USA > Massachusetts > The story of western Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 14
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In recent years, futile search has been made in the libraries of this country for a contemporary drawing that would identify that type of craft and this search was later extended to The Hague, in Holland. Finally, at the University Library, in Leyden, a drawing was found that seemed to answer all objections. This was submitted for criticism to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, England, where it received the full approval of Dr. Geoffrey Callendar of the Museum staff and would therefore seem to portray the type of craft used in the settlement of Springfield.
From a knowledge of the customs of the period, there is reason to conclude that Pynchon carried with him, materials for a house. The planting of new settlements was a business which had certain fixed rules, a knowledge of which was imparted by recognized text books. Pynchon undoubtedly had access to and was familiar with John Smith's Advertisment (advice) for the Unexperienced Planters of New England, or the Path-way to Experience to Erect a Planta- tion". This book, published in 1631, was the final one completed by that author and was evidently written as an expression of good will to the Massachusetts planters under Governor Winthrop.
When the Plymouth Company sailed for the Connecticut on a similar expedition, "they, having made a small frame of a house ready and having a great new barque, they stowed the frame in the hold and boards to cover and finish it, having nails and all other provision for their use".
It is a recorded fact that a house was erected at Agawam that fall and it was undoubtedly done in accordance with the customs of the times. Winter was approaching; haste was necessary and there was neither time nor opportunity for unnecessary lumbering.
The house was erected on the south bank of the Agawam River, not far from its mouth; the first house in Massachusetts, west of Watertown, and out of its building came the first lawsuit in western Massachusetts; Woodcock vs. Cable, tried before a jury of six in 1638, with verdict for the defendant.
CHAPTER XIII
The Exodus
W ITH Pynchon, as chief factor, went John Cable, an experi- enced seaman and carpenter who was one of the adventurers (promoters) of the project and active in its early operations. As assistant to Cable went John Woodcock a hunter and trapper, a ne'er-do-well and opportunist, who joined the expedition with the hope of being admitted as a member of the town and thereby securing a house lot, "which end he did attain".
After rounding Cape Cod, the shallops sailed up Long Island Sound and entered the Connecticut, passed the Dutch Fort on the present site of Hartford and the house of the Plymouth Company where Windsor now is, and successfully negotiated the rapids above Windsor, later known as the Enfield Rapids.
This was an exploring expedition, pure and simple. The little band of pioneers was on a river almost unknown to them and they had no definite objective, but were following it from its mouth to as near its source as possible in an effort to find that spot best suited to their needs, well knowing that the beaver would be found in greatest abundance in the upper reaches of the river and in its smaller tributaries.
There is ample evidence that, prior to the opening of the canal at Windsor Locks in November 1829, navigation between Hartford and Springfield by substantial craft was common. When, in 1777, General Henry Knox directed that the Revolutionary arsenal be located at Springfield, one of his reasons for the choice was that its situation on the Connecticut River "provided a great saving in trans- portation from the sound by shifting into different bottoms".
In the summer of 1829 the steamboat Vermont, seventy-five feet long and fifteen feet wide and drawing a foot of water, made several Hartford-Springfield trips, carrying a hundred passengers at a time. It required an hour and twenty minutes to ascend the five miles of rapids, but the balance of the trip was at the rate of six miles an hour. Prior to the days of steamboats, freight was carried in flat- bottomed boats, with a sail and a crew of two for poling in calm weather. Fourteen tons was considered a full load. Five days was allowed for the round trip, with a fair wind, but Captain David
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Barber, when the water was high and the wind favored, once made the trip from Hartford to the foot of Elm Street in three hours.
