USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Colrain > The early settlers of Colrain, Mass., or, Some account of ye early settlement of "Boston township no. 2, alias Colrain, adjoyning on ye north sid of Deerfield" : an address delivered before H.S. Greenleaf Post, No. 20, G.A.R., at Colrain, May 30, 1885 > Part 3
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SCHOOLS.
The opportunities for gaining an education were very meager indeed, in those early times, and the ac- complishments of the "three R's" were not by any means a universal possession, With cutting down for- ests, burning over and subduing the new country, clothing the bodies, and filling the mouths of the hun- gry little ones ; for it needs not to be pointed out here, that our fathers and mothers of that day, for all the dangers which surrounded them, and the hard struggle to even exist which was necessary, they never failed to have a goodly quota of little ones about them. And how those little eighteen feet square log houses, held
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the eight, ten, twelve, and even up to near a score, of children of one family; and this not by any means an exception either, seems almost a marvel to us in this day. But such was the case, and with the additional diversion (?) of fighting Indians; with an occasional breaking up and going to the fort for a longer or shorter stay; it is not strange that little attention was paid to the matter of schools. It was not till March 5, 1753, that it was voted, "That the town will have a school this year," and Hugh Morrison, John McCrellis and others entered their protest against having the school master or mistress paid by the lots, but by the scholars that go to the school; implying I think, at least in the case of Hugh Morrison, that he had at this time more 50 acre lots, perhaps, than he had children that were not grown up.
Previous to this, and during and after this time, schools were kept at the houses of some of the settlers; such a school was probably kept at the house of Lieutenant James Stewart, who was one of the earliest teachers, especially in the art of writing; and who lived where Mr William B. McGee now lives; a convenient center for the settlement about the south fort. About 1770, three school districts, or squadrons as they were called, were laid out, called the south side, north side, and north river; and the school houses were appointed to be built, one "near the south west corner of James Stewart's lot," one "on Robert Riddle's lot," and one "on the river above *John Clark's," or just above where Martin Brown
*That no confusion may arise, regarding the persons of this name I have mentioned, let me say that Lieut. John Clark (Senior) settled where Charles Snow now lives, on lot No. 38; his son, John Jr., on
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now lives. A school also was held at Lieutenant Hezekiah Smith's, and in one or two other places. I do not think, however, that these school houses were built previous to the Revolutionary War. A school house was built, probably about 1774 or 5, which stood as the records say, "at the bottom of the hill south of the meeting house,"or just at the east side of the present road as it reaches the top of the mountain, which was for some years, certainly I think till after the war of the Revolution was over, the only school house in town; which if it was the case, and I am confident it was, with the large township, six miles square, with settlers at this time scattered nearly all over it; those on the west side of north river and on Christian hill, must have had to take their schooling, as they were beginning to think they were taking their preaching, rather at arms length, still, they were undoubtedly accomodated with neigh- borhood schools nearer their homes. Here, in this first log school house, my grandfather, Michael McClellan, has told me, that he and his brothers and sisters went to school. Here he, and many of the boys and girls of that day, received all their mental training, to fit them for the positions of honor and trust which they afterward filled, and filled too with great credit. One thing those first schools did not lack, and that was scholars; indeed it has been told me that in the days not long after this, one hundred scholars was not an unusual number in the old south school house; where
lot No. 7, where Mr. Copeland lives ; and the one mentioned here was the oldest son of Matthew Clark, who was killed by the Indians in 1746 ; a grandson of Lieut. John, and father of Daniel Clark, whom many of those now living. remember.
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there are to-day about five or six, all told. The appliances for training the youth have certainly im- proved, but the question in the near future, would seem to be, concerning the whereabout of the youth to be trained. After the close of the Revolutionary War, many school "Squadrons" were established, and school houses built, the records disclosing con- siderable trouble, in some districts in fixing the boundary lines; and a familiarity with the numbers of the various districts throughout the town will I think disclose to you their relative age and priority of establishment.
