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 17
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The Spruce Hill road was probably early designated, but was really laid out by the town in 1773. This ran on the top of the hill starting from the Conway road, a little west of the house of George Dickinson, and south over Chestnut mountain. That this was a designated road at an early date we have proof in the fact that Dea. Nathan Graves built on the west side of this road, on the top of Chestnut mountain, in 1762 and in 1772 the town records say it was accepted as a town way.
The Poplar Hill road, leading from Conway line to the south line of the town, was laid on and over Shingle Hill, past the residences of Lieut. John Brown, Abraham Turner, Noah Field, Edward Brown, Peter Train, Lieut. Noah Bardwell and Zenas Field and was, doubtless, designated by the Hatfield authorities and formally accepted by the town in 1773.
South of Zenas Field's the Grass Hill road commenced and led to Williamsburg and, as Mr. Temple well says, "In 1785 the town voted to open and clear the road running southerly from Simeon Morton's by Paul Smith's to Williamsburg line." This was the Dry Hill road running by Elihu Waite's, Simeon Morton's and Col. Ames' houses. In 1824 the road, leading from the Mitchell corner up the brook to intersect with the road leading from Poplar Hill road to Dea. James Smith's mill, was laid and worked. The road from Poplar Hill road to Munson's mills was laid in 1785. The mills were built in 1784.
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In 1788 a road was laid from near West brook bridge to Belden's mills. It is well known that Samuel Belden was a cousin of and successor to Reuben Belden who died in 1776. In 1788 there were iron works, used probably for melting scrap iron and possibly smelting from iron ore, but most likely the working of scrap iron. This mill, or factory, stood near the site of the barn on the Lemuel Waite place. About this date the iron works ceased and the mill was turned into a distillery for the manufacture of rye, gin or whiskey, by a company consisting of Gen. Seth Murray, Gen. Dickinson, Seth Bardwell, Samuel Belden and others. To accommodate this mill the road was laid as follows: "Beginning at Hatfield line at West brook bri ge, running north one rod, then west two and one-half degrees, north fifteen rods, then west thirty-one degrees, north seven rods to the northeast corner of the mill, then north five rods to the top of the hill for the convenient turning of teams." This was voted at a legal town meeting held 2 March, 1789. It is quite probable that the mills were either burned or torn down before 1804, as no trace of them is found or any party who could tell what became of them since I was old enough to be interested in such historical matters. I have heard my father speak of this mill and distillery and of Chester Harding having sketched the appearance of some of the people who brought rye to the mill. He had a natural ability to sketch them in a ludicrous manner when a mere boy.
"Egypt" road was built early and affords a passage from Deerfield road to Claverack road. I have never seen any record of the laying out of the road through "Egypt" and yet it fur- nished the people living in the Straits a way to go to mill and the sawmill, as well as to Northampton. When this road was laid, or by whom, I do not know, but it has long been a trav- eled roadway leading from Claverack to the Deerfield road, cer- tainly for more than seventy-five years, and been repaired by the town all these years. There has been only one change made in it within my recollection, when my father's uncles, Rufus and Caleb, bought the lands of Israel and William Dick- inson, now partly owned by the town of Whately. The road was mostly owned by Caleb Dickinson until the Plain was reached, then it veered to the north and ran on to the land that the Crafts brothers bought. The Dickinsons bought of Caleb Dickinson a strip two rods wide from that point to Deerfield road, and the roadway was thus straightened, Caleb reserving
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the wood, but after chopping it off the stumps would average from twelve to fifteen inches high. This was in 1825 and then we used to drive through there, the wheels sometimes going over a dozen stumps in driving the fifty rods or so. Then my father used to go and cut down the stumps, as we had a dozen acres or so in corn. At noon, after eating his dinner, he would work on that road until he cut them out clean, the town paying him for the work. And so it has been occupied.
The Stony Hill road was laid in 1777 from the Poplar Hill road, near Nathan Waite's and his son, Jeremiah's, who had bought first on Shingle Hill and subsequently of Capt. Church and his sister, the house and land where his son, Nathan, then his son, John Bement Waite, and his son, Willis F., now lives. So it was from here that the road was laid in 1777, between the houses of John Smith and Maj. Phineas Frary on Spruce Hill road, over Stony Hill to connect with the road that was in existence up Mill Hill, north of George B. McClelan's to the mill.
