USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Springfield, 1636-1886 : history of town and city, including an account of the quarter-millennial celebration at Springfield, Mass., May 25 and 26, 1886 > Part 3
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11
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
William Pynchon, Matthew Mitchell, Henry Smith, Jehu Burr (his mark), William Blake, Edmund Wood, Thomas Ufford (his mark), and John Cable. The assignments of house-lots were as follows : -
William Blake
16 poles in width.
Thomas Woodford (north)
12
14 . .
Henry Smith .
Jehmu Burr ·
.
20 ..
William Pynchon
30
.. ..
John Cable
.
14
. .
John Reader
.
12
MILL RIVER.
Matthew Mitchell -
Samuel Butterfield
On the Connecticut.
Edmund Wood
Jonas Wood . .
South of Mill River.
Henry Smith, who was married to Mr. Pynchon's daughter Ann, drew up the agreement ; and he seems to have been a man of great character and reliability.
Six weeks after the signing of this agreement Mr. Pynchon was at Roxbury, but he returned in time to meet the local Indians and to receive deeds for the lands previously bargained for. If our conclusions are well founded, Mr. Pynchon and his associates met the Indian owners of the land in the first house on the banks of the Agawam. July 15, 1636. Eleven days before, Pynchon had been in Roxbury. Several families had arrived since May, and they formed the second instalment which Pynchon led to the val- ley. The scene in and about the little house excites our curiosity ; but time has obliterated all but the results of the meeting.
Cummucke and Matanchan, ancient Indians. were there, and a
..
Thomas Ufford
.
20 ..
.
12
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
young warrior, Cuttonas, of whom we will hear more later, and others, making a company of at least thirteen Indians who put their marks upon paper for the first time. The rights of the squaws to the lands were duly recognized, but they were not allowed to sign. The deed is here transcribed : -
Agaam alias Agawam : This fifteenth day of July, 1636.
It is agreed between Commucke & Matanchan ancient Indians of Agaam for & in the Name of al the other Indians, & in particular for & in ye Name of Cuttonus the right owner of Agaam & Quana, & in the Name of his mother Kewannsk the Tamasham or wife of Wenawis, & Niarum the wife of Coa, to & with William Pynchon Henry Smith & Jehn Burr their heires & associates for ever. to truck & sel al that ground & muckeosquittaj or medow, accomsick viz : on the other side of Quana ; & al the ground & muck- eosquittaj on the side of Agaam, except Cottinackeesh or ground that is now planted for ten Fatham of Wampam. Ten Coates, Ten howes, Ten hatchets, & Ten knifes : and also the said ancient Indians with the Consent of the rest. & in particular wth the Consent of Menis & Wrutherna & Napompenam. do trucke & sel to William Pynchon Henry Smith & Jehn Burr, & their suc- cessors, for ever, al that ground on the East side of Quinneckiot River called Usquajok & Nayasset reaching about four or five miles in Length. from the north end of Masaksicke up to Chickuppe River, for four fatham of Wampam, four Coates. four howes. four hatchets, four knifes: Also the said ancient Indians Doe wth the Consent of the other Indians, & in particular wth the Consent of Machetnhood Wenepawin, & Mokemoos trucke & sel the ground & muckeosquittaj, & grounds adjoyning, called Masaksicke. for four fatham of wampam, four Coates, four hatchets & fonr howes, and four knifes,
And the said. Pynchon hath in hand paid the said eighteen fatham of Wampam, eighteen coates. 18 hatchets, 18. howes, 18 knifes to the said Com- mucke & Matanchan, & doth further condition wth the sd Indians, that they shal have & enjoy all that Cottinackeesh, or ground that is now planted ; And have liberty to take Fish & Deer, groundnuts, walnuts, akornes, & sasachimmeph or a kind of pease, And also if any of or Cattle spoile their corne, to pay as it is worth; & that hogs shall not goe on the side of Agaam but in akorne time: Also the said Pynchon doth give to Wrntherna two Coates over & above the said Particulars exp'ssed. & In Witnes hereof the two said Indians & the Rest, doe set to their hands. this prsent 15th day of July. 1636.
(19
A copy of a reed whereby + Regnitians at Spring feels made fale of certains Lands on both fires the great River at Springfeito 10 William Pynchon lig &0: m Henry Smith & Behu Burr, for the town of Spring feito for ever.