After passing the rapids the pioneers continued up the river until they were halted by the great natural barrier where the Holyoke Dam now is. Further progress seemed impossible, but a landing was made and the banks of the upper river explored on foot to ascertain if the country above justified the arduous labor of an attempt to get the shallop over the rapids. After following the river for some distance and finding nothing but a narrow, rocky valley with no tributary streams nor open meadows, and little promise worthy of further efforts the party returned to the shallop. Just below the rapids a trail crossed the river, in shallow water, where "the Indian's common wading place was" and a number of Indians were there engaged in securing their winter supply of fish. Attempts to gather information from them were unavailing, however, as Pynchon's knowledge of the local dialect was insufficient to enable him to convey to them an adequate comprehension of the ends he sought and it was decided to retrace their way. An attempt to ascend the Chicopee River (rapid water) was frustrated by the numerous falls and shoals and an effort to explore the Agawam River was abandoned at the rocky barrier below Mittineague. A return was finally made to that point on the Connecticut, where, within a small compass, it was entered by the Chicopee, the Agawam and the Mill Rivers. There, at a spot called by the natives, Agawam (ground overflowed by water) they found the location most "fitly seated for a beaver trade".
Here were wide fertile meadows and much cleared land, suitable for a plantation. The natives were friendly and eager to further their enterprise, anticipating the cooperation of the English in their at- tempts to resist the deadly inroads of neighboring Indians. Over these fertile meadows and the adjacent hills, roamed those "ancient people, born with the wind and the rain". A defensive village or fort pro- tected by palisades some fifteen feet high was situated on a command- ing bluff south of the Agawam. There they lived a life of lazy indul- gence. The rivers teemed with salmon and shad. Currants, straw- berries, raspberries, cranberries, walnuts, acorns and chestnuts could be had for the gathering. Hemp for lines and nets grew at their door. Corn, beans, squashes and tobacco were readily grown. But their terrible enemies, the Pequots at the south and the Mohawks on the west, made life a burden to them, and when the English landed on their shores, they received an enthusiastic welcome. Undoubtedly, the weakening of the natives by the plague was a factor in the spirit with which Pynchon was received. That some protection was promised seems evident. Some such bargain, either expressed or implied, must be inferred from the action of the Connecticut Court, when, in assess- ing the cost of the Pequot War, it levied on the Agawams, in 1637, charges of a fathom of wampum a man.
On their arrival at Agawam, the three explorers encountered a little band of Indians, perhaps eighteen families in all, under the leadership of two natives whom Pynchon designated as "Commucke
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and Matanchan, ancient Indians of Agawam." The natives had no comprehension of what was meant by land ownership in the English sense and they had less knowledge of what obligations land sales en- tailed. But Pynchon was not a free agent. His associates had cautioned that "if any of the savages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endeavor to pur- chase their title, that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion". Therefore, he assured that the land which they occupied was theirs to dispose of, if they saw fit, and that he proposed to buy it from them. After a careful and exhaustive consideration of the territory, a tentative bargain was made with the Indians, and a site for the prospective town was selected at a point on the west side of the Connecticut and south of the Agawam, which later was known as the "house meadow". On that meadow was erected, not only for tem- porary shelter for the pioneers, but for traffic with the Indians, that "trucking house" which the laws of the colony decreed should be maintained "in every plantation, whither the Indians may resort to trade".
That house was erected on a broad expanse, lying under a hill the steep banks of which rose sheer on the south to the native village. Kept free from trees and brush by constant burning by the Indians, as well as by the action of the water, the meadow was covered with grass such as to afford good pasturage and which would readily re- spond to such agricultural treatment as the English expected to bestow on it. "Therefore be careful in the spring", advised John Smith "to mow the swamps and low islands of Auguan where you may have harsh sheer-grass to make hay of, till you can clear ground to make pasture, which will have as good grass as can be grown any- where".
Pynchon remained to oversee the establishment of his grist mill on that stream in the present Springfield which has ever since borne the name of Mill River, and which was ideal for small mill projects, having a rapid flow and a series of falls. The mill itself was of the type then known as a gig mill, having an upright shaft on which the grinding stones were set. In this horizontal position the stone revolved with the shaft. It was a primitive affair with a capacity of four or five bushels a day, but served the first settlers adequately. As the town grew, a larger mill was established by John Pynchon, on Town Brook, just south of York Street. However, the dam necessary for its opera- tion so raised the water that neighboring meadows were overflowed, resulting in complaints by the adjacent land owners and a suit at law by the widow Margaret Bliss. Attempts at appeasement led to a short- age of power, so that in 1666, a return was made to the "old mill stream", as it was then called, and a third mill was built at approxi- mately the site of the first. This mill continued in operation until it was burned by the Indians in the sack of the town, October 5, 1675.
