USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Wilbraham > The history of Wilbraham, Massachusetts; > Part 19
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It does not appear that the town ever received any surplus revenue from the state, after July 27, 1837. On April 26, 1837, "Luther Brewer, Wm. S. Burt and John Carpenter were chosen a committee to take care of all Loan Money belonging to the Town," and instructed to loan no man more than five hundred dollars at one time." As I have said, the town had the right to use this Surplus Revenue fund for ordinary expenses. But it was loaned out for some years. As near as I can ascertain, it was probably used as follows (Copied from treasurer's account of receipts) :
"Mar. 28, 1838, Surplus Revenue for Bridge
$300.00
Oct. 17, & 25, 1851, (probably for bridge at North Wilbraham) 1985.95
Jan. 5, & 15, 1852,
163.50
Mar. 31, & Apr. 3, 1852 " 66
66
184.55
Apr. 7, 1856 487.50
In Mar. Apr. May & Nov. 1863, (War expenses probably)
914.13
$4,035.63"
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
This would nearly use up the Surplus Revenue which the town received.
Then there was the Town Loan, which would include the Deacon Warriner legacy of $666.66, and the amount derived from the sale of the two school lots, about $416, total $1,082.66.
The treasurer also received, in addition to the amounts given above,
"Mar. 28, 1864 From Town Loan Com. 799.87
July 20, 1864
School fund 66
98.67
Nov. 22, 1851
101.91
1010.45"
These accounts do not quite balance, and the remainder was doubtless received by the treasurer and entered with the "interest from loan Com."
Previous to 1837, the interest on the Town Loan, for many years, was $56.09. That would be the interest, at 6 per cent on $934.84.
From 1838 to about 1863 the treasurer received different amounts each year as "interest on the town loan."
The town, having used the funds, to pay various expenses, the selectmen gave a note to the Loan Committee, probably in 1866. The note probably was for $1,705.17. The yearly interest on that note, at 6 per cent, would be $102.31, and that sum was paid each year as interest on the "Town Loan" up to March 15th, 1878, when the South Parish was set off as the Town of Hampden, and I suppose they assumed their propor- tion of the town debts, according to the respective valuation of the two parishes, which was, North Parish, about 8-13, South Parish about 5-13 of the entire valuation of the town, which was, $950,649.
The present Town Loan Committee, Mr. J. M. Perry, in- forms me that the note which he now has is dated March 31, 1911, and signed by F. W. Green and G. L. Rindge, selectmen, and was given to replace one that had become dilapidated. The amount of the note is $1308.40, and the interest, $78.50, is
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
paid yearly by the town and added to the amount appropriated for schools.
The source from which this fund was derived was about as follows:
1780, Legacy from Deacon Nathaniel Warriner, $666.66
1772, Sale of 2 School lots, 8-13 of same, about, 256.00
Other Sources, perhaps some from surplus revenue, 385.74
$1,308.40
A Mr. Clark, who left the county, is said to have given his lot for the support of schools.
It is quite probable that within a few years the town will be required to restore this fund, and place it on deposit, so that there will be an actual income received from it, which will be applied to the support of schools. The state authorities are looking up such matters in the towns throughout the state, and in some cases have found that such funds have disappeared, probably through carelessness in bookkeeping, and the source from which the fund was derived, or the names of the donors of it, have been forgotten. In the case of Wilbraham, the town borrowed the money from the Town Loan Committee and gave a note for it. The interest has been paid yearly and added to the amount appropriated for schools. If it is restored, as I expect it will be, I hope it will be deposited in a savings bank and called, THE DEACON WARRINER & SCHOOL LOT FUND.
Since the foregoing was written, eight reports of the Town Loan Committee have been found among bundles of old papers in the town clerk's office. They are for the years ending April 1st, 1842, '43, '44, 1852, '53, '54, '55, '57. In the earlier reports the accounts of the "Old Town Loan" and of the "Surplus Revenue" are kept separate. In 1843, the total amount of the "Old Town Loan" is reported to be $934.61, and the "Surplus Revenue" as $4,111.65. These figures vary but a few cents from those which I have previously given. In 1852, the "Com- mittee on the Town Loan and Surplus Revenue" report, "That agreeabel to a Vote of the Town last April, we have collected the amount required, on obligations notes and bonds due the
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
town, the sum of $2,334.00, and have paid the same to the Town Treasurer." As I have already said, most of this last sum was probably used to build the bridge over Chicopce River, at North Wilbraham. Judging from these reports, the figures which I have previously given are substantially correct.