· ahàs Agawam: m : amf
This fifteent Pray of July, 1636
It is agrito between Commucle & Matanehan ancient Indians of Aga= Springfeils = am for & in the Name of al Re of Per Intians & in particular for &in i traitons name of Cottonus the right owner of Agaam & Quana, & in the Name of his mother Rewanust the Jamakam or wife of Senary, & niarum the wife of Con to & with william Pynchon Henry Burt their here & afsocrates for ever. to brucke & fel al that ground & muckcofquilty or me = You accomfick viss on the other side of fuoma; & at the ground &much ofquestaj on thefire of Igaam, except Cottimackeesh or ground that is now planted for ren for ham of Wampam. Ten Coales, can Rorois. Ten hatchets, & cenkofer: and also the said ancient Intians with the Content of the re :- , & in particular is" the Content of Merry & Wrutherna & fla= pompenam- to touche & sel to William Pynchon Henry Smith & Jehu Burr. & their fuccifiers for ever, at that ground on the East side of Quim necknot River called Viquaral & Nayaber reaching about four or fivemiles m- Length, from the north (." of Moja ksiche up to Chuckappe River for four fa= wham of Warpam, foux Crates, four hours, four Ratchets, four Enfes: Also the fold ancient trocars Doe the Consent of the of RerIndians, & m Particular is the Consent of Machenchord Wenepawin. & Mikemoor buche Eifel the ground & muckiofquithay, & grounds ad joy ny, called Ma= faksicke for four forham of wamporn. four coates, four Rathets & four hours &fora kimfes,
And the said. Pynchon hat h m hand paid the faid eighteen fatham of warpam, eighteen water, 18 hakkets, 18 Rower. 18 knifes to he said Commuche & Matanchan, & both further lundihon is the Indiane, + has theyshall have & enjoy all that lattina sheesh, or ground than is now plante; And have fiberly to take Fish & Deer , ground nuts , walnuts, H. akoinos, & Sagachimoioth or a find of profe, And also of any of of table Spoile their corne, to pay asit is worth, & that Roys that not que on the fire of Agaam Bulnakorno time: Alsothe faid Pynchon rothe give totviu + Ritora over & a love the said Particulars Exposed, & In Wines here of the two said Julians & the Rest roeset to their hands. thus ppEnt is day of July 1636 the marke the make of the marke of 7
of martes
mahorahood
Calloway
maske
The marke of Commut
The mark
of
of maranahan the mathe
the marke
The marke wegras. alias MEpinares
of A macofich
the mark
не тачке_
of
marke wenn awin
of WAHOVOUS
of wenazors
of low
Rockuinek.
wertheona
the mask of
OLD INDIAN DEED.
.
14
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
The Indians signing the above deed were Menis, Machetuhood, Cuttonas, Kenis, Cummeke, Matanchan, Wessa (or Nepinam), Macossak, Wrutherna, Kockuinek, Winnepawin, Wenawis, and Coa.
The Indians, as they crowded about the table, seemed to have no difficulty in hitting upon designs to stand for their signatures. One drew a canoe, one an arrow, another a bow and arrow. The white witnesses of this historic deed were John Allen, Richard Everett, JJoseph Parsons, Thomas Horton, Faithful Thayeler, and John Cownes. It is to be noted that these are all new names, and also that two of them, Everett and Cownes, made their marks just as the savages did.
The double title to the site of Springfield was now obtained, - the transfers under the king's patent and the Indian deed. The political status and official allegiance of William Pynchon, during this interregnum, is not quite clear. He was a member of the provisional commission that governed Connecticut; and yet, after this commission, he sat, as an assistant, in the Massachu- setts Bay colony. A few weeks after the signing of the Indian deed Mr. Pynchon was once more in Boston, and attended the Court of Quarter Sessions, as well as the General Court. The latter continued until the close of October ; but probably Mr. Pynchon was permitted to leave before that, as he appeared at Newtown (Hartford, Conn.) at the opening of the Connecticut court there, November 1.
Mr. Pynchon was undoubtedly too busy with the affairs of the plantation to go through the valley to any extent during the first year. He had written to John Winthrop, Jr. : "I will hasten to settle myself there [Agawam] as soone as I can, & then I shall see all the plantations." Pynchon was already at work shipping goods to the younger Winthrop. There are records of "liver-culler shagg " cloth and "tauny shagg " sent to Winthrop; and we find this bit of business advice, from Pynchon to his Connecticut
15
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
friend, dated Roxbury, July 4, 1636 : " As for using ould traders to trade for you, it is not the best way for your gaine: for they know how to save themselves; but a trusty man that never was a trader will quickly find the way of trading, & bring you best profitt, & so the God of peace be with you ever." Mr. Pynchon said, in the same letter : -
I received a parsell of course wampam from you, but I could not trade any of it, because others were furnished plenty of better: but if you will send me a parsell of 100 or 200 fathom of fine white wampan I shall ac- cept it as bever. If you sell not this cloth, keepe it in good condition & I will take it again.
