USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Heath > Sesquicentennial anniversary of the town of Heath, Massachusetts, August 25-29, 1935; addresses, speeches, letters, statistics > Part 3
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Rowlandson. They were forced to march in dead of winter through the wilderness to the Connecticut River, only a score of miles from this place. Mrs. Rowlandson was later redeemed, . and wrote a fascinating account of her captivity, which has run through more than forty editions. John White's children and grandchildren married well, and prospered, and many of them became famous Indian fighters.
Col. Jonathan White, son of Dea. Josiah and Abigail (Whitcomb) White, (born in Lancaster, Oct. 4, 1708, a cousin of Col. Joseph Wilder, from whom he procured his lands in Heath,) was one of the earliest and most influential proprietors of this town. Col. White married at Lancaster, June 22, 1732, Esther Wilder, daughter of Col. James Wilder, Esq. of Lan- caster, and cousin of Col. Joseph Wilder who owned, as we have seen, large tracts of land in Heath. He was a deacon of the church in Leominster, where he lived before coming to Heath. About 1753, he cleared a few acres, planted an orchard, and built a house in the southern part of what is now Heath, where his son, Dea. James White, lived and died. After he returned from the war Col. Jonathan often passed from Heath to Leomin- ster. "On one of these journeys he was detained over Sunday in Deerfield. He went to meeting in the morning in his home- spun frock, and, as he passed up the aisle no pew-door was opened to welcome him; so he went out to the wood-pile and got a block of wood; this he laid on the floor near the pulpit, seated himself on it and listened attentively to the long sermon. At noon recess the people made his acquaintance, and, finding that his station in life was not so humble as his 'homespun frock' had led them to believe, treated him with great respect. When the afternoon service began, many doors were thrown open to receive him, but he disregarded all invitations and took his seat of the morning."
On Dec. 4, 1768, John Brown, son of the Rev. Joseph Brown of Lancaster, was dismissed from the second church in Lancaster (now the church in Sterling) to the church at Charle-
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mont. He was chosen deacon of the church in Heath, and died here in 1828. But he returned to Lancaster, in 1770, this time for a wife, Lucy Rugg, whom he married there. They were the parents of Dr. Jonas Brown and the grandparents of Dr. Har- rington Brown (named for the Rev. Timothy Harrington, the minister at Lancaster), and the Rev. Lowell Smith, born in Heath in 1802, graduate of Williams College, 1827, and a mis- sionary to the Sandwich Islands. Dea. John Brown was one of the chief citizens of Heath in its early days.
It would be impossible in the time allowed, to sketch the life, and trace back each one of the sturdy colonists of Heath to his birth-place. But among the early settlers, the Ballards, Browns, Harringtons, Fairbanks, Farnsworths, Flaggs, Har- rises, Houghtons, Lockes, Ruggs, Sawyers, Thayers, Wheelocks, Whites and Wilders came from Lancaster itself, or the Lancas- trian towns. Other early settlers, such as Capt. Moses Rice of Rutland, Samuel Kinsman of Barre, Stephen Thompson of Milford, the Bonds and others came from adjacent parts of Worcester County.
When the church at Heath was organized on April 15, 1785, many of the worshippers had met together from childhood in the venerable First Church in Lancaster, and even the set- tlers from other places soon intermarried with the descendants of the prolific Lancastrian element.
The children of Dea. James White of Heath were baptized in the old Lancaster church, Jonathan in 1773 and Ruth in 1774. Dea. John Brown of Heath was dismissed from the Lancaster church to that at Charlemont, in 1768; John Locke and his wife in 1791, Ruth White to ye church in Heath, 1791, and Rebecca Harrington to the church in Heath, in 1794. Dea. John Brown returned to Lancaster to marry Lucy Rugg, in 1770; Jonathan Thayer to marry Lucretia Rugg, in 1783; Wil- liam Hunt to marry Hannah White, in 1792; Peter Hunt to marry Keziah Osgood, in 1793 ; and David Baldwin, Jr. to marry Susanna Carter, in 1809. All these I have taken from the records
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of the First Church of Christ in Lancaster, and they reveal but a few of the many connections between the two churches.
Within a hundred years, among the natives of Heath were to be found 12 lawyers, 14 clergymen, 33 physicians and 23 col- lege graduates, in most of whom, we may be sure, the blood of Lancastrian ancestors flowed.
