USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Heath > Sesquicentennial anniversary of the town of Heath, Massachusetts, August 25-29, 1935; addresses, speeches, letters, statistics > Part 2
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erations of our family have lived and worked, and where representatives of three generations lie buried.
But our thoughts upon such an anniversary are first of the past --- a sense of gratitude to God for all those men and women who settled upon this eminence overlooking the Deerfield Valley. It has been written that "the place where men meet to seek the highest is holy ground." I do not think that I am taking liberties with the facts of history when I suggest that Heath symbolized to its early founders not only a place of high elevation but also a place of high spiritual aspiration. It was "holy ground." Indeed this Thanksgiving service is a recogni- tion of this fact !
Heath was conceived by men of faith. But faith to these early founders was a way of walking, not talking. Within less than a month after the town was incorporated the First Congregational Church was established as a public acknowledgment of their faith. During all these decades the faith of these founders and their successors has continued to enrich the spiritual life not only of all those who have dwelt here but of those who have gone out from this place to be of service in the world. To these the Rev. Cornelius Dickenson referred in his Centennial Celebration address fifty years ago as follows: "The great wealth of Heath consists of the men and women here educated for lives of usefulness . . Few towns of equal population have sent out more persons who have honored themselves and the place of their nativity than Heath. The puritan character of the first inhabitants has lingered among their descendants like a fragrance, and we still feel its influence." As I read over the record of some of these sons of Heath I feel I know the source of their spiritual power.
There was a quality of hope in these early founders which they planted in this place. It was no sentimental aspiration; it had its roots in the deepest soil of their beings. It was expressed in their love of liberty; their belief in freedom of the conscience of the individual. For hope
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is the very condition of the soul's emergence ; remove hope from man and he degenerates. Hope is to man's soul what freedom is to his mind and his person. Deny either and you dwarf the human personality. This our forbears knew; this they invested in this community by their life and work.
Because liberty of conscience and hope for man's soul are so precious in the development of human personality I am bold to protest here and now, in the name of these founders who honored both, against those governments or groups, whether at home or abroad, who deny religious and civil liberty to men. The unhappy consequences of such a policy are to be seen on every hand. The Totalitarian State, which rests upon the as- sumption that man exists for the State, is a denial of the primacy of human values ; it is a deification of the secular; it is essen- tially anti-Christ. In a most unequivocal manner did Our Lord assert that "The Sabbath was made for man; not man for the Sabbath." The founders of this community knew that free churches grow under a free government. And upon both depend and develop a free conscience.
The founders of Heath, moreover, wrought a fellowship here based upon the principles of cooperative love. It is the cohesive power of the life of this place; it is revealed in a hundred ways in the record of this town. In the personal and intimate diary and letters of my great-grandfather the spirit of this place in the early years stands revealed as a fellowship characterized not only by the reciprocal love of pastor and people but by the widespread love of one's neighbor. Said he after a lifetime on this mountain: "I have not found in any other place so happy a state of society as I have experienced here." And some there are who still can recount the stories of Moses Miller, affectionately known as "Father Miller," whose ministry of thirty-six years came during the most flourishing period of Heath's existence. You may pardon me from quoting Dr. Holland's reference to this community a century ago, and
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his estimate of the work of the Reverend Moses Miller in his history of Western Massachusetts :
"About 1832, the town seems to have attained its highest prosperity. The population was about twelve hundred. The First Church numbered three hundred and sixteen members, with a Sabbath School numbering over five hundred members, and both the church and the school were the largest in the county. Select schools were sustained, which drew numbers of young men from neighboring towns The town produced school teachers by the score. Besides supplying itself with teachers, it one year supplied forty teachers to the adjoining towns. For the highest prosperity of the town, for the en- couragement of the cause of education, and for instilling life and ambition into the young, no man did so much 'as Reverend Moses Miller. Let his name be cherished and venerated ! Since that day emigration has done its work in Heath, as it has in most of the mountain towns."
In my own youth this spirit of the good neighbor seemed to permeate the place; it was a part of the air we breathed. One could not help loving one's neighbor; it was the custom of the community. My grandmother was fond of repeating stories to me of the neighborliness of this place, in her house on the hill, over the front door of which there was carved in Latin the word Pax (Peace).
