USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Longmeadow > Proceedings at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Longmeadow, October 17th, 1883 > Part 31
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" Mr. Medlicott combined with his large business capacity a remarkable literary culture. Far from being a bibliophilist in the passion for costly rar- ities for a market value, Mr. Medlicott loved his books for their own sake. He counted every moment he could snatch from business cares as golden for reading. It was his restful pastime and domestic recreation. Without affectation or pedantry, he was always imparting in the table-talk and the fireside reading, and by conversation, from the unfailing treasures of his favorite books. During the latter days of his long and gradually wasting illness, his indomitable will and cheerful disposition banished every gloomy association, and with his beloved books, old and new, around him, he would solace his mind and delight his friends with quotations from the poets he loved the best. The literary department of his mind was just as method- ically arranged and accurately grasped in every detail, as was the business department which controlled and systemized a large and intricate manufac- ture. Equally at home in each, neither seemed inconsistent with or harm- ful to the other.
" He was exceedingly fond of his home and attached himself with public- spirited generosity to all the interests of the village. Although by his early training a member of the Church of England, and still retaining a personal preference for the Episcopal communion, his religious catholicity made him a staunch supporter of the Congregational Church as fairly maintaining its ancient prestige, and the only one needed by a homogeneous and united people. Indeed, in his warm attachment to the village of his adoption, and his generous support of all its public interests, Mr. Medlicott was emphati- cally a model citizen.
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Among the eccentric characters of Longmeadow, some now living remem- ber its hermit, Aaron Burt. He dwelt in a forest clearing in East Long- meadow, romantic in its solitude and surroundings of ancient trees and running water. His own vineyard and orchard supplied abundance of lus- cious fruits, which he gave to his curious visitors with generous hospitality. He surrounded his hut with bees, so familiar that they would not sting him, and which gave him honey of the richest quality. He had a family of domestic animals whom he petted, and bathed, and talked to as if they were human friends. He had trained them to follow him, and when he went to Springfield, or visited the village street, they,-the bullock, the heifer, the sheep, the calf, and the pig,-fantastically adorned with ribbons, fell into line, while he, clad in sheepskins, like some prophet of old, strode in front with serious dignity and a presence indicating much natural refinement and a large intelligence that had somehow got awry-disappointed in love, the story ran-looking like some old prophet. He attended public worship, usually with decorum, but sometimes, by his odd behavior, would provoke the tithing-men to put him out. Suddenly, in the midst of the service, he might rise up in the gallery and break out in the solemn strains of "The Indian Philosopher," or some other uncouth song. Feeling that he was called to preach, he would make stentorian harangues, denouncing the sins of the times, and sometimes with considerable pertinency. Captain Calvin Burt once interrupted one of his sermons, in process of delivery opposite his house, by rushing out with a horsewhip and chasing the noisy prophet into a hatter's shop that then stood in the middle of the green, where he administered a sound thrashing. When Pastor Dickinson, in gentler method on another occasion, attempted to dissuade him from his preaching, the reply was, "You and I, Mr. Dickinson, are engaged in the same business. We both preach the same gospel; only I go ahead with the breaking-up drag, and you follow with a fine-tooth harrow to cover the seed."
The military trainings, so long as they lasted, were conducted on the village green with the most exemplary precision, dignity, and decorum. The last captain, chosen May 5. 1835, was Aaron C. Stebbins ; the last lieuten- ant, Samuel C. Booth : the last sergeant, Geo. H. White; and the last cor- poral, Isaac Calkins.
On that eventful Sabbath after Fort Sumter was fired upon, and the first Massachusetts troops had met their rebuff at Baltimore, and the swift trains were whistling through the long meadow loaded from the arsenal, there appeared in his full uniform, marching up and down the street, quivering with martial ire, and every inch a soldier, Captain Aaron Stebbins, present- ing himself in all the solemnity of his kindling patriotism as an object les- son and prophetic sign of what the times demanded.
