USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Ludlow > Ludlow: a century and a centennial, comprising a sketch of the history of the town of Ludlow, Hampden County, Massachusetts > Part 12
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
133
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
He could read Hebrew, it was said, nearly as readily as English. The town paid him an annual salary of $200 and thirty cords of wood. He was dismissed in 1803 and removed to Belchertown, where he died in 1814, aged 80 years. I have heard it said by those who remembered and knew him well, that he was truly a man of "ye an- cient time," finely clad in blouse and breeches, knee-buckles and white- topped boots, gracefully corrugated over long, white hose, and sur- mounting all as most prominent, the professional cocked hat, signifi- cant of authority and command. At his ordination he invited the Rev. Mr. Howard of Springfield to preach the sermon from the text (VI .* ) "Let a man so account of us as * * stewards of the mysteries of God ; " and near the close of his ten years' pastorate, having been not a little troubled by the complaints of his people, he sent again to his friend, Mr. Howard, to come and preach his farewell discourse, choosing for the text, Revelation 2:13-"I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is, * * wherein An- tipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth." This last request, however, was not granted the retiring pastor.
Dr. Lathrop relates the following anecdote of this eccentric divine : At a ministers' meeting at one time, some one stated his belief that all the wicked hated God. Mr. Steward denied this, and inquired how it was that they should desire to go into his presence if they hated him, and quoted the parable of the virgins, Matthew 25:11- " Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open unto us.' " '" The reply was that parables do not go on all fours. To this Mr. Steward answered, "They go, at least, on two legs, and if your interpretation is right, they cannot go at all ; for you cut off all the legs."
The little church, having at first but fifteen members, being now much reduced, and the people somewhat divided, no other minister was settled for sixteen years. Then the Rev. Ebenezer B. Wright, a graduate of Williams College, was ordained, December 8, 1819, and was the last minister employed by the town. During this interim of sixteen years, the pulpit was supplied by preachers of different denom-
*See page 43.
134
THE CENTENNIAL.
inations, particularly as worthy of mention, the Rev. Elijah Hedding, who subsequently was elected bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Rev. Alexander McLean, who preached several years in the whole and in the meantime formed a Methodist class.
THE METHODIST CHURCH.
Mr. McLean's engagements with the town terminating previous to the settlement of Mr. Wright, he then became the nominal preacher to a Methodist Society, so called, combining remonstrants against the tax law. In the winter of 1826-7 the Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D. D., the popular principal of the Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, and after- wards president of the University at Middletown, Conn., was invited by a portion of the people to preach for them, and accordingly com- menced his ministry, holding meetings in private dwellings and school-houses. He was a man in some respects like Bishop Hedding, who had preceded him by several years, possessed of superior attain- ments, and highly honored in his denomination. Ever since his la- bors began with the Methodist Society, it has sustained the preaching of the Gospel without interruption. Dr. Fisk, then, may be regarded as the god-father of that church, and a very worthy relationship it may claim in him.
He was followed by the Rev. Isaac Jennison, the first preacher sent by the conference, and through his active agency, the present Metho- dist church edifice, long familiarly known as " The Chapel," was built in 1827. Being a carpenter by trade, as well as a preacher, with one of his hands he wrought in the work of framing and building the house of the Lord, and with the other held the sword of the Spirit as a good soldier of the cross of Christ. Tall in stature, it is said he actually clapboarded the gable ends of the house to the ridge-pole without resort to any staging. Thirty years afterwards, or in 1858, during the pastorate of Rev. F. Fisk, the edifice was thoroughly remodeled and enlarged, and a bell hung in its tower.
THE THIRD CHURCH EDIFICE.