It would thus appear that Pynchon and Winthrop both were concerned, at first, in trading operations upon a small scale.
Mr. Pynchon probably had his house far enough advanced by the closing in of winter, 1636, to afford not only his immediate family shelter, but possibly others. The pine forests on the great plain east and north of the new village were substantially free of under- brush, owing to the annual autumn burnings which the Indians re- sorted to, possibly to facilitate their movements. The oak and chestnut groves were carefully protected from fire, however. The Indian summer of two hundred and fifty years ago, with its wild fire climbing from tree to tree up the mountain sides, driving the game before it, or licking up the brush on river banks, and flushing the birds on the plain and in jungles, resembled only remotely that placid haze, nuder an exaggerated sun, so seductive to young poets of our day.
The company of frontier settlers was unable to secure a minister the first year, and Mr. Pynchon gathered the little flock together, probably at his house, and conducted divine service. He wrote his sermons, and his young son, John, often took abstracts of them.
The Agawam Indians, in their fort on Long hill, were pleased to see the English settling in their immediate vicinity. It gave them a
16
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
powerful ally against warlike tribes both to the south and the west, and it increased the value and importance of their planting-grounds. The middle meadow adjoining the Agawam meadow was known as Quana. The region at Longmeadow was called Masacksick ; Mill river was called Usquajok ; Springfield, including the Chicopee plains, was Nayasset ; and Westfield was called Woronoco.
John Oldham was killed by the Indians near Block Island a few days after the Agawam deed had been signed, and a terrible struggle with the savages was precipitated. On the following May, 1637, war was declared at Hartford against the Pequots. Pynchon was not present, but it was voted that " Mr. Pincheons shallopp shal be taken to be imployed in this designe." Mr. Ludlow apologized for this liberty a few days later.
The new plantation by that time had quite a number of houses along the west side of our present Main street, and they were tolerably well fortified. But they lived in constant fear, and if they had been attacked at that time they might easily have been exter- minated. The Agawam and Woronoco Indians showed no disposi- tion to fight. Indeed, they had looked upon the whites from the start as allies.
The year 1637 was a trying and exciting one, as no one could tell at what moment the whole Indian population would rise and join the Pequots in a war of extermination. House-building and land-clear- ing and the opening of the main street were attended with an ever-present sense of insecurity.
It was not until over a year had passed that the first article of the original town compact was carried out, and a minister secured. Rev. George Moxon, of Boston, arrived at Agawam in the autumn of 1637. Hle was a short, stout man of five and thirty, and was a per- sonal friend of Mr. Pynchon. His arrival was an occasion of great felicitation, for the allotments of land and the clearing of the forests were merely the preliminaries. The great work of the settlers was to establish and spread the kingdom of God in the New World. There
17
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
was a belief abroad in those times that America was destined to be a peculiar land, favored of God, and many of the laws so repugnant to modern ideas of freedom and justice were designed to hasten the day when that hope should be realized.
The coming of Mr. Moxon was propitious also, as it occurred at the season of general thanksgiving through New England at the overthrow of the Pequots. With all their trials and anxieties, there was more blue sky than cloud above them, and Agawam observed October 12, its first day of thanksgiving, with renewed heart and a hope that could not be subdued.
The records of many of the first town-meetings are unfortunately lost, and it is not until the spring of 1638 that we can secure any definite notion of the course of local legislation. We will, therefore, only anticipate at this point enough to say that one meets continually in these dingy records of the ancient town the reflections of English methods of local government. Local democracy and the town- meeting were no invention. Every phase of it was more or less a reflection of English civilization. Had it not been for the English Church in its relations to the State, the New England town-meeting would not have been what it was. New-Englandism was, as it were, an oak-buttressed " L " against the great mansion of English civiliza- tion. One can even go further, and safely assert that if the first settlers had not read the De Moribus ac Populis Germania of Tacitus, they certainly revealed a contact of some sort with German folk-life and town-life. Even to this day town communism retains its hold upon the Teutonic raee. In a recent magazine article on " Hanoverian Village Life," we find this passage quite in point : " The tilled land is very minntely subdivided, the pasturage and forest lands being held and used in common." The management and allotments of these lands in Hanover are primarily in the hands of the farmers, with, of course, a State supervision.