The people had that road up Mill Hill as early as 1778. This, after getting up the hill, turned a square corner and ran south to the mill about thirty rods. This road over Stony Hill was discontinued when the county laid the road down by the brook, about 1830, and about that time the road from the mill to Chestnut Plain street, north of George B. McClelan's, and then a road was laid down by the brook, where it now is.
What is called the crossroad runs between the lands of Capt. Henry Stiles and Dea. John White and ran from Chestnut Plain street to Claverack. A brick schoolhouse was erected at the time of the opening of the road, in 1810. This opened the way to the schoolhouse for the children living in Claverack and shortened the distance to the post office. The schoolhouse was at the junction of the crossroad and Chestnut Plain street.
And now a few words to emphasize the improvements that have been going on from year to year relative to the roads and bridges. This we conceive to be an element in the history of our town that should be laid fairly before our readers. The chairman of your board of selectmen informed me that all of the bridges of sixteen feet in length and over were now built of iron or steel. When the town commenced replacing the old wooden structures with iron, they used wooden joists or sleepers. These are now being taken out and steel joists used in their places, thus eliminating the danger of a collapse in the near future. We all
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know that highway workers are quite apt to say without due and thorough examination "O, I guess it's safe and all right" and, first you know, down goes the bridge.
Only a few years ago an omnibus load of young people, some twelve or fifteen of them, drawn by four horses, descended the hill on the South Deerfield road at a smart gait and struck the wooden bridge with such force that the bridge fell. This struc- ture was about thirty-five to forty feet long. The horses and all fell into the water and were saved with great difficulty. The weather was cold and their clothing was frozen, and great ap- prehensions were felt for their ultimate recovery. The town had to settle, the best it could, the damages incurred by this acci- dent (if we may so term it). The approach to the bridge was as low as the bridge. Few people properly consider the blow a bridge receives when a four-horse team rushes at a high rate of speed, with its heavy load of human beings, and strikes the bridge. Of course, this was replaced by an iron structure. The solid stone abutments were raised higher, making a rise to the bridge in its approach as you came down the hill. The wooden sleepers have given place to solid steel, and thus a serious danger is avoided.
When it is feasible, stone abutments for the small runs have taken the place of an old log, placed on each side of the brook, or run. When the writer was a boy, seventy to seventy-five years ago, there was no effort to grade down the short though steep pitches, or build up the bridge. Sleepers were laid across the logs and, instead of planks, they used fairly straight poles, of from four to six inches in diameter, and as one drove down the little hill it was necessary to be on your guard or you would be thrown out of the wagon. Now good stone abutments are in use and often the bridge or covering is made of large flat stones, or arched over and raised sufficiently to afford abundant room for the water flow in times of heavy freshets.
The town seems to be waking up to the necessity of using some of the surplus cobble stones in macadamizing the clay hills, like the Dr. Dickinson Hill and Gutter Hill. In the spring these hills are fearful, and the improvements come slowly but surely, and if only a small distance is done in a year it will soon be completed and all these improvements are now going on. The advocates of thorough work are in the ascendency and it is this kind of work that tells for the benefit of the town.
Good roads and bridges that carry you safely over help
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greatly to induce outsiders, of a class that is needful to build up the town, to come in. It also stimulates, to an extent, improve- ments in our houses and farm buildings, promotes a pleasant feeling when we ride out or hear this remark from those who occasionally ride through our town: "You seem to be doing something to improve your town."
The old method of building our roads over the hills has largely given place to the construction of roads in the valleys following the streams, thus facilitating travel and the ease of drawing loads from town to town or in one's own town. For- merly we had to mount the hills and either go over Mt. Esther or reach the Poplar Hill to get to the west part. Since 1825 we have been saved all of that tedious drive by the building of the road up the valley of West brook, affording a fine, feasible route and a pleasant roadway, and so of others.