For a hundred years before Heath was settled, the conquest of the wilderness and skirmishes with the Indians were the constant occupation of the people of Lancaster. So you see, in the settlers of Heath, industry, religion, and patriotism were deeply implanted in their blood, and we are not surprised to learn that out of 50 soldiers in the Civil War from Heath, 18 died for their country, and that many others acquitted them- selves honorably and well. But that story lies within the realm of the later history of the town.
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ADDRESS
BY
THOMAS H. HARRINGTON
Dr. Robbins has asked me to read extracts from a letter sent by Miss Nellie E. Brown of Springfield, Mass., which was written in 1875 by Horatio Brown to his half brother, John Spooner and his wife, Phebe Chapin at the time of their golden wedding anniversary in Batavia, Illinois.
Enfield, Mass. November 1875
"My dear brother and sister :
A few days since I received a letter from my namesake Horatio, claim- ing to speak for the Spooner family, giving me a very cordial invitation to be present with you on the fiftieth anniversary of your marriage.
"Most gladly would I accept of that invitation if the distance between us was not so great.
"Though fifty long, long years have passed by since the time of your marriage I remember the day and the occasion as though it were but yester- day ..
"You were married in father's house in the little town of Heath, but it was not the Heath of the desert nor were its inhabitants necessarily heathen, for if my memory is not greatly at fault, seventeen young people from that town engaged in school keeping in that and other towns the same winter and that in a population of about six hundred; the population considered I doubt if that much can be said of any town in Massachusetts or Illinois today.
"I have said you were married in father's house; all was exceeding plain but everything was neat and clean. There was no great effort made at
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display in dress, no great, long trail, no dashing flounces but just such a dress as common sense would dictate.
"I remember something how I felt when you stood side by side and took upon yourselves the marriage vow and when the Reverend Moses Miller (the most dignified minister I ever saw) said in words something like this ; 'I do then by the authority vested in me by the laws of this commonwealth pronounce you husband and wife.'
"Great changes have taken place since that time. All but four who were then present with you have finished their life's work and gone to the other world. You were married before the advent of railroads and steamships, telegraphs and Halliday windmills-the latter if there was only enough of them would pump Lake Michigan dry. (The inventor of Halliday windmills was John Spooner's son-in-law.)
"These fifty years you have travelled life's journey together. For each other's good you have cared and toiled. In prosperity or adversity, in health or in the chamber of suffering and sickness, it has been the one same thing- the other's good. During these fifty years you have gone to the House of God in company and taken sweet counsel together. You have been blessed and you have been afflicted. You have had quite a family of children given to you-ten. in all. Four of these loved ones in early life you were called to give back. You laid them down to their last sleep, the sleep of death, in the town of their birth. In the providence of God I was called but a few days since to go to that sacred ground, and while there I thought of your little ones but I knew not where to look for their precious dust. The remaining six have been spared to you. You have seen them all grow up to manhood and engage in the active duties of life, respected and useful citizens in the land.
"There is much in your surroundings that is calculated to make you willing to tarry longer on the earth. Four of your children engaged in business so near to you, who I am sure will care for you in your declining years. And I indulge the pleasing hope that you have many happy days and years to spend with them and your kind neighbors and friends before you pass on to your happy Heavenly Home in the upper world, where all will see alike, hear alike, and be alike-the Angels of God.
"Dear brother and sister, I hope to meet you there, and there with you sit down to the marriage supper of the lamb.
Your loving brother
Horatio Brown" (Signed)
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Mr. Robbins has also asked me to say a few words about my ancestors from Heath. My sister and I, being akin to the ancient Heathen, have greatly enjoyed coming again to Heath for this celebration.