In the English parish of the seventeenth century, whether it had a civil or religious origin, with both Roman and German marks upon
18
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
it, we find the groundwork of our New England town-meeting, or rather the ideas upon which our forefathers worked, and from which they perfected their scheme of local government. The English parish was a church district at the time we treat, organized with sundry privileges of local civil government. The local rates and taxes were imposed by the English parish. Once a year the English rector would " perambulate " the bounds of the parish to confirm its limits and to repeat the ancient anathema : " Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbor." The vestry meeting was the parish gathering, in which highways, sanitary matters, church and poor rates, were all attended to by vote, - a suffrage based upon material possessions. One of the most impor- tant offices filled by the vestry was that of church-warden, these elec- tions sometimes causing great excitement. A warden was both a civil and religious officer, and from the English conception of this office came the New England " Select Townsman," as one will readily see upon comparing the duties of both. Mr. Pynchon was one of the wardens of the parish at Springfield, England, and upon the Agawam and Springfield town-meetings we see resting the shadow of the English vestry meeting.
It is a common remark that the advanee in civilization is ac- companied by increasingly complicated codes and statutes ; but we will see upon opening a book of New England town records of the seventeenth century that the complexity of our present statute law is technical and incidental, the tendency all along having been toward simplicity and a broadening of principle. At first, a man could in effect do nothing but what was permitted him by legislation ; now, he ean do everything except what is prohibited. This is the case broadly stated.
But in reference to Agawam individually it may be said, with some local pride, that the hard rules of the Bay were materially modified from the beginning. We had here little or no religious persecu- tion, no eastern disciplinary splitting of noses, clamping of the tongue
19
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
with split sticks, no brandings of the forehead. And yet. the scheme of parental supervision of men's movements was stoutly adhered to.
The town-meeting was the source of all local authority. The colonial law imposed a religious test upon all men entering this assembly of freemen. This assembly owned and managed all the land, apportioned it to individuals, filled civil and religious offices. built churches, hired ministers. opened and repaired roads, regulated the walk and conversation of the individual, nominated the magis- trate, the constable, the officers of the training band, elected all town officers, superintended trade between man and man, fixed the price of labor, limited market prices, regulated the forests, determined the rotation of crops in the commons, even fixed the bedtime of the inhabitants, their seasons of worship and their hours of labor. At first there was a disposition to do away with executive officers as much as possible in the town-meeting. For nearly ten years there is no evi- dence that selectmen were elected at Springfield. There were sur- veyors to see to the condition of the highways, after the manner of the English vestry, and the town-meeting was continually appointing special committees to perform certain prescribed duties, with fines prescribed if those duties were not attended to, or if the freemen re- fused to accept any office imposed on them ; but nowhere in the records is there, for nearly a deeade, any evidence that "townsmen " were appointed with discretionary powers of governing. There was no need of selectmen, with the whole body of the freemen regularly in session once a month for the transaction of business.
CHAPTER II.
1638-1639.
William Pynchon and the Indian. - Captain Mason, of Connecticut. -- Pynchon and Mason contrasted - Origin of the Charges against Mr. Pynchon. - Corn Contracts with the Indians and the Connecticut. -- Captain Mason visits Agawam (Springfield). - Heated Dispute between Mason and Pynchon. - Mason's Hasty Return to Con- nectient. - Mr. Pynchon summoned to Hartford, and charged with speculating in Corn. - His Trial and Conviction. -- Starving Condition of the Agawam Inhab- itants. - Captain Mason authorized to trade with the Massachusetts Indians. - Mr- William Pynchon's " Apology."
DURING the first three years of the Agawam's plantation exist- ence William Pynchon was a great traveller, both in this valley and the Bay country, and his impressive figure and strange garb became a familiar sight to the Indians. This stern horseman riding down a forest bridle-path, attended by a mounted servant, became to the Indians the impersonation of justice.
