USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Our county and its people : A history of Hampden County, Massachusetts. Volume 2 > Part 30
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Trumbull, speaking of the meals of these early times, says : "For breakfast, meat was seldom provided, but bread and milk or bread and cider, hasty pudding with milk or molasses, and sometimes porridge or broth, made of peas or beans flavored by being cooked with salt pork or beef, was the usual fare.
"Dinner was deemed the most important, and some kind of meat or fish, with vegetables, was always served. Potatoes were unknown ; but turnips, cabbages, beans and a few other veget- ables, were used to a considerable extent." Potatoes were in- troduced into the Connecticut valley about 1720, and were not used as a common article of diet until several years later.
One of the oldest colonial houses, built according to the plans we have noticed, is the Day house, as it is called, on the high land north of the Boston and Albany railroad and west of the trap rock ridge; another is the brick house in Pochassic, for several years the home of Barnum Perry and his family ; and an- other is the Moseley house on the north side of Main street, just east of the junction of Meadow and Main streets. Other houses deserve mention, but these must suffice.
The genealogy cennected with each of these houses is inter- esting. We will speak of those only who have occupied the Moseley house, using an account given by one of the family. In
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1677 John Maudsley (or Moseley) removed from Windsor with his wife, Mary Newbury, to Westfield, and purchased the house and store of Mr. Whitney, which thenceforth has been known as their home or the home of their descendants. Mr. Moseley had already proved his valor in battles with the followers of King Philip. Hence, he was warmly welcomed to the stockaded hamlet and chosen lieutenant of the little company of defenders. He was also recorded as one of the seven original members or "foun- dation men," of the church first organized under Rev. Edward Taylor, in 1677. The sons of "Lieut. John" "struck out" in new paths for themselves. Consider has many descendants in Westfield and elsewhere, one of them, Mrs. Bingham (Sybil Moseley) was among the earliest missionaries to the Sandwich
Elder Ambrose Day House
Islands. "Quartermaster John," as he was called, was another son. He was the father of Col. John Moseley, one of the com- mittee of safety in the war for independence. Owing to his pub- lic services, his name often appears in the town and in the state records. While the widow of Joseph (another son) was living in the house, we find the record was made upon the town book that the selectmen had agreed with one John Negro to call the peo- ple to meeting by beating the first drum, "against the widow Moseley's house in good weather." This drum beating by John or some one else for about one hundred and fifty years served instead of bell-ringing to promote punctual attendance at church.
When the first meeting-house, near the bridge, over Little river, became inadequate to the needs of the growing town, in
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THE TOWN OF WESTFIELD
1719, measures were taken to build another. After much dis- cussion and disagreement respecting the site for the new build- ing, the town by vote made Samuel Partridge final arbiter. His decision was that "the place for erecting and setting up the new Meeting House, to be the knowl on Capt. Maudsley's lot on the north side of ye way behind his housing." This meeting-house stood not far from the present southwest corner of the Moseley place on Meadow and Main streets.
In 1749, we find David Moseley, Esq., as he is named in his. commission from George II, appointing him magistrate of Hampshire county, occupying the Moseley house. Like many other officers of law and landholders, during the earlier troubles with the mother country, he was known as a tory. Had he lived to feel the injustice of later and more oppressive measures of the home government he would doubtless have helped to swell the unanimous votes passed during the revolutionary struggle, tend- ing to secure independence. He was the first public surveyor of the town. His royal commission is still preserved by his descend- ants, and also his compass, used in running town and division lines. His book shows the "Two Hundred Acres lying on the Symsbury Road," laid out by him for Jacob Wendell, Esq., of Boston. These acres were afterwards given for the first bell hung in the "coney" on the town meeting house, near the Moseley house. His son, also named David, was a staunch pat- riot, a selectman for several years, serving in other offices also, and chosen, in 1775, one of "the Committee of Correspondence and Safety to carry out the Plans of the Provincial Congress ap- pointed by the town." While serving in the war for independ- ence he was commissioned colonel of the Third regiment of militia in Hampshire county. In his diary we find :
"24th Day of Sept. 1777. I went to Saratoga in the alarm of the militia ; General Burgoyne was Delivered into our hands a prisoner of War the 17th day of Oct. 1777. I returned home the 19th day of Oct. from the camps."