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CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
As I have said, our fore-fathers were deeply religious men, staunch Presbyterians and strongly attached to the faith in which they were brought up; and on account of which many of them had in the time gone by, suffered persecution; thus around the old church and society, there clusters so much that is of interest, that a brief account of it would seem to be eminently proper and will I trust possess some interest to you.
By the terms of the first grant a meeting house must be built "for the public worship of God," and I have no doubt that the building was commenced the year the first settlers arrived, probably in the summer of 1738. It stood, as you doubtless know, on the top of one of the highest hills in town, just west of the old burying ground. The map indicates that it stood on lot 39, but this is evidently an error, as it stood, unmistakably, on lot 38. It was probably not
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nearly as large as the house on north river, which succeeded it, but was a frame building, the timbers being doubtless from twelve to sixteen inches square, readily procured from the "primeval" forests which surrounded it; (for I take it that "balloon frames" would have found little favor with the builders of that day, nor indeed were they adapted to the locality where this edifice stood;) with a shingled roof and entrance on the south side. It was innocent, I think, of window glass for years after, as it certainly was of a pulpit or pews, and from its advantageous location it did not need, nor have a steeple, nor, did the traditional bell, given by the grateful Irish lord, who was honored by the naming of the town, ever seem to have arrived.
It does not seem to have been but partially finish- ed till after 1742, for at the second town meeting, held March 4th, of that year, Hugh Henry, Robert Hunter and Andrew Smith, were appointed a com- mittee "to treat with the gentlemen," or proprietors about finishing it; and the town meeting held July Ist, of that year seems to have been the first meeting of the kind held in the new building, or as the records say, "the house in which they usually assemble on the Sabbath day."
The first committee to provide preaching consisted of John Clark, Robert Hunter and Andrew Smith, but just who was their first supply, (for they did not have a settled minister till about ten years later) is rather difficult to determine. Rev. Mr Abercrombie of Pelham seems to have preached for them, and board- ed with Hugh Henry previous to July 1743. February 7, 1744, it was voted; "To continue the
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Rev. Mr. Morrison sometime longer," and the Sep- tember following it was voted "to have transient preaching, for the present continue amongst us, sometime longer according to our circumstances at present;" the circumstances probably being the im- pending Indian troubles.
In March, 1752, Hugh Morrison was chosen a committee "to represent our case to the Presbytery" and 200 pounds old tennor, 30 bushels of wheat, and 60 days work, were voted "to Mr Daniel Mitchel or or any other minister who will settle with us in the work of the ministree;" but Mr. Mitchel did not come. January 5, 1753, it was voted, "that the people have agreed to prosecute a call for Mr. Alexander McDowell;" March 5 they took some measures to- ward repairing the meeting house, and March 22 held a meeting; "to see which minister the town will choose whether Mr. Mitchel or Mr. McDowell;" and "voted and chose Mr. McDowell", also "to invite Mr. Abercrombie and Mr. Ashley of Deerfield" to come and keep a fast with us on the twelfth day of April next."
The historian of the Connecticut Valley wonders what this "Fast" means, which would seem to disclose that he was not brought up among the Scotch Presby- terians of New England. Considerable trouble seems to have been experienced in arranging the details for the settlement of Mr. McDowell, regarding the salary &c., and several meetings were held and committees appointed. The last of these held Septem- ber 25, "at seven o'clock in the morning," seems to have settled it, and raises the question in my mind whether it was hardly fair to have called the meeting so early, as some possible objector might not have been an.
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early riser. Alas! how the race have deteriorated, how very few of all the descendants of these good men would have had any sort of a use for a town meeting held at seven o'clock in the morning.