Think of the fearful hills to climb to get over Shingle Hill to go to Haydenville. Now we have a fine road at the foot of the hill, affording a pleasant drive, following a little brook quite a portion of the way. Then there was also the Spruce Hill road, now seldom used since the completion of the road down the valley from the E. S. Munson place to the center of the town. I might mention other improvements, but these seem sufficient to illustrate my point.
The foregoing is an imperfect sketch of the highways of Whately. Some roads were established and opened, of which no record can be found. In some cases the town ordered the survey and location of a road and afterwards reconsidered its action but, in the meantime, the road had actually been opened to travel. Thus the records fail to furnish data for a complete history of our private and public highways.
These details may seem to be of trivial importance, but they were vital questions in their day. Individual and district pros- perity hinged on the establishment or refusal to locate a road, on the adoption of this or that line, or whether it was an open or a close way. And these details have in themselves a certain historic value.
There is always a reason for locating a road. The reason may lie at the beginning or the end of the line, it may be a per- sonal or a public reason, the reason may be apparent or it may be concealed. And a careful study of the subject never fails to educe some valuable facts illustrative of sectional and general interests, illustrative of wise forethought or foolish afterthought.
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The name of a road is expressive like the name of a town or the baptismal name of a person. The direction of a road indicates the course of settlement or the opening of a new industry or out- let of a trade.
The general history of its highways, is the history, in out- line, of the rise and progress or the decay of the industrial pur- suits of a town. Now in closing our talk upon the roads we would congratulate our townsmen upon the evidences of thrift and prosperity everywhere visible.
CHAPTER XI.
EDUCATION.
As the early action of this town on matters pertaining to education had reference only to the town's own interests and was influenced by the varying circumstances of local growth and prosperity, this chapter is necessarily made up largely of votes and incidents, often apparently trivial. But these incidents and votes are worth preserving because, while they reveal the senti- ment and plans of each succeeding generation and the conflict- ing interests of different sections, they also show that the public free school system is the one best adapted to our state of society and best answers the demands of a growing people and a free government. Its flexibility is an advantage. Its voluntary character is an advantage. Its dependence on an annual vote of the citizens is an advantage. Even the suspension of the schools for a year, in case of great emergency, has its compensa- tions, for then the father and mother are made to realize their personal responsibility for their children's welfare, and are led to put forth efforts and make sacrifices which directly and indi- rectly promote true education and which furnishes an illustration of life's exigencies which benefits both parent and child.
To know the world is as important as to know books. To acquire the habit of observing and thinking and putting forth the energies to master difficulties, is as much a part of school duty as to recite lessons. The Puritan fathers had a broad and true conception of what education is, and among the earliest acts passed, was one requiring the selectmen of towns to see to it that parents and masters train up their children "In learning
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and labor and other employments which may be profitable to the Commonwealth." For the learning and habits of industry and knowledge of some profitable employment, here enjoined, not only fitted the child to become a useful member of the state, but at the same time fitted him for individual excellence and happiness. The proper aim of school instruction, as of all instruction to children, is to fit them for efficient duty. There is need of knowledge, need of culture and need to learn the dangers of life and how to shun them, as well as the best way to use its advantages. The child needs to get a true idea of his dependence on others for his happiness and influence, and to believe in and respect the rights of others, as well as to believe in his personal independence and claim his own rights. He needs to have his wits sharpened early if he is to be a successful competitor for position and power.
Our public schools, where all classes mingle and where courses of study are adapted to the various capacities and where restraint and liberty are wisely adjusted and where parents and teachers co-operate, as they do in every successful school, and home and school discipline supplement each other, our public schools, thus administered, furnish the best preparation for prac- tical life. Probably parochial and patronage schools and pri- vate tutors would insure a higher standard of merely scientific attainment to particular classes in the community, but the true education of the people is, beyond question, best promoted by our free school system.
