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•us  I 'do  U.I 


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l^acbarb  College  Ittrrars 


BRIGHT    LKC+AOY. 

Delcendanli  of  HenrT  Bright,  jr..  who  died  U  VVater- 
Uiwn.  Mus..  in  i<J%,  art  en  Jtled  to  hold  tchnIanliiM  in 
Hirrard  College,  eitabliihed  in  iSSo  under  the  will  of 

JONATHAN  BROWN  BRIGHT 
riT  WilUiem,  Mui.,  wilh  one  half  the  income  of  thii 
L^fin,    Such  desceDdantB  rBilingi  other  penons  are 
eligible  to  the  gchnlnrships.    The  will  requira  Ihit 

"  Id  the  Ubnry  uni^t  [U  provliioni. 


*  HISTORY 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE 

PocuMTucK  Valley 

Memorial  Association 

1899-1904. 


VOL.  IV. 

DEERFIELD,  MASS.,  U.  S.  A. 


PUBUSHED  BY  THE  ASSOCIATION. 
1905. 


N^ 


I » 


y 


•'>■  -nv'r.tvt  .{ 


'-c-wc'^ 


EEPOKT. 

Volume  IV  of  the  History  and  Proceedings  of  the  Pocumtuck 
Valley  Memorial  Association  is  herewith  submitted  to  your 
charitable  consideration.  It  has  been  edited  and  published 
under  a  vote  of  the  Association  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1904. 

The  material  for  these  volumes  grows  more  abimdant  with 
the  passing  years.  Vol.  I  covered  ten  years,  1870-79;  Vol.  II 
from  1880  to  1889,  ten  years;  Vol.  Ill  eight  years,  1890-98; 
Vol.  IV  six  years,  1899-1904. 

This  volume  will  be  found  uniform  in  character  with  the  pre- 
ceding, and  the  set  makes  a  very  creditable  appearance.  We 
have  not  been  idle  during  our  thirty-four  years  of  life,  and  we 
are  willing  to  place  our  volumes  on  the  shelves  of  the  great  li- 
braries, beside  the  best  historical  literature  in  New  England. 
Every  article  is  original,  written  for  the  Association  and  read 
before  its  members. 

The  edition  is  limited  to  300  copies. 

Respectfully  submitted, 


George  Sheldon, 


J.  M.  Arms  Sheldon,  ) 


C<mmiiUe. 


Debrfield,  February,  1906. 


F&SB8  OF  T.   KORKT  &  SOH, 
OBEBNFIBLD,  BLAJS.,  U.  8.  ▲. 


CONTENTS. 


!  L  Annual  Meeting,  1899,  1-57 

I  Biograpbioal  Sketch  of  Robert  Orawford,  D.  D.,  Craw- 

I  ford — ^Poem,  Starr — ^Messengers  of  War  and  Peace, 

I  Thompson — New  Tracks  in  an  Old  Trail,  Sheldon — 

,  Ethan  Allen  and  His  Daughter,  Baker. 

II.  Field  Meeting,  1899,  Charlemont,  58-79 

J  Address  of  Welcome,  Clark — Response,  Sheldon — Ad- 

dress, Whiting — Address,  Eellogg — ^Poem,  Maxwell. 
I  m.  Annual  Meeting,  1900,  80-114 

Letter,  Alexander — ^Report  of  Curator,  Sheldon — ^A 
j  Puritan    Foremother,    Smith — Poem,    Snow — Capt. 

Agrippa  Wells,  Thompson — Broom  Com  Industry, 
Jones — Reminiscent  Letter,  Sheldon. 
IV.  Field  Meeting,  1900,  Gill,  115-151 

Address   of  Welcome   and   Presentation   of   Land, 
Stoughton — ^Response,  Capt.  William  Turner,   Shel- 
don— Indian  War  Conditions,  Buell — Addresses,  Law- 
rence, Holton,  Parsons. 
V.  Annual  Meeting,  1901,  152-191 

Report  of  Treasurer,  John  Sheldon — ^Reports  of  Pub- 
lishing Committee  and  Curator,  Sheldon — Extracts 
from  the  Diary  of  Gen.  Epaphras  Hoyt,  Williams — 
'  Hoosac  Tunnel,  Parsons — Necrology,  Jonathan  John- 

son, Thompson — Nathaniel  Hitchcock,  Finch — Eben 
A.  Hall,  Fessenden — Franklin  J.  Pratt,  Potter — Mary 
P.  Wentworth,  Stebbins. 
VL  Field  Meeting— Old  Home  Week,  1901,  192-231 

'  (Sunday,  a.  m.),  Address,  SoDey — Letter,  Starr — Dedi- 

cation of  Willard  Tablet— Hymn,  Willard— Dr.  Sam- 
f  uel  Willard,  Park. 

1  (Sunday,  p.  k.),  The  Old  Meetinghouses  of  Deerfield, 

I  Sheldon — Hymn,    Mary   Willard — life   of    Edward 

Hitchcock,  Hitchcock — New  England's  History,  Bar- 
ber— The  Old  Home  Spirit,  Pratt — Indian  Trails, 
Charles  Barnard — Address,  SoUey. 

(iii) 


iy  Contents. 

(Tnesday),  Historic  Bide  and  Dedication  of  Barnard 
Monument;   Address^   William   L.  Barnard — Poem, 
Ghampney — Address,  Starr — ^Lamentable   Ballad  of 
Bloody  Brook,  Hale — Address,  A  His, 
Vn.  (Wednesday,)  Field  Meeting,  232-271 

Address  of  Welcome,  Thompson — ^Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Memorial  Stones,  J.  M.  Arms  Sheldon — 
Address,  Barber — Pocomtuck  Valley  in  the  World's 
Arena,  Winship.  Dedication  of  the  Jonathan  Wells 
Monument  by  the  Ohildren ;  Beport^  John  P.  Ashley 
— Ode,  Sheldon — ^Address,  Smith — ^Ballad,  Arms ;  Let- 
ters, Hoar,  Sazton — Addresses,  Barnard,  Orawford, 
Grosyenor. 
Exhibition  of  Arts  and  drafts — ^Three  Deerfield  Even- 

ings,  272-282 

Vm.  Annual  Meeting,  1902,  283-829 

Report  of  Curator,  Sheldon — Necrology,  Solon   L. 
Newton,  Lamb— P.  Voorhees  Finch,  Beid — ^Address, 
Baker — Address,  Thompson. 
IX.  Annual  Meeting,  1903,  830-378 

Beport  of  Treasurer,  John  Sheldon — ^Beport  of  Cura- 
tor, Sheldon — Necrology,  Albert  C.  Parsons  and  Jar- 
yis  B.  Bardwell,  Parsons — Charles  Jones  and  Luther 
Joshua  Barker  Lincoln,  Sheldon — Parson  Leavitt  Vin- 
dicated, William  H.  Leavitt — Adventures  of  Baptiste, 
Baker— Journal  of  Capt.  Nathaniel  Dwight,  Sheldon. 
X.  Field  Meeting,  1903,  Deerfield,  379-423 

Keynote  of  the  Day,  Sheldon — Address  of  Welcome, 
Parsons — ^Historical  Address,  Grosvenor — ^Dedicatory 
Address,  Whiting — ^Inscriptions — Address  in  the  Old 
Graveyard,  Baker — Addresses,  Boe,  Lord,  Denio,  Ap- 
pleton,  Corss,  Bolton,  Bauer,  Haskins. 
XI.  Annual  Meeting,  1904,  424r-483 

Beport  of  Curator,  Sheldon — ^Necrology,  John  E.  Rus- 
sell, Sheldon — J.  W.  Champney,  Coleman — James  M. 
Crafts,  Crafts — ^Zeri  Smith,  Haskell — A.  B.  Stebbins, 
Stebbins — John  M.  Smith,  Montague — Adventures  of 
Baptiste,  Baker — The  Teachings  of  American  History 
Applied  to  the  Present,  Atkins. 
XII.  Officers  and  Members  of  the  Association,  485 

XIII.  Index,  498 


ANNUAL   MEETING— 1899. 


REPORT* 


It  was  the  same  picturesque,  quaint,  interesting  event — ^the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association, 
which  was  held  at  Old  Deerfield,  Tuesday  afternoon,  Febru- 
ary 28.  The  same  in  general  characteristics,  as  the  twenty-nine 
preceding  meetings — the  same  in  the  olden-time  flavor  and 
antiquarian  charm  that  makes  these  meetings  unique.  Both  in  the 
old  Idtchen  of  Memorial  Hall  where  the  veritable  and  venerable 
antiquarians,  with  their  gray,  or  graying  heads,  and  their  goodly, 
quiet  cheer,  assemble  during  the  afternoon,  and  in  the  town- 
hall  where  supper  and  papers  fill  in  the  time  from  early  candle- 
light until  along  towards  night's  meridian — ^there  were  the 
familiar,  &scinating  scenes.  Interest  in  these  meetings  seems 
not  to  wane.  This  is,  doubtless,  owing  much  to  the  personality 
of  Yice-President  Francis  M.  Thompson  who,  foUowing  in  the 
lines  of  the  older  generation  of  Hon.  Geo.  Sheldon  and  Nathan- 
iel Hitchcock,  is  yet  cementing,  as  must  needs  be,  the  old  and 
the  new,  so  that  the  interest  will  not  die  out  in  the  period  which 
is  just  now  at  hand  when  some  of  the  founders  are  fading,  a  bit, 
from  the  possibility  of  their  one-time  activity. 

That  Deerfield  people  have  unchanging  interest  in  this,  their 
memorial  institution,  is  shown  by  their  unchanging  hospitality 
to  all  those  who  attend  from  out  of  the  town,  and,  also,  by  the 
excellent  supper  provided  and  served  by  the  women.  The  sup- 
per has  never  been  better  than  this  year,  and  from  the  notably 
good  coffee  to  Mrs.  Ball's  sponge  cake,  it  was  calculated  to  con- 
flict somewhat  with  the  prime  purpose  of  the  meeting — ^in  mak- 
ing one  think  intently  of  the  present  instead  of  the  past. 

^Tha  *' Reports,**  as  Id  YoIb.  1-111,  are  generally  those  of  the  news- 
papers of  the  day.  These  show  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  the  drift  <^ 
pabUo  sentiment.— Bditob. 

1  (1) 


S  Ammt4d  Meeting— 1899. 

A  pTticolariy  plenrint  put  <rf  the  ereoiiig  iiiafiUng  wis  ^be 
msme  by  angers  in  oostome  <tf  the  olden  time — ^men,  womea 
and  girls.  They  all  became  tbear  oostomes — and  the  cnrtaBias 
became  theoL  They  comi^eted  a  most  interesting  andi^easing 
stage  picture.  Back  of  the  jiBtlonn  was  hong  the  cid,  old 
battle-flag.  In  front  were  straight-bad^  <dd  diairB  wb^re  sat 
thesing^v,  before  whom  was  an  aged  little  taUe  on  which  wore 
two  candles  in  antiquated  stidcs.  They  wore,  {vesoitly,  trim- 
med by  one  of  the  bonneted  visitors  from  the  past  One  in 
costume  presided  at  the  piano.  The  mnsic  was  very  pleasant 
and  «i joyed  by  alL  The  songs  were  ^  New  Jerosalem,"  ^  Old 
Hundred  "  and  Sharbume's  ^  Cousin  Jedediah." 

The  venerable  GeOTge  Sheldcm,  president  of  the  society,  was 
not  present,  though  he  almost  seemed  to  be  there, — so  integral 
a  part  of  all  that  is  Deerfieklian  and  antiquarian  have  his  figure 
and  personality  become.  But  the  aged  Nathaniel  Hitchoodc, 
the  society's  recording  secretary,  was  there,  and  had  many 
greetings  from  his  friends. 

At  the  business  meeting  held  in  the  old  kitchai  in  the  after- 
noon, Yioe-President  Thompson  presiding,  the  following  oflKoers 
were  elected : 

President :  Oeorge  Sheldon  of  Deerfield. 

Yice-Presidents :  Francis  M.  Thompson  of  Ghreenfield ;  J<dm 
M.  Smith  of  Sund^land. 

Beccmiing  Secretary :  Nathaniel  Hitchcock  of  Deerfield. 

Corresponding  Secretary :  Herbert  C.  Parsons  of  Greenfield. 

Treasurer :  Nathaniel  Hitchcock. 

Assistant  Treasurer :  John  Sheldon  of  Greenfield. 

Members  of  Council:  Chaiies  Jones,  Almon  C.  Williams, 
Robert  Childs,  Eunice  E.  Huntington,  Mary  P.  Wentworth, 
Deerfield ;  Eugene  A.  Newcomb,  Avice  S.  Arms,  Eben  A.  Hall, 
Greenfield;  G.  W.  Horr,  Athol;  John  E.  Russell,  Leicester; 
Henry  M.  Phillips,  Springfield;  John  W.  Hoyt,  Cincinnati^ 
Ohio ;  Charles  Corss,  Lock  Haven,  Pa. ;  Henry  W.  Taft,  Pitts- 
field  ;  Samuel  Carter,  Brooklyn,  N.  T. 

A  committee  of  arrangements  for  the  next  field  day,  which 
will  probably  be  held  in  Charlemont,  was  elected  as  follows : — 
Mrs.  Kate  Upson  Clark  of  Brooklyn,  N.  T.,  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman 
Whiting  of  Charlemont,  Mrs.  Lucy  Cutler  Kellogg,  Jonathan 
Johnson  and  E.  A.  Newcomb  of  Greenfield,  W.  L.  Harris  and 
J.  H.  Stebbins  of  Deerfield.    The  committee  of  publication  was 


Annual  Meeting — 1899.  8 

authorized  to  publish  the  third  volmne  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Association.  A  number  of  gifts  were  made,  among  them  a 
piece  of  wood  from  the  old  Stone  house  at  Greenfield,  a  copy 
of  the  address  by  Whiting  Oriswold  at  the  opening  of  court 
in  the  remodeled  courthouse  in  Greenfield,  March  18,  1873; 
a  copy  of  the  trial  of  Prof.  John  W.  Webster  for  the  murder  of 
Dr.  George  Parkman,  presented  by  Major  H.  Tyler  of  Green- 
field ;  a  letter  written  in  1845  by  President  Hitchcock  of  Am- 
herst College  to  a  lyceum  committee  of  Quaboag  Seminary  at 
Warren,  of  which  George  W.  Horr,  now  of  Athol,  was  chair- 
man. The  letter,  which  was  presented  by  Mr.  Horr,  is  the 
quaint  old  kind  of  those  days  before  stamps  or  envelopes  had 
come  into  being.  Mr.  Horr  also  presented  a  business  letter  he 
received  in  1854,  while  he  had  his  office  in  Brooklyn,  N.  T., 
from  William  H.  Seward.  Kev.  Lyndon  S.  Crawford  of  Tre- 
bizond,  Turkey,  read  a  paper  giving  extracts  of  the  story  of  the 
life  of  his  father,  Eev.  Dr.  Bobert  Crawford,  for  many  years 
pastor  of  the  White  church  in  Deerfield. 

After  the  supper  by  early  candlelight  had  ended,  the  evening 
meeting  was  opened  with  prayer  by  Bev.  Andrew  Campbell. 
The  first  paper  was  one  on  "  Old-time  Advertising,"  by  Edward 
Branch  Lyman  of  Greenfield.  The  old-time  singers,  under  the 
charge  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Ashley,  then  gave  one  of  their 
selections  and  Bev.  Lyndon  S.  Crawford  read  the  poem  which 
had  been  written  for  the  occasion  by  Eliza  A.  Starr.  Vice- 
President  Thompson,  introducing  Miss  C.  Alice  Baker  of  Cam- 
bridge, who  read  an  interesting  paper  on  ^^  Ethan  Allen  and  his 
Daughter,"  gave  a  short,  well  turned,  paper  on  ^^  Messengers  of 
War  and  Messengers  of  Peace."  The  last  paper  of  the  evening 
was  one  by  President  George  Sheldon,  entitled  "  New  Tracks 
in  an  Old  TraiL"  It  was  read  by  his  son,  John  Sheldon  of  Green- 
field. 


An/ntuU  Meeiinff — 1899. 


ADDEESS  BY  EEV.  LYNDON  S.  CRAWFORD. 

Dr.  Robert  Crawford  was  bom  on  November  24,  1804,  at 
Paisley,  Scotland.  He  was  the  third  child  of  James  and  Jane 
(Eennedy)  Crawford,  she  being  the  daughter  of  Douglass  Ken- 
nedy, from  the  isle  of  Arran.  His  early  life  was  spent  in  Scot- 
land and  his  memories  of  the  European  wars,  and  especially  of 
the  battle  of  Waterloo,  are  interesting.  From  his  grandmother 
he  learned  the  feeling  of  many  of  the  people  there  in  regard  to 
the  American  Revolution,  and  of  the  sharp  reproof  she  gave  to 
one  of  the  soldiers  who  exclaimed,  as  he  was  marching  away : 
^^  I  will  never  come  back  from  that  war  till  I  wash  my  hands  in 
Washington's  heart's  blood."  She,  who  was  a  sympathizer  with 
the  Americans,  immediately  retorted :  ^^  Then,  lad,  you  will  never 
come  back."  It  was  the  custom  among  the  Paisley  weavers  to 
possess  themselves  of  all  the  new  books  and  papers  they  could 
find,  and  as  they  sat  at  their  looms  weaving,  to  appoint  a  reader 
while  the  others  listened  and  discussed  the  religious  or  political 
questions  of  the  hour.  As  a  result  of  this  discussion  and  thought, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  boys,  brought  up  in  this  atmosphere, 
developed  into  scholars  and  men  of  literary  note. 

When  young  Robert  was  sixteen  his  fainily,  with  a  number  of 
their  neighbors,  emigrated  to  Canada.  They  were  assisted  by 
the  British  government  in  this  undertaking.  Theirs  was  a 
pioneer  life  in  the  new  world,  entering  and  clearing  the  primeval 
forest  and  building  their  log  huts  and  so  establishing  the  town 
of  Lanark,  upper  Canada. 

Near  the  close  of  that  year  (1821)  his  oldest  sister  Marrion 
was  married  to  Archibald  McTaggart.  The  journal  records 
the  wedding  as  follows : 

"There  was  no  minister  nearer  than  Perth,  twenty  miles 
from  us,  and  my  father,  the  two  McTaggart  brothers,  my  sister 
and  myself  went  there  to  the  marriage,  going  on  foot  one  day, 
and  coming  back  the  next." 

The  journal  tells  of  the  meetings  held  from  house  to  house 
until  "  after  some  considerable  time  a  small  log  church  building 
was  erected.  ...  I  may  here  state  that  the  first  formal  ser- 
mon I  preached  was  in  that  little  log  building.  When  Mr. 
Smith,  the  minister,  invited  me,  I  hesitated  saying,  ^  O I  I  cannot 


Address  hy  JS&o.  Lyndon  8.  Orawford.  6 

preach.'  I  was  then  a  sophomore  m  college,  and  was  there  on  a 
Tisit  to  my  family.  After  I  had  preached,  and  the  service  was 
over,  I  remember  he  said  to  me— ^  Noo  Bobert^  ye  manna  say 
again  ye  canna  preach.' 

My  text  on  that  occasion  was  1  John  4: 19,  ^  We  love  ELim 
because  He  first  loved  us.' " 

It  was  after  they  had  become  somewhat  settled  and  young 
Robert  could  be  spared  from  home  that  two  opportunities  offered 
themselves  to  him,  one  of  becoming  derk  and  liquor-seller  on  a 
river  steamer,  or  that  of  a  common  workman  in  digging  a  canal 
around  the  Long  Sault  rapids.  He  chose  the  latter,  a  fact  which 
gave  him  great  pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  later  years  as  he  re- 
viewed his  life.  It  was  while  on  his  way  home  from  this  canal 
that  he  and  his  companion  saw  at  a  farmhouse  a  very  old  man 
whom  they  afterwards  learned  was  the  great  explorer  McEenzie, 
whose  name  is  preserved  in  the  McKenzie  river.  In  May,  1826, 
he  said  good-by  to  his  Canada  home  and  family,  and  though 
he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  other  members  of  his  family,  this 
was  his  final  good-by  to  his  father,  who  died  before  he  visited 
Canada  again. 

From  that  time  till  1832  he  was  employed  as  a  weaver  in  the 
cotton  mills  of  Hoosick  Falls,  I^.  Y.,  and  North  Bennington, 
Vt.  The  son  of  the  owner  of  the  mill,  young  Thomas  Gordon, 
a  student  in  Williams  College,  revived  in  young  Crawford's  soul 
the  thirst  for  knowledge  which  as  a  smaU  boy  he  had  imbibed 
in  the  little  schools  in  Scotland.  A  visit  to  his  mother  about 
this  time,  in  which  she  reminded  him  that  he  had  been  dedicated 
to  the  gospel  ministry  when  he  was  born,  resulted  in  his  leaving 
the  factories  and,  after  preparing  himself  by  studying  nights 
and  mornings,  he  was  able  to  enter  Williams  College,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  1836,  when  he  was  nearly  32  years  of  age. 
During  his  college  course  he  taught  several  terms  in  Bennington, 
North  Adams,  Charlemont  and  Zoar,  and  had  his  first  ride  on  a 
railroad  from  Albany  to  Saratoga.  This  was  during  the  summer 
of  1833.  The  journal  says :  ^'  The  cars  seemed  to  be  the  bodies 
of  the  old  stages  set  on  car  wheels."  It  was  in  1834,  during  the 
visit  to  Canada  referred  to  above  that  he  interested  a  number 
of  young  men  in  the  matter  of  an  education,  and  six  of  these 
afterwards  became  ministers.  His  theological  course  was  taken 
in  Princeton  (N.  J.)  Seminary  and  in  the  Union  Seminary  at 
Kew  York^    It  was  while  a  tutor  in  Williams  College  that  he 


6  Annual  MeeUng— 1699. 

became  engaged  to  Hiss  Ellen  Griflbi,  daughter  of  his  former 
ooUege  president,  to  whom  he  was  married  September  30, 1840. 
He  had  been  ordained  at  North  Adams,  August  20  preceding, 
and  continued  for  15  years  the  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
church  of  that  place.  It  was  there  that  their  seven  children 
were  born,  and  it  is  there  that  three  of  them  died.  Two  years 
were  spent  in  a  parish  near  Chester,  Pa.  A  northern  minister 
was  not  welcome  there  at  that  time,  but  when  he  came  to  look 
for  a  northern  parish  some  doors  were  shut  against  him  because 
he  was  hailing  from  the  South.  Old  Deerfield,  however,  was 
glad  to  welcome  him,  and  he  was  settled  over  the  Orthodox 
Congr^ational  church  January  12,  1858,  where  he  remained 
in  active  service  until  the  death  of  his  wife  in  1881.  He  re- 
mained pastor  emeritus  until  his  death  in  1896,  and  was  very 
thankful  to  be  able  to  preach  frequently  up  to  very  near  the  end 
of  his  life. 

He  was  upon  the  school  committee  of  Deerfield  for  many 
years.  In  July,  1861,  he  succeeded  Bev.  J.  F.  Moors,  on  the 
removal  of  the  latter  to  Greenfield  as  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Deerfield  Academy  and  was  successively  elected  to 
that  office  until  1888.  He  was  the  chief  agent  in  the  recovery 
of  the  **  Old  Indian  House  Door,"  from  Dr.  Slade  of  Newton, 
its  holder  and  owner.  On  its  return  to  Deerfield  a  board  of 
trustees  was  organized  for  its  care,  of  which  he  was  president. 
When  the  P.  Y.  M.  Association  was  formed  and  an  act  of  in- 
corporation asked  for,  the  five  trustees  signed  the  petition  and 
bec^one  charter  members.  Soon  after,  the  old  door  was  form- 
ally transferred  to  the  new  Association.  It  is  now  a  great  cen- 
ter of  attraction  in  your  ^^  Indian  Boom."  He  was  a  member 
of  most  of  the  important  committees  engaged  in  the  prelimi- 
nary work  of  settUng  the  Association  in  its  present  quarters. 
He  was  the  first  corresponding  secretary  and  continued  in  that 
.  office  thirteen  years ;  he  was  a  member  of  the  council  for  six 

years. 

In  the  fall  of  1862  he  was  nominated  for  the  state  senate. 
No  one  was  more  surprised  than  he  when  the  nomination  came 
to  him,  for  apparently  there  had  been  no  previous  mention  of 
his  name.  When  his  young  daughter  told  him  that  he  had  been 
nominated,  ^^  I  answered  her  rather  sharply,  thinking  that  for 
some  cause  or  other  she  was,  as  the  children  say, '  fooling  me.' " 

At  this  period  one  wrote  of  him :  ^^  He  is  a  good  Christian, 


Address  by  Bev,  Lyndon  S.  Oravrford.  7 

kind-hearted,  intelligent,  trusty,  affable  man,  just  what  every 
legislator  ought  to  be.  We  intend  to  vote  for  him  and  be 
thankful  we  have  so  good  a  man  to  receive  our  vote." 

Commenting  on  this  in  his  diary,  Dr.  Crawford  writes :  ^^  This 
is  a  pretty  good  set-off,  rather  fulsome  for  a  man  to  read  about 
himself,  but  just  such  things  politicians  like  and  are  accustomed 
to."  He  talked  of  declining,  but  his  deacons  and  parishioners 
requested  him  to  remain  in  the  field.  After  the  election  Dr. 
Crawford  made  this  entry  in  his  diary :  ^^  Well,  the  ordeal  is 
past.  Election  came  Tuesday  of  this  week  and  I  was  elected  a 
Massachusetts  senator  for  this  district,  a  high  honor  many 
would  doubtless  esteem  it ;  and  I  feel  grateful  certainly,  yet 
humbled.  In  the  common  phrase,  I  ran  far  ahead  of  my  ticket, 
showing  that  I  had  more  than  my  own  party  votes ;  and  it  is 
pleasant  to  feel  that  one  stands  well,  not  only  as  a  party  man, 
but  with  others  also.  But  I  mean  to  keep  in  mind  Uiat  I  am  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  and  must  maintain  my  character  as  such, 
if  I  am  a  senator.    Gkxi  give  me  grace  to  do  so  always." 

Dr.  Crawford  then  gives  a  description  of  a  reception  in  Deer- 
field,  when  Sev.  Mr.  Hosmer,  who  had  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
the  Fifty-second,  was  presented  with  a  silver-mounted  pistoL 
The  Fifty-second  had  been  encamped  on  Potty's  Plain.  On  Tues- 
day, November  20, 1862,  Dr.  Crawford  made  this  entry :  **  A 
drizzly,  unpleasant  day  and  a  gloomy  one  for  many  of  our  people. 
Our  boys  in  blue  broke  camp  today  at  2  o  'clock  p.  m.,  and 
marched  to  the  depot,  where  a  long  train  of  cars  awaited  them 
and  on  which  they  made  their  start  for  the  seat  of  war.  With 
all  the  pageantry  of  the  occasion,  there  were  many  tears  shed, 
many  hearts  ached.  With  not  a  few  of  those  brave  fellows  it 
was  their  last  parting  with  friends  here.  They  were  never  to 
return  again  from  the  cruel  but  patriotic  errand  on  which  they 
were  going.  Two  days  before  I  had  visited  them,  and  distrib- 
uted to  each  from  our  community,  a  copy  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  Psalms." 

The  following  anecdote  finely  iUustrates  a  salient  feature  in 
his  kindly  character  : 

During  his  last  years,  while  in  Clinton,  Conn.,  at  the  home 
of  his  oldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Emerson,  on  his  daily  walks  he  fre- 
quently met  and  chatted  with  two  little  girls.  They  never 
knew  bis  name  but  they  knew  that  be  must  be  ^'  Somebody's 
Grandpapa."    And  when  he  died  Oct.  26, 1896,  and  the  "  Colo- 


8  Anivual  Meeting — 1899. 

nial  Express,"  which  did  not  usoally  stop  at  Clinton,  did  stop 
(me  day  to  take  his  body  on  to  Newark,  N.  J.,  those  little  girls 
ran  into  the  hoose  and  said  '^  Somebody's  Grandpapa  is  dead 
but  he  was  such  a  good  man,  they  did  n't  put  him  in  the  ground 
but  the  Express  Train  stopped  and  took  him  on  and  took  him 
clear  to  Heaven." 


THE  OLD  BURYING  GROUND. 

BT  ELIZA.  ALLEN  STARR  OF  CHICAOO,  ILL. 

Where  sunshine  rests  from  dawn  to  set  of  sun, 
Where  wilding  roses  bloom,  not  asking  care, 

The  ancient  tomh-stones  leaning,  moss  o'er  grown, 
The  story  tell  of  town  and  village  fair; 

Of  town  and  village  in  the  far-off  time 
When  copse  and  hedge  held,  oft,  a  wily  foe, 

And  stealthy  feet  would  o'er  the  meadows  glide 
Nor  leave  a  trace  upon  the  frozen  snow; 

Of  August  days,  ere  morning  dews  were  dry, 
And  tender  mists  along  the  hillsides  clung; 

Yet  still  the  story  is  of  death  and  blood. 
Of  noble  deeds  by  blazing  firesides  sung. 

And  ours  the  fruitage,  ours  the  sweet  reward 
Of  daimtless  courage,  patient  aims  that  rose 

Above  the  tidal  line  of  selfish  gains. 
Above  the  loud  laments  o'er  selfish  woes. 

Lift  not  the  sod  upon  those  ancient  graves; 

Raise  not  a  stone  a-lean  with  honored  years; 
This  is  no  place  for  renovating  hand — 

A  place,  alone,  for  venerating  tears. 

Agam  I  stand  in  this  horizon's  round 
Of  melting  loveliness;  the  August  skies, 

That  brought  my  birth,  bend  gently  o'er  the  scene 
To  memory  sacred  and  long  cherished  ties; 

Its  story  of  the  village  and  the  town 

Set  to  the  music  of  the  noble  waves 
That  flow  beneath.    Beloved  Pocumtuck,  guard, 

With  your  strong  current,  my  ancestral  graves. 


MessengeTB  of  War  and  Messengers  of  Peace.  9 


MESSENGERS  OF  WAR  AND  MESSENGERS 

OF  PEACE. 

BY  JTJDGB  FSANOIB  H.  THOMPSON. 

On  the  last  Tuesday  of  February,  1703-04,  there  arrived  be- 
fore the  palisades  of  the  little  frontier  hamlet  of  Deerfield,  mes- 
sengers of  war,  sent  forth  by  Vaudreuil,  the  governor  of  New 
France,  under  the  command  of  Hertel  de  Rouville,  consisting 
of  200  Frenchmen  and  142  Indians.  The  people  of  Pocumtuck 
will  ever  remember  the  nature  and  the  results  of  this  message 
of  war : — ^but  let  us  forget  for  a  moment,  if  we  can,  the  devilish 
work  of  these  messengers,  who  claimed  to  march  under  the 
banner  of  the  Prince  of  Peace ;  forget  the  fiendish  murder  of 
innocent  women  and  children ;  the  scalping-knife  and  the  bloody 
hatchet;  the  torch  and  the  flame; — and  think  only  of  the 
daring  bravery  and  the  wonderful  hardihood  of  these  men  who 
had  undertaken  and  accomplished  the  long  and  perilous  journey, 
in  the  midst  of  winter's  snow  and  ice,  through  the  pathless 
forests  which  then  stretched  unbroken  from  the  Connecticut  to 
the  St.  Lawrence  river ;  and  imagine  the  depth  of  devotion  of 
these  fanatics  to  their  country  and  their  king,  and  their  fren- 
zied zeal  for  their  religion  so  often  shown  by  their  intense  ha- 
tred  of  the  detested  English  heretic. 

But  brave  and  daring  as  were  these  messengers  of  war,  their 
valor  and  courage  was  certainly  equaled,  if  not  excelled,  by 
those  messengers  of  peace.  Ensign  John  Sheldon  and  John 
Wells,  who,  on  their  errand  of  mercy,  started  on  the  20th  day 
of  the  following  December  to  traverse  these  unknown  paths  to 
Canada,  by  the  way  of  Albany  and  the  lakes,  over  that  trail 
which  60  years  later  became  the  scene  of  the  ^^  Bloody  Morn- 
ing ScouV'  long  to  be  remembered,  and  which  for  a  century 
was  the  great  highway  of  slaughter  and  of  death. 

"Well  may  the  biographer  of  Ensign  Sheldon  say: — ^**We 
need  not  go  back  to  the  days  of  King  Arthur  for  exploits  of 
chivalry ;  our  Colonial  history  is  full  of  them.  This  man,  long 
past  the  daring  impulses  of  youth : — this  youth, — ^whose  life  is 
all  before  him : — show  me  two  braver  knights-errant,  setting 
out  for  loftier  purposes,  or  on  more  perilous  pilgrimage." 


10  Annual  Mdeting— 1699. 

**  Three  hundred  miles  of  painful  and  nnaocnstomed  tramp- 
ing on  snowHshoes  in  mid- winter,  over  mountain  and  morass ; 
through  tangled  thickets  and  snow  dogged  forests,  where  with 
fell  purpose  the  cruel  savage  lurked ;  with  gun  in  hand,  and 
pack  on  back,  now  wading  knee  deep  through  some  rapid 
stream,  now  in  the  face  of  the  fierce  north  wind  toiling  over 
the  slippery  surface  of  the  frozen  lake,  now  shuffling  tediously 
along  in  tiie  sodden  ice  of  some  half  thawed  river,  digging 
away  the  drifts  at  night  for  his  camp ;  wet,  lame,  half  famished 
and  chilled  to  the  bone,  hardly  daring  to  build  a  fire, — a  bit  of 
dried  meat  from  his  pack  for  his  supper,  spruce  boughs  for  his 
bed,  crouching  there  in  his  blanket  his  head  muffled  in  the 
hood  of  his  capote,  eye  and  ear  alert,  his  mittened  hand  grasp- 
ing the  hilt  of  his  kiidf e  at  his  belt ;  up  at  daybreak  and  on 
again,  through  storm  and  sleet,  pelted  by  pitiless  rains  or 
blinded  by  whirling  snow : — what  iron  will  and  nerves  of  steel, 
sound  mind  and  sound  body,  to  dare  and  do  what  this  man 
did.'' 

Three  times  did  this  old  Puritan  yeoman  make  this  journey  to 
search  out  and  recover  the  English  captives,  and  to  a  great  ex- 
tent through  his  efforts,  it  is  owing  that  within  a  period  of 
about  eight  years,  all  but  thirty  of  them  had  been  restored  to 
their  English  homes,  and  of  those  not  accounted  for.  General 
Hoyt  says,  ^^They  remained  in  Oanada,  mixing  with  French 
and  Indians  and  adopting  their  manners  and  customs,  and  were 
lost  to  their  friends." 

Nearly  two  hundred  years  elapsed,  and  against  the  names  of 
those  almost  forgotten  ones,  whose  existence  seemed  like  a 
dream, — stood  the  record,  ^^  Taken  captive  to  Canada,  whence 
they  came  not  back  again ;  ^  when  a  new  messenger  of  peace, 
a  woman,  and  a  scion  of  that  brave  old  first  messenger,  skilled 
by  education  and  the  art  of  diplomacy,  and  by  her  zeal  and 
energy,  ^^  iron  vnll  and  nerves  of  sted,  sound  mind  in  sound 
body,"  in  every  way  fully  fitted  for  her  delicate  mission,  started 
in  mid-winter  from  Pocumtuck  valley  for  Oanada,  fully  de- 
termined to  learn  something  of  the  lives  of  the  missing  captives. 

Her  route  is  nearly  identical  with  that  followed  by  the 
French  army  and  its  prisoners  upon  their  homeward  march 
after  the  sacking  of  Deerfield,  but  under  what  different  condi- 
tions. In  a  palace  car,  inlaid  with  foreign  woods,  beautifully 
upholstered  with  rich  and  costly  stuffs,  heated  with  steam  and 


New  Tracks  in  an  Old  Trail.  11 

brilliantly  lighted,  she  glides  smoothly  along,  now  through  some 
beaatif  ul  village  standing  where  once  in  the  deep  wilderness 
her  captive  relative  had  shivered  in  a  winter  camp ;  now  over 
some  rapid  frozen  stream  throogh  whose  icy  waters  the  half- 
starved  captives  had  been  forced  to  wade ;  then  gliding  over 
the  shining  rails  in  fall  view  of  the  long  lake  over  the  frozen 
surface  of  which  the  poor  captives  had  been  compelled  to  haul 
the  loaded  sleds  of  their  masters  in  weakness  and  despair.  She 
makes  her  journey  from  Deerfield  to  Montreal  in  about  twelve 
hours,  but  the  English  captives  on  their  memorable  march  were 
struggling  through  the  wilderness  for  many  weeks. 

The  first  messengers  of  peace  were  met  upon  their  arrival 
with  characteristic  chivalry  by  the  French  governor,  with  sus- 
picion and  jealousy  by  the  Indians,  who  feared  the  loss  of  their 
captives  without  ransom,  and  by  the  Jesuit  priests  with  ill- 
concealed  treachery.  Their  steps  were  dogged  by  spies,  and 
every  obstruction  which  the  government  would  allow,  was  placed 
in  the  way  of  the  accomplishment  of  their  humane  mission. 
How  different  the  reception  of  our  later  day  messenger.  Every 
facility  for  the  accomplishment  of  her  purpose  was  freely  ac- 
corded her  by  priest  and  people ;  the  doors  of  the  convents 
thrown  open,  and  old  records  brought  out  by  the  parish  priest 
and  seardied  for  memoranda  of  those  ^^  who  were  taken  cap- 
tive to  Canada  and  came  not  back  again."  What  astonishing 
and  wonderful  success  met  the  prolonged  labor  and  keen  scru- 
tiny of  our  modem  messenger  of  peace  and  good  will,  and  the 
good  work  still  goes  on,  and  by  those  means  '^  eighteen  of  these 
exiles  have  been  accounted  for  and  the  records  of  their  lives 
identified."  For  this  work,  and  for  much  other  in  antiquarian 
channels,  what  a  debt  of  gratitude,  love  and  honor  this  Associa- 
tion and  the  people  of  this  valley  owe  to  Charlotte  Alice  Baker. 


NEW  TRACKS  IN  AN  OLD  TRAIL. 

BT  OEOBGB   SHBLDON. 

In  threshing  over  old  straw  which  has  been  a  score  of  times 
under  the  persistent  flail,  no  great  results  are  to  be  expected. 
If  here  and  there  a  few  grains  hidden  away  in  odd  comers,  or 
enveloped  in  thick  husks,  be  discovered,  it  satisfies  any  reason* 
able  demand. 


12  Annual  Meeting— 1899. 

When  « The  Eedeemed  Captive "  of  Parson  John  WUliams 
and  the  ^^  Journal "  of  his  son  Stephen  are  subjected  to  this  pro- 
cess, enough  new  pigment  is  found  to  paint  quite  an  interesting 
little  picture  of  events  hitherto  lying  in  the  shadow.  If  nothing 
new  of  really  historic  importance  appears  on  the  canvas,  I 
trust  some  obscure  points  have  been  cleared  up  and  some  new 
details  of  local  interest  brought  to  light.  It  is  the  purpose  of 
this  paper  to  give  the  results  which  this  new  scrutiny  of  old  au- 
thorities has  developed,  relating  to  the  sacking  of  Deerfield, 
February  29, 1704 ;  to  the  capturing  of  Mr.  Williams  and  his 
enforced  journey  over  the  snows  to  Canada,  together  with  that 
of  his  ten-year  old  boy.  As  these  narratives  have  been  my 
principal  authority,  of  course  nothing  can  be  found  herein  to 
militate  against  their  contents,  but  a  searching  analysis  will 
throw  a  few  side  lights  upon  their  somewhat  disconnected  state- 
ments, while  a  new  and  interesting  historical  hypothesis  will  be 
more  or  less  clearly  established,  from  the  words  of  those  most 
nearly  concerned,  John  and  Stephen  Williams. 