We were here in 1902 at the time of the first "Old home week" and have always been interested in Heath as the home of our ancestors. In the South burying ground are the grave- stones of our great-great-grandparents, on our mother's side, inscribed to Mr. Pelatiah Smith and Mrs. Rhoda Smith. Rev. Lowell Smith, a grandson of Pelatiah Smith went as a mis- sionary to the then Sandwich Islands about 100 years ago. A history of that branch of the family, written and published privately by Mrs. May Dillingham Frear of Honolulu, gives many interesting anecdotes of the Smiths. The graves of our great-grandparents, Deacon Sullivan Taft and wife, on my mother's side, and Thomas Harrington and wife are in the center burying ground as well as those of our grandparents, Timothy Ballard Harrington and his wife. Deacon Sullivan Taft was a descendant of Robert Taft who settled in Mendon, Mass., about 1630. He was married in Worcester, Mass., to Sarah Flagg, daughter of Phineas Flagg, a Revolutionary soldier, and brought his wife to Heath on a Pillion. He built the house now owned by Col. Smith which is said to have been the first house in Heath to be raised without the aid of RUM.
Thomas Harrington, for 25 years the Town Clerk of Heath, was the son of Rev. Timothy Harrington, a graduate of Harvard and for many years Pastor of the Church in Lancaster, Mass., and a descendant of Robert Harrington who settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1634. The house near the center burying ground and now owned by Mrs. Watson, was built either by Thomas Harrington or his son Timothy Ballard Harrington. Originally there was no second story, only an attic where the children slept. To make this warmer it was given a coat of plaster and one of the children left the print of her little hand in the fresh plaster where it is still visible. The original
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Robert Harrington had 13 children, 10 of whom were sons, so you see he started the name of Harrington off with a bang. My sister Harriet and I with one young girl cousin are the last of the descendants of Timothy Ballard Harrington bearing his name and as my sister is an U. B. and I and O. B. we are doing our best to keep the name alive as long as possible. For the benefit of those who do not understand the significance of the initials I will explain that O. B. stands for old bachelor and U. B. for unappropriated blessing.
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Colonel Hugh Maxwell And His Family BY
MARY EUNICE MAXWELL
When we began the study of the present quarter's Inter- national Sunday-school lessons on "Representative Characters of the Bible," I read these words from the pen of Robert C. McQuilkin, D. D., President of Columbia Bible College :- "Every man and woman of scripture is a message to every man and woman living today."
I would say that the men and women whose sacrifices shaped the destinies of our country are messages to us who live here today. It was with this thought in mind that I prepared what I am giving you, rather than because of the mere historical facts in the life of my great-great-grandfather Col. Hugh Maxwell.
COLONEL HUGH MAXWELL
Col. Hugh Maxwell was born at Minterburn, Tyrone Co., Ireland, on April 27, 1733. He was the son of Hugh and Sarah Corbet Maxwell, and a descendant in the fourteenth generation of Robert Maxwell of Selkirk, 1355.
Hugh Sr. was one of the Scotch Protestants who emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland. But being a Calvinist was opposed to the established church of Ireland-determined upon removing to America. Accordingly he took his wife and three children, William, Margaret and Hugh-Hugh being but six weeks old at the time, and with two brothers and two sisters prepared to embark.
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At the place of embarkation they spent a day in fasting and prayer and had a sermon the text of which was Ezra 8:21 "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the River Ahava that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones and for all our substance."
After a tedious voyage they arrived in New England. The two brothers went south and the two sisters to New Hamp- shire. Hugh settled in Bedford, Mass. Four more children, Sarah, Benjamin, James and Thompson were born after they came to New England-making a family of five sons and two daughters.
Mr. Maxwell died suddenly in 1759-his body was found in the road supposed to have been killed by falling from his horse.
This family of seven children had no advantages of school when young. The mother with no books except her Bible and some other religious books taught them all so much of the elements of knowledge as prepared them for usefulness and respectability, and several of them for occupying stations of trust. Most of them lived to a great age, William the eldest died at 95, Margaret 99, Hugh 67, Sarah upwards of 90, Ben- jamin 92, James 83 and Thompson 93. Hugh alone went to school for a short time to learn surveying, which he later practiced with success.
He was an ardent lover of his country. In one of his journals he says .- "My parents early taught me the principles of liberty and religion which have supported me through many difficulties and hardships." His first public service was in the French War which broke out in 1755.
He was in the battle near Lake George in 1755 and in Fort William Henry when it was surrendered to the French in 1756. He was one of the prisoners and the Indians caught him, stripped him of everything except his pantaloons, when he slipped from their hands, seized a gun, and ran for life toward Fort Edward, not daring to stop or look behind him. At length, on reaching what was called Half-way Brook, he stopped to
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quench his thirst; but on looking back, he saw two Indians holding a white man whom they were just ready to tomahawk. His first thought was to fire on them, but before he could raise his gun they dispatched their man, and he therefore again ran for the fort which he reached in safety. His youngest brother Thompson joined this warfare in 1757 when but 15.
