USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
4I
HADLEY APPROPRIATIONS FOR SCHOOLS.
CHAPTER VI.
SCHOOL APPROPRIATIONS BY HADLEY AND BY THE THIRD PRECINCT .- FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES .- LANDS COMPRISED IN HADLEY THIRD PRECINCT .- ANNEXATIONS OF LAND.
It is probable that for many years after the first settlement at East Hadley, and after the setting off of the Third Precinct, the children of the early settlers attended school in the parent town. The Hadley records under date of March 6, 1748, contain the following :
"Voted that one hundred Pounds (old tenor) be granted and raised for and towards the Support of Schooling in the Second and third precincts : that is to say. Fifty Pounds for the use of the Second Precinct and Fifty Pounds for the use of the Third Precinct."
This is the first reference that can be found in regard to schooling in the Precinct, although Judd considers it probable that some private schools were established before that date. In 1734, Samuel Mighill, an old school- master, resided in the Precinct. May 17, 1754, the town of Hadley appro- priated 66, 13s. for schooling in the Second Precinct; South Hadley had been set off as a separate district and the Third Precinct had become the Second. Aug. 5 of the same year Hadley voted that the money appropri- ated for schools in the Second Precinct " be employed in hiring some suit- able schoolmaster." March 3, 1753, {So old tenor was voted by Hadley for schooling in the Second Precinct ; March 1, 1756, the sum was increased to f150, old tenor. March 7, 1757, Hadley allowed £20 "lawful" for schooling in the Second Precinct. The following year the town voted that the Precinct should be set off as a separate District and, consequently, made no further provision for the maintenance of its schools.
The early schools in the Precinct were generally taught by men. They were long kept in private rooms and were in session but a few months each year. The pay of the school-masters was small, a part of it being borne by the parents of the pupils. Free public schools were unknown until a much later period. In Judd's unpublished mss. is found the record of a conversation with John Dickinson of Amherst, born in 1757, in which Mr. Dickinson said that when he was young he thought no schoolmistresses were employed in the public schools ; girls went to school, but there was not much schooling. " Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Pierce used to keep school in Amherst after they were run down in Hadley. Dickinson was very odd in pulpit and school. A boy said he made more fun in the pulpit than
4
1
42
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
Mr. P." The Mr. Pierce mentioned above was Josiah Pierce of Hadley. who began to teach school in Amherst Oct. 27, 1766 ; he taught six months or more in the year for three years. His pay was 32 shillings, or $5.33 a month, and his board. In winter evenings he kept ciphering schools a few weeks at one shilling an evening. In the winter from 30 to 40 attended his day school in Amherst, and in summer about half as many. March 29, 1769, he dismissed the school for want of wood. He probably taught Latin if desired.
The first vote in the Third Precinct records in regard to schooling is found under date of March 13, 1749, or about one year after the first recorded grant of school money by the town to the precinct. The vote was to hire three " scool Dames " for three or four months in the summer season to teach children to read. The first record of an appropriation for schools by the Precinct is under date of March 22, 1754; the amount was £4. The records contain no further mention of school appropriations until March 19, 1759, when it was voted to raise £20 ; this was the year that the Precinct was raised into a District, by the name of Amherst. The appropriations made for schooling in the years immediately succeeding were as follows : Jan. 23, 1760, 510, 135., 4d .; March 18, 1760, 513, 6s., 8d .; March 2, 1761, 514; Dec. 22, 1761, 55 " more "; April 28, 1762. £13, 6s., &d .; Dec. 19, 1763, 524: Dec. 17, 1764, 520; Jan. 6, 1766; £27 ; Jan. 5, 1767, 527 ; Jan. 4, 1768, £24; Jan. 2, 1769, £27, 10S .; Jan. 1, 1770, £29, 6s .; Jan. 18, 1773, 535 ; Jan. 24, 1776, 526 ; Jan. 20, 1779, £30 ; Nov. 14, 1777, 550 ; Jan. 12, 1778, £50 ; Nov. 5, 1778, 5100 ; Dec. 28, 1778, 5166 ; Jan. 3, 1780, 51400 ; Dec. 4, 1780, $300 ; Nov. 7, 1781, £24; Jan. 7, 1782, £24 ; Jan. 20, 1783, 636 ; Oct. 16, 1783, 530 ; Jan. 19, 1784, £45 ; Nov. 15. 1784, 630 ; Jan. 3, 1785 £30, Oct. 13. 1785, 640. The enormous increase in school appropriations in the years 1778 and 1780 was caused by a great depreciation in the currency, and the sudden drop to £24 in 1781 marks a restoration of normal values at the close of the war of the revolution.
