USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Palmer > History of the town of Palmer, Massachusetts, early known as the Elbow tract : including records of the plantation, district and town 1716-1889 > Part 10
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
A great number of spots were selected and agreed upon ; and after- wards rejected. There were many minds ; and these minds were unstable. Nearly two years were spent in choosing and rejecting spots. Nov. 14, 1733, it was voted to place the house " near James Lamberton's fence, by the Pine tree marked H standing on the north side of the Path." And a committee was appointed, viz., Steward Southgate, James McClelan, John Beman and Lieut. Sam- uel Doolittle, to agree with workmen to build and set up the frame of the Meeting-House, and to agree with the men of the place to provide stuff for enclosing of it. 2. That the frame of the Meet- ing-House exceed not thirty-six feet in length and thirty feet in breadth. 3. That Fifty pounds be granted and raised upon the Proprietors & Grantees, according to the grant and Order of the General Court, towards the charge of building and setting up the Meeting-House."
It appears that the timber was cut during the winter, and hauled to the place agreed upon. But the next March a new vote was passed " That the Meeting-House be sett on the east side of Cedar Swamp brook, between the brook and the foot of the hill, and within seven or eight rods of the road laid out towards Brookfield, on the south side thereof." Nearly a year passed in non-action. But-as the two years' limit set by the Court would soon be reached-To make a final adjustment of the vexed question,
"At a meeting of the Proprietors of Elbow Tract legally held at the house called Crawford house on the 10th day of February 1734-5, Mr. An- drew Mackee moderator, it was Voted That every person, Proprietor & Grantee, shall enter with the clerk or bring in his vote therein, naming a spot to set the Meeting House on ; and that the two spots which shall be the highest in nomination, shall be put to a lott for a final determination. Then the nomination being entered with the clerk, and the same counted, it appeared that a spot on the knowl near Crawford's house, and a spot on the east side of Cedar Swamp brook on The north side of the road, near where Wm. Nelson's hay stack stood, were the two spots highest in nomina- tion. Then the lotts being made by the clerk, the Rev. Mr. Harvey was sent for ; and then Voted, That the Rev. Mr. Harvey shall draw the lott, and the spot which is entered upon the lott or paper which he shall draw, shall be the determinate spott whereon to set the Meeting House. After solemn prayer, Mr. Harvey drew the lott whereon the spot on the knowl near Crawford's house was entered."
The spot thus decided upon was the one where the meeting- house stood for more than a century, and which was known as the business centre of the town. The tavern, and the store, and the blacksmith's shop came in quick succession.
At an adjourned meeting of the Proprietors in March, it was
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
"proposed whether any thing be allowed to the owners of the lots where any of the meeting-house timber is cut ; and it passed in the Negative." This does not imply that the timber was cut without permission ; probably every man who owned a particularly fine timber tree was willing that it should be utilized for the building of the sanctuary of worship ; and the vote simply means that all such contributions should be reckoned as a gift.
At a meeting held March 17, one hundred pounds was granted "for building & finishing the Meeting House ;" and seven pounds "to make provision for raising it." Voted "That James Lamberton & Daniel Fuller be appointed to make provision of Drinks and cake suitable, and to order and dispose of the same at the time of the Raising."
The records indicate that the frame was ready to be set up May 12. Probably it was raised before planting. Probably the "rais- ing " was a notable event in the Plantation, especially as this was the first frame house erected there. The youngsters of both sexes were collected at a safe distance, in wonderment how such immense timbers could be got into their lofty positions, and were anxious to see the last rafter put in place and the pile of cakes exposed. The men all lent a hand and worked heartily and cheered lustily, under inspiration of the occasion, and perhaps in some degree under inspiration of the Drink that was distributed only to the workmen.
The building appears to have been "finished," i. e., covered in, by the last of October, and to have been used for Sabbath worship early in November. The first Plantation meeting for public busi- ness was held in the new house on December 4, 1735.
