USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Northfield > History of the town of Northfield, Massachusetts : for 150 years, with an account of the prior occupation of the territory by the Squakheags : and with family genealogies > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
The squaws planted large fields of corn ; and as soon as the fishing season came on, the great multitude now gathered here, natives and
1 " Wenimisset, or Meminimisset, was part of a tract of land which is now in New Brain- tree, about 8 miles from West Brookfield, and has Ware river on the north, the meadow or swamp in which Meminimisset brook flows on the west and south, and the same low swampy land on most of the east side. The road from Hardwick to New Braintree crosses it" ( Sylvester Judd ) .- King Philip and about 40 men, besides women and children, joined the Nipnet Indians at this place, on the 5th of August, 1675 .- Here Mrs. Rowlandson's child died, Friday, Feb. 18, 1676.
2 As will appear in the account of Beers's fight, these Indians were aided, and perhaps led by the chiefs of the Nashaways.
3 When we were at this place (near the mouth of the Ashuelot) my master's maid came home ; she had been gone 3 weeks into the Narraganset country to fetch corn, where they had stored some in the ground ; she bro's home about a peck and a half" ( Mrs. Rowlandson's Narrative) .- About the 20th of March, Canonchet the Narraganset chief, who had been
56
History of Northfield.
strangers, were busy in catching and drying shad and salmon, and storing them in their underground barns.
But the Indians did not gather their corn harvest. Prosperity made them careless ; and the tide soon turned. The disasters they suffered at the Falls below, in the well known. onslaught of the 19th of May, and other defeats which came in rapid succession, broke up their home; and for a second time, they disappear from our valley. The defeat they suffered at the hands of the Mohawks in 1663 had a more direct effect to break their power as a tribe; the defeats they now suffered at the hands of the whites broke their power as a race. After the former they sought an alliance with the English ; now they seek and form an alliance with the French, with whom their subsequent history becomes closely indentified.
Near this date, the River Indians appear to have separated into two parties, one of which went to the westward, and the other to the northward. Those that went west were mainly Pacomptocks, and became eventually connected with the Scagkooks.' They were in general nominally friendly to the English, and often rendered them essential services. Those that went north were mainly Squakheags. At one time they were acting with the Pennacooks ;2 at others they were in league with the St. Francis of Canada - perhaps became a component part of this tribe. They were always hostile to those of their own race that settled above Albany, and were ready for any opportunity to ravage the English settlements. Gov. Andros, writing April 1677, says : "The River Indians had fled, some to Canada, and the rest scattered among the tribes."- In the attack on Hatfield Sept. 19, 1677, the assailants were recognized as "the old 'enemy and former neighbors, who had fled to the French about Quebec, and were lately come from thence."
The Squakheags however maintained the title to their old posses- sions, and their leading men were here in 1686 and 7, as appears from the deeds executed in those years. And they showed a con- sciousness of power, in exacting additional pay for-land previously sold for less than its value ; and in the greatly advanced rates which
here with Philip for several weeks, proposed that they should plant the meadows on the west side of the river - Nawelet's ground - with corn. As the seed must be got at Sea- conk, the adventure was a hazardous one, and all the young warriors refused to go for it. Canochet himself then offered to undertake the journey, and went with 30 followers. He. was betrayed to the whites, captured, and executed. But plenty of seed-corn was obtained from some quarter.
: "Scagkook, 20 miles from Albany. The Indians there had fled from New England in ye war times." ( N. Y. Colonial Doc., 111. )
? Drake's Hubbard, 11, 248.
