USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Whately > History of the town of Whately, Mass., including a narrative of leading events from the first planting of Hatfield, 1661-1899 : with family genealogies > Part 11
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
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to James Factory and owned some years by Calvin Knights and then purchased by C. H. Field. It is claimed that there were twenty-five children born to Paul and Rufus in the old house ; that not a room was plastered ; that they brought the water in barrels some thirty rods, and that they went into their upper rooms on a ladder. This house was deserted in 1838 by the Smiths, who bought the Allis place of David Morton.
SMITH, JONATHAN, built west of Mt. Esther, where his son, Seth, afterwards lived. He bought lot No. 52, fourth divi- sion of Commons, 13 Aug., 1789. The house was torn down and removed about 1858.
SMITH, SILAS, lived west of Poplar Hill on the place after- wards known as the Elder Todd place. Mr. Smith built as early as 1770, probably earlier. He afterwards lived on Poplar Hill, just south of the Consider Waite place. After him came Anthony Waite and then Emmons Meekins.
SMITH, BENJAMIN, EsQ., was a justice of the peace and quite a prominent man in town. I have never known where lie lived, but think about 1775 he occupied a large house, (painted red) on the east side of the Straits, which was long kept as a hotel. Old Mrs. Samuel Bartlett, who was a daughter of Gad Smith, (his brother) said that at one time several officers of the British navy or army, who were prisoners in the time of the Revolution, were quartered "In a large red house that was formerly a hotel," and that one of them put his name on a pane of glass with a diamond, and that she had often seen it when a small girl. Mrs. Bartlett was born in 1790. She said she did not know who kept the hotel, nor could she tell where Esquire Smith lived. When she was married, in 1810, there were three hotels in the Straits, and her father, Gad Smith, Joel Waite and David Stockbridge were the proprietors.
SMITH, ASA, son of Philip, born in 1770, was a carpenter. He bought of Rev. Rufus Wells, in 1826, lot No. 28, second division of Commons, on the east side of Chestnut Plain street, at the mouth of the "Mother George" road, that was on the north side of this lot, but then unused for travel. The house was not finished until purchased by Eurotus Morton. He sold to Rev. John Ferguson and it has since been owned by G. W. Reed, and now by Henry A. Brown.
SMITH, ELIJAH, bought 19 Jan., 1798, of Martin Graves, the gambrel-roofed house on the east side of the Straits, all in the Bradstreet grant. This was built by Benjamin Scott, Sr., very
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early, possibly as soon as 1735 to '40, thus making it the oldest house in town, except a portion of the David Graves house now owned by Wells T. Smith. The house and farm is now owned by the Quinn family. The farm contained thirty-seven and one- half acres, all tillage land.
SMITH, DEA. JAMES, came in 1806. He bought the mills and house of Moses Munson, Jr. There were some ten or twelve acres of land. The gristmill was run until about 1830, and then changed into a factory for making bits, saw-sets, gimlets, and other products. The last miller that I recall was Caleb Beals. The place was afterwards owned by his son, Justin R. Smith, and now it is owned by Asa T. Sanderson.
SMITH, HENRY, son of Capt. Rufus, lived on and owned the Daniel Allis farm. Who built the house I have no positive information, but it is probable that it was Daniel Allis, as he was on the farm as early as 1782.
SMITH, HIRAM, son of Capt. Rufus, bought the Phineas Frary place. The old house was removed and the present cot- tage house built by Mr. Smith about 1840. It is now owned by Lyman A. and Herbert S. Monson.
SMITH, ASHLEY, son of Capt. Rufus, built the house oppo- site the northwest schoolhouse about 1827, now owned by E. A. Jenney's heirs.
SMITH, ISAAC, son of Esquire Benjamin, built a two-story house on land south of Stephen Belden's in the Straits, in the Gov. Bradstreet grant, about 1795. This house had several occupants, among them being Joseph Brown. It passed into the hands of David Stockbridge, Esq., and when he built his new hotel on the River road, he moved this house there and it is the ell part of that house, and now owned by Frank B. Mor- ton's heirs.
SMITH, JONATHAN, JR., lived near his father's, perhaps in the Frary house.
SMITH, DAVID, probably built a house, but I have no defi- nite information concerning it. His widow, Betsey, I well recollect. She lived near Esquire Seth Smith's.