BRIDGE OVER CHICOPEE RIVER AT NORTH WILBRAHAM. Built about 1852.
THE MILLERITE EXCITEMENT
The history of the times, from about 1840, to about 1860, would hardly be complete without some reference to the weird and startling teachings of a class of preachers who proclaimed, with great earnestness and zeal, that the end of the world was swiftly approaching.
The "Stebbins History" says: "Then came the Millerites, or 'Adventists' as they are now called, and awakened great interest and not a little terror in some minds, by their 'demon- strations' from the horns of Daniel's beasts, and the 'time and times and half a time' of his prophecies, that the world would be burned up in April 1843. Fortunately or unfortunately, the consuming fire did not descend nor the watching saints ascend, and the 'demonstrations' failing, a large portion of the interest failed with it." But the interest continued to some extent. About 1854, I remember hearing Dr. Abial Bottom, of South
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Wilbraham, telling my great-uncle, Dr. Gideon Kibbe, of an experience of his, while driving along our Main Street towards his home, a little south of "The Green." It was in the early evening and suddenly his horse stopped, apparently half frightened at something he saw up in a tree close at hand. The doctor himself looked and saw a shape resembling a human figure, up among the branches and he asked, "What are you doing up there, this time of night?" A woman's voice answered, substantially, "Before the morning sun shall rise, the fires from heaven will descend and this earth will be melted in the fierce heat. I have on my ascension robe, and am waiting to be wafted to the realms of light beyond the skies." The sound of the woman's voice relieved the anxiety of the horse, and the doctor drove on to his home without giving any advice.
About 1854, a barn was burned on the east side of our Main Street, just north of the Soldiers' Monument lot. I heard it told that a meeting was held in a near-by house, an evening or two afterwards, and one of the speakers, in a state of great excitement, was discussing the imminent conflagration of the world, and he went on to tell how the trial of fire had already commenced, and said, "Before another week shall pass, the fires shall descend and destroy another building here in Wilbra- ham." Sure enough, within the week, the barn next to the other took fire and was entirely destroyed.
One of these barns stood in the rear of the house now owned by F. A. Gurney, and the other in rear of the old "Virgin House" which was torn down a few years ago. I do not re- member which burned first. I was then about ten years old and, with other boys, ran to each fire, when the alarm bell sounded.
I remember attending a camp meeting, in the grove on the hill easterly of Grace Church, in 1854, or 1855, when the Crimean War was being fought, and the speaker referred to the conflict then being waged in the Far East, and went on to say that the war in the Crimea would spread over the entire earth, and that every nation of the world would become involved in it, and, "THEN THE END WILL COME."
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
In these days, it is hard to realize the state of mind of those persons who believed in that doctrine. But I believe that most of them were sincere.
The following is copied from a sermon, delivered on the pre- diction that the world would come to an end in 1843.
THE FALSE ALARM
A
DISCOURSE,
ON THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES,
AS REPRESENTED BY MR. MILLER AND OTHERS, TO PORTEND
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST IN THE YEAR 1843.
DELIVERED IN THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,
SOUTH WILBRAHAM
SABBATH EVENING, JUNE 12TH, 1842.
BY JAMES A. HAZEN, PASTOR OF THE CHURCH.
"A copy of the sermon was furnished for publication at the request of a committee from the society, dated June 23, 1842, and signed by:
S. Clark Spelman, - Cortez Russell, Committee John S. Beebe,
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"DISCOURSE
"But can ye not discern the signs of the times?"-Matt. 16:3. "It is not my present design to go into a general con- sideration of the signs of the times.
"My course is determined by recent strange doings in the community. A class of men have arisen, who by means of papers, books, and public lectures, are attempting to alarm the public mind, with the idea that some unusual crisis is at hand. They boldly maintain, that the signs of the present time are such as the scriptures inform us shall immediately precede the second coming of Christ, and the dissolution of the world.