57
Squakbeag.
they charged for the northerly tract. Perhaps at one time some of them lived at the Coasset, which is now Newbury, Vt. And some of them always lingered in this region, and hunted and fished, and " waited their opportunity." In the interim between 1690 and 1714 the country was open to them ; and when the English resettled Northfield in the latter year, the natives were quietly occupying several convenient points. In 1720 Zechariah Field bought of Pompanoot, " son and heir to Wawelet," for £12, "a large tract of land lying upon Miller's river at a place called Paquayag, of the contents of about 30,000 acres, which land the said Pompanoot re- ceived as a gift from his honored father Wawelet."" The name of this Indian often appears in connection with our town affairs. In Ebenezer Field's Account Book (1721-3), are many charges like the following :
" Mar. 1722. To mending Pompanoot's gun 4 shillings. To 2 steel traps and mending a gun- lock for the Indians, £1 5 0
To my wife's making an Indian shirt, 8 pence.
To doing work for the Indians on your [his brother Zechariah's] acct. 16 shillings."
This shows the relation of the two races in time of peace. When war broke out the Indian was ready to use his repaired gun and his knowledge of the white man's ways, for his destruction. Aaron Beld- ing recognized an old acquaintance in the Indian who scalped him.
Single families camped through the season - perhaps for a series of years - in some secluded spot ; and straggling parties were wan- dering round during the warm weather. The men were sometimes hired by the farmers to assist them in certain kinds of labor.The squaws were skilled in making light baskets and peeled brooms, which they peddled by sale or barter.
An Indian by the name of Jack, lived and died on a hill directly east of the present house of Calvin Priest ; and the hill and the stream running near it are known to this day as Jack's hill, and Jack's brook.
Old Keeup, as he is named in early deeds, lived farther to the east, on what is now the home place of John Delva. Keeup's hill, where his cabin was, and Keeup's brook, still commemorate the Indian and his dwelling-place.
: Mass. Archives, XLVI, 53.
58
History of Northfield.
An Indian cabin stood on the top of Meadow hill, westerly of the cemetery, above what is known as Stratton hollow. The Indian died and the cabin was taken down by Eleazar Stratton who owned the land, soon after the American revolution.
A family belonging to Masemet's clan were accustomed to make their home on " Wigwam," south-easterly from the Capt. Merriman place, and to tap the maple trees for sugar, as narrated in the preced- ing chapter. The descendants of this family are remembered by some now living. One of them - and the last Indian of the tribe, so far as is known - made regular annual or biennial visits to Northfield, till he became very decrepit. His statement was that he came from Canada. During his stay of a few days he often made Capt. Merriman's premises his lodging place, whence he would stroll to Beers's plain, and other localities once occupied by his ancestors. At his visit in 1828 or '29, he fell and injured his head, and the wound was dressed by Dr. M. S. Mead, then just settled in town as a physician. When sufficiently recovered, the old man departed for the north, and was seen no more !
An Indian and his squaw by the name of Kobin - apparently full blood - resided for a few years, about 1825, just below Four-mile brook, where they raised a family.
CHAPTER III. Squakeag - The First Settlement, covering the Period from 1671 to 1675.
THE PETITION AND PETITIONERS - ACTION OF THE GENERAL COURT - COMMITTEE TO ORDER PRUDENTIALS - LIST OF ENGAGERS - ORDERS FOR SETTLING - TOWN BOUNDS - TOWN PLOT -THE TOWN BUILT -THE MEETING-OAK - HOME LOTS - FIRST CROPS PLANTED - LIST OF ACTUAL SETTLERS - THE BEGINNING OF INDIAN HOSTILITIES - ATTACK OF SEPT. 2, 1675 - BEERS'S FIGHT - BEERS'S GRAVE - LIST OF KILLED - THE TOWN DESERTED - THE INDIANS TAKE POSSESSION.
HE founding of a new plantation by a small colony, on a frontier so far from help, was a bold push. None but earnest, devoted, brave men and women would have taken the perilous step. Deerfield, the nearest English settle- ment, was planted only two years before; was yet feeble ; was 16 miles distant, and inter-communication was difficult. Hadley, to which they must look for aid in case of need, was 30 miles away. In other directions, Brookfield was 45 miles, Lancaster was 60, and Groton was 65 miles, All within this wide circle was wilderness.
