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 4
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INCORPORATION.
In 1761 the town petitioned to be incorporated; and chapter 10, of the old Province laws, recites; An act for incorporating the Plantation called Colrain into a town called Colrain.
Whereas, the new plantation of Colrain, lying in the county of Hampshire is completely filled with inhabitants, and labors under great difficulties and inconveniences, by means of their not being a town: Therefore; be it enacted, by the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives :
Sec. I. That the said new plantation commonly called Colrain. lying on the northwest of Deerfield, in the county of Hampshire. according to the bounds by which it was established by the General Court, be, and hereby is, erected into a town, invested with all the powers, privileges and immunities, that any of the towns of this province do or may by law enjoy, that of sending a representative to the General Court excepted.
Provided :- Sec. 2. That nothing in this act shall be understood or so construed. as in any manner to supersede or make void any order or orders of this Court now in force, respecting the methods of making assessments within said plantation in time past, but that the same shall remain, and be as effectual as if this act had not been made.
And be it further enacted :
Sec. 3. That Elijah Williams, Esq. be and hereby is empowered to issue his warrant to some principal inhabitant of the said plantation, requiring him in his Majesty's name, to warn and notify the said inhabitants qualified to vote in town affairs, that they meet together at such time and place, in said plantation as by said warrant shall be appointed. to choose such officers as may be necessary to manage the
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affairs of said town, and the inhabitants being so met, shall be and hereby are, empowered to choose such officers accordingly.
Passed June 30, 1761.
Signed and published July 11, 1761
The Indian disturbances now being ended, and the town incorporated; many of the settlers who had pre- viously left their farms on account of the war returned, new accessions arrived, land was bought and settled upon in all directions, and a period of tranquility and prosperity set in, which soon put this young community well on the way to what forty years later it became, one of the most prosperous and enterprising towns in this part of Hampshire County.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
The period which will next claim our attention is the Revolutionary War; and it has occurred to me, whether or not, that provision in the act of incorporation depriving those Scotch-Irish ancestors of ours the choice of a representative, had any effect to increase their contempt for his majesty King George, and to strengthen their patriotic devotion to the cause of the Colonies. Undoubtedly it had; for no Irish "home ruler" of to-day, entertains such utter contempt for privileged rulers, as did they; and it is but natural to suppose that they were in hearty sympathy with the popular grievance of that time, "taxation without representation".
As early as September, 1768, I find it was voted, "that the town shall act on what the Selectmen of the town of Boston have sent to this town, and to send a man to Boston, to join the committee of convention there, that is now met, and that James Stewart, Jr., go as our committee man". It was about this time that
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General Gage with British troops occupied Boston, and this recorded action probably bears some refer- ence to that event, and proves that this distant frontier town was very early interested in the cause of resistance to the mother country.
William Stewart, James Stewart. Hezekiah Smith,“ John Woods, John Morrison, Daniel Donelson, and Thomas Bell, composed the committee of correspond- ence in 1773, and in January of 1774 a very significant town meeting was held. It seems to have been called to consider some communication from the committee of safety at Boston. Joseph Caldwell was chosen moderator, and then meeting adjourned to Mr. John Woods' tavern; (where Mr. Aaron Lyons form- erly lived,) to discuss the situation, and other matters, including probably, certain liquids that John Woods naturally kept; and before they finally adjourned, they framed and passed some resolutions which are marvels of their kind, and fully justify the estimate I have put upon their authors. Undoubtedly James Stew- art, and others whose names I have mentioned, had a hand in the framing and drafting of this remarkable work, and if the same abilities which they have here exhibited, still reside among their descendants, here or elsewhere, they certainly possess talents of a very high order.
These resolutions have been lost or abstracted from the records of the town, but I get them from another source, and deem it eminently proper that the record of this meeting should be given in their own words which are as follows. After receiving the letters sent by the committee of correspondence of Boston to the committee of correspondence of
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Colrain and the proceedings of the town of Boston also, the proceedings of a body of the good people of the province were read; a motion was made whether this town will conform to the firm resolutions of our respectable brethren at Boston; the question, being put, unanimously passed in the affirmative.
