USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Our County and Its People A History of Hampden County, Massachusetts > Part 41
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This range gives the highest elevation of the town, Proven's hill rising to a height of 665 feet above the normal level of the Connecticut river. Other hills of somewhat inferior altitude are within the limits of the town, Mount Pisgah and Liswell hill being located near the village of Feeding Hills, with Buck hill further toward the Connecticut line. In the northwestern por- tion of the town, along the Agawam, the scenery is rugged and picturesque, the stream for much of the distance making its way through and around the base of compact hill ranges. Approach- ing the Connecticut river, the contour softens into broad and
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fertile meadows, so low in portions that the grounds are liable to extensive overflow at time of high water in the rivers.
Although it may justly claim to have been among the earliest settled plantations of Western Massachusetts, Agawam did not become an independent town until 1855-less than a half-century ago; so that its exclusive history is a brief one.
For more than a century it was a portion of the town of Springfield, until in 1774 all that part of the town lying west of the Connecticut was created a separate town by action of the legislature, not at all against the wishes of its residents. This made Agawam, as the region had long been designated, a part of the town of West Springfield; a relationship which continued for more than eighty years, until the incorporation as a separate town, May 17, 1855.
Yet Agawam may properly be considered the mother of Springfield plantation. Within its present borders the first settlement or location was made in the spring or summer of 1635. At that time certain parties located at Roxbury and other settlements in the vicinity of Boston having petitioned for permission to settle on "the great river," as the Connecticut was familiarly known, and their petition having been granted under condition that they remain within the jurisdiction of the Prov- ince of Massachusetts Bay, exploring parties were sent out to choose suitable locations. Some of these selected the site of Hartford and other points now within the state of Connecticut, while two of their number, Messrs. Woodcock and Cable, con- tinued north until they reached the confluence of the Connecticut and Agawam rivers. Probably they ascended "the great river" on its western side until their further progress was barred by the Agawam, and being impressed by the fertile meadows among which they found themselves and which had been cultivated to some extent by the Indians, they fixed upon that spot as the site for their proposed town. At any rate, they built a rude house, which was occupied for some months. But being warned by the Indians that the lands here were liable to inundation, the site was abandoned, and when the settlement was made the fol- lowing year it was upon the higher ground on the east side of the
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river. But the name of "Agawam" was transferred to the new site, and the entire grant, twenty-five miles square, was known by that name until in honor of William Pynchon its designation was changed in 1640 to "Springfield"-the name of Mr. Pyn- chon's home in England. But the territory now constituting the town of Agawam retained its original appellation as a local name, and very properly adopted it on being incorporated as a town.
The Agawam territory was probably designated as a part of the "outward commons" of Springfield very soon after the settlement. In 1638 it was voted that it should be lawful for any Springfield man to put over horse, cows, or younger cattle on the other side of the river until the first of November, and the name of "Feeding Hills" village doubtless comes from the use thus made of the unoccupied lands. But it was twenty-five years after the visit of Woodcock and Cable before a permanent settlement was made south of the Agawam river. In that year grants were made to Thomas Cooper, Abel Leonard, and Thomas Merrick. The lands thus granted, and those later acquired by Messrs. Cooper and Merrick, were sold to Abram Burbank, from Suffield, Conn., in 1764; but the Leonard family has always been a strong and influential one in Agawam. Gradually the number of settlers increased, and the religious interests of the community largely molded those of municipal nature. The separation into religious parishes, generally speaking, prepared the way for the more complete separation involved in the setting off of new towns from the parent territory. The unwieldy area of Springfield invited early division, and town after town was created, as the population increased and local interests demanded local adminis- tration. In 1773 the great and general court took the matter of further division into their hands, and set off all the remaining region west of the Connecticut as the town of West Springfield. This included the present territory of Holyoke, West Spring- field and Agawam, extending from the Connecticut state line to the present south line of Hampshire county, an area of sixty square miles. This arrangement remained unchanged for more than seventy-five years, until 1850, when "Ireland Parish" was incorporated as the town of Holyoke.