The motives and hopes which actuated the pioneers in this settle- ment, are best learned from their own declarations, which are fully set forth in the petitions and agreements copied at length in this chapter.
1671 .- Having made a bargain with the Indians for the land - as already narrated - the movers for the plantation sent the following petition to the General court :
To the Right Honb and much Hond Gen !! Court of Mafsachufetts held at Bolton 31º of the 3 mo. [May 31] 1671
Right Honbl and much Honoured in the Lord
Your humble Petitioners being by the good providence of God under your care government and protection, and having by the good hand of God in a fingular manner enjoyed the fame for a long time in peace (to the praife of His rich grace), The confideration of fuch fignal mercy fhould be a forfeible spurr and ftrong motive to quicken us to fincere obedience and hearty thankfulnels to the God of Peace, whofe free love and good pleafure in Jefus Chrift is the fountain of all our good and comfort .-
60
History of Northfield.
Right Hond and much Hond
Your humble Petitioners are unfeignedly defirous (if it may pleafe the Lord to incline your fpirits to look towards us with a favorable afpect) to continue under your government. We conceive there is a great duty incumbent uppon all that fear God, to confider, project and endeavour how they may promote Chritt's Kingdom in order to pofterity ; but finding ourfelves in a great meafure ftraightened, and not in a capacity to attend that great work and duty unlefs we remove 10 fome other place, which doth occafion us to make our humble addres to this Honourable Afsembly for help and fupply. The places that our eyes are uppon (though it be uncoth remote and we conceive attended with many difficulties) yet feeing God in His providence has caufed the Indians to defert thofe places called by the Indians Squawquegue and Wifsquawquegue : And it is reported that they are refolved to fell the fame either to Englifh or French ; we conceive it would be uncomfortable if that fuch a people fhould have any intereft there : And thofe that went uppon difcovery affirmed that the want of inhabitants to burn the meadows and woods, whereuppon the under- woods increafe, which will be very prejudiciall to thofe that fhall come to in- habit, and the longer the worfe.
Right Hond and much honoured : We are loath to be tedious in multiply- ing arguments, but defire to be as compendious as may be to fignify our humble defires to your Worfhips, that we may have liberty and incouragement to pur- chafe a Plantation. And if it fhall pleafe the Lord to incline this Hond Court to grant our humble requeft, and appoint a Committee to tranfact and order the fame, we shall acknowledge ourfelves much obliged to your Worfhips ; and fhall as is our bounden duty (with the help and afsiftance of God) lift up our hearts to the Lord Jefus the mighty Councellor, that he would be prefent with you 10 fill you with a fpirit of wifdom courage and the fear of the Lord, and that he would guide you in all your weighty occafions, confultations, adminis- trations and conclufions, foe that his great Name may be glorified, and that truth Rightcoufnefs tranquility and Peace may flow down as a mighty ftream throughout the Colony.
which is the earneft prayer of your humble fuppliants.
JOHN LYMAN WILLIAM SMEADE JOSEPH JEANES
WILLIAM HULBURD
JOHN HANNUM
RICHARD LYMAN
JOHN ALLIN
GEORGE ALEXANDER
WILLIAM HANNUM MICAH MUDGE
SAMUEL WRIGHT
JOHN SEARLE
ABEL JEANES
JOSEPH DICKINSON ISAAC SHELDON
JUDAH WRIGHT JOSHUA PUMERY
RICHARD MONTAGUE WILLIAM MILLER
RICHARD WELLER
MATTHEW CLESSON
THOMAS WEBSTER
RALPH HUTCHINSON JOSEPH KELLOGG ROBERT LYMAN THOMAS ROOT Sen.
THOMAS BASCOM
WILLIAM JEANES
SAMUEL ALLEN
GEORGE LANGTON JOHN ROOT."
1
JOHN STEBBINS Sen. ALEXANDER ALVARD
.
.
61
Squakheag.