"The awful nature of the subject forbids, that in handling it, I should have any regard to personal feelings or prejudices. (He then speaks of some interesting phenomena in those times, and says): "Our only course, therefore, is to look back, and to compare the present with the past. Go back, then, in imagination, one hundred years, and look around upon the prodigies then taking place. . . . (He then mentions an earthquake of prodigious extent in Europe and Africa which) has shaken half the globe, buried cities in ruins, split the earth into hideous chasms, which have swallowed many thousands of mankind and tossed the ocean into an unusual ferment for thousands of miles. Strange meteros,
fiery bloody-colored sky three unusual circles intersecting the sun and each other. This is a description given by an eye-witness, of events which took place about the middle of the last century. So far is it from being true that the present time is distinguished by such events, that you can fix on no period since the beginning of the Christian era, when they have been less frequent. . . So far, there- fore, as these signs are concerned, we should suppose that we were on the eve of the reign of universal peace, rather than of the world's dissolution. I must then ask, What think ye of the men, who in the face of these facts, presume to talk in the fol- lowing manner? 'Who is so blind as not to be able to see in the present age a fulfillment of the above-mentioned signs. . . ' ?* Think again of that strange compound of reason and madness, Emmanuel Swedenborg, the learned Swedish noble- man. What was the main element of his delusion? It was, that in 1757, Christ came to judgment, and began the new heavens,
* "The Midnight Cry," p. 65.
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
and the new earth! That strange community the Shakers, had their origin also, in the same thing. Anna Leese, their mother, maintained that her coming was the second coming of Christ! And the Mormons-the abhorrence, and the laughing stock of the world, interweave the same doctrine into their abominable system.
"How unhappy for their cause, then, is the metaphor which these men employ, when they say 'The gospel, like the sun, arose in the East, and will set in the West!' . .
. . They maintain with the boldest effrontry, that the result of their speculations upon the prophecies, has the same claim to our belief as any doctrine of revealed truth. . . . The natural result of such a representation, I need not describe. When yonder little girl said, 'Mother, I want to die this summer- I don't want to live next year and be burnt up,' she gave a better view of it than could be obtained from any lengthened description of mine. And now it is proclaimed to the world, that God does 'own and bless' the preaching of this doctrine. Now my friends, I place myself in imagination for- ward beyond the year 1843. . . I see the sun as usual rolling around the world, and men engaged as they now are, in the pursuits of life. I pause and listen to the talk of different classes of men. Yonder I see a club of infidels, and as they make merry, and fill the air with profane jests, I hear such expressions as these: 'Aye, I knew it was so. The Bible is proved a lie, and its religion priestcraft.' I see them-with new zeal scatter the books of Voltaire and Paine, and with them 'The Midnight Cry'! I look again, and I see another circle, who talk in the following manner: 'Aye, I knew it was so. The notion of a general judgment is a bugbear; the necessity of conversion is a mere dogma; revivals of religion are all a farce.' Oh, tell me not that this will do no harm. I therefore feel called upon for myself, and in behalf of the friends of truth, now beforehand, solemnly to protest, that we disown all par- ticipation in this scheme, and we disclaim all responsibility for its results. . . . And to the man, who, in 1844, shall attempt to turn this scheme and its results against the Bible, and against religion. I say Hold! This scheme is no part of the Bible. It is a scheme of wicked or deluded men; and to their account place its results. . . . Let nothing which I have said lead to the idea, that I have any feeling of animosity toward the men, who are engaged in propagating this scheme. For if they are under a delusion, I do most sincerely, and deeply pity them. But if my fellow men will not hear this message,
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which God has bid me deliver, I may not resort to cunningly devised fables: for the moment that I do, I place myself on the same level with the priest of the heathen temple, and the minister of the man of sin. The gospel which we preach com- mends itself to every man's conscience; and God forbid that I should forsake this and turn to fables. . . May God give me grace never to fear to speak the whole truth, when duty demands it, even though I shall thereby drive from me my nearest friends."