It  is  well  known  to  careful  students  of  the  history  of  the 
times  that  the  inroad  upon  Deerfield  in  1704  was  not  a  purely  mil- 
itary affair.  Its  object  was  not  to  conquer  territory  to  be  held 
for  France ;  it  was  not  to  capture  a  fort  which  controlled  a 
territory  necessary  for  future  military  operations ;  it  was  not  to 
distract  an  enemy  and  keep  him  on  the  defensive ;  it  was  not  to 
reconquer  for  the  valley  Indians  their  old  homes  or  avenge  their 
old  wrongs,  or  settle  old  scores ;  it  was  not  to  recover  prisoners 
taken  in  a  successful  foray.  It  was  none  of  these,  nor  was  it 
any  other  act  of  legitimate  warfare.  What,  then,  was  the  ani- 
mus and  object  of  this  assault  upon  peaceful  Deerfield  ?  The 
result  of  the  attack  has  been  too  often  described  to  need  here 
more  than  this  simple  statement:  Canadian  barbarians  were 
brought  three  hundred  miles  through  the  wilderness  under  the 
conduct  of  a  choice  scion  of  the  chivalry  of  France,  and  turned 
loose  upon  a  sleeping  village  to  satiate  their  native  love  of  blood 
and  plunder,  not  only  without  let  or  hindrance,  but  under  the 
protection  of  the  French  soldiers,  ^^  the  greatest  part  standing 
to  their  Arms  ...  &  killing  all  they  could  y*  made  any  re- 
sistence."  It  nowhere  appears  that  the  French  were  directly 
engaged  in  breaking  open  the  houses  and  in  killing  or  taking 
captive  the  occupants.  The  French  acted  apparently  only  as  a 
bodyguard  for  the  Indians  in  their  preliminary  work.    Later, 


New  TraoJcB  in  a/n  Old  Trail.  13 

they  joined  in  the  attempt  to  reduce  the  Benoni  Stebbins  house, 
and  in  securing  provisions  for  their  homeward  march.  This  ex- 
pedition was  in  purpose  and  fact  a  purely  political  measure  with 
a  military  adjunct  for  its  execution. 

In  1703  Philip  de  Rigaud,  Marquis  de  Yaudreuil,  became 
governor  of  Canada,  and  his  earliest  prominent  act  was  to  make 
the  Eastern  Indians  violate  the  treaty  of  peace  just  made  be- 
tween them  and  the  English,  with  the  consent  of  M.  de  Call- 
ieres,  his  predecessor.  The  new  governor  forced  the  Indians  to 
surprise  the  English  settlements  in  Maine  with  torch  and  toma- 
hawk. In  return  some  of  the  Abenaki  Indians  were  killed  by 
the  Maine  settlers.  The  Abenaki  Sachems  went  at  once  to 
Canada  and  asked  the  assistance  of  the  French  in  taking  their 
revenge.  Yaudreuil  in  a  letter  to  the  home  Oovemment  ex- 
pressly declares  that  he  was  only  too  happy  to  comply  with 
this  request,  and  that  the  expedition  against  Deerfield  was  or- 
ganized at  their  solicitation,  to  show  the  Indians  that  the  French 
were  their  friends,  and  to  break  up  a  talked-of  treaty  between 
the  Abenakis  and  the  English.  The  governor  says  the  Indians 
called  upon  him  in  the  following  June  to  thank  him  formally 
for  this  assistance. 

At  the  time  this  expedition  was  set  on  foot,  a  French  pris- 
oner of  war  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Massachusetts  Governor 
Dudley,  at  Boston.  He  was  called  in  the  correspondence  be- 
tween Dudley  and  Yaudreuil,  Capt.  Battis,  or  Baptiste.  He  was 
a  man  of  some  importance  in  Canada  with  a  status  not  clearly 
defined.  It  has  been  stated  that  he  was  a  relative  of  YaudreuiL 
Miss  Baker  finds  no  evidence  of  this  relationship,  but  I  cannot 
help  suspecting  that  there  were  other  than  reasons  of  state 
for  the  extraordinary  and  persistent  efforts  of  Yaudreuil  for 
the  recovery  of  this  captive.  There  was  much  correspondence 
with  Dudley  on  the  subject,  upon  which  it  is  unnecessary  to 
dwell  longer  at  this  time. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  by  the  book,  plain  documentary  evi- 
dence. My  next  step  will  be  an  assumption  founded  on  testimony 
satisfactory  to  me,  although  circumstantial  and  widely  scattered. 
I  shall  later  attempt  to  point  out  and  concentrate  the  evidence 
on  which  this  assumption  is  based. 

I  assume  that,  independent  of  his  declared  object.  Governor 
Yaudreuil  attached  to  the  expedition  against  Deerfield  in  1704 
an  important  side  issua    I  assume  that  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 


14  Annual  MeeUng— 1899. 

taininga  prisoner  of  safficient  importance  to  secure  the  ex- 
change of  Oapt.  Baptiste,  Yaudreoil  made  a  special  arrange- 
ment for  secnring  Mr.  Williams.  That  he  engaged  two  Macqua 
Sachems  and  one  brave  to  go  along  with  the  army,  whose  es- 
pecial duty  it  was  to  capture  and  bring  back  safely  to  Canada 
the  Minister  of  Deerfield,  with  a  promise  of  a  substantial  re- 
ward in  case  of  success.  The  capture  was  made  and  the  pris- 
oner delivered  to  the  Governor,  and  in  due  time  we  shall  see 
that  two  of  his  agents  received  the  promised  reward,  presum- 
ably in  the  coin  of  the  realm,  but  the  third,  the  leader,  we  shall 
also  see  had  already  received  his  reward,  in  the  shape  of  an 
ounce  of  cold  lead  from  the  hand  of  one  of  the  brave  men  de- 
fending the  Benoni  Stebbins  house. 

We  will  now  examine  the  foundations  of  my  assumption  and 
see  what  light  we  can  get  on  the  nyBthods  of  the  emissaries  in 
carrying  their  commission  to  a  successful  issue.  Mr.  Williams 
says,  ^^  They  came  to  my  house  in  the  beginning  of  the  onset, 
and  by  their  violent  endeavours  to  break  open  doors  and  win- 
dows, with  axes  and  hatchets,  awaked  me  out  of  sleep.''  As 
Mr.  Williams  was  to  be  the  principal  prize  no  risk  was  to  be 
run.  May  it  not  be  safe  to  conclude  that  after  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  the  surprise  were  made,  the  attack  on  his  house  was 
to  be  the  signal  for  the  general  assault?  This  supposition, 
however,  presupposes  a  knowledge  of  the  location  of  this 
house,  which  must  be  accounted  for.  There  were  Indians  in 
Canada  at  this  period  well  acquainted  with  Deerfield,  who 
could  be  perfect  guides.  One  was  a  woman  named  Ruth,  who 
when  a  child  had  been  taken  by  the  English  in  Philip's  War. 
She  had  lived  in  the  family  of  the  Reverend  and  Doctor  6er- 
shom  Bulkley  in  Wethersfield,  Ct.,  and  had  often  been  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Williams  in  Deerfield.  Somehow  she  found  her 
way  to  Canada  and  had  become  a  convert  to  Romanism.  Ruth 
was  one  who  could  have  drawn  a  rough  outline  of  the  fort, 
giving  the  location  of  Mr.  Williams's  house  and  even  a  plan  of 
its  interior.  Whether  or  not  Ruth  did  this,  it  is  evident  that 
both  its  location  and  the  plan  of  its  interior  were  known  to  the 
Macqua  agents  of  YaudreuiL 

Once  safely  within  the  stockade,  with  not  a  symptom  of  alarm 
from  the  sleeping  victims,  doubtless  parties  of  Indians  were 
swiftly  detailed  for  each  house  in  the  fort,  that  the  attack  might 
be  simultaneous  upon  a  given  signaL    It  would  seem  at  this 


New  Traeks  in  an  Old  TrcnL  16 

sapreme  moment  the  French  were  ^^  standing  to  their  Arms'* 
on  the  training  field,  or  common ;  certainly  none  remained  near 
the  point  of  entrance,  for  nobody  was  there  to  interfere  with 
the  escape  of  those  who  jumped  from  the  back  windows  of  the 
Sheldon  and  Williams  houses.  It  appears  to  have  been  a  com- 
paratively large  party  that  made  the  attack  on  the  house  of  the 
minister,  as  the  doors  and  windows  were  assaulted  at  the  same 
instant.  Evidently  his  doors  were  not  so  strong  as  that  of  the 
Old  Indian  House  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  for  one  door 
was  broken  down  at  once.  Mr.  Williams  sajrs,  when  awakened 
by  the  noise,  he  ^^  leaped  out  of  bed,  and,  running  towards  the 
door,  perceived  the  enemy  making  their  entrance  into  the 
house.  .  .  .  The  enemy  immediately  brake  into  the  p>ed]  room, 
I  judge  to  the  number  of  twenty,  with  painted  faces  and 
hideous  acclamations.  .  .  .  The  enemy  who  entered  the  house 
were  all  of  them  Indians  and  Maquas,"  none  being  French- 
men. Besides  the  special  agents,  there  was  Wattanamon, 
and  probably  his  kinsman,  Sagamore  Greorge  of  Pennicooke. 
As  the  enemy  crowded  into  his  bedroom,  Mr  Williams  showed 
a  daring  that  was  reckless.  ^^  Taking  down  my  pistol,"  he 
says,  ^^I  cocked  it  and  put  it  to  the  breast  of  the  &*st  Indian 
who  came  up."  This,  it  wiU  later  appear,  was  the  Macqua 
diief .  Had  the  flint  of  Mr.  Williams's  pistol  answered  true, 
Yaudreuil's  leading  agent  would  then  and  there  have  had  his  ac- 
counts settled ;  but  ^^  My  pistol  missing  fire,  I  was  seized  by 
three  Indians,  who  disarmed  me  and  bound  me  naked,  as  I  was 
in  my  shirt,  and  so  I  stood  for  near  the  space  of  an  hour." 
The  chief  prisoner  being  safe  under  a  small  guard,  ^^  the  enemy 
fell  to  rifling  the  house,  and  entered  in  great  numbers  into  every 
room."  Having  secured  what  plunder  they  could  carry,  the 
captors  returned  to  the  bedroom,  where,  says  Williams,  ^^  they 
gave  me  liberty  to  put  on  my  clothes ; "  but  so  cautious  were 
they  with  their  prize,  that,  with  all  the  crew  about  him,  they 
were  afraid  to  free  the  parson  militant  for  one  moment,  but,  he 
continues  ^^  keeping  me  bound  with  a  cord  on  one  arm,  till  I 
put  my  clothes  to  the  other,  and  then  changing  my  cord,  they 
let  me  dress  myself,  then  pinioned  me  again."  The  savage 
who  had  captured  Mrs.  Williams,  says  her  husband,  ^^  gave  lib- 
erty to  my  dear  wife  to  dress  herself,  and  our  children." 

When  "  binding  me,"  says  Mr.  WUliams,  "  they  told  me  they 
would  carry  me  to  Quebea"    These  words  were  significant. 


16  Annual  Meeting— 1899. 

but  Mr.  WilUams  ooold  not  then  see,  as  we  now  can,  the  full 
force  of  that  declaration.  All  the  other  captives  would  of  course 
be  carried  to  Canada,  but  not  to  Quebec,  for  they  would  be 
held  by  their  captors  as  private  property,  being  personal  chance 
captives,  to  be  kept  among  themselves,  or  sold  to  the  French  at 
their  pleasure.  Not  so  Mr.  Williams ;  he  was  to  be  carried  to 
Quebec  as  a  prisoner  of  state.  Had  the  miserable  captive  known 
this  fact  he  would  have  been  saved  much  subsequent  anxiety 
and  suffering  on  the  journey. 

Generally,  so  fast  as  the  captives  were  secured  and  provis- 
ions from  the  plundered  houses  packed  for  the  homeward 
march,  parties  were  dispatched  to  the  rendezvous  about  Red 
Bocks,  but  the  Williams  family  were  kept  in  their  own  house. 
"  About  sun  an  hour  high,"  says  WiUiams,  "  we  were  all 
carried  out  of  the  house,  for  a  march,  and  saw  many  of  the 
houses  of  my  neighbors  in  flames,  perceiving  the  whole  fort, 
one  house  excepted,  to  be  taken.''  Circumstances  had  pre- 
vented his  Macqua  captors  from  leaving  the  house  before,  and 
Mr.  Williams  was  too  valuable  a  prize  to  be  trusted  to  the  or- 
dinary captives'  guard.  Therefore  he  was  moved  when  the 
main  army  began  its  retreat,  after  being  baffled  in  the  assault  on 
the  Stebbins  house. 

There  are  many  notable  points  in  the  brief  sentences  which  I 
have  quoted  from  Mr.  Williams.  There  were  about  fifteen  or 
sixteen  houses  within  the  walls  of  the  fort,  and  but  140  Indians 
in  the  army,  so  that  only  about  nine  would  naturaUy  be  as- 
signed to  each  house.  But  we  find  as  many  as  twenty  or  more 
attacking  the  house  of  Mr.  Williams,  and  we  note  that  so  soon  as 
the  outer  door  gave  way  under  their  blows,  the  whole  twenty, 
instead  of  scattering  about  in  the  other  rooms,  rushed  directiy 
to  Mr.  Williams's  bedroom,  broke  down  the  door  and  pushed 
in  pell  melL  What  was  the  reason  for  this  concentration  about 
this  house  and  this  particular  room  ?  Apparentiy,  it  was  evi- 
dent to  all  that  that  bedroom  was  the  center  of  operations,  that 
there  was  the  chief  prize.  It  may  be  that  all  hoped  to  share 
the  honor,  if  not  the  reward,  for  the  capture  of  the  minister ; 
and  not  unlikely  a  portion  of  the  assailants  considered  it  open 
to  competition.  And  so  it  would  have  been  if  the  three  Macquas 
had  fidlen  in  the  attempt.  At  any  rate  here  was  the  chief 
family  in  the  fort,  and  here  would  naturally  be  the  best  chance 
for  plunder  and  other  valuable  captives.    Of  this  opportunity 


Nem  Tracks  m  an  Old  Trail.  17 

they  availed  themselves  as  soon  as  the  first  prize  was  seonred, 
entering  ^^in  great  numbers  into  every  room''  in  the  house, 
says  the  narrative. 

We  have  seen  that  one  of  the  Macqua  leaders  escaped  death 
by  a  narrow  margin  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Williams.  Can  we 
concdve  of  any  other  reason,  except  the  strict  charge  to  bring 
Mr.  Williams  back  alive  or  forfeit  the  pay,  why  the  savage  did 
not  instantly  retaliate  and  deal  his  would-be  slayer  a  deadly 
blow  with  his  hatchet.  That  would  seem  to  be  the  most  nat- 
ural and  justifiable  thing  to  do.  What  else  could  have  stayed 
his  hot  hand  and  prevented  the  instant  sacrifice  of  Mr.  Williams  ? 
In  the  rest  of  the  field  of  operations  we  read,  ^^  they  killed  all 
they  could  y*  made  any  resistance." 

Mr.  Williams  says  that  while  he  stood  bound  in  his  house, 
'^  the  enemies  ...  all  of  them  Indians  and  Macquas  insulted 
over  me  awhile,  threatening  to  bum  all  I  had ;"  he  does  not 
say  they  threatened  to  kill  him,  but  "  binding  me,  they  told  me 
they  would  carry  me  to  Quebec." 

We  may  well  repeat  here  that  all  of  the  twenty  who  assaulted 
Mr.  Williams's  house  went  inside,  so  that  there  was  no  one  to 
prevent  John  Stoddard  and  another  soldier,  placed  in  the  house 
for  his  protection,  from  jumping  unobserved  from  the  chamber 
windows  and  escaping  unmolested.  And  this  brings  us  to  an- 
other link  in  the  chain  of  evidence. 

In  Gov.  Winthrop's  manuscript  we  find  an  item  bearing  upon 
our  narrative  at  this  point,  and  accounting  for  some  matters  al- 
ready canvassed : — "  One  house,  viz. :  Benoni  Stebbins',  they  at- 
tacked later  than  some  others,  y^  those  in  it  were  well  awak- 
ened, being  7  men ;  besides  woemen  and  children,  who  stood 
stoughtly  to  y*'  armes,  fireing  upon  y*  Enemy  &  y«  enemy  upon 
y"  causing  sevll  of  the  Enemy  to  fall,  of  w^  was  one  frentch- 
man,  a  Oentile  man  to  appearance."  Now,  the  Benoni  Stebbins 
house,  the  Parson  Williams  house,  and  the  Sheldon  house  stood 
at  the  northwest  comer  of  the  stockade,  where  it  has  always 
been  said  De  Rouville  scaled  the  palisades.  These  houses,  with 
the  temporary  shelter  of  Sergt.  John  Hawks,  formed  an  isolated 
group  some  dozen  or  fifteen  rods  from  those  on  the  east  or  south, 
and,  as  we  have  said,  were  right  in  the  path  of  the  invaders. 
In  the  attack  on  the  Sheldon  house  we  have  no  account  of  any 
attempt  to  force  the  windows  or  back  door ;  the  marks  on  the 
front  door  bear  evidence  of  only  two  or  three  assailants,  who 
2        ' 


18  Annual  Meetinff—1899. 

did  not  saoceed  in  breaking  it  down.  Meanwhile  two,  at  least, 
of  its  occupants  jumped  from  its  east  windows  unobserved.  Why 
was  this  house  so  lightly  assaulted  and  why  was  the  Stebbins 
house  entirely  unmolested,  while  we  have  a  score  or  more  of  the 
Indians  breaking  into  the  Williams  house  ?  This  is  a  pertinent 
enquiry  to  which  there  has  been  hitherto  no  reply,  and  no  con- 
jecture has  so  far  been  hazarded.  But  are  we  not  now  ready  to 
assume  that  the  greater  part  of  the  squad  assigned  to  the  Shel- 
don house,  and  all  of  that  assigned  to  the  Stebbins  house,  joined 
that  assigned  to  the  Williams  house  ?  Can  a  movement  of  this 
kind  be  accounted  for  ?  Those  assigned  to  attack  this  group 
of  houses  would  naturally  be  the  first  to  leave  the  main  army. 
During  the  short  time  tliey  were  awaiting  the  posting  of  the 
others,  and  the  signal  for  attack,  the  secret  of  the  Maoquas  may 
have  leaked  out.  On  learning  which  house  contained  the  great 
prize  and  which  of  course  would  be  the  most  hopeful  place  to 
look  for  other  rich  spoils,  who  can  doubt  that  it  was  the  com- 
bined contingent  which  swarmed  mto  the  house  of  Mr.  WU- 
Uams  ?  Is  there  any  other  explanation  why  the  Benoni  Steb- 
bins house  was  unmolested  ?  This  being  the  case,  the  prudent 
arrangements  for  a  simultaneous  attack  were  frustrated.  The 
result  of  this  disarrangement  of  plan  was  disastrous  to  the 
enemy,  resulting  not  only  in  the  death  of  the  officer  second  in 
command  under  Rouville,  but  of  the  leading  Maoqua  Sachem 
and  others  of  less  note,  but  it  prevented  further  progress  of  the 
victors  south  of  the  fortified  line.  To  the  settlers  it  was  a  for- 
tunate happening ;  the  salvation  of  those  in  the  late  beleaguered 
Stebbins  house  and  in  many  another  house  south  of  the  fort. 
The  occupants  of  the  Stebbins  house,  "  7  men  and  some  women 
and  children,  being  well  awakened  "  by  the  hellish  tumult  out- 
side, realized  its  full  import,  and  were  quickly  prepared  and  on 
the  defensive  when  the  onset  came.  Doubtless  the  Macqua 
Sachem,  leaving  Mr.  Williams  safely  bound  in  the  hands  of  his 
two  confederates  and  feeling  some  responsibility  for  the  fatal 
delay,  made  daring  efforts  to  retrieve  it,  and  he  lost  his  life  in 
the  desperate  but  vain  fight  against  the  Spartan  defenders  of 
the  Stebbins  house.  ITor  could  all  the  red  Indians  and  ail  the 
king's  men  drive  the  brave  seven  and  their  helpful  wives  from 
their  cover,  either  by  fire  or  by  sword.  When  the  dawn  came 
to  their  aid,  the  field  within  the  range  of  their  shot  was  soon 
cleared  of  their  foes,  who  then  poured  in  their  bullets  from  the 


New  TraolcB  in  an  old  Trail.  19 

shelter  of  the  meetinghoase,  the  Sheldon  house,  and  perhaps 
the  house  of  the  minister.  Mr.  Williams  thus  briefly  tells  the 
story:  ^^The  judgment  of  Ood  did  not  long  slumber  against 
one  of  the  three  which  took  me,  who  was  a  captain,  for  by  sun- 
rising  he  received  a  mortal  shot  from  my  next  neighbor's  house ; 
who  opposed  so  great  a  number  of  French  and  Indians  as  three 
hundred,  and  yet  were  no  more  than  seven  men  in  an  ungarri- 
soned  house."  Three  hundred  against  seven !  More  than  forty 
to  one! 

Where  can  this  act  of  desperate  valor  be  paralleled  ?  In 
the  annals  of  New  England  warfare  are  found  many  cases 
where  a  small  force  successfully  defends  a  fort  or  cabin  against 
a  horde  of  savages,  but  never  against  such  odds  and  backed  by 
a  force  of  French  soldiers  under  officers  of  the  line. 

Many  of  the  details  given  and  to  be  given  may  seem  trivial, 
but  each  item  gives  its  bit  of  testimony  in  support  of  the  as- 
sumption with  which  we  set  out.  These  details  are  scattered 
all  through  the  pages  of  "  The  Redeemed  Captive." 

On  the  march  we  find  the  greatest  care  was  taken  to  prevent 
the  escape  of  Mr.  Williams.  He  says,  ^^  I  was  pinioned  and 
bound  down  that  night  and  so  I  was  every  night  while  I  was 
in  the  army.  .  .  .  He  that  took  me  was  unwilling  to  let  me 
speak  with  any  of  the  prisoners  as  we  marched,"  thus  pre- 
venting any  plotting  to  escape.  ^^  But  on  the  morning  of  the 
second  day,  he  being  appointed  to  guard  the  rear "  of  the  re- 
treating army,  ^^  I  was  put  into  the  hands  of  my  other  master  " 
who,  feeling  the  responsibility  less  heavy,  gave  the  captive  leave 
to  walk  and  talk  with  his  wife  when  they  overtook  her. 

The  fact  that  this  Macqua  was  put  in  charge  of  the  rear  guard 
on  the  morning  of  the  second  day's  march  shows  that  he  ranked 
high  and  probably  took  the  command  in  place  of  the  head  Sa- 
chem who  fell  before  the  sharpshooters  in  the  Stebbins  house. 
His  declining  to  keep  Mr.  Williams  with  him  in  the  rear,  where 
there  would  be  danger  of  a  rescue  in  case  of  pursuit,  shows  a 
wise  care  for  the  security  of  his  prisoner.  At  the  noon  halt 
the  chief  was  relieved  of  his  command  in  the  rear  and  sent  to 
the  head  of  the  column  where  he  took  his  prisoner,  kept  him 
under  his  direct  charge,  and  made  him  his  main  care.  When 
the  van  reached  the  top  of  the  hill,  Mr.  Williams  says,  "  I  was 
permitted  to  sit  down,  and  be  unburthened  of  my  padc,  I  .  .  .  . 
intreated  my  master  to  let  me  go  down,  and  help  up  my  wife ; 


but  he  refused,  and  would  not  let  me  stir  from  him."  The 
cautions  savage  would  take  no  risks,  there  was  too  much  at 
stake,  and  Mr.  Williams  never  saw  his  wife  again.  That  night 
one  of  the  Sachems  of  the  Abenakis,  the  tribe  for  whose  benefit 
the  expedition  had  been  undertaken,  feeling  that  he  was  short 
in  the  division  of  plunder  and  trophies  of  his  prowess,  coolly 
went  to  the  Macqua  camp,  and,  says  Mr.  Williams,  ^^  spake  to 
my  master  about  killing  of  me,  and  taking  off  my  scalp."  Evi- 
dently the  Abenaki  was  not  in  the  secret,  and  he  retired  no 
richer  or  wiser  than  when  he  came.  ITeither  was  Mr.  WiUiams 
in  the  secret,  and  naturally  objected  to  such  a  summary  pro- 
ceeding, protesting  to  his  master  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  bad 
faith  after  his  surrender.  ^^  I  told  my  master  if  he  intended  to 
kill  me,  I  desired  he  would  let  me  know  of  it.  .  .  .  He  told 
me  he  would  not  kill  me."  Doubtless  the  emissary  smiled 
grimly  when  he  gave  that  assurance.  The  Abenaki  chief  was 
not  satisfied,  however,  and  made  complaint  to  De  Rouville.  The 
result  was  that :  ^'  In  the  morning  we  were  all  called  before 
the  chief  Sachem  of  the  Macquas  and  Indians,  that  a  more  equal 
distribution  might  be  made  of  tiie  prisoners  among  them.  .  .  . 
But  I  was  sent  again  to  my  two  masters,  who  broaght  me  from 
my  house."  This  movement  for  redistribution  was  a  matter  of 
policy,  if  not  necessity,  to  quiet  the  savages.  The  question  of  a 
new  disposition  of  Mr.  Williams,  however,  was  only  a  pretense, 
and  De  Bouville  found  no  lack  of  reasons  for  restoring  him  to 
his  captors.  That  the  personal  appearance  of  their  captive 
might  not  enhance  the  value  of  the  prize,  Mr.  Williams  says, 
^^  at  my  going  from  the  wigwam,  my  best  clothing  was  taken 
away  from  me."  This  was  sharp  practice  on  the  part  of  the 
Macquas,  who  chose  to  consider  this  clothing  private  plunder 
and  refused  to  display  it  before  the  Abenakis.  Later  it  was 
sold  to  the  French  in  Canada.  Stephen  Williams  says  of  this 
morning's  affair :  ^^  Some  of  us  were  Distributed  for  some  had 
five  or  six  Captives  &  others  none.  Then  they  called  y«  Cap- 
tives together  to  make  a  more  Equal  Distribution,  but  I  re- 
mained w^  my  former  master.  Here  they  searche  me  And 
took  away  my  silver  buttons  &  buckles  w^*^  I  had  on  my  shirt." 
Such  plunder  was  probably  used  for  small  change  in  making 
the  new  distribution.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what 
the  Abenaki  Sachem  secured  in  lieu  of  the  scalp  of  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, that  escutcheon  of  honor  with  which  he  was  ambitious  to 


Neui  Traok9  in  an  Old  Tradl.  21 

adorn  his  belt.  None  of  the  Williams  children  appears  to  have 
changed  masters  at  this  time,  and  as  none  of  the  Deerfield  cap- 
tives was  ever  found  among  the  Abenakis,  these  Indians  prob- 
ably received  satisfaction  for  their  share  of  the  spoils  in  some 
other  kind  of  personal  property.  It  nowhere  appears  that  the 
French  soldiers  ever  laid  claim  to  any  of  the  captives  or  to  the 
plunder.  For  their  escort  duty  on  this  little  trip,  they  were  paid 
by  the  King  of  France.  After  this  distribution  the  French  ap- 
parently took  no  further  concern  for  the  captives.  Their  con- 
tract with  the  Indians  was  fulfilled.  All  parties  made  their 
way  to  Canada  as  best  suited  their  will  or  convenience. 

Sunday,  March  5,  Mr.  Williams  was  ^^  permitted  to  pray  & 
preach  to  the  captives,"  and  he  says,  '^  When  the  Macquas  and 
Indians  were  chief  in  power,  we  had  this  revival  in  our  bond- 
age ;  to  join  together  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  encourage  one 
another  to  a  patient  bearing  the  indignation  of  the  Lord,  till  he 
should  plead  our  cause.  When  we  arrived  at  New  France  we 
were  forbidden  praying  one  with  another  or  joining  together  in 
the  service  of  God."  It  is  well  known  to  historians  that  there 
was  an  influence  in  Canada,  which  ruled  not  only  the  Indians 
but  practically  controlled  the  civil  and  military  authorities. 

March  8.  The  Macqua  Sachem  withdrew  his  party  from  the 
main  body.  There  was  no  apparent  reasoa  for  this  move  un- 
less he  feared  losing  his  prize  through  some  act  of  the  Abena- 
kis. He  may  not  always  have  been  free  to  be  a  personal  guard. 
Now,  having  left  the  main  body,  he  was  his  own  master,  and 
his  will  law.  It  was  on  the  very  first  day  after  the  separation 
that  the  dramatic  scene  occurred  which  is  thus  described  by  Mr. 
Williams. 

^^  At  night  my  master  came  to  me,  with  my  pistol  in  his  hand, 
and  put  it  to  my  breast,  and  said,  now  I  wiU  kill  you,  for  (said 
he)  at  your  house  you  would  have  killed  me  with  it  if  you 
could.  But  by  the  Grace  of  God  I  was  not  much  daunted ; 
and  whatever  his  intentions  might  be,  God  prevented  my 
death." 

We  may  now  be  sure  that  the  intention  of  the  savage  was 
simply  an  attempt  characteristic  of  his  race,  to  sport  with  the 
fears  of  his  prisoner  for  his  own  diversion.  This  was  a  game 
he  did  not  dare  to  play  before  parting  with  the  Abenakis ;  it 
might  encourage  the  sport,  and  they  might  carry  the  joke  too 
far ;  even  now  it  was  done  under  the  cover  of  darkness,  and 


22  Afmual  Meeting— 1899. 

apparently  with  no  spectators.  From  this  time  forward  Mr. 
Williams  was  not  bound  down  nights,  as  his  captors  could  give 
their  personal  care  to  his  security.  The  next  Sunday  one  of 
the  Indians  kept  guard  over  Mr.  Williams  while  the  rest  went 
hunting.  They  soon  came  back,  saying  seven  moose  had  been 
killed.  This  exploit  shows  the  Macqua  to  be  on  his  own 
ground,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  location  of  a  ^^  moose  yard.'' 
The  next  day  the  party  moved  up  to  the  murdered  moose. 
Three  days  were  spent  in  roasting  and  drying  the  meat  for 
their  journey.  "  Here,"  says  Mr.  Williams,  "  my  master  made 
me  a  pair  of  snow  shoes,  for  (said  he)  you  cannot  possibly  travel 
without,  the  snow  being  knee  deep."  Mr.  Williams  was  obliged 
to  assist  in  the  transportation  of  this  provision,  but  he  was  bur- 
dened no  longer  than  it  was  necessary,  for,  when  they  reached 
French  Eiver : — "  My  master,  at  this  place,  took  away  my  pack 
and  drawed  the  whole  load  on  the  ice."  Each  night  a  wigwam 
was  built  to  shelter  the  exhausted  traveler,  who  was  failing 
under  the  hardships.  Mr.  Williams  says,  "  My  master  was  very 
kind  to  me — would  always  give  me  the  best  he  had  to  eat,  and 
by  the  goodness  of  Ood,  I  never  wanted  a  meal's  meat  during 
my  captivity ;  though  some  of  my  children  and  neighbors  were 
greatly  wounded  (as  I  may  say)  with  the  arrows  of  famine  and 
pinching  want ;  having  for  many  days  nothing  but  roots  to  live 
upon,  and  not  much  of  them  neither.  My  master  gave  me  a 
piece  of  Bible ;  never  disturbed  me  in  reading  the  scriptures,  or 
in  praying  to  God."  Soon,  however,  Mr.  Williams  was  called 
to  an  experience  of  this  kindness  which  was  a  sore  trial  to  his 
faith. . 

Spring  came  on  apace.  Hurry  they  must  or  their  highway 
would  melt  under  their  feet.  Mr.  Williams  says,  "  My  march 
on  French  River  was  very  sore ;  for,  fearing  a  thaw,  we  trav- 
elled a  very  great  pace ;  my  feet  were  so  bruised,  and  my  joints 
so  distorted  by  my  travelling  in  snow  shoes,  that  I  thought  it 
impossible  to  hold  out.  .  .  .  Each  night  I  wrung  blood  out  of 
my  stockins  when  I  pulled  them  off."  The  Indian  knew  that 
a  crisis  in  their  march  was  at  hand;  delay  was  not  to  be 
thought  of,  and  extraordinary  measures  must  be  adopted. 
Early  one  morning  when  his  plans  were  matured,  the  chief 
awoke  his  charge,  saying,  ^^  arise,  pray  to  God,  and  eat  your 
breakfast,  for  we  must  go  a  great  way  today."  But,  Mr.  Will- 
iams says,  ^^  my  feet  were  so  tender,  swoln,  bruised,  and  full  of 


New  Tracki  m  an  Old  TraU.  23 

pain,  that  I  ooold  scarce  stand  upon  them,  without  holding  on 
to  the  wigwam,  and  when  the  Indian  said,  you  must  ran  to- 
day ;  I  answered  I  could  not  run ;  my  master  pointing  out  to 
his  hatchet,  said  to  me,  then  I  must  dash  out  your  brains,  and 
take  off  your  scalp.  I  said,  I  suppose  then  you  will  do  so,  for 
I  am  not  able  to  travel  with  speed.  He  sent  me  away  alone 
.  on  the  ice.  About  sun  half  an  hour  high,  he  over-took  me,  for 
I  had  gone  very  slowly,  not  thinking  it  possible  to  travel  five 
miles.  When  he  came  up,  he  called  me  to  run ;  I  told  him  I 
could  go  no  faster.  He  passed  by  without  saying  one  word 
more.'* 

The  condition  of  the  poor  sufferer  was  now  desperate.  Death 
in  another  form  stared  him  in  the  face.  Starvation  must  surely 
follow  desertion  by  the  savage.  Life  was  still  sweet,  and  the 
knowledge  that  his  fate  depended  upon  his  own  exertion  nerved 
him  to  that  supreme  effort  of  which  the  experienced  Macqua 
judged  him  capable.  The  latter  understood  the  power  of  man's 
endurance  in  an  extremity.  He  skillfully  kept  just  far  enough 
in  advance,  and  showed  himself  just  often  enough,  to  lure  his 
follower  on  and  keep  the  embers  of  hope  from  being  buried  in 
the  ashes  of  despair.  This  heroic  treatment  was  successful. 
Mr.  Williams  says,  '^  I  travelled  from  about  break  of  day  till 
dark ;  never  so  much  as  sat  down  at  noon  to  eat  warm  victuals ; 
eating  frozen  meat,  which  I  had  in  coat  pocket,  as  I  travelled. 
We  went  that  day  two  of  their  day's  journey  as  they  came 
down.  I  judge  we  went  forty  or  forty-five  miles  that  day 
....  in  tJie  afternoon  I  was  stronger  to  travel  than  in  the 
forenoon.  My  strength  was  restored  and  renewed  to  admira- 
tion." 

Here  was  a  striking  exhibition  of  the  power  of  mind  over 
matter.  The  strong  will  of  the  fagged  out  minister  alone  car- 
ried him  through.  We  may  be  sure  the  hurrying  Sachem  kept 
a  wary  eye  on  his  captive  and  would  have  returned  to  him  in 
case  of  extreme  need.  He  knew,  of  course,  that  there  was  no 
possibility  of  an  escape  or  of  a  rescue.  In  due  time  the  party 
reached  the  place  where  the  Sachem's  family  were,  and  after 
various  moves  they  ^^  made  a  canoe  of  elm  bark  in  one  day," 
went  down  the  Sorel  river  and  arrived  at  the  French  town  of 
Obambly,  March  25.    Soon  after  they  went  on  to  St.  Frauds. 

As  we  have  seen,  Mr.  Williams  was  always  fully  supplied 
with  food,  but  he  did  not  fare  so  well  for  clothing,  ^^  having 


24  Annual  Meetmg—1%99. 

lousy  old  clothes  of  soldiers  pat  upon  me  when  they  stripped 
me  of  mine  to  sell  to  the  French  soldiers  in  the  army."  Mr. 
Williams  had  otherwise  been  subjected  to  physical  suffering 
only  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  his  condition.  He  expresses 
gratitude  for  the  personal  care  and  consideration  of  his  savage 
masters.  It  must,  however,  be  questioned  whether  this  kind- 
ness was  prompted  by  a  humane  motive  or  by  one  less  com- 
mendable. His  masters  were  converts  to  Bomanism,  but  so 
catholic  were  they,  that  every  opportunity  was  allowed  for  the 
devotions  of  their  captive,  and  they  had  shown  full  respect  to 
his  religious  views.  But  now  Mr.  Williams  was  to  enter  upon 
another  chapter  of  experiences.  He  was  not  only  to  be  well 
fed  but  well  clothed  and  well  housed ;  he  was  also  to  be  weU 
treated  by  the  civil  authorities  and  the  common  people  of 
Canada.  But  he  was  denied  every  chance  of  religious  converse 
with  other  captives,  and  was  kept  by  the  priests  under  the 
theological  harrow  from  his  arrival  at  Chambly  until  the  hour 
he  embarked  for  Boston.    But  this  is  rather  beside  our  object. 

Gov.  Vaudreuil,  on  receiving  news  that  Mr.  Williams  had 
reached  St.  Francis,  sent  orders  to  have  him  brought  forthwith 
up  to  Montreal.  "  Upon  which,"  says  Mr.  Williams,  "  one  of 
the  Jesuits  went  with  my  two  masters,  and  took  me  dong  with 
them."  Tuesday,  April  25,  Mr.  Williams  arrived  at  Montreal, 
where  "  the  Governor  de  Vaudreuil  redeemed  me  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Indians,  gave  me  good  clothing,  took  me  to  his 
table,  gave  me  the  use  of  a  very  good  chamber,  and  was  in  all 
respects,  relating  to  my  outward  man,  courteous  and  charitable 
to  admiration." 

Now  let  us  examine  the  above  transaction  to  see  if  there  is 
any  evidence  to  support  my  assumption.  Mr.  Williams  simply 
says  Vaudreuil  ^^  redeemed  me  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Indians." 
For  this  and  other  acts  of  kindness,  he  was  grateful  to  the 
governor.  Had  he  known  the  facts,  he  might  not  have  been 
less  grateful,  for  he  would  doubtless  have  fared  much  worse 
had  he  been  unprotected.  But  Mr.  Williams  never  knew  what 
he  unconsciously  reveals.  Mark  the  manner  in  which  this  so- 
called  ^^  redemption "  was  accomplished.  Vaudreuil  simply 
orders  Mr.  Williams  to  be  brought  to  him,  and  it  is  done. 
There  is  not  a  moment's  hesitation,  and  not  a  word  about  the 
conditions  of  delivering  the  carefully  guarded  prisoner.  The 
two  surviving  Macquas  simply  hand  over  their  prize,  and  secure 


New  Tracks  in  an  Old  Trail.  35 

their  reward,  doubtless  a  generous  one.  Their  mission  is  at  an 
end,  and  nothing  more  is  heard  of  them.  In  all  other  known 
oases  of  the  redemption  of  English  prisoners,  there  is  much 
haggling  about  the  price  of  the  chattel  We  shall  see,  further^ 
more,  that  the  governor  had  no  power  to  take  other  prisoners 
from  the  hands  of  their  owners. 

Contrast  the  foregoing  case  of  the  ^*  redemption "  of  Mr. 
Williams  with  what  follows.  Yaudreuil,  for  some  reason,  is 
anxious  to  reclaim  from  savage  hands  all  the  children  of  Mr. 
Williams.  Why  does  he  not  use  the  summary  method  which 
he  did  with  the  father  ?  For  the  simple  reason  that  the  father 
is  a  prisoner  of  state,  while  the  children  were  private  property. 

Hear  Mr.  Williams : — ''At  my  first  entering  into  his  house, 
he  [Vaudreuil]  sent  for  my  two  children,  who  were  in  the  city, 
that  I  might  see  them  ;  and  promised  to  do  what  he  could  to 
get  all  my  children  out  of  the  hands  of  the  savages."  Of  the 
redemption  of  the  eldest  daughter  we  have  no  particulars.  But 
''  the  governor  gave  orders  to  certain  ofScers  to  get  the  rest  of 
my  children  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Indians."  After  six  weeks 
of  ineffectual  effort  by  these  officers, ''  a  merchant  of  the  city 
obtained  my  eldest  son,  who  was  taken  to  live  with  him.  He 
took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  persuade  the  savages  to  part  with 
him,"  and  so  accomplished  what  the  agents  of  the  governor  had 
been  unable  to  do.  ''  The  govemour  ordered  a  priest  to  go  along 
with  me  to  see  my  youngest  daughter  among  the  Macquas, 
and  endeavour  for  her  ransom.  I  went  with  him  ....  and 
from  his  parish,  which  was  near  the  Macqua  fort,  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  the  Jesuit  [in  the  fort],  to  desire  him  to  send  my  child 
to  see  me,  and  to  speak  with  them  who  took  her  to  come  along 
with  her.  But  the  Jesuit  wrote  back  a  letter, '  That  I  should 
not  be  permitted  to  speak  with,  or  see  my  child,  and  if  I  came, 
my  labour  would  be  lost ;  and  that  the  Macquas  would  as  soon 
part  with  their  hearts  as  my  child.' "  When  the  governor  read 
this  letter  he  ''  was  very  angry  and  endeavoured  to  comfort  me, 
assuring  me  I  should  see  her,  and  speak  with  her."  That  was 
all  he  could  promise.  ''  He  would  do  his  utmost  endeavour  for 
her  ransom  [and],  after  some  days,  he  went  with  me  in  his  own 
person  to  the  fort."  The  governor  was  in  dead  earnest  now. 
After  talking  a  while  to  the  Jesuits, ''  My  child  was  brought 
into  the  chamber  where  I  was.  I  was  told  I  might  speak  with 
her  but  should  be  permitted  to  speak  to  no  other  English  person 


26  Annual  Meeting— 1899. 

there."  And  Mr.  Williams  was  guarded  from  the  gate  of  the 
fort  to  his  canoe.  ^^  The  govemour  laboured  much  lor  her  re- 
demption ;  at  last  he  had  the  promise  of  it,  in  case  he  would 
procure  for  them  an  Indian  girl  in  her  stead."  He  procured 
one  with  great  trouble,  but  she  was  refused.  ^^  He  offered  them 
an  hundred  pieces  of  eight  [Spanish  dollars]  for  her  redemption, 
but  it  was  refused.  His  lady  went  over  to  beg  her  from  them, 
but  all  in  vain."  The  power  and  authority  of  the  governor  was 
exhausted.  Neither  he  nor  his  wife  could  do  more,  and  the 
child,  Eunice  Williams,  spent  her  life  among  the  Indians,  to 
whom  she  belonged  by  right  of  capture.  Omitting  much  more 
testimony  which  points  in  the  same  direction,  I  will  cite  only 
the  case  of  Stephen  Williams. 