The location of the first school-houses in the District was attended with the same difficulties and even more discussion than the choice of the site of the original meeting-house. With the population scattered over a wide extent of territory, and with poor facilities for travel, it is not strange that parents desired to have the school-houses located as near as possible to their own homes. At a meeting held Jan. 5, 1761, it was voted to build two school-houses, and at the same time a committee was appointed to consider whether it would be best to have two or three. Apparently they decided upon three, for Dec. 22 of the same year it was voted to build three school-houses, one at the center, " near the place where Moses War- ners house formerly stood," one at the north, " in the highway that runs
43.
FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSES.
(ist and west between Joseph Church and Jon'th Coles," and one at the wuth, " in the highway south of Nath'll Colemans Lot." The center « hool-house was to be on the site now occupied by Hunt's block, the north wer where the North Cong'l church now stands, and the south not far from the site of the present grammar school-house in South Amherst. These school-houses were not built at the time, for Oct. 18, 1762, it was again. voted to build three school-houses, and three committees were chosen to have charge of the matter, one to decide on the location, a second to " wait on " the first committee, and a third to build the houses. These committees probably were unable to agree among theniselves or to arrange the matter to the District's liking, for Dec. 17, 1764. a vote was passed to build four school-houses, a "north," a " south," an " east middle " and a " west middle." Committees were chosen to fix upon the locations and other committees to attend to the building, and the District voted to abide by their decision. Work was probably begun on the center or "middle" school-houses soon after, and one of them was completed as early as Jan. 6. 1766, for at a meeting held that day it was voted to remove the meeting to " the School House which is near Landlord Warner's dwelling House." This school-house stood where W. W. Hunt's store now is; it was a low, one-story building with chimney and fire-place near the east end. At the same meeting it was voted that the price of summer work upon the school- houses should be two shillings per day and the price of fall work one shilling and sixpence. Carpenter's work in summer was to be two shillings and eightpence, and in the fall two shillings and fourpence. March 17, 1768, it was voted to remove the school-house near Landlord M. Warner's. Jan. 14. 1772, it was voted that the school-house near Edward Smith's house be removed to the east side of the street.
In 1752, the town of Hadley granted {60 for schooling in the Second Precinct, and it was voted to spend half the sum for hiring a school-master in the fall and the remainder for hiring " school dames" in the summer. July 5, 1753, it was voted to provide three schools in the precinct, equally divided according to the number of scholars. The north school-house was apparently located in that section now known as the " city," which fact excited some jealousy among the residents of the west street ; at a meeting held Jan. 4, 1768, it was voted that the north school be kept one- half of the time in the west street. Oct. 23, 1769, it was voted to allow the north and south schools their proportion of money for schooling. Jan. 21. 1771, the selectmen were instructed to set up a new school at the north end of the District six weeks in addition to the present school. Aug. 17, 1772. the district voted to " improve M'r William Guy Ballentine for Six months from his first Entering in the School." Judd says that Mr. Ballen- tine taught Latin and English and read theology with Mr. Parsons. Jan ..
-44
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
18, 1773, it was voted to postpone till the March meeting the article pr. viding for more schooling for small children in English. March 8, 1773 it was voted to allow five months schooling to " each quarter of the town. April 14 of the same year the District voted to be at the expense of twelve months grammar schooling in the winter season. Nov. 5, 1778, it was voted that the persons who sent scholars should provide wood for the .schools ; also that school should be kept three months at the north schoo. house and three months in the west street the ensuing winter. Jan. ;. 1779, it was voted that money raised for schooling in the north: part of the town should be used in the north school house. Oct. 21. 1779, a committee was chosen to see how many schools should be kep: in town and at what places. This committee reported at a meeting held the 6th of Jan., 1780, that six schools should be maintained that year. one in the west street in the northern part of the town, one "in the street leading from Ezra Roods to Andrew Kimbals," one at each school- house near the " middle of the town, one in the west street in the southern part of the town, and one in the school-house at the southern part of the town ;" at an adjournment ofthis meeting it was voted to have eighteen months schooling in town " the present year ;" this allowed three months schooling at each of the schools. May 13, 1783, it was voted to grant the west street their proportion of money to be used by them in employing school dames. Nov. 15, 1784, the selectmen were instructed to set up six schools within the town, four in places they had usually been kept in and two in such places as they saw fit. Jan. 3, 1785, it was voted that schools should be kept three months in the year. Of the earlier private schools in town there is no record, but a woman living in Hadley told Judd, the historian, that when a girl she had attended a school for young ladies in Amherst, taught by a man; this was before Amherst academy was established.