THE CIVIL WAR
In introducing the subject of the Revolutionary War, Dr. Stebbins said: "The epic of this period yet remains to be recited. . . . In this hour of our country's trial and peril, when the continent trembles under the tread of contending armies, and the air is torn with the thunder of cannon, and the war shout."
If the Revolutionary War was the epic of that period, then the account of the times which we are approaching, may be called the story of the tragic days of 1861-1865.
At the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town, speaking of the work which had been wrought here by our ancestors, Rev. Dr. Stebbins, near the close of his address, said:
"As they nobly bore their share in the burdens and perils of the war of invasion, and of independence, so now you rise in the glory of your strength to crush rebellion and vindicate free- dom. If Warriner, and Warner, and Merrick, and Bliss, and Brewer, and Chapin, and Langdon, and Stebbins, and Morris, rushed to the field to throw off the yoke of British oppression, and wring from royal lips the confession of our independence and nationality, their sons, not less patriotic, not less heroic, have left home and wife and child, to 'preserve' the sacred ark of liberty and the holy standard of freedom. The blood of the loved and the brave has been poured out like water that the sin of oppression may be attoned for; and the cry for help from the struggling country . will not be disregarded.
The hour of God's eternal purpose has struck. Not sprinkled with the blood of lambs, but with the blood of men, does he now keep his people's passover. The flaming sword of the
.
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
avenging angel stretches over the land, and the bondmen go out under it. Glory to God in the Highest."
Today, fifty years afterwards, it is hard for most of us to realize the tremendous import of those prophetic words.
When they were spoken here, the War of the Rebellion was at its worst. The battle of Gettysburg had not been fought, and Vicksburg had not fallen. The tide of battle, of victory and defeat, flowed backward and forward in an irregular line across the continent, from the Atlantic to beyond the Missis- sippi, in an awful sea of blood.
At that time, about one hundred and fifty of the men of Wilbraham, with sword or musket in their hands, offered their bodies as a breastwork to stay the on-rushing forces of dis- union and disintegration. And today, because of their heroic service, and that of the hundreds of thousands who served with them, we have a reunited, and a United country. It is prac- tically impossible, at this time, to convey to the minds of the generations born since those eventful days, any conception of the feeling of intense anxiety and suppressed excitement which pervaded the entire North during the early part of 1861, and for several years previous.
The question of the extension of slavery into the new states, then being settled in the West, kept the entire country in a turmoil of excitement. A special committee of Congress was appointed to investigate the "Troubles in Kansas." A minority of the committee reported in 1856. Their report fills a volume of more than twelve hundred pages. On page 445, I find that Edmund Jones voted at an election held in their town of Lawrence on March 30, 1855. Edmund Jones was a Wilbraham man. How long he remained out there I do not know. But late in the autumn of 1855 or 1856 he came back to Wilbraham, and one evening quite a large company of his friends and neighbors gathered in the old First Church (the one which was moved down from Wigwam Hill), while he told some of his experiences in that hastily settled state. "Bleeding Kansas," it was then generally called.
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
As I remember the occasion, the incidents he related were mostly concerning the numerous street brawls and fights which occurred among those early pioneers, drawn there by the all- important question of whether Kansas should be a free or a slave state. We may well believe that, through him, Wilbra- ham had a voice, or a vote, in settling that important question. Mr. Jones lived for a good many years in the house on the west side of Main Street, opposite the road which leads up to the Woodland Dell Cemetery. It is the house with the colonial pillars. He built it.