"Upon a serious consideration and due sense of our. just rights. liberties, and properties, look upon ourselves by the laws of natural reason and common sense. to cast in our mite when our eyes behold the daring insults of extravagant men, not only those the other side the water, but men born and brought up as brethren with us, whose famous abilities gave us just expectations that thay would die with us rather than deny us, (but alas ! our hopes are gone ; designing men had rather sacrifice their whole country, that was bought by their and our glorious ancestry at the price of their blood, than give up so small a profit). since they could not obtain their former desires as they should get by a little detestable tea sent out by the East India Company upon conditions unknown. We are sorry to see or hear of any of Adam's posterity so blinded (if the light that is in men be darkness, how great is that darkness). Now, in the present posture of our political affairs, it plainly appears to us that it is the design of this present ministry, to serve us as they have our brethren in Ireland,-first, to raise a revenue from us sufficent to support a standing army, as well as placemen aud pensioners, and then laugh at our calamities, and glut themselves on our spoil ; many of us in this town being eye-witnesses of those cruel and remorseless enemies.
"From just apprehension of the horrors and terror of slavery, we are induced to make the following resolves :
"First .- Resolved, That as freemen and Englishmen we have a right to the disposal of our own, are certain there is no property in that which another can of right take from us without our consent, and that the measures of late pursued by the Ministry of Great Britian, in their attempts to subject the colonies to taxation by the authority of British Parliament. is unjust, arbitrary, inconsistant and unconstitutional.
"Secondly .- Resolved, That by landing teas in America, impos- ing a duty by an act of Parliament (as is said). made for the support
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of government, etc., has a direct tendency to subvert our Consititution and to render our General Assembly useless and government arbitrary, as well as bondage and slavery which never was designed by Heaven or earth.
"Thirdly .- Resolved, That raising a revenue in America, to support placemen and pensioners, who, no doubt, when their scheme is once established, will be as merciless as those task- -masters in Egypt, and will silence the murmurs of the people by laying on them greater burdens.
"Fourthly .- Resolved, That we do. discountenance mobs, and unlawful and riotous assemblies ; but when our valuable liberties and privileges are trodden under foot, and all petitions and remon- strances are rejected and treated with infamy and scorn, it is the duty of every true-hearted American (if possible) to free themselves from impending ruin.
"Fifthly .- Resolved, That the late proceedings of the town of Boston, assembled at Boston, to consult measures against the East India Company, have gained the approbation and applause of every true-hearted, honest man; and as their struggle is for the rights purchased by our renowned ancestors, which we esteem as dear as life itself, do fully express our satisfaction.
"Sixthly .- Resolved, That we will not, by ourselves, or any under us, directly or indirectly, purchase any tea, neither will we use any on any occasion, until that unrightous act be repealed, and will use our utmost endeavors with every person in our town as we have opportunity, that they shall do the same ; and those that buy and sell teas contrary to our true intent and meaning, shall be viewed as enemies to their Country, and shall be treated as such".
It needs not to be pointed out, that these are remarkable sentiments which our fathers have here left on record, regarding the momentous events which were then transpiring. Scarce less clearly is the true animus of the situation apprehended and set forth, by these plain men, in what they have here written, than it was two years later by the great patriot, Thomas Jefferson, in the immortal Declara- tion of our Independence. They plainly discover to
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us their opinions regarding the tax upon tea, and that the utmost resistance to the aggressions of the mother country was a first and paramount duty.