On one of the Sabbath days during the Revolutionary period, while the service was in progress, a man entered and whispered to some of the lead- ing people, whereupon the congregation repaired at once to the work of run- ning bullets, which continued all night, while the women mended thie clothes of the minute men who were to start at early dawn.
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'Squire Ely had a dry, sarcastic wit, conveyed in deliberate tones and punctuated by a peculiar sniff which turned his Roman nose not up, but downward and aside. Meeting his brother-in-law, Elihu Colton, one of the unprofessional village lawyers, who spent his time in little else than sitting at the tavern fire, or walking about at his leisure, he said, " Brother Elihu, hadn't you better-sometimes-take a basket-on your arm ? People might think you was going after something." At another time, meeting his deputy miller, S- H-, who was fond of going a-fishing, " Good morn- ing, Mr. H -. What's the news-from the mill ?- or-haven't you been there-lately?" " Father," said his son Jonathan, who had returned from some cattle-show, "don't you think we had better have some of this nice graded stock ?" " Well," replied the 'Squire, "may be we had :- but-Jona- than-after we've had 'em awhile, you'll find they will be Ely cattle." Adol- phus Kent, an impecunious hired man, who was noted for his sharp sayings, having driven the 'Squire's heifers from their winter quarters to the pasture, described them as so light that when they kicked up there wasn't " heft " enough to bring their heels down till he got out as far as " Grassy Gutter." " Did you ever know-your cattle-to act in that way, Mr. Kent ? "
A member of the church who was disciplined for stealing, and had acknowledged his guilt, asked permission to read the confession demanded before the congregation himself. He got it drawn up by a lawyer, and when the time came for the confession, stood up and humbly made his acknowledgments, asking forgiveness :- " but most of all I ask the forgive- ness-more especially-and above all-of God-and my brethren-for -- blacking my face-and going in the night time-with most other members of the church-and robbing the house of Samuel Colton." (See Colton documents, p. 213.)
Rev. Dr. Wolcott kindly contributes the following reminiscence of his former Longmeadow pastorate :
" A day or two before the destruction of his house by fire, Col. Williams had granted me free access to his attic, and I was introduced to the manu- script treasures with which it abounded. I made a preliminary exploration, preparatory to a systematic examination of the papers. Among the docu- ments which attracted my attention, was a legal paper signed by the surviv- ing children of the Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, including the daughter who had been taken captive by the Indians and had adopted the Indian life, then on a visit to the homestead. The Indian name was given in full and appended to it was-' her / mark.' I looked upon that . mark'-the only trace which this Christian-born daughter of the forest had left upon the records of civilization, and it seemed to me one of the most pathetic inci- dents with which I had ever met. I noted that document as one which I should eventually solicit from the proprietor. But before I could repeat the visit, those papers were all consumed in the flames."
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V .- FAMILY MEMORANDA.
The following items of family history, supplied mainly by members of the respective families, may perhaps usefully supplement the statis- tics of the Genealogical Record, the publication of' which has super- seded a wider range of similar research :
THE BURT FAMILY.
The Burts, from the outset prominent and influential in Longmeadow affairs, descended from Henry and Ulalia Burt. There is a tradition that Ulalia was laid out for dead in England, and put into her coffin, but signs of life appearing, she recovered and became the mother of nineteen children, only twelve of whom, however, are traced as coming to this country or as having been born here.
Henry settled first in Roxbury, where in 1639 his house was burned, and a grant of £8 made to him by the Provincial Court in consideration of the misfortune. About that time he removed to Springfield, and was then ap- pointed " Clerk of ye band and clerk of ye writs ; " evidently a man of affairs and well educated, being the lay exhorter on the Sabbath when there was no minister, chosen in successive years one of the five "select men by ye general vote and consent of ye Plantation for ye ordering ye prudential affairs," and one of six with "full power to lay out ye lands both of upland and meddowe."