This Captain, afterwards Colonel, Moseley, had charge of at least one tory when a John Ingersoll was examined by the com- mittee and placed under guard.
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The house built in 1786 by Capt. William Moseley,
Son of Col. David Moseley, a revolutionary ancestor who "was at the surrender of Burgoyne", Oct. 7, 1777. He was the son of David Moseley, Esq., a tory ancestor, having received a commission from George II in 1749. The house is now owned by Edward and Thomas B. Moseley, sons of Col. David Moseley, who was born at this homestead and died Aug. 25, 1871.
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THE TOWN OF WESTFIELD
Time had made sad inroads on doors and windows "since this old house was new," and about fifty years ago one of the descendants of "Lieut. Moseley from Windsor" made repairs and changes. The huge central chimney, with its wide fireplaces, was taken out and a hall made through the center of the house. The panelled walls were stripped of much of their handiwork and a modern finish substituted. The corner cupboards were re- moved, windows changed and the decaying doors on the front and east side, with their artistic carvings, curved mouldings and enormous brass knockers, gave place to modern contrivances. Fourteen brides, each bearing the name of Moseley, have been married in the "best room" on the west side of the house, dur- ing the more than two hundred years in which the house has passed in the same family from generation to generation. Those born and reared in the Moseley house, joining hands and hearts with others, have built up from time to time new homes, here and elsewhere, far and wide, under the colonial names, Noble, Ingersoll, Root, Sackett, Fowler, Dewey, Taylor and others, as well as the name of Moseley.
Work was the motto of the settlers. Their circumstances compelled persistent industry. Yet they were not as gloomy a people as they are often represented. They made "the wilder- ness and the solitary place" glad with their good cheer, born of full health. The variety of their work made recreation less a necessity for them than for those of the present time, when di- vision of labor has made so many well nigh parts of the mechan- ism of a factory. Nor did they lack amusement and recreation. There were training-days, when work was suspended, that the militia might assemble on the "common" and receive instruc- tion and drill. The day of annual muster was another holiday. Old election day was maintained as a holiday long after the elec- tion of state officers was transferred from May to November. "Raising day" was anticipated by every boy, as he saw the heavy frame of a building nearing completion, for he knew that the able-bodied men and the boys of the neighborhood would assemble in gladsome mood at the "raising," and feats of strength, skill and courage might be expected. It was the cus-
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tom to levy the tax for the repair of the roads as a separate tax to be "worked out" under district surveyors. After planting time the surveyors in the several districts summoned men with their teams to put the roads in good condition. Boys, allowed a wage according to their years, mingled with men. Working on the roads was a social affair. Local history, personal reminis- cence and mirthful story gave zest to the busy hours. The noon hour, when under some wide, arching tree, each partook of the dinner he had brought, was a time for much discussion of the
Old Washington Tavern
questions of the day. These were very democratic occasions, for the minister and the doctor (though doctors were rare) worked out their tax with others. Then, there were husking parties, dancing, hunting parties, games of ball, in which all might play, being chosen as at evening spelling matches on one side or the other ; spinning bees for the girls, and games at neighborhood parties, in which all might engage, that made the colonial houses, illuminated with generous hearth fires, resound with merry-mak- ing.
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That the large fireplaces were great consumers of fuel is evi- dent from the annual supply of wood necessary for a household. The annual supply of a minister's family is fairly known from church and town records. Mr. Chauncy of Hatfield used from fifty to sixty cords. Mr. Edwards, after 1740, consumed, in Northampton, upwards of seventy loads each year. It has been estimated that one hundred families of Hadley, as late as 1765, when the size of fireplaces was less than a century earlier, con- sumed not less than three thousand cords annually. Westfield burned as much wood per family as other towns in the county. Sylvester Judd, the historian of Hadley, wrote: "The minister's wood was got on days appointed, and the minister furnished the
Ezra Clapp Hotel, built before 1752
flip and other drink, but not the food." These were high days for young men, and for some not young, in Hadley and in other towns.