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A little later the people of Agawam, now considerably over 1,000 in number, also aspired for an independent government, and on May 17, 1855, the Massachusetts legislature passed an act for the incorporation of the town of Agawam, to comprise "all that part of the town of West Springfield which lies south- erly of the line commencing at the north mouth of the Agawam river, so called, and running westerly by the course and center of said river to the town line of Westfield." The first town meeting was held June 12, 1855, under a warrant addressed by Samuel Flower, justice of the peace, to Lewis L. Whitman, and was held at the Methodist church. Alfred Flower was chosen clerk and treasurer, and Orson Swetland, James S. Smith, and Ralph Adams selectmen, assessors, and overseers of the poor. The full list of the incumbents of these offices from the date of incorporation to 1901 has been as follows:
Selectmen, Assessors, and Overseers of the Poor .- 1855, Orson Swetland, James S. Smith, Ralph Adams; 1856, Ralph Adams, Samuel Flower, Grosvenor Marcy; 1857, Ralph Adams, Justus R. Cooley, Samuel Flower; 1858, Ralph Adams, William Roberts, Grosvenor Marcy; 1859, Ralph Adams, Charles Colton, Horace E. Roberts; 1860-61, Charles Colton, Isaac Roberts, Josiah Johnson; 1862, Charles Colton, Frederick A. Johnson, Joseph Bedortha1; 1863, Joseph Bedortha, John G. Freeland, Joseph L. Smith; 1864, Joseph Bedortha, Joseph L. Smith, Gros- venor Marcy; 1865, Joseph Bedortha, John G. Freeland, Elijah -- D. Allen ; 1866-7, J. Henry Churchill, James H. Ferre, Edward K. Bodurtha; 1868, J. Henry Churchill, Asa Clark, Oscar A. Parks; 1869, J. Henry Churchill, Oscar A. Parks, Edward K. Bodurtha; 1870, J. Henry Churchill, Oscar A. Parks, Joseph Bedortha; 1871, Joseph Bedortha, Jonathan W. Freeland Luke C. Sheldon; 1872, J. Henry Churchill, Frederick N. Leonard, Luke C. Sheldon; 1873, J. Henry Churchill, Reuben Dewitt, Joseph V. Walcott; 1874, J. Henry Churchill, Ralph Adams,
'Frequently in this chapter, and also in various other chapters of this work. writers have spelled this surname Bedortha and occasionally Bodortha, thus follow- ing the example of early Springfield and West Springfield town clerks. The name properly spelled is Bodurthe, and has been known in our county history for two and a half centuries.
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Seth N. Bennett; 1875, J. Henry Churchill, Byron C. Roberts, Edward K. Bodurtha; 1876, J. Henry Churchill, Lewis L. Whit- man, Edwin Leonard, 2d; 1877, J. Henry Churchill, Lewis L. Whitman, Frederick N. Leonard; 1878, Lewis L. Whitman, J. Henry Churchill, Edwin Leonard, 2d; 1879, Lewis L. Whitman, Oscar A, Parks, Edwin Leonard, 2d; 1880, Edward K. Bodurtha, Edwin Leonard, 2d, J. Henry Churchill; 1881, Edwin Leonard, 2d, Edward K. Bodurtha, Charles C. Wright; 1882-5, Edward K. Bodurtha, Edwin Leonard, 2d, J. Henry Churchill; 1886-8, Edward K. Bodurtha, Edwin Leonard, 2d, William H. Granger; 1889-90, Henry E. Bodurtha, James F. Barry, Edwin Leonard, 2d; 1891-2, James F. Barry, Alson W. Allen, Edwin Leonard, 2d; 1893, James F. Barry, Willis C. Campbell, Edwin Leonard, 2d; 1894, James F. Barry, Albert H. Brown, Willis C. Campbell; 1895, Henry E. Bodurtha, Albert H. Brown, James F. Barry ; 1896, Henry E. Bodurtha, Edwin Leonard, 2d, R. Mather Taylor ; 1897-9, Henry E. Bodurtha, R. Mather Taylor, John H. Reed; 1900, Henry E. Bodurtha, John H. Reed, James F. Barry.
Town Clerk and Treasurer .- 1855, Alfred Flower; 1856, Ashbel Sykes; 1857, Joel J. Bailey; 1858, Ashbel Sykes; 1859, Josiah Johnson ; 1860-64, Ashbel Sykes; 1865, Charles C. Wright; 1866-67, Samuel Flower; 1868-87, Stephen H. Bodurtha; 1888- 1901, Dr. Judson W. Hastings.