The first year the town made no provision for schools. The season was well advanced before the new order of things got fairly established, and there were no schoolhouses. In 1772, at the annual meeting in March, it was voted, "To raise £13, 6s, 8d for schooling, and that the selectmen lay out the money in Chestnut Plain, Straits and Poplar Hill streets, said school money being proportioned to each street agreeably to what they respectively paid in the last year's rate." The schools in each street, for this and several succeeding years, were kept at pri- vate houses. A frame of a schoolhouse was put up this year in Chestnut Plain street, directly south of the meeting-house, but it was not finished. Probably it remained unfit for use for sev- eral years, as in 1774, the question came before the town to see if any conveniences should be made in the meeting-house for schooling. The town voted in the negative-very wisely it would appear, as the meeting-house was quite as unfinished as
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the schoolhouse: The sum of £13, 6s, 8d appears to have been raised for schooling during each of the next three years and the money was divided and expended as in 1772. In 1775 the following school committee was chosen: Benjamin Smith, Joseph Scott, Joseph Belden, Jr., Thomas Crafts, Elisha Belden, Perez Bardwell, John Smith, Peter Train, Deacon Nathan Graves.
The pressure of the war now became severe, and for several years no public money was raised for schooling, and it is not likely that any schools were maintained.
AN ENGLISH SCHOOL. At a meeting held I Dec., 1777, the town voted, "To accept the piece of land given by Reuben Belden, deceased, for the use of schools in the town of Whately, upon conditions named in his will." In explanation of this vote an extract from the will of Reuben Belden of Hatfield, who died 1776, is here given :
"Furthermore, I give and bequeath to the inhabitants of the town of Whately, in the County of Hampshire, for the sole use and benefit of an English School to be kept there, as hereafter mentioned, the estate, hereafter described, (the same to remain unalienable by the said town,) viz, : That farm, or tract of land in said Whately, with the dwelling house standing thereon, in which Niles Coleman now lives, lying on the Island, so called, between the lands of Henry Stiles and Elisha Belding, and bounded west upon the Mill River, and extending thence east two hundred rods, and carrying the width of seventeen rods the length aforesaid : And I hereby appoint and impower the selectmen of the said town of Whately for the time being for- ever hereafter to take the care and direction of the improvement of the said farm, and the issues and profits of the same, and the buildings thereon and appurtenances thereof to employ for the benefit of the said school. And this gift and bequest I make upon the following conditions and no otherwise, viz .: That the said school be kept in that street in the said town called the Chestnut Plain street, near where the present meeting-house stands, and that the same be set up within two years from the time of my decease, and be not suffered at any time thereafter to cease or fail to be kept up and maintained for the term of six months in any future year : And in case such schools as afore- said shall not be set up at or near the said place in the said street, and within the time above limited, and be kept and main- tained in manner as aforesaid, then it is my will that the said estate shall be and remain to my kinsmen hereafter named and their heirs."
The tract of land above specified was lot 21, in the second division of Commons. It appears that the town failed to take
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the necessary steps to carry out the provisions of the will, and consequently the bequest was forfeited.
The will of Reuben Belden was dated 27 Nov., 1775, pro- bated 3 Sept., 1776. Mention is made of his sisters, Eunice, wife of James Porter of Hatfield, Dorothy, wife of Elisha Billing of Hardwick, Submit, wife of David Scott of Whately, Martha, wife of Warham Smith of Hadley. He also names his late wife's sisters, Mary, wife of Samuel May, Hannah, wife of Joseph Flowers, Susannah Pierce, all of Wethersfield, niece, Mary, wife of Jona. Pierce of Hartford, cousins, Samuel Bel- den and Silas Porter of Hatfield. His inventory amounted to £2,486, 4s, 6d. He owned grist and sawmills on West brook- the Isaac Frary privilege-before 1770, afterwards owned by his cousin, Samuel Belden. He owned real estate in Hatfield, Whately, Hatfield Equivalent and Ashfield. He bequeathed to the inhabitants of New Township No 7 (Hawley) in the county of Hampshire, lot No. 115 in that township for the sole use and benefit of an English school to be kept there, etc.
In 1780 the town voted to build three schoolhouses and the next year voted to put off building the same. But about this time a schoolhouse sixteen feet square was built in the Straits, on the corner southwesterly from the Zebina Bartlett place, another was built on Poplar Hill road, by private individuals, and there is some evidence that one was built on Spruce Hill, which was used for a time by the dwellers on Chestnut Plain street.