It would seem that among other amusements there must have been sleigh rides in winter. Judd tells us that "the first settlers of New England knew nothing about sleds and sleighs, nor did they use them for some years. In Hampshire, wood was sometimes sledded before 1670, but in general it was carted long after that date. For many years logs were conveyed to saw pits and sawmills on wheels. and almost everything was carted." He adds: "There were no sleigh-rides in these towns till after 1730 or 1740." Later, as those now living can testify, this form of
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
winter amusement was common. Weddings were festive occa- sions and not infrequently both merry and boisterous.
Rev. John Ballantine, who seems to have made careful en- tries in his diary of the largess of his people, notes the following articles received on the 16th of October, the day be- fore the marriage of his daughter, Mary, to Capt. John Ash- ley : "Mrs. Parks, one gallon of rum ; Capt. Moseley, two quarts of rum; Deacon Shepard, a leg of mutton ; Mrs. Clapp, one quart of rum; Thomas Root. two quarts of brandy; Matthew Noble, flour and suet; Ensign Noble, some butter; Clark King, a pig; Ensign Ingersoll, two quarts of rum; Mrs. Ashley, a loin of mut- ton and butter; Moseley, a pig and three fowls; A. Weller, some apples : Mrs. Ford, cabbage and potatoes; L. Noble, two fowls; D. Root, two quarts of brandy."
In this list articles are not wanting adapted to stimulate hilarity. If they were placed on the table they would hardly correspond to a modern array of bridal presents.
The bridegroom above named was a resident of Sheffield, and in the time of Shays' rebellion major-general of the state militia. The lineage of the bride, Mary, was restored to West- field in the person of Jane P. Ashley, her granddaughter, who married William G. Bates in 1830.
The dress of the bride was often as expensive as her cir- cumstances allowed. The "coming out groom and bride" were always expected at the church services on the Sabbath imme- diately following the wedding. The law of 1647, imposing a fine of £5 for gaining the affections of a girl with intent of marriage, before having obtained permission from her parents or guar- dians, does not appear to have been applied to any suitor in Westfield or in Hampden county.
Lechford, in his "News from New England," says of fu- nerals in 1642: "At burials, nothing is read, nor any funeral sermon made, but all the neighborhood, or a good company of them, come together by tolling of the bell, and carry the dead sol- emnly to his grave, and there stand by him while he is buried." The earlier ministers of New England, we are told, refrained from prayers at funerals, because there was in the Bible neither
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precept nor example for such prayers. Near the close of the seventeenth century prayers at funerals were not uncommon, and twenty years later Mather tells us that the minister in many towns made a prayer at the house and a short speech at the grave.
The English custom of a bountiful meal at the house of the deceased just after the funeral had justification among the colo- nists in the fact that the homes of many attending were at a dis- tance. That these meals should be of a festive sort can hardly be excused on the ground that they were a means of allaying grief. The day before the burial of his wife we find Parson Bal- lantine made the following entries in his diary, showing that his people were mindful of his needs :
Donation Mr. Zachariah Bush, -piece of fresh meat
Bohan King,-spare rib;
66 60 John Phelps. 2 fowls, suet, sugar.
Capt. Bush, 2 pieces of fresh meat.
66 Deacon Mather, 2 fowls, biscuit and pie.
66 Mr. Morse, piece of fresh meat.
John Atwater, Butler's cake.
66
Dr. Whitney, bottle of cherry rum etc.
Mr. Samuel Fowler, bottle of cherry rum.
What Mr. Ballantine bought to supplement these gifts we do not know; but we may believe the supply for the meal that followed the funeral exercises was ample.
The simplicity and the limited means of country people for- bade their adoption of many of the extravagant customs of the aristocracy in Boston-customs brought mainly from London. We are told that "in some cases, gloves were lavishly given- 700 pairs at one funeral, 1000 pairs at another, and above 3000 pairs and 200 rings at the funeral of A. Faneuil in Boston in 1738. A Boston minister, in 1728, estimated that the rings and gloves which he received at funerals in a year were worth £15."