For the year 1901 the full list of town officers is as follows : Town clerk and treasurer, Dr. Judson W. Hastings; selectmen, assessors, overseers of the poor and board of health, Henry E. Bodurtha, James F. Barry, John H. Reed; auditors, Fred A. Sykes, John G. Freeland; collectors, Munroe Hayward, Dennis M. Crowley, Daniel W. Corwin; constables, James M. Bean, Willis C. Campbell, Elmer E. McIntire, Frank J. Pomeroy, Albert H. Brown, Amos Gosselin, Monroe Hayward, William H. Tower, Albert E. Worthington; highway surveyors, Willis C. Campbell, Horace B. Worden, Daniel L. White; trustees Whiting Street fund, Seth N. Bennett, Oscar A. Parks; cemetery com- missioners, Robert Ely, Jr., Seth N. Bennett; sinking fund com- missioners, William H. Granger, Edward K. Bodurtha, Oscar A. Parks ; school committee, Charles P. Davis, William H. Granger,
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J. Arsene Roy, Fred A. Worthington ; superintendent of schools, Francis S. Brick; library trustees, Ralph Perry, S. Newell Smith, Henry L. Tower; librarian, Emma F. Pyne.
The record of the town for patriotic action is every way creditable and worthy its New England environment. In the revolutionary war, the district sent from its few scattered families a worthy representation on the quota of Springfield. The only experience of the town as a corporation during a serious war period was in connection with the rebellion, which came upon the country almost before the people of Agawam had accus- tomed themselves to the routine of local self-government. But the response was no less earnest and efficient. With a popula- tion not varying much from 1,700 souls of all ages and condi- tions, the town sent 172 men to the war, or fully one-tenth of its population. Of this number twenty-two gave their lives, either in battle or from disease, a percentage of almost 13, and con- siderably higher than the average death loss of all the troops from the state. The number furnished to the Union armies was ten in excess of all calls during the war. The amount of money expended by the town reached nearly $23,000, exclusive of state aid. The women of the community were in no sense less devoted than their husbands and brothers to the great cause of national unity. A soldiers' relief society was formed in October, 1861, and until the close of the struggle weekly meetings were held at which lint, bandages, underclothing and various useful articles for the soldiers were made and sent to the front; while the society also contributed about $1,000 in money for the same noble cause.
Argriculture has ever been the principal industry of Aga- wam. The soil is fertile, especially in the extensive meadows bordering the Connecticut river, and yields generously the grains, vegetables and fruits adapted to the climate. Dairying is also pursued quite extensively, the various farm products finding ready sale in Springfield markets. As a result most of the farmers are prosperous, the evidences of which are shown in their well-kept buildings and attractive fields. This pros- perity is generously distributed. There are few large farms; none extremely large. Most of the holdings are of moderate
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extent, and in consequence utilized to the best advantage by their owners, so that in the more fertile portions of the town there is very little "unimproved" land.
In this connection it may be noted that the only organized society in the town, at present, is a prosperous grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, known as Agawam grange, No. 151, of which H. Preston Worden is master, Mrs. Carrie L. Hayward, secretary, and Miss Nellie Campbell, treasurer.
The manufacturing interests of Agawam began, as in so many other early settlements, with the primitive saw mill-a necessity in every community which sought to pass the "log- house" stage of its development. In 1665 a grant was made unto Samuel Mashfield, Thomas Noble, Thomas Miller and Elizur Holyoke, which in addition to permission for "ye setting up of a saw mill on a brook below Ensign Cooper's farm, over Agawam river," conveyed forty acres of land, "where they shall choose it, near the place where the mill shall stand, not prejudicing any of ye inhabitants' property on the highway," also "thirty acres of meadow within two or three miles of ye place, where they shall find it most convenient for their use ; and they are not to be restrained of the liberty of the commons for all sorts of timber for their use for sawing or otherwise." This was cer- tainly generous encouragement for the "infant industry," and there seems no doubt that the mill was built and put in operation by the first of April, 1666, as required by the terms of the grant. Other saw mills, grist mills, blacksmith shops, with one or two brick yards probably comprised the range of the district's manu- facturing interests for the first century and a half after the original grants were made.