Mr. McDowell was settled as pastor of the church and society, September 27 of this year, and December 3Ist, Hugh Morrison is voted 42 pounds, old tennor, "for boarding ministers and two journeys on the towns business" and some "liqure" "spent at the ordenation." This to us sounds strange, but the customs of that time demanded it. Mr. McDowell's pastorate con- tinued for about eight years, he being dismissed, it has been said, owing to his tendency to intemperance. He continued to reside here, died and was buried here, but no stone marks his grave; his family having neglected, and the town voting in 1768, not to procure any. As there was secured to him in 1761 the land to which the first settled minister was entitled, over two hundred and fifty acres in all, I cannot think that the town could properly be cen- sured. After Mr. McDowell's dismission, Mr Aber- crombie was again invited to preach to them, but some disatisfaction seems to have arisen and it was voted in August, 1763, "that ye Revd. Mr. Abercrom- bie should preach here no longer," and at the same meeting it was voted "to send to ye Jarses for Mr. Thompson" who seems to have been a "Touterer" in ye "Jarse" "College;" but nothing seems to have come of it, nor of several other efforts which followed. In In May 1764, Rer. Mr. Kincaid of New Hampshire was requested to "endeavor to write and bring a minister from Pennsylvania to preach with us and also to settle with us if we like each other," and I have in my possession an old letter of about this date
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a very remarkable and stately document written by the Revd. Mr. Abercrombie of Pelham to Lieutenant James Stewart referring to the matter I have just mentioned.
The meeting house seems to need repairing this year, and it is voted "to give any one the shingles on the south side who will take them off and return the nails to the town," and that Matthew Bolton "provide and frame in a "cell" (meaning doubtless sill) "in the south side" and also "to colour the meet- ing house" and "that it shall be colored 'Blew.' " In 1766, an effort was made to have "Revd. Jonathan Levitt come and preach in town," and also the year following inducements held out to "Rev. Simeon Miller" to settle over them, but this last did not succeed. In January 1768, James Stewart was sent as a committee to Pennsylvania to endeavor to get Rev.Daniel McClel- lan "or some other Presbyterian minister;" though a vigorus protest was made at the expense of sending a man so far. After a great many preliminaries, as the records recite, Mr. McClellan came, though not till he had decided whether he should come or not by setting up a stick and letting it fall as it should happen; as it fell toward Colrain he came. John Bolton who sent for him, and accompanied him and his wife and their three colored servants here, being allowed nine pounds and thirteen shillings for his expenses. Mr. McClellan lived during the first year of his residence here on lot 37, in a house which then stood a short distance east of Mr. G. W. Miller's barn though after his dismission, he lived on the north part of what is now the Roberts farm, just south and adjoining the farm of Col. Hugh McClellan, His pastorate commenced June Ist, 1769, and continued
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about four years. During this time pews were built in the meeting house and it was voted "to pay for them by poll and estate assessed upon the inhabi- tants." In April, 1772, it was voted "to seat the lower part of the meeting house by real and personal estate and that it be done by last year's estimation, and to continue 3 years"; but when the committee, consisting of James Stewart, Dea. Hugh Riddle, John Clark, Dea. Harroun, Hugh McClellan, John Wood and Dea. Thomas Morris, had arranged it as they thought right, the town took it into their own hands, and voted "that the two highest persons in last year's estimation shall take pew No. 2, the two next highest the pew P. 3, and so on until the 38 pews are taken", but who by this arrangement occupied the pew of greatest dignity and who that of the least, will probably never be known. It had been voted in 1769, to build a pulpit, but it met with great opposition and resulted finally, though many years later, in the building of two meet- ing houses, one on North River, and one near where Mr. H. A. Howard now lives.
