USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Longmeadow > Proceedings at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Longmeadow, October 17th, 1883 > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
Only two of these wives had children, Nathaniel and Samuel being of the first, Ethan and William of the second, most of the others dying in infancy or early life. He was a man of firm purpose and sterling integrity, lived 84 years, and died just at the close of the century. From his tablet in the cem- etery we take the following inscription :
Dea. Nathaniel Ely, fon of Jonathan. Died December 26, 1799.
" He was a fhining example of the focial and Chriftian virtues, eminently ufefu] both in civil and religious fociety, and closed life in joyful hope of a glorious immortality. His great-grandfather was Nath1 Ely from England, one of the firft fettlers of Connecticut, and removed to Springfield, Mafs., where he died." "The righteous fhall be had in everlafting remembrance."
Nathe Ely 0
3II
Dea. Nathaniel Ely, Jr., Samuel, Ethan, and William, were worthy sons of a worthy sire. The former married Elizabeth Reynolds, daughter of Dr. Samuel Reynolds of Somers, Conn., and granddaughter of Rev. Stephen Williams, and had several children, among whom was Martha, who married Rev. Daniel Temple, one of the first missionaries to Turkey, an only son, Samuel, dying at the age of 8 years with symptoms of hydrophobia. The father, although a large, robust man, suffered from pulmonary troubles, and at one time visited the West Indies for his health, and on his return brought back, among other things, the first umbrella known in Longmeadow. Through his connection by marriage with the Williams family he seems to have taken a special interest in the education of the Indian boy "Lazau," who afterwards became the Rev. Eleazer Williams, and the supposed Dau- phin, or Louis XVII of France (see p. 230).
Dea. Nathaniel Ely, Jr., died June 18, 1808, aged 57 years. Rev. Mr. Storrs, in his funeral sermon, said of him that his ancestors were distin- guished for piety and good sense, for usefulness and respectability, and that for more than twenty years he had sustained the office of deacon in the church, and so discharged its appropriate functions as to purchase to him- self a good report and promote the spiritual welfare of his Christian brethren. On his monument we find this tribute to his memory :
" Poffeffed of a liberal, patriotic mind, and hopefully fanctified by the fpirit of God, he became eminently ufeful both in church and fociety. He was a tender huf- band, an affectionate father, a generous friend."
Samuel Ely, A.B., second son of Dea. Nathaniel and Mary Ely, graduated at Yale College in 1772, and died in Nov., 1774, at the age of 21. William, second son of Dea. Nathaniel and Abigail Ely, graduated at Yale and practiced law in Springfield, where he resided in the old Ely house on the site of the present " Belmont," having married Abigail Bliss, daughter of Moses Bliss of that town. He represented his district several years in Congress, and died Oct. 9, 1817, at the age of 52, leaving no children, and was buried in Springfield. The writer has been informed that he was a man of noble physique, being powerfully built, and weighing nearly or quite 300 lbs.
Capt. Ethan Ely, eldest son of Dea. Nathaniel and Abigail, his second wife, was born Feb. 13, 1764, married Hannah, daughter of Jonathan Burt, Jan. 6, 1791, and lived on the old homestead, where his father, Dea. Nath- aniel, resided before going into the brick house next south. Here he remained until about the time of his father's death, or some time after the death of his brother, Dea. Nathaniel, Jr., when, with his family of five chil- dren, two sons and three daughters, he moved into the brick house where he remained until the time of his death, May 13, 1848, at the age of 84. He was an industrious, thrifty farmer and land-holder, familiarly known in affairs as " Squire " Ely, and in the church as " Deacon " Ely, and was for many years one of the leading spirits in the community, though modest and unobtrusive in his intercourse with men, having a gentle, sensitive nature, combined with
41
.
312
firmness and courage. He was fond of music, as were all his family, and somewhat noted in his day as a singer and teacher of singing, and the writer has several times met people years ago in the neighboring towns, who would say, on finding him out, " Your grandfather taught me to sing." His sons were Ethan and Jonathan ; the latter graduated at Union College, and, after teaching several years and farming in Ohio, died in Cincinnati, June 8, 1847, at the age of 49. He was a genial, capable man, though always suffering more or less from poor health, twice married, and left one daughter by his first wife, who has since died, leaving three children, one son and two daughters in Ohio.
