USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Westfield > Mundale : the West parish of Westfield, Massachusetts, in the olden days. > Part 2
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Here on the right once stood the house of Mother Walker, who had formerly lived down by Walker Brook, which took its name from that family. She bore the appear- ance of an old witch as she walked along with her enor- mous stick. A man known as Squire Smith, a justice of the peace, who lived in Sandisfield, hired Mother Walker to watch his grain which he planted in his lot in Munn's Meadow to the northeast of her house. One day George Nelson (father of Mr. Horace), his cousin Aaron, and another boy, Eli Cartter, went to the meadow for hickory nuts. All of a sudden one of the boys cried, "Let's get out. Here comes Mother Walker." Cartter answered, "Damn her ! I don't care about old Mother Walker. Let's have a crack." Just then Mother Walker loomed up from behind a bank. George tried to give up the nuts he had gathered, but she said, "No." The others being of a different mind she said must go to jail. On the way back the three boys sat down to have a good feast. George planted a nut and
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
from it sprang a tree which stands now on Mr. Horace Nelson's land.
Straight on we come to the place where traffic crossed Little River by means of a bridge. There you may see the abutments on which it rested. Across the river the road followed east along the bank, then turned up through what in the nineties became Woronoco Park, and coming out on the road along the edge of the park, entered the old bou- levard, and thence into town.
We shall turn west just this side of the river and follow along what used to be a main travelled road. A little way up here on the right once stood the Purchase mill.
Next on the left formerly stood a house where you see this depression. About sixty-seven years ago Horace and Henry Nelson, under their father's supervision, used the stones from this cellar hole together with stones from the cellar hole of the Purchase site and from their father's old cellar, to build the cider mill on what afterwards became Henry Nelson's place, where the family was then living. And, oh, what cider! Some of us well remember.
Having jogged along some little distance we find our- selves at a clearing but so covered with low growth that we shall be obliged to get out here and tie the horse while we go a little way on foot. The old road once crossed this spot but is entirely obliterated. A house once stood here where these apricot lilies are. They so often stand in silent memory of some old home. As we enter this vestige of a roadway you can see just a ghost of a sign of the old road. First let us make our way to the edge of the river. It is very hard to do, because the track is immediately lost in all sorts of growth and, in fact, this land here has been cultivated since the road was used.
24
THE PIRATES' DEN.
MUNDALE £
IN THE OLDEN DAYS
Perhaps your hair may stand on end and the cold shivers race up and down your spine when I tell you that this is the path of the Pirates' Lane and we are about to see the pirates' house. The lane crossed the river about here and continued to the boulevard, coming out just east of Mr. Andrew Delskey's where so many beehives are. The ell of that house off yonder was the old den. The pirates made counterfeit money, using half glass which made the ring sound true, instead of all lead which did not give the cor- rect sound. Their presence and nefarious enterprise becom- ing known, they betook themselves to a cave on Mt. Tekoa, where their forge and smelter still remain in spite of attempts of the government to destroy them.
Years and years ago Indians from New York State used to file over the mountains, singing as they came, pitch their wigwams near the river, fish for shad in its waters and dry them on some stones up there to the west, called Flat Rock, and then return to their native haunts.
Retracing our way to the spot where we entered the Pirates' Lane, let us follow it where it turns up this hill to a clearing, across which it once ran, then continued a short distance through those woods as you see it now. Soon it turned and wound around a swampy section in a gen- eral southwesterly direction, coming out on the Northwest Road. In this opening, on the brow of the hill west of the road, two houses used to stand very close together.
In the house toward the east once lived a poverty-stricken man who had a daughter as beautiful as she was poor. Here, too, the yellow lilies droop in the wind from the south.
There is a true story which says that once upon a time a young man from Westfield used to come courting a girl,
25
MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
also very lovely, who lived in the house built onto the old pirates' den. This girl saw the young man approaching on horseback and said to her mother, "Now I'll just have a little fun and run outside for a few minutes. Ask him to come in. It won't hurt him to wait a little." The message delivered, the young man said that as it was such a lovely day he would ride down the road just a little way. On he went, crossed the ford, and came to the house where lived the more beautiful of the two damsels. She had seen her neighbor run out and disappear into the woods, and having divined the intentions of the other girl, decided to have a little fun of her own. So, grabbing a pail, she ran out and commenced calling, "Kerchug, kerchug, kerchug," to imag- inary pigs, for in reality they were too poor to have even pigs. The young man approached, saw her and stopped, engaged her in conversation, and at last she invited him in. This was the beginning and the end - the beginning of the successful courtship of the ravishing beauty; the end for the one a little too sure of herself.
