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 34

Author: Green, Mason Arnold; Springfield (Mass.)
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: [Springfield, Mass.] : C.A. Nichols & Co.
Number of Pages: 740


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 34


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The poor-house, which was built in 1802, was situated on the west side of North Main street, between Auburn and Seventh streets, on the site of the present wooden building adjoining the brick residence of Miss Angeline Stebbins. Up to 1824 the inmates had numbered one hundred and fifty males and sixty-five females, besides a number of children ; deaths, thirty ; total expenses, $14,120. The first over- seers of the Main-street poor-honse were Zebina Stebbins, William Smith, John Hooker, William Ely, and Calvin Stebbins. The board organized in May, 1802, with Mr. Hooker, clerk.


In August Calvin Stebbins was made master of the work-house. Ile promulgated a rule that no inmate should have any rum or ardent spirits not furnished by him, on pain of being put in the stocks, not exceeding three hours at a time. We put the account of the poor and work-honse in this chapter in order to give point to the action of the town-meeting in 1823, when a committee was appointed to consider the condition of the poor. This committee deplored the fact that the inmates were given so small an allowance of liquor. The com-


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mittee also lamented the decadence of the original idea of the poor- house, which should also be a work-house. This matter was agitated again the year following, Robert Emery and George Bliss drawing up an exhaustive report. The town, and particularly the selectinen, were taken to task for allowing pauperism to spread. They went into history, showed that the original New England idea was that the town should maintain public worship, schools, highways, and the poor, etc. ; but then (1824) churches were taking care of themselves ; the law obliging the rich to pay for the poor was continually attacked, tolls had been substituted for highway taxes, while " the poor are to be thrown not upon those who are able, but upon those who are will- ing to maintain them." To which a town committee responded by giving the historical fact that "our ancestors came to this country a very short time after the English poor rule system was adopted and after there had been full trial of the system of begging in England both before and after Popery was abolished and Monasteries sup- pressed."


In 1825 the schools were also thoroughly looked into. Total number between the age of four and sixteen was one thousand three hundred and six. It was found that some schools had been closed for want of funds, and some partly supported by private subscriptions. " None of the schools," so runs the report, "have kept pace with the improvements and advancements in the science of instruction."


Mention is made of the "inductive system," whose " light has been but faintly shed upon the free schools of Springfield." A school committee was at once appointed, headed by Mr. Calhoun, and including the clergymen of the town.


We add the selectmen for several years, for convenient reference : Selectmen for 1822, Jesse Pendleton, Solomon Hatch, William Childs, Joseph Carew, and Simon Sanborn ; 1823, John Hooker, Robert Emery, Israel E. Trask, Jonathan Dwight, Jr., and Joseph Pease ; 1824, Jesse Pendleton, Solomon Hatch, William Rice, George Colton, and Allen Bangs : 1825, Solomon Hatch, George Colton, William


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Rice, Allen Bangs, and Bridgman Chapin ; 1826, William Rice, Joshua Frost, Bridgman Chapin, Harvey Chapin, and Solomon Hatch.


We make a period at 1831, for during that year the old Pynchon manor-honse on Main street was pulled down, by what ill-advice we know not. It had figured in history and fiction, was indeed so an- cient that the local newspaper notices occasioned by its demolition were not accurate. Fiction first borrowed from history, and then his- tory from fiction. By Angust the building was pretty well de- molished. Men stood mournfully about the ancient site where Will- iam Pynchon had built his modest house, and John Pynchon this palace fort, and vainly protested against its removal.


In philanthropic and literary matters the aggressive spirit was pro- nounced. The Springfield lyceum was in its glory. Debates and lectures followed in rapid succession. The soft-tongued Peabody, the learned and serious Calhoun, the prismatic and popular George Ashmun, the painstaking and candid Willard, in turn addressed the lyceum ; and among other lecturers were William C. Dwight, Thomas Dwight, Lieutenant Tyler, Dr. L. W. Belden, Rev. B. Putnam, Samuel Bowles, William Bliss, 3d, and J. B. Eldridge.


The society for the promotion of temperance had made substantial advances. It had been an ancient custom to have beer on the table. In the early part of this century beer had given place to hard liquors. The society had already induced many to remove the spirits from the table. Even at gatherings of militia and other organizations less liquor was drunk. This meant much for Springfield. Parson How- ard was president of the society in 1828, and at the meeting in Mr. Peabody's church in September Jolin Hooker was chosen vice-presi- dent and William B. Calhoun corresponding secretary. George Ban- eroft was present, and standing upon a chair made a ringing tem- perance speech. The sale of spirituous liquors in Springfield had decreased one-half since the previous year, and the society was en- couraged to continue its noble work.