In 1782-83-84 Mary White, Jr., taught a school in Chest- nut Plain street, but whether in a schoolhouse or private house the record does not say. In 1784 the town raised £18 to be divided into three equal parts, £6 for each street, and Noah Bardwell, Josiah Allis and Thomas Sanderson were appointed a committee to lay it out. Zilpah Stiles was employed to teach in the center nineteen weeks. In 1785 £18 was granted, to be divided as in '84, and a schoolmaster was employed for ten weeks, beginning June II.
The reasons for a summer term probably were that the first schoolhouses had no fireplaces, and it was inconvenient for fam- ilies to let their rooms during the cold season, and the cost of fuel would subtract too much from the scant funds at the dis- posal of parents and committees. Mr. Backus was schoolmaster in 1787. Miss Stiles was again employed in '89. She appears to have been a very useful person in the new town, teaching school
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as occasion required, and at other times doing the tailoring and dressmaking of the families until her marriage with Peter Clark. In 1789 the town voted, "To appropriate the money raised for schooling to pay arrearages in Mr. Wells' salary."
The town voted, 6 Dec., 1790, "To provide five school- houses for the use of the town ; that the house now built in the east district, which is sixteen feet square, be sufficient for that part of the town; that the Chestnut Plain schoolhouse be 20 x 16 feet ; that the Spruce Hill district schoolhouse be 20 x 16 feet ; that the Poplar Hill schoolhouse be 15 x 18 feet, and that the town will give the proprietors of the house now in that street the sum of £II, Ios; that the Grass Hill schoolhouse be 15 x 18 feet." The Straits schoolhouse stood as already described. The one in the center was directly south of the meeting-house. The one on Spruce Hill was about forty rods south of Levi Morton's, now the Rufus Dickinson place. The house for the Poplar Hill district was built on land of Lieut. Noah Bardwell, about ten rods south of the west burying ground, on the west side of the road. (The old stepstone may now be seen on the spot. )
In the same year £30 was appropriated for schooling, the money to be proportioned on the children in each district from eight to twenty-one years of age. The rule of apportioning the school money varied-in some years it was divided equally to each district, sometimes one-half on the scholar and one-half to a district. In 1827 the town voted to number the children on the first of May, from seven to twenty, and divide the money on the scholar.
After a schoolhouse was built on Spruce Hill, Judith White sometimes kept there and sometimes in the centre. "Master Roberts," whose full name was George Roberts, taught in town many years, certainly from 1795 to 1804 and perhaps longer. Other early teachers were Rebecca Baker, Electa Allis, Thomas Clark, Mr. Osgood, John Parmenter, Benj. Mather, Thomas Sanderson, Jr.
In 1785 Simeon Morton, Lieut. Noah Bardwell, Capt. Phin- eas Frary, John White, Joel Waite, 2d, were chosen school committee. In 1798 the town voted to reduce the number of school districts from five to four.
In 1799 650 was voted to build a schoolhouse in Chestnut Plain street, 30 x 24 feet. As this was the first large and fin- · ished schoolhouse in town, and was evidently looked upon as a
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model house of the day, it may be well to give the specifications : Contracted with Benjamin Scott, for £42,17s, to build the new schoolhouse, to be rough boarded and clapboarded and shingled, a chimney built and a hearth laid, the house to be glazed win- dow shutters on the outside and the outside door hung. As is often the case when men begin to be extravagant the money first appropriated proved insufficient to fully carry out the idea and later in the year a committee consisting of John White, William Mather and Solomon Adkins was appointed, who sold the finishing of the house to Luther White, the lowest bidder, for $67.
This house stood on the east side of the street, a little way south of the old meeting-house. And now another perplexity arose. The people living on the outskirts had consented.to be taxed heavily for the large and comfortable centre schoolhouse, with a fireplace, and now as they thought, it would be no more than just that they should be allowed to use it as a "noon room" on the Sabbath, where they could warm themselves and chat away the intermission. But the town voted, "Nay." Nor was this all. The dwellers on Spruce Hill became jealous, and in 1801 a vote was carried in town meeting, "To move the school- house on Spruce Hill to the guideboard near Nathan Waite's, and add four feet to the length, and put it in as good repair as the schoolhouse near the meeting-house."
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