When the petition of the "east inhabitants " of Hadley to be set off as a separate precinct was granted by the General Court in 1734, the terri- tory comprised in the precinct was described as being seven miles in length and two and three-quarters miles in breadth, bounded on the north by Sun- derland, on the east by equivalent lands, on the south by the Boston road and on the west by Hadley common lands. In laying out the lands in the third division there had been an encroachment on the equivalent lands. and when later on the line was run by compass it was found that upwards of 3000 acres had been wrongfully included in this division. To compen- .sate those who had drawn lots there that were taken from them by the later survey, the town granted to them in 1738 about 600 acres in that section known as " Flat Hills." The lands included in the second division were not all laid out in 1703; the first division was laid out as far north as
£
L. D. Cowles' Old House
1.
45'
LANDS GRANTED TO SOUTH HADLEY. -
..... Mill river, and the second, beginning at the Boston or Brookfield road, .1;4 rods to the north. In the Hadley records under date of March 5,. 1: 14. is found the following :
"Voted and Granted to the Second Precinct in Hadley so much Land north : Dea. Mattoon's Land in the third Precinct as shall make them Equal in Quality- : a rule of Proportion to be Considered by their tax to what was Granted to the .: precinct which land shall be laid out to them and Judged as to the Quality by : Committee for that purpose appointed if the Land may their be found for them. Voted Dea. John Smith Sen Dr Eastman Lew Chiliab Smith Nath Kellogg [.n. and Dea. Matoon to be a Committee for the affair abovesaid."
Again under date of Jan. 7, 1744-5 :
" The Committee abovesaid having viewed the land in the third Precinct in Hadley north of Dea. Mattoon's Land Agreeable to the Town's vote abovesaid have Surveyed and Set out to the Second Precinct in Hadley two parcels of land' wereafter Delinated which said Committee Judge is not more than an Equivalent to them by the Rule of Proportion Agreeable to their tax.
The Land Lyeth in Two Tracts and is bounded as follows, viz. one Tract of. about 185 acres is Bounded East and west on Highways north on the mill river and wuth on Dea. Matoon's land beginning at the N. W. corner of Sd Matoon's land tom which it runs north 15° East 240 Rods to the mill river from thence said river the west Bounds till it gets about ten Rods East of Nathaniel Kellogg's Corn mill. Thence south three hundred and forty Rods to Matoon's land. Thence west 17º north one hundred and fifty Rods to the first Boundery.
The other Tract contains about 35 acres and is bounded North W on the mill river and south on Land of Thomas Goodman and East on a Highway beginning, : the N. East Corner of said Goodman's Land from which it runs N. 100 Rods to !!... mill River and from said Goodman's N. E. Corner it runs west 140 Rods to the. " !. '11 River Note that in both tracts of Land there is Highways runing thro. the Land of 4 Rod wide Each where they are Prickt in the Plan ; or where the Roads. how run up the flat Hills and by the mill River.
JOSEPH EASTMAN NATH'L KELLOGG JNR JOHN SMITH
Committee."
The land thus laid out to the Second Precinct, afterwards South Hadley, was in the northerly part of the second division, and included the land not distributed in 17.03.
In Hadley records under date of Jan. 5, 1759, the following appears :
"Voted and Granted to the Inhabitants of the First and Second Precincts in. wid Hadley, and to the Inhabitants of the District of South Hadley,. all the Com- mon or undivided Lands, excepting those that are in possession of particular Prisons by Incroachment. lying in the Second precinct of Hadley aforesaid, to be divided to the aforesaid Precincts of Hadley, and to the said District, in the same importion that each of said parties or Societies paid in the Province Tax in the ne year that the aforesaid District of South Hadley was made a district by the:
2.
1
-
46
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST. MASS.
Under date of Jan. 4, 1762 :
"Voted That a petition be preferred to the Great and General Court praying that the Higeway near Joseph Clary's in Amherst being surrounded by Inhabitants of Amherst, may be annexed to Amherst, and that Charles Phelps Esqr and Josiah Peirce be a Committee to prepare and prefer the same."