During King Philip's war many believed that the sufferings the settlers endured were the result of their wickedness. Rev. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, writing to Increase Mather, says : "I desire that you would speak to the Governor that there
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may be some thorough care for a reformation," and among the "many sins grown in fashion" he mentions "intolerable pride in clothes and hair." At the November session of the legislature, in 1675, many sins were noted, with penalties provided for those who yielded to them. Under previous sumptuary laws three Westfield women were "presented," in 1673, for wearing silk contrary to law. In 1676 scores of persons in the Connecticut valley were fined, some for wearing silk in a "flaunting man- ner," and others for indulging in long hair. Five of these were from Westfield. But then, as now, men admired beautiful dress and the women were not averse, so that the sumptuary laws soon became obsolete.
We quote a paragraph from the history of Pittsfield, as it gives a glimpse of some of the sons and daughters of Westfield as inhabitants of that town. "Still another class of festivities, less generally remembered, were the evening suppers, at which the choicest of substantial country luxuries-from the goose and turkey, down to the pumpkin-pie and nut-cake, not forgetting apples, chestnuts and cider-were served in turn at the houses of circles of friends, who formed a kind of informal club; the most flourishing of which was the Woronokers, composed of im- migrants from Westfield, and their descendants-a right hearty and jovial set of men, noted for stalwart frames, vigorous and manly intellects, integrity of character, and devotion to the democratic party."
Holland says that a large portion of the inhabitants of Pitts- field at the time of its incorporation, 1761, were from Westfield.
Meeting-Houses .- We are accustomed to speak of church buildings as churches. The early settlers designated their houses for Sabbath gatherings, meeting-houses, for they were used, when- ever they met together, to transact any business requiring the meeting together of the people. Some room in the fort, or "forted house," was probably used for Sabbath meetings by the people of Westfield previous to 1672. In December of that year we find the town voted "that the town will go on with building a meeting house with all convenient speed as may be. The di- mensions are as follows ;- about thirty-six feet square. [Height
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of ceiling] is fourteen feet and for form like the Hatfield meet- ing house." According to tradition, the settlement begun on the north side of the Westfield river, and the settlement at Little river on the Windsor road, strove with each other and with the settlement between the rivers, respecting the location of the meeting house. Each wished the house to be located in its own precincts. After it was decided to build it on the "fort side," not far from the confluence of the rivers, there still was diversity of opinion respecting the place in which it should stand. The record says that "after solemn looking to God, the lotts were drawn. The lot came forth on the place before Goodman Phelps' or Goodman Gunn's, on the point."
This first meeting house was probably made of logs and stood on the north side of Main street on the terrace near the con- fluence of the rivers and a little northwest of the bridge over Little river. A central aisle led from the entrance to the pulpit. On each side of this aisle, and at right angles to it, were the long benches that filled the body of the church. On the sides of the church were benches perhaps at right angles to those filling the body of the house. These were the flank seats.
As the little community increased in numbers more seats were needed. By vote of the town, May 10, 1703, "Gallareyes" were built on each side of the meeting house. The end gallery opposite the pulpit may have been built when the church was built.
The body seats decreased in dignity from front to rear. The dignity of other seats was determined by vote of the town acting upon a report of a committee previously appointed. Change in seats of the church required a new dignifying of seats.
At a town meeting held the same year that the side galleries were put in, among other matters, it was voted "to build pews in ye meeting house where ye flank seats now stand." It was also "voted that the fore pew is in Dignity between the fore seats in ye body and ye Table and the second pew to be in Dignity be- town ye first and second seats in ye body ; and the fore Gallary is accounted to be in Dignity between ye second and third seats in ye body ; and the side fore seats in ye Gallary to be in Dignity
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between the third and forth in ye body and ye second seats in fore Gallary to be in dignity between ye fifth and sixth seats in ye body ; and the Alley seats in ye Gallary to be in Dignity with the sixth seats in ye body ; and ye second seats in the side Gal- lary to be in between the sixth and seventh seats in ye body."
It was also "voted yt Capt. Phelps, Sergt Root, Nathl Ban- croft, Saml Ashley & Thomas Noble Junr, are chosen to seat per- sons in the meeting house."
If the town concurred with the report of the committee, as was the usual custom, there was no seating anew for some years, until a change of population made a new seating necessary.