Of these 33 petitioners, all but three, viz : Thomas Webster, Joseph Kellogg and Richard Montague (who were of Hadley), ap- pear to have been residents of Northampton. Some of them were young men who had gained no legal settlement there. And many of the names never appear in the Northfield records.
This petition was referred to a committee who reported June 8, 1671, as follows :
" The Committee conceive ye petitioners may have a tract of land for a Plantation where they move for it, and liberty to purchafe ye fame of ye In- dians, provided yt if ye lands there be fufficient to make two Plantations, as we underftand it is probable they may ; they be then apportioned, accordingly, and yº Petitioners who firft appear to have liberty to choofe on which to fettle y" felves : where they fhall have a tract of Land to ye contents of feven miles fquare for a Townfhip. Provided twenty families be fettled on ye place wthin four years time, and yt they procure y" a godly and orthodox minifter. And that one mile fquare wthin faid tract be laid out for ye General Court or Country ufe by yº Committee aforefaid. And yo affairs of this Plantation, re- ceiving inhabitants, granting lands, and ordering all ye prudentialls of yº fame to be arranged by Lieut. William Clarke Lieut. Samuel Smith and Cornet William Allys, or any two of y", who are hereby impowered a Committee for yt purpofe till this Court fhall otherwife order ; and y" charge of yo Committee to be defrayed by ye Petitioners.
June 8, 1671.
JOHN PYNCHON HENRY BARTHOLOMEW JOSHUA HOBART
The Deputys approve of the return of the Committee in anfwer hereunto.
WILLIAM TORREY, Clerk.
The Magiftrates confent not hereto.
EDW. RAWSON, Secretary.
This refusal of consent on the part of the Magistrates - for what reason does not appear - frustrated the plans for a settlement of Squak- heag this year, though the petitioners had secured the land of the Indians, as before narrated. It is not unlikely that some of the Magistrates hoped to secure grants in the rich meadows for them- selves, as had previously happened at Hatfield, and subsequently happened at Northfield, as will appear by and by.
The next spring- 1672 -the petitioners renewed their applica- tion to the General court, and with better success.
" In anfwer to the petition of feveral the inhabitants of Northampton and other towns, the Magiftrates judge meet to declare their readinefs to grant the petitioners and their afsociates a convenient quantity of land at Squawkeage for a village, Provided there be twenty able and honeft perfons, houfeholders do,
62
History of Northfield.
appear, fuch as this Court fhall approve, of that fhall give their names to Major Pynchon to be prefented to the next General Court, with ingagement under their hands that they will fettle upon the place not lefs than twenty families within eighteen months after the grant, and will then alfo appoint the quantity of land for that end, and alfo appoint a Committee to order that affair ; Provided always, that the perfons that ingage to erect this village take due care to provide and maintain the preaching of the word and ordinances of God amongit them. And the Court do alfo order that there be a farm of 300 acres of land referved for the Country in fuch a fit and convenient place in that village as the com- mittee of this Court fhall choofe : ffurther, if the petitioners find a convenient opportunity in the interim to purchafe the Indian title to thefe lands, the Court do declare that nothing herein is intended to implead the fame.
The Deputys confent hereto, provided, that if the petitioners do buy the land, it fhall be the Country's except they perform the conditions of the Grant.
WILLIAM TORREY, Clerk.
Confented to by the Magsts, Edw. Rawson, Secy May 15, 1672.
" The names of thofe that prefented their names to Major Pynchon to be prefented to the Hond General Court, who ingaged to do their indcavour to attend the conditions of the grant :-
Elder JOHN STRONG
ISAAC SHELDON
JOSEPH PARSONS Sen.
MATTHEW CLESSON
SAMUEL WRIGHT Sen.
JOSHUA PUMERY
JOSEPH DICKINSON
JOHN ALEXANDER
GEORGE ALEXANDER
CORNELIUS MERRY
THOMAS BASCOM
WILLIAM SMEAD
ROBERT LIMON THOMAS ROOT Sen.
