USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Whately > History of the town of Whately, Mass., including a narrative of leading events from the first planting of Hatfield, 1660-1871 : with family genealogies > Part 5
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Besides the country rate, there was a county rate,-payable like the former, and at the same prices, in grain ; the minister's rate, payable in grain at town prices (which were lower than country prices) ; the town rate, to discharge town debts; and various others of special character, such as scholars' rates, herds-
52
men's, and shepherds' rates, bridge rates, etc. When a rate was duly assessed by the rate-makers, the list and the whole matter of adjustment was put in the hands of the constable, who settled with each individual, and carried the balance (of grain) due to whomsoever was entitled to receive it.
To show how accounts with the town were balanced, some examples, copied from the constable's book, are subjoined :--
HATFIELD, January 20, 1695.
Ensign Frary
To goeing to ye Bay deputy 29 days ditto, goeing to ye Bay 10 days at 3s.
1 10
0
ditto, goeing to ye Bay 20 days at 3s.
3 00
0
more writeings at money
0
08 0
To Keeping ye Bull one winter
To Assessing 3 days at 2/6
£10 10 6
By his Money Rate
0 04 11
By his Corne Rate .
0 08
3
By Deacon Church 3/11 : Wid. Russell, pay. 2/6
0 06
5
By Rich. Morton 11/9
0
11 9
By Noah Wells 13/7 : pd in money £3 5 3. .
3 18 10
By John Wells 6/2 : Wid. Warner 3/9 }
1 14
8
By money paid him at £1 4 9
By money paid him at .
1 08
0
By payment by Sergt Belding
1 00
3
By Stephen Belding, Constable
0
17 5
£10
10 6
Thomas Nash
To burneing woods 2 days 4s.
To goeing out with ye Committee 1/6 ·
. £0
05 6
By his Corne Rate 3/8 : Sam1 Partrigg 1/10 . £0
05 6
Deacon Coleman
To assessing 4 days 10/ : allowance for a trooper 4d. £0 10 4 By Noah a Trooper 4d. : Part of his town Rate 10/ £0 10 4
Samuel Graves, Drummer,
To his Sallery for 1695 £1. : Sam1 Partrigg for Mr.Wms £1 00
6 By his Corn Rate 4/4 : Isaac Graves 7/ . 0 11 4 By his Money Rate 2/7: Sergt Belding 6/7 .
0 9 2.
£1 00 6
4 07 0
1 05 6
53
Doctor Hastings
To make up his Salary £12 18 6; one Trooper 3d. £12 18 9
By Sergeant Hubbirt
0 08
0
By D. Church 2/9; B. Hastings 2/9 .
0 05 6
By Dea. Coleman 2/5 : Doctor's Rate 2/6 0
04 11
By Joseph Field 3/11; Steph. Taylor 1/9
0 05 8
By Sam. Billing 5/6; D. Coleman 3/8
0
09 2
By Sergt Wait 6/11; Jona. Smith 6/2
0
13 1
By Jno. Cowls 18s. : No. Wells 6/2 : Lt. Wait 2/7 1 07 3
By S. Kellogg Jr. 2/11; Wm Gull 3/10
0 06
9
By Nath. Foote 2/1; Jno. Field 13/9
0 15 10
By pd to ye Doctr by several
4
16 2
By pd to ye Doet" by several 3 06 5
£12 18
.
CHAPTER V.
SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTH PART OF HATFIELD.
ONE reason why the north part of Hatfield remained so long unsettled is already apparent. The Whately plains, Mill-river Swamp, and Hopewell were favorite hunting grounds for the Indians. Bears, deer, and wild turkeys, as well as smaller game, were plenty ; and fur-bearing animals abounded in the brooks .* And till 1697, eight or ten families of red men, known as Albany Indians, but perhaps a mixed remnant of the Norwot- tucks, continued to come yearly to Hopewell ; and in one or two instances they remained through the winter. One of their camp- ing grounds was on land now owned by Stephen Belden, Esq. They roamed the woods at will, and often came to the village to beg or barter. They were commonly considered peaceful, though they were distrusted, and sometimes watched.