All accounts agree that the house, both inside and outside, was a very plain structure. Probably it was only single boarded on the outside. The door had hinges, but no lock-such a thing being then unknown in the settlement. It was fastened by a wooden latch on the inside, which was pulled up by a string, or when that was broken a stick run through the crack lifted the latch. The sanctity of a meeting-house was its best protection from youthful intruders, and there was little within to tempt adult thieves. The first mischief done to the sanctuary was from without, in the sum- mer of 1744, when a lawless hunter stole the lead from some of the window panes for bullets and broke the glass in doing it. For- tunately, such an example acted as a warning, rather than a temp- tation. The inside of the house was neither ceiled nor plastered. The pulpit was a cage-like box, perched on posts, and reached by a flight of narrow stairs, the only ornament being a cushion, pur- chased two years before, on which the Bible rested. Long wooden
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
benches were the only seats first put in. These were arranged in two rows through the body of the house, facing the pulpit, and separated by an aisle. The men sat on one side by themselves, and the women on the other. Pews were not put in till after 1744. These were regarded as a luxury, to be enjoyed only by the well-to- do part of the congregation. The space nearest the pulpit was reckoned highest in dignity, and the pew ground was lotted out according to the rates men paid towards the public charges. The Elbow settlers were very jealous of whatever should mark distinc- tions of wealth in church affairs, and all the early attempts to dis- tribute the pew ground on the basis of taxable estates got a decided negative. The point was yielded only when warrants of " distress " were issued for the forcible collection of the 500-pound debt assess- ment. When built these pews were square pens, ranged along the walls of the room, and set up at the expense of the occupants- though special permission of the Proprietors was necessary. Some- times a condition was annexed that the builder "should sit there with his family," but usually only the dimensions were stated, and the pew became personal property.
That it was cold and uncomfortable in the meeting-house in the winter without a fire was a matter of course. That only one ser- mon was preached on the Sabbath at this season was natural and wise. That the noise of a hundred feet, heavily booted, stamping on the bare floor and thumping together to restore circulation in the benumbed extremities should cause the minister to sometimes stop the sermon and dismiss the people was according to the fitness of things and showed his good sense. That the small congregation collected on a stormy Sabbath in the most inclement season should adjourn from the cold meeting-house to the adjacent well-warmed tavern, and the preacher take the bar for his pulpit, was a prudent move and implied no disrespect for the house of God, nor any han- kering for the stores behind the bar. Put yourself in their place and see if you could devise a better plan !
In February, 1740, an article was inserted in the warrant for a plantation meeting, "To grant and order a certain sum of money so much as ye Proprietors & Grantees there met may see cause, to be raised and imployed towards ye Repairing and finishing ye Meeting House for ye publick worship of God, to be dispensed for the more and better comfort of the society." Under this article, sixty pounds was granted towards ye repairing ye meeting-house. Probably a part of it was expended in clapboarding the building. In June, 1743, forty pounds, old tenor, was raised for finishing the meeting-house. The Committee to do the work appear to have
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
been dilatory ; and the next year Aaron Nelson, Paul Glasford and Jonathan Chapin were appointed "to call the committee of the Meeting House to account for what they have done with the money that was gathered for finishing the sd House." Soon after this date the seats were repaired, and it was ordered "that the body seats of the Meeting House shall be set close together in the mid- dle." This was a first step to make room for the building of pews around the walls. In July, 1750, six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence was granted for "rectifying the Meeting House." A part of it was spent in building seats in the gallery for young people to sit in. And this very naturally led to the appointment, the following October, of John Webber and Matthew Hutchins, " two fit men to sit in the gallery amongst ye young people to in- spect their carriage, that they may not profane ye Sabbath in the time of worship."
Such was the condition of the Meeting-house at the close of the Plantation period ; and we leave its further history for the next chapter.
SINGING .- There is no evidence from the Records that a choir was in existence at this date. Indeed, the custom of the time and the prevalent Presbyterian idea of this part of public worship, would exclude such an aid to devotion. The appointment in 1735, of " a Precentor or clerk of the Congregation," carries the conclu- sion that the singing was Congregational, i. e., the psalm was "lined off" (or Deaconed; as it was called in Congregational Churches) by the Precentor, and sung, line by line by the assembly. Probably a choir, to sit by themselves in the gallery, was not formed until Mr. Baldwin's day.
Thus was completed what may be called the necessary equipment of the new Settlement. The people held the fee in their lands ; had houses to live in ; had an ordained Minister ; a Meeting-House ; a Saw mill and Grist mill ; country roads leading to near and re- mote centres of trade ; and Town roads laid out so that every family had " a way to mill and meeting."