Capt. Ethan Ely, Jr., the oldest son, born Nov. 24, 1791, remained with his father, and was always from early boyhood his "right-hand man," being very industrious and hard-working, of great energy and perseverance, sim- ple in his habits and unassuming in manners. He devoted himself with singular fidelity to the interests of his father, laboring untiringly to advance their mutual welfare, and had the satisfaction of seeing his work prosper in his hands. As an instance of his early pluck and resolution, he has related to the writer that in his 15th year he walked to Northampton and back to witness the public execution of Daley and Halligan, in June, 1806, for the murder of Marcus Lyon in Wilbraham Nov., 1805. He married Oct. 13, 1831, when about middle life, and returned to the "old red-house " (which about this time became white), where he was born, and, as we suppose, his father before him, and where a few years later his only son, the writer, first saw the light,-three generations of the family thus having been cradled under that venerable roof-tree. His only wife was Ann Cooley, daughter of Seth and Ann Cooley, with whom he lived less than four years, and who died in May, 1835, leaving a babe nine days old, after which he returned to live with his father and sister until this babe had grown to manhood, when. in -1855, twenty years later, the old house was moved to the opposite side of the street, and in 1856 the present structure was erected, being finished the following spring, and occupied in Sept., 1857, by the son, who was then mar- ried, and with whom the father lived until his death, Aug. 28, 1875, at the age of 83 years and nine months. When near the end, and feeling the bur- den of his weakness and infirmities bearing him down, he remarked that he had lived long enough, and did n't wish to live any longer ; but, with charac- teristic energy serving him to the last, he died sitting in his chair. "With long life will I satisfy thee."
As has been already shown, his grandfather on his mother's side was Jonathan Burt, upon whose monument it is inscribed that he died April 18, 1794, in his 56th year, "in a sudden and surprising manner," without farther explanation ; and perhaps it may be well to add here that he was found dead on the plains by the roadside, having fallen from his horse while riding from the "street " in the evening to his home in the eastern part of the town. His horse arriving without him, search was made, and he was found, as above, on the road leading east from the house of Sylvester Bliss, just
313
before it intersects the road from the center. A monument was erected to mark the spot, but was for some reason afterward removed. It was sup- posed at the time that he died in a " fit," but whether he did, or whether he simply fell asleep as he "jogged " homeward, and was killed by falling from ' his horse, is a mystery hidden in the depths of the "forest-gloom " where he died unattended. Adjutant Jonathan Burt, and Hannah Cooley, his wife, had nine children ; an only son, Jonathan, a promising young man, who died June 8, 1803, at the age of 22, and eight daughters, all but one of whom were married, and all of these-save one-are supposed to have left children.
As the writer was once engaged in trimming the old elm still standing in front of his premises, his father called his attention to the mark of a large low arm that had been removed many years before, and related this incident in connection with it, which may be of interest here :
When peace was declared at the close of the war of 1812, the old bell was rung so vigorously that it was cracked, and on being recast and returned, before being hoisted to its original perch in the old tower it was swung up under this low lateral branch and tested, to see if the work of re- casting was well done ; and it not only stood that test, but it has stood all the tests of all the years that have since intervened, and still sends forth its silvery tones, though the good old familiar custom of ringing it at 12 o'clock noon, and 9 o'clock evening, has been discontinued, as also much of the tolling.
It may be observed that the worthy title of " Deacon " seems to adhere in the Ely family, which may be partly due to frequent intermarriages with the Coltons, in whose behalf it is claimed that they had a "perpetual grant " of this time-honored prefix. Be this as it may, it has come to be a chronic habit with certain publishers to assume that our Elys are " Deacons," even to the sixth and seventh generation.
In the brief sketch thus given, and for the sake of brevity and direct- ness, we have confined ourselves to the "male line " of the family, though there have been worthy daughters as well as sons, of whom mention might be made ; and it may be well to add concerning the more recent, that Dea. Nathaniel, Jr., had four, the youngest of whom, Martha, we have already mentioned. Mary, the eldest, married Capt. David Mack, Jr., and died in Amherst, Dec. 15, 1842, where she and her mother are buried. Elizabeth married Elisha Taylor of Cleveland, Ohio, where she died, and Beulah mar- ried Timothy Goodwin of Simsbury, Conn., all except Mrs. Taylor having children.
Of the three daughters of his brother Ethan, Hannah, the eldest, remained with her father unmarried, spending her days in the old home- stead, where she devoted herself to every good work with rare fidelity, and died Dec. 30, 1872, in her 80th year. In her earlier life she was the first Preceptress of Monson Academy, and helped to organize the first Sabbath- school in that town.