Now we must return to our horse, and, having backed around, retrace our way to the main Mundale road, where we turn to the west.
The first house on the right is another new bungalow, but opposite is the old Thomas Loomis house which he built and occupied about eighty-seven years ago, still con- tinuing, however, to run the next house west as a tavern. Thomas was the father of Merrick, Merwin, Grove, Juliet, Andalusia, Thomas Benton, Gilbert, and Norman, besides six who died very young. Mrs. Julia Noble Rock- wood of 118 Union Street is a daughter of Andalusia and Mr. Howard G. Noble of 98 Court Street is her son.
26
THE FIRST METHODIST MEETING HOUSE, WESTFIELD.
MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
Next on the right is the Methodist Church and just east of it is where the old road came out. Just down this old road lived Tom Watson who ran a blacksmith shop behind his house. His son and Horace Nelson were boon companions when they were little boys. At that time the Watsons were about to move and Mr. Watson wished his son to give Horace his rocking-horse as a keepsake. The boy strenuously objected to this but was perfectly willing to give up his trundle-bed, which he did.
We must draw up here a minute, for there is so much to tell. It would be impossible to pass the church without thinking of the Mundale chicken pie suppers, which justly became famous for miles around. The church building was moved from a site up beyond here to this location in 1868. Before the pews were installed the ladies got up their first chicken pie supper in October of that year, for the purpose of raising money for furnishing the church with carpets, etc. Three tables were set the length of the church, using horses and boards, and over two hundred were seated, one hundred from the center of the town. Thereafter these suppers were held every year until the last one was served October 25, 1916, the year before the United States en- tered the World War.
Opposite the church you see the house which was the old hotel up to 1868, and from then on used as a parson- age until sold in November, 1923, to Miss Elizabeth Mer- rick of West Springfield. Mr. Thomas Loomis, the builder, was for many years its genial host. The ell part, removed by Miss Merrick, had been the home of Thomas' father, Justus, and there the cooking for the hotel was done. It was called "The Farmers' Hotel" and the sign bore a pic- ture of a horse's head. It was in reality a home for travel-
27
MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
lers during Mr. Loomis' proprietorship. The four-horse stagecoach from Hartford, connecting in Westfield with the coach from Springfield, and bound for Sandisfield and New Boston, always stopped at this tavern. With a crack of the whip and a pull on the lines, about by Lucas Cowles' house, the horses would gallop up and stop with a grand flourish in front of the hotel, where the passengers were greeted by Mr. Loomis in shirt sleeves and vest. So very popular was this host that sometimes travellers bound for points west but farther north than this route took them, would sometimes come this roundabout way in order to bask in the sunshine of his smile and genial hospitality for the ten minutes usually taken here for refreshments. Then, with another crack of the whip and pull on the lines, off they would go again as they had arrived.
Where the church now stands the hotel barn once stood, and it was nothing to have twenty horses sheltered there for the night.
Between the old barn and Watson's house was the well for the barn. Once upon a time some young blades, return- ing from a too gay lark, turned sharply into the hotel barn- yard. As they passed the well, one of them tipped off the vehicle right into the well and was drowned. There you may see the flat stone covering the old well.
In the basement of the east wing of the hotel Mr. Loomis kept a store. His old book of account for 1818 and 1819 is now in the possession of the Westfield Athenaeum, hav- ing been bought for ten cents May 10, 1930, at the auc- tion of the effects of Mrs. Willis H. Gibbs, who owned and occupied at the time of her death in March of that year the house which Mr. Thomas Loomis built when he moved from the hotel.
28
THE FARMERS' HOTEL.
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
Mr. Loomis was the great-uncle of Mr. Frank Grant who told me that his original Loomis ancestor in this coun- try was a fuller, and according to this account book it would look as if some of the knowledge of the trade had passed from one generation to the next, as the majority of items charged are for dyeing and pressing.