His eldest son, Dea. Jonathan Burt, was also born in England, married Elizabeth Lobdel at Boston, and like his father continually appears in posi- tions of trust ; "a man of note and deacon," writes Savage, also town clerk of Springfield, making the only public record of the destruction of the town by the Indians in 1675. In 1662 he was " allowed to be attorney of this county's court." Dea. Jonathan lived in the house formerly owned by Hugh Parsons of witchcraft notoriety. In 1694 Col. John Pynchon, Esq., and Dea. Jonathan Burt were appointed to declare to Mr. Samuel Brewer, can- didate for the Springfield pastorate, " The towne's good resentment of M. Daniel Brewer his answer to the towne invitation, and to give him thanks for ye same."
His third son, Nathaniel, settled in Longmeadow, " a respected and wor- thy Father of the Town of Longmeadow," as testifies the inscription on his monumental tablet, gratefully erected hy the inhabitants in remembrance of his benefactions "for the support of the gospel and public schools." (See epitaphs, p. 204.) He may well be styled " Nathaniel the liberal," according to the Scripture graved upon his tombstone. Josiah xxxii, 8-" The liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand."
The next Longmeadow Burt was Jonathan, son of Dea. Jonathan and grandson of Henry, who married Lydia Dumbleton, and whose daughter Lydia married Dea. Jonathan Ely. Cotemporary with him in the third gen- eration was Dea. Nathaniel Burt, son of Nathaniel of Springfield and grand- son of Henry.
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In the fourth generation was Lieut. Nathaniel of the Third Massachusetts regiment, and also deacon, son of Deacon Nathaniel and great-grandson of Henry, who was killed at the battle of Lake George, September 8, 1755. (See epitaphs, p. 204.) He was the father of Col. Gideon Burt, who commanded the government troops in Shay's rebellion, September 26, 1782, during the temporary absence of Gen. Shephard, and was grandfather of the late Maj. William Burt.
The Burts are all along conspicuous for military titles and honorable ser- vice in the successive wars.
David, great-grandson of Henry the emigrant, served against the French and Indians, and was mustered in at Northfield in 1722. His son, Capt. David Burt, led the Longmeadow minute men, who marched April 21, 1775, at Lexington alarm. He was an extensive manufacturer of powder, fur- nishing supplies for the Revolutionary army. His oldest son Solomon was killed by the explosion of his powder-mill, supposed to have been caused by an emissary of the enemy. It is recorded in the newspapers of the time of an old horse owned by Capt. David, that one Sunday, when his master was seriously ill and the attention of the family engaged in attendance on him, the horse, through force of habit, at the ringing of the second bell, took his place at the house-porch without chaise or harness ; after waiting the usual time, trotted off to the meeting-house, paused at the door ; then took his accustomed place under the shed ; after service drew up again at the meeting-house door, and then trotted soberly home.
Capt. David's son, Capt. Calvin Burt, well remembered in Longmeadow as a stalwart, upright, ardent, and outspoken man, fond of leadership and intense in his likes and dislikes, entered the Revolutionary army at the age of 14, was an officer under Gen. Shephard in suppressing Shay's rebellion, and the great-grandfather of Lieut. Howard Burnham, slain at the battle of Chickamauga, in the recent civil war. (See Military Record, p. 284.)
Edward Burt, son of Hezekiah of East Longmeadow, another brave sol- dier and promising youth in the eighth generation from Henry the emigrant, died of a wound received in the battle of the Wilderness. Of the same lineage were those gallant officers, Gen. William Burt, ex-Postmaster of Boston, and Major Edmund Charles Burt, of the Third Rhode Island Cavalry.
The Burts have also given to the church militant a goodly number of ministers. Those connected with the Longmeadow line belong to the East Longmeadow family of the Davids and Elijah. Rev. Enoch Burt of Lam- ington, N. J., son of Elijah, born in South Wilbraham, graduated at Prince- ton, N. J., in 1805. Rev. Moses Burt of Clavarack, N. Y., and the son of Elijah, admitted to priesthood of the Episcopal church by the Bishop of New Jersey, October 24, 1823. Rev. Seth Burt of Norway, N. Y .. another son of Elijah, born in East Longmeadow, graduated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., July, 1810. Rev. Edmund Burt, son of Horace, grand- son of Elijah of East Longmeadow, settled at Chittonongo, N. Y.