SMITH, ROSWELL, son of Esquire Benjamin, married Mary Pratt of Deerfield. Their son, Elihu, married Anna Belden of Whately and removed to Hadley.
TAYLOR, LIEUT. ADONIJAH, bought about 200 acres of land and built a house and mills, on Indian Hill, in 1760. His purchase included the famous "Whately Glen." He sold to
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Dea. Thomas Sanderson and removed to Hawley. The farm is still owned by the great-grandsons, Charles A. and George E .- the latter owns the bulk of it.
TRAIN, PETER, from Watertown, Mass., built the house generally known as the Rufus Sanderson place, on Poplar Hill road, about 1761 or '62, afterwards owned by his son, Oliver, and after his death, in 1820, by different ones, including Rufus Sanderson, and it is now owned by Rufus D. Sanderson.
TRAIN, ROSWELL, a blacksmith, built on a portion of the old farm, about 1829, since owned by his son, Horace.
TODD, REV. ASA, bought the farm of Silas Smith. This was purchased for him by a committee of the new Baptist church, viz. : John Brown, Isaiah Brown, John Graves and Joel Waite of Whately, Jesse Warner and Elisha Smith of Conway, 18 Oct., 1790. It was sold 15 April, 1803, to Zebulon Robinson of Chesterfield, for £450, or more likely, dollars. The house has long since been gone.
An extract from the will of John Waite, dated 21 March, 1743, gives his son, John Waite, Jr., who settled in the Straits, "My fifty-acre lot, right in the Bradstreet grant, bought of Zachariah Field, with edifices thereon, near the west end of the lot, whereon he now dwells, and £150 in bills of the old tenor, besides what I have heretofore given him." The Waite house was on the west side of the Straits road, and was also in the Bradstreet grant, but within about forty rods of the west bound- ary. The fifty acres given by the will were all east of the road and extend east to the river. The subsequent owners have been his son, Joel, widely known as "Landlord Waite," as he kept a hotel here for many years, next by his son, John, usually called "Little Johnnie Waite," Rufus Smith, Emerson C. War- ner, and in 1899 it was bought by Charles H. Pease.
WAITE, ' DEA. SIMEON, built in 1760, on lot 37, second division of Commons, in Christian lane, sold to Abial Bragg 115 acres in 1776, and Mr. Bragg sold in 1787 to Dr. Benjamin Dickinson, and then to Jonathan Colton Loomis and it is now owned by his son, Calvin S. Loomis. The land consisted of parts of lots 37, 38 and 39, on the north side and parts of lots 36, 35 and 34, south of Christian lane road. For further par- ticulars see account of Abial Bragg's sales.
WAITE, ELIHU, built on one of the lots owned by him. He owned the west end of lots 66, 67, 68 and 69, fourth division of Commons, extending from Todd brook to Williamsburg line.
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The house, built about 1778, is probably on lot No. 66. There was a log house on the lots formerly owned by Isaac Marsh, generally known as "Cider Marsh," as he had an awful capacity for cider. It is related that cider distillers used to call their 30-barrel tanks "Marsh's tumblers," and they said that he could at a single trial settle the fluid about a foot at a draught. What became of Marsh, or why he built on those lots I do not know.
WAITE, CONSIDER, brother of Elihu, built on parts of lots 66, 67, 68 and 69, abutting abreast the east end of Elihu's lots, and extending east half a mile or thereabouts. It seems that these lots were owned before this by Elisha Waite, of Hatfield, and by him deeded to these parties-Elihu and Consider. He built on lot 67, probably earlier than 1778. The succeeding occupants are unknown, except his son, Capt. Enos, or John Waite.
WAITE, JONATHAN, brother of Elihu and Consider, was a clothier. He lived some years where Mrs. Sumner Smith re- sides. Then he bought a house in Conway and removed to the north part of Grass Hill, now occupied by his granddaughter, Mrs. Oscar W. Grant.
WAITE, ALPHA, son of Jonathan, built a house north of his father's. Since his death it has been occupied by his widow. His son died in the army.
WAITE, THOMAS, son of Nathan, built the house now occupied by his nephew, John Edward Waite, about 1822, where he died.
WAITE, JEREMIAH, built the house on the crossroad from Claverack, about 1815, now owned by Thomas Fleming.