While  Stephen  was  at  Cowass,  in  the  spring  of  1704,  with 
his  captor  Wattanamon  the  Pennicook,  the  governor  empow- 
ered Capt.  Chambly,  a  brother  of  De  Bouville,  to  obtain  Stephen 
by  purchase ;  but  the  agent  employed  by  Chambly  proved  a 
fraud,  and  the  attempt  came  to  nothing.  In  August,  when  the 
party  from  Cowass  arrived  at  St.  Francis,  Wattanamon  made 
over  Stephen  to  his  kinsman.  Sagamore  Ghdorge,  of  Pennicook, 
and  Capt.  Chambly  renewed  his  attempt  for  his  purchase ;  but  the 
Jesuits  broke  up  the  bargain.  Yaudreuil  now  takes  the  matter 
in  hand.  "  The  French  governor  after  he  heard  I  was  in  y* 
country,"  says  Stephen,  ^^  was  often  sending  to  y^  Indians  to 
buy  me,  who  were  quite  wearied  out  because  of  y*  many  mes- 
sages he  sent.  Y^  governor  was  not  willing  to  give  above  80 
crowns  whereas  they  stood  for  40.  At  length,"  the  Sagamore 
sent  his  ultimatum ;  the  governor  must  give  40  crowns  for  the 
boy  and  take  him  before  spring,  or  he  would  not  be  sold  at  alL 
Yaudreuil  was  obliged  to  come  to  terms,  and,  at  planting  time, 
^^  the  govemour  came  &  bought  me  after  a  long  parley  for  40 
crowns." 

All  these  facts  show  the  status  of  Mr.  Williams  as  compared 
to  that  of  his  children,  they  being  in  the  same  condition  as  the 
rest  of  the  captives,  only  private  property  over  which  the 
government  had  no  control. 

^^  At  my  first  coming  to  Montreal,"  says  Mr.  Williams,  *^  the 
govemour  told  me,  I  should  be  sent  home  as  soon  as  Captain 
Battis  was  retumed,  and  not  before,  and  that  I  was  taken  in 
order  to  his  redemption."  Two  years  later  he  records  that  he 
had  heard  ^'  that  the  Lord  Intendant  said  if  More  retumed  and 


Nefuo  Traoka  in  an  Old  Trail.  27 

brought  word  that  Battis  was  in  prison,  he  would  put  me  in 
prison  and  lay  me  in  irons." 

These  two  extraots  from  **  The  Eedeemed  Captive "  contain 
all  that  is  found  there  relating  to  Capt.  Baptiste.  But  we  know 
from  other  sources  that  the  negotiation  for  the  exchange  of 
prisoners  was  long  and  complicated.  We  do  not  find  in  them 
any  proposition  for  a  direct  exchange  of  Baptiste  for  Mr. 
Williams,  but  Vaudreuil  would  agree  to  no  exchange  including 
Mr.  Williams  in  which  Baptiste  was  not  also  included.  He 
held  the  trump  card,  and  could  play  the  game  accordingly. 
He  says  little  of  Mr  Williams ;  does  not  exploit  the  mode  of  his 
capture,  does  not  appear  to  be  proud  of  the  act. 

At  length  an  agreement  for  a  final  exchange  of  prisoners 
was  reached.  Capt.  Baptiste  arrived  in  Canada,  early  in  Oc- 
tober, 1706,  and  on  the  21st  of  November  Mr.  Williams  arrived 
in  Boston. 

Now,  it  may  be  asked,  why,  with  the  above  statement  of  Mr. 
Williams  before  me,  I  have  gone  about  in  such  a  lengthy 
fashion  to  prove  what  is  so  plainly  stated.  My  reasons  for 
writing  this  paper  are  three : 

First,  to  gratify  my  own  inherent  love  for  close  investigation 
and  the  sifting  of  evidence. 

Secondly,  to  present  a  more  detailed  and  personal  view  of 
some  of  the  events  of  1704 :  Lest  we  forget.  Minute  details 
make  a  picture  more  vivid,  more  real,  and,  therefore,  more 
lasting. 

Thirdly,  and  chiefly,  because,  although  the  story  was  told 
that  Mr.  Williams  was  taken  for  an  exchange  for  Capt.  Bap- 
tiste, so  far  as  I  know,  no  writer  has  ever  taken  the  statement 
for  a  fact  or  other  than  an  afterthought  of  the  governor  for 
convenient  application.  Mr.  Williams  makes  no  comments  on 
the  governor's  statement  and  the  Intendant's  threat,  and  it 
nowhere  appears  they  had  any  influence  on  his  subsequent  ac- 
tion. Nowhere  in  his  narrative,  or  elsewhere,  is  there  found 
the  least  intimation  that  Mr.  Williams  took  Yaudreuil's  words 
as  a  statement  of  fact.  He  nowhere  urges  the  return  of  Bap- 
tiste, nowhere  complains  of  delay.  On  the  other  hand,  he  freely 
records  how  the  bishop,  priests,  and  Jesuits  often  urged  his 
stay  among  them,  and  what  great  rewards  they  offered  as  in- 
ducements. We  note  that  no  word  of  that  kind  is  heard  from 
the  governor.    Possibly  the  ecclesiastics  were  not  in  the  secret. 


28  Antvual  Meetinff— 1899. 

The  goTernor  may  have  played  a  lone  hand.  It  is  evident  that 
neither  Mr.  Williams,  nor  any  of  his  readers,  took  seriously  the 
statement  of  YaudreoiL  Certainly  there  has  never  been  the 
slightest  intimation  by  anybody  that  special  agents  were  em- 
ployed by  the  governor  for  a  specific  purpose  in  the  expedi- 
tion against  Deerfield  in  1704. 


ETHAN  ALLEN  AND  HIS  DAUGHTER. 

BY   0.  ALIOS   BAKER. 

The  name  of  Allen,  written  at  different  periods  as  Allein, 
Alleyn,  Alain,  is  doubtless  of  French  origin.  A  certain  Louis 
Alain  figures  in  early  Canadian  and  New  England  annals,  as  a 
spy.  One  Samuel  Allen  came  in  1682  from  Braintree,  Eng.,  to 
Cambridge  in  New  England,  and  thence  went  with  Hooker's 
company  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  in  1635.  His  son,  Nehemiah,  mar- 
ried Sarah  Woodford,  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  and  died  there. 
Their  son,  Samuel,  a  barber,  in  1705  married  Mercy,  daughter 
of  Judah  Wright,  of  Northampton,  and  bought  a  homestead  in 
Deerfield,  Mass. 

Their  son,  Joseph,  bom  in  Deerfield  in  1708,  when  five  years 
old  removed  with  his  parents  to  Coventry,  Conn.,  where  the 
father  died.  The  widow,  Mercy  Allen,  with  her  grown-up  son 
and  several  other  children,  went  west  from  Coventry  fifty  miles 
to  Litchfield,  where  she  died  in  1728.  In  1737,  her  son  Joseph 
married  Mary  Baker,  and  ETHAN  ALLEN,  the  eldest  of 
their  nine  children,  was  bom  in  Litchfield  in  1738.  Semember 
Baker,  later  his  companion  in  arms,  was  his  own  cousin.  One 
of  Allen's  biographers  pithily  says,  ^^  this  year  gave  birth  to 
three  honest  men :  Ethan  Allen,  G^rge  UL,  and  Benjamin 
West'' 

According  to  the  universal  custom  in  those  days,  Ethan 
Allen  was  baptized  while  an  infant.  When  he  was  two  years 
old,  the  family  removed  to  Cornwall,  Conn.,  where  his  father 
died.  Nothing  in  the  boyhood  or  youth  of  Ethan  Allen  indi- 
cates that  he  wished  to  be  or  would  become  a  soldier.  His 
father's  death  put  an  end  to  his  preparation  for  college,  and  as 
a  farmer  he  went  resolutely  to  work  for  the  support  of  his 
widowed  mother  and  her  children.    In  1762,  we  find  him  work- 


EOujm  AUen  and  Sis  DoMghUr.  29 

ing  an  iron  mine,  building  a  f  umaoe,  and  casting  iron-ware.  In 
June  of  the  same  year,  at  the  age  of  twenty-foar,  he  married 
Mary  Bronson,  who  was  five  years  his  senior,  paying  sixty- 
seven  cents  as  his  marriage  fee.  By  her  he  had  five  children, 
a  son  who  died  in  boyhood  and  four  daughters.  Allen  lived 
with  his  family  for  some  time  in  Sheffield,  Mass. 

During  the  formative  period  of  Ethan  Allen's  life,  the  West- 
minster Catechism  and  Watts'  hynms  were  used  throughout 
New  England.  He  seems  to  have  escaped  the  influence  of 
George  Whitefleld's  preaching,  which  during  his  youth  elec- 
trified thousands  in  New  England,  and  steering  equally  clear  of 
Calvinism  and  Methodism,  he  was  an  Arminian  in  his  early 
manhood. 

In  that  tiresome  Latin-English  characteristic  of  self-taught 
men,  he  says  of  himself,  ^^  In  my  youth  I  was  much  disposed 
to  contemplation,  and  at  my  commencement  in  manhood,  I 
committed  to  manuscript,  such  sentiments  and  arguments  as 
appeared  most  consonant  to  reason,  less  through  the  debility 
\dc\  of  memory,  my  improvement  should  have  been  less  grad- 
ual This  method  of  scribbling  I  prax^tised  many  years,  from 
which  I  experienced  great  advantages  in  the  progression  of 
learning  and  knowledge;  the  more  so  as  I  was  deficient  in 
education,  and  had  to  acquire  the  knowledge  of  grammar  and 
language,  as  well  as  the  art  of  reasoning,  principally  from  a 
studious  application  to  it,  which,  after  all,  I  am  sensible  lays 
me  under  disadvantages,  particularly  in  matters  of  composi- 
tion :  however,  to  remedy  this  defect,  I  have  substituted  the 
most  unwearied  pains.  .  .  .  Ever  since  I  arrived  at  manhood, 
and  acquainted  myself  with  the  general  history  of  mankind,  I 
have  felt  a  sincere  passion  for  liberty.  The  history  of  nations 
doomed  to  perpetual  slavery,  in  consequence  of  yielding  up  to 
tyrants  their  natural-bom  liberties,  I  read  with  a  sort  of  philo- 
sophical horror."  This  sounds  like  Marat,  the  French  revolu- 
tionist, and  in  this  his  own  statement  of  his  early  manhood, 
as  well  as  in  the  story  of  his  boyhood,  we  have  the  keynote  to 
the  later  career  of  Ethan  Allen.  Deprived  of  the  advice  and 
discipline  of  a  father,  interrupted  in  his  studies  and  burdened 
while  a  mere  boy  with  the  support  of  his  widowed  mother  and 
her  young  family,  he  acquired  a  premature  independence  of 
thought  and  became  early  accustomed  to  believe  in  his  own 
ability  and  to  regard  himself  as  a  leader.    To  these  circum- 


30  Annual  Meeting— 1S99. 

stances  add  the  liberality  of  his  religious  training,  his  inborn 
craving  for  justice,  his  hatred  of  oppression,  his  passionate  love 
of  liberty,  and  you  have  the  man  ready  when  the  hour  should 
strike. 

Let  us  leave  Ethan  Allen  in  Connecticut  in  1762,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-four  fearlessly  taking  upon  himself  the  burden  of  a 
family,  hard  at  work  by  day  carrying  on  his  farm,  casting  iron 
and  working  a  mine,  meditating  at  night  on  the  problem  of 
human  destiny  and  writing  out  his  thoughts  in  ^'  order  to  ac- 
quire the  knowledge  of  grammar  and  language  as  well  as  the 
art  of  reasoning."  Precisely  at  this  period,  there  landed  in 
New  York  an  Irish  lawyer,  who,  having  borne  a  military  com- 
mission in  Dublin,  was  known  in  America  as  Colonel  Crean 
Brush.  Brush  was  a  widower,  and  had  left  his  only  child,  a 
baby  girl,  in  Ireland.  He  soon  married,  in  New  York,  Marga- 
ret Montr68or,  widow  of  a  colonel  in  the  British  service  who 
was  killed  in  the  old  French  war.  This  widow  Montr6sor  had 
a  daughter  Frances.  Colonel  Brush  was  employed  in  the  of- 
fice of  the  Secretary  of  New  York  and  later  was  licensed  to 
practice  law  in  all  the  New  York  courts.  Previous  to  this,  in 
1749,  Benning  Went  worth.  Royal  Governor  of  New  Hampshire, 
by  the  King's  orders  had  begun  to  grant  lands  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Connecticut  river  (now  Vermont)  to  such  persons  as 
would  improve  them,  and  actually  settle  thereon.  Three  tiers 
of  townships  were  laid  out  on  each  side  of  the  mountain,  each 
township  being  six  miles  square;  the  Governor  reserving  for 
himself  five  hundred  acres  in  each.  The  township  adjoining 
the  northwest  comer  of  Massachusetts  was  the  first  town  settled 
in  Yermont  west  of  the  Green  Mountains,  and  was  named  Ben- 
nington in  honor  of  Governor  Benning  Wentworth.  On  the 
bonus  of  five  hundred  acres  at  the  comer  of  each  township  and 
the  fees  and  other  perquisites  received  for  the  New  Hampshire 
grants,  Governor  Wentworth  grew  rich,  like  honest  John  Hull 
on  his  percentage  of  pine-tree  shillings,  and  lived  in  splendid 
style  at  Little  Harbor,  Newcastle,  N.  H.  Who  can  forget 
Longfellow's  picture  of  him,  as  he  drove  out  of  Portsmouth  in 

His  brilliant  equipage  that  flashed  and  spun, 
The  silver  harness,  glittering  in  the  sun. 
Outriders,  with  red  jackets,  lithe  and  lank, 
Pounding  the  saddles  as  they  rose  and  sank. 
While  all  alone,  within  the  chariot,  sat 


Ethan  Allen  and  Bu  Daughter.  SI 

A  portly  person  with  three-oomered  hat, 

A  criinaon  velvet  coat,  head  high  in  air, 

Gold-headed  cane,  and  nicely  powdered  hair, 

And  diamond  buckles  sparkling  at  his  knees. 

Dignified,  stately,  florid,  much  at  ease. 

For  this  was  Governor  Wentworth  driving  down 

To  Little  Harbor,  just  beyond  the  town. 

Where  his  Great  House  stood  looking  out  to  sea. 

A  goodly  place,  where  it  was  good  to  be. 

It  was  a  pleasant  mansion,  an  abode 

Near,  and  yet  hidden  from  the  great  high  road. 

Sequestered  among  trees,  a  noble  pile 

Baronial,  and  colonial,  in  its  style. 

Gables  and  dormer  windows  every  where, 

And  stacks  of  chimneys  rising  high  in  air, 

Pandaean  pipes,  on  which  all  winds  that  blew 

Made  mournful  music  the  whole  winter  through. 

Within,  unwonted  splendors  met  the  eye, — 

Panels  and  floors  of  oak,  and  tapestry, 

Carved  chimney  pieces,  where  on  brazen  dogs 

Revelled  and  roared  the  Christmas  fires  of  logs. 

Doors  opening  into  darkness  unawares, 

M3r8terious  passages,  and  flights  of  stairs. 

And  on  the  walls,  in  heavy  gilded  frames 

The  ancestral  Wentworths  with  old  Scripture  names. 

Governor  Wentworth's  prosperity  was  viewed  with  jealousy 
by  his  neighbors,  and,  in  1763,  lientenant-Govemor  Cadwallader 
Golden,  of  New  York,  proclaimed  the  Connecticut  river  to  be 
the  eastern  boundary  of  that  province,  ordering  "  aU  civil  of- 
fleers  holding  commissions  under  the  New  York  government, 
to  exercise  jurisdiction  as  far  as  to  the  banks  of  the  Connecti- 
cut." In  March,  1764,  a  counter-proclamation  was  issued  by 
Governor  Wentworth  in  assertion  of  the  rights  of  the  settlers 
under  the  New  Hampshire  Grants  and  exhorting  them  ^^  to  be 
industrious  in  clearing  and  cultivating  their  lands."  In  1765,  a 
large  part  of  the  township  of  Bennington  was  occupied  by 
hardy  pioneers  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  who  had 
cleared  the  land,  built  houses  and  barns,  made  roads,  and  es- 
tablished schools.  Just  at  this  moment  of  prosperity  the  hard- 
working settiers  were  alarmed  by  another  proclamation  from 
lieutenant-Govemor  Colden,  reiterating  his  previous  claim  and 
this  time  by  authority  of  the  King  and  his  Council,  declaring 
the  western  bank  of  the  Connecticut  to  be  the  boundary  be- 
tween New  Hampshire  and  New  York,  and  ordering  all  His 
Majesty's  subjects  to  conform  thereto. 


32  Annual  Meeting— 1S99. 

Having  thus  by  proolamataon,  indorsed  by  the  King  of  Eng- 
landy  claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  disputed  territory,  the  New 
York  government  proceeded  to  allot  the  same, — ^in  many  in- 
stances granting  to  others  the  identical  lands  already  occupied 
and  improved  by  settlers  who  had  paid  for  them  to  Governor 
Wentworth.  About  this  time,  Ethan  Allen  and  his  brothers, 
having  invested  in  the  New  Hampshire  Grants,  made  their  home 
in  Bennington.  As  may  well  be  supposed,  Allen  was  not  the 
man  tamely  to  submit  to  be  dispossessed  of  his  lawful  property 
or  to  advise  submission  in  others.  Obtaining  an  able  Connect- 
icut lawyer,  he  went  to  Albany  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the 
settlers.  But  it  being  soon  evident  that  their  case  was  prejudged, 
Allen  went  back  to  Bennington  and  stirred  the  people  up  to 
defend  their  rights  and  hold  their  property  by  force,  since  justice 
was  denied  them.  Committees  of  Safety  were  appointed,  and 
a  military  organization  formed,  afterward  famous  as  ^^The 
Green  Mountain  Boys,"  with  Ethan  Allen  as  Colonel,  and  his 
cousin,  Bemember  Baker,  Seth  Warner,  and  others  as  captains 
under  hiuL  In  July,  1771,  an  attempt  was  made  by  an  armed 
force  of  three  hundred  men  from  Albany  to  eject  James  Break- 
enridge,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Bennington.  The  at- 
tempt failed,  but,  says  a  writer,  ^^  Here,  in  fact,  on  the  farm  of 
James  BreiJienridge,  was  bom  the  future  state  of  Vermont." 
The  same  year  the  Committee  of  Safety  in  General  Council 
"  Besolved,  that  no  New  York  officer  should  be  suffered  to  carry 
any  person  out  of  the  New  Hampshire  Grants,  without  per- 
mission of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  or  the  military  Com- 
manders." New  York  surveyors  were  forbidden  to  run  any 
lines  within  the  Grants ;  and  finally  no  person  should  take  out 
a  grant  under  New  York  authority.  Whereupon  the  New 
York  Assembly  authorized  the  sheriffs  to  call  out  a  j>088e  in 
case  of  opposition  in  executing  their  office :  and  a  reward  of  £160 
was  offered  for  the  seizure  of  Ethan  Allen,  and  £50  each  for  the 
other  officers  of  the  ^^  Green  Mountain  Boys."  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  Allen  was  regarded  as  the  ringleader.  It  should  also 
be  noted  that  Ethan  Allen  and  his  Green  Mountain  Boys  were 
not  like  Bobin  Hood  and  his  fellows,  a  band  of  desperate  out- 
laws, banded  together  without  authority  for  the  defense  of  their 
individual  rights,  but  a  regular  organization  legitimately  ap- 
pointed by  committees  of  the  whole  people  to  maintain  justice 
and  prevent  intrusion  upon  their  lawful  rights.    The  ^^  Con- 


Ethcm  Alien  amd  HU  Daughter.  33 

necticat  Courant "  was  the  organ  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys 
at  this  period.  Besides  his  contributions  to  this  paper,  pamphlets 
and  placards  flew  fast  from  Ethan  Allen's  pen.  His  counter- 
blast against  Governor  Tryon's  proclamation  for  his  arrest,  pro- 
vokes a  smile  to-day,  though  the  gentlemen  therein  named  would 
have  found  it  no  joke,  had  they  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Green  Mountain  Boys  at  the  Catamount  Tavern  in  Benning- 
ton. 

In  this  very  year  (1771)  Orean  Brush  removed  to  Westmins- 
ter, Vermont.  Doubtless  he  was  influenced  by  his  failure  to 
obtain  political  power  in  New  York  and  by  his  wish  to  realize 
money  from  his  lands  in  the  New  Hampshire  Grants,  which  in- 
cluded many  acres  of  meadow  land  on  the  Connecticut.  Brush's 
advent  into  this  quiet  country  town,  his  display  in  dress,  his  glib 
tongue,  his  pompous  manner,  and  his  pretensions  to  gentility,  at 
first  profoundly  impressed  the  simple  villagers.  But,  as  they 
came  to  know  him  better,  they  judged  him  more  justiy.  He 
soon  found  his  level,  and  his  only  friends  were  a  few  arrogant 
loyalists  of  his  own  type,  of  whom  every  New  England  town  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Bevolution  had  its  quota.  In  answer  to  a 
petition  of  Cumberland  County  in  1772,  the  people  were  allowed 
to  nominate  two  representatives  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
New  York.  Crean  Brush  was  one  of  the  two  elected.  Weak 
and  unprincipled  as  he  appears.  Brush  had  all  the  qualities 
which  go  to  make  a  brilliant  and  successful  party  politidan. 
He  soon  became  recognized  as  a  conservative,  wholly  opposed 
to  reform.  His  voluble  speech,  his  grandiloquent  oratory,  and 
impassioned  manner,  compelled  attention  and  gave  him  a  cer- 
tain influence.  In  the  dispute  regarding  the  New  Hampshire 
Grant,  he  was  doubly  interested,  and  from  his  knowledge  ac- 
quired while  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  New  Ywk, 
he  was  able  to  present  the  case  intelligently.  Accordingly,  we 
find  him  frequentiy  on  committees  to  draft  statements  of  the 
rights  of  New  York.  It  was  he  who  prepared  the  bill  to  sup- 
press the  riotous  and  disorderly  proceedings  of  the  '*'  Benning- 
ton Mob,"  as  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  were  called,  which 
was  the  origin  of  Governor  Tryon's  proclamation  for  the  seizure 
ol  Ethan  Allen,  Bemember  Baker,  and  six  otbwi.  Brush  also 
opposed  the  election  of  New  York  delegates  to  the  Continental 
Congress.  His  career  as  a  legisdator  ended  with  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  New  York  Assembly  on  the  8d  of  April,  1775. 
8 


34  AnntuU  Meeting — 1899. 

He  probably  spent  that  summer  in  New  York,  working  for  the 
King's  cause.  In  the  autumn  we  find  him  in  Boston,  offering 
his  services  to  General  Gage, — who  having  reluctantly  deter- 
mined to  winter  his  army  in  Boston,  and  finding  it  necessary  to 
remove  the  furniture  from  the  houses  that  would  be  required, 
authorized  Crean  Brush  to  receive  for  safe  keeping  ^^  such  goods 
as  the  people  might  voluntarily  entrust  to  him  ....  to  take  due 
care  thereof,  and  to  deliver  said  Goods  when  called  upon  by 
those  to  whom  he  should  have  given  his  Receipts  for  the  same." 
Mr.  Brush's  sun  was  near  its  setting.  Shortly  after  this.  Gage 
was  superseded  by  Lord  Howe,  who,  thinking  discretion  the 
better  part  of  valor,  determined  to  evacuate  Boston,  and  when 
it  became  evident  that  this  was  no  longer  a  matter  of  choice, 
the  conduct  of  the  British  and  their  Tory  adherents  became 
more  insolent.  On  Sunday,  March  10, 1776,  Howe  privately 
ordered  Brush  to  seize  all  goods  which,  if  they  should  "fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  would  enable  them  to  carry  on 
War."  At  the  same  time  a  handbill  was  posted  conspicuously 
in  Boston,  ordering  the  removal  of  linen  and  woolen  goods 
from  the  town,  and  declaring  that  "  any  person  who  should  se- 
crete such  articles,  would  be  treated  as  a  Favourer  of  Rebels," 
and  empowering  Crean  Brush  to  receive  such  goods  on  board 
the  ship  Minerva  and  the  brigantine  Elizabeth.*  "The  day 
following,"  says  Mr.  Frothingham,  "  was  signalized  by  the  op- 
erations of  Crean  Brush,  a  conceited  New  York  tory,  as  igno- 
rant of  the  American  character,  as  he  was  insolent  in  the 
discharge  of  his  official  duties."  The  following  inventory  of 
"  sundry  packages  taken  by  Crean  Brush,  out  of  Mr.  Cyrus 
Balwin's  store,  March  10,  1776,  shows  his  indiscriminate  plun- 
der of  private  property :  7  trunks.  9  boxes.  9  casks.  1  Coun- 
ter. 11  bales.  1  bag  pepper.  1  bag  allspice.  1  Cask  indigo. 
3  quires  small  and  1  quire  large  Press  paper.  Sundry  loose 
ones.  1  black  walnut  desk.  1  writing  desk.  1  Pewter  dish. 
1  small  Organ  in  the  chamber.  4  chairs."  Abigail  Adams's 
letters  to  her  husband  from  Quincy  during  the  first  seventeen 
days  of  March,  are  of  the  most  exciting  interest.  March  16, 1776, 
she  writes,  "  There  have  been  some  movements  among  the  minis- 
terial troops  as  if  they  meant  to  evacuate  ....  Boston.  Be- 
tween seventy  and  eighty  vessels  of  various  sizes,  are  gone  down, 
and  lie  in  a  row,  in  fair  sight  of  this  place,  aU  of  which  appear  to 

*  Frothingham,  Si^ge  of  Boston,  p.  306. 


Ethcm  Alien  and  His  Daughter,  35 

be  loaded :  and  by  what  can  be  collected  from  our  own  observa- 
tions, and  from  deserters,  they  have  been  plundering  the  town." 
Smiday  noon,  March  17,  Mrs.  Adams  writes :  '^  Being  quite  sick 
with  a  violent  cold,  I  have  tarried  at  home  today.  I  find  the 
firing  was  occasioned  by  our  people  taking  possession  of  Nook's 
Hill  ....  which  has  obliged  our  enemy  to  decamp  this  morn- 
ing, as  I  hear  from  a  messenger  just  come  from  head-quarters 
....  they  have  carried  away  everything  they  could  possibly 
take ;  and  what  they  could  not,  they  have  burnt,  broke  or  hove 
into  the  water.  Many  articles  of  good  household  furniture 
having  in  the  course  of  the  week  come  ashore  at  Great  Hill, 
both  upon  this,  and  Weymouth  side ; — ^lids  of  desks,  mahc^ny 
chairs,  tables,  &c.  To  what  quarter  of  the  world  they  are 
bound  is  wholly  unknown.  .  .  .  From  Penn's  Hill  we  have  a 
view  of  the  largest  fleet  ever  seen  in  America.  Tou  may  count 
upwards  of  a  hundred  and  seventy  sail.  They  look  like  a  for- 
est." A  letter  from  a  British  officer's  wife,  on  board  a  ship  of 
this  fleet,  dated  ^^  Kantasket  Boads,  March  25,"  gives  us  the 
other  side  of  the  picture.  She  says,  "  We  know  not  where  we 
are  to  go :  We  are  in  great  distress.  The  spectacle  is  truly  ter- 
rible." The  Elizabeth,  with  Crean  Brush  on  board,  dropped 
down  the  harbor,  and  on  the  29th  of  March,  set  sail  for  Halifax. 
She  was  overhauled  on  April  2d  by  Capt.  John  Manly  in  the 
^^  Hancock,"  and  finding  escape  impossible,  she  struck  her 
colors.  All  on  board  were  made  prisoners,  and  the  brigantine 
anchored  in  Fiscataqua  river,  not  far  from  the  old  homestead  of 
Benning  Wentworth.  Brush  with  others  was  brought  the  11th 
of  April  before  the  Massachusetts  Council  then  sitting  at  Water- 
town.  His  testimony  proved  his  share  in  the  pillage  of  Boston. 
"  I  solemnly  aver,"  he  said,  "  that  from  the  5th  to  the  13th  of 
March,  I  did  not  in  any  one  night  allow  myself  more  than  two 
hours'  sleep."  Brush  was  sent  the  next  day  to  the  jail  in  Boston, 
where  he  was  kept  a  close  prisoner,  being  placed  in  a  cell  by 
himself,  heavily  handcuffed,  refused  the  use  of  pen,  ink,  paper, 
and  candles,  forbidden  to  talk  with  any  one  except  in  presence 
of  the  jailer.  In  January,  1777,  his  wife  arrived  in  Boston,  re- 
maining through  the  year.  On  the  5th  of  the  following  No- 
vember, she  spent  the  day  as  usual  with  her  husband  in  his  cell, 
till  the  time  for  locking  up,  when  she  was  told  by  the  jailer 
that  she  must  go.  A  tall  figure,  in  a  woman's  dress,  left 
the   cell  with  apparent   reluctance,   passing   slowly  out   of 


36  Annual  MeeUng— 1899. 

the  jail.  The  relieved  turnkey  shot  the  bolt  and  reported 
all  safe,  lifargaret  Montr^sor  passed  a  restless  night  in  a  felon's 
joelly  while  her  husband,  on  a  fleet  horse  provided  by  her,  fled 
swiftly  towards  New  York.  The  next  morning,  in  answer  to 
the  turnkey's  repeated  summons  to  Mr.  Brush  to  take  his  break- 
fast as  usual  at  the  loophole  of  his  cell,  a  gentle  voice  at  last  replied 
with  dignity,  '^  I  am  not  Mr.  Brush's  keeper,"  refusing  to  say 
more.  Mr.  Brush  reached  New  York  on  the  16th  of  November. 
There  he  tried  in  vain  to  recover  his  New  Hampshire  grant, 
and  to  get  redress  for  injuries  sustained  in  the  service  of  the 
£ing.  A  Boston  paper  of  the  period  *  gives  the  last  act  in  the 
drama  of  his  life.  "  From  New  York  we  learn  that  the  noto- 
rious Crean  Brush,  who  was  sometime  since  released  from  con- 
finement in  this  town,  after  his  arrival  in  that  LOYAL  city, 
applied  to  the  Commander  there,  for  a  Consideration  of  the 
Insults ;  and  as  he  told  his  Story,  the  many  Losses  &c  he  met 
while  here,  he  received  for  answer,  '  Sir,  your  conduct  merited 
them,  and  more ; '  which  so  enraged  him,  that  he  retired  to  bis 
Chamber,  where  with  a  Pistol,  he  besmeared  the  Boom  with  his 
Brains."  While  in  Boston  jail,  Crean  Brush  had  made  his  will, 
making  his  wife  his  Executrix,  and  leaving  to  her  the  whole  of  his 
property,  as  long  as  she  should  remain  a  widow.  In  case  of 
her  marrying  again,  she  was  to  have  one-third,  her  daughter, 
Frances  Montr^sor,  one-third,  and  his  own  daughter  by  his  first 
wife,  whom  he  had  left  an  infant  in  Ireland,  one-third.  Mar- 
garet Montrteor  seems  to  have  had  a  penchant  for  Irishmen. 
We  find  her  in  1783,  as  the  wife  of  Patrick  Wall,  a  New  York 
tailor.  Later  they  removed  to  the  ertate  in  Westminster,  Yt., 
inherited  by  her  from  Crean  Brush,  where  they  spent  the  rest  of 
their  lives.  Her  daughter,  Frances  Montr6sor,  a  gay  and 
brilliant  woman,  then  the  widow  of  Captain  Buchanan  in  the 
British  service,  lived  with  her  in  Westminster,  attracting  much 
attention  among  the  plain  village  folk,  by  her  imperious  man- 
ners. 

To  follow  the  fortunes  of  Crean  Brush  we  left  Ethan  Allen, 
in  1771,  busy  with  his  pamphlets  and  his  placards.  In  the  spring 
of  1772,  Governor  Tryon,  through  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Dewey, 
minister  of  Bennington,  proposed  to  the  people  of  the  Grants, 
to  send  agents  to  him  with  a  view  to  the  settlement  of  their 
troubles,  promising  protection  to  anyone  sent  by  the  minister 

*  Hie  Independent  CSmmide,  and  Univereal  Ad^iertiser,  May  21, 1778. 


Ethan  Aden  and  Bis  De^hter.  87 

on  this  business,  excepting  Ethan  Allen  and  the  other  leaders 
of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys.  To  this  proposal  a  firm  but  re- 
spectful answer  was  sent,  signed  by  Allen,  Warner,  Baker,  and 
Cochran.  This  letter  is  a  manly  and  dignified  statement  of 
their  grievances  and  explanation  of  their  conduct.  They  say, 
*^No  consideration  whatever,  shall  induce  us  to  remit  in  the 
least  our  loyalty  ....  to  our  most  Gracious  Sovereign,  and 
reasonably  to  you ;  yet  no  tyranny  shall  deter  us  from  assert- 
ing and  vindicating  our  rights  and  privileges  as  Englishmen." 
Allen  goes  on  to  describe  the  assaults  of  the  posse  on  unoffend- 
ing settlers,  and  says, ''  The  alteration  of  jurisdiction  in  1764, 
could  not  effect  [sic]  private  property,  ....  the  transferring 
or  alienating  of  property  is  a  sacred  prerogative  of  the  true  owner. 
Kings  and  Governors  cannot  intermeddle  therewith.  .  .  .  Bight 
and  wrong  are  eternally  the  same,  to  all  periods  of  time, — 
places  and  nations ;  and  colouring  a  crime  with  a  specious  pre- 
tence  of  law,  only  adds  to  the  criminality  of  it.  .  ,  .  Can  any 
man,  in  the  exercise  of  reason,  make  himself  believe,  that  a 
number  of  attorneys  and  other  gentlemen  with  all  their  tackle 
to  ornaments  and  compliments  and  French  finesse  ....  have 
just  rights  to  the  lands,  labors  and  fortunes  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire settlers  ?  ....  Our  breasts  glow  with  a  martial  fury  to  de- 
fend our  persons  and  fortunes.  .  .  .  We  choose  Captain  Stephen 
Fay,  and  Dr.  Jonas  Fay  to  treat  with  you  in  person.  We  en- 
tr^bt  your  aid  to  quiet  us  in  our  farms,  till  the  King  decides  it." 
Pending  this  negotiation  Governor  Tryon  privately  sent  a 
Scotch  surveyor  to  lay  out  lands  within  the  Grants,  and  at- 
tempted to  establish  there  a  colony  of  Scotch.  Both  these 
schemes  were  prevented  by  the  prompt  action  of  Ethan  Allen 
and  the  Green  Mountain  Boys.  Severe  as  their  action  was  in 
some  cases,  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  had  been  greatly 
aggravated.  We  can  smile  at  the  penalty  inflicted  on  a  certain 
doctor,  who  had  been  blatant  in  his  abuse  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys.  They  hoisted  him  in  an  armchair,  twenty-five  feet 
to  the  top  of  the  sign-post  of  the  tavern,  and  compelled  him  to 
sit  for  two  mortal  hours  above  the  sign  of  the  grinning  cata- 
mount, exposed  to  the  jeers  of  the  mob  below.  By  such  acts 
the  passions  of  both  parties  to  the  quarrel  were  inflamed.  A 
bill  was  at  once  drafted  by  Crean  Brush  and  enacted  by  New 
York,  so  cunning  and  so  far-reaching  as  to  blast  all  chance  of 
peace.    The  Green  Mountain  Boys  saw  in  it  an  attempt  to  ter- 


38  Annual  Meeting— 1899. 

rify  them  into  submission  to  injostioe.  A  coanter-blast  was  at 
once  issued,  by  handbills  and  in  the  newspapers  of  Kew  England, 
signed  by  Ethan  Allen  and  his  captains,  declarmg  their  '^  cause 
good  and  equitable  in  the  sight  of  God."  They  assert  that  New 
York  jpoMes  compelled  them  to  join  themselves  into  a  military 
body.  They  say,  "  we  will  not  be  fooled  or  frightened  out  of 
our  property.  We  flatter  ourselves  that  upon  occasion  we  can 
muster  as  good  a  regiment  of  marksmen  and  scalpers,  as  America 
can  afford,  and  we  now  give  the  gentlemen,  together  with  Mr. 
Brush  and  all  the  land-jobbers  of  New  York  an  invitation  to 
come  and  view  the  dexterity  of  our  regiment.  .  .  ." 

On  the  night  of  the  18th  of  April,  1775,  a  lantern  was  hung 
from  the  belfry  of  the  old  North  Church  in  Boston.  "  Never," 
says  Mr.  Philip  H.  Smith,*  "  did  the  beams  of  a  tallow  dip  go 
forth  on  more  momentous  errand."  Few  indeed  realized  at  that 
moment, "  how  far  that  little  candle  "  would  "  throw  its  beams." 
Mr.  Frothingham  says  f  of  the  Lexington  and  Concord  fights, 
"  Those  events  preface  the  history  of  a  nation,  and  the  beginning 
of  an  empire."  These  events  found  Bennington  nominally 
under  jurisdiction  of  New  York,  but  substantially  independent, 
— the  people  obeying  only  their  own  town-meetings,  and  the 
decrees  of  the  Committees  of  Safety  in  convention.  Their  ir- 
ritation against  the  tyranny  of  King  Gteorge,  their  sympathy 
with  their  friends  in  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  and  their 
contempt  for  a  monarch  who  had  allowed  his  grasping  servants 
to  seize  their  lands,  and  pursue  his  first  grantees  as  felons  and 
outlaws,  made  them  eager  to  do  their  part  in  the  war  forced 
upon  the  colonies  by  England.  From  this  moment  Ethan  Allen 
ceases  to  be  a  partisan  leader,  and  becomes  the  broad-minded 
patriot.  The  wrongs  of  his  state  are  merged  in  the  wrongs  of 
his  country. 

Bennington  people  knew  the  importance  of  Ticonderoga.  In 
March,  1775,  their  Committee  of  Safety  had  promised  Joseph 
Warren  and  Samuel  Adams,  of  the  Massachusetts  committee, 
that  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  would  be  ready  to  seize  that 
fort,  whenever  the  king's  forces  should  begin  hostilities  in  Mass- 
achusetts. "  On  the  26th  of  April,  1775,"  says  Mr.  Sheldon,^ 
"Captain  Samuel  H.  Parsons,  journeying  towards  Hartford, 

*  Green  Mountain  Bojrs,  p.  51. 

t  The  Siege  of  Boston,  p.  90. 

t  History  of  Deerfieldy  vol.  II,  p.  704 


Ethcm  AU&th  and  His  Daughter.  89 

met  on  the  road  Captain  Benedict  Arnold  on  his  way  from  New 
London  to  Cambridge.  They  had  a  few  words  about  the  need 
of  cannon  for  the  army,  the  fact  of  a  considerable  number  being 
at  ^  Old  Ti/  and  the  weakness  of  that  fortress.  This  chance 
conversation  bore  fruit  on  both  branches.  Arnold  pushed  on 
to  Watertown  where  the  Provincial  Congress  was  in  session. 
He  presented  to  the  Committee  of  Safety  a  scheme  for  captur- 
ing Ticonderoga.  May  3d  this  body  and  the  Council  of  War 
laid  the  matter  before  Congress  in  secret  session.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Supplies  was  directed  to  furnish  Arnold  with  10 
horses,  200  pounds  of  powder,  200  pounds  of  ball,  1000  flints 
and  £100  in  money."  On  the  5th  of  May  Arnold  received  his 
^*  commission  as  Colonel,  with  authority  to  raise  four  hundred 
men  and  attack  the  fort." 