The Springfield debating society was at this time in full blast.


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Specimen question : " Are well-regulated theatres injurious to hu- manity ?" Probably not five per cent. of the debaters had ever been inside of a theatre. In August, 1829, came the first annual examina- tion of the Springfield High School : average age of the boys, twelve ; number, fifty ; special efficiency in algebra, natural philosophy, and mental arithmetic, reflecting the commercial trend of the day. The infant school, in the centre of the town, numbered sixty. One was started also near Ames's mills. It was in 1829 when Miss Hawkes opened a young women's seminary here with eighty and more pupils.


The triumph of the Jackson party in national politics intensified the feeling locally for some time, even to the invasion of patriotic events. March 4, 1829, was a famous day in Springfield. The im- agination of the man of battlefields challenging conflicting feelings. Cannon was thundering at daybreak on Armory hill and again at noon, and a few hours later artillery was drawn into Court square, where Jackson powder was burned for a long time. Meantime one of the new public storehouses was transformed into a banquet-room, and fully two hundred and fifty gathered about the board, delegates coming in from neighboring towns. Before the banquet Samuel Johnson, of Chester, delivered an oration. The banquet-room was elaborately decorated. Colonel Lee sat at the head of the table, and John Chaffee assisted at the bottom as vice-president. We have no such days now. In the evening the hall of the Hampden coffee- house, " where so much good living and fine dancing has been seen," was taken possession of by the John Quincy Adams men. They were cheered by a band of music and a good supper, and, " willing to hope for the best, were rather disposed to be merry than sad."


Fourth of July was made the occasion of another display of patriotism decked with the robes of party ; a banquet was served at the armory, and a young man stationed on the field of ordnance yard swung a flag when each speaker sat down, which was the signal for a volley of cannon.


The removal of Postmaster Lombard was the first realizing evi-


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dence that there was a new President. Lombard's successor was Albert Morgan. A protest, signed by a majority of the business men of the town, was forwarded to Washington ; but it was useless. It was the day of Jacksonianism, with all that implies. November, 1829, Charles Howard was appointed paymaster and military store- keeper at the armory, vice John Chaffee, which caused the anti- administrationists again to cast reflections upon the " new scheme of rewards and punishments." Major Howard was said to have been, in 1823, one of the only three Jackson men in the county.


In 1829 William B. Calhoun was unanimously elected speaker of the House of Representatives, at Boston, the first time in its history, which caused the " Boston Courier " to remark that the Connecticut valley " may feel proud of its present distinction." Samuel Lathrop, of West Springfield, it will be remembered, was at this time president of the Senate.


The Fourth of July of 1830 was celebrated by the colonization society of the local branch, of which Samuel Bowles was secretary, by special contributions taken in the churches, the Fourth falling on Sunday. On Monday there was the usual celebration on the hill, managed by the Jacksonians, while the Hampden Guards paraded with Henry Clay banners, and dined at the Springfield hotel. Some enterprising women of the town organized a patriotic tea-party the day following at Worthington grove, east of the Worthington house. The Springfield artillery were encamped there under Captain Dwight ; a liberty-pole had been put up and hung with evergreens, and sup- porting astral lamps properly decorated. The tea was followed by music, dancing, and a gay time generally, participated in by over a thousand people.


Masonry and politics were becoming wofully mixed. The anti- masonic party had put up Samuel Lathrop, of West Springfield, as candidate for governor against Levi Lincoln. Indignant " national republicans " of the county met at Springfield November 1, 1831, Festus Foster, of Brimfield, in the chair, and Samuel Bowles secre-


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tary. They demanded that Mr. Lathrop should submit his letter to the anti-masonic convention, Jonathan Dwight, George Ashmun, and Simon Sanborn being appointed a committee for that purpose. Mr. Lathrop replied that he would produce the letter, provided he was in- formed of the action of the meeting. Nothing came of this cor- respondence, and the committee printed a statement that Mr. Lathrop had shown his letter of acceptance of the anti-masonic nomination to Oliver B. Morris, R. A. Chapman, and others before it was sent. Lathrop in his letter had spoken highly of Governor Lincoln, and had disapproved of the nomination of Wirt, for President, as an anti- mason, and called himself a friend of Henry Clay. Lathrop had finally concluded to break from the whigs.