I borrowed the old account book and tucked it under the seat, so I'll read you a few of the most interesting items. Colors mentioned are navy blue, 17¢, 22¢, 25¢, and 30¢ per yard ; cinnemon, 17¢ ; London brown, 33¢ ; black, 17¢, 25¢, 28¢, and 30¢; gray, 12¢ and 14¢; "butnut", 25¢ ; snuff or olive snuff, 30¢; red, 17¢, 18¢, and 26¢. Dyeing stockings black, 10¢ pr .; gloves, 8¢ ; skeins of yarn black, 6¢; vest, 17¢; great coat, 50¢, are other items. Napping and shearing are frequently mentioned. To scour- ing and "naping" white flannel at 8¢ per yard and to dressing "Red" flannel at 20¢ per yard are other items fre- quently found. Others which may interest are :
By one days work making a wheel. $.75
Salmon Stiles By one days work fixing my woodhous. .75
To the use of my fanning mill to fan up 16 Bushel at one time and some wry .. .25
Samuel Jones Dr. to the use of my horse and wagon to town you and James. .40
To my waggeon to Southwick mill .30
To Carrying you to town and Back
By 191/4 lb. of Codfish at 4¢ lb .. .17
.77
To my Cart town with your wry.
.17
" Eighty Bundles of Straw Counted by Mr. Jones.
.IO
" upper Leather for a pair of Shoes.
.50
" going to mill for you finding* horse & waggeon which you Agreed to give me one Days work. I.
Logwood & vitriol .
.17
" one mug of Rum toddy .17
" Carrying you over Little River to meting .17
*Notice old meaning of "furnishing."
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
To carry a Load of Bords to town
.75
" Carrying ashes to town & going to mill for you .. I.
" Serving a writ on Asa Amasa Allen - Bates & Sternes
Dr. .. .70
" Serving a writ on Seth Harrison. .40
= two hundred & Sixteen Shingle Nails .12
" my butter to New Gate.
.90
" one Large Log to make plank on. I.
" the use of my horse & waggeon after potatoes and Leaving the Bridle out Dors in the Rain. .50
" one Plow I had of Lyman Parks. .. 4.50
" one oak Log 12 feet Long for plank got over in the meadow .75
" the use of my waggon while attending a wedding one Day
.50
" Bring your Shad from Springfield (May 29, 1819) . .50
" my waggon to Springfield ferry after Shad (May 30) . .72
the use of my wagon to Southwick mill. .20
the use of my waggeon to Longmeadow breaking the whpettry .92
Cr. By bottle half Doz.
.25
To the use of my waggeon to Suffield after feathers .50
This last item is interesting to me because the street in Suffield nearest the river was called Feather Street, sup- posedly by most people because so many feather peddlers lived there, but Mr. H. S. Sheldon, historian of Suffield, said that this could not be true because it had its name before the whites lived there and was probably derived from Ferther, because of its remoteness from the main street, then shortened to Fether. But I can't help but think that the presence of the peddlers influenced the final spelling.
After Mr. Loomis' day at the hotel, the store was con- ducted by his son Grove, and the hotel was run by Nor- man Loomis, Milo Phelps, one Brown, Vadakin, Post, Meserve, and perhaps others. It gradually deteriorated until it was an evil place. Men came there to raise high jinks.
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
Horace Nelson and other small boys used to hang around the barroom to see what they could see, elbowing their way among the men, taking care not to be stepped on. One day some of the young bloods came out from Westfield and, lining up before the bar for their drinks, took turns in treating, not forgetting the boys who, when their turns came at the end of the line, chose lozenges and then stick candy. Finally one young sport, whose name I imagine would interest us, lined them up and, counting them all, called for so many whiskeys, including drinks for the boys. But at that the boys took to their heels, proving that they had profited by the moral lectures on the evils of strong drink, which they had received from their mothers.
Jogging on now we come next on the right to the new bungalow of Mr. Ralph Nelson, and then to the home of his father, Mr. Horace Nelson, built by him forty-nine years ago on the site of the old home of his father, George, which had been built by his father, Horace. To the north- east, in the rear, was an old cider mill of the so-called crush type, the power consisting of flat stones turned by cattle.
Next on the same side you see the present schoolhouse, probably the fifth in the parish. For twenty-five years Miss Maria Happilonia Loomis, daughter of Leicester, presided here as schoolmistress, afterward conducting for a short time a private school for older pupils in her home. She was also an elocutionist.
Now on the left we come to the Seldon Jones house. The original consisted of the ell part of the present struc- ture, home of Samuel Jones, notion peddler. His son, Sel- don, built the main part, and divided it for use of himself and of his father and a sister. He and his son Emerson, a
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
bachelor, made whiplashes in the room over the present dining-room.