And too, I think there is expressed in these reso- lutions, which might well be called a prior Declar- ation of Independence: that which fully justifies what I have asserted regarding their, or their an- cestors' experiences in Ireland, and the mighty influ- ence they there received, tending to make them self- reliant, and rugged in their resistance to oppression from whatever source. They had felt in Ireland the crushing weight of this same hand of power and had emigrated to this forbidding rocky wilderness, to enjoy what they esteemed to be inherent rights, which were denied them there; and now the same oppressive influence, was proposing to attack them here, designing to absorb all the results of their hard- earned prosperty and to again reduce them to the position of dependant vassals. Happily, in this, the Mother Country was unsuccessful, and that, because our forefathers were just such men as they were and had encountered just the experience we have referred to. Following this, a committee was chosen "to post such persons as shall sell or consume that unnecessary article tea", and I have no doubt that the destruction of a shipload of it by dumping it into Boston harbor was to them a source of supreme satisfaction, as the resolutions very plainly intimate. John Woods, Heze- kiah Smith, Hugh Mcclellan, Geo. Clark, Thomas Bell, James Stewart and David Harroun are the committee of correspondence in 1774, and about the same persons are a committee "to prevent mobs and riotous assemblies in town"; for it must be owned that not all were patriots, but that quite a number of
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tories were found here at that time. But the patriots were so largely in the excess as to effectually over-awe them; and some of them, at least, were of such decided convictions upon these matters that an outspoken tory was liable to pretty rough treatment at their hands. It is probable that the company of minute- men was organized and drilled during this year, in anticipation of the stirring events which it was fully believed could not be a great while longer postponed; so that when the news reached them that fighting had begun, the men of this town were ready to respond.
On the 19th of April, 1775, occured what is known as the Lexington Alarm, and "the shot was fired heard round the world". The news was brought by men on horseback, alarming the towns as they ' came; one of them reaching Greenfield it is said, in the afternoon of the day on which the battle occurred, the news probably reaching this town before night. The minute-men were hastily got together, to start at once for the scene of action. How the 44 men that compos- ed this company could have been got together so quick- ly has seemed marvelous, living as they did, some in Shelburne, and scattered from there clear to the Halifax line. But the time for action had arrived and like brave old Gen. Putman, "they stopped not on the order of their going". It has always been said, that the company was quartered during this night before they left, at the houses of Capt. McClellan, Dea. McGee, and Dea. Harroun; camping down on the floor, what time they were not engaged in getting ready a stock of bullets for future use; while the wives and mothers are said to have spent the night frying doughnuts. And I have no doubt such was
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substantially the case. I have often tried to imagine how they appeared as they started for Cambridge, on that memorable 20th of April; nothing very attractive in their looks, no great show of uniform; perhaps they had guns enough to go round and perhaps not, they did not always have, not till the battle commenced; but there were no hearts that quailed among them, and the experienced eyes that sighted those long gun barrels made it mighty dangerous to be within range of their muzzles. Their term of service at this time only continued about two weeks, though a large proportion of them re-enlisted. They were allowed nothing for entertainment, and at a town meeting held April 24, it was voted, "To send a waggon load of provisions to our men at Boston who have gone in the defence of their Country", and May 9th, following, voted; "to send nine pounds to the soldiers belong- ing to this town now at Cambridge"; and there is pathos in what follows, "that the selectmen do their utmost to borrow said sum". John Morrison and Dea. Wm. McCrellis are to meet at the house of James Stewart to prize some blankets that are to be sent, and May 23, Lieutenant Hezekiah Smith is chosen a delegate to the provincial Congress at Watertown.
I regret very much that there is a gap in the old records from Nov. of this year to March 1779, so that we lose any possible action of the town relative to the declaration of Independence, and the stirring events enacted during 1776. But we find that from February 23 to April 10, 1777, quite a number of Colrain men were with Capt. Lawrence Kemp of Shelburne doing duty at Ticonderoga, and in August of that year, a number of men connected with the minute-men, living in the north part of the town,
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hearing the cannon at Bennington, hastily got to- gether as many as they could of the company, and post off on horseback as fast as possible, to help out the brave Continentals under General Starke, but arrive too late to do much fighting. In the two months succeeding, however, this company is destined to play an important part in the drama of events, now speeding fast to a denoument. Burgoyne, flushed with success thus far, was confident he could carry all before him and by dividing the colonies on the line of the Hudson River, thus fatally weaken them; and so celebrate a happy Christ- mas with Sir Henry Clinton, whom he expected to meet at Albany. Our brave Scotch-Irish ancestors, aware, as doubtless you are, of the fate of the lovely Miss McCrea, and that a like fate was portended to their own wives and firesides, should his success be accomplished, needed no other incentive to resist and crush this danger which threatened their borders.