The question of the extension of slavery had agitated the country for a long time, and was regarded by different sections of our union of states in such an entirely different way, that none of the compromises attempted were sufficient to settle the difficulty, and one sad day, April 12th, 1861, the voice of the cannon demanded the surrender of the United States forces at Fort Sumter, S. C. On April 15th, only three days later, Presi- dent Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for three months. On April 20th, 1861, Charles E. Buell, of this town, enlisted in answer to that call. He was the first man to enlist from Wil- braham, and when the three months were completed, he reënlisted into the 10th Massachusetts Infantry, which was then gathering on Hampden Park in Springfield. His home was about one mile north of our Center village, on the west side of Main Street, where Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Knowlton lived until a short time ago. The place is now owned by Mr. O. L. Millard. The cannon at Fort Sumter aroused the North as from a trance, party distinctions were for a time swept away, and there was but one party worth the name-the party for the Union. In Wilbraham, "War Meetings," usually addressed by local speakers, were held every few weeks, in one of the churches, and the principal thought in each address was, "The Union, It Must And Shall Be Preserved." And the young men were importuned and entreated to give their lives, if need be, to preserve the Union established by the fathers. And-the young men responded. About sixty enlisted during the re- mainder of the year of 1861, and before the war was ended the
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
town of Wilbraham had furnished 228 men for the army and navy, as shown on the Rebellion Records of our town. The "History of Massachusetts in the Civil War," published by William Schouler in 1871, gives us credit for "two hundred and twenty three men for the war (and adds) which was a surplus of twenty-six over and above all demands. . . Four were com- missioned officers. . . The whole amount of money appro- priated and expended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was thirteen thousand two hundred and fifty-five dollars. ($13,255.00).
"The amount of money raised and expended by the town for State aid to soldiers families during the war, and which was repaid by the Commonwealth, was ten thousand eight hundred six dollars and ten cents. ($10,806.10)." The same History says: "The ladies of Wilbraham contributed liberally of their time and means to the comfort of the soldiers. One lady made two feather-beds into pillows for them."
The pillows were probably sent to some hospital. They would have been comfortable in camp but very inconvenient to carry while on the march.
No bounties were paid to those who enlisted until after July 1st, 1862. On July 26th, 1862, "The selectmen were authorized to pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each volunteer for three years' service, when mustered in and credited to the quota of the town, the number not to exceed twenty. On August 28, 1862, the town voted to pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each volunteer for nine months' service, and about one month later this amount was increased to two hundred dollars. On July 28, 1864, the treasurer was authorized to borrow, not exceeding eight thou- sand dollars, "to be called a recruiting fund," and to be used to procure men to fill the quota of the town under the recent call of the President for more men. It having been reported that some of the men who had enlisted from Wilbraham had been credited to other towns, Porter Cross and Sumner Smith were chosen "to investigate the matter at Boston," and have the rolls there corrected.
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THE HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM
At a meeting held January 16th, 1865, the following resolu- tion was passed:
"Resolved, That a vote of thanks be tendered to General B. F. Butler for his services in the United States military department during the present civil war."
The injustice of paying bounties to the soldiers who enlisted in the second, third, or fourth years of the war, and not paying anything to those who enlisted during the first year, has been considered for a long time, until the legislature of 1912 passed "An Act to provide for suitably rewarding certain veteran soldiers and sailors." Chapter 702, Acts of 1912: "For the purpose of promoting the spirit of loyalty and patriotism, and in recognition of the sacrifice made both for the commonwealth and for the United States by those veteran soldiers and sailors who volunteered their services in the civil war, . a gra- tuity of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each veteran (then living), is hereby authorized to be paid from the treasury of the commonwealth. (To those not having received any bounty from the state or any town, and not being intended as an equalization of bounty), . but a testimonial for meritorious service, such as the commonwealth may rightly give, and such as her sons may honorably accept and receive." So far as I have learned, there are only two veteran soldiers of Wilbraham now living, who are entitled to this gratuity, James S. Morgan, and
The war ended in the summer of 1865, and the flags which the different regiments had borne in that conflict, some of them in many battles, were returned to the custody of the state on December 22, 1865.
"The Adjutant General of Massachusetts, in his report for that year, addressed to the Governor, says: 'The most inter- esting State military ceremony at the close of the war, was the reception, by your Excellency, of the colors of the different regiments and batteries at the State House, on the 22nd of December, the two hundred and forty-fifth anniversary of the landing of the 'Pilgrim Fathers,' at Plymouth. It was a
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ceremony which can never be repeated, and will forever form an interesting part of the written and performed history of the war.' Nearly every Massachusetts regiment was represented in the column of veterans which bore the battle flags to the State House. The head of the procession reached the Capitol about one o-clock. As the regiments arrived, the color-bcarers deployed upon the steps in front of the edifice, while the re- mainder gathered in the yards on either side. A prayer was offered; then Major General Darius N. Couch, the ranking officer of volunteers in Massachusetts, addressed Governor Andrew (in part) as follows:
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