RICHARD WELLER
JOHN KILBURN of Wetherffield
WILLIAM JEANES
JOHN HILYER
WILLIAM HURLBURT
MICAH MUDGE
NATH1 PHELPS Sen.
RALPH HUTCHINSON"
WILLIAM MILLER Sen.
At Sefsion of the General Court, O&. 11, 1672.
" Whereas feveral perfons from Northampton and other places have pre- fented their names to Major John Pynchon, according to an order of this Court dated May 15, 1672, the lift whereof he hath returned to this court and is on file, whereby they ingage themfelves to fettle a village at Squakeake upon Con- necticut River above Hadley, according to provifions and conditions exprefsed in the faid order ; This Court, confidering the premifes, do grant unto the faid perfons and fuch others as fhall join with them in making the faid village, fuch a tract of land in the faid places as fhall amount to the contents of fix miles fquare : Provided, it be not laid out above eight miles in length by the River fides ; And do appoint and impower Lieut. William Clarke William Holton Lieut. Samuel Smith Cornet William Allys and Isaac Graves, or any three of them, to be a Committee for to lay out the faid plantation, and to lay out a farm
63
Squakheag.
of 300 acres of upland and meadow in fome convenient place there near the town for the ufe of the Country ; to admit inhabitants; to grant lots ; and order all the prudentiall affairs of the faid village ; and all at the charge of the faid undertakers ; and to take fpecial care that a godly preacher be placed there as foon as there is twenty families fettled ; and this power of the Committee is to continue until this Court take further order."
Under this appointment three of the Committee, viz., Clarke, Allis, and Graves, went up to Squakehege, probably in the fall of 1672, " with two of the engagers," and laid out the township. " We appointed and ordered a little brook called Natanis on the west side of the Great River to be the bounds at the southerly end ; then we measured about eight miles up the River to a little river that runs into the Great River, and appointed it to run westerly three quarters of a mile from the Great River : On the east side of the River to come to the lower end of the Three Little meadows that are below the town's plot, and so to run up the River eight miles, and three miles and three quarters easterly from the Great River."
Having laid out the township, the Committee "agreed to make the following orders for the settling of the inhabitants," viz :
1. That all thofe that have land granted there fhall be there at the place with their familys according to the time prefixed and fet by the Court, i e 18 months from the date of the Court's grant to the inhabitants.
2. That whereas fome perfons might go thither and tarry there fo little and fhort a time as may fruftrate and retard and hinder the work intended by the Court, viz. the fettling of a Plantation ; and alfo detriment and damage to thofe that fhall fettle there, we do therefore order that all thofe that take up land at Squakehege fhall build upon it and continue in their own perfons and familys, if they be fuch as have familys, but if not in their own perfons for the fpace of four years from the time of their familys coming thither; otherwife their land to fall into the hands of thofe that fhall have power to difpofe of it to others - except in cafe of death or fome other inevitable Providence, in fuch cafes to remain to the heirs of fuch perfons.
3. That every perfon that fhall take up land there fhall be liable to bear all equal charges according to the number of acres each man hath there, as purchafe money, and all other public charges except Country Rates.
4. That all that have land in any Common cornfield or meadow fhall make good and fufficient fence, according to his due proportion for what land he hath in the faid field or meadow.
5. And it is further ordered, that there fhall be a convenient lot laid out for a Minifter, both home-lot and meadow.
6. That no inhabitant be received into the Plantation without the approba- tion of three of the Committee and the major part of the Company, till this Committee's power be ended."
64
History of Northfield.
The township as first laid out by the Committee had little resem- blance to the Northfield of to-day. It was somewhat irregular in shape, and contained considerably more than the authorized thirty-six square miles. On the west side of the river it extended from Ben- nett's brook to Broad brook, with a width of only § of a mile. On the east side of the river, the south line was placed about one mile lower down than on the west side, which would bring the north line on the east side, to Ash-swamp brook, afterwards the site of Hins- dell's fort. This was commonly regarded the line, till the survey of Timothy Dwight, Esq., in 1720, carried it down about } of a mile. The width on the east side of the river was 32 miles.