But the settlers had some causes of worry and irritation, and some burdens to bear, a part of which were incident to a new plantation ; and a part grew out of their peculiar circumstances. Two of these peculiar drawbacks will now be considered in detail.
LAND GRANTS TO PUBLIC MEN .- It will be remembered that the General Court's Committee in their Report of June, 1733, say : "We find the place much discommoded by Farms claimed by Par-
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
ticular Grants from this Court, which have taken up the best of the Land."
HOBART'S FARM .- In the Mass. Colony Records, Vol. IV, Part II, p. 31, under date August 7, 1661, is the record : " This Court have Granted to Mr. Peter Hubberd [Hobart] pastor of Hingham, three Hundred acres of Land for a Farme where it may be had, not pr judiciall to any plantation." This public grant of land was in accordance with the policy of the time, to do honor to men of dis- tinction in the ministry and civil and military life, and add to their means of support. Mr. Hobart [he wrote his name Hubberd in England] was the influential pastor of an influential church in the Colony, and the father of seventeen children. The Farm was not located and laid out in his day, nor in his son's day ; but the grant held good, and 71 years later was laid out to a grandson. In Gen- eral Court, July 1, 1732, " a petition of John Hobart of New Lon- don, Conn., only son of Joshua Hobart late of Southold, on Long Island, deceased, grandson of Peter Hobart of Hingham, deceased, praying liberty to lay out a Grant of 300 acres of Land, made to his said grandfather in the year 1661 by the General Court, the same be- ing devised to his father Joshua-The said Land not being yet taken up and confirmed : Read and Ordered yt the prayer of the petition be granted, and the petitioner is allowed by a surveyor and chair- men under oath, to lay out 300 acres of ye Unappropriated Lands of this Province to satisfy the grant, and to return a Plat to this Court within six months for confirmation." The survey was made by Benjamin Flagg, and the Plat returned to the Court Nov. 16, 1732-" Lying partly between a Farm of Mr. John Read, and a Farm lately laid out to Samuel Partridge, Esq., near and adjoining to a place called Podaquoduck."* The reason for locating the Grant on the Elbow Tract was because available unappropriated Land was found here, and public attention was just now drawn hither, which would give the land a marketable value. It might just as well have been located on country Land any where else. The northwest corner of the Grant is a short distance west of Hazel Snow's house, and from there the bounds ran east by the town line of Ware to the farm of Solomon and Luman Brown. Except 20 acres sold for taxes, the land was bought in 1745 by Matthew Brown.
The Hollingsworth Grant. "Jan. 6, 1673-4. In ans" to the petition of Richard Hollingsworth the Court judgeth it meet to grant the petitioner five hundred acres of land where he can find it
* Ancient Plans, Vol. II, p. 215.
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
free from any former grant."* In his petition, Richard Hollings- worth of Salem says: "Your humble petitioner's ffather came into this country about forty yeares since, and brought a great ffamily with him, and a good estate. And being the first builder of ves- sells, being a ship-carpenter, was a great benefit to this countrey, and as great or greater than any one in the infancie of the countrie of a private man as it is fully knowne, yett gained not himselfe an estate, but spent his own that he brought, and notwithstanding all his service and the largeness of his family, being twelve in number, he never had more granted him by the countrie but forty one acres of upland, and not one acre of meadow, and the land lying soe re- mote from the towne of Salem, it proved little worth to him or his, and none of his children have ever had any thing but have lived by their labour with God's blessing, and your petitioner hath used maretan employment, and through many dangers and with much difficultie gotten a livelyhood for himselfe and his family, and being brought very low by his loss by the Dutch taking all from him, is constrained to apply himselfe unto yourselves, whom God hath sett as ffathers of this Commonwealth.
And doth most humbly beseech you seriously to consider the premises, and if it may stand with your good liking and charitie to grant unto him a competent parcell of land that he may sitt downe upon with his family, viz. his wife and six children, for he would leave the seas had he any competencie of land whereby with his own industry and God's blessing he might mainetaine his family. And he shall take it as a great favour." As stated above, 500 acres was granted him. He did not locate the grant, though it may have given him financial credit. His heirs sold the right to Samuel Prince of Rochester, who in May, 1715, located the grant on the road from Brookfield to Hadley, and procured a survey and plat, made by William Ward, which was confirmed by the General Court.+ Prince sold to Thomas Clarke, merchant of Boston, who sold to Jonas Clarke of Boston, who sold April 2, 1729, for 400 pounds, to Jabez Olmstead of Brookfield, who took possession. } The farm lay between Ware river and Read's 10,000 acres, and took in nearly the whole of what is now Ware Village. This land was included in the Elbow Tract, and was once taxed there, as see ante, pp. 91-2.