This love of one's neighbor, this spirit of cooperative service is the family life of the Church of God; it is the way of life first exemplified by the Founder of the Church.
And so one returns to Heath upon this occasion as one re- turning home! Some of the friends of my youth are still here; the remembrance of their neighborliness to a young boy who used to delight to drive up in the mail stage coach summer after summer from Shelburne Falls with his sisters and grandmother is still green in his memory.
Today on this one hundred and fiftieth anniversary however our eyes are not only on the past but on the future-a future fore-
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shadowed in part by the past which has been fashioned by your forefathers and mine. How shall we determine our fidelity to the enduring quest which so captured the imaginations, the hearts and the wills of our sires. It is, I know, a commonplace to say that times have changed-it is both a commonplace and a common error. The facts are not that times have changed, but that times are changing. Change and growth are the con- ditions of life! We build on that premise. Men often say with a sigh : "But there were giants in those days." True, but the race of giants has not died out! And what is more, the new techniques of science have placed new powers in man's hands to increase the reach of his imagination, and to provide a new support for his vision. Who can doubt but that the radio and the airplane have given man a new planetary consciousness, and a new sense of wonder in the mysteries of the universe?
But what unites us with our forbears is not merely our blood stream but the imperishable ideals to which we and they in our respective generations have dedicated our lives. Stand- ing in this place and beholding what our forbears have wrought in building a community here upon the ideals of faith, hope and love may we not salute their accomplishment and assert with renewed conviction in the words of the author of the "Roadmender":
"To have faith is to create ; To have hope is to bring down blessings ; To have love is to work miracles."
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A Tribute To The Soldiers Of The Revolution From The Town Of Heath
BY
COLONEL NEWLAND FARNSWORTH SMITH
We are assembled this afternoon to pay tribute to that dis- tinguished group of men who served their country in the Rev- olutionary War, and who are buried in this sacred spot. Many of their names are those of families represented here today and their descendants in this company could, more fittingly than I, recount their names and deeds. But perhaps I may claim some right to speak by linking for the moment the West Branch Cem- etery in Colrain with this, where Mr. Carl Smith of North Heath and I both look with pride upon the monument to our common ancestor, Major Hezekiah Smith, who fought with distinction at the Battle of Ticonderoga.
The records show that forty-five men from the town of Heath fought in the War of the Revolution. £ Since the total population of the town at that time was probably less than three hundred, this is a remarkable record and shows that practically every able-bodied man served in the Continental Army. In fact, we are told that so thoroughly were the people devoted to the cause of the colonies that not a single Tory was to be found in Heath. Here is the list of illustrious names of those staunch patriots who risked their lives in the formation of the nation. They are given in alphabetical order with no attempt at distinc- tion because of rank or fame :
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Thomas Bond, who fought first in the British army under
Burgoyne, but who, after being captured, was "converted" by Captain McClellan of Colrain and becoming convinced of the justice of the American cause, enlisted and fought gallantly in the American army and afterward came to re- side in Heath.
John Brown, a member of Captain Sylvanus Rice's company which marched from Charlemont in September, 1777. He was in service at the capture of the army of General Bur- goyne.
Francis Buck, a drummer in the company of Capt. Samuel Tay- lor
John Buck, aged 16 and one of the youngest soldiers of the Revolution.
William Buck, fifer and drummer in the company of Captain Hugh Maxwell.
James Butler, a corporal in the company of Captain Sylvanus Rice. In response to the alarm of April 19, 1775, this com- pany marched on April 22, only three days later.
William Christie.
Gad Chapin, a member of Captain Hugh Maxwell's company. Isaac Chapin.
Joel Davidson, another boy only sixteen years old.
Josiah Davidson, a member of Captain Taylor's company who afterward saw service with the army at Valley Forge. Samuel French.
Isaac Gould, who fought at Fort Ticonderoga.
Jeremiah Gould, a member of Captain Rice's company.
John Gould, in Captain Taylor's company.