WAITE, CHESTER K., built the house sold to Eli Jones, under Shingle Hill.
WAITE, JEREMIAH, SR., with his father, Nathan, then an old man, came to Whately in 1782 or '83, and bought a house and land on Shingle Hill. Later, (in 1793) they bought the place at West Whately since occupied by Nathan, son of Jere- miah, then by John Bement, son of Nathan, and now by Willis F. Waite. The father of Jeremiah died here in 1788, aged 87 years, thus making six generations, counting the child of Willis F. This was probably on lot No. 18, fourth division of Commons, on the road leading to Grass Hill, although there might have been more than one lot.
WAITE, JOHN JR., built the Moses Graves house, about
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1770 or '71, on the north side of Christian lane, on lot 37, second division of Commons. It has since been owned by Moses Graves, his son, Lucius, and now by Fred L. Graves.
WAITE, JOEL, built on the site of an old house erected by Joseph Belden, which he tore down, and built the new one in 1830. This is near the Stockbridge hotel and was in the Brad- street grant.
WAITE, CALVIN, son of Elihu, built a house near his fath- er's, in 1810 or 'II, on the Dry Hill road, now owned by E. A. Warner.
WAITE, JUSTIN, built a house near the mill, about 1854, now owned by Samuel Wilder who also owns the mill.
WARNER, LUTHER, built the house and mill on the new road up the West brook, about 1828 or '30. It is now owned by Charles A. Covill.
WARNER, RALPH, built a house on Poplar Hill road, or, perhaps, bought the house built by Capt. Seth Bardwell, now owned by Lyman M. Sanderson.
WARNER, FOSTER, Y., built a fine house on Mill Hill, where he lived and died. After his death his widow resided there until she died, in 1898. He also built a cottage house, which was afterwards occupied by his son, Emerson C.
WELLS, NOAH, came to Whately in 1758 and built a house on the west side of Chestnut Plain street, about fifteen rods south of the house of the late Wells Dickinson. It was torn down a great many years ago. He was succeeded by his son, Lemuel, and for a time by Israel Wells.
WELLS, PEREZ, built a house on lot 13, second division of Commons. This was torn down after his decease in 1852, and a new house was built in 1854 by his son, Lewis Wells. After him his son, Isaac N., lived there, then W. N. Beals, then Warren E. Wells, and now owned by Patrick Conolly.
WELLS, ISRAEL, built the house next north of Ashley G. Dickinson's, on the west side of Chestnut Plain street, now owned by David Callahan.
WELLS, CALVIN, bought the Capt. Salmon Graves place, in Chestnut Plain street, after 1826, probably in 1827. This has since been occupied by his son, Porter Wells, and now by his son, David P. Wells.
WELLS, PEREZ MILTON, built a house on Mill Hill be- . tween the houses of E. C. Warner and Francis G. Bardwell.
WELLS, REV. RUFUS, built his house in 1772, on the west
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side of Chestnut Plain street, on lot 28, fourth division of Com- mons. Since occupied by his son, Capt. Luke Wells, then opened for a hotel and so used for quite a number of years. It was then occupied by Dr. Chester Bardwell, afterwards burned. Then a new house was built on the site by Ernest A. Allis, and since he died it has been occupied by a family from Boston by the name of Clapp. Mr. Wells commenced to build his house early after his settlement. The cellar was dug and stoned up in 1772, as Dea. Thomas Sanderson's books show, dated May, 1772 : "To work digging the cellar and drawing stone for the same by myself and brothers, Asa and John, eighteen days with team." After the house was completed his mother, Sarah Wells, lived with him until she died, in 1783, and kept his house until he was married.
WELLS, ELISHA, son of Noah, built a house on Dry Hill road, south of Elihu Waite's, just before descending the hill to the Dexter Morton sawmill on West brook. The old well was in existence as late as 1880. He removed to Hawley where he died.
WHITE, CAPT. SALMON, settled in Whately in 1762, and built a house on the west side of Chestnut Plain street, probably on lot No. 13 or 14, fourth division of Commons. He was very prominent in all town affairs, and died in 1815. After his de- cease his son, John, succeeded him, then Luke B., then Henry K., and the place is now occupied by Mrs. Henry K. White.
