rocky foundations, perhaps by glaciers in remote ages, which retain the waters that come from melted snow, the rains, and often from springs, thus forming wet, swampy places, and occasionally quite large ponds. From these small brooks flow and make their way to larger streams, following the val- leys that they themselves have made. Some of the old swamps have become so completely filled with the accumulations of vegetable mould and the material washed from the surrounding surface of the land, that they offer to the farmer spots of rare fertility. The soil in this region is for the most part composed of drift, with which at the surface is mingled vegetable mould, and in it are myriads of bowlders varying in size from large erratic blocks of granite to beds of fine gravel.
The settlers found this land, from the fertile lowlands to the cliffs of naked rock, well wooded with a thick growth of trees consist- ing of pine, hemlock, birch, poplar, maple, beech, chestnut, butter- nut, walnut, basswood, buttonball, ash, wild cherry, oak, elm and other New England forest trees; so that trees had to be felled and the land cleared preparatory to tillage and building.
WESTFIELD RIVER AND ITS BRANCHES.
The three branches of Westfield river, called east, west and middle branches, flow through the territory which was comprised within the original bounds of the township No. 9. The east branch extends through the entire width from north to south ; the middle branch extends from a point about two miles east of the original northwest corner, in a southeasterly direction, crossing the township diagonally and empties into the east or main branch about two miles north of the original Blandford line; the west branch extends from a point about two miles south of the original northwest corner and flows at first in a southeasterly and then in an easterly course for eight or nine miles to a point near the original cast line of Blandford, where it
26
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
joins the east branch. From this point the main river is called Westfield river until it reaches the meadow lands of West Springfield and there it is called Agawam river. The writer of the sketch of Chester, in a book called the " History of the Connecticut Valley," persists in calling it "Agawam River " through its entire length, and in a note he makes the following comment: "This stream and its branches are often called the Westfield river, but there would be the same propriety in calling it Russell or Chester river, or in calling the Connecticut Springfield river. It should ever retain its Indian name." If " Agawam" were in fact its Indian name, there would be some force and some justice in this criticism, but such is not the fact. It is said by good authority that the word " Agawam" is an Indian word meaning "lowland, marsh or meadow, also a place below or down stream with reference to some place above or upstream." For some distance before this stream enters Connecticut river it flows through low meadows and there it is called Agawam river. Perhaps the Indians called it the agawam part of the river.
Westfield river and its branches are rapid streams, and during heavy rains they often are so swollen as to innndate some of the meadows through which they flow. Formerly when the soil of its watershed was kept moist by the shade of the forests, the earth readily absorbed water that came from melting snow and falling rain and retained it to flow off gradually by percolating through the soil, but now the water which falls in showers runs off rapidly from the dry, parched soil and naked rocks, and soon is lost in the streams and flows off, giving but little benefit to the soil except during long rains, after which the surface becomes soon dried, as also the soil below the surface. That this has an unfavorable effect upon the fertility and productiveness of this region is obvious to every observing and thoughtful person.
For many years after the first settlement of the town, these streams could be crossed at fordways only, and the fordways were impassable during high water, to the serious inconvenience and often to the detriment of the inhabitants.
Along the three branches of Westfield river are frequent level spots of alluvial land called "interval lands," and many of them are in ter- races; sometimes there are terraces of a higher level composed of gravel and sand which may have been made during the Champlain period. These alluvial lands and terraces are much sought for by the farmers, many preferring them to the highlands. When faithfully cultivated they yield remunerative crops.
27
A HISTORY OF MURRAYFIELD.
WHAT THE EARLY SETTLERS HAD TO CONTEND WITH.
The early settlers were poor as to money and as to goods; but they were rich in spirit and in fortitude. They were accustomed to hard fare and to subsisting upon the bare necessities of life, and were not afraid of the hardships of frontier life. They had no sawmills. no gristmills, no roads. Their first necessity was to clear the land and to build shelter for themselves and for their cattle. The log cabin, with- out glass windows and with the rudest of doors, was their shelter and home. To provide for themselves while clearing and prepar- ing land enough to raise the necessary crops for the sustenance of their cattle and of themselves, was a necessity not to be put aside. The abundance of game in the forest, fish in the streams, of berries and of nuts helped to make up their daily bill of fare. But they had chosen this region for their abiding place and they had to make the best of it, hoping to better their condition in a short time. If hardships and the necessary privations incident to frontier life was their lot on the one hand, it was not without compensation on the other. It was a wild and beautiful country and reasonably fertile. To persons who had been accustomed from childhood, as many of them had, to the highlands of Scotland, these wild hills and deep glens, with a dark forest and ragged cliffs, were sufficiently delightful reminders of their native land to give them a reasonable degree of contentment. That Blandford was settled by Scotch people is attested by the name they gave it-New Glasgow-and by the Scotch names borne by so many of the people. Several of the early settlers of township No. 9 came from Blandford.
GENERAL CONDITION OF THE PROVINCE IN 1762.
About the close of the year 1762, the Province of Massachusetts Bay was in a prosperous condition. Its population was 250,000 whites and 5,000 blacks. There were, including the Province of Maine, thirteen counties and about 240 towns. The commerce of the coun- try employed 600 vessels, owned chiefly in Boston and Salem, which were engaged in commerce with all parts of the civilized world, and many were engaged in the fisheries. There was an encouraging growth of domestic manufactures. The spinning wheel and loom were found in nearly every honse; and fabrics, both woolen and linen, woven by the wives and daughters of Massachusetts farmers, furnished comfortable clothing independent of foreign supplies. Wealth was
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