At the same meeting that this vote was passed a committee was appointed to make a plan of the highway. At a meeting held Nov. 29 of the same year Hadley appointed a committee of five to sell the town's right in the sequestered lands in Amherst on the best terms they could make.
In 1759, when the Second Precinct of Hadley was erected into the District of Amberst, Isaac Ward, Reuben Ingraham, Philip Ingraham, Isaac Hubbard, Edward Elmer and their respective estates were annexed to the new district. In November, 1772, the line between Amherst and Hadley was run by Simeon Parsons and the selectmen of the two towns; its directions and distances as recorded in Hadley records were as follows: " Beginning at a Stake and Stones at the Bay Road, and running N. 12º Et 670 rods to a Stake and Stones at the Southwest corner of Richard Chauncey's lot ; then N. 8 15' Et 142 rods to a Black Oak Tree at the So Wt corner of John Billings Lot markt W. M. then N. 10° Eit 307 rods to a Stub and heap of Stones at the So Wt corner of Solomon Loltwood's Lot ; then N. 13" Et 93 rods to a Spruce Staddle at the end of a Ditch at the So Wt corner of John Taylor's Lot ; then N. 8º Et 336 rods to a Ditch called Porter's So Wt ditch ; then N. 12º Et 370 rods to a Stub the South Side of Hadley Mill River, then N. 11º Et 38o rods to a Stake and Stones that we now set up at Sunderland line." Judd says in his unpublished mss .: " In laying out Flat Hills, 1784, the east line of Amherst extended north of the north line of the third or cast division, not far from 573 rods to the N. E. corner. This upper lot is bounded east on town line and west on Mill river, and next lot south has Mill river W. and N. Third division was 1971 rods at W. end and 2051 rods at E. end ; add 573 rods at N. end and the E. line of Amherst was 2624 rods or 8 miles and 64 1ods long. It was longer because oblique." In 1779 Amherst petitioned for the annex- ation of the eastern part of Hadley inner commons ; Hadley voted, May . 13, 1779, that the petition be dismissed.
By an act of the General Court passed in 1788, John Dickinson, Nehemiah Dickinson, Simeon Dickinson and Silas Wright and their estates were set off from the town of Hadley and annexed to the town of Amherst, also the bridge over the Mill river in the county road leading through Amherst to Sunderland. Soon after 1800 Amherst made a second attempt to annex the Hadley inner commons, but was again defeated. The matter was brought before the General Court, and Mr. Kellogg who represented
47
ANNEXATION OF LAND.
Hadley at the time proposed if this was done that the Connecticut river should be made the western boundary of Amherst, and Hadley a parish of Amherst. This caused a fellow member to remark that he "had heard of the sow eating up the pigs, but never before heard of the pigs eating up the sow." That settled the matter. Feb. 18, 1812, what was known as the " Mountain division " was annexed to Amherst, extending the town boundary on the south from the Bay road to the summit of Mt. Holyoke. It began at the southwest corner of Amherst's bounds and ran in the direction of Amherst's west line to the north line of South Hadley. Thence by the north line of South Hadley and Granby to Belchertown line, thence by Belchertown line to southeast corner of Amherst, thence by the south line of Amherst to the first corner or bound.
Feb. 17, 1814, the following act was passed by the General Court :
" Be it enacted. etc .- That all the lands and the inhabitants thereon, lying and being in Hadley, described within the following limits and bounds, not already annexed to Amherst, be, and the same are hereby set off from Hadley, and annexed to Amherst : that is to say, beginning at the southwest corner of David Smith's land, being the northeast corner of Noah Smith's land. lying in the town of Amherst, on the east line of Hadley ; thence running west, to the west end of the first division of lands in Hadley, to a town-way: thence northwardly, on the west line of said division, as far as the same extends: and thence, on the same corner to the south line of Sunderland, to the original northeast corner of Amherst ; . thence southwardly, on the original line between Amherst and Hadley, to the first mentioned corner.
Be it further enacted, That the respective valuations of the towns of Hadley and Amherst. be so altered. in consideration of the above. that the sum of one (ent. in the proportion of one thousand dollars, be taken from Hadley and put to Amherst : and that all taxes already granted or assessed by the town of Hadley. on the polls and estates hereby set off, be collected in the same manner as though this act had not been passed."