Meantime  Parsons  had  '^  broached  the  project  at  Hartford," 
and  Captain  Edward  Mott  with  five  comrades  left  Hartford  the 
29th  of  April,  (joined  later  by  Captain  Easton  and  John  Brown, 
^'  with  a  few  more  picked  men  " )  and  ^^  pushed  on  to  rouse  Ethan 
Allen  and  the  Green  Mountain  Boys."  ^'  May  6th,"  says  Mr. 
Sheldon,  ^^  the  newly  made  Colonel  Arnold,  resplendent  in  new 
uniform,  bright  epaulettes,  gold  lace  and  waving  plumes,  and 
attended  by  a  servant,  rode  furiously  up  the  street "  in  Deer- 
field,  Mass.,  dismounting  at  the  old  tavern.^  Sending  inmie- 
diately  to  the  north  end  of  the  street  for  Thomas  Wells  Dickin- 
son, a  young  farmer  of  twenty-four,  and  recently  married,  he 
gave  him  ^' a  commission  as  Assistant  Commissary  from  the 
Commitee  of  Safety,"  with  special  orders  to  procure  at  once 
15,000  pounds  of  beef  for  the  expedition  to  "  Old  TL"  Pausing 
only  for  a  social  glass  with  Dickinson  at  the  old  tavern,  "  Arnold 
mounted  his  horse  and  pushed  on  over  Hoosac  Mountain,  arriv- 
ing at  Rupert,  Vt.,  on  the  morning  of  May  8th  ....  Mott  and 
Allen  had  already  passed  that  point,  Arnold  followed,  over- 
taking them  at  Castleton.  The  plan  of  the  capture  had  been 
laid,  and  one  party  already  sent  to  execute  its  share  of  the  work, 
when  Arnold  appeared.  He  showed  his  commission  and  claimed 
the  command.  The  Green  Mountain  Boys  looked  with  con- 
tempt on  the  showy  Colonel,  ....  flatly  declaring  that  they 
would  not  serve  under  him.  It  was  a  terrible  blow  to  the  am- 
bitious Colonel  to  find  that  he  was  too  late  and  that  the  laurels 
would  be  given  to  another,"  but,  says  Washington  Irving,  "  he 

*  Now  owned  and  occupied  as  a  summer  residence  l^  C.  Alice  Baker. 


40  Annual  Meeting— 191^9. 

was  fain  to  aoquiesoe  and  serve  as  a  volonteer  with  the  ranlcv 
but  not  the  command  of  a  Colonel."  His  disappointment  may 
have  been  one  of  the  causes  of  his  pitiable  end.  On  Sunday 
morning.  May  7th,  our  young  Deerfield  commissary  and  his 
brother,  Consider  Dickinson,  then  a  lad  of  fourteen,  were  on 
the  road  urging  fifteen  oxen  as  rapidly  as  possible  towards 
Ticonderoga.  They  were  met  on  the  12th  day  by  Colonel  Mott 
and  others,  returning  from  its  capture.  Though  the  story  of  the 
taking  of  Ticonderoga  is  familiar  to  every  schoolboy,  Ethan 
Allen's  own  relation  has  a  special  flavor.  He  says,  ^^  The  first 
systematic  and  bloody  attempt  at  Lexington  to  enslave  America^ 
thoroughly  electrified  my  mind  and  fully  determined  me  to  take 
part  with  my  country,  and  while  I  was  wishing  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  signalize  myself  in  its  behalf,  directions  were  privately 
sent  to  me  from  the  then  colony  of  Connecticut,  to  raise  the 
Green  Mountain  Boys,  and,  if  possible,  with  them  to  surprise 
and  take  the  fortress  of  Ticonderoga.  This  enterprise  I  cheer- 
fully undertook  ....  made  a  forced  march  from  Bennington, 
and  arrived  at  the  lake  opposite  Ticonderoga  on  the  evening  of 
the  ninth  of  May,  1775,  with  two  hundred  and  thirty  valiant 
Green  Mountain  Boys  ....  With  the  utmost  difficulty  I  pro- 
cured boats  to  cross  the  lake.  However,  I  landed  eighty-three 
men  near  the  garrison,  and  sent  the  boats  back  for  the  rear-guard 
commanded  by  Colonel  8eth  Warner ;  but  the  day  began  to 
dawn,  and  I  found  myself  under  the  necessity  to  attack  the  fort 
before  the  rear  could  cross  the  lake,  and  as  it  was  viewed  haz- 
ardous, I  harangued  the  officers  and  soldiers  in  the  following 
manner.  *  Friends  and  fellow-soldiers,  you  have  for  a  number 
of  years  past,  been  a  scourge  and  terror,  to  arbitrary  power. 
Your  valor  has  been  famed  abroad  and  acknowledged,  as  ap- 
pears by  the  ....  orders  to  me  from  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut  to  surprise  and  take  the  garrison  now  before  us. 
I  now  propose  to  advance  before  you,  and  in  person  conduct 
you  through  the  wicket-gate ;  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  desperate 
attempt  which  none  but  the  bravest  of  men  dare  undertake,  I 
do  not  urge  it  on  any,  contrary  to  his  will.  You  that  will  under- 
take voluntarily,  poise  your  fire-locks '  .  .  .  .  Each  poised  his 
fire-lock :  I  marched  them  immediately  to  the  wicket-gate,  where 
I  found  a  sentry  posted,  who  instantly  snapped  his  fusee  at  me. 
I  ran  ....  towards  him,  and  he  retreated  through  the  covered 
way  into  the  parade  within  the  garrison,  gave  a  halloo,  and  ran 


Mhan  Allen  and  His  Daughter.  41 

under  a  bomb-proof.  My  party  which  followed  me  into  the 
fort,  I  formed  in  the  parade,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  face  the 
two  barracks,  which  faced  each  other.  The  garrison  being 
asleep,  except  the  sentries,  we  gave  three  hozzas,  which  greatly 
surprised  them.  One  of  the  sentries  made  a  pass  at  one  of  my 
officers,  with  a  charge  bayonet,  and  slightly  wounded  him.  My 
first  thought  was  to  kill  him  with  my  sword,  but  in  an  instant 
I  altered  the  design  and  fury  of  the  blow,  to  a  slight  cut  on  the 
side  of  his  head :  upon  which  he  dropped  his  gun  and  asked 
quarter,  which  I  readily  granted  him,  and  demanded  of  him  the 
place  where  the  commanding  officer  kept  He  showed  me  a 
pair  of  stairs  in  front  of  the  west  barrack,  to  which  I  immediately 
repaired,  and  ordered  the  conmiander.  Captain  de  la  Place,  to 
come  forth  immediately,  or  I  would  sacrifice  the  whole  garrison : 
at  which  the  Captain  came  immediately  to  the  door,  with  his 
breeches  in  his  hand,  when  I  ordered  him  to  deliver  me  the  fort 
instantly ;  he  asked  me  by  what  authority  I  demanded  it.  I 
answered  him,  ^  In  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the  Con- 
tinental Congress.'  The  authority  of  the  Congress  being  very 
little  known  at  that  time,  he  began  to  speak  again,  but  .... 
with  my  drawn  sword  over  his  head,  I  again  demanded  an  im- 
mediate surrender  of  the  garrison :  with  which  he  then  complied 
and  ordered  his  men  to  be  forthwith  paraded  without  arms 
as  he  had  given  up  the  garrison.  This  surprise  was  carried 
into  execution  in  the  gray  of  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  May, 
1775.  The  sun  seemed  to  rise  that  morning,  with  a  superior 
lustre ;  and  Ticonderoga  ....  smiled  on  its  conquerors,  who 
tossed  about  the  flowing  bowl,  and  wished  success  to  Congress, 
and  the  liberty  and  freedom  of  America.''  Seth  Warner,  who 
had  now  crossed  the  lake  to  Allen,  was  sent  against  Crown  Point. 
The  garrison  there  surrendered  without  firing  a  gun,  and  up- 
wards of  a  hundred  cannon  were  taken.  Arnold  at  once  insisted 
on  assuming  the  command  at  Ticonderoga,  but  was  overborne 
by  the  popularity  of  Ethan  Allen,  whom  the  Connecticut  com- 
mittee accompanying  the  expedition,  invested  with  the  command 
pending  orders  from  Connecticut,  or  the  Continental  Congress. 
May  11th,  1775,  Allen  wrote  as  follows  : 

To  the  Massachusetts  CongreaB: 

Qmitlemen, 
I  have  to  inform  you  with  pleasure  unfelt  before,  that  on  break  of  day  of  the 
10th  of  May,  1775,  by  the  order  of  the  Qeneral  Assembly  of  the  Colony  of  Con^ 


42  Annual  JUeetmg— 1899. 

necticut,  I  took  the  fortress  of  Tioonderoga  by  storm.  The  soldiery  was  com- 
posed of  about  one  hundred  Green  Mountain  Boys,  and  near  fifty  veteran  sol- 
diers from  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  latter  was  under  the 
conmiand  of  Col.  James  Easton,  who  behaved  with  great  seal  and  fortitude, 
not  only  in  council,  but  in  the  assault  ...  I  expect  the  Colonies  will  main- 
tain this  fort.  As  to  the  cannon  and  warlike  stores,  I  hope  th^  may  serve 
the  cause  of  liberty  instead  of  tyranny,  and  I  humbly  beg  your  assisting  the 
Qovenm&ent  of  Connecticut,  in  establishing  a  garrison  in  the  reduced  prenuses. 

Yours  most  obedient  servant, 

Ethan  Allen. 

In  another  letter  to  the  Massaohnsetts  Connoil  of  War  Allen 
says, 

Honorable  Sirs, 

I  make  you  a  present  of  a  major,  a  captain  and  two  lieutenants  in  the  regular 
establishment  of  Geoige  the  Third.  I  hope  they  may  serve  as  ransomes  for 
some  of  our  firiends  at  Boston,  and  particularly  for  Capt.  Brown  of  Rhode 
Island. 

**  Thus,*'  says  Mr.  Irving,*  "  a  partisan  band,  unpractised  in  the 
art  of  war,  had  by  a  series  of  daring  exploits,  and  almost  with- 
out the  loss  of  a  man, won  for  the  patriots  the  command  of  Lakes 
George  and  Champlain,  and  thrown  open  the  great  highway  to 
Canada." 

To  lead  an  army  into  Canada  now  became  the  ambition  of 
both  Allen  and  Arnold.  The  latter  wrote  to  the  Governor 
of  Connecticut  on  the  subject,  and  Allen  thus  addressed  the 
Continental  Congress.  *^The  Canadians  (all  except  the  no- 
hlesse),  and  also  the  Indians  appear  at  present  to  be  very 
friendly  to  us :  and  it  is  my  humble  opinion  that  the  more  vig- 
orous the  Colonies  push  the  war  against  the  King's  troops  in 
Canada,  the  more  friends  we  shall  find  in  that  country.  .  .  . 
Should  the  Colonies  forthwith  send  an  army  ....  to  attack 
Montreal,  we  should  have  little  to  fear  from  the  Canadians  or 
Indians,  and  should  easily  make  a  conquest  of  that  place. 
Striking  such  a  blow  would  intimidate  the  Tory  party  in  Can- 
ada. .  .  .  They  are  a  set  of  gentlemen  that  will  not  be  converted 
by  reason,  but  are  easily  wrought  upon  by  fear."  To  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress  of  New  York,  Allen  wrote, ''  Provided  the  Col- 
onies would  suddenly  push  an  army  of  two  or  three  thousand 
men  into  Canada,  they  might  make  a  conquest  of  all  that  would 
oppose  them  in  the  province  of  Quebec,  except  a  re-inf oroement 

*  life  of  Washington,  vol.  I,  p.  407. 


EXhcm  Allen  and  Sis  J)(mffhter.  43 

from  England  should  prevent  it.  I  wish  to  Otod  Amerioa 
would  ....  exert  herself  agreeably  to  the  indignity  offered  her 
by  a  tyrannical  ministry.  Fame  is  now  hovering  over  her  head. 
A  vast  continent  must  now  sink  to  slavery,  poverty,  horror  and 
bondage,  or  rise  to  unconquerable  freedom,  immense  wealth, 
inexpressible  felicity  and  immortal  fame.  I  will  lay  my  life 
on  it,  with  1500  men,  and  a  proper  train  of  artillery  I  will  take 
Montreal.  Provided  I  could  be  thus  furnished  ....  it  would 
be  no  insuperable  difficulty  to  take  Quebec.  This  object 
should  be  pursued  ....  for  England  cannot  spare  but  a  cer- 
tain number  of  her  troops  ....  and  it  is  as  long  as  it  is  broad, 
that  the  more  that  are  sent  to  Quebec,  the  less  they  can  send 
to  Boston.  ...  At  present,  Canada  is  in  a  weak  and  helpless 
condition.^' 

Allen  also  wrote  to  those  Montreal  merchants  friendly  to  the 
cause  of  Liberty  ;  to  the  Canadian  Indians  and  to  the  Canadian 
hdbitomts.  These  letters  are  interesting  as  showing  his  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  his  JmesBe^  his  power  to  adapt  himself 
to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  with  whom  he  had  to  deaL 
Colonel  Hinman  with  Connecticut  troops  being  sent  to  relieve 
Allen  at  Ticonderoga,  Allen  and  Seth  Warner  went  to  ask  per- 
mission of  the  Congress  to  raise  a  regiment,  and  to  get  pay  for 
their  men.  They  were  received  with  great  honor ;  their  Green 
Mountain  Boys  were  paid  the  same  as  the  Continental  troops, 
and  it  was  recommended  that  a  corps  of  Green  Mountain  Boys 
should  be  levied  to  serve  in  the  war  under  officers  of  their  own 
choosing.  The  people  of  the  New  Hampshire  Grants  were  or- 
dered to  raise  a  regiment  of  five  hundred  Green  Mountain 
Boys.  To  the  cruel  disappointment  of  Allen,  when  the  com- 
mittees of  the  several  towns  met  at  Dorset  to  choose  the  offi- 
cers for  the  new  regiment,  Seth  Warner  received  forty-one  votes 
to  Allen's  five,  as  Lieutenant-Colonel.  Writing  to  Governor 
Trumbull  on  August  3, 1775,  Allen  says,  "  Notwithstanding  my 
zeal  and  success  in  ray  country's  cause,  the  old  farmers  on 
the  New  Hampshire  Grants  have  met,  .  .  .  and  in  their 
nomination  of  officers  for  the  regiment  of  Green  Mountain 
Boys,  have  wholly  omitted  me  ...  .  I  find  myself  in  the 
favor  of  the  officers  of  the  army,  and  the  young  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys.  How  the  old  men  came  to  reject  me,  I  cannot  con- 
ceive, inasmuch  as  I  saved  them  from  the  encroachments  of 
New  York. 


44  Armtud  Meeting — 1899, 

To  a  meaner  soul  than  Ethan  Allen's  this  would  have  been 
a  crushing  blow.  Not  so  with  Allen.  He  returned  to  Ticoni- 
deroga,  where  he  was  "  retained  to  act  as  pioneer  on  the  Ca- 
nadian frontier."  An  expedition  against  Canada  was  deter- 
mined on^  and  Arnold^  his  more  fortunate  rival,  received  com* 
mand  of  a  force  to  march  against  Canada  by  way  of  the  Ken- 
nebec. 

Allen  says,  ^^  Early  in  the  fall,  the  little  army  under  the 
command  of  Generals  Schuyler  and  Montgomery  was  or- 
dered to  advance  into  Canada.  I  was  at  Ticonderoga  when 
this  order  arrived,  and  the  General  with  most  of  the  field  offi- 
cers requested  me  to  attend  them  in  the  expedition :  and 
though  at  that  time  I  had  no  commission  from  Congress,  yet 
they  engaged  me  that  I  should  be  considered  as  an  officer  the 
same  as  though  I  had  a  commission,  and  should  as  occasion 
might  require,  command  certain  detachments  of  the  army. 
This  I  considered  an  honorable  offer,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
comply  with  it."  From  Isle  aux  Noix,  Sept.  14,  1775,  Allen 
writes  to  General  Schuyler,  "  Arrived  at  Chambly ;  found  the 
Canadians  in  that  vicinity  friendly.  They  guarded  me  under 
arms  night  and  day,  escorted  me  through  the  woods,  ....  and 
showed  me  every  courtesy.  .  .  .  Governor  Carleton  threatens 
the  Canadians  with  fire  and  sword,  except  they  assist  him 
against  the  Colonies,  and  the  Seigneurs  urge  them  to  it.  .  .  . 
This  is  the  situation  of  affairs  in  Canada,  according  to  my 
most  painful  discovery."  Illness  compelling  General  Schuyler 
to  return  to  Ticonderoga,  Gteneral  Bichard  Montgomery  assumed 
command,  and  the  siege  of  St.  Johns,  so  strenuously  urged  by 
Ethan  Allen,  began.  On  his  way  to  assist  in  this  siege,  Allen 
wrote  to  General  Montgomery  from  St.  Ours,  September  20, 
1775.  "...  I  now  have  250  Canadians  underarms  :  as  I  march 
they  gather  fast.  If  this  place  be  taken,  the  country  is  ours :  if 
we  miscarry  in  this,  all  other  achievements  will  profit  but  little. 
...  I  shall  join  you  in  about  3  days,  with  300  or  more  Cana- 
dian volunteers :  .  .  .  .  those  that  used  to  be  enemies  to  our 
cause,  come  up  cap-in-hand  to  me,  and  I  swear  by  the  Lord  I 
can  raise  three  times  the  number  of  our  army  in  Canada,  pro- 
vided you  continue  the  siege.  .  .  .  The  eyes  of  all  America, 
nay  of  Europe  are  or  will  be  on  the  economy  of  this  army,  and 
the  consequences  attending  it."  If owhere  better  than  in  these 
letters  of  Allen  is  his  sanguine  temperament  and  his  supera- 


EOum  Allen  and  Sis  Dattghter,  45 

bnndant  self-confidence  shown.  On  his  march  to  St  Johns, 
Allen  met  Major  Brown  with  his  detachment.  By  a  casual  re- 
mark of  Brown's  that  Montreal  was  in  a  defenseless  condition 
Allen's  soul  was  fired  to  attempt  another  brilliant  achievement. 
The  two  agreed  to  return  to  a  point  on  the  river  opposite 
Montreal, — Brown  with  two  hundred  men  to  cross  in  canoes  a 
little  above  the  town, — Allen,  similarly,  a  little  below,  in  the 
night, — both  at  different  points  attacMng  Montreal  simultane- 
ously. They  mutually  agreed,  that  in  case  of  the  failure  of 
either  to  arrive  at  the  time  fixed,  early  notice  should  be  given 
to  the  other.  Hearing  nothing  from  Brown,  Allen  crossed  the 
river  as  agreed  upon,  and  found  himself  two  hours  after  sunrise 
unsupported.  The  alarm  had  been  given,  and  there  was  no  re- 
treat without  leaving  a  part  of  his  force  undefended,  as  only 
one  third  of  his  men  could  re-cross  the  river  at  a  time.  "  This," 
says  Allen,  ^^  I  could  not  reconcile  to  my  own  feelings  as  a  man 
much  less  as  an  officer,  and  I  concluded  to  maintain  the  ground 
if  possible,  and  all  to  fare  alike.  .  .  .  Montreal  was  in  a  great 
tumult.  General  Carleton  made  preparation  to  go  on  board 
their  vessels,  but  the  spy  escaped  from  my  guard  to  the  town 
....  emboldened  G^eral  Carleton  to  send  the  force  ....  there 
oollected,  out  against  me.  .  .  ."  The  attack  began  between 
two  and  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Deserted  by  most  of 
his  Canadian  recruits,  after  a  brave  resistance  of  two  hours, 
Allen  surrendered  on  honorable  terms,  with  about  thirty  Ca- 
nadians who  had  remained  faithful  to  him.  The  prisoners  were 
marched  into  Montreal,  ^^  which  was  as  I  should  guess,"  says 
Allen,  ^^  more  than  two  miles,  a  British  officer  walking  at  my 
right  hand,  and  one  of  the  French  ncHease  at  my  left  ....  no 
abuse  was  offered  me  till  I  met  Oeneral  Presoott.  He  asked 
me  my  name  which  I  told  him :  he  then  asked  me  whether  I 
was  that  Colonel  Allen  who  to<^  Ticonderoga.  I  told  him 
that  I  was  the  very  man:  then  he  shook  his  cane  over  my 
head,  calling  me  many  hard  names,  among  which  he  frequently 
used  the  word  rebel,  and  put  himself  in  a  great  rage  ....  upon 
which  Captain  McCloud  pulled  him  by  the  skirt  and  told  him 
that  it  was  inconsistent  with  his  honor,  to  strike  a  prisoner. 
He  then  ordered  a  sergeant's  command  to  kill  thirteen  Cana- 
dians, who  were  included  in  the  treaty.  It  cut  me  to  the 
heart  to  see  the  Canadians  in  so  hard  a  case,  in  consequence  of 
having  been  true  to  me  ....  I  stepped  between  them  and  tbd 


46  AmmdL  Meeting — 1899. 

exeoutionerSy  and  told  General  Presoott  to  thrust  his  bayonet 
into  my  breast,  for  I  was  the  sole  caase  of  the  Canadians  tak- 
ing up  arms.  .  .  .  The  general  stood  a  minute,  then  said  with  an 
oath,  ^  I  will  not  hang  you  now,  but  you  shall  grace  a  halter  at 
Tyburn.*  **  Those  of  Allen's  men  who  were  not  wounded  were 
put  on  board  vessels  in  the  river,  shackled  together  in  pairs 
and  ^Hreated  as  criminals."  Allen  thus  describes  his  own 
irons.  ^^  The  hand-cuff  was  of  common  size  and  form,  but  my 
leg  irons  would  weigh  thirty  pounds :  the  bar  was  eight  feet 
long,  ....  the  shackles  which  encompassed  my  ankles  were 
very  tight,  ....  I  heard  their  officers  say  that  it  would 
weigh  forty  pounds  weight.  The  irons  were  so  close  upon  my 
ankles,  that  I  could  not  lay  down  in  any  other  manner  than 
on  my  back."  Allen  was  put  into  the  hold  of  the  vessel  with 
a  chest  as  his  chair  by  day,  and  bed  by  night.  Two  soldiers 
with  fixed  bayonets  guarded  him  day  and  night.  They  gave 
him  some  little  blocks  to  lay  under  each  end  of  his  leg  irons  to 
keep  them  from  galling  his  ankles.  After  sitting  up  for  sev- 
eral days  and  nights,  "having  a  desire  to  lie  down  on  my 
side,"  he  says,  "  which  the  closeness  of  my  irons  forbid,  .... 
I  desired  the  Captain  to  loosen  them  ....  but  was  denied." 
The  officers,  ordered  to  use  this  severity  to  their  prisoners, 
were  personally  kind  to  him,  sending  him  food  from  their  own 
mess,  and  "  a  good  glass  of  grog  daily."  By  letters  to  Generals 
Frescott  and  Carleton,  Allen  complained  of  the  cruel  treat- 
ment he  was  receiving,  and  reminding  them  of  his  own  treat- 
ment of  the  prisoners  taken  at  Ticonderoga,  he  demanded  bet- 
ter usage,  but  got  no  answer.  In  this  manner,  Allen  was 
confined  six  weeks  on  board  the  schooner  Gaspee.  Transferred 
to  another  vessel,  his  irons  were  removed,  and  he  was  treated 
like  a  gentleman  by  the  commander.  The  latter,  becoming  in- 
volved in  a  prospective  duel,  accepted  Allen's  offer  to  be  his 
second,  Allen  pledging  his  honor,  in  case  of  disaster  to  the  com- 
mander, to  return  to  the  ship  as  a  prisoner.  After "  9  days 
happiness,"  on  the  arrival  at  Quebec  of  the  advance  of  Ar- 
nold's army,  Allen  and  his  comrades  were  put  on  board  the 
Adamant,  in  charge  of  Brook  Watson,  whose  heart  was  as 
hard  as  the  name  of  his  ship,  and  whose  treatment  of  the  pris- 
oners was  beastly.  For  forty  days,  from  Quebec  to  Land's 
End,  Allen  and  his  men  suffered  unmentionable  horrors, — ^in- 
sult and  every  conceivable  indignity,  from  which  they  must 


JEthan  Allen  and  Sis  Daughter .  47 

have  died,  had  they  not  been  liberally  fed  daily  on  salt  beef, 
and  a  gill  of  rum  apiece.  The  ship  reached  Falmouth,  a  few 
days  before  Christmas,  1775.  On  learning  that  the  hero  of 
Ticonderoga  was  among  the  prisoners,  the  excitement  of  the 
people  of  Fahnouth  was  intense.  Allen  thus  describes  the 
scene. 

"A  few  days  before  I  was  taken  ....  I  shifted  my 
clothes,  by  which  I  happened  to  be  taken  in  a  Canadian  dress : 
— a  short  fawn-skin  jacket  double  breasted,  an  undervest  and 
breeches  of  sagathy,*  worsted  stockings,  a  decent  pair  of  shoes, 
two  plain  shirts  and  a  red  worsted  cap ;  this  was  all  the  cloth- 
ing I  had,  in  which  I  made  my  appearance  in  England 

Multitudes  crowded  to  see  us :  I  saw  numbers  on  the  house- 
tops, and  the  rising  adjacent  grounds  were  covered  .... 
with  both  sexes."  The  throng  was  so  great,  that  the  king's 
officers  had  to  force  a  passage  with  their  swords,  to  Pendennis 
Castle  a  mile  from  the  town,  where  by  Carleton's  orders  they 
were  confined.  Great  numbers,  both  gentle  and  simple,  who 
came  daily  to  gaze  upon  the  caged  lion  of  the  Green  Mountains, 
told  him  that  he  was  to  be  hanged.  "  I  could  not  but  feel," 
says  Allen,  "  extremely  anxious  for  my  fate.  This  I  concealed 
from  the  enemy,  ....  and  could  conceive  of  nothing  more 
in  my  power,  but  to  keep  up  my  spirits  and  behave  in  a  soldier- 
like manner,  that  I  might  exhibit  a  good  sample  of  American 
fortitude.  The  cause  I  was  engaged  in,  I  ever  viewed  worthy 
hazarding  my  life  for,  nor  was  I  .  .  .  .  sorry  that  I  engaged 
in  it."  It  was  a  common  thing  for  Allen  to  be  taken  out  for 
exhibition  on  the  parade  ground  of  the  Castle,  where  many 
people  of  both  sexes  were  eager  to  see  and  talk  with  him. 
Allen's  vanity  and  self-conceit  are  easily  perceptible  in  his 
account  of  these  scenes.  On  one  occasion  some  gentlemen 
told  him  they  had  come  fifty  miles  to  see  him,  and  one  of  them 
asked  him  what  his  occupation  in  life  had  been.  Allen  replied 
that  when  young,  he  had  studied  divinity,  but  that  he  was  a 
conjuror  by  profession.  To  this  the  gentlemen  replied  that  he 
had  "  conjured  wrong  when  he  was  taken."  "  I  was  obliged  to 
own,"  says  AUen,  "  that  I  missed  a  figure  then,  but  that  I  had 
conjured  them  out  of  Ticonderoga, — and  this  was  the  place  of 
such  notoriety  in  England,  that  the  joke  seemed  to  go  in  my 
favour."    Allen  seized  the  opportunity  afforded  him  by  such 

*  A  coarse  woolen  serge-like  doth  worn  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne. 


48  Annual  Meedng— 1899. 

visits  to  harangue  his  audienoes  on  the  futility  of  England's 
attempt  to  conquer  the  American  Colonies.  If  his  behavior 
on  these  occasions  is  offensive  to  us  and  seems  undignified,  his 
rhodomontade  served  at  least  to  silence  the  insults  offered  him 
by  beardless  British  braggarts.  Some  clergymen  who  behaved 
civilly  in  visiting  him  were  agreeably  surprised  by  his  ability  to 
discuss  with  them,  moral  philosophy  and  Christianity.  Speak- 
ing of  these  visits,  Allen  says,  ^^  I  am  apprehensive  my  Canadian 
dress  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  excitement  of  curiosity.  To 
see  a  gentleman  in  England,  regularly  dressed,  and  well  be- 
haved, would  be  no  sight  at  aU,  but  such  a  rebel,  as  they  were 
pleased  to  call  me,  it  is  probable  was  never  before  seen  in  Eng- 
land." On  the  8th  of  January,  1776,  Allen  was  ordered  on 
board  the  Solebay,  a  British  man-of-war,  to  join  the  fleet  at 
Cork.  He  was  physically  ill,  and  for  the  first  time  despondent, 
believing  that  he  was  to  be  secretly  made  way  with.  Some 
Irish  gentlemen  supplied  him  with  clothing  befitting  a  gentle- 
man and  an  abundance  of  sea  stores.  Sailing  again,  under  a 
still  more  cruel  commander,  after  touching  at  several  ports, 
Allen  reached  Kew  York,  the  first  week  in  June,  remaining 
there  but  three  days,  "  in  which  time.  Governor  Tryon  and 
others  came  on  board."  ^'  What  passed  between  them  and  the 
officers  of  the  ship,  I  know  not,"  says  Allen,  ^^  but  this  I  know, 
that  my  treatment  was  more  severe  afterward."  In  mid-June 
Allen  and  his  fellow  prisoners  lay  scurvy-smitt^i  at  Halifax, 
^^  pinched  with  hunger,"  and  shamefully  treated.  In  Halifax 
jail  Allen  enjoyed  the  companionship  of  James  Lord,  also  a 
prisoner.  "  I  was  happy  that  we  were  together,"  says  Allen, 
^^  as  a  support  to  each  other,  and  to  the  unfortunate  prisoners 
with  us.  Our  first  attention  was  the  preservation  of  ourselves, 
and  injured  little  republic :  the  rest  of  our  time  we  devoted  in- 
terchangeably, to  politics  and  philosophy."  On  the  3d  of  May, 
1778,  having  been  a  prisoner  two  years,  seven  months,  and  six 
days,  Allen  was  exchanged  at  Kew  York  for  Colonel  Campbell,* 
being  thus  recognized  as  a  colonel  though  he  had  no  official 
rank.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Ethan  Allen's  indiscretion 
and  consequent  suffering  had  been  viewed  with  indifference  by 
his  superiors.  Of  his  reckless  dash  at  Montreal  Schuyler  had 
written,  ^^  I  always  dreaded  his  impatience  of  subordination,  and 

*Sir  Archibald  Campbell,  captured  in   Boeton  harbor,  June  16,  1776. 
Bditoe. 


Ethan  Alien  (md  Hia  Domghter.  49 

it  was  not  until  after  a  solemn  promise  that  he  would  demean 
himself  with  propriety,  that  I  would  permit  him  to  attend  the 
army,  nor  would  I  have  consented  then,  had  not  his  soldiers 
been  backed  by  several  officers."  Said  Washington,  ^'  His  mis- 
fortune wm  I  hope  teach  a  lesson  of  prudence  and  subordina- 
tion to  others  who  may  be  ambitious  to  outshine  their  general 
officers,  and  regardless  of  order  and  duty  rush  into  enterprises 
which  have  unfavourable  effects  on  the  public  and  are  destruc- 
tive to  themselves."  Doubtless,  as  Mr.  Irving  remarks,*  "  Par- 
tisan exploit  had  inflated  the  vanity,  and  bewildered  the 
imagination  of  Allen ; "  yet  as  '^  nothing  succeeds  like  success," 
bad  Allen's  attack  on  Montreal  been  crowned  with  success,  his 
achievements  would  probably  have  elicited  far  different  expres- 
sions from  his  superiors  in  command.  Nevertheless,  Washing- 
ton, having  learned  of  the  sufferings  of  Ethan  AUen  by  orders 
of  General  Prescott,  now  himself  a  prisoner,  wrote  as  follows  to 
liord  Howe :  "  Sir,  we  have  just  been  informed  ....  that 
Colonel  Allen  has  been  treated  without  regard  to  decency, 
humanity  or  the  rules  of  war :  .  .  •  .  that  he  has  been  throvni 
into  irons,  and  suffers  all  the  hardships  inflicted  upon  common 
felons.    I  think  it  is  my  duty  to  demand,  and  do  expect  from 

you,  an  SdaircissemetU  on  this  subject I  must  take 

tiie  liberty  also  of  informing  you,  that  I  shall  consider  your 
silence  as  a  confirmation  of  this  report,  and  of  assuring  you 
that  whatever  treatment  Colonel  Allen  receives,  whatever  fate 
he  undergoes,  such  exactly  shall  be  the  fate  of  Brigadier  Pres- 
cott now  in  our  hands."  Immediately  upon  Allen's  release,  he 
visited  General  Washington  at  VaUey  Forge.  There  he  saw 
Gates  and  Putnam  and  La  Fayette  and  Steuben.  There  he 
wrote  to  Congress  a  letter  which  Washington  inclosed  with  his 
own,  recommending  Allen  for  promotion.  "  There  is  an  original 
something  about  him,"  writes  Washington  of  Allen, "  that  com- 
mands admiration,  and  his  long  captivity  and  his  sufferings  have 
only  served  if  possible,  to  increase  his  enthusiastic  zeal.  He 
appears  very  desirous  of  rendering  his  services  to  the  States 
....  and  at  the  same  time  he  does  not  discover  any  ambition 
for  high  rank."  On  this  recommendation  Congress  gave  Allen 
a  brevet-commission  as  colonel.  Allen  reached  his  home  in 
Bennington  four  weeks  after  his  release.  More  than  one  effort 
was  made  by  the  British  to  seduce  him  from  his  loyalty  to  the 

*  Life  of  Waahingtooy  vol.  11,  p.  63. 
4 


50  Annual  Meeting— 1899. 

American  cause.  In  February,  1781,  the  independence  of  Yer- 
mont  being  still  unacknowledged  by  Congress,  and  New  York 
being  still  grasping, — the  British  general  tried  to  corrupt  Allen 
by  promising  to  make  Yermont  a  British  province.  Allen, 
without  reply,  inclosed  their  offers  to  Congress,  at  the  same 
time  fearlessly  asserting  the  right  of  Yermont  to  agree  upon 
terms  with  Great  Britain,  if  denied  her  independence  among 
the  Colonies.  ^^  I  am  as  resolutely  determined,"  he  says,  ^^  to 
defend  the  independence  of  Yermont,  as  Congress,  that  of  the 
United  States;  and  rather  than  fail,  I  will  retire  with  the 
hardy  Green  Mountain  Boys  into  the  desolate  caverns  of  the 
mountains,  and  wage  war  with  the  devil,  hell  and  human 
nature  at  large." 

Ethan  Allen's  first  wife  died  in  1788.  In  frequent  visits  to 
Westminster,  Yt.,  he  became  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Wall,  of 
whom  I  have  spoken,  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Buchanan,  who 
boarded  at  the  house  of  his  friend.  General  Bradley.  The 
young  widow  was  attracted  by  Allen's  original  views,  and  much 
flattered  by  the  attentions  of  a  man  twenty-five  years  her  senior, 
whom  everybody  feared,  and  they  became  warm  friends, 
though  she  stood  somewhat  in  awe  of  his  rough  manners  and 
indomitable  wilL  John  Norton,  the  tavern-keeper,  a  man  of 
importance  in  town  affairs,  evidently  a  privileged  person,  said 
to  her,  "  Fanny,  if  you  marry  General  Allen,  you  will  be  the 
queen  of  a  new  state."  "  Yes,"  she  replied  impetuously,  "  if  I 
i^ould  marry  the  devil,  I  should  be  queen  of  hell."  This  from 
a  refined  and  accomplished  society  woman,  one  who  was  usually 
of  elegant  manners  and  gentle  speech,  shows  that  she  was 
already  balancing  her  chances  of  happiness,  with  a  man 
whose  character  she  had  carefully  studied, — ^a  character  which 
at  once  attracted  and  repelled  her.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  Allen 
never  permitted  any  obstacles  in  his  path.  On  the  morning  of 
the  9th  of  February,  1784,  while  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  were  breakfasting  with  lawyer  Bradley,  Colonel  Allen 
dashed  up  to  the  door  in  a  sleigh  drawn  by  a  fine  span  of  black 
horses,  driven  by  his  negro.  Alighting  and  entering,  Allen  de- 
clined an  invitation  to  sit  down  at  table  with  the  gentlemen, 
saying  that  he  had  breakfasted  and  would  go  up  and  chat  with 
the  ladies,  till  his  friends  should  finish.  Passing  through  the 
breakfast  room,  he  found  Mrs.  Wall  and  her  daughter.  The 
latter,  becomingly  dressed  in  her  morning  gown,  was  standing 


Mhan  Allen  and  Sis  Da/ughter.  51 

in  a  chair  and  arranging  the  china  and  glass  on  the  upper  shelves 
of  a  cupboard  she  was  dusting.  After  some  joking  about  a 
broken  decanter  which  she  held  in  her  hand,  the  Colonel  said, 
"  Well,  Fanny,  if  we  are  ever  to  be  married,  now  is  the  time, 
for  I  am  on  my  way  to  Arlington."  The  abruptness  of  Allen's 
proposal  reminds  one  of  his  demand  for  the  surrender  of  Ticon- 
deroga,  and  proved  as  successful.  "Very  well,'*  replied  the 
young  widow,  submissively,  "  but  give  me  time  to  put  on  my 
Joseph."  Drawing  her  arm  through  his,  Allen  led  her  to  the 
breakfast  room,  where  the  lawyers  were  smoking,  and  address- 
ing his  old  friend  the  Chief  Justice,  said,  "  Judge  Eobinson, 
this  young  woman  and  I  have  concluded  to  marry,  and  to  have 
you  perform  the  ceremony."  "  When  ? "  asked  the  astonished 
judge.  "Now,"  said  Allen.  "For  myself  I  have  no  great 
opinion  of  such  forms,  and  I  think  she  cares  as  little  for  them 
as  I  do, — ^but  as  a  decent  regard  for  other  people's  opinions 
seems  to  require  it,  you  may  proceed."  "  But,  General,"  stam- 
mered the  Judge,  "  this  is  a  very  important  matter,  and  should 
have  serious  consideration."  "  Certainly,"  replied  Allen,  draw- 
ing himself  up  with  his  usual  self-esteem  and  glancing  fondly 
at  his  handsome  bride-elect,  "  but  I  don't  think  it  requires  much 
deliberation  in  this  particular  case."  Seeing  argument  useless 
the  Judge  proceeded.  "  Do  you,  Ethan,  promise  to  live  with 
Frances,  agreeably  to  the  law  of  God — ^"  "  Halt ! "  cried  Allen, 
turning  and  looking  out  of  the  window.  After  a  moment's 
pause,  he  said,  "  Yes,  according  to  the  law  of  Gk>d  as  written  in 
the  great  book  of  nature, — ^go  on,  my  team  is  at  the  door." 
The  ceremony  ended,  Frances  Montr6sor  Buchanan  donned  her 
Joseph,  a  garment  much  affected  by  women  of  the  period, — ^a 
great  coat,  with  a  broad  cape,  buttoned  down  the  front.  Her 
guitar  and  trunk  were  tucked  under  the  front  seat  of  the  sleigh, 
jingle,  jingle  went  the  bells,  and  Ethan  Allen,  again  victorious, 
drove  rapidly  towards  the  west  with  his  captured  bride. 