WHITE, SALMON, JR., built opposite, on the east side of Chestnut Plain street, in the second division of Commons, about 1785 or 1786. He died in 1822, and was succeeded by Dea. Justus, and he by Dea. John White, and he by Salmon P. White, and it is now owned by Cornelia M. White.
WHITE, SAMUEL B., son of Esquire John, built the house now owned by John W. Beers, and his son, Arthur H., also the house owned by Dea. Meekins. He kept a store in a portion of the house. The house was remodeled by Rev. John W. Lane.
WHITE, JOHN M., son of Luke B., now owns the house formerly owned by William H. Fuller at Canterbury. He has a beautiful home.
WILCOX, LUTHER S., a carpenter, built a house opposite Bartlett's corner, on the road to the railroad station, in 1858. He afterwards rebuilt the house owned by William Bardwell, in 1883, where he died. The previous occupants were Dea. David Saunders, Widow Phelps and her son, Edward. The first house was built by Landlord Joel Waite, in 1809.
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WILDER, DEA. SAMUEL, a miller and dealer in flour, grain, etc., came to Whately about 1882 to '83. He bought the mills of the Wells brothers -- Charles and Perez M .- also the house and land of Justin Waite's estate, and in company with his son, Henry A., does a large business.
WINCHELL, REUBEN, built the brick house now owned by the Donovan brothers, about 1810. It has since been owned by Mr. Bates and Eurotus Dickinson.
WOODS, WILLIAM AND JOSIAH, about 1840 built the house now owned by Aaron E. Waite, in the Straits.
WOODS, ELLIPAZ H., built the house where he lived at East Whately, in 1850, or he bought the old Gad Smith house, or the upright portion of it, and moved it and built the ell part, barns, etc., now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Sarah E. Morton. The house is on lot 36, second division of Commons.
WOODS, JOHN, built the house now owned by the heirs of Charles F. Pease, in the Straits, tearing down the old house in 1847, all in the Bradstreet grant. Probably the first house was built by Josiah Scott, Sr., about 1728, perhaps earlier by ten years.
WOODS, SAMUEL A., built his house about 1870, on lot 36, second division of Commons. George E. Woods also built a house on the same lot. 'This last is now owned by the heirs of Samuel W. Steadman.
CHAPTER VII.
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 Marlboro, 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, Conn., 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 in 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
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these young men were slain or disabled, while others acquired habits which unfitted them for the patient toil and economy necessary to success in an agricultural community.
Land was plenty. The Hatfield emigrants had, either in their own right or by inheritance, their lots in the fourth divi- sion of Commons, in the three-mile addition and in the Hatfield equivalent. Several of them, as has been stated, were proprie- tors in the Bradstreet farm. Land was cheap, and 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, from 1765 to '80. It would be in- teresting to give the exact location and boundaries of the farms, as first taken up.
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 hillsides, especially where the numerous springs coursed their way down, afforded the sweetest feed, both early and late, and they seem to have depended largely upon stock raising, as will appear from the large number of cows and sheep found 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 it was believed to be a duty to go to meeting on the Sab- bath, and children, as well as parents, were expected to regu- larly attend church. The common means of conveyance then was on horseback, and this continued to be the ordinary mode of traveling till 1810 or later. The usual charge for a horse and saddle from Whately to Hatfield was, for a man, nine pence, for a woman, eight pence. When a man took his wife on the pil- lion behind him, the charge was ten pence. They might have
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rode in ox carts, but oxen were "cattle," specified in the com- mandment, and the Sabbath was as sacred to them as to their owners.
With the multiplied churches (then called meeting-houses) 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. Probable 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, "Cudjoe," 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 saddlebags or slung to the saddle. When they got to Hatfield street, which was always early, they stopped at one of their cousin's or nephew's houses, when the pudding was put in the family pot, and was found ready boiled when meeting was out at noon.]
The five or six miles to be traveled required an early start, and each Sabbath during the warm season witnessed nearly the same scene. For a time Noah Wells was the farthest from meeting. Himself and wife and the two youngest children mounted the old horse, the six older children had started ahead on foot; next Master Scott, his wife and ten children, joined successively by Benoni Crafts and his family of six, by Thomas Crafts and his family of ten, by Daniel Morton and his family of ten, by Oliver Graves and his family of eleven, by Oliver Morton and his family of seven, by Deacon Dickinson and his family of eight. These formed a goodly cavalcade as they left the street, at the point where afterwards the first meeting-house was built, to go over the fording place, and down through "Egypt." All were clad in homespun, yet were as proud of their clean linen, felt hats and high crowned bonnets as the city
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belle of her silks and satins, for pride has nothing to do with the quality or cut of the cloth one wears.