Although a poor man's son, young, destitute of property and without the advantages of education, excepting the few weeks at school to learn the surveyor's art, Gov. Pownal of Mass- achusetts thought proper to appoint him an officer in Brigadier Ruggles' regiment,-his commission as ensign was dated March 31, 1759 which was his rank at the close of the war.
In the early part of his military service, on an occasion when called into action, as he was facing the enemy, he began to think himself unprepared to meet death on the field of battle, or to meet his God in judgment, having no interest in the blessed Savior,-he promised that if his life was spared that time, he would make religion his choice, and Christ his friend and Savior.
At the age of 22 he joined the Congregational church in Bedford. During the whole of his subsequent life he gave evidence that his profession was sincere, and held his life as not his own, but as a trust for God and his country. Thus he derived the courage of a soldier from the faith of a Christian, and as his faith never failed-his courage never flinched. At the close of the campaign of 1759 he returned to his home, and when the army was disbanded again took up the work of his plough and surveyors' instruments.
On Nov. 4, 1760 he married Miss Bridget Monro, daughter of William and Phoebe Monro of Lexington. They had seven children, Hannah who married Calvin Rice of Charlemont ; Lilly, married Alfred Jones of Buckland; Dorcas-Samuel Kirkland of Norwich (now Huntington) Mass .; Priscilla never married. At the age of 66 she wrote an account of her father's life under the title of "The Christian Patriot." She died in Heath in 1851. Hugh married Olive Newhall of Conway, Mass., on June 16,
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1794; Chloe married Col. Roger Leavitt; Sylvester married Tirzah Taylor.
A commission dated March 4, 1762 shows that he was ap- pointed Lieutenant of a company of Foot in the Regiment where- of Joseph Ingersol, Esq. was Colonel. He was always fond of writing and could express himself with great plainness.
Some extracts of his writings may be of interest to you, as showing the just principles of a Christian soldier and a re- publican officer. "I acknowledge it my duty, in all my ways to acknowledge God." "Seeing by the favor of God, I am exalted to the command of some of my fellow-men, let me be careful in observing the duties I owe to God and to them. Let me see to it that I do not exercise too much rigor towards them-Let me not show a haughty, overbearing temper, but let me con- sider what I ought to expect from an officer, were I in their condition and then conduct myself towards them accordingly.
Crown Point, Oct. 9, 1762 "This day I was on duty at the wheel-barrows. It was very dirty, miry wheeling. I observed that the men wrought hard at the wheelbarrows while I walked about at my ease. 1 observed that many of them were men of sober, grave aspect-men whose counsel and advice at home would have been taken much before mine-men whose birth was far superior to mine. I reflected on my birth which was very humble, my parents poor, and myself unworthy of these favors which God has conferred on me. I reflected on the ease of my lot, having nothing to do but walk up and down where I had a mind to, with my cheerful companions; while these poor soldiers were tugging at the wheelbarrows through mire and dirt. And when they were dismissed, I observed how they flocked home to their cold, wet, uncomfortable tents, that seemed unfit for swine, while I walked to my dry hut. They were forced greedily to catch at anything to eat, some raw, some half dressed, some dirty, while my servants had made my provisions comfortable. I considered all this, and more, while I was employed in overseeing those who were my superiors for
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age, wisdom and estate. Thought I, Shall I be lifted up with pride in this my happy state, because my lot is so much better than many of my fellow-men? Nay, let me be humbled to the earth for my sins, that make me unworthy of such favors. Let me be thankful for my lot,-and pray for my soldiers, that they may obey their officers,-that they may be content with their wages."
In 1773 he removed his family to Charlemont, Hampshire County, Mass. By the division of both town and county it is now Heath, Franklin County. Here he bought a small farm of Col. Asaph White, where Fred Coates now (1935) lives. There were a few acres of cleared land and a small house of one room, and a closet. He later added another small room-and in this house his family found shelter till after the close of the Revolutionary war. It must have been very uncomfortable for on a winter's morning they would find themselves covered with some inches of snow which had drifted through the chinks in the roof.