The Capt. John Sheldon grant. In the assault on the town of Deerfield by the Indians, Feb. 29, 1704, Ensign John Sheldon's
Mass. Col. Records. Vol. IV, Part II, p. 576.
t Council Records, in loc.
# Registry of Deeds, Springfield.
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
wife, a baby, his brother-in-law, and his daughter's husband were slain, and four of his children, and his wife's brother and family were taken captive, and with other prisoners, one hundred and eleven in all, were carried to Canada. To learn their fate, and if alive, to secure their redemption, he undertook the then perilous journey to Quebec. He started Dec. 20, 1704, going over the Hoosac mountain to Albany, and thence northward through the wilderness. He learned the whereabouts of most of the living captives, though he was allowed to see but few of them ; and at the end of four months returned with only five of his townsmen. He started on a second journey Jan. 25, 1706, and returned at the end of six months with 44 redeemed captives, including his remaining children. He made a third journey to Canada, and returned with seven captives. All his journeys were made by authority of the Provincial Government, and his expenses paid from the public treasury. In a Petition to the General Court, dated Nov. 18, 1707, he recites :
"Whereas I have been a great sufferer in the common calamities that hath befallen us at Deerfield, greatly impareing my estate & family, so that I have been much unsettled, & the Rather because so many ye neighbours & of my own were carried away into captivity, occasioning myself to take three journeys to Canada, to obtain and be helpful in their release & re- turning home again, which hath been a very difficult and hazzardous un- dertaking, which I doubt not but this Hon'bl Corte, is very sensible of. Upon the considerations aforesaid, I am emboldened to ask a Gratuity by Granting me a tract, some of the country's Land undisposed of, in or near the County of West Hampshire, in some convinient place where I can find it, to the quantity of 500 acres, or thereabouts, and the Corte shall judge most Meet & Convenient for me, & least prejudicial to any other grant."
Nov. 27, " In consideration of his good services to the Province in several journeys to Canada " the General Court granted to Capt. John Sheldon 300 acres of unappropriated land. Capt. Sheldon assigned his right to Henry Dwight, Esq., of Hatfield ; and a sur- vey and plat of the same was made by Timothy Dwight in 1723. The farm lay east of Pottaquattuck large pond, separated from the pond and meadow by Southgate's Mill Lot. The Ware road from the Old Centre passes through the west part of the lot, and the road over the mountain runs on the east side. A large portion of this 300 acres was unoccupied till 1790, when it was bought by Deacon Gurdon Sedgwick.
The Col. Samuel Partridge Grant. In Nov. 1725, the General Court made a Grant of 500 acres to the Hon. Samuel Partridge of Hatfield, his heirs and assigns, to be laid out in the unappropriated
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
Lands in the county of Hampshire. A survey and plat of the Grant was made by Benjamin Flagg in 1731, the Farm lying near and adjoining to Podaquoduck Hill .* Col. P. sold the lot to Josiah Sheldon of Suffield, a land speculator, who held possession, although prior to its actual location, Timothy Ruggles, agent of Lamb and Company, had sold the Land to John Nevins, who with his sons had settled and built upon it. [See ante, p. 58] The Land lies mostly on the west side of Pottaquattuck mountain, the north- west corner bound being the same as that of the Hobart Farm. The west line is a short way west of the road by J. O. Hamilton's. The south line has never been disturbed, being the north boundary of the Joseph Lee Farm. The east line bears N. 30° E. taking in the heighth of the mountain.
Col. Partridge was a man of affairs and influence in the Colony. He was colonel of the Hampshire regiment, judge of Probate, a member of His Majesty's Council, and after the death of Col. John Pynchon in 1703, was the most important man in the western part of the Province. He acted as Prudential Committee to control the laying out the towns of Brookfield, Northfield, etc. In 1720, he received a grant of 150 acres from the Proprietors of Northfield ; and near the same date was granted 160 acres within the township of Brookfield. Being familiar with the country he secured his Grants in the best of the Lands. He did not occupy any of these Farms, but lived and died in Hatfield.