Two new actors had appeared upon the local stage, - George Ashmun and Reuben Atwater Chapman. These two young men drifted to Springfield from Blandford, and formed the law firm of Chapman & Ashmun. One rose to be chief-justice of the Supreme Court, while the other was invited by his fellow-citizens into the field of politics, and figured honorably and brilliantly in national affairs.


The old English rules of common-law pleading had a partial hold of the State courts at that time, and it was the custom for young lawyers to associate older members of the bar with them as counsel. But the young firm introduced an innovation that was, at once, pro- nounced glaringly impertinent. Judge Chapman, in his later days, often reverted to the storm of resentment that both were compelled to meet. Judges frowned upon the young men, giants of the law were covered with sardonic smiles or frigid glances, and even their patron, District Attorney Wells, of Greenfield, revealed his an- noyance. Ashmun was quick, facile, and witty, while Chapman was " sarcastic and tremendously saucy," to use the words of an aged resident who remembers the dramatic entree of this firm upon its nota- ble career. Those were days when it was not considered out of place to call out the heavy ordnance over very insignificant eauses. " A jaekal !" cried Chapman, in reference to a man who was pursu-


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ing his client, as he thought, too closely. "A defender of jackals," he added in low-voiced severity, glancing at Mr. Wells. The Green- field attorney rose, white with indignant emotion. He pictured the birth of the child Reuben Chapman on the shores of Russell pond, his farm-work, his weighing sugar in a country store, and, finally, the kindly aid extended him by the speaker. "And this is the return for my kind offices !" Young Mr. Chapman looked very sober, but the figure of the jackal would not down, and the prosecuting attorney made no headway against the burglar whom Chapman was defending.


Mr. Chapman might be called a wheel-horse to the legal car rather than a brightly eaparisoned leader. His days were spent in laborious application. He was learned, courtly, kind, set ; his pleas were models of brevity, but disclose no imaginative and but slight forensic quality. He contributed little to the amusement of the bar. but much to its form of legal practice. Mr. Chapman seemed bred and trained for the express purpose of contributing to the great task of sweeping away the mass of technicalities involved in civil practice. Before he could become a maker of statutes of this Commonwealth. however, he was compelled to climb into notice, both giving and taking hard blows.


The Hampden bar needed neither color nor incident fifty years and more ago ; but it did need new blood, and this it got in good measure with the law firm of Chapman & Ashmun. These men were in a way complements of each other. Chapman was a man of books ; Ashmun was a man of action. Political honors knocked at Mr. Ashmun's door, and it was within his grasp to play a national part. He did to a certain extent, but the creditable lack of a desire for personal pre- ferment prevented that cohesion of political action and ambition which is an element in conspicuous careers.


Springfield never made to the great public the gift of a character about which is associated more good-humor, genial humanity, brighter morality, or more dignified eloquence than that of George Ashmun. The lover of old times delights to this day to tell how he would drop


Yo. arhman


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in of an afternoon, " rub his nose and take some snuff," and awake the pleasantries of cordial conversation. The more serious read his political addresses, pitched in lofty sentiment, while the gossips treasure a fund of anecdote concerning him. He had the rare faculty of hospitality which is spontaneous without being familiar. If the tradition of the town is authority, one of the most brilliant occasions in our local annals was the dinner given by Mr. Ashmun to Thackeray, the English novelist. We have the word of "The Republican," long since recorded, that the " company floated out for hours on a tide of humor, of brilliant gossip and suggestive criticism, in which Mr. Ashmun was astonishingly seconded by his friend from Green- field, the most brilliant table-talker in America (George T. Davis) ; so that even Thackeray, accustomed to the finest society of England as well as America, often laid down his knife and fork, - a thing he was not wont to do without occasion, - and listened or applauded with wonder."