As has already been said he was a great lover of his country and took great interest in all that took place in America, and kept a watchful eye on the doings of the English Parliament.
He took a Boston newspaper said to be the only one taken in this region. This he read to his neighbors and explained to them the true nature of the controversy between the colonies and the mother country, which tended to fire their minds with patriotic zeal against oppression.
The two succeeding winters after coming here he taught a small school and there he was careful to instill into the minds of the young men the love of liberty, and a determination to resist oppression and to preserve the rights which God had given them. The consequence was, that in 1775 it appeared that every man in this and neighboring towns, was in favor of liberty.
He was elected a member of the first Provincial Congress which was convened at Salem, Oct. 7, 1774 and took an active part therein. This Congress provided for forming and arming
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companies of Minute Men, so when he came home he assisted in raising a company and Oliver Avery was chosen Captain, and Hugh Maxwell Lieutenant.
On April 18, his youngest son, Sylvester was born and on the 19th-that day ever to be remembered-occurred the battle of Lexington. The news of the happenings at Lexington spread through the land. Every soul was filled with indignation. The Minute Men were ordered to march. Mr. Maxwell after commending himself and family to God and imploring His blessing upon them, marched with his Company to Cambridge and joined Col. Prescott's regiment.
When he joined the army he left his family in that small house, without barn or shed. His wife was in charge of the seven children with no man to assist them and no security or provision for the future-their water was 20 rods from the house. Their grain must be procured from a distance, and carried five miles to mill, and this must be done by mother or daughters. It was indeed a time of darkness, but he considered the call of his distressed country paramount to everything- paramount certainly to every personal or domestic interest and he could neither please God nor satisfy his own conscience, if he flinched from the call. And indeed a kind Providence watched over and raised up helpers for that helpless family far beyond their expectations.
At Cambridge May 26, 1775 he was made Captain of a company in the regiment of Col. Wm. Prescott. During the action at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 he was wounded by a ball passing through his right shoulder; he was without coat at the time and though his arm dropped and hung useless by his side he proceeded through a shower of shot and bullets to the place where he had left his coat and picking it up marched off the hill with the retreating army.
The wound proved to be very serious and for a time his life was despaired of. This came as very heavy news to the family whom he had left in such trying circumstances. Especial-
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ly to the wife with the family of young children depending upon her which she could not leave to go to her wounded, and she thought, dying husband. These circumstances called forth all her fortitude and patience to support her.
In a few weeks he was able to sit up a little and soon began to write with his left hand to his family to console them by pointing their minds to the same source from which he drew his own comfort-the Word of God. On the 5th of July he wrote :- "I am yet very lame in my shoulder but by the blessing of God, much better in health than I was a week or two since."
In September he was able to come home to his family where he spent 6 or 7 weeks. During this time he made some preparation for the winter, engaged a man to provide wood for the family and had a shed built to shelter his stock.
The next year he had a barn built about 70 rods east of the house, at a place where he intended in the future to build a new house. In the end this was a benefit to the farm, but at the time made it hard for the family in the winter as the cattle must be cared for twice daily, and this must be done by the wife and children, the eldest girl only 14 and the eldest boy, 6.
Many times they had to go on their hands and knees over high snow drifts, their hands rolled in their aprons, and spread out to keep them from sinking deep in the snow.
Late in the fall of '75 he left home again to return to his company. He was engaged in the operations on Long Island in the vicinity of New York, in August and September 1776 and was in the battle of Trenton and Princeton and Germantown. In 1777 the brigade to which he belonged was sent north to resist the advance of Burgoyne and he saw service at Benning- ton, Stillwater and Saratoga.
On Oct. 22, 1777 he wrote to his wife and after giving some of the particulars of Burgoyne's surrender he said, "This is glorious news for America-the best day we have ever seen. Pray do not grudge the hardships you have endured since Heaven has crowned this campaign with such a victory."
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In November he joined the southern army and shared the hardships of Valley Forge. In June 1778 he was in the battle of Monmouth. A sword picked up on the field after this battle is still in the possession of the Maxwell family. In 1779 he was promoted to the rank of Major, and placed under command of Maj. General William Heath and for three years was actively employed under him.
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