Two years before, in 1695, a party of these Indians, while hunting near Ashuelot, were attacked, and eight or nine of them killed. The English charged the assault upon hostile Indians, but the tribe charged it upon the English. From this date, these visitors became more unwelcome, and some restrictive measures were adopted. The number of Indians in the Hopewell Camp at this time was twelve men, nine squaws, and twenty-three children. Early in October, 1696, four of them, while on a hunting excursion on the east side of the river, shot Richard Church, out of revenge for some real or supposed insult received from Hadley men. The murderers were tracked, captured, identified, tried, convicted, and sentenced ; and two of them, Mowenas and Moquolas, were " shot to death " at Northampton. This murder led to the disarming of all the Indians then resident
* Both deer and bears were found here till 1750; and wild turkeys were not uncommon in 1795.
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in the immediate neighborhood, and to such stringent measures as indneed them to quit the valley the next spring.
Another reason which had an influence to discourage settle- ment here was, that plain lands, such as the tract lying next west of the river bottoms, were considered worthless for all pur- poses except for wood and pasturage.
But another, and of itself sufficient reason, was, that Hatfield did not own the intervals north of Bashan, except a narrow strip near the Deerfield line. The Indian deed covered the whole territory ; but this conveyed a doubtful title as against the right of eminent domain vested in the Government ; and in the act of incorporation there was the condition "reserving proprieties formerly granted to any person."
For the first forty years, the Colonial Government was accus- tomed to give away lands in large tracts to individuals of high civil and ecclesiastical rank, often as an acknowledgment of, . rather than in payment for, services rendered the Colony ; though in some cases it was in settlement of claims. These individual grants were often made arbitrarily, with little regard to town lines, or even existing town grants. Sometimes the General Court made grants, leaving the location optional to the grantee. Hence a clause was usually inserted in township grants, " reserv- ing proprieties formerly granted to any person." Most com- monly, the grantee had a choice in the selection, and commonly chose the most valuable lands.
As an instance of the careless way in which the General Court disposed of territory, the following may be cited : A grant of eight thousand acres was made to Dedham in 1665, and laid out at Pocumtuck. But when Hatfield was incorporated, five years later, its north line was placed "six miles from Northampton north line,"-to conform to the line specified in the Indian deed, -which carried said line over into the eight thousand acre grant one and three-quarter miles. The duplication was of course unintentional ; and was remedied by granting the Dedham pro- prietors an equivalent lying northwardly of their first surveyed tract.
BRADSTREET'S GRANT AND DENISON'S GRANT .- In 1659, about the time the township of Hadley was allowed to the peti-
56
tioners from Connecticut, a grant of five hundred acres was made to Mr. Simon Bradstreet, one of the magistrates, and afterwards Governor of the Colony, and five hundred acres to Maj .- Gen. Daniel Denison ; and they had liberty to locate these lands " at any place on the west side of the Connecticut River, provided it be full six miles from the place intended for North- ampton meeting-house, upon a straight line." Bradstreet, who had the first choice, took his five hundred aeres in Hatfield North Meadow, and Denison took his north of Bashan. Denison's Farm run one mile north and south on the river, and west two hundred and fifty rods.
As the North meadow included near one-fourth part of the valuable interval granted to Hadley, and was not " six miles from Northampton meeting-house," the town petitioned to have Bradstreet's grant vacated ; but without avail. After a five years' struggle, the town, out of justice to the west side pro- prietors, was obliged to purchase of Mr. Bradstreet the North meadow, for which he exacted £200, and one thousand acres of land elsewhere. "In answer to the petition of Samuel Smith, for and on the behalfe of the toune of IIadley, the Courte judg- eth it meete to grant the thousand acres of land mentioned in their petition, next to Maj .- Gen. Denison's land, to the toune of Hadley, on condition that they make agreement with the wor- shipful Mr. Bradstreete for the five hundred acres, lying within the bounds of their said toune. 18 May, 1664." This trans- action is proof that Hadley did not elaim a right to the lands northerly from Bashan. The exchange was effected on the terms proposed, and Mr. Bradstreet took possession of one thousand acres lying north of Denison's Grant ; and these two grants covered the major part of the valuable meadows now within the limits of Whately.