There was another horseman in this valley farther down the river, whose faith in the Indian was rooted to his sword-hilt. Him the Indians feared. The reverence of one and the fear of the other in the savage mind deepened as time wore on. We have nothing to do with the Captain John Mason and the William Pynchon conception of the Indian character, except so far as it aids us in gaining the secret of the Pynchon hold upon the natives. - a hold that ontlived that age, and forms an important part of the primitive history of the Commonwealth. The Pynchon and the Mason policy toward the Indian conflicted at all points. While neither had a high opinion of the Indian, the founder of Springfield persisted in taking hold of those ethical elements that are implanted in human nature even in the rough ; but the Connecticut man was continually crushing through
21
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
the native conception of justice and gaining his ends as with a cleaver. We do not deny certain extenuating circumstances favoring Captain Mason's policy of force, nor begrudge him one spark of that grim prestige that borrows its radiance from the burning Pequot fort and its memorable holocaust ; but we simply marvel that Mason and Hooker and Stone and the rest should have been unable to under- stand the motives and the spirit of William Pynchon in his dealings with the Indians. No historian has fully investigated this interesting chapter of New England, nor attempted to state even vaguely the merits of Pynchon's falling out with the Hartford government. It has been too readily and quite unjustly assumed that he was a money-maker, and that Connecticut rebuked him accordingly. " How can you explain away the refusal of your ancestor to supply Hartford with corn?" asks an historian of our day of a contempo- rary Pynchon. During our quarter-millennial celebration of May, 1886, a Connecticut newspaper took occasion to remark : -
Mr. Pynchon was the first monopolist of this vicinity. As far back as 1638 he was given the sole right to trade in corn with the Indians. on condition of his supplying our [Connecticut] colony with a certain amount at a fixed price. We have no notion of raking up okl sores with Springfield at this late day ; but it is a sad fact that Mr. Pynchon was not very careful to " promote the publique good." Human nature in all ages seems to find it pretty hard to resist the op- portunity to abuse such privileges.
It will be admitted that the reading of the meagre references in the histories to the charge brought against Mr. Pynchon of specu- lating on the necessities of the river towns might lead to the conclusions above quoted ; but the Connectient editor is wrong in every particular of his charge. William Pynchon did not hold a monopoly of the corn trade for Connecticut ; the price was not fixed : he did not abuse his privileges. The controversy is very much in- volved, but as there has never appeared, to our knowledge, a complete statement in print, a good deal of time has been spent in gathering
22
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
the material together with the hope that it will fill a gap in the annals of western Massachusetts and vindicate Pynchon, without reflecting upon the reputation or motives of the Connecticut leaders. As the controversy is full of bitter personalities, that even outlived the lives of the actors, it is simply the part of candor to say that the opinion in New England two hundred and fifty years ago among the ablest men was that a strong arm would do more in a day with the savage than a year of loving-kindness and tender mercy. Mr. Pynchon did not so believe, and hence the conflict between Springfield and Hart- ford. He never designedly violated the Indian's notion of right and wrong, but when he made a bargain with the Indians, he even suffered rather than break it, or allow it to be broken.
The question of seeuring corn for the towns after the Pequot war came up at Hartford during the February session of 1638 ; Mr. Pynchon was not present. If each man had been allowed to trade with the Indians at will, the price would naturally have been ad- vanced. The court, therefore, ordered that -
Noe man in this River nor Agawam shall goe upp River amonge the Indians or at home theire houses to trade for Corne or make any Contraet or bargaine amonge them for corne either privately or publiquely uppon the paine of 5s. for every bushell that hee or they shall soe trade.
At this court Agawam was assessed £86 16s. for the Peqnot war expenses, and Jehu Burr was appointed collector at Agawam. It is not known why Mr. Pynchon remained away from the February meet- ing of the General Court. He had a written contract with the Agawam Indians to furnish him during the spring five hundred bushels of corn. March 4 was the first day for the payment of an instalment of grain. The Indians did not keep their word, and Mr. Pynchon went down the river three days later, feeling very much concerned about it. The court opened on the 8th of March. After some questions put to Mr. Pynchon and Mr. Plumb (both members of the General
23
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
Court) abont sundry punishments inflicted upon Indians in their capacity as magistrates, the regulation of the corn trade came up, and this vote was passed : -
It is ordered with the consent of Mr. Pincheon that the saide Mr. Pyncheon will deliver att Harteforde goode Marchantable Indian Corne att 5s. pr bushell as farr as 500 bushells will goe at, if hee ean save by that, for the residue hee is to have 5s. 2d. pr bushell. provided also that that proporeon that Windsor is to have shal be landed there at Mr. Ludlowes, for that proporcon that Wethers- feild is to have they are to it att Ilarteford. In considercon where of ther is a constrainte of any to go upp the River to trade with the Indians for Corne: as alsoe, if any Indians bring downe any Corne to us wee are not to exceede +s pr bushell ; as alsoe in ease of necessity that any family or familyes doe complaine of present necessities they are to repaire to 3 magistrates which may advise them for the supply. although it be to the dispensing of this order: provided also that if the said Mr Pincheon bee inforced to raise the price with the Indians of sixe sixes of Wompom a pecke, then the plantacons are to increase the pay of os pr bushell : if he ean abate anything hee will sette of soe much of os pr bushell.
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