Samuel Gould, a lieutenant in Captain Nahum Ward's company. Volentine Harris, a Minute-man in Captain Oliver Avery's com- pany. He also fought in the campaign against Burgoyne.
Moses Heaton, a member of the company of Captain Oliver Avery.
Solomon Howard, who also lived at Bennington and Conway.
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He was a member of Captain Hugh Maxwell's company. Perley Hunt.
Benjamin Maxwell, younger brother of Hugh Maxwell, a lieutenant in Captain Rice's company of Minute-men and a leading citizen of the town of Heath.
Hugh Maxwell, who organized a company of Minute-men in
1775 and rose to the rank of Colonel under General Heath. Samuel Negus, a private in Captain Rice's company.
Abner Nims, corporal in the company of Captain Oliver Avery. Lemuel Roberts, in the company of Captain Samuel Taylor,
and afterward in the company commanded by Captain Hugh Maxwell at Ticonderoga.
Reuben Rugg, in the company of Captain Hugh Maxwell.
Edward Shiner, in the company of Captain Samuel Taylor.
Edward Skinner, in Captain Hugh Maxwell's company at Val- ley Forge.
Isaac Stearns, a corporal under Captain Taylor at Ticonderoga. Salmon Temple.
Solomon Temple, a private in Captain Taylor's company.
Asahel Thayer, who fought in the campaign against Burgoyne.
Dependence Thayer, a private in the company of Captain Taylor.
Dependence Thayer, a corporal in the company of Captain Joseph Slarrow.
Jonah Thayer, a corporal under Captain Nahum Ward.
Johnathan Thayer, a private in the company of Captain Oliver Avery.
Silas Thomson.
Stephen Thomson.
Joshua Vincent.
Josiah Warfield, a member of the company of Captain Oliver Avery.
Asaph White, lieutenant under Captain Sylvanus Rice, after- ward Col.
Josiah White, in Captain Avery's company.
Josiah White, a sergeant under Captain Samuel Taylor.
Josiah White, a member of the company of Captain Nahum Ward.
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Luke White, a member of the company of Captain Taylor. Abel Wilder, in the company of Captain Abel Wilder.
Our knowledge is too meagre and the time too short to do justice to each of these men, but a few, because of their dis- tinguished service and great influence in the town of Heath, deserve special mention.
The name which first occurs to every one of you is that of Col. Hugh Maxwell. While he died and was buried at sea, it is appropriate that the monument to his memory should stand in this cemetery where it was erected by his grandchildren.
It bears the following inscription :-
Hugh Maxwell
"A soldier and an officer in the French war from 1755 to 1764: Escaped the massacre of Fort William Henry in 1756. A member of the first Provincial congress in 1774. A brave and faithful officer in the War of the Revolution from April 1775 to April 1784. Was at the siege of Boston and the retreat from Long Island and New York. Fought at Bunker Hill, Tren- ton, Princeton, Saratoga and Monmouth. Suffered in the camps at Morristown and Valley Forge. Watch for three years on the lines near New York under General William Heath who said to him, "Often have I slept without fear of being surprised because I knew you were at the outpost." In civil life he ob- tained the charter of this town, was the first justice commis- sioned in this section, first deacon in the first church in the town: A christian patriot and christian soldier, honored his God, served his country, loved his family, to duty was ever true : to his posterity his memory is a rich inheritance. May they emulate his virtue."
At the close of the war, Col. Maxwell returned to his home and became a leader in the community. It was through his efforts that a charter was obtained separating this town from Charlemont, and it was because of his devotion and gratitude to his General that it bears the name of Heath. Since Col. Maxwell is the subject of a special address to be given tomorrow
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afternoon, I shall refrain from encroaching further upon the subject matter of the speaker. Standing before his monument this afternoon, and recognizing his service to his town, his nation and his God, we, his fellow-townsmen, pay tribute to him as the foremost citizen of Heath.
Col. Jonathan White was one of the first settlers in the town of Heath coming from Lancaster in 1752. He served with distinction in the first and second of the wars with the French and Indians and was commissioned Colonel in 1756. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was sixty-seven years old and beyond the age for military duty. Yet his services to his town and his country were so noteworthy that he must be mentioned in this narrative. He gave this burying ground to the Town of Heath and here his remains and many of his descendants lie buried. While he did not, himself, fight in the Revolution, he was ably represented in that struggle by his son, Col. Asaph White, and four other members of the White family.