Leaving his subordinates to prosecute the trade with the Indians through the winter and prepare for the spring planting in order to provide for the influx of settlers expected the following year, Pynchon
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THE EXODUS
returned to Roxbury. He had already delayed so that he had missed the Court session of September first and another was due on October sixth. That session he attended. The winter proved an ordeal for the two scouts. The Connecticut River was frozen over by November fif- teenth and on December second and third there came a northeast storm that left the ground knee deep with snow. That winter, the Dor- chester migrants who had settled at the present Windsor, lost the greater part of their cattle, valued at £2,000. The people there were so hard-pressed for food that they were forced to subsist on acorns and grain.
Pynchon returned to Roxbury on foot as neither of his associates could be spared to accompany him and he could not navigate a shallop single handed. Such a journey was no especial hardship. The way was actually over a known route, for it was apparent that on following the river down, he soon came to the trail, by that time well known to the English and later called the "Connecticut Path", which from a point near the foot of the rapids, followed a fairly direct course through Woodstock to Boston. Wethersfield and Windsor were then occupied and as this was the natural route between those towns and Boston, the passing and repassing must have been fairly constant with great possibility of companionship on the journey. The way was through a district well populated by natives, enabling travelers to be "lodged at Indian towns all the way".
That Pynchon did not travel by that trail later known as the Bay Path can be most positively affirmed. That there was in early days a bridle-path from Boston to Agawam is true, but the English had no cause to know of it in 1635. The earliest map showing anything approximating such a trail, is the survey of Woodward and Saffery, made in 1642. That John Winthrop, Jr., came over some such route in 1645, is attested by his own journal, but it was then to him an un- known way. Not until 1646 do the Springfield records, most minute in minor details, mention the Bay Path. It was not until 1649 that John Eliot wrote,-"Twenty miles up the river layeth Springfield, where Dr. Moxon is pastor. And this town overland from the Bay layeth eighty or ninety miles south-west and is the roadway to all the towns upon the river". No reason whatever could have induced Pynchon, traveling alone, to reject the known road of a country in favor of an unknown path through a wilderness.
Pynchon had learned many things since leaving England five years earlier. He knew the ways and means of loading goods where there were adequate wharves and piers; methods of transhipping pas- sengers and merchandise on the open sea; of landing goods on shores where there were neither piers nor wharves. Aware of his need for expert assistance, he contracted with the competent and experienced Isaac Allerton to transport to Agawam the goods and wares of himself and his associates, but at the eleventh hour it was found that Allerton was delayed in returning from a voyage to "the French at Penobscot. His barque was cast upon an island and beat out her keel".
W. Mass .- I-9
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In his extremity, Pynchon appealed to Governor Winthrop for aid. The Governor's thirty ton barque, Blessing of the Bay, which was then employed in furthering the operations of the younger Win- throp at Saybrook, had just returned. Though her entire carrying capacity was required for his own affairs, Winthrop was prevailed upon to assist Pynchon to the extent of having the barque transport sixteen tons of his goods. This was but a small part of what was required at Agawam, but as the need was urgent, Pynchon was obliged to accept this moiety, in lieu of something better. It was agreed that the price for freight to Saybrook should be thirty-five shillings a ton, and if on arrival there, the wind should serve, the goods were to be delivered at Newtown (Hartford) or Watertown (Wethersfield), at a further charge equal to the average price for river freighting. In case the wind should not serve and it was found necessary to land the goods at Saybrook, the younger Winthrop was to give them "houseroom", until such time as they could be called for. Pynchon found that of necessity his project was fast growing to be more of a proposition than he had originally contemplated, and realized the imperative need for a warehouse at Saybrook and another at the present Warehouse Point in Connecticut, which thereby acquired its name.
The Blessing sailed from Boston on April 27th, but on arrival at Saybrook, the barque proved to be of too deep draft to proceed above that point and the freight was put ashore there. Though sadly delayed by "having so few hands to help", it was necessary to send a shallop down for the urgently needed goods.