During or about the year 1810 the first steps were taken for the manufacture of both cotton and woolen goods in a small way. In the former, one Thomas Belden of Hartford associated him- self with four Agawam men-Amos Ambrose, Jonathan Worth- ington, John Norman, and Elijah Porter-and built a small mill on the power formerly occupied by a saw mill in the south part of the town, near the mouth of Three-mile brook. As was then much the custom, the yarn was spun at the mill and sent out
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Old house, Houth Agawam
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among the women of the vicinity to be woven on hand looms. The business was continued intermittently, but not with marked success, until 1825, when the mill was closed. It was reopened in 1832 by Leonard & Parmenter, then woolen manufacturers at Agawam Center, by whom it was run for two years more, when the plant was abandoned and the business removed. This is said to have been the first cotton mill of any description started in Western Massachusetts.
The first woolen manufactory in Agawam was a small mill for carding and fulling, built very soon after the cotton mill, by Justus and Calvin Bedortha. The proprietors did custom work only until the breaking out of the war of 1812, when they took up the manufacture of broadeloths; but the business declined after the close of the war, when the importation of foreign-made goods was resumed. In 1840, after several changes had been made in the proprietorship, Norton, Bedortha & Co., became the owners, rebuilt andenlarged the mill, and made a success of custom work. Fifteen years later-May 12, 1857-the present Agawam com- pany was organized, with a capital stock of $10,000. Stockinet manufacture was taken up, and proved extremely successful during the civil war. In 1875 the original wooden mill was supplemented by a fine brick building. The capital stock is now $50,000, and the company is officered by Samuel Pyne, president and agent; Fred A. Sykes, treasurer.
About 1840 Lyman Whitman took up the manufacture of wall paper, occupying the old cotton mill building, and continued in the industry for some ten years. In 1872 the Worthy Paper company was organized and built a high-grade paper mill at Mittineague, using power obtained from the Agawam river. For thirty years this mill has maintained a first-class reputation for the best quality of linen and ledger papers. While the nominal capitalization has remained unchanged, the buildings have been enlarged from time to time, and improved machinery has been substituted whenever available, so that the capacity has been materially enlarged. Charles Southworth is the president, and Edgar S. Bliss, treasurer and manager.
The business of gin and whiskey manufacture carried on by the H. Porter company, with Edson W. Lindsey as manager,
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originated more than a century ago, when E. Porter established a plant on or near the present site in the south part of the town. and began the industry of distilling peppermint. Later the product was changed to potato whiskey, while for very many years the name of the town was a household word through the extensive use of "Agawam gin."
The matter of education has always received practical atten- tion in Agawam, the money and care of the residents having been given ungrudgingly for the promotion of schools, satisfactory in number and of the best quality. The educational work has, how-
School Building-Feeding Hills
ever, been confined to the district and graded schools, no high school or academic institution having been organized in the town. An important step in relation to school buildings was taken in 1874, when as the result of some controversy over the location of a town hall it was voted to erect buildings for the accomoda- tion of the higher school grades at Agawam Center and at Feeding Hills, each to have a large hall in the upper story for the accommodation of town meetings and other public gather- ings. These were completed during the following year, and more
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recently a handsome brick school building has been erected at Mittineague, so that the scholars in all portions of the town have good accommodations in these central buildings and the un- graded schools conveniently located in the more sparsely settled sections. Some fifteen teachers are employed, under the direc- tion of a superintendent and the school committee of the town.
A free public library was organized in 1890, and has now over 2,000 volumes of well-selected books. The advantages of the library are free to all residents of the town over twelve years of age, and a weekly delivery of books is made at the three prin- cipal villages, giving equal facilities to all inhabitants.
For forty years after the first grants were made to settlers in the Agawam district, the people there residing were obliged to cross both the Agawam and the Connecticut rivers in order to attend church; and, there being neither bridges nor adequate boats, we must admire the strength of the religious spirit which kept these people faithful to their principles. The dangers encountered are well illustrated by the accident to the Bedortha family, three of whose members-Reice, John, and the wife of Joseph-were drowned in the Connecticut in 1683 by the over- turning of the boat. One has but to recall this incident with the tragic deaths of Longmeadow settlers a few years earlier, also on their way to the Springfield church, to realize something of the meaning of religious fidelity in those early days.