Thus  in  1784,  the  step-daughter  of  Crean  Brush  married  the 
man  on  whose  head  a  price  had  been  set  exactly  ten  years  be- 
fore by  Governor  Tryon  at  Brush's  instigation.  In  1787  Ethan 
Allen  removed  with  his  family  to  Burlington,  Vt.  Hay  being 
scarce,  in  the  winter  of  1789,  an  intimate  friend  who  lived  on 
the  island  of  South  Hero  told  Allen  he  would  give  him  a  load 
of  hay  if  he  would  come  and  get  it.  On  the  11th  of  January 
Colonel  AIIqu  with  a  sled  and  span  of  horses  and  his  negro  serv- 


52  Annual  MeeHng—lS99. 

ant  crossed  on  the  ice  to  the  island,  remaining  there  all  night. 
On  nearing  home  the  neict  day,  his  servant  having  spoken  to 
him  several  times  without  reply,  saw  that  his  master  had  died 
on  the  load. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  eulogize  or  defend  Ethan  Allen.  He  was 
the  man  for  the  hour  if  ever  there  were  one.  Much  has  been 
written  about  his  conceit,  his  coarseness,  his  profanity,  his 
blasphemy,  and  his  infidelity.  These  things  seem  to  me  to  be 
but  straws  on  the  surface  of  his  character,  and  to  me  it  matters 
little  what  a  man  believes  in  comparison  with  what  he  is.  Es- 
sentially an  American,  Ethan  Allen  was  yet  a  cosmopolitan. 
^^Manldnd  are  naturally  too  national,  even  to  bigotry,"  he 
says.  ^Commercial  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  has  a 
tendency  to  improve  mankind,  and  erase  the  superstition  of  the 
Blind,  by  acquainting  them  that  human  nature,  policy  and  in- 
terest, are  the  same  in  all  nations, — and  at  the  same  time  they 
are  bartering  commodities  for  the  convenience  and  happmess 
of  each  nation,  they  may  reciprocally  exchange  such  part  of 
their  customs  and  manners,  as  may  be  beneficial,  and  learn  to 
extend  charity  and  goodwill  to  the  whole  of  mankind."  Grant 
him  conceited, — ^most  people  of  ability  are.  He  was  impulsive, 
but  how  generous  were  his  impulses !  He  was  brave,  loyal  and 
patriotic ;  just,  honest,  upright,  and  affectionate :  a  good  son,  a 
good  father,  a  good  citizen.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible ;  no  more  do  some  of  us.  With  us  he  believed 
in  God  and  in  the  immortality  of  the  souL 

That  all  roads  lead  to  Rome  is  a  trite  saying,  but  to  reach 
Kome  by  way  of  Ethan  Allen  is  a  surprise.  Ethan  Allen  left  one 
daughter  and  two  sons  by  his  second  wife.  His  widow,  Frances 
Montr^sor  Buchanan,  married  Dr.  Jabez  Penniman  of  Burling- 
ton, Vt.  Frances,  or  Fanny,  the  eldest  child  of  Ethan  and 
Frances  Montr6sor  Allen,  inherited  many  of  her  father's  dis- 
tinguishing qualities,  especially  his  independence  of  thought 
and  action*  She  was  five  years  old  at  his  death  and  but  six 
when  her  mother  married  again.  It  is  fair  to  suppose  that  she 
was  left  pretty  much  to  her  own  devices  during  these  all- 
engrossing  events.  We  may  think  of  her  rambling  about  Dr. 
Penniman's  fine  old  colonial  house,  perhaps  exploring  the  re- 
cesses of  the  garret  or  perched  on  some  broad  window  seat  ab- 
sorbed in  such  books  as  "  The  Children  of  the  Abbey,"  "  Thad- 
deus  of  Warsaw,"  and  "  The  Mysteries  of  Udolpho."    She  may 


Ethan  AUen  and  IIU  DcMghter,  68 

have  played  at  keepii^  a  coontry  store,  as  some  of  us  have 
done,  with  pins  for  money,  selling  currant  and  raspberry  juioe 
as  drugs  and  wine,  and  thistle  down  and  com  silk  and  plantain 
cord  and  birchpaper, — weighing  out  with  the  Doctor's  scales 
sand  sugar,  and  bean  coffee  to  imaginary  customers.  Our  first 
glimpse  of  Fanny  is  at  the  age  of  twelve,  when,  breathless  and 
beside  herself  with  fear,  she  ran  shrieking  home  from  the  river 
bank,  her  favorite  resort,  declaring  when  questioned  by  her 
anxious  mother  that  she  had  seen  the  river  lashed  into  billows, 
from  which  at  last  a  monstrous  serpent  raised  itself,  winding 
rapidly  toward  the  shore  where  she  stood  paralyzed  with  fear, 
when  an  old  man  suddenly  appeared  at  her  side,  with  a  staff  in  his 
hand,  and  wearing  a  brown  cloak.  "  What  are  you  doing  here, 
little  girl, — run,"  he  cried,  and  gently  pushed  her  away.  She 
fled  as  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  but  soon  looking  back,  was 
surprised  that  her  protector  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  Her 
mother  sent  everywhere  to  learn  if  anyone  answering  to 
Fanny's  description  of  her  preserver  had  been  seen  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, but  tJie  old  man  and  the  ^^  menstruum  horrendum  " 
had  vanished  together.  Is  not  this  the  earliest  record  of  our 
New  England  sea-serpent  ?  All  this  might  have  happened  to 
any  little  country  girl,  and  the  story  would  have  been  sum- 
marily dismissed  by  a  busy  and  practical  mother  as  a  child's 
fancy,  but  in  the  annals  of  Catholicism,  which  delight  in  alle- 
gories, this  experience  of  Fanny  Allen's  plays  an  important 
part.  After  this  incident  we  have  no  account  of  Fanny's  life 
until  1807,  when  she  would  have  been  about  twenty-one  years' 
old.  This  interval  was  a  period  of  great  intellectual  activity, 
of  inquiry  and  theological  discussion.  Freedom  of  thought  was 
awakening  in  New  England.  Men  began  to  dare  to  question 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  the  original  sin  and  total  depravity  of 
man,  and  tiie  doctrines  of  election  and  predestination.  It  could 
scarcely  be  expected  that  Fanny  AUen,  ^^her  father's  own 
child,"  as  we  should  say,  would  accept  anything  on  tradition. 
Her  common  sense  and  subtle  instinct  were  quick  to  discover 
weak  doctrinal  points,  but  to  her  thoughtful  and  searching 
questions  she  received  only  evasive  answers.  She  seems  to  me 
to  have  been  at  this  time  in  a  state  of  mind  common  to  all  in- 
telligent young  people  (and  praiseworthy  up  to  a  certain 
point),  of  unwillingness  to  accept  ready-made  opinions  from  hw 
elders.    Doubtless,  too,  for  it  waa  the  spirit  of  that  intolerant 


64  AnnikU  Meeting — 1899. 

age,  she  beard  the  Boman  Catholic  church  denounced.  So  in  a 
half  revolt  a^inst  the  bififoted  Presbyterianism  of  her  time, 
with  a  vain-^rious  oonfidSce  in  her  own  superior  judgment; 
quite  consistent  with  her  inherited  character,  this  remarkable 
young  person  determined  to  find  out  for  herself  what  Oatholi- 
cism  was  and  especially  to  find  out  for  herself  whether  there  was 
any  foundation  in  fact  for  certain  calumnies  concerning  convent 
life  which  had  come  to  her  through  a  bad  book  of  the  period. 
Priding  herself  on  simply  chiiming  her  right  to  independent 
judgment,  when  in  fact  she  was  unconsciously  dominated  by  a 
spirit  of  opposition,  and  delighting  in  surprising  her  family,  she 
informed  her  mother  that  she  wished  to  go  to  Montreal  to  study 
French,  having  in  fact  previously  wished  to  perfect  herself  in 
that  language.  There  is  a  tradition  of  her  engagement  at  some 
period  of  her  life  to  a  rich  Boston  gentleman.  A  disappoint- 
ment in  this  connection  may  have  been  one  of  the  motives  im- 
pelling her  to  this  step.  To  an  unprejudiced  person,  especially 
to  one  familiar  with  the  quips  and  cranks  of  young  girls,  Fanny 
Allen's  conduct  up  to  this  point  in  her  life  shows  an  intolerable 
self-esteem  and  childish  perversity;  an  unbridled  imagination 
and  an  undisciplined  will.  The  picture  of  the  weak,  volatile 
mother  and  the  over-indulgent  stepfather,  powerless  to  control 
the  audacious  headstrong  girl  is  not  pleasing.  As  might  be  ex- 
pected, for  nothing  is  so  apt  to  be  misguided  as  religious  zeal, 
the  Pennimans  did  the  worst  thing  they  could  have  done  under 
the  circumstances.  They  yielded  a  reluctant  consent  to  her 
plan,  on  condition  that  she  would  first  be  baptized.  Accordingly 
she  submitted  to  this  rite  in  the  Presbyterian  meetinghouse, 
shocking  everyone  who  witnessed  the  ceremony  by  laughing 
in  the  face  of  good  Parson  Barber,  when  he  sprinkled  her  with 
water. 

Soon  to  Montreal  went  Miss  Fanny,  and  a  sad  life  she  led 
the  gentle  sisters  of  the  Congregation,  with  her  gibes  and 
sneers  at  everything  they  held  most  sacred ;  so  sad,  indeed,  that 
they  were  on  the  point  of  sending  her  home  in  disgrace,  and 
would  have  done  so,  but  for  the  entreaties  of  her  special  teacher 
who  saw  lovable  qualities  in  the  girl  and  had  set  her  heart  on 
her  conversion.  If  this  story  is  true,  as  told  by  her  Catholic 
admirers,  it  adds  color  to  my  theory,  that  her  over-weening 
self-confidence,  her  mistaken  sense  of  her  own  importance,  and 
her  impatience  of  control,  biased  her  judgment  and  made  her 


Mhcm  AUeii  and  His  Daughter.  55 

delight  to  scoff  at  rites  which  others  regarded  aa  sacred, 
whether  Bomish  or  Presbyterian.  As  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, her  obdurate  heart  was  conquered.  By  a  miracle,  so 
says  her  biographer, — ^more  likely  by  her  affection  for  the  pa- 
tient nun  who  befriended  and  loved  her  and  appreciated  her 
nobler  qualities.  On  the  Feast  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Yirgin 
her  teacher  sent  her  to  place  flowers  on  the  altar  in  the  chapel. 
With  her  usual  ridicule,  Fanny  started  with  the  vase,  but  on 
opening  the  gate  of  the  balustrade  surrounding  the  holy  place, 
she  found  herself  paralyzed.  ^^  An  invisible  force  arrested  her 
steps.  Three  times  she  tried  in  vain  to  proceed.  Then  her 
soul  is  illumined,  she  sees,  she  kneels,  she  adores,"  and  fleeing 
back  to  the  darkest  recesses  of  the  chapel  ^^  she  prostrates  her- 
self for  hours  in  tears  and  prayer."  To  us,  this  scene  is  an- 
other example  of  the  emotional  character  and  impulsive  act  of 
an  impetuous  girl  influenced  by  an  overwrought  imagination. 
The  joy  of  her  teacher  at  seeing  her  hopes  and  prayers  fulflUed 
by  Fanny's  demand  for  baptism  and  confirmation  may  be 
imagined.  So,  too,  the  feelings  of  her  mother  and  father,  when 
they  heard  of  Fanny's  conversion.  Proceeding  at  once  to  Mon- 
treal, they  demanded  her  immediate  return  with  them  to  Yer- 
mont.  Obedient  and  gentle  as  never  before,  Fanny  yielded  to 
their  wishes  and  accompanied  them  to  Burlington.  There  by 
festivities  of  every  kind, — sleighrides,  balls,  and  all  the  amuse- 
ments of  country  life  in  winter,  and  finally  by  sending  her  to 
enjoy  city  gayeties  in  Philadelphia,  they  tried  to  divert  her 
from  her  purpose.  Alas  t  the  remedy  came  too  late.  When 
Lent  came,  she  fasted  even  to  exhaustion,  reiterating  her  deter- 
mination to  return  to  convent  life.  In  the  spring  of  1809, 
Fanny  Allen  bade  an  eternal  farewell  to  home  and  country. 
Her  mother  went  with  her  to  Canada.  She  had  not  decided 
what  community  to  enter.  Providence  again  directed  her  steps. 
Towards  sunset  of  a  bewitching  spring  day,  Fanny  and  her 
motiier  entered  the  chapel  of  the  nuns  of  the  Hdtel-Dieu.  In 
the  mysterious  light  of  the  late  afternoon  a  painting  of  the 
Holy  Family  above  the  high  altar  riveted  Fanny's  attention. 
The  hour,  the  scene,  the  approaching  parting  from  her  mother 
deeply  affected  the  susceptible  girL  ^^  It  is  he  I "  she  cried, 
^^  Saint  Joseph  wants  me  here.  He  saved  me  from  the  monster 
that  would  have  devoured  me.  I  must  give  my  life  to  his  serv- 
ice."   Her  immediate  application  for  admission  to  the  con- 


66  Anntcal  Meeting — 1899. 

vent  of  the  fldtel-Dieu  was  disoonraged.  The  Superior,  Rev- 
erend Mother  Cfeloron,  advised  her  to  return  to  the  Ladies  of 
the  Congregation,  resume  her  French  lessons,  and  reflect  before 
immuring  herself  within  a  cloister.  She  entered  her  novitiate 
at  the  H6tel-Dieu  on  the  29th  of  September,  1808,  being  then 
about  twenty-four  years  old.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Penniman  visited 
her  there  the  following  spring.  According  to  the  annals  of  the 
convent,  a  great  number  of  Fanny's  American  friends  were 
present  at  the  ceremony  of  her  taking  the  veil.  "  They  filled 
all  the  choir,  and  the  church  could  hardly  contain  the  crowd.** 
It  is  a  most  impressive  scene,  this  New  England  girl  to  whom 
the  earth  and  air  and  sky  and  water  of  her  native  land  had 
been  so  free  and  precious,  voluntarily  renouncing  her  liberty, 
her  judgment,  and  her  hitherto  indomitable  and  untrammeled 
will,  to  take  the  vows  of  poverty,  chastity  and  obedience,  and 
seclude  herself  forever  within  the  cold  gray  walls  of  a  foreign 
convent.  But  "  Sister  Allen  justified  by  her  regularity,  her 
zeal  and  all  the  other  religious  virtues  the  hopes  which  the  com- 
munity had  conceived  of  her."  Amid  her  duties  as  nurse  she 
assumed,  as  Adelaide  Silver,  another  New  England  nun,  had 
done  before  her,  the  special  mission  of  converting  the  heretic 
patients.  Her  converts  were  numerous,  and  we  are  told  that 
four  in  one  week  abjured  Protestantism.  After  eleven  years  of 
her  religious  life,  she  was  seized  with  an  inflammation  of  the 
lungs.  When  her  iUness  became  alarming,  she  asked  that  a 
Protestant  Montreal  physician,  an  American  whom  she  re- 
spected, might  be  sent  for.  His  devoted  care  of  her  was  in  vain. 
He  was  present  at  her  death,  and  was  so  impressed  by  the  scene 
that  he  wrote  an  account  of  it  for  the  newspaper,  expanding  on 
the  beatitudes  which  Catholicism  afforded  to  the  dying.  A 
year  and  a  half  later  he  sold  his  worldly  goods  and  disappeared 
from  Montreal,  saying  that  he  should  never  see  his  friends  on 
earth  again  but  hoped  to  meet  them  in  heaven ;  and  that  he 
should  never  forget  the  ravishing  spectacle  of  the  pious  death 
of  Sister  Allen.  At  Winooski  near  Burlington,  Vt.,  the  hospi- 
tal nuns  of  the  H6tel-Dieu,  the  order  to  which  Fanny  Allen  be- 
longed, have  established  a  convent  named  in  affectionate  re- 
membrance of  her.  She  has  been  celebrated  in  song  and  story, 
as  "  The  Gray  Nun  of  Montreal,"  and  "  The  First  American 
Nun.*'  There  is  a  drama  in  five  acts  bearing  the  latter  title, 
written  by  the  historian,  Abby  Maria  Hemmenway,  of  Ver- 


Etkom  Allen  wnd  HU  Daughter.  57 

mont.  Bat,  as  we  have  seen,  Fanny  Allen  did  not  belong  to 
the  order  of  the  "  Gray  Nuns ;"  and  a  century  before  her,  Mary, 
rebaptized  Adelaide  Silver,  of  Haverhill,  Mass.,  and  Tabitha, 
rebaptized  Ang6liqae  littlefield,  of  Wells,  Me.,  became  nans  of 
the  H6tel-Dieu  in  Canada.  Mary  Sayward  of  York,  Me.,  was 
a  nan  of  the  Congregation  in  Montreal  in  1698.  Lydia  Long- 
ley,  of  Groton,  Mass.,  aboat  the  same  date,  and  £sther  Wheel- 
wright, of  Wells,  Me.,  took  the  black  veil  as  an  Ursuline  sister 
at  Qaebec  in  1714.  So  that  the  honor  of  being  the  first  Amer- 
ican nan  mast  be  ref ased  to  Ethan  Allen's  daughter. 


FIELD  MEETING— 1899. 


FIELD  MEETING 


OF  THB 


POCUMTUCK  VALLEY  MEMORIAL  ASSOCIATION, 


AT  OHABLSMOlirr,   MASS.,    WBDNSSDAY,    AUOU8T   30,   1899. 


Obdbb  of  Ezbroisb8. 

1.    SlNQING. 

2.  Pbater.  Bev.  E.  A.  Eobinson 

8.  Bbpobt  of  Oommittee  of  the  Town  upon  the  erection  of 

monuments. 
4.  Addbbbs  of  Welcome  to  the  Association.  Eate  Upson  Clark 
6.  Response.     Hon.  George  Sheldon,  President  of  Association 

6.  Singing.  Miss  Annie  Temple 

7.  Poem.  Miss  Sadie  Maxwell 

8.  HisTOBioAL  Address.  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  D.  D. 

9.  Social  Hour — Collation.    Basket  Picnic. 

10.  Unyeiling  the  Stone  Marking  the  Rice  Fort. 

11.  Prater.  Rev.  Mr.  Wriston 

12.  Address.        Hon.  Herbert  C.  Parsons,  Cor.  Sec'y  of  Assn. 
18.  Singing. 

14.  Address.  Lucy  Cutler  Kellogg 

15.  Short  Addresses.    Hon.  Samuel  O.  Lamb,  Rev.  Mr.  P.  Y. 

Finch,  Charles  E.  Ward  and  Citizens  of  Charlemont  and 
Guests  of  the  Committee. 

16.  A  Processional  Yisit  to  the  Moses  Rice  Monuicent.   Brief 

History  of  it. 
68 


Field  Meetinff—1899.  59 

17.  Olosing  W0BD6.    Town  Oommittee  and  others,  with  re- 

sponses by  the  Focnmtaok  Gnests. 

18.  Bbnbdiotion. 

OoHMnTEB  OF  AbBANGEMBNTS. 

For  the  Town,  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  D.  D.,  Leonard  B.  Rice 
and  C.  P.  C.  Miner. 

For  the  Society,  Eagene  A.  Newcomb,  Jonathan  Johnson, 
Lncy  Cutler  Kellogg,  John  H.  Stebbins  and  W.  L.  Harris. 

REPORT. 

The  bit  of  meadow  defined  by  the  Deerfield  river, — along 
whose  farther  bank  thunders  the  traffic  of  the  tunnel  railroad, — 
and  on  the  other  side  by  the  single  street  of  Charlemont  village, 
was  adorned  Wednesday  of  this  week  by  a  flagstaff  rising  al- 
most in  the  center  of  this  vernal  tract  and  floating  the  national 
colors.  By  the  roadside,  twenty  rods  away,  "  Old  Glory  "  was 
performing  another  service,  wrapped  about  and  quite  conceal- 
ing a  block  of  granite,  upon  whose  face,  toward  the  highway, 
was  inscribed  a  brief  historical  record.  The  floatmg  flag  in 
the  meadow  marked  the  exact  location  of  the  Rice  fort,  one  of 
the  cordon  of  rude  but  staunch  defenses  which  were  stretched 
across  the  northern  Massachusetts  frontier  in  French  and  Indian 
days  to  shelter  the  scattered  pioneers  and  furnish  resistance  to 
the  shock  and  strain  of  the  savage  occasional  attack  and  con- 
stant meuaoe.  The  block  of  granite  was  erected  as  a  memorial 
to  this  fortification  and  the  tragic  events  which  cluster  about  it 
in  history,  and  was  placed  by  the  public  way,  rather  than  in  the 
field,  so  that  the  passers-by  should  know  of  its  existence  and  its 
purpose. 

It  was  the  day  for  the  dedication  of  this  and  other  memorial 
stones,  and  the  task  was  to  be  performed  by  the  Historical  Asso- 
ciation which  had  inspired  the  marking  of  the  historic  spots,  in 
this  as  in  other  towns  within  its  province,  the  Pocumtuck  Yal- 
ley  Memorial  Association. 

This  was  not  the  first  visit  of  the  Association  to  Charlemont. 
The  second  Field  Meeting  in  its  history  was  held  here  August  2, 
1871.  At  no  subsequent  meeting  has  there  been  a  larger  con- 
course or  more  enthusiasm.  The  Association  was  invited  here 
to  dedicate  a  monument  erected  over  the  grave  of  Moses  Rice 


60  Fidd  MeeHng— 1899. 

and  Phineos  Arms.  May  it  not  be  that  we  see  to^ay  the  fruit 
of  seed  sown  on  that  oocasion. 

At  the  suggestion  of  Charles  E.  Ward,  President  of  the  Oak 
Tree  Association,  Eev.  Dr.  Lyman  Whiting  and  their  associates, 
the  town  voted  at  the  annuaJ  meeting  to  raise  money  to  mark 
the  sites  of  Forts  Rice,  Hawks  and  Taylor.  A  committee  con- 
sisting of  Dr.  Whiting,  L.  B.  Rice  and  C.  P.  C.  Miner,  was  given 
charge  of  the  work  and  instructed  to  confer  with  a  committee 
of  the  P.  V.  M.  Association — Judge  F.  M.  Thompson  and  Mrs. 
H.  W.  Kellogg.  The  sites  of  the  forts  were  marked  by  granite 
boulders  set  into  the  ground  with  the  simplest  inscriptions : — 

Site  of 
RICE  FORT. 

1754—1899. 

Site  of 

HAWKS  FORT. 

1764:— 1899. 

Site  of 
TAYLOR  FORT. 

1754—1899. 

It  was  not  practicable  to  visit  Taylor  Fort  on  the  East,  or  Hawks 
Fort  on  the  West,  and  the  dedicatory  exercises  of  the  day  cen- 
tered at  Rice's  Fort.  It  was  here  that  the  concluding  exercises 
of  a  very  full  day  were  held. 

To  accommodate  the  throng  of  people  from  down  the  valley 
and  up  the  hills  who  drove  in  over  the  dusty  roads,  and  to  make 
easy  tiie  task  of  providing  a  dinner  for  the  official  visitors,  the 
principal  exercises  were  held  at  the  fair  grounds  of  the  Deer- 
field  Yalley  Agricultural  Society,  a  mile  away  from  the  scene 
of  the  unveiling,  a  ceremony  which  occupied  a  half  hour  late 
in  the  afternoon.  The  historical  exercises  covered  about  two 
hours  in  the  morning,  and  precisely  two  hours  in  the  afternoon 
— ^between  the  two  an  hour  of  delightful  sociability  and  a 
generous  luncheon  for  those  who  had  come  without  their  bas- 
kets. 

The  morning  was  chiefly  marked  by  Mrs.  Clark's  address  of 


Field  Meeting— 1S99.  61 

welcome,  a  spirited,  enlivening,  entertaining  speech;  tbe  re- 
q)onse  by  President  Sheldon  which  was  in  keeping  with  the 
long  series  of  his  similar  addresses  in  which  the  solid  facts  of 
local  history  are  dressed  in  a  literary  form  and  an  adornment 
of  happy  personal  observations  that  make  them  entertaining  to 
tbe  least  antiquarian  of  hearers ;  and  Eev.  Dr.  Whiting's  his* 
torical  address,  a  production  notably  appreciative  of  tbe  spirit 
of  tbe  men  and  women  of  pioneer  days  and  appreciative  of  the 
spirits  of  their  descendants  who  like  to  take  their  history  in 
moderate  portions  and  well  seasoned.  It  was  a  touching  narra- 
tive Dr.  Whiting  gave  and  the  story  was  so  clothed  with  the 
good  divine's  eloquent  language  that  it  brought  tears  to  tbe 
eyes  and  cheeks  of  many  to  whom  the  pathetic  incident's  of  the 
early  stru^le  became  real  and  present. 

Mr.  Charles  E.  Ward  opened  the  day  with  a  few  words  in  gen- 
eral Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  E.  A.  Robinson  of  Buckland. 
The  committee  on  the  monuments,  through  Dr.  Whiting,  reported 
the  marking  of  the  sites  of  the  three  forts  as  a  result  of  the  Old 
Oak  Tree  Association's  efforts  and  the  financial  help  of  the  town 
of  Charlemont.  The  audience  sang  ^^  America"  with  much 
earnestness  and  more  than  the  usual  correctness.  Mr.  Ward  in- 
troduced Mrs.  Eate  Upson  Clark  to  deliver  the  address  of  wel- 
come. She  was  received  with  applause,  which  was  frequently 
repeated  after  her  vigorous  sentences. 

Mrs.  Clark  welcomed  the  Pocnmtuck  Association  and  com- 
mended its  work.  She  welcomed  particularly  its  president, 
saying  she  was  proud,  they  who  were  gathered  were  "all 
proud  of  what  he  has  done  for  this  county  and  for  the 
country  as  an  historian,  combining  with  his  faculty  for  re- 
search a  fine  literary  ability  which  makes  his  work  delightful." 
She  paid  a  pleasant  personal  compliment  to  Senator  H.  C.  Par- 
sons. She  honored  Charles  Dudley  Warner  as  one  whose  pres- 
ence greatly  honored  the  occasion,  a  man  who  has  been  placed 
by  the  best  critics  at  the  head  of  American  men  of  letters,  and 
who  has  done  much  to  make  our  valley  a  place  in  literary  clas- 
sics by  his  story  of  "  Being  a  Boy  " — ^in  Charlemont.  She  wel- 
comed the  aged  people  present  and  urged  that  their  recollections 
of  the  earlier  days  should  be  written  down — they  are  invalu- 
able. She  recalled  the  Association's  field  day  in  Colrain  last 
year  as  one  of  the  most  interesting  occasions  she  had  ever  at- 
tended and  hoped  the  one  of  this  day  would  rival  it  in  spirit. 


62  Fidd  Meeting— 1S99. 

The  flower  of  the  countryside  had  been  brought  together  here 
as  there  and  it  was  delightful  to  have  it  gathered.  Mrs.  Olark 
then  paid  tribute  to  the  women  of  the  early  days  whose  deeds 
were  almost  forgotten,  ^^  the  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  un- 
recorded/' as  she  paraphrased  Gray.  Dinah  Rice,  who  shot 
the  savage,  was  almost  alone  in  being  remembered — and  all  be- 
cause the  men  kept  the  records.  The  women  did  as  much  to 
save  the  country  as  the  men.  They  now  want  the  men  to 
make  the  country  worth  saving.  They  want  something  to  say 
who  is  going  to  be  king,  whether  Mr.  Croker  or  some  of  the 
other  bosses— or  rather  they  are  going  to  see  to  it  that  we  do 
not  have  any  king.  The  schools  are  trjring  to  teach  both  men 
and  women  to  think  and  the  vast  power  which  women  have 
been  storing  up  in  the  years  of  their  repression  is  going  to  be 
used  to  help  the  men  to  govern  the  country.  The  Pocumtuck 
Yalley  Memorial  Association,  she  declared  in  closing,  is  one  of 
our  helpful  institutions  because  it  is  exerting  an  ennobling  and 
dignifying  influence  upon  our  lives,  and  women  share  equally 
with  men  in  it.  The  institutions  which  the  fathers  handed  down 
to  us  are  better  understood  by  its  help,  and  these  institutions 
must  be  preserved  with  unceasing  vigilance  if  our  country  is  to 
be  what  it  should  be. 

Mr.  Sheldon's  response  and  Dr.  Whiting's  address  followed. 
These,  with  a  song  by  Miss  Annie  Temple,  "The  Deserted 
Homestead,"  which  was  pleasingly  sung,  and  a  poem  written 
by  Miss  Sadie  Maxwell  and  read  by  Mrs.  C.  H.  Leavitt,  com- 
pleted the  morning's  programme. 

On  the  opening  in  the  afternoon,  with  the  seats  of  the  grand- 
stand well  filled.  President  Sheldon  turned  the  task  of  presiding 
over  to  H.  C.  Parsons  of  Greenfield.  He  spoke  for  about  ten 
minutes  upon  the  duty  Americans  owe  to  the  men  and  women 
who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  nation.  It  is  not  possible  to 
add  glory  to  their  deeds ;  in  building  monuments  to  them  we 
must  feel  as  Lincoln  said  in  the  cemetery  at  Gettysburg.  "  In 
a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate,  we  can- 
not hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men  who  struggled  here  have 
consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or  to  detract."  We 
can,  in  the  spirit  of  that  address,  dedicate  ourselves  to  the  task  of 
perpetuating  the  institutions  they  founded  and  applying  the 
principles  which  marked  their  sturdy  lives  to  the  tasks  of  our 
citizenship.    Mr.  Parsons  referred  to  a  letter  of  regret  received 


Fidd  Meeting— 1S99.  68 

from  Oongressman  Lawrenoe,  who  spoke  of  the  Oolrain  day  of 
last  year  with  enthusiasm ;  he  also  regretted  the  absence  of 
Jndge  Thompson,  the  vice-president  of  the  Association.  After 
some  story-telling  he  introduced  the  succession  of  speakers 
whom  he  declared  constituted  the  most  notable  display  of 
grandstand  attractions  ever  presented  even  on  this  notable  fair 
ground. 

Mrs.  Lucy  Cutler  Kellogg  of  Greenfield,  whose  address  was 
the  one  formal  feature  of  the  afternoon,  introduced  it  with  a  little 
genealogical  talk  and  referred  to  the  presence  in  the  audience  of 
four  generations  of  her  family.  Mrs.  Kellogg's  speech  was 
well  received. 

Then  came  the  informal  speaking.  Samuel  O.  Lamb  of 
Greenfield  made  a  delightful  reminiscent  talk,  with  reference 
to  his  early  Charlemont  acquaintance  and  especially  to  the 
Leavitt  family.  0.  H.  McClellan  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  who  was  the 
historian  of  the  Colrain  meeting,  paid  a  fitting  tribute  to  the 
early  settlers.  Arthur  A.  Smith  of  Colrain  made  a  charac- 
teristic, rousing  speech,  winding  up  with  the  declaration  that  the 
nation  had  started  on  the  right  track  and  would  keep  right  on 
even  if  it  took  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  This  was  followed  by 
Charles  E.  Ward  of  Buckland,  who,  after  some  bright  and  taking 
comments  on  the  proceedings  of  the  day,  scored  that  other  re- 
cent meeting  at  Ashfield  as  unpatriotic  and  argued  for  uphold- 
ing the  government  in  its  Philippine  undertaking.  The  same 
arguments  now  used  by  the  Anti-Imperialists  would  have  ap- 
plied in  our  early  days  to  prevent  killing  the  Indians  or  taking 
this  country  without  their  consent  and  would  have  made  King 
Philip  another  G^rge  Washington.  Mr.  Ward  spoke  vigor- 
ously and  well  and  was  roundly  applauded.  The  cballenge  of 
his  speech  to  a  discussion  of  modem  political  questions  was  not 
taken  up. 

Mrs.  Kate  Upson  Clark  gave  a  bright  five-minute  speech  and 
was  followed  by  Mrs.  Dawes  of  Boston,  the  author  of  child  his- 
tories, who  gave  an  interesting  story  of  her  ancestor's  expe- 
riences at  Bennington  and  Bunker  Hill.  John  M.  Smith  of 
Sunderland  spoke  interestingly  on  the  value  of  local  history  to 
the  people  who  live  on  the  soil  which  their  fathers  defended. 
H.  A.  Howard,  the  Charlemont  superintendent  of  schools,  made 
a  well-rounded  speech  on  the  value  of  history  in  schools  and 
commended  the  Association's  work.    Mutual  votes  of  thanks 


64  Fidd  MeOing— 1899. 

were  passed  and  the  meeting  adjourned  to  the  Kice  Fort  monu- 
ment for  the  unveiling. 

Mr.  Sheldon  having  exhausted  his  strength  the  task  of  presi- 
ding here  again  fell  to  Mr.  Parsons.  Dr.  Whiting  told  the 
story  of  the  forts  and  of  the  effort  to  mark  their  sites.  Mr. 
Bice  read  the  deed  which  reserves  to  the  public  the  ground 
where  stands  the  monument  over  the  grave  of  Capt.  Moses 
Bice.  Then  the  Fort  Bice  marker  was  unveiled^  Mrs.  A.  M. 
D.  Alexander  of  Northfield,  who  gave  the  five  memorial  stones 
that  have  been  placed  on  the  historic  spots  there,  and  Mrs. 
Goodrich  of  North  Adams,  one  of  a  delegation  from  the  Fort 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  being  appointed  as  proper 
persons  to  lift  the  flag  from  the  granite  block  it  had  covered. 
Bev.  Mr.  Wriston  made  an  eloquent  dedicatory  {nrayer.  Bev. 
Dr.  Whiting  pronounced  the  benediction. 


MB.  SHELDON'S  BESPONSE  TO  THE  WELCOME. 

If  I  feel  embarrassed  on  rising  to  respond  to  this  royal  wel- 
come, it  is  not  from  youth  or  inexperience,  nor  is  it  because  a 
woman  was  your  chosen  vehicle  for  its  presentation.  It  is  that 
the  occasion  brings  back  with  a  more  vivid  tone  and  color  a 
crowd  of  memories  of  bygone  events,  which  come  to  the  front 
and  demand  recognition : — memories  of  departed  friends  and 
oo-laborers  who  were  a  tower  of  strength  to  our  infant  Associa- 
tion and  gave  us  strong  meat  for  sustenance. 

I  hope  to  be  pardoned  if  my  response  takes  on  a  somewhat 
personal  coloring,  personal  to  myself  and  to  yourselves. 

When  the  historian  of  Franklin  county  comes  to  characterize 
Charlemont,  he  will  no  doubt  write  her  down  as  an  enterprising 
and  progressive  town.  He  will  find  her  Alpigene  population 
has  always  been  abreast  of  the  rising  tide  of  progress,  and  often 
at  the  high  water  mark.  But  without  waiting  for  the  dictum 
of  the  said  historian,  it  may  be  well  here  and  now  to  note  one 
evidence  of  her  onward  march,  even  though  it  be  patent  to  you 
all.  Our  Association  in  the  course  of  our  peregrinations  has 
been  welcomed  from  the  platform  by  the  representatives  of  the 
major  part  of  the  towns  in  Franklin  county,  but  you,  Madam 
Upson  Clark,  are  the  first  of  your  sex  to  fill  that  office ;  and  I 
confidently  call  upon  my  fellows  to  witness  if  we  have  ever  been 


Mr.  SkddorCs  JSeaponse  to  the  Wdoame.  65 

the  recipient  of  a  more  graceful,  eloquent  or  more  hearty  greet- 
ing. For  all  this,  in  behalf  of  tiie  Pocumtuck  Valley  Memorial 
Association,  I  thank,  first,  progressive  Charlemont,  and  again, 
you.  Madam,  her  selected  representative. 

Your  venerable  historian  will  note,  to-day,  the  steady  push 
of  your  ancestors  up  the  valley  of  the  Pocumtuck  into  the 
wilderness,  taking  all  chances  against  its  perils  and  hardships 
through  wild  beast  and  savage  man.  He  will  dwell  upon  the 
tenacity  with  which  they  clung  to  the  soil  they  had  subdued, 
and  their  abiding  and  sustaining  faith  in  their  Ood,  in  them- 
selves, and  in  the  forts  erected  for  defense  under  the  towering 
Alps  about  them — those  arks  of  refuge  whose  sites  we  to-day 
mark  and  make  sure  for  all  time. 

These  men  and  women  who  came  and  tarried  here  seem  to 
have  lifted  up  their  eyes  to  the  mountains,  and  from  thence  ob- 
tained strength  for  the  high  resolve,  that  whatever  woe  betide, 
to  live  and  die  in  this  valley  of  their  choice.  We  find  no  signs 
of  their  being  quitters  even  in  the  face  of  the  tomahawk  and 
bullet.  Although  the  maternal  arms  of  Deerfield  were  ever 
open  to  receive  her  children  home  again,  she  was  also  ready  to 
encourage  and  back  them  in  the  plucky  determination  to  re- 
main and  defy  all  adverse  fortune.  As  years  rolled  on,  both 
Deerfield  and  Charlemont  wrought  together  for  their  own  weal 
and  their  country's  good.  Together  they  pushed  back  the 
northern  avalanche  put  in  motion  by  the  powers  of  France. 
Together,  defying  the  power  of  England,  shoulder  to  shoulder 
their  patriotic  sons  toiled  the  livelong  night  with  pick  and 
spade,  and  when  the  dawn  brought  about  their  heads  the  plung- 
ing shot  and  screaming  shell,  they  faltered  not  one  whit,  and 
when  their  task  was  done  fought  to  the  finish  the  glorious  day 
of  Bunker  Hill.  Such  were  our  ancestors.  You,  the  descend- 
ants of  CoL  Hugh  Maxwell,  and  we,  the  descendants  of  Col. 
Joseph  Stebbins,  may  rival  each  other  in  honor  and  fame  and 
every  good  work,  but  we  must  see  to  it,  and  never  forget  our 
common  obligation  to  keep  free  from  stain  the  blood  of  those 
heroes  of  the  16th  and  17tii  of  June,  1775. 

As  I  have  said,  my  position  here  to-day  must  of  necessity 
lead  to  personal  reminiscence.  My  first  visit  to  Charlemont  as 
an  antiquary  was  with  a  plan  of  Fort  Taylor  in  my  hand  which 
I  had  found  in  the  State  Archives  in  Boston ;  my  mission  was, 
in  company  with  CoL  Leavitt  and  Deacon  Field,  to  connect  this 
5 


66  Fidd  Mee^ff—1899. 

plan  with  the  face  of  the  earth  in  this  valley^to  discover  the 
very  spot  on  which  the  fort  was  planted  by  the  pioneer  settlers. 
In  this  effort  we  were  successful  at  all  points,  excepting  in  lo- 
cating the  well.  In  this  we  failed.  I  understand  since  coming 
here  that  your  present  committee  has  been  more  fortunate. 

The  second  visit  to  your  town  is  encircled  with  a  radiance 
that  surrounds  no  other  public  event  of  my  experience,  and  I 
should  be  recreant  to  my  opportunity  did  I  fail  in  speaking  to 
you  of  some  of  the  glories  thereof,  inasmuch  as  it  was  a  reflec- 
tion of  your  generous  enthusiasm. 

I  have  said  Charlemont  was  a  progressive  town.  Proof  of 
this  is  found  all  along  her  career.  If  I  modestly,  but  filially 
put  the  mother  town  first,  the  daughter  was  very  sure  to  be  a 
second  in  all  things.  Accordingly  Charlemont  followed  the  ex- 
ample set  by  Deerfield  in  the  Lothrop  monument  at  Bloody 
Brook,  and  set  up  in  1871  a  memorial  in  memory  of  your  slain 
of  June  11, 1755.  Discerning  Charlemont  had  recognized  the 
mission  of  our  Association,  and  the  yearling  Pocumtuck  Yalley 
Memorial  Association  was  honored  and  exalted  by  an  invitation 
to  take  charge  of  the  services  of  dedication.  We  gladly  re- 
sponded to  the  call  and  set  about  the  preparations  with  the  con- 
fidence born  of  appreciation.  So  much  confidence,  indeed,  that 
we  surprised  ourselves  by  the  number  of  extra  cars  we  engaged 
to  carry  the  Connecticut  valley  people  up  the  valley  of  the  Po- 
cumtuck. But  not  too  soon  or  too  many,  for  the  cry  of  "  On  to 
Charlemont "  filled  the  air.  A  second  call  for  cars  could  not 
be  fully  filled,  and  in  consequence  the  train  that  bore  us  up  the 
valley  was  so  overfilled  that  even  standing  room  in  the  aisles 
was  at  a  premium,  and  the  platforms  were  black  with  the  cling- 
ing crowds  from  the  upper  stations  who  would  not  be  left  be- 
hind. They  were  willing  to  risk  their  lives,  but  not  willing  to 
miss  our  Field  Meeting  at  Charlemont,  which  was  a  new  thing 
under  the  sun.  On  to  Charlemont  at  all  hazards  I  On  to  Charle- 
mont! 

The  same  cry  went  up  at  Deerfield  one  June  day  in  1755 
when  her  bold  rough  riders  urged  their  panting  steeds  to  the 
reUef  of  your  stricken  settlers.  On  to  Charlemont !  On  to  the 
rescue  of  our  kindred  who  may  be  even  now  at  the  last  gasp, 
and  only  sustained  against  the  beleaguering  savages  by  the 
hope  of  our  coming.  We  ride  with  them  today,  and  cry, "  Spur 
on,  heroic  men  t    Your  horses  like  yourselves  are  inured  to 


Mr.  SheldorCs  JSesponae  to  the  Wdcome,  67 

hardness.  Lay  your  compass  due  northwest  and  ride  straight 
through  the  wilderness  to  the  goal  I    On  to  the  rescue  I  " 

To  their  intense  relief  the  end  of  their  ride  showed  no  added 
disaster.  The  savages  satisfied  with  their  first  success  had 
retreated  to  their  lair,  the  home  of  their  French  masters  in 
Canada. 