From this act of the Court, it would appear that Denison's and Bradstreet's farms adjoined, though Bradstreet's west line was one mile from the river, while Denison's was only two hundred and fifty rods. Bradstreet's north line was the upper side of the wood lot lying northward of the Elijah Allis farm ; his west line was a little to the westward of the Straits road. His length on the river was one and a half miles.
Gen. Denison died in 1682 ; and some years after his farm is
57
found in possession of-probably by purchase-John Field, Wil- liam Arms, Robert Bardwell, Daniel Warner, Samuel Field, Samuel Gunn, Joseph Field, and Andrew Warner, who, with their successors, held and managed it as joint proprietors till after 1735.
Gov. Bradstreet died in 1697. His farm, like Denison's, was purchased and held in joint proprietorship, though each owner had his specified lots. It appears from the proprietors' records, that this farm was first divided into two parts, the northern part known as " the Upper Mile," the southern part known as "the Half-mile in Hopewell." Each of these was cut in halves by a north and south line, running probably near where the present river road runs. In 1719 the names of proprietors and order of ownership were as follows :-
First Half-mile in Hopewell.
Samuel Gunn,
Josiah Scott, Ebenezer Bardwell, Samuel Belden,
Joseph Smith, Thomas Field,
John Crafts,
Zachery Field,
Jonathan Smith,
Josiah Scott,
Nathaniel Coleman,
Samuel Gunn,
John Belden,
Ebenezer Bardwell,
Samuel Belden.
First Division of Upper Mile.
Second Division of Upper Mile.
Josiah Scott,
Ebenezer Bardwell,
John Belden,
Samuel Belden,
Nathaniel Coleman,
John Wait,
Jonathan Smith,
Ebenezer Morton,
Zachery Field,
Zachery Field,
Ebenezer Morton, John Wait,
John Smith, John White,
Nathaniel Coleman,
John Crafts,
Joseph Smithi,
Samuel Belden, John Belden, Ebenezer Bardwell.
Zachery Field,
Jonathan Cole.
HI
Second Half-mile in Hopewell. John Wait,
Ebenezer Morton,
John Crafts, Josiah Scott, John Wait,
Ebenezer Morton,
Nathaniel Coleman,
Thomas Field, Jonathan Smith, Zachery Field.
Zachery Field, Joseph Smith, John Crafts, John White,
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For the purpose of regulating fences, highways, etc., the two proprietaries of the Denison and Bradstreet grants united, and held joint meetings, and kept common records.
HOPEWELL .- The original name of this tract was "Wet Swamp"; but it was called by its present name as early as 1700. The name appears to have been at first applied to the swampy lands lying west of Denison's Farm. It now has a more general and indefinite application.
" 1700. January 3 .- A record of eight lots in the Wet Swamp, alias Hopewell, in Hatfield: To Samuel Partridge, Sen., the first lot, being fourscore rods in length, twenty-six rods in breadth, the lines running west by north half a point from the west, E. by S. half a point, containing thirteen acres. To Ensign Eleazar Frary, second lot; Lt. Dan'l White, third lot; To Ensign Eleazar Frary, fourth lot; John Graves, Sen , fifth lot ; To Samuel Graves, Sen., deceased, his heirs, the sixth lot; To John Graves, deceased, his heirs, the seventh lot ; To Samnel Dickinson, Senior, the eighth lot."
But all projected improvements in this portion of the town were further arrested by the war known as Queen Anne's War, which broke out in 1703 and lasted till 1713.