The third meeting-house in Ludlow, a comely building, stood on the site of the present Congregational Church, and was erected in 1840. For eighteen years it did good service in the cause for which it was
135
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
built, being repeatedly honored by His special presence in whose name it was dedicated. (VII .* ) Early one still winter's morning, the 15th of January, 1859, long before it was light, the bell rang out a sudden alarm in a few rapid strokes, and then ceased, and was heard no more. Those who lived near sprang out of their beds, only to see the red flames bursting out at the windows, creeping up the tall spire, and projecting a lurid light over an area of the snow-clad earth, for miles around. Nothing was done-nothing could be done to arrest the con- flagration, such was the headway gained before being discovered, though hundreds of strong-handed men had gathered in a few min- utes' time. Not long, and the lofty spire was seen to sway back and forth, when a cry was heard, and the almost petrified spectators rushed involuntarily back, and there was a crash through ridge-pole and rafter, floor and foundation, till the once friendly old bell was ar- rested only by the firm earth, and half-imbedded in her bosom, among falling, blazing timbers. Then again the flames shot up to the very clouds, while the burning embers and cinders went sailing away over houses and hills, literally, for miles and miles. Oh! it was a heart- rending sight ; such an utter ruin as that into which that loved place of worship fell, is seldom known. Not a fragment remained of the inner or outer works of the building; nothing save the foundation stones, and the topmost ball of the spire, which was hurled over the whole length of the burning house to a place of safety, and so es- caped almost unscathed. A noble oak standing near by, from which the dry autumnal leaves had not yet fallen, was suddenly lit up as with thousands of gas-jets, burning for a few moments and then going out.
During that dreadful hour a young man lay at a little distance on a sick bed, with his warm life's blood streaming from his mouth from hemorrhage. " What is the matter, father ?" said he, hearing some unusual disturbance. " Only a little alarm of fire over here, my son," said the anxious father ; " do not be troubled a moment; a few dollars will set all right again." A few dollars did set all right again, and in its place you see this pleasant and commodious sanctuary. What was a burning building to that troubled parent, then ? He would
*See page 81.
136
THE CENTENNIAL.
scarcely lift his eyes toward it, or waste a thought on the comparatively insignificant calamity.
OTHER CHURCHES.
The fourth meeting-house which was built in town, was at Jenks- ville, and was erected by the manufacturing company there, and dedi- cated as a union house of worship, December 25, 1845. The first year it was occupied by the Methodists of that village, at the end of which they withdrew, and built for themselves a church near by, which they continued to occupy a few years, and then sold to be taken down and removed from the place. The Second Congregational Church was or- ganized at Jenksville, June 24, 1847, having at the start twenty-eight members, and on the 20th of January following, Rev. William Hall was ordained its pastor ; but, in consequence of a failure in business and the loss of population, he felt compelled to resign and was dis- missed the same year. (VIII .* )
The sixth and last church edifice erected in town is the fine, com- modious house of worship, built in 1859, standing prominently before us on this common, and long to remain, as we humbly trust, the loved place of Christian assembly.
LUDLOW VILLAGE (JENKSVILLE).
Passing now to physical and material conditions,-the Chicopee River, coming down from the east, forms the southern boundary of the town, and in its course of three or four miles, presents several excellent mill privileges, the largest of which are at the falls of Wallamanumps and Indian Orchard. At the former place the water descends along a narrow, rocky channel 42 feet, in a distance of a hundred rods ; and at the latter-less than a mile distant-there is a fall of 63 feet from the top of the dam to still water below. The manufacturing business at the former place was nearly the first started in the country. (IX.t) In the year 1812, Benjamin Jencks, then of Smithfield, R. I., made a journey of survey, passing through Connecticut and Massachusetts into New York to certain water-falls on the Genesee River, called by the Indians, Gaskosaga, where he spent several days examining and considering the advantages for manufacturing purposes. He was
*See page 79. *See page 64.
T. Pille pin!
LITE
137
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
offered the whole of that place, with its splendid water-power, for the same sum that the Chicopee River privilege and its surroundings could be bought. He gave preference to the latter, built his dam, started his mill, and Wallamanumps became Jenksville. Sometime after- wards, a certain Marylander, probably a transplanted Yankee, bought Gaskosaga, on the distant Genesee, and it was transformed into Roch- ester,-the city of Rochester, with its sixty thousand inhabitants.
The natural scenery along the Chicopee before the swift-running waters were arrested and thrown back upon the rapids, and before the dark woods, skirting the banks of the beautiful river, were cut away, was very fine, and the sites of the present villages were places of con- siderable resort for pleasure. There once were the favorite hunting- grounds and homes of the aborigines, and the relics of their savage warfare and rude agriculture abound to this day, in all the neighbor- hood.