To the life and death of such men as these we owe our national existence. The hardships which they endured, their devotion to a principle which they believed to be right, their sturdy independence and self-reliance, their high character and deep religious faith reveal qualities which for a hundred and fifty years have marked the American people. We honor their memory, but words of adulation are but sounding brass unless they inspire us to lives and deeds which are worthy of our an- cestors. The outstanding characteristic of these early pioneers is their self-reliance and initiative. We can scarcely conceive of the Maxwells or the Whites depending upon a benevolent government to furnish their employment or the means of sub- sistance. We realize, of course, that our civilization has become more complex, that the opportunities for independent action are far more limited, and that the government now performs many functions which were unnecessary in those pioneer days. Yet the widely prevalent idea that the government owes every man a living is becoming a serious menace to our national life.
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One other lesson may fairly be drawn from the lives of these early patriots. They were men who loved peace as ardent- ly as do any of us today, and who did not seek.a quarrel with any other race or people. Yet when it became necessary to defend their homes against the attacks of savage Indians or their economic rights against the aggression of narrow-minded political leaders in Great Britain, they did not hesitate to offer armed resistance. Let us all strive in every practical way for the promotion of peace with justice throughout the world. But let us also remember that in the present disorganized and troubled world two means of maintaining peace are of supreme importance ; the first is a national policy which gives no cause of offense to any other nation; the second is an organized national defense which is strong enough to resist unjust aggression.
In this present day with its complicated problems, with injustice and oppression threatening or prevailing in many parts of the world, with our own land passing through an economic revolution, if we are able, through our schools and colleges, through our churches and our political organizations to develop in the present generation the traits of character exhibited by these patriots of a hundred and fifty years ago, we shall thus honor their memory and render permanent the insti- tutions which they gave their lives to establish.
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Lancaster's Part In The Founding Of Heath BY
DOCTOR FREDERICK LEWIS WEIS
Mr. Moderator, Citizens of Heath, and Friends :
It is very pleasant for me to bring to you, at this 150th an- niversary celebration, the greetings of the Town of Lancaster, the birthplace of so many of the original settlers of Heath,-and the congratulations and greetings of the First Church of Christ in Lancaster, of which I am the twelfth minister in the 282 years of its existence, and as such the successor of the Rev. John Prentice, the Rev. Timothy Harrington and the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Thayer, who christened and married so many of the founders of your town and church.
Lancaster was the first town in Worcester County and central Massachusetts to be settled. The First Church of Lan- caster was founded in 1653. Among the subscribers to the original covenant are to be found many of the names which later became prominent at Heath. In due time the town and church at Lancaster were divided to form new towns and churches : Harvard in 1733, Bolton in 1738; Leominster in 1742; and Sterling in 1744. From the mother town and church, as well as from the other Lancastrian towns, came the majority of the early settlers of Heath.
The history of Heath, like that of Lancaster, of Worcester County, and indeed, of Massachusetts itself,-is a family affair. That is the key to the understanding of the early history of the towns of this Commonwealth. Between the years 1630 and 1640,
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some 40,000 Puritan colonists came to Massachusetts from Great Britain. Of this number, about half went at an early date to settle Rhode Island and Connecticut. From the 20,000 settlers who remained along the sea-coast, mostly around Boston, those of us who are of Yankee blood are descended. If you had 1,000 ancestors living in Massachusetts at that time, you would be descended figuratively from every twentieth man or woman you chanced to meet along the Massachusetts coast at that time. Of course, this could not be literally accurate, but it is so true that it may be generally accepted.