It was during this war, i. c., Feb. 29, 1704, in the dead of winter, that the combined French and Indians made the mem- orable assault on Deerfield ; where a nominally Christian nation outdid, in cruelty, the barbarities of savage warfare ! It does not fall within the scope of this narrative to depiet the terrible scenes of this massacre. They have been often faithfully por- trayed. Twenty-two Hatfield men were in this fight, three of whom, Samuel Foote, Samuel Allis, and Serg't Benjamin Wait, were killed. Those of our name taken captive were Mary Allis, Hepzibah Belding, Sarah Dickinson, Mary Field, Mary Field, Jr., John Field, Mary Frary.
No more severe battles occurred in the valley ; but the Indians, in small parties, hung around all the towns, and kept the settlers in a state of constant alarm. Ebenezer Field of Hatfield was slain at Bloody Brook, Oct. 26, 1708. No traveler was safe by night or by day. Ordinary business was transacted only under protection of the military. April 11, 1709, Mehuman Hinsdale of Deerfield, while returning from Northampton with his team,
59
was captured by two Indians and taken to Chamblee. Probably the capture took place in what is now Whately. He had no apprehension of danger, because the leaves were not out. In the ten years of the war, the number slain in the county was one hundred and three. One hundred and twenty-three eap- tives were taken, of whom twenty-four were killed, or died on the way to or in Canada.
As it was determined by the Colonial Government to main- tain, at all hazards, the Deerfield settlement, this became the frontier town ; and consequently Hatfield was less exposed than in previous wars, and the local history has less of public interest for record.
In this war the Government paid a bounty of £10 for Indian scalps, when taken by enlisted soldiers ; and £ 100 for each scalp brought in by volunteers.
Massachusetts passed an act, November, 1706, " For raising and increasing dogs, for the better security of the frontiers." In October, 1708, Connecticut appropriated £50, "To bring up and maintain dogs to hunt after Indians." It does not appear, how- ever, that they were of any service in killing or capturing armed Indians.
SNOW SHOES .- These were Indian inventions, to enable them to travel over deep snows in hunting. Their value was demon- strated in the attack on Deerfield; as the country was then deemed impassable from the great depth of snow lying on the ground. In March, 1704, the General Court ordered five hun- dred pairs of snow shoes, and as many moccasins, for use on the frontiers. One-fourth of the number were intended for Hamp- shire County.
On the return of peace, in 1713, the frontiers were pushed out northerly and westerly. A permanent settlement was effected on the Housatonic River, at Sheffield. Northfield, after being twice abandoned, was permanently occupied in 1714.
From this time to the close of the Fourth Indian War, which lasted from 1722 to 1726, nothing of general interest occurred in this part of the valley. A block house, named Fort Dummer, -after the then Governor of Massachusetts, William Dum- mer,-was erected in the spring of 1724, about two miles south of the present village of Brattleboro', where a garrison was
60
maintained, which served a valuable purpose in protecting the lower towns.
The only notice extant of any incursion into this town is the following : "June 18, 1724 .- Benjamin Smith, son of Joseph of Hatfield, was slain, and Aaron Wells and Joseph Allis taken, when they were loading hay, about three miles north from Hat- field Street." There was just enough of danger to make people cautious, and put them constantly on their guard.
The period from 1726 to 1744 appears to have been one of assured peace. The out lands for home lots were now more freely taken ; houses were built in more exposed situations ; the proprietors of Bradstreet's Farm prepared to locate nearer to their valuable intervals. One house in each neighborhood was " pieketed "; and the settler depended on this, and his own vig- ilance and musket, for defence.