It  was  also  to  our  intense  relief  that  our  dangerous  trip  in 
1871  ended  with  no  saddening  disaster.  We  also  found  no 
enemy  but  an  unexpected  multitude  of  friends  who  welcomed 
us  with  music  and  banners  and  cheers.  Who  can  tell  of  the 
satisfaction  as  well  as  the  anxiety  of  our  officers,  all  unused  to 
such  an  experience  at  this  great  awakening  of  the  people. 

But  when  the  speakers  and  the  officers  were  seated  upon  the 
platform  the  crisis  came.  In  the  hush  of  silence  which  followed 
the  blare  of  sounding  trumpets  and  the  rolling  drums ;  before 
the  gathered  thousands  with  all  eyes  upon  him,  how  shaU  the 
President  of  the  Day  meet  his  untried  duties.  He  was  now  for 
the  first  time  to  face  an  audience  and  make  his  maiden  address. 
How  shall  he  pass  the  ordeal  ?  He  will  now  for  the  first  time 
confess, — however  lamentable  the  shortcomings  and  crude  the 
performance  appears  in  the  retrospect — not  Edward  Everett  at 
Bloody  Brook,  not  Daniel  Webster  at  Bunker  Hill,  not  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  at  Gettysburg  could  have  felt  more  confidence  in 
his  cause,  his  audience  or  himself.  He  had  been  thinking  of 
the  crowded  cars,  the  stirring  enthusiasm  shown  on  the  arrival, 
the  impressive  ceremonial  at  the  monimient,  the  imposing  pro- 
cession to  the  grove,  the  earnest  faces  of  the  waiting  men  and 
women  before  him,  and  his  heart  became  filled  and  his  hands 
upheld  with  a  spirit  of  inspiration  and  of  prophecy.  He  saw  as 
in  a  vision  a  new  force  arise  in  the  land,  new  reapers  in  a  ripen* 
ing  field,  and  fair  before  him  in  the  sunshine  gleamed  the  golden 
shocks  of  the  first  harvest  As  the  chosen  official  leader  of  the 
new  movement  he  felt  the  responsibility  and  realized  the  op- 
portunity. He  became  then  and  there  filled  to  the  brim  with 
faith  in  the  mission  of  the  Pocumtuck  Valley  Memorial  Associa- 
tion. Then  and  there  was  engendered  in  him  that  belief  in  its 
success  which  has  never  since  faltered  for  one  moment. 

Men  and  women  of  Charlemont,  speaking  broadly  for  myself 
and  my  fellows,  whatever  measure  of  usefulness  has  attended 
our  labors ;  whatever  we  have  done  to  preserve  the  memories 
and  embalm  the  deeds  of  heroic  sires,  it  is  largely  due  to  your 


68  Field  JUeetinff— 1899. 

judgment  of  our  infant  Association  and  your  generous  enthu- 
siasm on  the  occasion  of  our  Field  Day  with  you,  August  2, 
1871.  I  feel  that  I  shall  be  excused  if,  with  my  present  knowl- 
edge, I  single  out  three  of  your  citizens,  officers  of  our  organiza- 
tion, as  the  leading  movers  in  the  arrangements  for  that  notaUe 
meeting,  and  the  insurers  of  its  triumphant  success.  You  will 
respond  when  I  namo  Hon.  Joseph  White,  Hon.  Boger  H.  Lea- 
vitt  and  Deacon  Phinehas  Field.  May  you  and  may  we  ever 
hold  them  in  respectful  and  honorable  memory. 

The  invitation  to  our  Association  to  assist  in  the  dedication 
of  a  monument  at  the  graves  of  Moses  Bice  and  Phineas  Arms 
seems  to  have  set  the  pace  and  pointed  out  our  mission.  The 
next  year  we  were  called  upon  to  perform  the  same  service  at 
Northfield,  Potter  of  New  York  having  inspired  Dickinson  of 
Fitchburg  to  follow  his  example,  and  place  a  memorial  on  the 
spot  where  his  ancestor,  Nathaniel  Dickinson,  with  Asahel 
Burt,  his  companion,  was  shot  from  a  savage  ambush. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  passed  and  Northfield  stole  a  march 
on  Charlemont.  Through  the  persistent  patriotism  of  Mrs. 
Alexander,  Northfield  opened  up  a  new  field  for  our  action.  We 
were  called  upon  to  dedicate  memorial  stones  to  mark  the  sites 
of  her  ancient  strongholds  and  other  historical  places.  West- 
ward the  contagion  spread,  Colrain  first  in  1898,  and  next 
Charlemont  in  1899  caught  the  patriotic  fever. 

Charlemont,  enterprising  as  she  is,  should  not  expect  to  be 
first  in  everything.  She  ought  to  be  content  in  being  the  first 
to  establish  an  Old  Folk's  Association ;  the  first  to  have  a  cattle 
show  all  to  itself ;  the  first  to  have  an  Old  Oak  Tree  Association ; 
the  first  in  the  monument  renaissance ;  the  first  with  a  woman 
representative  to  grace  its  platform ;  and,  if  I  may  be  allowed 
the  fancy,  the  first  town  to  establish  a  Bice  plantation  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Pocumtuck ;  and  last  but  not  least  she  has  the 
honor  of  being  the  first  town  to  discover  the  merits  and  the 
mission  of  our  august  body.    What  more  can  Charlemont  ask  ? 


JButarioal  Address.  69 


mSTORIOAL  ADDRESS. 

BY  BSV.  LYMAN  WUlTIEra,  D.  D.,  OF  BAST  OHAKLKMORT. 

Cover  these  hills  with  forests,  sheathe  these  brooks  with  thick 
bushes,  give  to  the  river  and  its  tributary  streams  fuller,  swifter 
currents  than  now  they  have ;  blot  out  all  roadways,  leaving 
only  a  few  winding  paths  marked  by  blazed  trees ;  tiien  spread 
over  all  a  silence  broken  only  by  some  wild  beast  or  by  the 
screech  of  as  wild  a  fowl ;  then  plant  here  and  there  a  rude  cabin, 
^^  with  at  least  seven  stud  and  eighteen  feet  square," — ^as  said 
the  law — ^and  spread  between  these  few  lone  homes  a  wilderness 
20  miles  deep  to  the  nearest  settlement — Deerfield — and  un- 
imaginable spaces  westward,  and  you  have  reason  for  setting 
up  timbers  and  sharpened  logs,  making  a  kind  of  pen  around  a 
few  houses,  called  a  fort.  No,  not  all  the  reasons.  In  those 
lone  homes  are  men,  women  and  children,  poorly  fed,  poorly 
clad,  careworn,  toilwom,  silent  as  to  talk,  with  seldom  a  strain 
of  song  or  a  gleeful  laugh,  and  often  and  anxious  listening  with 
startled  look  this  way  and  that,  and,  at  times  the  swift  lisp — 
"  What's  that  ? " — at  some  unusual  noise  in  the  dark  woods,  and 
then  paleness  upon  many  faces,  for  there's  one  dreadful,  fright- 
ful foe  ever  hovering  near.  The  tremulously  spoken  word — 
Indian — ^told  it  alL 

The  hideous  stories  which  had  come  down  from  a  hundred 
years  of  the  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife  and  the  sight  now 
and  then  of  one  of  those  wild,  bloody  men,  were  reasons  enough 
for  that  quick  alarm.  Fathers,  husbands  and  sons,  going  a  little 
way  from  the  door  for  wood  or  water,  to  plow  or  plant  or  har- 
vest, taking  the  loaded  gun  with  the  tools,  the  women  and  chil- 
dren knowing  that  meant  danger  of  ambush  or  of  deadly  fight 
— Ah !  did  not  such  days  and  nights  of  dread  and  of  sore  peril 
upon  the  lone  dwellers  along  these  valleys  and  up  the  ravines 
make  needful  strong  refuges  into  which  they  could  fly  from  the 
swift  arrow  and  merciless  tomahawk  of  the  savage.  Forts  they 
called  them ;  log  or  timber  inclosures  with  battened  doors  and 
sentry  boxes  on  the  comers  from  which  the  men  could  watch 
and  give  the  alarm,  or  fire  upon  the  foe  creeping  toward  them. 

It  is  now  1754 — one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years  since  the 


70  Fidd  Mee(mg—1%99. 

pilgrims  got  to  Plymouth,  and  8  or  10  years  sinoe  Moses  Bioe 
and  after  him  Othniel  and  Jonathan  Taylor,  then  G^rshom, 
Joshua  and  Seth  Hawks,  and  probably  others,  thinking  that  the 
new  town  upon  the  Deerfield  was  safe  for  settlers,  had  brought 
their  families  and  built  homes  here.  In  1748  the  peace  of  ^'  Aix 
la  Chapelle  "  pretended  to  end  the  French  and  Indian  war  be- 
gun in  1744  or  four  years  before  this  time.  But,  says  the  ven- 
erable annalist  of  this  valley  in  his  history  of  Deerfield,  ^^  The 
ink  with  which  this  treaty  was  signed  was  hardly  dry  before 
it  became  evident  to  close  observers  that  the  design  of  the  French 
was  to  keep  the  peace  only  so  long  as  their  interests  required. 
France  never  for  a  moment  ceased  encroaching  on  territory 
claimed  by  the  English,  nor  for  a  moment  forgot  her  subtle 
policy  of  aiding  and  abetting  the  border  Indians  in  making 
forays  on  the  English  frontiers." 

So  they  began  a  chain  of  fortresses  from  the  St.  Lawrence  by 
the  Oreat  Lakes  to  the  Mississippi  which  would  pen  the  Eng- 
lish between  these  and  the  Atlantic  coast  and  with  the  help  of 
the  Indians  drive  them  from  the  continent,  and  so  blot  the 
Protestants  from  the  land  and  make  it  as  was  Canada,  a  Eoman 
Catholic  country.  It  was  a  grand  Jesuit  scheme,  with  France 
to  carry  it  out.  So  Crown  Point,  Oswego,  Niagara  and  Du- 
quesne  were  quietly  seized  and  made  fortresses  in  the  face  of 
tiie  solemn  treaties  of  1748. 

The  colonies  soon  saw  the  perfidious  plan.  The  French  won 
the  Indians  from  their  friendships  with  the  English  by  basest 
allurements  and  soon  the  settlers  got  startling  hints  of  coming 
dangers  from  the  alienated  savages,  whose  greed  for  war  and 
the  glory  of  bloody  trophies  soon  changed  them  from  friends  to 
deadly  foes.  Their  memories  of  King  Philip's  war  75  years 
before  and  of  the  French  and  English  struggle  only  10  years 
before,  roused  their  savage  lusts  to  frenzy.  Massachusetts  fore- 
saw the  dread  breach  this  treacherous  plotting  was  bringing  on. 
Already  raids  and  murders  terrified  the  frontiers.  As  local  de- 
fenses, a  line  of  forts  was  planned  from  the  Connecticut  river 
along  the  northwestern  border  of  the  State.  The  blockhouses 
in  Falltown  and  Colrain  and  the  Forts  Dummer  and  Massachu- 
setts were  repaired  and  garrisoned.  The  families  in  the  Deer- 
field  valley  were  advised  to  build  stockades  around  their  houses 
or  to  join  them  close  together  for  mutual  defense.  G^rshom, 
Seth  and  Joshua  Hawks  so  moved  their  houses  and  built  pickets 


historical  Addre&a.  71 

of  logs  around  them.  That  made  the  Hawks  fort  on  Tea  street. 
The  well  with  its  stone  cover  and  round  hole,  22  inches  across, 
IS  yet  there.    We  place  the  stone  marker  on  a  line  with  the  well. 

Under  the  hill  by  the  old  cottonwood  tree  Moses  Rice  and 
sons  fortified  their  house  which  was  the  Rice  fort  of  the  mas- 
sacre, but  after  that  bloody  day  it  was  moved  into  the  meadow 
near  the  river,  for,  from  the  hill  above  where  it  first  stood,  the 
savages  could  shoot  down  into  it.  The  site  of  the  latter  fort  is 
shown  to-day  by  a  staff  and  fiag  25  rods  south  of  the  stone  we 
set  to  mark  it.  Othniel  and  Jonathan  Taylor  joined  their  houses 
and  built  a  stockade  around  them,  down  the  river  about  five 
miles  from  Rice's  fort,  and  that  was  the  Taylor  fort.  This 
work  was  mostly  done  in  the  summer  of  1754  and  so  on  Char- 
lemont  soil  upon  a  Une  of  about  seven  miles  stood  three  so-called 
forts  whose  positions  we  hope  so  to  certify  to-day  that  those 
who  come  siter  us  may  not  only  knpw  that  they  were,  but 
where  they  were. 

The  early  summer  of  1755  brought  to  these  settlers  a  sorrow- 
ful use  for  them.  All  through  the  spring  after  the  snow  was 
melted,  rumors  and  signs  kept  the  inhabitants  through  the  valley 
in  dread  alarm.  Alast  reason  for  it  soon  came.  June  11, 
Wednesday  forenoon,  Capt.  Moses  Rice,  his  son  Artemas,  his 
grandson,  Asa  Rice,  a  boy  of  nine  years,  Titus  King,  Phineas 
Arms  and  others,  with  plow,  hoes  and  guns,  went  into  the  com 
field  (the  quite  exact  boundaries  of  which  Mr.  Hart  Rice  will 
by  and  by  point  out  to  us)  to  hoe  the  com. 

One  man,  Phineas  Arms,  gun  in  hand  walked  up  and  down 
as  sentinel,  between  the  two  brooks  along  the  edge  of  the  field, 
next  to  the  present  road.  Mr.  Rice  plowed,  the  boy  Asa  riding 
the  horse.  Strangely  as  it  seems  to  us,  their  loaded  guns  were 
left  by  a  pile  of  logs  on  the  east  corner  of  the  field.  Six  Indians 
crept  to  the  top  of  the  hill  above  the  field  and  after  watching 
the  men  until  they  were  farthest  away  from  their  guns,  stole 
down  the  brook,  seizM  their  guns,  fired  them  and  mshed  upon 
the  unarmed,  helpless  men.  Phineas  Arms  was  shot  dead,  Capt. 
Rice  wounded  in  the  thigh  and  Titus  King,  a  young  relative  of 
Capt.  Rice,  were  seized  as  prisoners.  The  horse,  frightened  by 
the  shooting,  ran,  and  the  boy  Asa  hid  but  the  Indians  found 
him  and  took  him,  with  the  others  named,  prisoners  to  the  up- 
land back  of  the  present  hotel.  Artemas  Rice  fled,  chased  by 
the  Indians,  down  the  river  to  Taylor's  fort,  which  he  reached 


73  Vidd  Meeting— VHHi. 

about  noon ;  of  course  all  the  women  and  children  hearing  the 
firing  and  whoops  fled  into  the  fort 

The  Indians  did  not  stop  to  do  more.  They  knew  they  were 
between  Hawks's  fort  jnst  above  them  and  Taylor's  just  below 
them.  They  left  the  womided  Capt.  Rice  with  an  Indian,  by 
whom  after  a  terrible  straggle  he  was  tomahawked,  scalped  and 
left  to  die.  Toward  evening  he  was  found  yet  alive  and  carried 
to  the  house  of  his  son  where  he  soon  expired.  The  Indians 
with  their  captives,  King  and  the  lad  Asa,  went  back  to  Canada. 
Asa  returned  after  six  years,  a  ransomed  captive.  King  was 
taken  to  France  and  to  England  and  came  at  last  to  Korthamp- 
ton,  his  native  place.  As  said,  Artemas  Eice  got  to  Tayloi^s 
fort  at  noon.  Mr.  Taylor  at  once  by  a  swift  run  went  to  Deer- 
field  and  returned  with  25  men  the  same  night  The  next 
morning  they  came  up  to  the  Kice  fort.  Think  friends ;  of  that 
Thursday  morning  over  by  yon  cotton  wood  tree  144  years  ago ; 
the  two  dead  men  in  the  fort  with  the  terrified,  weary,  weeping 
women  and  children.  Capt.  Kioe,  the  venerated  father,  l^ider 
and  chief  stay  of  the  settlement,  mangled,  scalped  and  dead ! 
Phineas  Arms,  a  young  man  of  25  years,  and  much  is  told  of 
him  in  the  account  that  five  weeks  before  he  had  publicly  con- 
fessed Christ  by  joining  the  church  in  Deerfield.  What  a  morn- 
ing was  this  t  What  a  first  funeral  t  with  no  minister  to  con- 
sole or  pray ;  none  to  sing  a  hynm,  two  of  their  number  carried 
away  if  not  already  slain  by  their  captors.  Oh  I  that  first  funeral 
in  Charlemont  I  Think  of  the  two  first  graves  upon  yon  hill- 
side ;  of  the  sorrowing  procession,  the  25  soldiers  carrying  the 
shattered  corpses  up  the  steep,  and  of  the  gloom  the  stoutest 
heart  must  have  felt  as  they  looked  in  each  other's  faces  and  told 
one  another  of  the  awful  shooting  and  whoops  and  yells  of  the 
Indians,  and  cries  of  the  men  in  the  field  and  shrieks  of  the 
women  and  children  and  then  the  question  ^'  What  shall  be  done 
now  ?  Who  can  dare  to  stay  or  to  live  here  now  t "  This  sim- 
ple stone  we  unveil  to-day,  recalls  a  mourning  no  tongue  or  pen 
can  fully  portray. 

We  would  Unger  as  if  to  comfort  these  stricken  ones,  but 
other  duties  calL 

Of  the  Hawks  Fort  there  are  no  traditions  of  tragedies  or  of 
special  events.  It  no  doubt  served  as  an  outpost  for  protection 
to  all  the  valley  this  side  of  the  tunnel  mountain.  The  French 
with  their  Indian  allies  were  so  pressed  by  the  English  forces  in 


Historical  Addreis.  78 

Canada,  that  this  was  their  last  stroke  upon  the  settlement  in  this 
valley.  The  Bice  Fort  under  the  hill  as  before  said,  was  so  ex- 
posed that  the  General  Court  promised  a  garrison  of  eight  sol- 
diers to  Mr.  Samuel,  son  of  Capt.  Bice,  if  he  would  build  a  fort 
in  the  meadow.  This  was  built  during  the  summer  after  the 
father's  death.  After  the  June  massacre  25  men  were  kept  in 
Charlemont,  but  none  of  them  was  at  the  Bice  Fort  because  of 
its  exposure  from  the  hill  above  it.  These  soldiers  were  there- 
fore in  the  two  other  forts. 

Although  the  Taylor  Fort  as  the  Hawks  garrison  has  no 
legend  of  bloody  fray  or  heroic  siege  yet  it  has  one  tender  tra- 
dition and  four  little  stones  to  verify  it  In  the  gloomy  days 
of  that  summer  when  the  ever  bodeful  shadow  upon  woman- 
hood—childbirth— was  near,  Mrs.  Donelson  of  Colrain  sought 
refuge  in  the  shielded  house  for  the  hour  of  nature's  pangs. 
List  a  moment  at  the  barred  door.  The  soft  wail  of  a  babe 
steals  through  the  grim  timbers,  an  unwonted  sound  there ! 
And  again  you  listen,  for  it  seems  a  twofold  cry.  Yes,  it  is  so, 
— ^for  the  joyful  mother  hears  one  cry  answering  to  another. 
Test  twins  are  hers  and  every  one  of  the  few  inhabitants 
hastens  to  joy  in  it,  for  two  more  lives  are  added  to  the  little 
company  they  count  We  can  but  rejoice  with  them,  for  an 
added  l^e  among  them  was  increase  of  help  to  live  and  of  com- 
fort in  Uving. 

But  as  in  so  many  human  joys  tears  mingle  with  and  often 
change  them  to  griefs  and  the  song  turns  to  sighing.  Have  you 
ever  noticed  the  two  pairs  of  low,  dark  stones  upon  a  little  ridge 
a  few  paces  from  the  roadway  just  beyond  the  site  of  the  Tay- 
lor Fort?  They  are  only  rude  stones  of  12x9  or  12  inches  but 
they  lisp  to  you  that  they  are  there  to  mark  and  guard  the  dust 
of  the  twin  babes  bom  in  the  dark  days  when  a  stem  timber 
wall  was  needed  to  give  safety  to  the  mother  in  her  pains  and 
to  the  babes  in  their  helpless  birth  hours. 

So  this  trinity  of  little  fortresses  which  spread  their  sheltering 
arms  around  our  fathers  and  mothers  and  their  little  ones,  which 
hide  the  bloody  tragedy  of  the  Patriarch  pioneer's  death  in  one ; 
and  the  tender  scenes  of  birth  and  burial  of  babes  in  another, 
are  now  to  be  happily  rescued  from  ungrateful  oblivion  by  en- 
during sculptures.  The  identity  of  the  places  and  the  remem- 
brance of  the  sorrows  endured  therein  are  thus  united  by  these 
simple  erections. 


74  Fidd  Meetinff— 1899. 

So  ended  for  this  settlement  the  bloody  days  of  the  Indian 
and  the  French  and  Indian  wars.  But  nntil  the  capture  of 
Canada  by  Great  Britain  in  1760,  in  Cohuin,  Korthfield  and 
other  border  towns,  the  implacable  foe  from  time  to  time  struck 
down  or  captured  persons  and  families. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-four  years  had  passed  since  the  first 
settlement  at  Springfield ;  years  in  which  ceaseless  fears,  dan- 
gers and  deaths  in  appalling  forms,  had  been  the  lot  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  old  Hampshire  county.  Children  had  been  bom 
and  had  grown  to  old  age  and  passed  all  their  lives  under  the 
dread  and  danger  from  the  treacherous  foe.  Hundreds  of  men, 
women  and  children  had  been  slain  or  dragged  into  captivity. 
Says  the  historian  of  Western  Massachusetts,  ^^  There  is  hardly 
a  square  acre,  certainly  not  a  square  mile  in  the  Connecticut 
valley  that  has  not  been  tracked  by  the  flying  feet  of  fear  or 
drunk  the  blood  of  the  dead  or  served  as  the  scene  of  toils 
made  doubly  toilsome  by  an  apprehension  of  danger  that  never 
slept" 

To  the  God  of  our  fathers  who  led  them  through  that  century 
and  more  of  sorrows  and  sacrifices  in  this  to  them  ^^  great  and 
terrible  wilderness"  we  owe  the  thanksgiving  of  grateful  chil- 
dren  who  possess  as  a  heritage  the  lands  and  homes  bought  for 
us  at  such  woeful  cost. 

And  as  Joshua  to  the  children  of  Israel  in  Gilgal,  we  may 
say,  ^^  When  your  children  shall  ask  their  fathers  in  time  to 
come,  saying,  What  mean  these  stones  t  Then  ye  shall  let  your 
children  know.  That  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  may  know  the 
hand  of  the  Lord,  that  it  is  mighty  and  that  they  may  fear  the 
Lord  your  Gkxi  forever.'* 


MRS.   LUCY  CUTLER  KELLOGG'S   UNVEILING 

SPEECH. 

Dug  from  the  quarries  of  the  earth,  the  white  and  spotless 
marble  or  the  huge  granite  bowlders  have  been  taken  by  the 
hand  of  man,  shaped  in  accordance  with  his  designs  and  placed 
in  enduring  strength,  as  monuments  to  those  gone  before,  men — 
aye  and  women — who  lived,  loved  and  died,  for  it  is  a  recognized 
truism  that,  in  this,  the  pages  of  the  present  read  much  the 
same  as  the  pages  of  the  past.    The  book  lies  before  us,  the 


1£t%.  Lucy  OuUer  KeUogg^B  Uwoeilvng  Speech.  75 

seals  are  broken,  and  for  ns  it  remains  to  open  and  read.  And 
as  we  read,  give  we  heed  to  the  injunction  of  Holy  Writ,  "  Re- 
member the  days  of  old,  consider  the  days  of  many  generations ; 
ask  thy  Father  and  He  will  show  thee,  thy  elders  and  they  will 
tell  thee."  Having  gained  our  knowledge,  comes  to  ns  a  second 
scriptoral  message,  franght  with  earnestness  of  purpose,  and 
which  is  so  often  borne  upon  a  close  student  of  history  with  an 
overwhelming  sense  of  its  utmost  importance.  ^'  Tell  ye  your 
children  of  it,  and  let  your  children  tell  their  children,  and  their 
children  another  generation."  Had  this  been  done,  easy  would 
have  been  the  yoke,  light  the  burden  of  the  historian  of  to^lay, 
and  the  mists  which  now  and  then  shroud  the  scenes  have  been 
rolled  away.  But  it  is  ever  thus,  '^  The  great  eventful  present 
hides  the  past,  but  thro'  the  din  of  its  loud  life,  hints  and  echoes 
of  the  Ufe  behind  steal  in." 

This  day  marks  an  important  event  in  the  records  of  this 
town's  annals.  As  you,  citizens  of  Charlemont,  have  dug  with 
no  uncertain  hand,  from  the  quarries  of  history,  as  with  hearts 
filled  with  loving  tenderness,  you  have  placed  here  these  appro- 
priate markers,  as  you  have  caused  the  knowledge  of  this  hidden, 
I  might  almost  say  lost  life,  to  be  brought  forward  and  diffused, 
so  upon  that  spotless  page  of  history  which  you  are  now  causing 
to  be  written,  will  the  homage  you  thus  render  those  ^^not  dead 
but  gone  before  "  stand  forth  preeminently,  and  the  saying  of 
Joel  be  fulfilled  that  future  generations  be  possessed  with  a 
knowledge  of  this  past. 

It  has  been  said  that  History  is  the  great  looking-glass  through 
which  we  may  behold  not  merely  the  deeds  of  past  ages  but  the 
different  types  of  man.  Little  did  Moses  Rice,  on  that  spring 
day  in  1743,  wot  of  what  was  before  him,  or  think  for  an  in- 
stant of  the  important  part  he  was  to  be  in  the  settlement  of 
the  then  wild  wood.  Still  more  incomprehensible  would  have 
been  the  fact  that  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  years  later  the 
citizens  of  this  Pocumtuck  Valley,  many  descendants  from  him 
and  his  neighbors,  would  meet  to  do  honor  to  him  and  them, 
and  rehearse  the  valorous  deeds  which  they,  in  the  daily  routine 
of  duty,  then  performed. 

We  are  told  that  after  their  arduous  journey  from  the  far 
distant  township  of  Rutland,  Mass.,  Captain  Rice  and  his  sons 
found  their  first  shelter  beneath  the  spreading  sycamore  tree, 
and  from  thence  we  may  presume  them  to  have  surveyed  their 


76  Fidd  Meeting— 1S99. 

pofisesdons.  Their  eyes  may— doubtless  did — ^rest  upon  limit- 
less forest  land  stretching  away  in  unbroken  solitude.  Tall 
oaks,  spreading  elms,  luxuriant  maples,  tough  hickories  and 
sturdy  pines,  through  whose  interwoven  branches  the  music  of 
the  wind  breathed  ^^  a  song  from  the  beautiful  trees,  a  song  for 
the  forest  grand,  the  garden  of  God's  own  hand,  the  pride  of 
His  centuries."  Surely  no  more  perfect  garden  of  God  could 
have  been  found  for  the  true  lover  of  Nature,  and  these  men  of 
old  were  in  many  ways — unknown  or  unthought  of  by  us — 
**  near  to  Nature's  heart."  Theirs  was  a  daily  communion  with 
Nature  and  her  handiworks.  No  harsh  notes  were  sounded  on 
that  spring  morning  of  long  ago.  No  minor  chord  wailed 
through  the  forest,  filling  the  heart  with  dismal  forebodings  of 
the  swiftly  approaching  tragedy.  Eather  Hope  whispered  of 
the  longed-for  prosperity,  the  home  built  and  the  happy,  united, 
family  life,  and  the  realization  of  the  day-dreams  which  we  may 
safely  suppose  to  have  been  Captain  Eice's ;  that  of  the  early 
completion  of  his  first  home  in  Charlemont,  rude  in  construction, 
crude  in  its  appointments,  yet  the  home  for  which  he  had  ex- 
pended so  much  time  and  energy,  and  regarded  with  all  the 
sacred  tenderness  of  a  deeply  impressible  nature. 

All  the  details  and  incidents  of  this  picture  of  the  long  ago 
have  been  ably  presented  to  you  to-day.  How  the  savage  war- 
fare waged  caused  the  settlers  to  flee  to  more  protected  locali- 
ties, the  subsequent  destruction  of  the  home  of  Capt.  Bice,  and 
his  rebuilding,  for  a  second,  and  yet  a  third  time  his  house, 
which  then  partook  of  the  character  of  a  fort,  and  the  strategy 
by  which  the  Indians  finally  lured  him  to  his  death,  to  all  of 
these  things  you  have  already  listened.  Yet  here  on  the  spot 
of  their  occurrence  it  is  but  fitting  that  they  should  once  more 
be  brought  to  mind. 

And  these  stones  here  to-day  unveiled  I  What  are  they? 
Not  mere  dumb  pieces  of  granite.  To  the  members  of  the 
Pocumtuck  Valley  Memorial  Association,  and,  because  of  the 
work  which  that  Association  has  for  nearly  30  years  been  striv- 
ing to  do,  to  you,  friends  and  citizens  of  Charlemont,  they 
will  henceforth  prove  themselves  mute,  sacred  reminders  of  the 
life  that  has  been,  the  more  eloquent  because  of  their  silence. 
Hereafter  those  who  have  been  present  with  us  to-day,  will,  as 
they  pass,  gaze  upon  these  stones  and  read,  not  that  which  is 
apparent  to  the  superficial  observer,  but  that  page  in  history 


Poem.  77 

which  reoords  the  tragedy  of  those  early  mhabitants  of  this 
place.  And  with  us  it  rests  a  sacred  duty,  that  we  each  and 
all  do  what  we  can  to  perpetuate  this  knowledge,  to  instill  into 
the  minds  of  the  children  the  love  of  ancestral  lore.  While  all 
may  not  seek  to  become  perpetual  gleaners  in  this  especial  field 
of  research,  the  truly  golden  harvest  will  only  be  reached  when 
the  tiny  grains  of  Imowledge  scattered  throughout  the  length 
and  br^idth  of  the  land  have  been  garnered.  It  is  to  those  of 
coming  generations  that  we  must  look  for  this  result. 

Whether  as  citizens  of  Charlemont,  as  members  of  this  Memo- 
rial Association,  or  as  friends  from  far  away,  do  we  not  all 
rejoice  together  that  this  day's  record  has  been  such  that  these 
enduring  memorials  will  hereafter  have  the  power  to  thus  turn 
our  thoughts  to  those  brave  men  who  sternly  faithful  to  duty, 
in  peril  and  suffering  and  denial,  wrought  out  the  noblest  of 
historical  epics  on  the  rough  soil  of  New  England. 


POEM. 


BT  SADIB  B.    MAXWXLL. 


Hifltcnio  vale!    So  pure,  bo  fresh,  so  fairl 

So  richly  set,  it  seems  with  special  care 
That  nature's  sculpturing  hand  both  carved  and  wrought, 

Till  perfect  in  rdief  stood  what  she  sought. 

Girt  'round  by  rugged,  wood-crowned,  granite  hillSy 
Midway  the  Deerfield,  fed  by  brooks  and  rills. 

To  west  the  gateway  of  the  sunset  light; 
AU  these, — grand  gifts  of  a  Creator's  might. 

Primeval  forest  covered  hill  and  dale; 

Primeval  forest  weathered  many  a  gale; 
Course  upon  course  of  wild  beast  life  was  run, 

Ere  ringing  axe  exposed  the  soil  to  sun. 

Here,  'neath  this  sun  which  shines  for  you  to-day. 

The  Indian  hunter  sped  upon  his  way. 
'Neath  the  same  moon  which  sheds  her  beams  so  wide. 

The  Indian  lover  wooed  his  dusky  bride. 

Full  many  a  tribe  the  path  of  war  pursued. 
Full  many  a  chief  with  eloquence  imbued. 

Swayed  at  his  will  those  'round  the  council-fire. 
Soothed  into  peace,  or  roused  to  savage  ire. 


78  Fidd  Meetifig—lS99. 

Ere  to  this  vale  came  daring  pioneers, 
Undaunted  by  remoteness,  dangers,  fears; 

Cleared  the  wild  woodland  for  a  space,  and  laid 
Foundation  for  the  fort,  and  strong  stockade. 

Th^  worked  by  day  with  flintlocks  dose  at  hand; 

By  night  the  sentry  overlooked  the  land: 
Lest  prowling  savage  should  marauding  be. 

To  torture,  kill,  and  scalp  in  fiendish  glee. 

Their  nimibers  grew,  their  strength  and  sway  increased; 

But  long  y^ars  passed  ere  yet  the  warfare  ceased. 
For  y^ars  the  red-men  raided,  harassed,  fought: — 

To  guard  sweet  life,  the  pioneers'  chief  thought. 

Yet  near,  and  ever  nearer  drew  the  hour 
Of  victory,  won  by  steady  growing  power; 

When  savage  tribes,  so  crafty,  treacherous,  wild, 
Must  flee,  before  the  Anglo-Saxon  child. 

Back  were  they  pressed,  back  toward  the  setting  sun; 

Their  prestige  lost,  extinguishment  begim. 
Now  "reservation''  is  the  red-men's  home. 

Whose  fathers  o'er  a  continent  could  roam. 

Life  made  secure,  land  waiting  to  be  tilled. 
Ere  long  the  vale  with  willing  hands  was  filled. 

Grateful  to  God,  the  edifice  they  raised 
Wherein  they  met  for  worship— prayer  and  praise. 

few  years  of  tranquil  life  had  pioneer. 
Before  the  drum-beat  fell  upon  his  ear; 

A  summons  to  the  men  of  iron  will. 
Who  labored,  fought,  and  died  at  Bunker  Hill. 

From  Lexington  to  Yorktown — ^weaiy  years! 

Years  of  defeat,  of  victory,  tears  and  cheers. 
Outnumbered  by  the  foe,  still  staunch  and  true. 

They  served  the  Fabius  who  brought  them  through, 

Made  weakness  prove  their  strength,  proved  to  the  king. 
How  futile  his  attempts  such  men  to  bring 

To  any  terms  of  settlement  or  peace. 
Except  from  his  control  a  full  release. 


A  few  decades, — then  war  again  held  sway; 

Two  armies  of  one  soil, — the  Blue,  the  Gray. 
The  pioneers  long  since  were  laid  to  rest. 

But  sons  and  grandsons  to  the  service  pressed. 


Poem.  79 

The  same  strong  will,  bent  to  a  different  cause, 

Bent  to  enforce  the  oonsiitution's  laws. 
Bent  to  retrieve,  to  free  the  task-bound  slave, 

For  these  the  South  is  seamed  with  soldiers'  graves. 

No  need  again  to  tell  the  well-known  tale 

Again  no  need  to  say  they  did  not  fail. 
To  these— our  heroes — ^men  so  true  and  tried, 

All  hcmor  give,  they  were  our  country's  pride. 

The  ''Old  Bay  State"  may  weU  extol  each  scm 

Those  of  the  century  past,  and  those  of  '61. 
Seek  where  you  will,  all  history  has  to  give, 

No  nobler  sons  than  hers  can  ever  live. 

Her  eariy  sons — to  history  often  turn, 

Breathe  heartfelt  thanks — those  men  of  virtues  stem. 
Who  ne'er  turned  back,  to  ideals  ever  true, 

Who  bought  with  blood  sweet  liberty  for  you. 

Recorded  history  gives  not  all  the  tale 

Not  men  alone  did  strive  that  right  prevail. 
Frail,  tender  women  acted  well  their  part: 

Yield  them  true  reverence  from  the  grateful  heart. 

Ye  of  to-day,  just  pass  the  ideal  on 

In  wellHspent  lives.    As  generations  gone 
Gave  of  their  best  to  hew  a  broader  way, 

So  give  of  yours,  give  toward  a  future  day. 

Forget  not  midst  the  business  ebb  and  flow. 

The  lives  spent  here  so  many  jrears  ago. 
Revere  this  soil,  3rour  fathers'  feet  have  trod, 

RevOTe  their  toil,  for  their  success  thank  God. 


ANNUAL  MEETING— 1900. 


KEPOKT. 


The  annual  meeting  of  the  Pocamtuok  Valley  Memorial  As- 
sociation, held  at  Deerfield  Tuesday,  Feb.  27,  was  marked  by 
the  reading  of  particularly  interesting  papers  by  Mrs.  Mary  P. 
Wells  Smith,  Charles  Jones,  George  Sheldon  and  Judge  F.  M. 
Thompson.  The  annual  meeting  was  held  in  the  quaint  old 
kitchen  in  which  the  furnishings  provide  an  admirable  back- 
ground for  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the  Association. 

The  pilgrims  to  the  old  Memorial  Hall  were  more  than  ever 
impressed  with  the  crowded  condition  of  the  building,  and  the 
need  that  more  room  be  provided.  The  constant  increase  of 
the  treasures  of  the  Association  will  make  some  kind  of  provi- 
sion for  the  growth  of  the  coUections  imperative  in  the  near 
future.  Members  hope  that  some  generous  friend  may  be  in- 
clined some  day  to  provide  money  for  a  fireproof  addition,  in 
which  the  more  valuable  parts  of  the  collection  may  be  stored, 
leaving  more  room  in  the  present  building. 

The  Association  is  expected  to  go  to  Biverside  in  Qill  this 
year  for  its  field  day,  to  mark  the  site  of  the  battle  between 
Capt  Turner  and  the  Indians.  There  has  been  some  informal 
talk  with  T.  M.  Stoughton  of  Gill  and  others  about  this  matter, 
and  it  is  believed  that  money  can  be  raised  to  place  a  monument 
there.  It  is  planned  to  use  an  old  bowlder  that  has  recently  been 
exhumed.  This  committee  on  the  field  day  was  named :  Judge 
F.  M.  Thompson,  Mary  P.  Wells  Smith,  Greenfield;  T.  M. 
Stoughton,  Gill ;  Rev.  G.  W.  SoUey  and  E.  A.  Hawks,  of  Deer- 
field.  This  spot,  perhaps  of  the  most  historic  interest  in  the 
valley,  is  as  yet  unmarked. 

In  the  absence  of  President  George  Sheldon  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent F.  M.  Thompson,  the  business  meeting  was  presided  over 
by  Vice-President  John  M.  Smith,  of  Sunderland.  John  Shel- 
don was  secretary  pro  tern.  The  thirtieth  annual  report  of  Sec- 
retary Nathaniel  Hitchcock  said  that  the  prosperity  of  the  As- 


An/muU  Meeting — 1900.  81 

sodation  is  shown  by  the  many  visitors  and  the  gifts  of  books. 
Three  members  have  died,  Frederick  Hawks,  of  Greenfield,  who 
was  a  descendant  of  Col.  Hawks,  the  old  Indian  hunter  of  Deer- 
field,  and  who  was  the  owner  of  the  Colonel's  old  sword  and 
the  source  of  much  information  regarding  old  Indian  days; 
WiUiam  A.  Hawks,  his  son,  and  Miss  Avice  S.  Arms.  Five  new 
members  have  joined.  S.  O.  Lamb  gave  reminiscences  of  Fred- 
erick Hawks.  The  latter  and  he  used  to  have  some  discussion 
as  to  who  delivered  an  address  at  Deerfield  in  1832,  at  the  cen- 
tennial anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Washington.  Mr.  Hawks 
maintained  it  was  George  Bancroft,  but  Judge  Aiken  and  others 
said  Benjamin  B.  Curtis  delivered  it,  and  his  printed  address 
found  in  the  library  of  this  Association  proves  that  Judge  Aiken 
was  correct.  Mr.  Lamb  referred  to  Mr.  Hawks  as  a  character- 
istic Puritan,  positive,  but  very  intelligent.  He  then  offered 
these  resolutions,  which  were  adopted :  Reaohed^  that  we  place 
on  onr  record  an  expression  of  our  high  appreciation  of  onr  late 
associates  and  life  members,  Frederick  Hawks  of  Greenfield, 
and  his  son,  William  A.  Hawks  of  Boston,  of  their  devotion  to 
and  services  in  behalf  of  the  Association  and  of  our  respect  for 
their  memory. 