314
Abigail married Rev. Artemas Boies, and died at South Hadley, April 26, 1826, in her 32d year, leaving two children, a son and daughter, the son being William Ely Boies, now resident on the old homestead of his grand- father Ely. The daughter, Jane, married Rev. J. L. Dickinson, and died at Plainville, Conn., in 1858, where she and her husband are buried, leaving ‘ three children, two daughters and an infant son, the latter dying soon after the mother.
Sarah, the youngest, married Justus Boies, Esq., a brother of Artemas, they being sons of David Boies of Blandford, where she resided more than twenty years on the family homestead out at the "Gore," and had six chil- dren, three sons and three daughters, only two of whom survive at this date, though all lived to reach adult life, and all except the youngest, who died in the army, have left children. Later they removed to Northampton, where the father died in 1859, and where both are buried, the mother dying Dec. 7, 1880, in her 85th year.
As we recount the list of our female worthies who have lived and served their generations and passed away, we go back to Mary Day, the fruitful wife of our ancestor, Samuel Ely of Springfield, who was the mother of fif- teen children, and twice married afterwards, and we say-" Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."
THE FIELD FAMILY.
Jabez Colton's genealogy may be supplemented from other family records, as follows : Zachariah Field, grandson of John Field, a noted astronomer, came to New England about 1630 and settled in Dorchester. He removed in 1636 to Hartford, Conn., and in 1658 joined a company of sixty who pur- chased of the Nonotuck Indians a tract of land on the east side of the Con- necticut river, extending twelve miles from Mt. Holyoke to the bank oppo- site Mt. Nequamp (now Sugar Loaf), and nine miles back from the river. His grandson, Thomas, removed from Hatfield to Longmeadow about 1728. Moses Field, son of Thomas, was a soldier in the French and Indian war at the siege of Louisburg, and a captain in the army of the Revolution. Another son of Thomas, a graduate of Yale College in 1745, was a physi- cian in Saybrook and a prominent revolutionary patriot. Simeon, his brother, was also a graduate of Yale, a physician in Enfield, Conn., and also a tavern-keeper there, and son-in-law of Rev. Peter Raynolds, the Enfield pastor. He raised a company of 100 men for the Revolutionary army, for which the town voted him £25. Oliver Field, son of Moses and Rebecca Cooley Field, served five years in the army of the Revolution. His brother, Col. Alexander Field, was a man of large estate and prominent influence, of commanding appearance and courteous address, who dressed in the cos- tume of a gentleman of the old style, and rode to church in his carriage. His nephew, Moses Field, who remained unmarried, was very highly respected for his piety, intelligence, industry, and integrity, and pursued the vocation of the village tailor.
315
THE GOLDTHWAIT FAMILY.
The Goldthwait family was a group of "peculiar people," every member strongly marked by individual traits. The father, Lieut. Erastus, grave, simple, genuinely good, with dashes of a quaint and quiet humor ;- the mother, Hannah, daughter of Dea. William and granddaughter of Dea. Aaron Colton, a bright, cheery woman, brimful of the true Colton humor and piety beautifully blended.
Flavel, the eldest son of Erastus and the only surviving child of his first wife, Rhoda Burt, by his strong native powers of mind and diligent use of opportunities comparatively meager rising through various positions of use- fulness and trust, became finally, at Charleston, S. C., and later at Hartford, Conn., an enthusiastic and successful teacher. Teaching, indeed, seems almost a special Goldthwait vocation-inherited, perhaps, from one of their early New England ancestors, Ezekiel Cheever, for seventy years the famous Latin-school teacher of Boston. It is certainly a noteworthy fact that Erastus the father, and all his descendants, with but two exceptions, have been, at some period of their lives, teachers. Flavel died at the early age of 37, in the prime of manhood, but having already made his mark as a highly-beloved and respected member of society.
Jonathan, the next son, was a born genius, with his full share of the pecu- liarities which mark such delicate organizations. He distinguished himself as an engraver.
Most distinguished of all, however, both in the endowments and the " peculiarities " of natural genius, was William, the youngest son, widely known as an enthusiastic and successful teacher. Both as Principal of the Westfield Academy and as a select and family school teacher in his native village, his enduring monument is in the memories of hundreds of his pupils, whose testimony to the impulse received from him is emphatic. He died November 18, 1882. The following characterization of him is from the Springfield Republican of that date :
Mr. Goldthwait was a thoroughly original character, of marked peculiarities both in person and address ; an alert and stimulating teacher ; as a writer and speaker, bright, witty, quaint, and striking, both in thought and expression ; a lover of nature and poetry ; greatly fond of good books and good people ; extending his research beyond his vocation into various sciences, and particularly that of agriculture. He wielded a prolific and useful pen, being for a considerable period editor of the Massachusetts Teacher, and the author of a treatise on English Grammar. He was in large demand for educational and agricultural addresses. The degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Williams College. Of a fine mental fiber, warm and true in his affections, and with the native instincts of a gentleman, he won many hearty .
friends, and was widely and highly respected. Beyond all other qualities he was marked by a devout, tender, and ever-ripening piety, embodying in all his daily walks and conversation the hymn of Dwight-" I love thy Church, O God."