With the decline of training-day, and the multiplication of special feast days, sprang up a number of special military organizations that graced many a festal occasion and covered the town with glory. The old artillery company, organized before the War of 1812, was the admi- ration and wonder of these parts. This company had a couple of six- pounders which were kept at the foot of Elm street, near the gate of the old cemetery. The dark blue coats, and belts with big brass buekles, still linger fondly in the memory. But it was the Hampden Guards, already alluded to, that took the lasting honors for socio- military prowess. This organization included pretty much the flower of Springfield, over which commanded in succession Alpheus Nettle- ton (father of Colonel Nettleton, of Governor Ames's staff), Solomon Warriner, Jr., Captain Bates, and others. The Hampden Guards wore white trowsers, tall leather caps, blue dress coats with bell buttons and standing collars. The local organizations often partici- pated in the May trainings, and always in the fall muster, when the militia of the county rendezvoused for inspection and parade and sham-


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battle. The fields adjoining North Main street, the "rye field " on the hill (McKnightville), and West Springfield have been the scenes of these martial displays. In the autumn of 1828, at a meeting here of the First Regiment (1st Brigade, 4th Division Artillery), Lieut .- Col. Galen Ames was elected colonel in the place of Colonel Good- man, and Maj. David Moseley was elected lieutenant-colonel. It was noticed, by the way, that no liquor was passed round on this occasion.


In 1824, the Governor's Foot Guards, of Hartford, under the com- mand of Major Putnam, made a return visit to Springfield in the " Blanchard " in August, 1824. They were welcomed by the select- men, a company of sixty horsemen, the Hampden Guards, Springfield Artillery, and a large crowd. Colonel Ames commanded the military, and Colonel Nettleton the civiliary. They repaired to Ordnance yard, and a banquet followed. There was a reception in the town- hall in the evening. The next day there was much marching, and also speeches by Colonel Ames, Judge Morris, Major Putnam, and others. The Hampden Guards were commanded by Captain War- riner, and the artillery by Captain Dwight. Warriner had been elected captain of the light infantry company of the Hampden Guards in January. Capt. Benjamin J. Boardman, of Hartford, died sud- denly in his bed at the Hampden coffee-house, during the visit of the Foot Guards, which lent a tragic view to the otherwise perfect occa- sion. In October of that year the artillery regiment (Col. G. Ames) and the infantry regiment (Col. D. Wood) were reviewed in this town by General Warner. The First and Second regiments of infantry, under Colonels Wood and Ely, with the local artillery com- pany, all commanded by Brigadier-General Warner, were reviewed October 7, 1830, in this town, by Major-General Sheldon. They made a fine appearance and drew a big crowd, who improved the day by " stowing away oysters, gingerbread, etc., well peppered with dust, and seemed as much fatigned with the labors of the day as the military." The Hampden Guards received in this month a " splendid


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standard " from the citizens. Colonel Nettleton made the presenta- tion speech, and Ensign Spencer responded. The following year, Lieut. Erastus M. Bates was elected captain of the Hampden Guards,


ARCHWAY TO THE SPRINGFIELD CEMETERY.


vice Capt. Solomon Warriner, Jr., resigned. Captain Warriner's last military act was to carry the standard to Pittsfield, where the Greys received them in their best style. Their appearance was applauded upon all sides, and a sarcastic remark in a Northampton paper about the Guards shows that the green-eyed monster knew a good thing when he saw it.


But what of the condition of the town in these days? Let the


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following table, gathered from the records for 1831, speak : Population (about), 6,700 ; dwelling-houses, 722; stores, ware- houses, and shops 118; barns, 580; cotton factories (370 looms), 3 ; bleachery, 1 ; paper-mills, 3 ; printing-offices, 5 ; grist-mills, 5 ; saw-mills, 7; card factories, 2; carding-machine, 1; fulling-mill, 1; breweries, 2: distilleries, 2; tan-houses, 3; tillage lands (acres), 5,301 ; meadow, 1,807 ; horses, 389; oxen, 321; cows, 474 ; steers and heifers, 237; sheep, 954 ; newspapers, 4. Armory property is not here enumerated. The town had increased in population 2,870 between 1820 and 1830, when the figures were 6,784. The popula- tion of the county in 1829 was 33,000. Much attention was now paid to village improvements.