This tract, thus bounded, comprised all the valuable (as qualities were then estimated) interval and meadow lands on both sides of the river. Plain lands, such as lay west of the three-quarter mile limit, were then reckoned nearly worthless ; and the " hill country " to the east, was of account only for wood, and as pasturage for their cattle.
The town plot or village site, was laid out at the southerly end of what is now known as Northfield street. The reason why the first comers pitched here was, because the land hereabouts was freer from obstructions, having been in part previously broken up and cultivated by the Indian squaws. And this point was near the only open path to the Great meadow, where they must raise their grass and grain crops.
It appears that twenty home-lots were marked off at the outset, sixteen on the west and four on the east side of the street. These lots were twenty rods in width, and were intended to contain 73 acres. Only sixteen of these lots, however, were taken up by actual settlers. The list of heads of families, who put up dwellings here in this First Settlement, is as follows :- Ralph Hutchinson, Elder Wil- liam Janes, Robert Lyman, Cornelius Merry, John Hilyard, Joseph Dickinson, Micah Mudge, John Alexander, George Alexander, Samuel Wright, Thomas Webster, who had lots on the west side of the street, which they or their heirs held in the Second Settlement, as represented in the diagram accompanying the next chapter : Wil- liam Miller and William Clarke had lots on the east side of the street, but the latter did not take possession. Joseph Parsons appears to have taken a home-lot ; but was represented here by a substitute. Thomas Bascom, William Smeade, and William Hurlburt or Thomas Root Jr. came with the others, but it is not known where they pitched. James Bennett probably became a resident in the spring of 1675, and may have settled on the lot next north of Elder Janes.
At the time the home-lots were assigned, Great meadow and
65
Squakheag.
Pauchaug were each divided among the settlers. No other lands were apportioned to the inhabitants during the First Occupation. The swamps, which were the only woodlands, were held in common, and pasturage was free to all.
THE TOWN BUILT. - The following statement, prepared by Rev. John Hubbard, second pastor of the church, and published in vol. II of the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections, contains the sub- stance of what is known of the exact date of the first coming on of the inhabitants, and how they built. "In (the spring of) 1673 set- tlers came on, planted down near one to another, built small huts, covered them with thatch, and near their centre made one for public worship and employed Elder William Janes as their preacher ; also ran a stockade and fort around a number of what they called houses, to which they might repair in case they were attacked by the enemy."
From this it appears that only a few of the settlers built on their home-lots. The evidence is conclusive that the majority of the buildings were set close together in a quadrangular space, covering perhaps 30 by 40 rods, which was surrounded by a stockade or line of pickets. These pickets were cleft posts ten feet long, set close together in the ground to the depth of two feet. A railing ran round near the top to which each post was pinned. Such a fence was both arrow and bullet proof ; and no record is found - except in one instance at Northampton - where Indians ventured inside of such an inclosure.
From a variety of incidental circumstances, it is believed that this cluster of huts stood near where the Zechariah Field fort was built in the Last Settlement. This was the height of land ; was suited both for defence and watching ; and was convenient to the meadow road. The huts themselves must have been built of logs, or rude frames covered with clap-boards. These clap-boards, or cleft. boards, were split from oak bolts, or cuts, were 5 to 7 feet long, 8 to 10 inches wide, and about 1} inches thick on the back. They were laid lapping, and made a durable and tolerably tight covering. This style of boarding was used after regularly framed houses were erected. As late as 1763, when Capt. Joseph Stebbins, Ensign Samuel Strat- ton, and Col. Eleazar Patterson, built on the west side of the river (in what is now Vernon), they covered in their houses with rived clap-boards like those above described.' The thatch used in cover- ing the roof was nothing more than the native grass which grew in
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.