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The East Longmeadow Burts come in the line of Henry in the first gen- eration, Nathaniel in the second, David in the third, who first settled in the " Inward Commons," since called East Longmeadow, David in the fourth, and Elijah in the fifth, through whose prolific family of fourteen they get an accelerated movement. Of these, Luther Burt married Mary White, and their children were Mary, Anne, Rhoda, Hezekiah, Lucius, Augustine, Luther White, John, Richard Storrs, and Delia Bliss. Another son of Elijah, Dea. Ebenezer Burt, married Amanda Colton, and their children were Amanda, Lucretia, and Ebenezer. Another son of Elijah, bearing his father's name, married for his first wife Nancy Abby, and their only child was Loring Burt. Marrying for his second wife Polly Mckinney, their children were William, Anson, and Nancy Abby. Another son of Elijah, Horace Burt, married Patty Bliss, and their children were Edmund, Jona- ·than, and Horace.
THE COOLEY FAMILY.
Benjamin, or "Ensign Cooley," the head of the Longmeadow family, received his first allotment of land in 1642. A portion of this land upon which he first settled, and which he gave to his eldest son Obadiah, remains in possession of his descendants at the present time. In a further adjust- ment of the meadow grants, January 1651, "and how they are to lye-by lot -on Pecowsick beginning at ye lower end," Benjamin Cooley stands as the first proprietor. At a town meeting January 7, 1655, it was agreed and con- cluded yt ye land at Woronoco (being laid to this Town by ye Court) should be disposed of, to which end John Pynchon, Benja Cooley, etc., were appointed and designed by ye Town to ye work." Ensign Benjamin Cooley stands all along in the early history of Springfield associated with Ensign Cooper, Capt. Pynchon, Miles Morgan, Rowland Thomas, Quartermaster Colton, and Eleazer Holyoke on real estate committees to dispose of "ye Lands of the Plantation." In 1670 the General Court appointed him with John Pynchon and four others to lay out a new township on the west side of the Connecticut river "towards Windsor." Benjamin Cooley had eight children. His two sons, Obadiah and Eliakim, settled in Longmeadow. In 1665 grants of land were made to Obadiah Cooley, eldest son of Benjamin Cooley, of thirty-five acres, his father "agreeing to satisfy charges that shall come upon the Land before it is Improved," Obadiah Cooley being at this time but 19 years of age. From this time on for several years records appear of deeds of land from Benjamin Cooley to his five sons.
A deed dated January 21, 1673, conveys " two parcells of land in ye Long meaddow " from Thomas Stebbins to Ensign Cooley. Another deed con- veys to him from Samuel Marshfield
" Certayne Parcells of land, viz. foure Parcells of Land lying and being in Spring- field aforefaid-that is to fay, Imprimis, a Parcell of Land conteyning foureteene acres more or lefs lying in the Long meaddow a little below the gate wch Openeth into the field a little below his the faid Enfign Cooley's houfe." "The fourth Par-
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cell of Land hereby fold is twelve acres more or lefs lying on the North Side of that Land of Enfign Cooleys web lyes between the two dingles weh are on ye back Side of the Swampe wch is Eaft from his houfe at Long meaddow. This twelve acres extends to another dingle northward from the Said Enfign Cooleys own land above mentioned, and is in breadth thirty rods and in length Sixty foure rods."
Obadiah Cooley had two sons, who remained in Longmeadow, Joseph and Jonathan. Joseph had a son, Caleb, and his grandson was Seth, who was the father of Mrs. Ethan Ely. Jonathan's descendants are his son Stephen, grandson Calvin, and great-grandson, Alford.
James Cooley, eldest son of Calvin Cooley, after graduating at Yale Col- lege and studying law, went to Ohio to practice law in 1815. In 1826 he was sent under the administration of John Quincy Adams as charge d'affaires to Lima, Peru, and died within a year after reaching there.