WHATELY SETTLED .- It was at this time that a settlement was first attempted within the bounds of Whately. The precise date is unknown ; but probably in 1735 or '36 Lieut. Ebenezer Bardwell, and perhaps Josiah Scott, built log houses where is now the " Old Orchard," on the Deerfield road, north of the Zebina Bartlett Place. It is certain, that near this date, Benja- min Scott, David Graves, Goodman Elisha Smith, Serg't John Wait, and Joseph Belding settled near together in the " Straits." These families left for a time, at the opening of the French and Indian War of 1745, and went back to the village. They returned to their homes probably in 1748 .*
* It will be seen that Scott was an early name on our territory. It is a current tradition that no family of the name of Scott was molested by the Indians in their numerous raids in the valley after the close of King Philip's War. To account for it the story goes, that one of the name had a dream for three successive winter nights that an Indian family encamped on Hopewell were in a starving condition. Impressed by the repetition of his dream, he started with his snow shoes and gun, and, at the foot of Hope- well hill, shot a bear, with the meat of which he saved the lives of the-as he found-starving Indians ; and they never forgot the kindness. Of the encampment on the spot indicated there is no doubt, as the records show ; and their household utensils, etc., are found there in abundance. And the writer has not met with the name of Scott among the captives, or those killed in predatory excursions, after 1697, the date of breaking up the Indian camp at Hopewell.
Daniel mortos Elisha BEDoing John Wait Eliftica Sumany Levi Marton Levi Bacino Brown. Mar Crafts Nathan Graves peter train Henry files Gidcon Dickinson
David graves
Sette Forany 90/ yah sending Jahr Janyon
61
The next settler was Abraham Parker, who built in " Canter- bury" in 1749. Joseph Sanderson located near him in 1752. In the latter year, David Scott bought the house of Ebenezer Bardwell on the Deerfield road, and Lieut. Bardwell removed and built a small house on the Chestnut-plain Street, where is now an orchard, southwesterly from Randall Graves's (which he sold in 1760 to David Scott). Benoni Crafts built where George and Asa Crafts now live ; his brother, Thomas Crafts, built where Seth B. Crafts, Esq., now lives ; and Dea. Joel Dickin- son built just east of where the old meeting-house stood. The Hatfield town authorities, not deeming it safe for these families to be out through the winter so far from help, before snow came removed them back to the village. They left a part of their corn standing in the fields, and during their absence the bears destroyed much of it. In 1754, a strong picket was built around Dea. Dickinson's premises,-house, barn, and yards,-and the four families used this as their "fort," where they could drive their cattle, and lodge themselves at night, during the Indian alarms of the next three or four years.
In 1758, Noah Wells built a house west of the Abel Seott place. In 1759, Daniel Morton built a little south of Thomas Crafts. In 1760, David Scott bought the place of Lieut. Eben- ezer Bardwell, who moved into Deerfield, where he lived about fifteen years. In 1761, there was a large accession to the settle- ment in the central and west parts of the town. Oliver Graves built on the east side of the road from Thomas Crafts [the elin tree standing in front of this house was set by Oliver Graves, Jr., in 1776] ; Oliver Morton built south of the cemetery ; Capt. Lucius Allis built a log house on Spruce hill, north of E. C. Allis's ; Capt. Salmon White built on the Luke B. White place ; Moses Dickinson built west of the Oliver Dickinson place ; and Peter Train, Edward Brown, and Abraham Turner located on the Poplar hill road. Dea. Nathan Graves settled early on Chest- nut mountain ; Dea. Simeon Wait in Christian lane. And as carly as 1765 Joshua Beldin and Nathaniel Coleman built on the River road. Samuel Carley was here as early as 1764, but probably did not build before 1768.
CHAPTER VI.
WHATELY EARLY SETTLERS.
THE preceding pages indicate whence many of the first settlers on our territory came. Other early settlers, as Parker, Sanderson, Shattuck and Sartle came from Groton, Mass., and vicinity. The families of Train, Bragg and Carley were from Watertown, and came through Marlborough, Shrewsbury and Petersham. Edward Brown was from Colchester, Ct. The later settlers, as Edson, Carey, Snow, Faxon, Byram, Richard- son, and perhaps Turner and Allen, were from Bridgewater, Mass., and vicinity. Jonathan Edson came by way of Stafford, Ct., and Ashfield. These Bridgewater families were all con- nected by marriage : and most of them, as also Carley, from Petersham, became acquainted with the valley while marching to and fro as soldiers during the French war.