In the meantime, Pynchon had retraced his steps over the Con- necticut Path, accompanied by his step-son Henry Smith, and Jehu Burr the carpenter, who, with him, had planned and financed the project from its inception. With thein went also William Blake, Mat- thew Mitchell, Thomas Ufford and Edmund Wood; recruits who had more recently committed themselves financially to the enterprise. Driving their horses, cattle and swine, and lodging at Indian villages on the way, they arrived at Agawam early in May after a "tedious and difficult journey of five or six days".
A discouraging state of affairs greeted the colonists. Not only had the Indians proved unexpectedly greedy in regard to their lands but even the English in charge had been quite inefficient. "As for using old traders to trade for you", wrote Pynchon to Winthrop, "it is not the best way for your gain, for they know how to save them- selves, but a trusty man that never was a trader will quickly find the way of trading and bring you best profit".
The advent of the new arrivals with their domestic animals further complicated matters. No provision having been made for fencing, the cattle trampled down the corn fields and the hogs rooted them up, although in all their negotiations, the Indians had reserved exclusive rights to their corn fields. The natives also demanded "a great sum to buy their rights in said lands", which was far in excess of what Pynchon had estimated, but no option was had, but to yield. It being
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THE EXODUS
impossible to even consider fencing the vast meadows, there was no alternative but to put the Connecticut River between the Indian plant- ing grounds and the livestock of the English. The natives so resented the damage caused by the trespass that it was necessary to move across the broad Connecticut or move out entirely. Pynchon's neigh- bors down the river were facing the Pequot War and it was no time to invite trouble. On April 22, 1636, he had asked Winthrop that steps be taken "to inquire and take careful information about the Indians killing two of our men". On June 2d he advised Winthrop from Aga- wam that he was "preparing to go to the Bay, having settled upon a plantation at Agawam. The best ground at Agawam is so incumbered with Indians that I shall lose half the benefit but am compelled to plant on the opposite side to avoid trespassing thereon".
For generations, local histories and historians have repeated a tale of Pynchon's removal as being because the Indians warned that the house site was subject to inundation during spring floods. There is not the slightest evidence to support such a story and it has no foundation in fact.
CHAPTER XIV
The Founding of Springfield
I N THE midst of anxieties and discouragements, the civil govern- ment of Agawam was organized. Though the settlement was primarily designed as a trading post, it was also one of the five outposts on the west side of the Connecticut (Saybrook, Wethersfield, Hartford. Windsor and Springfield), provided as barriers against the Dutch who threatened occupation of the valley. Mere local annoyances and complications could not be allowed to affect the general policy to which Pynchon was committed. On Saturday, May 14, 1636, the eight adventurers convened at Agawam to adopt by-laws for their joint- stock corporation. Before the close of the day, thirteen articles were proposed and discussed and all but one adopted. The session then adjourned over Sunday, to reconvene on Monday, the 16th, when two additional articles were approved. The fourteen items adopted were forthwith agreed to in writing by the eight colonists, "being all of the first adventurers and subscribers for this plantation". These eight men were,-
William Pynchon. Henry Smith. Jehu Burr. John Cable.
William Blake. Matthew Mitchell.
Thomas Ufford. Edmund Wood.
Of the fourteen articles of the by-laws, the first was an affirmation of intentions to establish a church. One article related to lumber and eleven to land. One limited the number of inhabitants. This was the most significant item and read as follows,
"We intend that our town shall be composed of forty families, or if we think meet after to alter our purpose, vet not to exceed the number of fifty families, rich and poor. Every inhabitant shall have a proper proportion for a house lot as shall be meet for every one's quality and estate".
Rich and poor; masters and servants; gentlemen and yeomen; peers and commoners,-that is precisely what was envisaged. And so, the choicest lands, the present Main Street from Court Square to the Railroad Arch. were reserved for the gentlemen, while the home- lots of the yeomen stretched away southerly to the Mill River.
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There is nothing in the record to indicate who was to determine the quality or estate of a citizen or what should be meet for his needs. It is apparent, however, that such decisions would naturally be in the hands of those controlling the majority of stock,-that is, Pynchon and his immediate family and associates. It could not have been otherwise, for such restrictions were in the very blood of the master mind. For generations his forebears had been of the ruling class, and it was not as a mere gesture that he appended the title of "gentleman" to his formal signature. To him, certain divine rights appertained to the person of one born to the purple.