A  letter  was  then  read  from  Nathaniel  Hitchcock  resigning 
his  offices  of  secretary  and  treasurer,  which  he  has  held  for 
thirty  years.  Bev.  G.  W.  Solley  suggested  that  some  way  should 
be  devised  whereby  he  might  still  retain  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  Association,  and  suggested  that  he  be  elected  as 
secretary  only.  This  suggestion  was  afterward  acted  upon,  with 
the  understanding  that  Mr.  Sheldon,  as  secretary  pro  tem^  would 
be  practically  assistant  secretary,  to  help  Mr.  Hitchcock  as  far 
as  should  be  necessary.    These  officers  were  then  chosen : 

President,  George  Sheldon,  of  Deerfield;  vice-presidents, 
Francis  M.  Thompson,  of  Greenfield,  John  M.  Smidi,  of  Sun- 
derland; recording  secretary,  Nathaniel  Hitchcock,  of  Deer- 
field ;  corresponding  secretary,  Herbert  C.  Parsons,  of  Green- 
field ;  treasurer,  John  Sheldon,  of  Greenfield ;  members  of  the 
council,  Charles  Jones,  Mary  P.  Wentworth,  Bobert  Childs, 
Charles  E.  Williams,  Zeri  Smith,  George  W.  Solley,  of  Deer- 
field; Eugene  A.  Newcomb,  P.  Voorhees  Finch,  Samuel  O. 
Lamb,  Ellen  L.  Sheldon,  Caroline  Furbush,  of  Greenfield; 
George  W.  Horr,  of  Athol ;  George  D.  Crittenden,  of  Buck- 
land,  and  James  M.  Crafts,  of  Orange. 
6 


82  Annual  Meeting— 1900. 

A  letter  was  read  from  George  W.  Hon*,  of  Athol,  express- 
ing regret  that  he  could  not  be  present,  and  speaking  of  a  paper 
that  he  had  prepared  which  could  be  read  at  some  future  meet- 
ing. This  letter  was  read  from  Mrs.  A.  M.  D.  Alexander,  of 
Northfield,  presenting  some  photographs  of  the  monuments  that 
the  Association  assisted  in  dedicating  in  1897 : 

^^  I  do  not  forget  that  on  one  pleasant  day  in  September,  1897, 
many  of  you  journeyed  to  Northfield,  and  by  your  personal 
presence,  united  with  historic  narratives  of  great  inter^  aided 
the  village  improvement  society  to  dedicate  memorial  stones. 
As  on  that  day  it  was  not  convenient  to  see  them  I  venture  to 
send  pictures  to  the  Memorial  Hall,  trusting  they  will  be  ac- 
cepted as  mementos  to  yourselves  of  your  own  kindness  and  also 
of  our  gratitude  to  you  for  interest  shown  in  our  efforts  to  pre- 
serve the  early  history  of  the  town.  The  very  name  of  Deer- 
field  rings  with  history,  but  after  her  trials  and  victories  North- 
field  became  the  ground  coveted  by  the  white  men.  Striving, 
losing,  and  for  the  third  time  returning,  her  people  secured  their 
desired  home,  which  to  their  descendants  proved  a  rich  heritage. 
Your  society  has  done  a  noble  work,  the  influence  of  which 
will  not  be  confined  to  this  narrow  valley  in  New  England.  I 
think  the^  study  of  early  history  is  increasing,  and  that  100  years 
from  now  the  question.  What  mean  ye  by  these  stones  scattered 
here  and  there  ?  will  not  be  asked.  Instead  a  new  generation 
will  arise  and  be  glad  that  friends,  by  the  erection  of  memorial 
haUs,  Ubraries  and  even  simple  boulders,  have  striven  to  preserve 
the  history  of  loved  and  honored  towns  from  oblivion." 

Eev.  G.  W.  SoUey  suggested  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  draw  up  resolutions  of  appreciation  of  Secretary  Hitchcock's 
work.  He  and  S.  O.  Lamb  were  appointed  and  drew  up  reso- 
lutions, which  were  adopted,  expressing  appreciation  of  Mr. 
Hitchcock's  work,  and  asking  that  he  continue  as  secretary. 
The  report  of  the  treasurer  showed  the  funds  of  the  Association 
to  be  $1,912. 

The  following  is  the  report  of  George  Sheldon  as  curator : 

"  I  would  report  a  year  of  advance  in  the  condition  of  our 
library  and  general  collection,  more  largely  in  the  former. 
There  have  been  added  360  books  and  pamphlets,  one  of  which  is 
another  volume  of  the  '  Soldiers  and  Sailors  of  the  Bevolution.' 
This  is  the  fifth  volume,  and  it  brings  the  alphabet  of  names 
only  down  to  Foy.    Those  looking  up  revolutionary  ancestors 


Anmud  Meeting— 1900.  83 

whose  names  come  before  Foy,  can  find  here  all  that  there  is 
known  about  them  at  the  State  Hoase  in  Boston.  There  has 
been  a  suspicion  that  the  work  at  the  State  House  is  not  hur- 
ried, because  certificates  to  inquiries  all  over  the  Union  bring 
the  Secretaiy  of  State  quite  a  little  income  in  official  fees  which 
is  lessened  as  the  book  is  laid  before  the  public.  I  mention  this 
only  to  give  my  judgment  that  the  rumor  is  false.  One  thing 
I  am  sure  of,  tiiat  the  antiquaries  will  rejoice  when  they  can 
refer  correspondents  to  Ubraries  instead  of  hunting  up  answers 
to  their  queries. 

Several  valuable  genealogies  have  been  added  in  way  of  ex- 
change for  our  publications,  and  I  am  in  negotiation  for  others. 
I  have  made  arrangements  for  publishing  the  material  of  the 
Field  genealogy,  contained  in  the  manuscript  volume  of  Eodney 
B.  Field,  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  of  the  gift,  with  a 
gentleman  of  Chicago  who  will  embody  it  in  a  larger  work  of 
the  Field  family.  We  shall  be  furnished  with  fifty  copies  of 
the  book  for  exchange ;  I  suppose  it  will  be  out  within  six 
months. 

The  library  is  already  crowded  and  I  see  no  room  to  place 
shelves  for  the  steady  stream  of  books  that  is  sure  to  continue. 
The  library  contains  a  vast  amount  of  valuable  matter  relating 
to  our  early  history.  It  would,  of  course,  be  of  greater  use  to 
students  with  a  limited  knowledge  of  book-lore  if  we  had  a  card 
catalogue.  That,  however,  would  be  a  very  expensive  luxury, 
I  fancy.  Your  curator  spent  considerable  time  last  summer  in 
cataloging,  arranging,  imd,  to  some  extent,  rearranging  the 
pamphlets,  and  in  making  a  more  complete  classification.  The 
pictures  in  the  memorial  room  were  put  in  a  better  condition. 
We  are  also  cramped  here  by  the  abundance  of  our  treasures. 
We  have  had  applications  for  wall-room  for  two  marble  tablets, 
one  of  which,  that  to  Sergt.  John  PUmpton,  I  expected  to  see 
in  place  before  now. 

I  am  receiving  inquiries  from  all  over  the  land  for  old  books 
and  pamphlets.  Even  Boston  collectors  are  asking  for  some  of 
their  own  city  publications.  I  have  been  able  to  supply  to  the 
congressional  library  at  Washington,  to  the  New  York  Histor- 
ical Society,  and  the  great  Union  Library  of  New  York  city, 
some  of  their  wants.  Of  course,  I  have  sold  nothing  but  dupli- 
cates and  books  not  deposited  here  for  safe  keeping,  but  from 
my  own  loose  pickings  from  garret  and  closet.    There  seems  to 


84  Annual  Meeting— \9Q0. 

be  a  widespread  impression  that  here  is  the  place  to  look  for 
anything  strange  and  rare.  A  man  from  London  wrote  to  know 
if  I  had  a  Horn-book. 

Congressman  Lawrence  has  promised  to  send  us  the  reports 
of  the  American  Historical  Society,  which  may  be  looked  for 
at  any  time.  You  may  be  glad  to  know  that  our  society  was 
represented  on  the  reception  committee  when  this  distinguished 
body  visited  Boston  last  December.  I  only  mention  these  things 
to  show  that  we  are  not  hidden  in  a  comer. 

The  amount  received  from  entrance  fees  appears  in  the  report 
of  the  treasurer.  I  have  received  for  books  sold,  $54.69 ;  from 
contributions,  $2.70.  I  have  paid  for  small,  miscellaneous  ex- 
penses, $8.92.  Among  the  visitors  at  the  hall  this  year  have 
been  many  organized  bodies,  societies,  schools,  and  the  like. 
The  Palmer  Historical  Society  voted  and  arranged  to  spend 
Washington's  birthday  here,  but  I  discouraged  the  visit,  as  I  do 
all  winter  visiting,  and  they  postponed  the  trip  until  warmer 
weather.  A  contract  has  been  made  for  publishing  YoL  III  of 
our  proceedings,  preparations  for  which  have  been  delayed  by 
an  unexpected  obstacle — the  difficulty  of  procuring  copy." 

The  Deerfield  women  served  as  usual  an  excellent  supper  in 
the  town  hall,  and  at  6:30  the  literary  exercises  began.  They 
consisted  of  papers  by  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Wells  Smith  on  Mehitable 
Hinsdale,  her  foremother  and  the  first  white  woman  in  Deer- 
field  ;  by  Charles  Jones,  of  Deerfield,  on  the  broom  com  in- 
dustry ;  by  George  Sheldon,  giving  reminiscences  on  the  same 
subject;  and  by  Judge  F.  M.  Thompson,  on  Capt.  Agrippa 
Wells,  of  Greenfield,  who  went  with  his  company  the  day 
after  the  battle  of  Lexington.  Eev.  H.  E.  Morrow  offered 
prayer.  A  choir  led  by  Charles  H.  Ashley  sang  some  of  the  old 
fugue  tunes  to  the  great  enjoyment  of  the  audience.  The  sing- 
ers were  dressed  in  old-fashioned  costumes  drawn  from  the 
heirlooms  of  Deerfield.  Miss  Julia  Whiting  sang  an  old  ballad, 
accompanying  herself  on  the  old  piano  that  stands  in  the  hall. 
She  explained  that  this  old  ballad  had  been  sung  at  the  funeral 
of  a  young  man,  by  six  young  women  dressed  in  white,  of  whom 
her  grandmother  was  one.  An  interesting  poem  was  read  by 
Mrs.  Lucius  Nims,  written  by  Mrs.  Sophia  P.  Snow,  of  Meriden, 
Conn.  Judge  Thompson  gave  some  interesting  reminiscences 
of  Mehuman  Hinsdale,  to  whom  Mrs.  Smith  referred  at  length. 
Mr.  Hinsdale  was  a  great  land  getter,  he  said,  and  kept  applying 


A  Puritcm  Foremoiher.  86 

for  grants  until  he  owned  more  than  anyone  else  in  these  parts. 
Finally,  when  he  applied  to  the  town  for  one  more  such  grant, 
some  one  made  the  motion  that  he  be  given  the  land  provided 
he  would  never  ask  for  any  more. 


A  PURITAN  FOREMOTHER 

BY  HABY  P.   WBLUB   SMITH  OF  GBBBNFIBLD. 

It  is  but  proper  to  preface  this  paper  with  some  expression 
of  my  indebtedness  to  your  venerable  president,  the  Hon. 
Oeorge  Sheldon,  to  whose  patient  research  and  untiring  la- 
bors, as  embodied  in  his  excellent  history  of  Deerfield,  so 
abounding  in  the  materials  for  romance,  I  am  largely  indebted 
for  the  facts  here  brought  together. 

The  virtues  of  our  Puritan  forefathers  have  not  lacked  chron- 
iclers. Their  praises  are  familiar  to  us  in  song  and  story,  as 
well  as  in  history's  solid  pages.  But  it  sometimes  seems  that 
justice  has  hardly  been  done  to  the  worth  of  the  Puritan  fore- 
mothers.  What  would  the  forefathers  have  done,  pray,  but 
for  the  staunch  English  helpmeets  who  said  to  them,  like  Ruth, 
"  Whither  thou  goest,  I  wiU  go ;  and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will 
lodge ;  thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God ; 
where  thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried ;  the 
Lord  do  so  to  me  and  more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee 
and  me ; "  the  women  who  cheerfully,  for  conscience  sake,  but 
also  for  love  sake,  renounced  the  home  of  youth,  and  native 
land,  even  civilization  itself,  often  with  a  tiny  brood  of  children 
clinging  to  them,  to  face  the  weary  months  of  voyage  over 
stormy  seas,  the  discomforts  and  perils  of  founding  a  new  home 
in  the  savage  wilderness  ?  The  women  who  were  wives  and 
mothers,  and  manufacturers,  too ;  who  not  only  cooked  and 
brewed  and  nursed,  but  who  also  made  and  mended,  wove  and 
knit  and  spun,  and,  if  need  were,  moulded  the  bullets  and  loaded 
the  guns,  were  a  power  in  the  early  history  of  this  country  not 
to  be  ignored.  Privations  severe  for  men  to  bear  were  doubly 
hard  for  women.  When,  to  all  the  inevitable  hardships  of  their 
lot,  we  add  the  strain  of  anxiety  and  terror  often  suffered,  we 
wonder  at  their  endurance  and  fortitude.  They  seem  made  of 
stronger  stuff  than  the  human  beings  of  to-day. 


86  Anntuxl  MeeUng— 1900. 

Occasionally  we  get  a  glimpse  of  one  of  these  foremothers 
in  the  old  records,  as  in  SewaU's  touching  tribate  to  his  aged 
mother  at  her  grave,  given  in  his  diary. 

^^  When,  about  four  p.  m.,  Kathl.  Brackett  taking  in  hand  the 
filling  of  the  grave,  I  said : 

^  Forbear  a  little,  and  suffer  me  to  say  that  amidst  our  be- 
reaving sorrows  we  have  the  comfort  of  beholding  this  Saint 
put  into  the  rightful  possession  of  that  Happiness  of  Living  de- 
sired and  dying  Lamented.  She  lived  commendably  Four  and 
Fifty  years  with  her  dear  Husband,  my  dear  Father.  And  she 
could  not  well  brook  the  being  divided  from  him  at  her  death ; 
which  is  the  cause  of  our  taking  leave  of  her  at  this  place.  She 
was  a  true  and  constant  Lover  of  God's  Word,  Worship,  and 
Saints.  And  she  always,  with  a  patient  cheerfulness,  submit- 
ted to  the  Decree  of  providing  Bread  for  herself  and  others  in 
the  sweat  of  her  brows.  And  now  her  infinitely  Gracious  and 
Bountiful  Master  has  promoted  her,  to  the  honor  of  higher  em- 
ployments, fully  and  absolutely  discharged  from  all  manner  of 
Toil  and  Sweat.  My  honored  and  beloved  Friends  and  Neigh- 
bors! My  dear  Mother  never  thought  much  of  doing  the 
most  frequent  and  homely  offices  of  love  for  me ;  and  lavished 
away  many  Thousands  of  Words  upon  me,  before  I  could  return 
one  word  in  answer ;  and  therefore  I  ask  and  hope  that  none 
will  be  offended  that  I  have  now  ventured  to  speak  one  word 
in  her  behalf  when  she  herself  is  become  speechless.' 

"  Made  a  motion  with  my  hand  for  the  filling  of  the  Grave. 
J^ote.  I  could  hardly  speak  for  passion  and  Tears." 

Have  we  not  known  other  New  England  mothers  of  whom 
these  words  were  true  ? 

Rev.  John  Norton  of  Hingham,  in  his  "  Dirge  for  the  Tenth 
Muse,"  says  of  Anne  Bradstreet,  wife  of  Gov.  Bradstreet,  mar- 
ried at  sixteen  and  the  mother  of  eight  children,  but  who  wrote 
the  first  volume  of  verse  published  in  New  England  : 

Her  breast  was  a  brave  palace,  a  Broad-street, 
Where  all  heroic  thoughts  did  meet, 
Where  nature  such  a  tenement  had  ta'en, 
That  our  souls,  to  hers,  dwelt  in  a  lane. 

But  in  this  mention  of  their  virtues,  Mistresses  Bradstreet 
and  Sewall  were  almost  the  exceptions.  History  takes  little 
note  of  the  faithful  lives  of  the  everyday  wives  and  mothers. 

Mehitable  Johnson,  wife  of  Samuel  Hinsdale,  has  been  chosen 


A  Pttritan  Faremother.  87 

as  the  subject  of  this  paper  for  these  reasons :  she  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  white  woman  living  in  Deerfield ;  I  cherish  for 
her  the  personal  interest  one  feels  in  an  ancestress,  even  of  two 
hundred  years  ago ;  and  hers  may  fairly  be  considered  a  typi- 
cal woman's  life  of  her  period.  Not  exceptional,  for  many 
women  were  called  to  undergo  even  greater  hardships  than  hers ; 
but  simply  a  typical  life  of  one  among  the  Puritan  f oremothers. 
To  briefly  consider  its  incidents  will  perhaps  make  real  to  us 
their  day. 

Mehitable  Johnson  came  from  good  Puritan  stock,  being 
probably  daughter  of  Humphrey  Johnson  of  Koxbury.  Her 
grandfather  was  John  Johnson,  who  is  supposed  to  have  come 
from  England  in  the  fleet  with  Gov.  Winthrop  in  1630.  We 
are  told  that  the  little  fleet  which  sailed  with  the  Arbella,  was 
nine  weeks  crossing  the  Atlantic,  but  the  devout  passengers  be- 
guiled the  tedium  of  the  voyage  by  ^^  preaching  and  catechiz- 
ing, fasting  and  thanksgiving."  No  doubt  Humphrey,  Mehita- 
ble's  father,  then  a  young  boy,  was  one  of  the  victims  of  the 
^^  catechizing."  Palfrey,  in  a  note,  quotes  the  learned  English 
antiquary,  Hunter,  as  saying  of  the  emigration  which  foUowed 
Winthrop  from  England,  that  it  "  consisted  very  much  of  per- 
sons who,  though  not  of  the  very  first  rank,  were  yet  men  of 
substance  and  good  alliances, — will-making  families,  families 
high  in  the  subsidy  books,  while  some  of  them,  as  the  Win- 
throps,  were  among  the  principal  gentry  of  the  country."  This 
honorable  description  seems  true  of  John  Johnson,  for  Savage 
says  he  was  '^  a  man  of  estate  and  distinction,"  a  representa- 
tive to  the  first  General  Court  in  1634,  and  for  many  years  fol- 
lowing ;  ako  a  member  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery 
Company,  and  surveyor  general  of  arms  and  ammunition. 

John's  oldest  son,  Mehitable's  uncle,  Isaac  Johnson,  was  a 
captain  in  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company,  and 
was  killed  by  the  Indians  at  the  head  of  his  men,  during  the 
great  fight  at  the  Narragansett  Fort,  December  19, 1675.  Pal- 
frey says  of  this  skillfully  constructed  fort,  in  the  heart  of  a 
hideous  swamp,  that  its  only  entrance  was  "  over  a  rude  bridge 
consisting  of  a  feUed  tree,  four  or  five  feet  from  the  ground, 
the  bridge  being  protected  by  a  block  house."  Over  this  treach- 
erous bridge,  slippery  with  ice  and  snow,  rushed  the  English 
troops  to  the  attack,  after  a  march  of  eighteen  miles  in  deep 
snow  through  the  pathless  forest.    Palfrey  says,  "  The  foremost 


88  Anntud  Meetmff — 1900. 

of  the  assailants  were  received  with  a  well-directed  fire.  Cap- 
tain Johnson  of  Boxbury  was  shot  dead  on  the  bridge,  as  he  was 
rushing  over  it  at  the  head  of  his  company."  Well  may  Sav- 
age allude  to  him  as  "  the  brave  Captain  Johnson  of  Eoxbury." 

Humphrey,  second  son  of  John,  although  he  lived  for  a  time 
at  Scituate  and  Hingham,  made  Boxbury  his  chief  home.  Here 
he  married  March  20, 1643,  Ellen  Cheney,  and  here  their  eldest 
child,  Mehitable,  was  bom  in  September,  1644.  On  October  31, 
1660,  when  only  sixteen  years  old,  she  married  Samuel  Hinsdale 
of  Dedham,  he  being  aged  about  eighteen. 

We  know  nothing  of  Mehitable's  personal  appearance.  Fancy 
is  therefore  free  to  make  its  own  picture  of  her.  We  are  safe 
in  ascribing  to  her  more  than  usual  attractiveness  of  person,  and 
many  sterling  qualities  of  character.  A  woman  who  married 
three  times,  twice  when  a  widow  with  a  large  family  of  young 
children,  was  certainly  not  devoid  of  fascinations.  I  picture 
her  large,  strong,  vigorous,  her  face  radiant  with  the  combined 
charms  of  good  health  and  good  sense.  She  was  not  only  fair 
to  look  upon,  but  of  the  sturdy  stuff  in  mind  and  body  fit  for 
a  pioneer's  wife,  or  she  could  not  long  have  borne  up  under  the 
hardships  of  her  life.  We  may  imagine  her  to  resemble  the 
second  wife  of  Cotton  Mather,  of  whom  his  son  Samuel  wrote : 

"  She  was  one  of  finished  Piety  and  Probity,  and  of  an  un- 
spotted Reputation,  one  of  good  sense,  and  blessed  with  a  com- 
pleat  Discretion  in  ordering  a  Household ;  one  of  singular  Good 
Humor  and  incomparable  Sweetness  of  Temper ;  one  with  a 
very  handsome,  engaging  Countenance;"  and  no  doubt  it  could 
be  said  of  Samuel  Hinsdale,  as  his  son  adds  of  Cotton  Mather : 
^^  He  rejoiced  in  her  as  having  great  spoil,  and  in  finding  her 
found  great  Favour  of  the  Lord."  Certainly  Mehitable's  life 
furnished  opportunity  for  the  use  of  all  these  virtues.  And  the 
forceful  Samuel  Hinsdale  probably  knew  what  he  was  about, 
when  he  selected  a  life  partner  for  pioneer  wilderness  life. 

The  HinsdaJes  were  a  family  of  good  birth,  having  a  coat  of 
arms,  as  we  learn  by  the  will  of  the  widow  of  Col.  Ebenezer 
Hinsdale,  who  is  buried  in  Hinsdale,  N.  H.  She  left  by  will  to 
her  niece  "  a  silver  cup  with  Coat  of  Arms  of  Hinsdale  family 
engraved  upon  it ; "  and  to  the  church  in  Hinsdale  "  my  great 
Silver  Tankard  with  Hinsdale  Coat  of  Arms." 

Great  energy,  what  in  modem  phrase  is  called  ^^  push,"  seems 
to  have  characterized  the  EUnsdales.    Bobert,  father  of  Sam- 


A  Puritan  Foremother.  89 

uel,  came  from  England  in  1638^  as  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Dedbam,  and  was  one  of  the  eight  men  who  founded  the  Ded- 
ham  church ;  he  moved  thence  to  Medfield  as  a  pioneer,  being 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Medfield  church  in  1650,  and  in  1673 
we  find  him,  with  four  stalwart  sons,  again  a  pioneer,  this  time 
in  the  remote  wilderness  settlement  at  Pocumtuck.  But  his 
son  Samuel,  apparently  endowed  with  more  than  his  share  of 
the  family  energy  and  courage,  had  preceded  his  father  to  the 
Connecticut  Valley  several  years,  going  first  to  Hadley.  How 
little  can  we  imagine  what  this  journey  of  several  days  on 
horseback,  through  primeval  forest  whose  only  denizens  were 
wild  beasts  and  still  more  savage  Indians,  with  three  or  four 
little  children  on  the  pillions  behind  the  parents  or  in  their 
arms,  must  have  been  for  the  young  vrife  and  mother ;  what 
high-hearted  courage,  what  strong  common  sense,  above  all, 
what  firm  trust  in  God  and  his  leading  must  have  been  hers, 
to  carry  her  through  it. 

In  May,  1669,  Dedham  records  tell  us  "  Samuel  Hinsdale  of 
Hadley  in  the  County  of  Hampshire  ^  appeared  before  the  se- 
lectmen of  Dedham,  stating  that  having  ^^  purchased  some 
propriety  in  Pocumtucke,"  and  made  improvement  "  by  plough- 
ing land  there,"  he  demanded  "  the  laying  out "  of  the  rights 
so  purchased  '^  that  he  might  settle  himself  upon  it,  ....  or  if 
it  could  not  yet  be  layed  out,  that  then  some  parcell  of  upland 
might  be  granted  and  laid  out  to  build  a  house  upon."  Alone 
had  he  come  up  here  into  the  wilderness,  twelve  miles  north  of 
any  habitation,  and  his  ploughshare  was  the  first  to  turn  up  the 
virgin  soil  of  Deerfield  meadows. 

The  town  street  and  highways  were  not  laid  out  until  two  years 
later,  in  1671,  when  the  conmiittee  in  charge  of  the  work  al- 
lowed Samuel  Hinsdale  to  "  injoy  the  peroell  of  land — on  which 
at  present  he  is  resident."  Hence  we  may  assume  that  some 
sort  of  house  was  already  built  cm  said  ^^  perceU  of  land,"  that 
his  family  were  here  vnth  him,  and  that,  consequently,  Mehita- 
ble  Hinsdale  was  the  first  woman  living  under  the  shadow  of 
old  Pocumtuck,  a  worthy  forerunner  of  all  the  many  "  desira- 
ble "  women  who  have,  since  her  day,  walked  Old  Deerfield 
Street,  and  borne  conspicuous  and  honorable  share  in  her  history. 

She  had  at  this  time  four  children ;  three  little  girls,  Mehita- 
ble,  about  seven,  Mary  five,  Sarah  about  three,  and  a  baby  boy, 
Samuel.    The  site  of  the  first  land  occupied  by  Samuel  Hins- 


90  Annual  MeeHnff— 1900. 

dale  is  unknown.  The  Dedham  records  say  the  pieoe  of  land 
thus  taken  up  not  being  over  three  or  four  acres,  and  not 
"  prejudicing  any  man's  lott  or  lotts/*  he  was  allowed  to  "  In- 
joy  it, — considering  his  expense  on  the  same,"  probably  in  the 
erection  of  his  house  and  other  improvements.  A  little  later, 
by  some  trade,  doubtless,  Samuel  Hinsdale  became  owner  of 
Lot  14.  Moving  his  family  hither,  here  he  was  residing  at  the 
time  of  his  death. 

Lot  14  is  that  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Mrs.  Whiting  and 
daughters. 

How  priceless  would  be  one  letter  from  Mehitable  EQnsdale's 
quill,  giving  us  a  glimpse  of  her  life  in  the  solitary  little  cabin, 
around  whose  doors  played  the  sturdy  children,  while  the  young 
mother,  alert  and  cheerful,  stepped  briskly  to  and  fro  at  her 
spinning  wheel,  or  plied  the  flying  shuttle  at  her  loom.  We 
can  see  the  little  ones  scampering  to  the  safe  shelter  of  mother's 
linsey-woolsey  gown,  when  dusky  Mashilisk  or  her  son  Wuttaw- 
waluncksin,  or  Masseamet  came  striding  out  of  the  forest  on 
the  mountain  side,  coming  to  the  cabin  perhaps  to  barter  In- 
dian brooms  for  a  taste  of  Mehitable's  savory  bean  porridge. 
But  as  Mehitable,  like  most  women  of  her  period,  probably 
could  not  write,  we  can  only  infer  her  life  from  the  conditions 
then  prevailing. 

Samuel  Hinsdale  was  a  large  proprietor,  in  1670,  owning  one- 
twelfth  of  the  original  8,000  acre  grant.  With  his  indomitable 
energy,  he  would  no  doubt  have  been  eminent  in  the  settle- 
ment's early  history,  but  for  his  untimely  death.  Several 
times  during  these  earliest  years  of  settlement,  from  1670  to 
1678,  he  was  sent  as  a  deputy  to  Dedham  with  petitions  from 
^'tbe  inhabitants  at  Pecomtick."  What  anxiety  Mehitable 
must  have  suffered,  during  her  husband's  absence  on  these 
long,  hazardous  journeys  to  the  Bay !  He  was  also  appointed 
on  a  committee  with  such  leading  men  as  Lieut.  Samuel  Smith 
and  Peter  Tilton  of  Hadley,  and  Lieut.  Wm.  Allis  of  Hatfield, 
to  supervise  the  affairs  of  the  new  settlement,  to  have  charge 
of  the  sale  of  lands,  the  admission  of  new  settlers,  and  the  pro- 
curing ^^an  orthodox  Minister  to  dispone  the  word  of  Ood 
among  them." 

In  the  fall  of  1673,  Samuel's  father  and  three  brothers  cast 
in  their  lot  with  the  promising  settlement  at  Pocum'tuck.  In 
this  year,  too,  was  bom  Mehitable's  fifth  child,  and  the  first 


A  Pwritcm  Foremother.  91 

white  child  bom  in  Deerfield,  Mehnman  Hinsdale.  Deerfield, 
as  the  settlement  began  to  be  called,  had  now  about  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  inhabitants,  thirty  of  whom  were  men. 
All  was  happy  and  prosperous  in  the  little  plantation  until 
the  outbreak  of  King  Philip's  war.  The  events  of  that  war 
are  too  familiar  to  need  recapitulation  here.  Even  the  most 
vivid  fancy  must  fail  to  depict  the  constant  anxiety  and  terror 
filling  the  hearts  of  the  women  in  this  isolated  frontier  settle- 
ment during  the  summer  of  1675,  the  marching  to  and  fro  of 
soldiers,  the  discomfort  of  living,  inhabitants  and  soldiers  being 
huddled  within  the  few  palisaded  houses,  the  Indians  in  Septem- 
ber having  burned  all  houses  outside  the  stockade.  Then  came 
the  morning  of  the  fatal  18th  of  September,  when  Captain 
Lothrop  and  his  gallant  soldiers  marched  out  of  Deerfield  escort- 
ing a  train  of  loaded  wheat  carts  to  Hadley.  Samuel  Hinsdale 
was  one  of  the  seventeen  Deerfield  men  chosen  by  lot  to  drive 
these  carts.   Elsewhere  I  have  thus  pictured  his  adieu  to  his  wife. 

^'  Mehitable  Hinsdale  stood  there  holding  little  Mehuman  by 
the  hand,  smiling  bravely  through  the  tears  shining  in  her  eyes, 
tears  stoatly  held  back,  as  her  husband,  after  lifting  little  Mehu- 
man and  kissing  him  with  unwonted  tenderness,  turned  to  her, 
and  taking  her  hand,  said  : 

"*6ood-by,  Mehitable.  Keep  up  thy  courage,  good  wife. 
Thou  hast  soldiers  here  in  plenty  to  guard  thee.  And  it  be  Gkxl's 
will,  I  trust  soon  to  come  safely  back.' 

'^^God  be  with  thee,  Samuel,'  said  Mehitable,  from  a  full 
heart.' " 

No  doubt  she  stood  in  front  of  her  house,  so  near  where  we 
are  to-night  assembled,  her  little  brood  around  her,  watching 
her  husband  and  father  go  down  the  hill  and  out  upon  the  mea- 
dow till  the  long  train  disappeared  to  the  south. 

Her  eyes  never  again  rested  on  the  husband  of  her  youth. 
Samuel  Hinsdale,  his  father  and  three  brothers,  slain  that  bloody 
day  by  the  Indians,  not,  we  may  believe,  without  the  stout  re- 
sistance of  brave  men  fighting  for  their  lives,  were  buried 
by  Moseley's  and  Treat's  soldiers  in  the  huge  grave  under  the 
shadow  of  Mt. Wequamps.  A  few  days  more,  and  Mehitable  vnth 
her  little  ones,  mounted  behind  Major  Treat's  troopers,  with 
wet  eyes  looked  her  last  on  what  had  been  her  happy  home, 
and  rode  with  grief  unutterable  over  the  still  bloody  battle 
ground,  past  the  dreadful  mound,  to  take  refuge  with  kind 


92  Anntuil  Meeting — 1900. 

relatives,  probably  in  Hatfield.  Deerfield  was  abandoned  to 
Indian  ravage  and  destruction,  and  was  soon  burned.  A  few 
blackened  cellar  holes  and  ravaged  and  trampled  fields,  and  one 
melancholy  frame,  left  unbumed,  through  whose  bare  timbers 
the  desolate  winds  howled  mockingly,  were  all  the  traces  left  of 
the  settlement.  ^^  The  small  remnant  that  were  left  of  Deer- 
field's  poor  inhabitants  "  scattered  through  several  towns  below, 
pathetically  said,  in  a  petition  to  the  General  Court  for  aid  (in 
1678),  ^^  our  houses  have  been  rifled  and  burnt,  our  estates 
wasted,  our  flocks  and  herds  consumed,  the  ablest  of  our  in- 
habitants killed ;  our  plantation  has  become  a  wildemesse,  a 
dwelling  for  owls." 

Mehitable,  now  thirty-one  years  old,  was  left  a  widow  with 
five  little  children,  the  oldest  a  girl  of  barely  twelve.  Samud 
Hinsdale's  personal  estate  of  forty-five  pounds,  a  much  larger 
sum  relatively  then  than  now,  was  by  his  will "  given  his  widow 
to  bring  up  lieir  children,"  while  "  the  Land  at  Deerfield  alias 
Pocuratuck,  not  being  valued  in  regard  to  the  present  Indian 
war  rendering  it  at  present  of  little  worth,  but  being  hopeful  to 
prove  a  Beal  Estate  hereafter,"  was  given  to  his  sons,  Samuel 
and  Mehuman,  ^^  the  Eldest  to  have  a  double  share." 

In  those  days  of  war,  death,  uncertainty,  there  was  little  time 
for  mourning.  Broken  families  and  lives  must  be  patched  up 
somehow,  and  the  duties  and  business  of  life  must  go  on. 
Mehitable  with  her  little  flock  needing  a  father's  care,  soon 
married  John  Eoot  of  Northampton,  aged  thirty-one,  son  of 
Thomas  Root,  one  of  the  founders  of  Northampton,  one  of  the 
**  eight  pillars  of  the  church  "  there,  a  selectman,  etc.  The  rec- 
ords give  John  Eoot  but  one  child.  Thankful,  bom  in  February, 
1677.  He  probably  married  Mehitable  in  the  spring  of  1676, 
and  Thankful  Eoot  was  her  sixth  child,  perhaps  so  named  from 
the  sense  of  gratitude  to  God  filling  the  mother's  heart  that 
life,  which  had  looked  so  dreary,  began  to  smile  again  with  love 
and  hope. 

The  General  Court,  in  answer  to  Mehitable's  petition,  had 
given  her  as  her  own.  Lot  14,  and  in  the  spring  of  1677  John 
Eoot,  with  Quintin  Stockwell  and  a  few  others,  returned  to  Deer- 
field full  of  hope  and  courage,  to  begin  rebuilding  the  ruined 
settlement,  feeling  themselves  entirely  safe  now  that  Philip 
was  slain,  and  the  war  ended,  while  no  hostilities  had  recently 
beeii  committed.    Eoot  was  building  a  house  for  Mehitable 


A  PttrUan  JFbremother.  93 

and  her  fiunily  on  Lot  14  when  on  the  evening  of  September 
19, 1677,  exactly  one  day  over  two  years  since  the  slaughter  at 
Bloody  Brook,  a  band  of  26  Indians  from  Canada,  led  by  Ash- 
pelon,  fell  upon  the  workers.  All  were  taken  captive,  and  Boot 
soon  slain,  perhaps  because  of  his  desperate  resistance.  Again 
was  Mehitable  widowed  by  the  cruel  hands  of  Indians.  Truly 
could  she  echo  the  words  of  Deerfield's  desolate  ^^  remnant "  to 
the  G^eral  Court,  ^^  We  find  it  hard  work  to  live  in  this  Iron 
age.''  She  was  probably  living  either  with  her  father-in-law, 
Thomas  Boot  at  Northampton,  or  with  Hatfield  friends.  Her 
first  husband's  fourth  brother,  Ephraim  Hinsdale,  had  settled  at 
Hatfield  after  King  PhiUp's  war,  and  there  were  other  relations 
living  there.  Among  these  various  friends  the  family  were 
doubtless  scattered.  Hearts  were  warm  and  hospitable  in  those 
troubled  days,  and  those  as  yet  uninjured  shared  freely  with 
their  suffering  friends. 

A  prominent  man  in  Hatfield  was  Deacon  John  Coleman,  son 
of  Thomas  Coleman  from  Wethersfield,  Ct,  one  of  the  ^^en- 
gagers  "  who  settled  Hadley .  Deacon  Coleman  married  Hannah 
Porter  of  Windsor,  and  by  her  had  six  children.  This  family 
were  living  on  a  lot  in  the  heart  of  the  present  village  of  Hat- 
field, just  north  of  the  stockade.  Ashpelon  and  his  Indians 
suddenly  fell  upon  peaceful  Hatfield  about  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon  of  Sept.  19, 1677,  killing  twelve  persons,  wounding 
four,  burning  several  buildings,  then  retreating  northward  in 
haste,  bearing  seventeen  captives.  Those  captives  were  con- 
cealed in  the  woods  east  of  Mt.  Pocumtuck  until  dusk,  when  the 
deadly  assault  already  described  was  made  upon  the  men  re- 
building at  Deerfield. 

Deacon  John  Coleman's  house,  as  has  been  stated,  was  with- 
out the  stockade.  He  himself,  with  most  of  the  men  of  the 
settlement,  was  at  work  on  the  meadows  when  this  unexpected 
blow  fell  He  left  home  in  the  morning,  everything  seeming 
serene  and  secure.  He  returned  ere  noon  to  find  his  wife  and 
baby  Bethiah  slain,  another  child  wounded,  his  bam  with  all 
his  summer's  crops  burned,  and  two  children  carried  off  into 
captivity,  one  being  Sarah  Coleman,  but  four  years  old,  whose 
little  shoe  worn  during  her  eight  months  of  captivity,  now  rests 
in  Memorial  HalL  The  same  day  Mehitable  Boot  had  lost  her 
second  husband. 

It  is  not  strange  that  these  two  fellow-sufferers,  probably  old 


94  Annual  Meetmg— 1900. 

acqnaintances  and  fellow  charoh  members,  were  drawn  to  each 
other  by  their  common  sorrow  and  common  need.  We  can 
fancy  good  Deacon  Coleman  seated  in  the  "  fore  room  "  with 
the  comely  and  capable  Widow  Root,  pleading  his  suit  some- 
thing in  this  wise,  while  the  firelight  shone  out  on  his  earnest 
face,  on  Mehitable's,  still  pleasmg,  thoagh  the  shocks  of  sadden 
sorrows  had  somewhat  dimmed  its  girlhood  beauty. 

"  Good  wife  Root,  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  verily  been  laid 
heavily  upon  us  twain.  In  the  same  dread  day,  thou  didst  lose 
thy  staff  and  stay,  and  I  my  sweet  and  comfortable  spouse,  by 
the  hands  of  the  same  murderous  savages,  whom,  doubtless  be- 
cause our  sins  called  down  His  just  wrath,  the  Lord  suffered  to 
fall  upon  us  to  desolate  our  pleasant  places  and  destroy  our 
goodly  heritage.  In  this  bereavement  so  strangely  befalling  us, 
methinks  I  discern  a  leading  of  the  Lord,  that  we  widowed  ones 
who  are  left  desolate  to  mourn  shall  comfort  each  other  under 
these  sore  distresses.  Thy  little  flock  needeth  a  father's  protec- 
tion and  guidance,  and  my  poor  desolate  children  a  loving 
mother's  care.  Shall  we  not  join  hands  in  the  sweet  estate  of 
wedlock,  and  walk  together,  comforting  each  other,  during  the 
days  that  remain  of  our  earthly  pilgrimage  ?  " 

And  so,  eighteen  months  after  the  deaths  of  Hannah  Coleman 
and  John  Root,  on  March  11, 1679,  Mehitable,  now  thirty-five 
years  old,  became  the  second  wife  of  Deacon  John  Coleman  of 
Hatfield.  The  deacon  moved  within  the  palisade  soon  after  the 
assault.  Mehitable  bore  him  two  sons,  Ebenezer  and  Nathaniel. 
At  the  time  of  the  marriage.  Deacon  Coleman  had  five  children 
living,  the  oldest  a  boy  of  thirteen.  The  two  little  captives 
had  returned  in  safety  early  in  June,  1678,  thanks  to  the  heroic 
efforts  of  Benjamin  Waite  and  Stephen  Jennings.  Mehitable 
had  six  children,  the  eldest  a  girl  of  16.  With  the  two  sons 
born  to  Deacon  Coleman,  she  was  thus  the  maternal  head  of  a 
household  of  thirteen  young  children.  Did  she  not  need  all  the 
virtues  I  have  ascribed  to  her  and  would  she  have  been  chosen 
to  fill  so  difficult  a  position  by  a  '^  grave,  judicious  "  elder  of  the 
church,  had  she  not  possessed  the  rare  qualities  of  head  and 
heart  enabling  her  to  fulfill  its  duties  faithfully  and  wisely  t 
She  lived  ten  years  with  Deacon  John  Coleman,  probably  years 
of  domestic  peace,  though  there  was  still  a  constant  apprehen- 
sion of  Indian  raids,  not  baseless  as  was  shown  by  the  assault 
on  Northfield  in  August,  1688,  when  six  persons  were  slain.    A 


A  Puritan  Foremoiher.  95 

year  after  this  raid  on  Northfield,  when  her  yonngest  child, 
Nathaniel,  was  bat  five  years  old,  August  4th,  1689,  she  died, 
at  the  early  age  of  45. 