316
THE HALE FAMILY.
Jabez Colton leaves a preliminary gap in his records which may be in part supplied by the following data. The family has been traced back to Thomas Hale of Codicote, Hertfordshire, England, who lived in the beginning of the Sixteenth century. Thomas Hale, the glover, probably the son of Thomas above mentioned, came from England to Newburg about 1630. The Hales were prominent among the settlers of Charlestown and Old Newburg. One of the sons of Thomas Hale of Newburg removed to Coventry, Conn., from whom descended Nathan, the Revolutionary spy, and David, the New York editor of the Journal of Commerce, while another son, Thomas, ancestor of the Longmeadow Hales, removed to Enfield, Conn., and married Pricella Markham. His son Thomas married Experience Burt, daughter of Nathan- iel and Rebecca Burt of East Longmeadow. The Hales were an influential family and settled largely in the eastern part of the town, where they were the largest land-owners. The first marble grave-stones in the old cemetery bear the name of Hale.
THE STEBBINS FAMILY.
The following additional memoranda respecting the Stebbins family have been kindly furnished by one of the descendants whose authority will not be questioned -Oliver Bliss Stebbins, of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society :
Concerning the Stebbins family, Master Jabez writes : " Rowland Steb. bins, as far as known, is supposed to have been the ancestor of all of his name in New England." If he means ancestor of all then living in New England he is probably correct, but if he means ancestor of all of the name who were ever born in New England he is decidedly wrong.
There were five (and possibly six) emigrants by the name of Stebbing or Stebbins who came to Massachusetts during the first ten years of its settle- ment; Ist. Rowland Stebbing, as he was called in England, born in 1594, sailed from the port of Ipswich, County of Suffolk, Eng., in the ship Fran- cis, with his wife Sarah and his children Thomas, John, Saralı, and Eliza- beth. He arrived at Boston in July, 1634, and is supposed to have settled at Roxbury, though after a diligent search I can find no record of his con- nection with the church of that town, nor any evidence of his having been a settler there. His removal to Springfield after 1636, and to Northampton after 1664, are more authentic facts. Rowland's son, Lieutenant Thomas, the ancestor of the Longmeadow line, born in England in 1620, married in November, 1645, Hannah Wright, who is said to have been daughter of Deacon Samuel Wright, but in the Wright genealogy I find no daughter Hannah mentioned.
2d. Deacon Edward Stebbins of Hartford, Conn., was probably the first Stebbins who came over, as he was of Cambridge, Mass., in 1632-3. He went with the great Hooker emigration to Hartford in 1636. He was for several years a member of the Connecticut Legislature, and one of the most respected citizens of Hartford. He died in 1663, leaving three daughters.
317
3d. John Stebbins, born (probably in England) in 1611, settled at Rox- bury, married Ann Munke in 1644 for his first wife. He died, probably at Roxbury, December 4, 1681, aged 70, and was buried in the cemetery at the corner of Washington and Eustis streets, now in Boston, where his grave- stone is still to be seen. I have never found any record of children.
4th. John Stebbins, born (probably in England) in 1601 or 1605, settled at Watertown, Mass., previous to 1640. He married Margaret - -- , and had a son John, born at Watertown in 1640. He is probably the John Steb- bins who became one of the first settlers of New London, Conn., in 1645, as he is known to have sold his property in Watertown before that date and is never afterwards heard of in that town. John Stebbins was chosen con- stable of New London February 25, 1649-50, and held other public offices. He died at New London about 1685, aged 80 or 84, (he gives his age differ- ently on two deeds,) leaving two sons, John who died 1707, Daniel, and one daughter. The sons both married, but I have found no record of descendants.
5th. Martin Stebbins, born (probably in England) about 1589, located at Roxbury, Mass., before 1640. He kept a brew-house and tavern in Boston many years. His wife Jane died July 24, 1659. He was living in 1658, aged about 69, but the time of his death is not ascertained. He had two daugh- ters, Hannah, born October 3, 1640, and Mary, born February 1, 1642, but there is no record of any son.