The line of forts, including Fort Dummer, already named, Fort Shirley, in Heath, Fort Pelham, in Rowe, Fort Massachu- setts at East Hoosac, (now Adams,) and some minor works established 1744 and '45, formed a barrier against the Indians, and gave a sense of security to the settlers in this part of the valley. But the struggle between England and France for the possession of Canada and the line of Lakes westward to the Mississippi, -in which Hampshire County, (then covering the entire western part of the State,) from its frontier position, would naturally become involved,-kept up the war spirit, and drew off many of the young men, who were thus subtracted from the labor and productive efficiency of the settlement, just when such labor and productive efficiency were most needed. Many of these young men were slain or disabled ; others acquired habits which unfitted them for the patient toil and economy necessary to success in an agricultural community.
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63
Land was plenty. The Hatfield emigrants had, either in their own right, or by inheritance, their lots in the second and fourth Divisions of Commons, and in the " three miles Addition," and the Hatfield Equivalent. Several of them, as has been stated, were proprietors in the Bradstreet Farm. And land was cheap. Many lots in the Commons hereabouts, had been forfeited by neglect to fence, or refusal to pay rates and charges, and could be had of the town for the asking, or bought for seven shillings six pence per acre. The price of an acre of land and a pair of shoes was the same for a number of years.
It would be interesting to give the exact location and boun- daries of the farms, as first taken up. But there are inherent difficulties in the way. The surveys appear to have been kept in private hands, and are lost ; and the lines specified in deeds are obseure. . The corner trees are gone ; the highways have been re-located, and the stone heaps are scattered. Many of the boundaries were indefinite and traditional,-like those of a high- way in Northfield, which was laid out " from Pochaug meadow to a little brook where Mr. Doolittle's horse died,"-plain enough then, but impossible to be traced now.
Farming, to all except those who owned river lots, was more laborious than they had been accustomed to in Hatfield. Their fields were smaller, and harder to break up and till, and the yield of grain less. But in the matter of pasturage they were gainers. The hill-sides, especially where the numerous springs coursed their way down, afforded the sweetest feed, both early and late. And they seem to have depended largely on stock raising, as will appear in the large numbers of cows and sheep found here in 1771.
But they met serious inconveniences and drawbacks, espe- cially those living on Chestnut plain, and west of mount Esther. The highways had not been worked, nor the bridges built. Mill River and West Brook could be crossed only at the "fording places." The only traveled way to Hatfield village was over " the island," by way of " Mother George." They had no school privileges for their children. The nearest corn mill was five miles distant.
But the evil which they felt most deeply was the distance from Sabbath ordinances. The Sabbath was a sacred day then ; and
64
it was believed to be a duty to go to meeting on the Sabbath then ; and children, as well as parents, were expected to go to meeting then ; and the common means of conveyance then was on horseback .* They might have rode in ox-carts ; but oxen were "cattle," specified in the commandment, and the Sabbath was as sacred to them as to their owners.
With the multiplied churches, (then called meeting-house's,) and multiplied means of conveyance, and changed habits of thought of the present, it is difficult for us to realize the state of things at that day. Probably the change of sentiment is as great as the change of circumstances. The Sabbath morning, in this remote settlement, dawned on a quiet, altogether peculiar. Secular labor had been carefully finished, in-doors and out, at sunset the preceding evening. All were required to rise early, that the necessary chores might be seasonably done. The cattle seemed to understand that their day of rest had come. Even the dog kept the reckoning correctly. It is still a tradition in the family, that Deacon Sanderson's dog was never known to leave his place under the table on the Sabbath, unless specially called. The baked beans were in the oven, still warm, and ready for both the morning and evening meal. The good-wife had her hands full, to get all the children and herself ready, and stir up the Indian pudding for the noon lunch. [The uniform custom was to mix up a pudding, put it in a bag or pudding- pot, which could be stowed in the saddle-bags, or slung to the saddle. When they got to Hatfield street, which was always early, they stopped at one of their cousins' or nephews' houses, when the pudding was put in the family pot, and was found ready boiled when meeting was out at noon.]
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