The project was carried along from 1769 to May 16, 1774, when an appropriation of twelve pounds was voted to build it and a sharp protest against the action of the town is entered upon the records, signed by John Morrison, David Wilson, Joseph Thompson, Daniel "Donetson" and others, living in the west part of the town. Nor can we wonder much at their action, when we consider what a hill they must climb to get to church, and that they should have protested against the permanent improvments which looked to the keeping of the Meeting House in a location that was convenient to the settlers as they at first settled, but not to the inhabitants of the town as a whole, is
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not in the least strange nor unreasonable. It is greatly to be regretted, however, that the building of a new pulpit should have so nearly rent the society in twain; but the trouble seems to have commenced here and to have increased as the years went on. In · February 1777, Rev. Mr. Taggart was ordained and installed as pastor. In 1779 the building of a meeting house on the west side of the river was agitated, and a spot selected by vote of the town, "16 rods north west of David Morrisons house, in Capt. John Mor- risons enclosure, at a stake and stones." This, would have been a move north-west with a vengeance, had it been carried out. The town, however, voted "to give the inhabitants on the west side of North River their proportion of preaching this year," but the meeting house was not built. It would take too long to relate to you, all the votes passed at the various meetings in the years immediately succeeding. In May 1780, it was voted, "not to build a meeting house this year at the place where the committee appointed;" and in July of the same year it was voted, "to choose a committee from out of town to look out a meeting house spot." Messrs. Jonathan Hastings of Charlemont, Benjamin Henry of Halifax, and Agrippa Wells of Greenfield, were agreed upon, and also voted, " that Mr. George Patterson and Capt. Hugh Mcclellan give their attendance on, and instruction to, said committee, with regard to the make of the town." This committee seems to have fixed upon a spot "near Mr Gardners, upon a rising ground northwest of his house, by a stake and stones set up for that purpose;" which location was accepted by the town; but just where it was would be difficult now to determine. Still it would seem that this knotty problem was no nearer
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solution. In March 1783, and again in the same month 1784, it was voted "that one third of the preaching should be on the west side of North River," but in April of this latter year, the town voted, "that there shall be but one place for the public worship of God in this town;" which vote was substantially re- peated in June 1785, and another committee chosen, mainly from out of town, "to settle the controversy"; but not for sometime yet was it settled. It would seem, too, that about this time, good old Parson Taggart began to get disturbed, as I notice that in Sept. 1785, James Stewart, Jonathan McGee and Deacon Harroun, were chosen a committee "to con- verse with the Rev. Mr. Taggart, with regard to the request he laid before the Presbytery at their last meeting, with regard to his dismission from his pastorate;" and voted "to give said committee direc- tions after they shall have conversed with Mr. Tag- gart what to write," which was, "that he be not dismissed.''
In August 1787, it was voted, "to build a meeting house near John Clark's where the committee appoint- ed it, "as soon as conveniency will allow;" and in May of the following year a committee was chosen to procure materials; but yet in February 1789, this committee were given orders to desist from their efforts. And so the see-sawing in this notable con- troversy went on, and it was not till 1795, that a larger and more commodious meeting house was finally built, just north of John Clark's, who lived, as I have said, where Martin Brown now lives. The old church was taken down; and it is said that on the day they met for that purpose, the two factions in this meeting house controversy, had a pitched battle, and
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that some of them were pretty roughly used; but that it was all amicably settled before they separated and no hard feeling was cherished afterward. And it is also a probable fact that some of the timbers of the old church building, were used by Capt. Clark Chandler in building the house in which Mr. Geo. W. Miller now lives. For me to attempt to describe the new house would seem superfluous, as many of you who listen to me have seen and worshiped in it. Here, for nearly a quarter of a century afterward, Parson Taggart instructed his people in the ways of peace and Godliness, (the desk from which he spoke being still used in your town hall to-day;) while they watching their frosted breath as it icily ascended, with every muscle tensely set to prevent the chatter- ing of their teeth, devoutly sat and listened until he had preached to seventeenthly and beyond in the various heads of his sermon; the sun sometimes getting behind the hills before he finished. For at this time the heating of churches was a thing of the future, and the right of it was seriously questioned. And it has been told me, that when my good old grandmother, Jane (Patterson) McClellan, by a little effort among the women had procured a stove, it was talked among the men that "they best get some trousers for her," implying that her actionwas discountenanced. Thus did our fathers seek to ostracise any warmth in their churches, except such as pertained to the doctrines preached.