This was the the last considerable addition to the lands com- prised in the township of Amherst. In 1815 an act was passed that slightly altered the boundary line between Hadley and Amherst. In 1500. John Thayer. Ebenezer Bliss, Reuben Thayer and Nathaniel Goodale were set off from Belchertown and annexed to the second parish of Amherst. for " parochial privileges." Later on the farm of Elias Smith, situated on the road from Amherst to Hadley, was annexed to Amherst. In 1795, Amherst refused to have any part of Belchertown annexed : later on it refused to receive a part of Pelham. The original surveyors of Hadley outer commons intended that the tracts of land laid out should be of equal breadth, extending from the Brookfield road to the Mill river. The narrow- way of the third division owing to its encroachment on the equivalent lands. the addition of the " Flat Hills" territory, and the annexation from time to Ume of other lands formerly included in the boundaries of Hadley, have
48
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
given to the town of Amherst its present irregular outline. In the atlas : Massachusetts published by George H. Walker & Co. of Boston in 189: the east line of Amherst is found to be a little less than nine miles i: length, while the extreme breadth near the south part of the town is four miles and at the north a little over three miles. The territory contained it the three divisons laid out in 1703 amounted to over 13,000 acres, which. was reduced to about 10.000 acres by the cutting off of the equivalent land. Including the additions, the territory now comprised within the town limits amounts to something like 16,000 acres.
CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST HIGHWAYS .- ENCROACHMENTS ON HIGHWAYS .- HADLEY VOTES CONCERNING ROADS AND BRIDGES .- JOHN MORTON AND NATHAN DICKINSON .- NEW HIGHWAYS LAID OUT.
Aside from the gospel ministry, there was no other one subject that occupied so much the attention of the early settlers as the laying out and maintenance of highways. Every new settlement as it was laid out had its main street extending from end to end, and as the settlers grew in numbers cross streets and parellel streets were added. From the main street there would be narrow highways leading to the woods, the meadows and the river. When a journey of any distance was to be made dependence was placed upon the old Indian trails, which frequently marked out the paths of highways that succeeded them. Travel was mostly by foot or horseback. carriages being unknown in this section until well along in the eighteenth century. The wagons or carts that were used for the conveyance of farm produce were heavy and substantially-built affairs. The first well-marked road passing through the present limits of Amherst was the old Bay road. leading through Brookfield to Boston. Judd says in his Hadley history that in early days there was a " Nashaway Path " north of Fort river. In 1674 and many years after, the Bay road crossed Fort river near the south end of Spruce hill. In his unpublished mss. Judd says that the Bay road was laid out May 2, 1732, by a jury of 12, under Ebenezer Pomeroy sheriff. Concerning this historic highway more will be recorded in a later chapter.
1
1
:
49
WIDTH OF HIGHWAYS.
When the Hadley outer commons were first surveyed, in accordance with the vote of the town there were left between the first and second, and between the second and third divisions, spaces for highways 40 rods in width. There were also left spaces forty rods in width for highways to cross the first and second divisions. It is supposed that this great width was allowed that the future inhabitants in laying out their travel-ways might deviate from a straight line and take advantage of the most favorable portions of the land for road-making. But whatever the object, the result was a series of encroachments upon the highways by abutters, and seem- ingly endless controversies whose echoes have hardly died away at the present day. In 1754, Hadley reduced the western highway to 20 rods in width and the eastern to 12 rods ; the width of the cross highways was also reduced. In 1788, Amherst narrowed the highways to six rods and some to four rods in breadth, and sold the land thus gained to owners of adjoining lots.
January 5, 1735, shortly after Hadley Third Precinct was set off, the town of Hadley voted as follows :
· " Voted That Each Precinct in Hadley may and shall take Effectual Care for the keeping in good Repair all the Roads or highways Belonging to their own Pre- cincts Respectively in such a way, manner or method by a Rate or otherways as they shall think best from time to time. Bridges only Excepted which are to be done at the charge of the Town in such manner as they shall see cause."
The following appears in Hadley records under date of March 5, 1744:
"Voted That there shall be a Highway laid through the third Division of Land East of the Town to Pelham bounds where the Committee appointed shall think best ; and said Committee to purchase said Highway as cheap as they can."
It is evident that the encroachments upon the highways in the Third Precinct must have begun at an early date, for in Hadley records under date of March 4, 1745, the following appears :
"Voted that there be a Committee to lay out all the Streets or Highways in the East Precinct the same Bredth as per Record they shall appear to be as near as may be in the same places and on the same Corners as they were originally laid out making known original Bounds as Stakes Markd Trees and Ditches etc. their guide.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.