New streets were being laid out. In 1828 Charles Stearns was ap- pointed to widen and deepen a part of the town brook, for which he used 1,500 feet of block stone, over 10,000 bricks, and 9,000 feet of planking. There was a bit of what now seems vandalism attending these improvements. In May, 1829, Charles Stearns proposed to cut down an ancient elm standing on Main street, near the land of George Bliss, in order to carry out the work of draining the meadow by enlarging the brook. The elm was in the way, and much feeling was caused by the plan to cut it down. The Blisses applied to Chief-Justice Parker for an injunction, which, after a learned argu- ment, was denied, and the elm fell. It stood on Main street, opposite Bliss street; a handsome elm stood in the yard of James Bliss, which was cut down in 1853. A West Springfield farmer, it is said, gathered some seeds under this tree, sowed them, and in due time traded elm saplings for a cemetery lot, whence came the ave- nue of elms leading to the beautiful Maple-street entrance of the cemetery. The oldest elm on Court square was planted by the Pynchon family, according to tradition, and was a large tree at the Revolution. It is understood that the tree at the north-east corner of Court square was set ont by Mrs. Charles Sheldon in what was then her door-yard. The other trees in the square were


1


THE OLD ELM, ON ELM STREET.


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planted in 1829, by Major Ingersoll, David A. Adams, and others. The subscription to meet this expense was signed by Daniel Bonteeon, Ebenezer Russell, William Dwight, George Bliss, Ben- jamin Day, Henry Sargent, and others.


One of the trees which figures in " The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table " stood on Barnes's lot, on the old line between the Dwight pasture and the Pynchon lot. It was called the largest tree in New England, and Dr. Holmes calls it one of the very largest. At its most slender girth, which was abont two and a half feet from the ground, it measured twenty-eight feet in circumference. It stood but a few feet from the brook which flowed through the lot and there joined the town brook along the side of Main street, and one could almost sit under its great branches and catch the trout which abounded in the stream. The rails of the fences for which the old tree was the union post had been placed against it so long that it is said the tree had grown around them. In July, 1858, the eastern half fell, but the other half stood until April, 1864. The tree in front of the Elm-street school-house was planted by Dr. William Seldon, who lived on the site of the Elmi-street school, over one hundred years ago, and despite some attempts to have it cut down still stands. A. D. Briggs saved this tree when the school-house was built, in 1867, from being destroyed to give a little more sidewalk room.


There was another elm opposite Worthington street, on the east side of Main, which was cut down when that street was laid out in 1841. This tree was often called the " offering tree," as the dense shade of the tree and the unfrequented neighborhood made a favorite resort. The roots of the tree protruded in a snarl on the south path. We have before spoken of the trees in North Main street which were set out in 1770, by Maj. Joseph Stebbins and his son, Festus Stebbins. Mr. Stebbins brought the trees from West Spring- field on his back and in a boat. The row formerly extended from Carew street to Cypress street, but it has been reduced so that there are but five elms and a button-ball of the original row standing. The


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row of elins on Benton park was set out by Stephen O. Russell in 1835, and Mr. Russell set out many other trees. The trees for a great part in the armory grounds were planted under the supervision of Major Ingersoll, who must be called one of the patron saints of Arbor Day. There is a large elm nearly opposite the Olivet church which was native where it stands. The Federal-street trees were set out under General Whitney's administration. Another fine specimen of the old elms is the one near York street on Main street. The tree near the Memorial church is a very fine specimen. The two magnificent trees on State street, just above Elliott, were set out by Capt. William Childs about 1832. Charles Stearns moved an elm from his garden to the street in front of his residence and carefully watered and cared for it. It stands on the corner of Maple and Union streets, and is sometimes called the Stearns eln.


In 1830 the Springfield fire department was incorporated, and here follows the first officers : Elijah Blake, chief engineer ; George Bliss, first assistant ; Simon Sanborn, second assistant ; Edwin Booth, third assistant. The fire wardens were Charles Stearns, Charles Howard, Joseph Lombard, Jr., Silas Stedman, Stephen C. Bemis, Samuel Henshaw, William Childs, Theodore Bliss, Allen Bangs, Ithamer Goodman, and Charles J. Upham. Elijah Blake was the soul of this department, and stands now as the father of Springfield fire depart- ment. An engine-house had been built in 1826 (corner Sanford and Market streets).


Evidence of lawless men abounded in those days, and the author- ities had their hands full for a time. In 1828 a number of bold bur- glaries took place, and the people began to know the value of lock and key. Up to the War of 1812 no one bolted the door of their residence in the town. This was true, by the way, of most of the New England villages. In 1828 John Kinder, employed by Coolidge & Sanderson, stole one hundred and sixteen musk-rat skins from them, and was arrested while attempting to dispose of them at Worcester. A gang of thieves had spread their operations through




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