In 1695 the thirty-two families residing west of the Connecti- cut river, numbering more than 200 members, took steps to secure recognition as a separate parish, and in 1698 a church was formed in what later became the town of West Springfield. With this the Agawam families affiliated, on account of its con- venience, and with it they remained identified until 1757, when the territory now comprising the town of Agawam was set off as the sixth parish of Springfield. This parish at that time com- prised about seventy five families. The inhabitants were called together in precinct meeting February 2, 1758, and after electing Capt. Samuel Mirick as moderator and Moses Leonard as clerk, voted to raise £17 "in order to have the gospel preached among us here." About a year later it was voted to build a meeting
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house "in the center of the present inhabitants, or as near as may be." and a committee was appointed to determine the loca- tion. In January, 1760, it was voted to build "at ye head of the first branch beyond Ensign Reuben Leonard's"-a location now pointed out at a fork of the roads on the edge of the plain be- tween Agawam and Feeding Hills villages. The meeting house was erected in the same year, and so far completed that it could be used for holding services. The church was organized on the 10th of November, 1762, and a week later Rev. Sylvanus Gris- wold was ordained and installed as the first pastor of the Sixth church of Springfield. In 1774, when the town of West Spring- field was created, the title was changed to the Second church of West Springfield. The church was organized with nine members in addition to the pastor-elect,-Samuel Merrick, Joseph Bodurtha, Benjamin Leonard, John Leonard, Reuben Leonard, Abel Leonard, Joseph Selden, Joseph Flower, and Jonathan Bodurtha. Twenty others united by letter on the 28th of the same month, some of the number being Baptists, each denomina- tion agreeing to respect the convictions of the other regarding baptism, and other points of difference in belief and customs.
The pastorate of Rev. Mr. Griswold extended over fifty- seven years until his death in 1819, and covered a variety of experiences in connection with the church work. Although his salary was small, being about $225 a year, with use of a tract of forty acres of land, the stress of the revolutionary war made its payment difficult, and it is recorded that the pastor released his people from their obligations to him. But other difficulties and perplexities arose, among which it is probable that a want of harmony betwen the sections was a factor, so that about the year 1800 the precinct was again divided, Feeding Hills and Agawam proper being made separate parishes. The former retained the original name and the church building, which was taken down. removed to the village and re-erected, but was left in an unfinished state for twenty years. This stucture, by the way. had a varied experience. For the first ten years it was used by the mixed congregation of Congregationalists and Baptists, and after the organization of a separate Baptist church the two
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bodies jointly used the same house of worship. In 1802 a Methodist society was organized, and they also used the same building. It was neatly finished in 1821, and the joint occupancy continued until the Congregationalists withdrew in 1834 and built their present house of worship, which was en- larged in 1857, and has since undergone considerable change. In 1855, at the incorporation of the town the church name was changed to "First Congregational Church of Agawam."
Following the death of Rev. Mr. Griswold, the church was without a pastor until 1821, when Rev. Reuben Hazen was or- dained, and for nine years served the Feeding Hills church as well as that at Agawam, dividing his time in the pastoral work, and preaching in the two pulpits on alternate Sabbaths. He resigned the pastorate at Feeding Hills in 1830 to devote himself to the Agawam parish. His successors at the First church have been : Rev. Harvey Smith, August 11, 1830, to June, 1833; Rev. Horatio J. Lombard. June 8, 1834, to 1836; Rev. Calvin Foote, December 21, 1836, to September 23, 1839; Rev. Dillon Williams, June 30, 1841, to May 28, 1848; Rev. Stephen D. Ward, October, 1853, until his death, June 11, 1858; Rev. M. Harrington, 1859- 60; Rev. William M. Birchard, 1860-63; Rev. Lewis Grout, May 14, 1864, to October 1, 1865; Rev. Charles S. Sylvester, May 13, 1866, to April, 1879; Rev. A. W. Field, 1879-82; Rev. Thomas M. Price, 1883-6; Rev. Jasper P. Harvey, 1887-9; Rev. Egbert N. Munroe, 1889-90; Rev. Frank L. Garfield, the present pastor, settled in 1892.
The Second Congregational church of Agawam, more com- monly called the Agawam Congregational church, was created by the division of the parish during or about the year 1800, but it was not for almost twenty years that a church was organized at Agawam Center. Directly after the separation, however, the Agawam people procured the frame of a meeting honse from a society at Snffield, Conn., which was erected on the common, and was adopted as a parish house, money being voted by the parish for its completion. It was some three years, however, before its dedication, after which it was used under mutual agreement by Baptists and Congregationalists, the latter having a society,
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