At that period more than one American community was projected by men of wealth and influence who planned strict control of its life, providing a little principality for their own ends. Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut, was sponsored by Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Brooke, Sir Matthew Boynton, Sir Arthur Haselrig and other titled persons, who proposed settling there provided the courts would allow for two classes of citizenry. When their plans were frowned upon and set at naught, they lost all interest in the enterprise.
Unlike later settlements, such at Brimfield, Enfield and Suffield, which came into being merely to meet the needs of land hungry farmers, the future Springfield was designed to be an industrial com- munity, based on the fur trade. For its support, a certain amount of agricultural activities were imperative for subsistence, but a self- supporting community was projected, serviced by its own carpenters, builders, brickmakers, masons, coopers, tailors, weavers, smiths and other artisans. The original plans provided the nucleus of such a group, and when "many fell off for fear of the difficulties", due to the enforced removal to the sterile lands of the east side, a less stout- hearted person would have been utterly discouraged. Of the eight men who signed the organization agreement of May 16, 1636, Pynchon and his son-in-law Henry Smith, alone became permanent settlers. Of the eighteen men who agreed to come or who actually did come, prior to 1638, only Pynchon, Smith and Thomas Horton remained. However, Pynchon's persuasive powers were so effective that in 1639 there were fourteen inhabitants. In 1641 nineteen were established; in April, 1643, twenty-two. Pynchon was a resourceful person. Through agents in England he secured young men, indentured to serve him for a term of years. Thus Samuel Terry came to Springfield. In 1650 the Terry indenture was assigned to Benjamin Cooley who was obligated to
impart to his protege the "art and mystery" of linen weaving. Terry grew to be an important citizen and the ancestor of a large family among whom were the successful Connecticut clockmakers. Through his own scouts, Pynchon drew recruits from other towns. In 1643 he wrote, "the Lord hath added some three or four young men out of the river to us lately". These were Thomas Cooper, John Harmon and Roger Pritchard, from the "river towns", Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor. As today a movie-talent scout roams the country in search of new material, so young John Pynchon visited the nearby towns. In 1946 he noted in his father's ledger,-"Nathaniell Browne came to
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my father's the 21 of April at night. He came from Hartford. I agreed with him at Hartford for £4, 15s for six months, viz, the six summer months from the 21 of April to the 22 of October, 1646".
Nevertheless, admittance as an inhabitant was a privilege not lightly acquired. Only those were admitted who could contribute some- thing of value to the community,-the financial ability to pay others to work; the ownership of merchandise needed by the townsmen; abilities and talents helpful to the growth of the town. Strangers who slipped in were "warned out". In case of doubt concerning a seem- ingly desirable applicant, a bond was required. Even the sons of such a prominent citizen as Deacon Samuel Chapin were admitted only on these conditions. When. in 1660, Henry Chapin was admitted, the deacon gave a bond of £20 "to secure the town from any charge which may arise", and in 1663 he gave a similar bond when Josiah Chapin became an inhabitant.
About 1643-1645 a determined effort was made to recruit the artisans and tradesmen necessary to make Springfield independent of outside sources of supply, and at that period the population prac- tically doubled. Then arrived John Matthews the cooper, Griffith Jones the tanner, Hugh Parsons the brickmaker. Many other needs were similarly cared for, but even as late as January 8, 1646, George Colton and Miles Morgan were "appointed to do their best to get a smith for the town". Apparently their efforts bore fruit, for later that year a contract was made with "Francis Ball for a shop for a smith". Equal efforts were made to secure a competent weaver; a worker of both wool and linen. Ample raw material was then available, but the skill and equipment to make use of it were lacking. By 1647 flax growing had become so extensive in Springfield that the retting of it in the town brook was judged so "noisome and offensive" that the practice was prohibited. Here were the requirements for the clothing needed by the townsmen, but the skilled hand of the weaver was wanting. Sheep were then few, but when time provided a weaver, Pynchon provided ample flocks. There can be but little doubt that Benjamin Cooley, master weaver, became a member of the community after searching inquiry as to his ability and personality.
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