Said an intelligent townsman of yours to me, a little while since, who is versed in Indian lore, and has an aptness for the study of na- ture : "On every farm in Ludlow, and especially along the margins of the rivers and ponds, may be found numerous sharp and irregular fragments of stone,-porphyry, quartz, chalcedony and sandstone,- the chippings thrown off by the Indians in fabricating their imple- ments for warfare and the chase and for their domestic use." Thou- sands of arrow-heads of various sizes, hatchets, chisels, gouges, mortars and pestles have been picked up within a few years ; and I was shown a large spear-head, lately found, of great value as a curiosity, and also a remarkable gravestone, wrought somewhat into the human form, about three feet in hight, which once, doubtless, marked the burial of some distinguished chief. Said the gentleman to whom I have re- ferred : "If every farmer would keep an eye on what he turns up with his plow, especially on new lands, and collect the curious-shaped stones lying here and there on the banks of brooks and ponds, and thrown carelessly into old walls and stone heaps, he might soon have a small but valuable museum of his own."
Just below the falls at Jenksville, the river in its tortuous course forms a little peninsula of a few acres of land, formerly densely wooded, and elevated about eighty feet above the water, the extremity of which
18
138
THE CENTENNIAL.
has long been known by the name of "Indian Leap." The story,* which perhaps is only legendary, is that a party of Indians, being sur- prised in this secluded spot, and finding no other way of escaping their enemies, sprang over the precipice in fearless desperation, and all of them, save one, perished in the seething waters and among the rocks below. In this place, on the high bank of the river, is supposed to have been the encampment of 600 of King Philip's warriors, the night after they had burned Springfield in 1675, since those who went in pursuit of them the next day, found here 24 camp fires and some of their plunder left behind. The new railroad bridge now takes a leap from this celebrated point across the chasm, bearing safely every day scores of passengers as they go and come on business or pleasure.
No less than five bridges span the Chicopee River, connecting Lud- low with the adjoining towns, the oldest of which is at Jenksville, having been built fifty-four years, and apparently as firm and endur- ing now as ever. Although this is the shortest of the five, and its completion now would have but little significance, yet then it was re- garded as an event of extraordinary public importance ; so much so as to be celebrated with an eclat not unlike this centennial day .; Ac- cordingly, on the 1st of January, 1823, large numbers assembled to listen to a statement of what had been done; also to hear a sermon suited to the occasion, and join in public praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for the success of their enterprise. I suppose there is scarcely a person here but has crossed over that friendly bridge, time and again. Please to remember, the next time you enter its dingy arch, that, fifty-four years ago, it was solemnly dedicated,-I use the words of the preacher, Mr. McLean,-" dedicated to the protection of Almighty God and the use of men."
THE FATHERS.
The fathers of New England were a religious people ; nor were they often guilty of withholding an acknowledgment of their indebt- edness to the Father of Mercies for His protecting care. They believed in a divine providence, and were not ashamed to confess the same, both publicly and privately, in things great and small. They
*See page 2. +See page 63
139
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
were also a brave, hardy, indomitable people, who dared to contend for their rights ; who knew how to fight the devil, as well as how to fear God. Poor in this world's goods, yet they were not complainers ; for princely fortunes they knew would be theirs in the world to come. Godliness was the great gain they coveted most ; and having food and raiment, they were content therewith. Strong in purpose, uncompro- mising in principle, and the firm friends of civil and religious freedom, we love to honor thiem as such, though we may not always imitate their noble virtues.