Across the street formerly stood a house owned and occu- pied by James Lamberton, grandfather of Mrs. Charles Little of 55 Court Street. He and his good wife used to pick up their things and betake themselves to a small stone house on the side of Drake Mountain off the Honeypot Road or Drake Lane and there make cheeses.
Next on the same side stands the old Leicester Loomis house with the quite new addition of a piazza across the front. I am going to drive into this yard for a few min- utes, for here is a building which figured in the history not only of Mundale but of Westfield at large. The ell and sheds of this house formed the old dwelling of John Loomis who met his death in 1789. He had gone to Vermont, probably to hunt wolves for the bounty. While so occu- pied, a severe snowstorm came up and Mr. Loomis became exhausted and bewildered. Realizing that he was lost he trod the snow down hard at the base of a tree, sprinkled the powder from his powder-horn around the edge of the trodden spot to keep the animals away, lay down against the tree, and there they found him the next Spring within sight of a house.
The gun which Mr. Loomis was carrying at the time of his death was sold by Miss Maria Happilonia Loomis to Mr. Joseph Fowler of Fox District. At one time Mr. Fowler's house was struck by lightning and from the butt of the gun two splinters were shivered. Mr. Fowler was the father of Mrs. Merrill H. Hosmer of 43 Pleasant Street, whose daughter, Mrs. Verne E. Johnson of Pel- ham, New York, great-great-great-granddaughter of Mr. Loomis, now possesses the gun carefully mended.
32
THE JOHN LOOMIS HOUSE.
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
The first Methodist meetings in Westfield were held in the house of the Widow John Loomis in 1794 or '95, there seeming to have been a doubt as to the exact year, when the history of the Church commenced to be recorded. Their daughter Eunice married William Everton, and many years later Harvey, their son, became a class leader in the West Parish Methodist Church. A great-great-grand- daughter, Mrs. Clara Bush Davis of 126 Union Street, is the widow of Rev. Dr. C. E. Davis, pastor of the West- field Methodist Church from 1903 to 1908.
Mr. Leicester Loomis evidently added enough to the east side of the old John Loomis house to enclose a well in the south corner and a sink in the north corner. The main part of the house he erected at first a story and a half high, later building it up to its present height when he became more prosperous. A little over four years ago Mr. Dexter Farnham bought the place. The previous occupants had used the small windows out of the open shed for their hen- houses. They were replaced by the Farnhams with win- dows from their former home.
Mr. Loomis used to run a big boot and shoe business in a two-story shop which stood west of the house near the corner of this main street and the Northwest Road. His brother-in-law, Mr. Titus Pomeroy, father of Collins and Nathan, was in the business with him. A man came along one day who told him of an enormous tract of pine timber in the West in which a man could make a great deal of money, and he wished he would send someone out to look it over. This was done and the man, being taken around and around a two-hundred-acre plot, came back with a glowing report of the almost unlimited extent of this wonderful timber land. Mr. Loomis, therefore, borrowed
33
THE FOURTH SCHOOL BUILDING. Now at corner of Belmont Avenue and Shepard Street.
MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
small book. If Miss Elzene Jones in one house raised her voice in song to the accompaniment of a melodian, Miss Happilonia Loomis in the other, with heavy voice and loud- throated melodian, strove to drown her out - and there was "music in the air." 1225935
Now let us turn around and, once more in the highway, we shortly come to what has been known as the Northwest Road since the town took it over. But why not return to the old name of Shack Street? The reason for this name is not obvious as the houses on this road seem, for the most part, to have been as substantial as any in the parish. Pos- sibly it derived its name for the same reason as did a cer- tain region in the northwest of Westhampton. The farmers used to drive their hogs into the section to fatten on the "shack" or fallen nuts. There were many nut trees in this part of Hooppole, whether or not the shack was used for the animals.
First on the left was the old school, fourth in the parish, built about 1841. At one time it sheltered ninety scholars. The building now stands in Westfield on the north corner of Belmont Avenue and Shepard Street, having been moved to town about 1865 by Micajah Taylor and made into a house by a man named Velotus Collins. Upstairs in this building a high school was conducted, teaching all the branches of that grade. In front of the building was a huge hickory tree, which caused this spot to be called Hickory Corner. This tree was struck by lightning about thirty years ago and demolished. But in the days of the school, the most daring of the boys used to swing them- selves out onto a branch which came down very close to an upper window and, climbing up, strove to see which could carve his initials the highest.