In September, Col. David Wells, grandfather of the present Col. David Wells of Shelburne, came from the seat of war about Saratoga, to stir up the people and induce them to rally for one last, resistless blow upon their enemy, and whereas it seemed that every man that could be spared had gone; the women, imbued with the very spirit of Spartan Mothers, said we will harvest the oats and care for the work that is pressing, go and fight for your country. And throughout this vicinity, from the Vermont line as far south as Savoy, he took back with him 1500 additional men. So general was this rally that in a time of wide-spread and deathly sickness which followed, it is said that only the aged men and the women were left to care for the sick and bury the.
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dead. Go not to ancient history for the record of deeds of surpassing heroism, but rather to the record of the deeds of those who filled our places, 100 years ago.
Forty six of the "minute-men" from this town, under Capt. Hugh McClellan went out at this time and were present at the surrender of Burgoyne in the following month; and the story of their exploits as told in "Holland's History of Western Massachusetts" is substantially correct, and Capt. McClellan was often wont to repeat it to his grand-children.
After the fall of Burgoyne, the theatre of war was removed to other and more distant fields, and while our fathers, never for a moment lost their interest in the cause, yet the record of the time is evidence of how hardly was our Independence achieved. The long protracted struggle was a fearful drain upon the limited resources of this young and over-taxed com- munity, and as I read the record of the two succeeding years, it needs no stretch of the imagination to dis- cover that these were times of dire extremity; the necessaries of life were fabulously dear, nothing was cheap except Continental money, the tories began to prick up their ears, plenty were ready to say "I told you so," and there begins to become apparent even almost among the tried and true ones, who were prominent in town affairs, a spirit of petulant murmur- ing and discontent, that a few years later broke out in open rebellion. In April, 1779, it was voted, "That no person belonging to any other town shall purchase cattle or any other provision in this town unless such person shall produce a certificate from the selectmen or committee of the town to which he belongs, that he is not a monopolizer or forestaller, and that he
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is a friend of the United States of America," and Oliver Newell, Lieut. Jonathan Wilson, and Deacon Harroun, were chosen inspectors of monopolizers and forestallers. Also I have under date of June 21, of this year, a communication from he committee of safety and correspondence of Boston, John Lowell Chairman; directed to the committee of this town; treating of this very matter, and showing that this evil was widely prevalent. And as discovering still more, their straitened circumstances, it was voted Sep. 20, 1779, to choose David Wilson, Oren Smith, James Stewart, William Stewart and Jonathan McGee, a committee "to state the price of hay &c.," and they reported that the price of hay be "thirty six shillings per hundred pounds, horse-keeping per night thirteen shillings, and oxen per night nineteen shillings." From some old letters in my possession, I also get some facts still further illuminating their perilous sit- uation. The first is from David Jeffries, (a descendant of Joshua Winslow, one of the original proprietors of the town) under date of Oct. 15, 1780, written to James Stewart, the town clerk. Towards the close of his letter he says, "30 or 40 good tallow for candles and 40 or 50 good butter, would be very acceptable; can- dles and butter are at the high prices of 15 dollars per pound." The other is from Hartford, under date of Nov. 12, 1780, also written to James Stewart. Among other matters it says, "by the post you will receive three Spanish milled dollars, in hard money, equivalent to 240 Continental dollars par of exchange here". Thus we see that on a "hard money" basis, butter was worth about twenty cents per pound, or very near the average price it brings to day. But of gold and silver
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our fathers possessed very little, and that only of a foreign stamp, and were consequently subjected to the fluctuations of Continental paper money, and their sit- uation was pitiful indeed. Thus too, do these old and venerable written papers, musty and yellowed by time, throw light upon the hard facts which existed away back in the time when liberty commenced in this land of ours, which now boasts sixty millions of freemen. I wish I might give you many other votes of a similar nature to those I have stated above, passed by the men of this town about these times; for I deem it they must possess great interest to us all; but am obliged to omit them. I must not however omit some account of a certain town meeting held in the year 1780, and which was one of the most extraordinary town meetings of which I have any knowledge, and, considering the size of the community, I do not think it has its parallel anywhere in the history of the state.