Large families were the rule in those days, varying from four or five children to a baker's dozen. As the land along the Atlantic sea-board began to be filled with new settlers, the younger sons moved westward to Watertown, Concord, Sudbury and so on out to Lancaster and Worcester County. The original land grants were large, but after the brush had been cleared away, and the land made into farms,-the latter could not be sub-divided indefinitely into farms for all of the children, who continued to increase at a tremendous rate under the simple but healthy conditions of living of the time. Thus the farms of Lancaster in time also proved too few and too small, and north- ern Worcester County was settled, largely by the descendants of the original founders of Lancaster. After the French and Indian wars, another expansion occurred, for the lands to the north and west were then open and practically free to the first comers. Thus in succession, the Berkshire counties, western New Hampshire and southern Vermont were filled ; and, in time, as you know, the younger sons and more active youths in these more staid settlements began to spill over into New York, Ohio, Illinois and the West, until the descendants of those 20,000 founders of Massachusetts have spread from coast to coast carrying with them the traditions, the church, the love of free- dom and the capacity for work of those ancestors whose axes felled the virgin forests to build the innumerable lovely villages of northern New England, such as this very town of Heath. So persistent did this westward trek become, that towns all over
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New England, which had been busy and flourishing centers in the early part of the last century began to shrink in population. The lure of the West-the wonderful stories of the fertility of the vast prairies-the illimitable lands to be had for the taking- emptied many of the towns of Massachusetts as readily as they had been filled in the years of settlement.
The story of the founding of Heath may be retold in a few words. In consideration of the payment by the town of Boston of about 1-5th of the whole colony tax, as well as large sums of money to support the schools and the poor, the General Court of Massachusetts, on June 27, 1735, granted to the town of Boston, three townships, situated in western Massachusetts. This tract of land was called Boston Township No. 1, and in- cluded the present townships of Heath, Charlemont and Buck- land. With one exception there were no strings to this grant. And this exception was wholly for the welfare of the towns yet to be. It was that 500 acres of land were to be reserved for the first minister, a like amount for the support of the ministry, and yet another similar amount for the support of schools. These provisions only carried out the settled policy of the Commonwealth from the very earliest days,-namely, the support of the churches and schools as the very back-bone of our civilization.
But the town of Boston had very little use for this unpro- ductive land in what was then wilderness, and promptly sold the territory to John Read, in 1737, for a thousand pounds. Five months later Read conveyed that part now included in Charle- mont and Heath to John Checkley and Gershom Keyes.
Yet no settlement was attempted here for some years, be- cause the Colonies were plunged at that time in the various French and Indian Wars, and these towns were open to the inroads of the savages. Indeed, in 1744, to protect the frontier settlements of Deerfield and the towns along the Connecticut River from the invasion of the French and Indians from Canada, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts built three forts along her
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northwestern boundary. These forts were Fort Massachusetts at Adams, Fort Pelham at Rowe, and Fort Shirley in this town. These three forts were placed under the charge of Captain Ephraim Williams of Deerfield, the gallant officer who fell near Lake George, and who gave his name to Williams College. Aside from these three forts, the northwestern boundary was unprotected, and as late as 1760, there were only three hundred inhabitants in the whole state of Vermont.
The first settler, Captain Moses Rice, came from Rutland, in Worcester County, to Charlemont in 1743. But three years later, 1746, his home was burned by the Indians, and he fled to Deerfield. By 1750, however, other settlers began to arrive. On Nov. 1, 1752, Deacon Joseph Wilder, Jr. of Lancaster, a colonel in the French and Indian Wars, became the proprietor of all lands in Charlemont till then unsold, most of which were within the present boundaries of Heath. "As a result of this purchase," said Joseph White, the historian of Charlemont, "another class of men were introduced, mostly coming from Lancaster, Leominster and other towns in that vicinity, whose active exertions and hearty co-operation with the original set- tlers in their plans and efforts for the improvement of the place, were destined to have a most benificent and lasting effect upon the infant community." These settlers, whose lands were ob- tained of Col. Wilder, for the most part, settled the territory now included in the town of Heath.
The White family is undoubtedly one of the most note- worthy in the early history of Heath. John White, the earliest American ancestor, settled in Lancaster in 1653. He was the wealthiest man in town at that time. His daughter Mary married the Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, the first minister of the church at Lancaster. The minister's garrison was burnt by the Indians during King Philip's War, 1675-6. A score of its de- fenders were killed and a score more of those who had fled to it for protection were captured by the Indians and carried into captivity, among whom was the minister's wife, Mary (White)
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