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
Among the high school teachers were Elbert Noble, brother of Addison, who built the house on the east corner of High and Court Streets; H. H. Burbank, who built the house at 61 King Street where Mr. Fred Fowler lives; Mrs. Sarah Quigley, and Miss Jennie Campbell, aunt to Mr. Lester Campbell of Franklin Street. Miss Campbell married Mr. John Edgar and became the mother of Mr. Bernie Edgar. Another was Miss Francelia Sackett who married John, a son of Martin Sackett. Still others were Amelia and Mary Clark of Russellville.
First on the right stood a two-room house called "the nigger" or "the frog pond house." It was built by Mr. Leicester Loomis for Joel Moore, a colored lash cutter who worked for him. Mr. Moore was a highly-respected man who had lived in Southwick, manufactured whips, and made a few thousand dollars. He had hired a man by the name of Ives to peddle these whips for him about the coun- try. After a short time Ives reported that he had been obliged to trust several people. Soon it became a business of all trusts until he had swindled Mr. Moore of all his savings. Mr. Joel was the father of Lafayette who died a short time ago in the Madagascar section.
Mr. Moore was also a very good violinist. He offered to teach young Horace Nelson at one time and guaranteed to make him as good a player as he himself, but Mr. Nel- son, not crediting himself with as much musical talent as I do with historical ability, did not avail himself of this opportunity.
Next on the right stood the house of one Pomeroy, nick- named "Catechism" by Mr. Thomas Loomis who was inclined to nickname anyone whenever possible.
Next on the same side stood the home of Mr. Titus
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MUNDALE IN THE OLDEN DAYS
Pomeroy, grandfather of Mrs. Benjamin Chadwick of 18 Hancock Street and Mr. Silas Pomeroy of the Bryan Hardware Company, who resides at 34 Washington Street.
Do you see this break in the stone wall on your right with the tree growing up in the center? A road passed through there leading down into the so-called Blake Lot where lived a man over near those woods who became the first meat peddler in Westfield. He used to kill a "critter," cut it up and, putting pieces into a market basket, go into Westfield and sell the meat to Samuel Fowler, Matthew Ives and others of that generation. Later he moved into town and built a house on the lot at the junction of West- ern Avenue and the Granville Road. He dug a well there thirty feet deep which after a while went dry. Then he sank the brick wall thirty feet more, a very dangerous pro- cedure. The well was provided with an iron wheel and chain.
Through these bars on the left once ran the Pirates' Lane and continued along this road for a short distance.
On our right we approach the house formerly occupied by Lyman Kilbourn. That is, the south part of the barn was the old house, moved there from the site of the pres- ent house when the latter was built. You can plainly see the evidence of this end of the barn having been a dwelling.
On the left, just beyond, we see the old cellar hole of the whip factory of Jehiel (called Hial or Hi) Holcomb and Asahel Nelson, son of Aaron, Senior. One night Mr. Nelson had swept up the shop and had gone home when the building burned, having caught supposedly from the fireplace. Mr. Hial Holcomb, uncle to Mrs. Jane Kings- bury of Westfield, then moved into town and built a fac- tory by the old brook on the southwest side of the old
37
MUNDALE IN THE LDEN DAYS
Canal Railroad. He also built and occupied the house at 13 Madison Street, now the home of Dr. Schoonmaker. In this cellar hole you see some of the stones of the old wall, and were we to walk along this lane which comes out to the south of it, you could easily see the raceway and the banks of the old canal.
Just ahead on the right is the old Hial Holcomb house. It has been owned for many years by Mr. Wilbert Loomis and is occupied summers by his daughter, Mrs. Archie Williams, of 5 Allen Avenue, and her family. The old and unused ell part was the original house on the place and still wears the old red paint. If we should peep through the window we could see the great old fireplace. Jehiel Holcomb, father of the younger Jehiel, about whom we have been speaking, lived here and later built the main house now standing. When his son married, he occupied the old ell part until after his father's death. In the base- ment of the main house he started his whip business, later moving it across the road. It was here that Mr. Wilbert Loomis brought his bride, occupying the upper part of the house while his father lived downstairs. Years ago the Rev. Mr. Macnamara and perhaps others of the ministers occupied the basement.
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