The Marsh and Clemens Grant. October 3, 1733. "The petition showeth, that the subscribers are now dwelling on a tract of unappropriated Lands, bounded south by the Elbows, and partly by Brookfield township, east by Ware river, north by Lambstown and west by the Farm of John Read, Esq., containing 1443 acres ; and on sª tract we have lived some of us three years, where we have spent the most of that little substance we have ; it was not the extraordinary quality of the Lands that induced us to go upon it, for a considerable part of it is Ledges of Rocks, so as to render it unprofitable, but what induced us to settle upon it was our necessity, our principle dependance for support of our- selves in husbandry, and we had not a foot of land to imploy our- selves and families upon, were exposed to idleness and pinching want; and being then unsensible how highly the Court resented such a way of settling, and apprehending that the principle thing insisted on was that there should be no trading or stock jobbing, but an actual settlement and improvement in husbandry by the Grantees themselves, with which we were ready to comply .- Wherefore being
* Ancient Plans; Vol. II, p. 193.
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
thus unhappily entangled on said Land, we most humbly move that this Great and Honbl Assembly would condescend to exercise their charity and Pitty toward us in granting us so much land as may be a competency for us to improve for a livelyhood for our- selves and children : We have no Tho't of any other but with sub- mission to spend the remainder of our Lives and substances on the spot, are content and ready to submit to any injunctions or limita- tions within our reach this Honbl Court shall think meet to lay upon us.
John Clemens, Thomas Marsh, William Clemens, Jonathan Rood, Judah Marsh."
The prayer was not granted at this time ; but in Jan., 1737, on a. revival of the petition, the plat was accepted and the lands con- firmed to the petitioners, "provided each of the Grantees do within five years from date have six acres brought to English grass, or broken up by plowing, and each of them have a good dwelling- house thereon, of 18 feet square and 7 feet stud at the least, and each a family dwelling therein : . . and that the Grantees do within 12 months pay to the Province Treasury, five pounds each."
This grant appears to have been included in the bounds of the Elbow Tract as defined by the General Court's Committee.
Grants of one hundred acres each were made and laid out by the Proprietors to Ebenezer Burrill, Esq., Col. John Alden and Mr. Samuel Bradford, the General Court's Committee for viewing and determining the Grants of the Elbow Tract. These lots lay in the Nor'west and North part of the "North-End Addition."
Besides these special Grants, there was the Ministry Lot of 100 acres, and the School Lot of 100 acres, which were not taxable for current charges.
As before stated, these " Particular Grants " covered the choicest lands ; they were not, like the unappropriated Land, open to settle- ment (except on purchase), and they were not taxable for current plantation charges (except by special act). And so, in the first starting of the settlement here, they proved a hindrance and cause of friction and weakness.
But the heavy burden which weighted down the first Grantees of the Elbow Tract, and blocked the wheels of enterprise and took the heart out of the people was
THE FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS DEBT .- By referring to the Act of 1733, establishing the Elbow Plantation, it is seen that a condi- tion of the grant and confirmation of homesteads to the petitioners (and a sort of penalty for their " presumptuous settlement " on
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
province land without authority) was "that they do pay into the Publick Treasury of the Province the sum of Five Hundred Pounds, within two years." This sum might have been raised, if it had been the sum total of their indebtedness and immediate obliga- tion. But the Act of Incorporation further required that the set- tlers shall forthwith raise, by taxation on their estates, the sum of 67 pounds, 11 shillings and 9 pence to meet the charge and expense of the Committee, and such additional amounts as may be needed to pay all past charges to the support of the Ministry and other necessary public expenses that have arisen or shall be allowed and agreed upon by said proprietors, as the settlement of a Minister and building a Meeting-House. These "past charges " and the " neces- sary publick charges " to be provided for in the first year amounted to the sum of 771 pounds and 2 pence, making a grand total, including the 500 pounds, of 1,271 pounds and 2 pence. The peo- ple forthwith laid an assessment to meet the 771 pounds 2 pence, and it appears to have been paid with promptness. The other load they did not attempt to lift.
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