The boys and girls were bare-footed, carrying their shoes in their hands, to be put on when they reached the pine grove, a half mile this side of Hatfield meeting-house, and worn till they should reach the same grove on their return. Each recur- ring Sabbath morning witnessed this-a strange sight to us, and yet, as seen then, it had nothing about it remarkable, nothing offensive to good taste and propriety, nothing inconsistent with self-respect and competence, nothing derogatory to the purest and noblest type of girlhood and boyhood, womanhood and manhood, nothing but what God approved and smiled upon.
It had its personal discomforts and petty trials; it was a long "Sabbath day's journey," but all this was anticipated. And their love for the sanctuary and the hope of better days, when they should have their own meeting-house and minister, kept them in good heart. Neither in this matter nor in the inconveniences of every-day life, did they show disappointment or indulge regrets. They had chosen their home and had settled here to stay, and at once set about securing the means of comfort and independence.
Beyond the prime necessities of food, clothing and shelter, the wants of daily life are affected very much by contrast and comparison. Envy springs from disparity of condition. Repin- ing as often follows the bettered lot of another as the straitened lot of ourselves; and as all here had so many wants in common, for a time all appear to have been substantially contented. In their circumscribed sphere they found solid comfort, and were as independent as we are. Most of the men could fell the for- ests, rift the timber for clapboards, fit a frame, mend a cart and hoop a barrel. Most of the women were skilled in all the mys- teries of preparing flax and wool for cloth, in weaving and in cutting and making clothing.
David Scott, Sr., appears to have been the first professed carpenter in the place. But he laid out his work by the "Try rule," or the rule of six, eight and ten, i. e., the sills, posts and beams were framed and tried, and the braces were laid on to mark their bevels and length. Master Scott's prime precept was, "Make great mortises and 'leetle' tenons, and your work will go together charming easy !" He, as well as his son, Abel, made plows, ox yokes, carts, etc. Thomas and Benoni Crafts did most of the coopering.
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As a part of the design of this book is to preserve a record of the manners and customs of our fathers, and as the genera- tion that saw these early homes is now so nearly gone-with whom will perish the first-hand knowledge-it will not be out of place here to draw a rough sketch of one of those houses and the family within. Perhaps our grandchildren may be inter- ested in looking at it. As we open the outside door we are confronted by a large pile of flat stones, carefully laid, which runs up slightly tapering to and through the roof and which we shall presently learn is the end of the fireplace and chimney. Beside this stands a ladder, or rough stairway, leading into the open attic. The next and only remaining door leads directly into the large living room, which is both kitchen, sitting room and parlor. We notice that the walls and ceiling of this room are not plastered and the bare timbers are not very smoothly hewed. But what strikes us most forcibly is the fireplace, or inside of that huge pile of stones which takes up not less than half the end of the room, and into which we can walk without much stooping. Inside the jambs stands the "settle," on which five persons can comfortably sit. Inside the settle stands the "dye pot." Down from the cavernous chimney hang the hooks and trammels on which the big iron pot is suspended, and handy by hangs the flip iron. In the corner of the room opposite the fireplace is the bed, with its white linen, or dingy tow sheets and pillow-biers, and its striped outside blanket, and under it the trundle-bed. In the next corner stands the cupboard, with its wooden and pewter sets neatly arranged. Near by are the "swifts" and the "great wheel," if it is autumn, or the "little wheel," if it is spring. Then there is the pine table in its place, the four-legged stools, the flag-bottomed, high-backed chairs and the cradle. Under the looking-glass is a small stand on which lies the family Bible. The catechism and hymn book, if our call is at the deacon's house, are put in one corner of the cupboard. On a pair of deer's horns are suspended the gun, powderhorn and ball-pouch. Overhead are poles laid on hooks for drying pumpkins or herbs and airing clothes. The family chest is at the foot of the bed. On two nails driven into the plate over the fireplace is laid a birch rod about three feet long, the use of which the children then perfectly understood, but which is now among the lost arts.
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