THE ELY FAMILY.
The following more extended account of the Ely family of Long- meadow has been prepared by Mr. Ethan C. Ely, and is inserted by him with its accompanying illustrations :
THE ELY FAMILY IN LONGMEADOW, though not as large as some of the others, seems to have been of good worthy stock, beginning with Dea. Jonathan, son of Samuel of Springfield, who was the son of Nathaniel, also of Springfield, and one of its early settlers, coming there about the year 1660, and with his son Samuel keeping a tavern or public house in what is now the old Laundry at the corner of Dwight and Sanford streets, when it stood at or near the corner of Main and Bliss streets, on the site of the present " Belmont House." It appears that Nathaniel took the freeman's oath in Cambridge, Mass., May 6, 1635, at which time he was a land-holder there, and was probably of Puritan origin, having come to this country from England prior to the above date. There is some evidence that he may have been of Rev. Thomas Hooker's party to Connecticut in 1636, whence he removed to Springfield, where he died Dec. 25, 1675, leaving, it appears, two children, Samuel and Ruth. His supposed widow, Martha Ely, died Oct. 23, 1683.
The record shows that Samuel married Mary Day the 28th of the 8th month, 1659, and that they had fifteen children, more than half of whom died in infancy, or when quite young. Samuel, the father, died March 17, 1692, after which his widow was twice married ; first April 12, 1694, to Thomas Stebbins ; he dying Dec. 7, 1695, she next married John Coleman Dec. 16, 1696.
Joseph, Samuel, and John, three of the sons of Samuel, had families and settled in West Springfield, and Jonathan settled in Longmeadow in 1694. Dea. Jonathan seems to have been a plain God-fearing man, respected and trusted by the community in which he lived, and when he died, in 1753, in his 71st year, an elegy was printed, a fac simile of which is given herewith :
An ELEGY on the Death of Mr. Jonathan Ely,
Deacon of the Church of CHRIST in Springfield, at Long-Meadow, who Departed this Life, July 27. Annoque Domini, 1753. In the 71º. Year of his Age.
Prov. x. 7. The Memory of the Just is bleffed. Rev. xiv. 13. Bleffed are the Dead which die in the Lord:
W THAT Cloud is this o'erfpreads the Skies ? Or gloomy Exhalations rife, In Sable Curtains hide the Sun, Juft as he had his Race begun. The Morn was bright, ferene, and clear, No Storm, nor Tempeft, did appear Then fuddenly, the News was fpread, The mournful News! ELY is Dead. Well might the Sun be hid a While, Under a dark and difmal Vail ; Well might the Heav'ns, be overfpread, To mourn this precious Saint of GOD. And ye furviving Mortals too, Which did his Grace and Vertue know, Come drop a Fun'ral Tear and Sigh, Perpetuate his Memory. Speak Muje unerring, you have known, How in the Church's Orb he thone ; And well adorn'd his Office State, Have feen his Tears when he did wait, Upon the Table of the Lord, A humble Saint around his Board. Difperfing Wifdom's rich Provifiion, The Bread and Wine, the Lord has given ; Thofe dear Memorials of his Beatb, To purchafe Life, and free from Wrath, Let Age declare how from his Youth, He walked in the Ways of Truth ; And by his bright Example fet, A fhining Pattern for their Feet. Early he turn'd to Wifdom's Ways, And ne'er forfook them all his Days ; A blamelefs Walk and Converfation, Adorn'd his Life in ev'ry Station. How Holy, Juft, and Temp'rate too, How free from Vanity and Shew ; Yet condefending, cheerful, free, Unitain'd, without Hypocrify. A tender Father, Hufband kind, A courteous Neighbour, loving Friend ; Made up of Peace and Charity, Unafk'd forgave an Injury. When juft Occafion did prefeut, Tender of the true Penitent ; His holy Soul would melt and flow, In Tears of Love and facred Joy.
His Principles were found and good, He fought Salvation thro' Chrift's Blood.