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On the 13th of August, 1779, Hezekiah Smith was chosen "to go to Cambridge on the first day of Sept- ember next, to help frame a constitution, or new form of Government, for the State of Massachuetts Bay". The convention met on the above date, and continued by adjournments till the second day of March following, at which time it adjourned until the first Wednesday of the ensuing June, and in the meantime the Constitution was submitted to the people for ratification. A meeting was held here on Tuesday, the 16th day of May, and Major Hezekiah4 Smith was chosen moderator. It was than voted "to read the Constitution paragraph by paragraph, or the clause, or clauses, and every person to make their objection, or objections, to any paragraph, or any
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clause, in said Constitution". This was accordingly done, and amendments proposed, discussed, and
voted upon, to nearly every article it contained; after which, Major Smith, Capt. McClellan, William Stew- art, Lieutenant Pennill, Oren Smith, Deacon Lucas,
proper on the remainder of the constitution", and to also to make such amendments as they shall think up in proper order the amendments above, and and Deacon McGee, were chosen a committee,"to draw
the last clause of said article; and gave as a in the bill of rights, except the first seven lines, and permit. They disapproved of the entire third article might introduce it here entire, but my space will not respect a most remarkable production. I wish I articles and giving their reasons therefor and is in every full and particular; stating their objections to various instant. This report under date of May 19, is very report at an adjourned meeting to be held on the 26th
reason that they thought that the Legislature had
"not a right to command the subject in matters of
ed of the qualification fixed for Senators (one hundred religion, unless in his protection." They disapprov-
pounds) and gave as a reason, "we consider money as no qualification in this matter". They thought
eleven Senators sufficient to constitute a quorum :
"Reason,-to prevent unnecessary cost". They moved
to amend the 2nd article of the 2nd chapter, regarding the qualification for Governor; "That the sum of one
thousand pounds be not considered a qualification"
portant chair to be filled with qualifications prefer- of Christian. Reasons,-Ist., We could wish the im- and "that the word Protestant be substituted instead
able to that of money", and 2nd, "We are a Protestant
people". In the 2nd Article of Chapter 6th; "We
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move that an addition be made to this article; that no person be suffered to hold any office in this Commonwealth who has not been friendly to the independence of said Commonwealth". Reason,-"A person who has acted the traitor in this important matter is not to be trusted".
These specimens must suffice; and I submit that in the light of events that have since transpired, the wisdom of many of their suggestions and criticisms, is fully apparent. A stranger, reading these pages in the old record book might well inquire, who were these wise philosophers, who discuss so ably the science of government? and the answer would be, they are the plain yeomanry of the land, the same men who have cut down these forests, and brought fertility to these valleys; unlearned, untutored men, their opportunties the slighest, for the commonest kind of a common school education; yet their wis- dom, their candor, and their fearlessness, are so appar- ent in what they have here written, that the student who reads it after the lapse of a hundred years, can- not repress a feeling of pride that such men were our predecessors; and' I predict that whoever may read it, when another century shall have closed; that in the light of the then current events, he will have no less cause for satisfaction.
Following these events, our fathers began to feel most sorely the force of their straitened circumstances. With the close of the war of the Revolution; serious embarrasments, both public and private, seemed to beset them at every hand. Nor were the reasons for this far to seek. Massachusetts had furnished one third
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