6th. Hinman, in his " Puritan Settlers of Connecticut," mentions a Fran- cis Stebbins of Connecticut (town not mentioned) who died in 1673, leaving five daughters and one son, Joseph, who was born in 1668. His eldest child, Sarah, was born in 1653. This Francis may have been a son of Deacon Edward of Hartford, though it is not probable. Hinman also mentions Samuel Stebin, son of George, who married in 1652 Bethia Loomis.
7th. Farmer's Genealogical Register mentions an Increase Stebbins of Springfield in 1650, but I have been unable to find any other account of him, and am disposed to think it an error. OLIVER B. STEBBINS.
The "Clark Stebbins " referred to on page 40 as a local poet of some reputation, is the Jonathan Stebbins of Mr. Colton's genealogy-see page 84. He derived his popular title from the office of Precinct Clerk, which he held for an unusually long term of years. A manuscript volume of his poems, of considerable size, is in the possession of one of his descend- ants,-Mrs. E. W. Parsons of Hartford, Conn. The Elegy upon the death of Mr. Jonathan Ely, given in fac simile upon page 309, is a favorable specimen of his poetry ;- as is also the following spirited quatrain from the manuscript volume referred to :
" I value not tho' Earth and Hell, Yea, Men and Devils too, Spit Venom at the truths I tell, If Conscience Says they're true."
318
THE STORRS FAMILY.
The only two sons of the large family of Pastor Storrs, whose adult life was in any considerable measure identified with Longmeadow, were Jona- than and Eleazer Williams. Of these the former, though giving unusual mental promise in his earliest years, sustained such severe injury by illness in childhood as to restrict his subsequent activities and influence within the narrow limits of great physical endurance, and a memory of extraordinary range and retentiveness. He was a diligent and conscientious Bible reader during all his long life, and could give at once the chapter and verse loca- tion of almost any passage when repeated to him. Many of his quaint aphorisms are still preserved in tradition, both by their own Attic salt, and by a certain peculiarity of his hesitating rapid utterance, e. g., " If-you-want- to-be-rich - you-must-save-half-you-earn-and-live-a-long-time ; " -- the un- surpassed condensation of volumes of political economy, and of the truth of which his own life was a good illustration.
Of Eleazer Williams, the youngest son, who died at the old homestead of his birth April 6. 1880, at the advanced age of 80 years, the following char- acterization is condensed from an extended sketch by his pastor in the Congregationalist of June 20, 1880 :
The life of this beloved parishioner well illustrated the usefulness and joy of a consecrated secular activity, and the power of the faith which had dwelt in the fam- ily traditions and covenant blessings of many generations. It illustrated, too, the private ministry of the Word as coincident with, and complementing, in the same family the more public and illustrious calling of the ordained pastor. Lineally descended from Rev. John Williams of Deerfield and Dr. Stephen Williams of Longmeadow, he was the youngest son of Rev. Richard Salter Storrs, the successor of Dr. Williams in the Longmeadow pastorate, and the brother of Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs of Braintree and Rev. Pres. Charles Storrs of Western Reserve College.
He entered in early life the mercantile profession, and continued it at Hartford, Conn., at Richmond, Va., at Kalamazoo, Mich., at Amherst, Mass., and for the longer period of his maturer years at Springfield, Mass., in connection with the firm of George and Charles Merriam. His bright face, speaking eye, and genial wel- come are yet living remembrances of many who used to frequent the "Old Corner Book-store." Seconded by the warm and abundant generosity of intimate and deeply attached Christian brethren in Springfield, Mr. Storrs' business life gradu- ally merged into a missionary life. This consisted in visiting the poor and sick and aged, in comforting afflicted and distressed ones, in befriending and reclaiming inebriates, in persuading the sellers of intoxicating drink to abandon their traffic, in visiting prisoners and the inmates of the almshouse, in aiding the colored people of Springfield to establish a Sabbath School and other religious institutions, in convers- ing with young men, towards whom he had a peculiar drawing of affection, and with all to whom his genial nature gave him access, on their personal religious interests. His diaries, which it has been my great and sacred privilege to peruse, contain transparent, touching and unaffected evidences on every page of his genuine, simple, burning zeal for human welfare wherever he could lend his hand, or voice, or win- ning sympathies. They contain evidences, too, of a wonderful strength and sim- plicity of faith, and a constant reliance on the power of prayer ..
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.