They were but a handful, comparatively-few and feeble and far separated from one another-yet they could build and endow churches and colleges, scrupulously maintain religious and charitable institu- tions, and render a cheerful, stated worship to the God they served. Many of the present generation complain, if called to hear a brace of sermons of twenty minutes each on the Sabbath. Strong men can not digest more than one, they say. But the fathers of a century ago could listen to preaching for two hours, and a prayer of one hour ; and, after a short intermission, go the same round again without ex- traordinary fatigue. It is said they had no prayer-meetings then ; and how could they, scattered, as they were, many miles apart, without roads or bridges, or any of the conveniences of travel now in vogue ? They had no Sunday-schools, it is said; but they had; and their schools around the family hearth-stone, with the Bible and catechism for text-books, and father and mother as teachers, were more efficient for good than many a modern, flourishing, fancy school. While thus extolling them-commending their patriotism, their piety, their strong faith, their usually unselfish acts-I would do no injustice to the present age. Though the fathers have gone and the heroic age in which they lived, yet their spirit has not fled. If proof were needed of our patriotism, I would refer to the recent great uprising in defense of our liberties, when imperiled by the slavery rebellion. Then it can be shown also that the hope our pious fathers had of christian- izing the heathen, has not died out, but has been gathering inspira- tion to the present time. In the work of missions, our zeal and success have exceeded theirs. We have mapped out the whole world as the field to be worked, and sent out men to possess it all for the
140
THE CENTENNIAL.
Master. Also our religious, our educational and benevolent institu- tions are in advance of anything in the past.
BOYS IN BLUE.
It is in place here, in my brief narrative of historical events of this town, that I should refer to some things it did in our national contest, twelve years ago. With a population of only twelve hundred souls, it enlisted one hundred and twenty recruits for the war, or one for every ten persons. I know of no town that did better ; and yet the proportion in the Revolutionary conflict was not much greater. (X .* ) Fathers and mothers here gave up their sons, and wives their husbands, feeling in their bleeding hearts and fearing they might never see them again ; yet consenting to the painful sacrifice for God and their country's sake. Those fears and feelings, on the part of many, were the genuine forebodings of what actually followed. The names of sixteen, who went out from these pleasant, quiet homes, and never came back alive, having perished in the terrible strife, are now written on yonder soldiers' monument, erected to commemorate the bravery of their deeds and their martyr-like deaths. I knew many of them well, and from an intimacy with some, esteemed them highly for their moral worth and manly virtues. May I pronounce their names, though it bring a pang of grief to the hearts of some present, on whose fond memories their patient faces are doubtless daguerreotyped forever :
Capt. H. A. Hubbard,
D. Pratt,
Robert Parsons,
W. W. Washburne,
Flavius J. Putnam,
John Coash, :
E. F. Brooks,
A. O. Pott,
C. Crowningshield,
L. Bennett,
E. Lyon,
D. D. Currier,
H. M. Pease,
H. W. Aldrich,
A. Chapman,
C. McFarland.
Of the first of these, who was the commander of the Ludlow com- pany, I may be permitted to say, I knew him from his boyhood,- from his first lessons in the district school, till he entered college, and thence to the study of the profession of law, and until he left his law
*See page 87.
-
-
141
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
books to take the sword. The last time I saw him, he stood in a cen- tral position, with the 27th Regiment drawn up to witness the pre- sentation of his sword, by the hands of his pastor. Soon after, he embarked in the Burnside expedition, and before landing, was taken sick, and breathed his last on ship-board, in the calm waters of Pam- lico Sound, just as his men, flushed with victory, were returning to proclaim the brilliant successes of the battle of Roanoke. He heard their shouts in his last moments, and in the midst of their triumphs, his soul went up to his Saviour. How our hearts bled at hearing of his death, and again, when he was brought home, folded in his coun- try's flag, and then laid tenderly away in a peaceful grave ! The assembled crowds here, the martial array, the solemn music, and the sharp discharges of musketry at his burial, will never be forgotten. (XI .* )
All these men whose names have been called died young, some on the field of battle, some in hospitals, and more still in the infamous rebel prison at Andersonville. But they lived not in vain. They ac- tually achieved for themselves, in their short lives, a reputation to which but few comparatively attain. Until that granite shaft crum- bles in dust their memories will survive, and their manly virtues be rehearsed.
" Sleep, sleep, ye brave who sink to rest With all your country's wishes blest."
LABOR AND ITS REWARDS.