+'Tis remarkable, the Morning he Died, the Heavens were fuddenly overfpread with Smoak, which continued feveral days.
The Doctrine of GOD's Sovereignty, And abfolute Supremacy ; The wretched State of fall'n Man, His Need to be renew'd again ; Throughout the Soul, in ev'ry Part, Were Doctrines much upon his Heart. For he no Doubt had felt their Pow'r, In fome divine refreshing Hour ; And perfeveringly he grew, In Vertue, Grace, and Knowledge too ; While viewing here from Pifgah's Top, The Lord at laft has call'd him up, To take Poffeffion of his Hope.
Mourn and lament this Church of GOD,
A Father taken from your Head ; His Services with Thanks record, Unto our great and gracious Lord : Who crown'd his Servant with fuch Grace, So long preferv'd him in the Place ; A Bleffing to the Church of GOD, Where to his dying Day he ftood : A Mirror bright before our Eyes ; Now reigns and fhines above the Skies. Nor was his Service here confin'd ; The publick Truft he long fuftain'd ; Difcharg'd with great Fidelity, Your Records kept mott faithfully. +
Mufe, fpeak a Word of Sympathy, Unto the mournful Family : Your Lofs, tho' Great, to him is Gain, Which may Affwage your Grief and Pain. Ceafe then your Tears, dry up your Eyes, Let no tumultuous Paffion rife ; Mourn for your Friend, you may, 'tis jutt, But moderate your Grief you muft. Reftrain Excefs, bound Sorrow up ; For you don't mourn without a Hope. Now Hufband, Father, Friend, is gone, Let GOD be all to you in one. Well may you all rejoice in this, Your Friend is gone to endlefs Blifs : Has chang'd a mortal State below, A State of Sorrow, Sin and Woe, For Realms of Joy, Delight and Love, In the clear View of GOD above ; Tofpend a long Eternity, In Saints, and Angels, Company ; In praifing GOD, unitedly.
+ He ferved in the Office of Precinctt Clerk, more than Thirty Years. And many Years Treas- urer.
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and also the inscription taken from his monument in the cemetery, which reads thus :
" He was one that feared God above many, of great ufefulnefs in this place, a plain and upright man.
jonathan, the gift of God, pleafant in life, lamented over at death by diftreffed and bereaved friends."
Dea. Jonathan Ely had two sons, Jonathan and Nathaniel; the latter remaining on his father's homestead, located on the east side of the street next north of the "Ministry land," so-called, until the year 1758, when he purchased of Henry Bliss the property on the west side, which has remained in the family ever since, having descended from one generation to another until the present, while his brother Jonathan located on the moun- tain in Wilbraham, on land known then as the "outward Commons " of Springfield, and lived to see succeeding Jonathans to the third or fourth generation growing up around him, dying Dec. 29, 1812, at the great age of 98 years and 5 months.
Dea. Nathaniel Ely, son of Jonathan, may have inherited, to some extent, a taste for inn-keeping from his grandsires of Springfield, for he is said to have kept tavern for a time in the house now owned by Dr. Lester Noble, which stood then where the residence of Ethan C. Ely now stands. Some years later, in connection with his son, Dea. Nathaniel, Jr., he built the brick structure standing next south, which was considered in those days the most pretentious dwelling between Springfield and Hartford, and has been a notable landmark for more than a century. He was four times married, his first wife being Mary Estabrook, daughter of Rev. Samuel Estabrook of Canterbury, Conn., who died Jan. 13, 1759, aged 41. His second wife was Abigail Colton, daughter of William and Mary Colton, who died Dec. 22, 1770, in her 46th year. His third wife was Beulah, daughter of Capt. Isaac Colton, who died April 24, 1786. His fourth and last, who survived him, was Mrs. Martha Williams Reynolds, widow of Dr. Samuel Reynolds of Somers, Conn., and daughter of Rev. Stephen Williams, and grand- mother of Mrs. Mary Reynolds Schauffler, the long-time missionary to Turkey. She died Feb. 18, 1825, aged 92.
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