The general rules for seating guiding the seating committee were enunciated at times by vote of the town and were quite uni- form. December 10, 1722, upon the completion of the second meeting-house (the first being at that time inadequate), which stood on Main street, just east of Meadow street, the seating committee was ordered "to seat by age and estate only, and that so much estate as any man's list is advanced by negroes shall be excluded and cast out." Also that the seating should be done "by nine men in three distinct companies, and so the major part of them agreeing to stand; and that no man shall be seated for more than only a third part of what estate he hath by hire or by marrying a widow."
At a new seating several years later the "seators" were en- joined by vote of the town "to observe that three pounds on his (one's) list shall be accounted equal to one year of age, and to seat according to age, estate, and qualifications according to their best judgment." We cannot tell what heartburnings this seat- ing caused
"When in order due and fit
As by public vote directed, ranked and classed the people sit ; Clerkly squire before the clown
From the brave coat lace-embroidered to the gray frock shad- ing down."
In 1772 it was voted to new seat the church by the "Auction Rule." Our readers are acquainted with this method.
The second church building, of which we have spoken, was in accordance with a vote passed November 17, 1719, "to build a
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Old Mosely House
The rear L is probably new. The site of the second town church building was about where the fence is. The church was built in 1720.
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
meeting house barn fation with a bell coney upon the middle of it, fifty two foots in length and forty one foots in breadth." "Barn fation" meant having two roofs and gables. The gables are said to have been on the north and south ends. The bell, for which two hundred acres of land were exchanged, took the place of the drum-call to meeting, and was rung by a rope reaching to the middle of the church floor. This building was in size a little larger than the main building of the Westfield atheneum, which is forty-six by forty-two feet.
The raising of this building was a town affair, and is a fa- mous example of such occasions. No one has chronicled the do- ings of the day ; we can only quote from the town records the pre- paratory votes.
June 6, 1720, "it was voated by the town that they would begin to raise the meeting house on Wednesday morning, at 2 hours by the sun in the morning, the 8th day of this instant June, (assembling) to work, at the beat of the drum every morn- ing, until it is done."
"It was also voted that all men belonging to the town shall assist in the work of raising the meeting house, from seventeen years of age and upwards, on pain and penalty of three shillings per day for every day's neglect during the time of raising, ex- cept all such as shall make a satisfactory excuse unto the comitey yt have the charge of ye Mater. It was also voted that the com- itey shall have liberty to prepare four or five barels of beer at the Town's Charge for that concern above mentioned and that Captain Phelps, Deacon Nolles & Deacon Ashley should go and desire Mr. Taylor to come to the place of raising the meeting- house then & there at the time apointed to seek to God for his guide and protection in the work of raising."
Whether the raisers needed protection from timbers, or from beer, is indefinite. This vote leads us to infer that it was too early as yet for the English custom of beer drinking to yield to the drinking of cider, which became general before the close of the century. That long seats filled the body of the house in this building as in the old is evident from a later vote "to take out all the long seats in the body of the meeting-house and build or
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make pews in their places." In the afternoon of the same day the vote was reconsidered and lost. Fifty years ago in attending meetings in the conference room of the Congregational church the women occupied the seats at the minister's left and the men those at the right. This custom seems to have been an old Eng- lish custom, still strictly enforced in some of the churches of England and maintained in Westfield in the long seats of the earlier church buildings.
That the church buildings had a men's side and a women's side is evident from the vote of the town in January, 1748-49, when it was voted "to build a pew for the minister's wife and family, the woman's side of the house." Pews restored the fam- ily in the church seats.
It appears that for more than one hundred and fifty years the people of Westfield attended church without any means of warming the church building. An ample force of "tithing men" was maintained all the while, who, according to the vote of the town, were to "have full power to take especial care that all disorders in the meeting house, especially upon the Sabbath day, are stilled, and to give such correction that they shall think fit, unto the boys, to keep them in order." It is not strange that the boys in the gallery were restive under the long sermons, and were sometimes noisy as they attempted to warm their feet by striking their boots together. When it was first proposed in town meeting that the Congregational society should raise money for stoves the vote of the moderator decided the tie vote in the af- firmative ; but a reconsideration followed and reference to a com- mittee to report. December, 1827, in the third meeting-house, to be described hereafter, the innovation, so long dreaded by many, came. The town voted that the "selectmen provide at the ex- pense of the Congregational society of this town, two stoves to- gether with pipes, not to exceed in am't 80 dollars."
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