Thus far in my address have I confined myself chiefly to the past ; to so much of the history of the century now ending as relates to this . little rural town, and could be conveniently brought within the nar- row limits of an hour. Not being a prophet, I will make no attempt to forecast your future, farther than to say that, judging from the quiet annals we have reviewed, you may well hope hereafter to make steady progress-not, perhaps, larger in population nor in the facti- tious wealth and consequent distinction of cities, but in the increase of your fields and gardens,-the enriching and beautifying of your homes, and what is better still, in giving expansion and efficacy to your religious and educational institutions.
*See Appendix.
142
THE CENTENNIAL.
The discounting banks from which your dividends are mostly to come, are those which God and nature have given you,-the gentle slopes of these hills and the fertile intervals of the living streams that flow around your farms. There you will find gold purer than in the mines of the mountains, and silver that is more satisfying. In these fruitful fields of yours the work of your hands will not fail of a rich reward. Be sure the time has gone by, or is swiftly passing, when men of intelligence indulge a prejudice against manual labor as being degrading. The union of hard work with self-respect and mental cul- ture may be seen all over our land ; and he that would turn away from the plow and drop from his hands the axe and spade, that he may be a gentleman of leisure, a starched and perfumed creature, should be written down a slothful servant and sent to school to the insignificant ant as a teacher wise enough for him. The measuring off of calico and crinoline, the weighing of sugar and tea, or speculating on 'change in State and Wall streets, bring no enlargement of mind or conscious- ness of power,-do not make a robust body, nor particularly favor a healthful state of morals. All human growth of highest value, all up- ward and heavenward progress, come from struggling with difficul- ties, -come from conflict, come from labor, from hard work. The kingdom of heaven, both here and hereafter, suffereth violence. Strive to enter in. No weak and puny effort will lift one to the skies. Toil is a necessity ; earnest, persevering labor is indispensable, both to our living worthily and usefully here, and happily hereafter. Alas for the man,-the parasite,-that does nothing to increase the real wealth of the world, or add to the general sum of happiness. Every righteous verdict is, " Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness."
I know that the people of this town indorse these sentiments, both in their belief and practice ; and I only desire to give emphasis to them and venture the prediction of their ultimate, universal accept- ance.
HOPEFUL OUTLOOK.
Looking now over broader fields,-to the hopeful mind there are bright prospects and encouraging omens of better days, notwithstand- ing the dark clouds that float at times over the vision, and carry de- spondency to timid souls. It cannot be that society is only sliding
143
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
backward, and hurrying swiftly to the bad. I prefer to think, and with reason as well as in the light of revelation, that this old world of ours, ceaselessly swinging in its orbit, is making progress in the right direction ; and that the present age, especially, into which all the past is pouring wisdom, may be justly characterized, for rapid growth, for large developments, for the diffusion of just sentiments, for the prac- tice of a broader philanthropy and a higher morality. True, the evi- dence is not in credit mobiliers, in salary grabs, in frequent briberies and embezzlements, and numerous first-class frauds; but it is in the fact of their ready exposure, and the denunciation of such deeds, com- ing from all parties, and the solemn protests of every secular as well as religious journal in the land against them. These frequent crimi- nal acts which make us blush for human kind, are no more numerous now than at any preceding period, other things being equal. But they are in the daylight now ; they can not be covered up as formerly; a thousand voices that used to be silent, cry out against them, and load down the winds with just complaints of the wrong. Every man, however obscure, thinks for himself, reads his daily paper, reasons on politics and religion, sees through the disguises and envelopments of pretended rank and equipage and renown, and measures others, of both high and low degree, by some just standard. The men of high repute never trembled as they do now for their sins done in secret. They are seen of men, and held to account, even by those whom they feign to despise.
Are there back-settings and counter-currents in the onflowing tide of good ; or, at times, an apparent increase of immorality and evil ? It has always been so. It is God's prerogative to evolve good from evil. The night precedes the day. The sharp drouths of last sum- mer with a scanty harvest following, and our cold, backward spring, were prophetic of this beautiful summer, and an unusually fruitful autumn to come. The 17th of June on Bunker Hill was seemingly a disastrous day to the friends of popular institutions ; and so were the 18th and 21st of July of Bull Run memory; but they hastened on brighter days than the sun had ever seen, and loosened chains, soon to fall off from both minds and bodies of long-suffering races, crushed to earth.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.