Many good stories are told of Parson Taggart, among the best of which is the account of his enjoy- ment of the hospitalities of good old Parson Emerson of Conway. The occasion was a gathering of the ministers of the county at that place, and Parson
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Emerson had invited them to his house to be enter- tained. His wife having lived in the city previous to her marriage, was inclined to put on rather more style than some of her guests were accustomed to; the ample table cloth of snowy white damask, being quite a novelty to the assembled ministers, and quite in con- trast with their furnishings at home. Parson Taggart was a large, rather corpulent, and very absent mind- ed. man, inclined to be somewhat careless in his personal appearance. As he sat at table, with the profusion of damask in his lap, the idea got posses- sion of him, that a portion of his under raiment was escaping; and aware that he had on no suspenders, he modestly, but absent mindedly, from time to time proceeded to tuck it in. When the meal was finished and they all arose for the accustomed grace, there came a fearful crash among the good Domine's crockery; and Parson Taggart found that it was not his shirt, but his hostess' snow white table cloth, that he had been tucking behind his capacious waist-band.
Another, somewhat similar, relates to his having occasion to use a shoe maker's awl, and not being possessed of one he borrowed of his parishioner, Dea. McGee. When the time came to return it, arraying himself in his customary long black coat, he started out to do the errand, and make a friendly call upon the Deacon and his family. Arrived there, with his usual absent mindedness, the special purpose of his coming escaped him, and the hours sped by in pleas- ant conversation; nor did it occur to him till in shifting his enormous bulk in the chair he became vividly conscious of the presence of that awl in his coat tail pocket. This was "awl" that was needed; hastily rising, he handed it to the Deacon, remarking
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"Mr. McGee here is your awl", and immediately de- parted for home. On one occasion, he started on horse back, to pay a visit to Rev. . Dr. Packard in Shelburne. On the way, he had occasion to dis- mount to cut a stick for use as he rode; carefully trimming off the branches, he threw it away, carrying the open knife, which he had used, in his hand all the way to Shelburne. He was a very learned and thoroughly good man, greatly respected by all. Fourteen years he served as a member of the U. S. Congress, and is said to have read his Bible, through once at least during each of the years of his service; a practice which perhaps not all the congress. men of the years succeeding have strictly adhered to. He continued to reside in town until his death in 1825, and among the best preserved monumental stones in the old burial ground are those of himself and family.
The same year that this house was built, witnessed the building of the old east meeting house, by parties in the east part of the town who were disgruntled at the location of this, and recently there came into my possession the records of this east society, from the time it started, on through its struggles and trials, un- til it finally voted to sell the meeting house and devote the proceeds to building the tomb in the cemetery near the brick school house. Before I leave this part of my subject, I wish (as being somewhat associated with it,) to refer to the old burial ground, and to several votes passed by the town which seem to go very far toward settling the question of its ownership.
By the old records I find that in March 1745, John Pennill, (Senior,) Robert Hunter, and Hugh Henry were chosen a committee "to take a deed of the grave yard on the part of the town" and in June following,
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it was "voted and granted one pound ten shillings, old tennor, to defray the charges of the grave yard deed." October 1767, it is voted "that the grave yard shall be fenced this year"; voted "that the west side of the grave yard shall be fenced with stones, and the rest with chestnut or oak rails." Also I find in March, 1786, "the bargain was confirmed by a town vote, con- cerning three-fourths of an acre of land adjoining the grave yard" which seems to have been purchased of Dea. George Clark.
Gentlemen, the present pitiful and disgraceful con- dition of this old burial ground, appeals to the sympa- thies of almost everyone present; here
"Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep,"
who while they lived, the sun did not shine upon nobler, braver or grander men. And that their last resting place should be thus desecrated, and the rude tablets which record their virtues destroyed, is a standing disgrace to the town, and to us as indi- viduals. Could the order of the generations have been changed, and they have succeeded us, I am sure that our memories would not thus have been neglected.
SECOND DIVISION LOTS.
Let us again revert to a previous time in the history of these affairs. In April, 1743, the settlers voted "to have the second division land laid out as soon as possible", and also passed votes as to the size of the lots &c; but it was not for several years yet that it was done. Up to this time the six thousand acres which the proprietors had appropriated for this purpose, lying across the north part of the town had remained as at first. About 1751 or 2, the sixty,
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one hundred acre lots were surveyed off and number- ed, and the lots drawn for the settlers by Samuel Clark, after which, notwithstanding the times were "troublous" by reason of the Indians, the farms in the north part of the town began to be taken up and settled upon, though not to any great extent until the close of the Indian War.
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