She  had  borne  eight  children,  had  lost  two  husbands  as  well 
as  relatives,  neighbors  and  friends  innumerable  by  the  sudden 
and  horrible  shock  of  Indian  butchery,  and,  in  addition  to  the 
care  and  toil  inevitable  to  the  mother  of  so  large  a  family  amid 
the  hardships  and  privations  of  the  period,  she  had  lived  most 
of  her  life  under  such  a  nervous  strain  and  apprehension  as  are 
inconceivable  to  us  more  fortunate  ones, — the  impending  dread 
of  Indian  assaults.  Small  wonder  is  it  that  her  vitality  was 
exhausted,  and  that  she  early  laid  down  the  life  so  full  of  use- 
fulness, but  also  of  turmoil  and  sorrow. 

She  was  undoubtedly  buried  in  the  old  burying  ground  at 
Hatfield,  beautiful  for  situation  then  as  now,  where  the  clear 
waters  of  Mill  Biver  glide  by  under  the  bank  to-day  as  peace- 
fully as  when  mourning  husband  and  children  lowered  to  quiet 
rest  at  last  the  worn  body  which  had  housed  Mehitsible  Cole- 
man's brave  soul.  But  I  find  there  no  gravestone,  or  even  trace 
of  an  unmarked  grave  near  her  husband's.  Perhaps  this  is  not 
strange,  after  the  lapse  of  two  hundred  and  eleven  years*  At 
the  time  she  died,  few  graves  were  marked  with  stones.  The 
mound  has  long  since  sunk  down  into  a  grassy  hollow,  and  the 
body  Mehitable  wore  has  blossomed  again  in  grass  and  flowers. 
Little  it  all  troubles  Mehitable  now !  A  stone,  large  for  the 
time,  in  fact  probably  erected  later,  marks  her  husband's  grave, 
its  partly  effaced  inscription  stating,  ^^  Deacon  John  Coleman 
dyed  on  Jan.  21, 1711,  Aged  76  years,  and  here  byred." 

Through  her  children  Mehitable  was  still  further  connected 
with  the  Indian  troubles.  Indeed,  her  early  death  seems  merci* 
ful,  in  view  of  the  agony  she  was  thus  spared,  for  the  sorrows  of 
one's  children  are  more  grievous  to  a  mother's  heart  than  her 
own.  Her  oldest  daughter,  Mehitable,  became  the  second  wife 
of  Obadiah  Dickinson,  who,  with  his  child  was  carried  away 
captive  to  Canada  from  Hatfield  in  the  assault  of  1677.  Her 
third  daughter,  Sarah,  married  Samuel  Janes,  son  of  Elder 
William  Janes  of  Northfield,  who  during  the  firat  settlement  at 
Korthfield  preached  to  the  settlers  under  the  spreading  branches 
of  a  huge  oak  tree.  Samuel  returned  to  Northfield  at  the  time 
of  the  second  settlement,  taking  up  his  father's  lot.  Samuel 
Janes  seems  to  have  been  a  brave  man,  for  it  was  he  who  with 


96  Annual  Meeting— 1900. 

• 

one  garrison  soldier  went  to  Springfield  the  day  after  the 
assault  bearing  a  letter  with  the  news  to  Major  Fynchon. 
When  the  settlers  were  again  obliged  by  the  Indian  assault  in 
1688  to  abandon  Korthfield,  Samuel,  with  his  brother  Benjamin 
and  three  other  families^  settled  on  a  fertile  tract  in  North- 
ampton, at  the  northeast  foot  of  Mt.  Tom,  called  Pascommuck. 
Here  they  no  doubt  felt  themselves  entirely  safe,  in  the  heart 
of  the  old  settlements.  But  in  May,  1704,  a  party  of  French 
and  Indians  feU  on  Pascommuck.  Thirty-three  persons  were 
killed  or  captured.  Samuel  Janes,  his  wife,  Sarah,  and  three 
children  were  slain  (daughter  and  grandchildren  of  Mehitable), 
and  two  young  sons  of  Samuel  Janes  were  knocked  on  the  head 
and  left  for  dead,  but  were  found  alive  and  recovered.  Mehita- 
ble's  son,  Af ehuman  Hinsdale,  was  twice  taken  captive.  In  1704 
he  was  living  on  his  mother's  old  lot  in  Deerfield,  No.  14,  when, 
in  that  terrible  night  in  February,  which  we  are  here  met  to 
commemojrate,  he  and  his  wife  were  captured,  and  taken  to 
Canada,  and  their  only  child  (another  grandchild  of  Mehitable) 
was  slain  before  the  parents'  eyes.  On  the  passage  back  from 
Oanada  in  1706,  another  son,  Ebenezer,  was  bom  to  the  Hins- 
dales.  Mehuman  returned  to  Deerfield  to  live,  but  in  1709, 
when  driving  an  ox  cart  from  Northampton,  he  was  again  cap- 
tured, and  carried  to  Oanada,  returning  only  after  three  years' 
absence,  by  way  of  France  and  England.  Would  he  had  kept 
a  diary  of  his  experiences  daring  these  three  years  1 

Mehitable's  grandson,  Ebenezer  Hinsdale,  born  almost  in 
captivity,  was  prominent  in  the  settlement  of  Southern  Ver- 
mont and  New  Hampshire,  founding  the  town  of  Hinsdale, 
N.  H.  Mehitable's  second  daughter,  Mary,  married  Deacon 
Thomas  Sheldon  of  Northampton,  brother  of  Ensign  John  Shel- 
don, so  prominent  in  Deerfield's  early  history.  Deacon  Thomas 
gave  the  first  church  in  Northampton  a  communion  service  of 
massive  silver,  still  in  use,  says  Sheldon's  genealogy.  So  we 
may  infer  that  Mary,  as  the  phrase  goes,  "married  welL" 
Thankful  Boot  married  Thomas  Wells  of  Wethersfield,  Ct. 
Ebenezer  Ooleman  also  settled  in  Connecticut,  in  Colchester. 
The  ties  with  Connecticut,  where  many  of  the  families  in  this 
region  had  originated,  and  where  many  relatives  still  lived, 
were  strong  in  those  days.    Samuel  Hinsdale  settled  in  Medf ord. 

Mehitable's  youngest  child,  Captain  Nathaniel  Coleman,  lived 
and  died  in  Hatfield,  as  did  his  son  Elijah.    His  grandson, 


A  Puritan  JFbremotAer.  97 

EUjahy  Mehitable's  greatrgrandson,  married  Tabitha  Meekins,  a 
descendant  of  Ooodman  Thomas  Meekins,  the  miller  of  Hat* 
field,  and  of  his  son,  Thomas,  Jr.,  slain  by  the  Indians  in  King 
Philip's  war,  when  out  as  a  scout  north  of  Hatfield,  Oct.  19, 
1675.  Through  her  mother,  Martha  Smith,  Tabitha  Meeldns 
was  also  directly  descended  from  Lieutenant  Samuel  Smith  of 
Hadley.  Soon  after  the  Bevolutionary  War,  Elijah  Coleman 
moved  from  Hatfield  to  Greenfield,  purchasing  a  part  of  the  old 
Allen  farm  in  the  upper  meadows,  confiscated  and  sold,  as 
family  tradition  has  always  recounted,  because  the  owners  were 
Tories,  the  farm  now  called  "  Clover  Nook  Farm."  I  remember 
as  a  child  of  four,  going  into  this  old  house,  a  black  frame  house 
with  a  long  roof  sloping  to  the  ground  in  the  rear,  then  used  as 
a  store  and  tool  house.  Elijah  was  my  mother's  grandfather. 
Had  he  lived  a  few  years  longer,  it  pleases  fancy  to  believe  he 
might  have  told  my  mother  family  stories  or  traditions  about 
the  momentous  experiences  of  his  great-grandmother,  Mehitable, 
and  so  I  should  have  had,  as  it  were,  personal  touch  SLcross  the 
centuries  with  this  Puritan  foremother.  But  he  died  in  1818, 
when  my  mother  was  two  years  old,  and  his  body  was  taken 
back  to  the  old  burying  ground  in  Hatfield,  and  laid  beside  his 
ancestors.  Captain  Nathaniel  and  Deacon  John.  His  stone 
bears  the  familiar  words : 

Preaent  useful.  Absent  wanted, 
lived  desiied,  Died  lamented. 

An  obituary  in  the  Greenfield  paper  of  the  period  says  of 
him  that  he  was  ^^  a  worthy  and  respectable  citizen,  and  dear 
to  his  circle  of  friends,  who  cannot  but  reflect  with  the  high- 
est satisfaction  upon  his  Christian  resignation  under  the  infirm- 
ities he  has  long  endured,  and  particularly  upon  the  almost  un- 
paralleled consolations  he  enjoyed  during  his  last  illness,  nor 
fail  to  indulge  the  joyful  assurance  that  with  him  death  is 
swallowed  up  in  victory." 

Most  of  the  audience  here  assembled  are  descended  from 
Puritan  ancestors  who  helped  bear  the  brunt  of  the  old  Indian 
wars.  While  we  may  hope  that  we  have  inherited  from  them 
some  touch  at  least,  of  high-hearted  faith,  of  devotion  to  duty,  of 
interest  in  religion,  of  patriotic  love  of  country,  is  it  wholly  fancy 
which  causes  us  to  believe  that  some  mark  also  of  the  terrible 
nervous  strain  they  bore,  the  shocks  they  endured,  stiU  rests 
7 


98  Amvual  Meeting— 1900. 

upon  us  t  When  we  shudder  in  the  dark  at  nameless,  sense- 
less terrors,  we  know  not  what ;  when,  in  spite  of  reason,  we 
would  rather  not  go  down  cellar  in  the  dark,  feel  that  a  vague, 
lurking  Something  is  about  to  pounoe  upon  us  from  the  shad- 
ows, when  we  prefer  to  shut  out  the  blackness  of  the  night  by 
drawing  close  the  curtains,  lest  a  dreadful  unknown  Something 
peer  in  at  us ;  are  not  these  vague,  nervous  apprehensions  which 
we  despise,  but  still  feel,  deep  down  in  the  subconscious  self  relics 
of  the  impress  left  by  Indian  horrors  on  oar  ancestors,  so  inef- 
faceable  as  still  to  be  transmitted  to  their  descendants ! 


POEM. 

BT  BOPmA   P.    SNOW. 

Loved  Deerfield;  Franklin's  oldest  child. 
What  memories  round  thee  cling, 

What  daring  deeds  of  pioneers 
Adown  the  oenturies  ring. 

This  peaceful  vale  was  once  the  home 

Of  a  relentless  foe 
Who  ranged,  at  will,  in  these  retreats. 

Back  in  the  long  ago. 

They  roamed  Connecticut's  fair  banks. 

And  loved  its  waters  too, 
Upon  its  crystal  bosom  fished. 

Borne  by  the  birch  canoe. 

But  when  the  white  man  came  to  tiU 

The  long  neglected  soil, 
Tliey  saw  in  him  a  rival,  who 

Their  hunting  ground,  would  spdL 

And  then  a  savage  war  began 

That  lasted  many  3rears; 
A  bloody  age  on  history's  page 

Bedewed  with  scalding  tears. 

Bold  Sugar  Loaf  was  Philip's  throne,* 

Where  he  his  sieges  planned. 
And  then  went  forth  to  execute, 

Assisted  by  his  band. 

Near  by  there  flows  a  little  stream 

Of  which  historians  tell. 
Where  in  a  struggle,  short  but  fierce, 

"The  flower  of  Essex"  fell. 

*  A  mere  poetic  fancy. — Ed. 


Poem.  99 


For  what  the  early  settlers  bore 

At  cruel,  Indian  hands, 
Allied  with  the  Canadian  French^ 

The  name  of  "Williams"  standsl 

Around  the  dwelling's  midnight  blan 
The  savage  danced  and  screamed. 

And  here  the  deadly  tomahawk 
Above  the  captive  gleamed. 

Then  came  the  long  and  dreary  march 
O'er  drifted  N<nthem  snows; 

No  pen,  tho'  dipped  in  ink  of  Uood, 
Its  suffering  could  disclose. 

How  many  deeds  could  be  rehearsed 
At  which  the  heart  would  quail, 

But  with  the  softening  hand  of  time. 
O'er  them,  we  draw  a  veil. 

To-day,  peace  o'er  this  valley  broods. 
The  white  man  reigns  supreme. 

Instead  of  war  whoops,  can  be  heard 
Resoimding  blasts  of  steam. 

The  tiller  of  the  soil  works  not 

In  fear  of  danger  now, — 
One  hand  upon  the  musket  laid, 

The  other,  on  the  plow. 

AH  traces  of  the  dusky  foe 
Have  vanished  with  the  years, 

And  children  immoleeted  play 
Where  died  the  pioneers. 

Where  the  untutored  savage  dwelt. 

Now,  halls  of  learning  rise. 
And  churches  with  their  tapering  Q>ireB 

Point  upward  to  the  skies. 

These  things  are  possible  to  you 
Because  your  fathers  fought 

To  win  for  their  descendants  homes, 
Whose  soil  with  blood  was  bou^t. 

No  crumbling  stone  can  ever  tell 

The  debt  to  them  you  owe. 
But  generations  yet  to  come. 

Through  you  tiieir  deeds  shall  know. 

With  growing  zeal,  you  meet  each  year, 

Around  the  festal  board, 
To  trace  some  hero's  brave  career, 

In  history's  pages  stored. 


100  Annual  Meetmg — 1900. 

Your  fathers  toiled  for  you  with  gun. 
You  toil  for  them  with  pen. 

And  delve  in  records  old  and  dim, 
To  show  their  deeds  to  men. 

Memorial  Hall — Old  Deerfield's  pride — 
Was  christened  at  your  hands. 

Erected  first  as  learning's  seat, 
For  learning  still  it  stands. 

Tis  filled  with  heirlooms  of  the  past. 
With  relics  old  and  rare. 

And  eveiy  room  within  it  shows 
A  guardian's  faithful  care. 

P.  V.  M.  A.,  performs  a  work 
Praise-worthy  and  sublime, 

Whose  good  effects  will  reach  far  down 
The  corridors  of  time. 

The  names  of  Sheldon,  Hitchcock,  Arms, 
Of  Crawford,  Wells  and  Wright, 

With  Thompson,  Baker,  Lincoln,  Smith, 
Blaze  with  a  brilliant  light. 

Ere  long  the  silver  cord  will  break. 
The  thread  of  life  be  spun. 

And  you  will  leave  to  other  hands 
The  work  that  you've  b^un. 

And  when  dear,  faithful,  Mother  Earth, 
Your  sleeping  dust  shall  claim. 

Your  children's  children  will  revere 
Each  member's  honored  namel 


CAPTAIN  AGEIPPA  WELLS. 

BY  J17DGS   F.   M.  THOMPSON. 

Among  all  the  names  of  the  old  patriots  of  the  Bevolation- 
ary  period,  who  resided  in  Greenfield,  none  stands  out  in  bolder 
letters,  or  in  stronger  light,  than  the  name  of  that  sturdy  old 
hero.  Captain  Agrippa  Wells. 

Captain  ''  Grip,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called  by  om*  grand- 
fathers, seemed  to  have  a  firm  hold  upon  the  affections  of  those 
who  were  children  about  the  time  of  the  close  of  the  Eevolu- 
tionary  War.  Three  generations  ago,  whatever  other  afflictions 
the  people  suffered,  they  were  not  troubled  with  a  daily  paper 


Capkdn  Agrijppa  WetU.  101 

with  its  scare-head  news  columns,  filled  with  disgnsting  twad- 
dle about  "  Imperialism^''  "  Goebelism,"  and  other  "  isms,"  fur- 
nished by  paid  reporters,  serving  to  distract  the  public  mind, 
and  occupy  the  time  and  attention  of  the  people ;  and  when  in 
the  long  winter  evenings  the  rural  family  had  gathered  about 
the  light-stand  upon  which  stood  the  tallow  dip,  shedding  its 
soft  light  upon  the  sweet  and  placid  face  of  the  good  wife,  as 
with  the  yam  carefully  wound  around  her  little  finger  she 
knitted  the  woolen  mitten  for  the  youngster  who  nestled  on  the 
hearth  at  her  feet,  putting  up  his  hand  now  and  then  to  ^  try 
it  on,"  while  he  teased  his  grandfather,  who  sat  by  the  glowing 
fire,  for  a  story ;  the  stirring  events  of  the  life  and  times  of 
"  Oaptain  Grip,"  often  became  the  thread  of  that  evening's  story. 

Agrippa  Wells  was  born  in  Deerfield,  November  27,  1738. 
He  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Wells,  a  doctor,  and  his  mother  was 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Deacon  Eliezer  Hawks,  who  was  with  Oap- 
tain Turner  at  the  ^'  Falls  fight,"  and  sister  of  Sergeant  John 
Hawks,  the  ^'  Hero  of  Fort  Massachusetts."  His  grandfather, 
Ebenezer  Wells,  was  one  of  the  first  to  receive  a  grant  of  land 
"  on  Green  river,"  and  his  grandmother  was  Mary,  a  daughter 
of  fighting  old  Sergeant  Ben  Waite,  who  laid  down  his  life  in 
the  "  Meadow  fight."  Very  many  of  the  descendants  of  Hugh 
Wells,  the  emigrant,  bom  in  Essex  County,  England,  and  who 
was  settled  in  Hartford  in  1636,  had  become  celebrated  and  re- 
nowned as  men  of  note  and  influence  in  Colony  affairs,  and  by 
their  brave  deeds  in  Indian  warfare.  Jonathan  Wells,  the  boy 
hero  of  the  Turners  Falls  fight,  was  of  this  blood ;  also  Captain 
Thomas  Wells,  a  renowned  partisan  in  the  Indian  wars,  as  well 
as  Colonel  David  Wells  of  Shelbume,  of  Revolutionary  fame. 
A  large  oak  ^^  chest  and  dmws,"  now  in  our  Memorial  Hall,  was 
a  portion  of  "the  setting  out"  of  Agrippa's  mother,  Sarah 
Hawks.  The  marriage  of  her  father  and  mother,  Eliezer 
Hawks  and  Judith,  daughter  of  William  Smead,  is  the  first 
recorded  in  the  Deerfield  records,  April  30th,  1689. 

Inheriting  such  blood,  bom  when  the  people  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  turmoil  of  Indian  warfare,  and  raised  to  manhood 
during  the  exciting  years  of  the  old  French  war,  it  is  not  strange 
that  we  find  Agrippa  Wells,  before  he  is  twenty  years  old,  a 
member  of  Captain  Burk's  company  of  Massachusetts  Bangers, 
under  the  command  of  that  celebrated  border  chief.  Major  Eog- 
ers,  scouting  upon  the  borders  of  Lake  Champlain. 


102  Annual  Meeting— 1900. 

On  the  35ih  of  June,  1757,  while  on  a  soont  near  Sabbath 
Day  Point,  he,  with  Martin  and  Matthew  Severanoe  of  Deer- 
field,  and  William  Clark,  of  Colrain,  were  made  prisoners  by  the 
Indians,  and  taken  to  Canada.  As  was  customary  with  the 
savages,  the  prisoners  upon  their  arrival  at  the  Indian  villages, 
were  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet. 

All  the  Indians  of  the  village,  forming  in  two  rows,  armed 
with  dubs,  whips,  and  other  weapons,  stand  ready,  and  the 
prisoner  is  compdled  to  run  between  the  lines  and  receive 
such  punishment  as  he  is  unable  to  escape.  Wells  was  greatly 
enraged  because  the  Indians  stripped  him  of  his  own  dothes, 
and  compelled  him  to  wear  the  cast-ofF  chemise  of  an  old 
squaw,  and  being  an  athletic  and  robust  youth,  he  deter- 
mined to  do  his  best,  and  with  a  jump  and  a  whoop,  started 
down  the  line  with  such  a  bold  dash  that  he  so  much  surprised 
the  mob  that  before  they  knew  it  he  had  nearly  reached  the 
goal,  without  receiving  much  punishment,  but  nearing  the  end 
an  old  squaw  gave  him  a  terrible  blow,  which  Wells  returned 
with  such  a  vigorous  kick  in  the  stomach,  that  she  was  sent 
sprawling,  much  to  the  edification  of  the  Indians,  who  thought 
it  a  fine  show  of  pluck,  and  Wells  was  at  once  taken  into  favor. 
He  was  redeemed  from  the  Indians,  taken  to  France  as  a  pris- 
oner of  war,  and  after  some  delay  exchanged,  and  reached 
home  by  the  way  of  England.  He  became  a  resident  of  8hel- 
bume,  at  one  time  owning  the  ^^  Wells  farm  "  and  selling  it  to 
that  CoL  David  Wells  who  came  from  Connecticut  in  1770. 
He  was  one  of  the  selectmen  of  Shelbume  in  1770-'71,  and  was 
captain  of  a  company  of  minutemen  formed  from  men  resid- 
ing in  Shelbume,  Greenfield  and  Bemardston.  He  soon  after 
removed  to  Greenfield,  his  house  being  upon  the  lot  where  now 
stands  the  Franklin  County  Bank  building,  and  his  blacksmith 
shop  stood  upon  the  lot  now  occupied  by  Sanborn's  block. 

There  were  two  military  companies  in  Greenfield  in  1775,  one 
with  its  headquarters  in  the  village,  the  other  located  at  the 
meetinghouse,  now  known  as  "  The  Four  Corners."  When  "  the 
shot  heard  round  the  world  "  was  fired  at  Lexington,  April  19th, 
the  news  reached  Worcester  before  night,  and  early  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  the  excited  messenger,  on  foaming  horse,  rode 
through  Greenfield,  shouting  ^^  to  arms,"  ^^  to  arms,"  ^  meet  in 
Cambridge,"  as  he  urged  his  jaded  steed  onward  to  other 
towns. 


CaptcMn  Agrippa  Welle.  lOS 

The  setting  son  saw  Oaptain  Wells  and  fifty  men  hastUy 
gathered  from  Greenfield,  Bemardston  and  Deerfield,  on  their 
way  to  Cambridge,  their  sools  fall  of  revenge  for  the  death  of 
their  fellow  patriots. 

In  his  roll  call  for  Angost  Ist,  1775,  Captain  Wells  gives  the 
names  of  28  men  from  Greenfield,  22  from  Shelbume,  17  from 
Bemardston,  three  from  If orthfield  and  one  eaoh  from  Haver- 
hill and  Hampton  Falls. 

Attached  to  this  roU  is  a  memorandum,  that  Noah  Wells  of 
Shelbome,  died  May  21st,  1775,  and  in  a  letter  written  home 
he  mentions  that  ^^Noah  Wells  was  bnried  with  regimental 
honors."  His  roU  also  says  that  Tobe  Porter  of  Shelburne, 
died  Jane  16th.  Coald  it  be  that  the  date  given  is  an  error,  and 
that  he  was  one  of  the  victims  of  the  battle  of  Banker  Hill,  the 
17th. 

It  is  not  known  whether  this  company  was  engaged  at  the 
battle  of  Banker  Hill  or  not,  bat  it  is  certain  that  the  command 
was  in  the  immediate  vicinity  that  day  and  with  faU  ranks. 
The  second  Greenfield  company  ander  the  command  of  Captain 
Timothy  Childs,  a  prominent  citizen  of  the  town,  then  living 
on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Timothy  M.  Stoaghton,  Esq.,  near 
Biverside,  marched  for  Cambridge  a  few  days  later.  Both 
Captain  Wells  and  Captain  Childs  received  their  commissions 
from  the  Provincial  government  May  8d,  1776. 

While  Captain  Wells  was  with  hk  company  at  the  siege  of 
Boston,  he  received  a  farloagh  for  a  visit  home.  Bev.  Boger 
Kewton,  the  minister  of  the  town  at  that  time,  was  not  con* 
sidered  a  zealoas  patriot,  to  say  the  least,  and  men  of  the  stamp 
of  Captain  Wells  were  not  well  satisfied  with  his  position  in  re- 
gard to  pabhc  affairs.  When  it  came  to  Mr.  Newton's  ears 
that  Captain  Wells  had  arrived,  he  walked  over  to  get  the  news 
from  Boston.  He  foand  the  Captain  at  tea  and  during  the 
conversation  which  followed,  he  asked,  "What  do  they  in- 
tend to  do  with  the  Tories  i ''  "  Do  with  'em,  do  with  'em," 
said  the  pagnacions  Captain,  bringing  his  fist  down  apon  the 
table  so  hard  as  to  make  the  parson  jump;  "do  with  'em, 
damn  'em,  we  intend  to  hang  the  devils."  Calling  apon  an 
old  friend  in  the  western  part  of  the  town  he  was  invited  to 
drink  tea ;  "  No,"  he  said,  "  I  wonld  as  soon  drink  my  chil- 
dren's blood." 

Captain  Wells  and  his  command  were  present  at  the  battle 


104  Anmud  MeeHng— 1900. 

of  Bennington  andalso  at  the  surrender  of  Bnrgoyne.  He  was 
a  bold,  blnff  man,  bat  an  intense  patriot,  and  he  rendered  most 
▼aloable  service  to  his  coontry,  in  the  '^  time  which  tried  men's 
souls  "  to  the  utmost. 

After  his  return  from  the  war  he  removed  to  that  part  of 
Bemardston  soon  established  as  the  District  of  Leyden,  where 
were  settled  so  many  of  his  old  command.  He  was  select- 
man of  Bemardston  for  several  years  between  1784  and  1791 
and  was  also  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  in 
1788.  At  the  close  of  the  Bevolutionary  War,  great  distress 
and  actual  want  existed  in  the  country,  especially  in  Western 
Itfassachusetts,  and  the  people  complained  bitterly  of  taxes,  the 
refusal  of  the  government  to  issue  paper  money,  the  high  salary 
of  the  governor,  and  especially  the  specific  taxes  levied  to  pay 
the  interest  upon  the  state  debt. 

After  years  of  unrest  and  vain  appeals  to  the  government  for 
relief,  provoked  beyond  measure,  a  large  number  of  the  returned 
soldiers  of  the  Bevolutionary  army  and  younger  men  assem- 
bled in  arms  and,  placing  themselves  under  the  leadership  of 
Daniel  Shays,  a  distinguished  officer  and  patriot,  gathered  at 
the  places  fixed  for  holding  sessions  of  the  courts,  and  by  threats 
prevented  their  sitting,  thus  delaying  the  collection  of  taxes 
and  other  debts.  With  hundreds  of  others  of  his  old  compa- 
triots in  arms.  Captain  Wells  was  convinced  that  he  was  called 
upon  to  fight  a  second  war  tot  independence.  When  the 
rebel  army  assembled  before  the  United  States  Arsenal,  on 
Springfield  Hill,  it  is  not  at  all  strange  to  find  the  command  of 
Captain  Wells  in  the  front  ranks.  When  after  all  efforts  by 
the  government  officers  to  prevent  slaughter  had  failed,  and 
the  rebels  dared  the  government  forces  to  fire.  General  Lin- 
coln gave  the  word  and  one  volley  burst  forth  in  the  faces  of  the 
rebel  ranks,  as  the  smoke  of  battle  cleared  away,  there  stood 
Captain  ^^  Grip,"  almost  alone,  waving  his  sword  and  in  a  voice 
of  thunder,  cursing  his  men — who  had  run  away — for  their 
cowardice  and  shama 

It  speaks  loudly  for  the  popularity  of  the  rebel  cause  in  this 
vicinity,  that  there  was  also  in  the  rebel  ranks  that  day  upon 
the  hill,  another  company  from  Oreenfield,  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Moses  Arms,  composed  of  many  of  the  very  best 
men  of  the  town.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  all  of  the  four  men 
killed  that  day,  and  Challoner,  the  man  who  lost  both  his  arms. 


The  Broom  Com  Industry.  105 

were  from  Greenfield,  Leyden,  Shelbnme  and  Oolrain,  and  they 
were  all  thought  to  be  members  of  Captain  Wells's  company. 
The  writer  is  in  no  position  to  criticise  the  rebel  position,  as 
one  of  his  grandfathers  was  with  General  Lincoln  and  one  with 
Daniel  Shays. 

In  1793,  Captain  Wells  again  became  a  citizen  of  Greenfield, 
living  for  a  time  upon  the  farm  now  the  homestead  of  Mr. 
Charles  W.  Smead,  where  he  had  a  blacksmith  3hop.  He 
married,  September  17th,  1761,  Mehitable,  daughter  of  Jona- 
than Smead,  of  Greenfield,  and  eleven  children  were  bom  to 
them. 

Captain  Wells  died  in  Greenfield,  March  24th,  1809,  and  was, 
it  is  supposed,  buried  in  Greenfield,  but  where  sleeps  the  dust 
of  this  brave  old  patriot,  no  man  knoweth. 


THE  BEOOM  COEN  INDUSTRY. 

IN  THB  00UNTIB8  OF  FBANKUN  AND  HAMPSHIBE,  AND  IN  THB  TOWN 

OF  DBBBFIBLD  IN  PABTIOULAB. 

BY  OHABLSS  JONBS. 

The  Franklin  Herald  and  Public  Advertiser  says  in  its  issue 
of  January  2d,  1827,  that  in  1827  seventeen  hundred  acres  of 
broom  com  were  raised  in  Hampshire  County,  of  which  fifteen 
hundred  acres  were  raised  in  Hatfield  and  Hadley.  The  price 
of  broom  com  at  this  time  varied  from  three  and  a  half  to  six 
cents  per  pound.  According  to  the  Hampshire  Gfizette,  Samuel 
Hopkins  of  Hadley  was  the  first  to  raise  broom  com  in  this  vi- 
cinity, about  1778.  It  became  a  staple  crop  about  1825  in  these 
river  towns,  and  the  amount  raised  increased  steadily  until 
about  1842,  after  which  time  it  became  unprofitable,  and  since 
1855  but  little  has  been  raised  in  Deerfield.  It  was  at  one 
time  a  leading  crop  in  the  towns  of  Deerfield,  Whately,  Hatfield, 
Hadley,  North  Hadley,  Sunderland,  and  to  some  extent  raised 
in  Northfield  and  Montague,  and  was  largely  depended  upon  as 
a  ready  money  crop. 

The  brush  was  manufactured  into  brooms  and  brushes,  and 
sold  in  the  Boston  and  New  York  markets.  But  the  enter- 
prising farmers  often  peddled  the  brooms  in  the  neighboring 


106  Annual  MeeUng— 1900. 

towns,  in  New  Hampshire  and  Yermont,  some  even  taking  their 
products  so  far  as  Canada,  and  Cheny  Yalley  in  the  state  of 
New  York. 

Ahnost  every  farmer  raised  more  or  less  of  the  crop,  and  very- 
many  manufactured  the  brooms.  It  was  grown  upon  the  very 
best  meadow  land,  and  produced  from  six  hundred  to  one 
thousand  pounds  of  brush  to  the  acre,  and  sometimes  even  ex- 
ceeded the  half  ton  to  the  acre.  When  the  seed  was  allowed  to 
fully  ripen,  from  forty  to  eighty  bushels  were  produced  to 
the  acre— or  eight  bushels  of  seed  to  every  hundred  pounds  of 
cleaned  brush. 

In  order  to  raise  a  good  crop  of  broom  com  it  was  necessary 
that  the  land  be  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  well  plowed  and 
pulverized,  then  holed  out  in  hills  about  twenty  inches  apart, 
in  rows  three  feet  distant  from  each  other,  manured  in  the  hill 
with  about  seven  cart-loads  of  good  manure  to  the  acre,  usually 
compost,  which  when  loaded  into  the  cart — ^for  all  farm  work 
was  then  done  with  cattle — was  taken  to  the  field  and  much 
care  taken  to  avoid  driving  across  the  rows,  one  or  two  men 
distributing  the  compost  with  shovels  from  the  tail  end  of  the 
cart,  to  the  hills,  taking  six  rows  at  each  crossing  of  the  field, 
as  being  a  more  convenient  number  of  rows,  each  shovelful  be- 
ing sufficient  for  two  or  three  hills.  When  the  field  was  ma- 
nured, men  foUowed  with  hoes  and  planting  bags  filled  with 
seed,  and  with  the  hoe  covering  with  earth  the  compost  and 
smoothing  down  the  earth,  scattered  thereon  fifteen  or  twenty 
seeds  and  covering  the  same  about  one-half  inch  in  depth  with 
fine  earth  free  from  grass  or  weeds,  leaving  the  result  with 
nature. 

It  took  a  good  smart  man  to  plant  one  acre  of  broom  com  in 
a  day.  When  the  young  plants  were  about  two  inches  high, 
hoeing  began.  The  horse  and  small  harrow  went  back  and 
forward  between  the  rows  of  tender  com,  and  "  the  man  with 
the  hoe  "  followed  cutting  out  all  weeds  and  putting  a  little 
fine  dirt  among  the  small  blades  of  com,  but  not  at  this  time 
thinning  the  number  very  much.  This  work  was  in  ordinary 
seasons  done  about  the  first  of  June,  and  about  the  middle  of 
the  month  came  the  second  hoeing.  Sometimes  an  old-fashioned 
cultivator  was  now  used  between  the  rows,  and  the  number  of 
stalks  left  in  the  hill  were  not  more  than  seven  to  ten,  and  the 
earth  was  slightly  hilled  about  the  com.    Early  in  July  the 


The  Broom  Com  Indvstry.  107 

onltiyator  was  again  put  through  the  field,  and  the  dirt  hilled 
aboat  the  now  fast-growing  com,  which  by  the  first  of  Septem- 
ber had  reached  an  average  height  of  nine  or  ten  feet,  each 
stalk  crowned  with  its  long  tassel  of  brash  richly  laden  with 
seed,  a  most  beantifnl  sight.  If  the  seed  ripens  before  the  frost 
comes,  it  is  ready  to  be  harvested,  bnt  this  must  be  done  before 
frost  touches  it,  whether  the  cane  is  ripe  or  not,  or  its  virtues 
have  departed. 

A  field  of  broom  com  is  harvested  by  breaking  down  the 
stalks  of  each  hill  about  three  feet  from  the  ground,  and  laying 
the  tops  diagonally  across  upon  the  opposite  row  about  tiiree 
hills  in  the  rear,  thus  making  a  continuous  table  of  each  two 
rows.  This  is  called  ^^  tabling,"  and  the  next  operation  in  the 
harvest  is  cutting  off  the  brush,  which  is  accomplished  by  hold- 
ing the  brush  in  one  hand  and  with  a  knife  in  the  other  giving 
just  the  right  drawing  cut,  severing  the  brush  and  leaving  the 
husk  upon  the  stalk,  a  part  of  the  table.  About  ten  inches  of 
the  stalk  is  left  on  the  brush,  and  it  is  spread  evenly,  the  butts 
all  one  way,  upon  the  table  to  dry.  If  good  weather  prevails, 
the  brush  will  be  ready  to  cart  in  three  or  four  days,  and  is 
then  bound  in  small  bundles,  or  piled  loosely  upon  the  cart  and 
taken  to  the  sheds  where  it  is  spread  upon  poles,  or  piled  upon 
some  open  scaffold  about  ten  inches  thick,  where  if  in  proper 
condition  when  brought  from  the  field,  it  will  cure  without 
further  trouble  or  care,  except  perhaps  a  turning  now  and  then 
to  keep  it  from  moalding  in  case  of  muggy  weather. 

When  the  crop  is  thoroughly  dry,  the  brush  is  hetcheled  or 
scraped  to  remove  the  seed,  which  operation  is  sometimes  done 
by  hand  and  sometimes  by  a  machine,  and  the  brush  bound  in 
bundles  of  about  ten  or  twelve  pounds  in  weight,  and  is  then 
ready  for  market,  or  to  manufacture  into  brooms  or  brushes. 
If  destined  for  shipment,  the  bundles  are  made  up  into  suitable 
large  bales,  and  sometimes  sewed  up  in  sacking,  to  prevent  loss 
in  transportation  and  waste. 

After  the  seed  is  removed  it  is  a  slippery  mass  fuU  of  chaff 
and  dirt,  and  is  usually  threshed  with  a  flail,  and  run  through  a 
fanning  mill,  to  make  it  clean  and  marketable.  If  the  seed  is 
ripe  and  good  it  should  weigh  from  thirty-five  to  forty-two 
pounds  to  the  bushel,  and  under  those  conditions  is  thought  by 
some  farmers  to  be  about  equal  in  value  to  oats,  for  feeding 
purposes.    I  well  remember  William  Boss,  who  then  lived  in 


108  Annual  Meeting— 1900. 

what  was  known  as  ^^  Little  Hope ''  but  which  locality  is  now 
known  by  the  dignified  name  of  West  Deerfield,  as  always 
having  large,  fat  hogs,  and  they  were  always  fed  on  broom 
seed ;  this  was  nearly  seventy  years  ago,  and  men  differed  much 
as  to  the  value  of  broom  seed  for  feeding  purposes.  Uncle  Seth 
Sheldon,  David  Sheldon,  Uncle  Balph  and  hosts  of  the  best 
cattle  feeders  of  Deerfield  Street  would  not  permit  its  being  fed 
in  their  barns,  and  Uncle  Seth  would  not  even  let  the  miller 
grind  his  grist  of  provender  the  first  after  he  had  ground  in  the 
mill  a  grist  of  broom  seed.  Horatio  Hoyt,  Sr.,  experimented 
with  broom  seed  as  food  for  hogs  and  neat  stock  without  satis- 
factory results.  He  said  he  fed  broom  seed  to  his  hens  until 
they  ever  after  grew  their  feathers  pointing  toward  their  heads. 

The  market  price  of  broom  brush  has  like  every  other  crop 
produced  upon  our  farms,  had  its  ups  and  downs,  and  seasons  of 
speculation.  In  1835  the  crops  were  many  of  them  sold  stand- 
ing in  the  field  for  from  seventy  to  one  hundred  dollars  an  acre, 
and  as  the  frost  came  early  that  year,  the  crop  was  nearly 
ruined  and  consequently  large  amounts  of  money  were  lost  in 
the  speculation. 

When  the  brush  is  to  be  manufactured  into  brooms  and 
brushes,  it  is  usual  to  bleach  it  with  brimstone.  This  is  done 
by  preparing  a  box  about  eight  feet  long  by  five  feet  in  width 
and  five  feet  in  depth,  inside  of  which  is  a  rack  about  fif- 
teen inches  above  the  ground.  Each  bundle  of  brush  is  then 
soaked  in  a  tub  of  water  and  then  set  in  the  box  upon  the  rack 
and  unbound,  with  the  butts  downward,  the  box  lid  shut  down 
as  nearly  air-tight  as  is  possible,  when  an  old  fashioned  skillet 
is  heated  red-hot  and  introduced  under  the  rack  through  a  hole 
in  the  side  of  the  box,  and  a  roll  of  brimstone  dropped  into  the 
skillet,  immediately  stopping  the  hole.  After  remaining  in  this 
sulphur  bath  for  twenty-four  hours,  the  box  is  opened  and  the 
brush  removed  and  it  is  now  ready  for  use.  Taken  to  the 
broom  shop,  the  brush  is  assorted,  the  long  fine  colored  brush 
selected  for  the  outside  of  the  broom,  and  the  short  and  crooked 
brush  used  for  filling. 

It  was  considered  a  day's  work  to  bleach  and  prepare  the 
brush  and  tie  and  sew  twenty  pound  and  three-quarter  brooms, 
twenty-five  pound  and  a  half  brooms,  thirty  pound  or  pound 
and  a  quarter  brooms,  or  fifty  clothes  brushes,  or  fifteen  half 
handle  fancy  brushes. 


The  Broom  Com  lnd/u9try.  109 

Wire  was  generally  used  for  tying  the  brooms,  but  a  cheaper 
quality  was  tied  with  twine.  While  being  tied  the  broom  is 
nearly  round  or  oval,  but  is  pressed  into  shape  by  a  strong 
screw,  and  made  flat  by  pressing  them  in  a  screwing  machine 
where  the  broom  is  sewed  with  twine,  first  winding  two  different 
strands  around  the  brush  and  sewing  with  a  needle  and  twine 
through  and  through  with  stitches  about  an  inch  apart. 

The  broom  is  then  trimmed  by  cutting  the  brush  evenly  to 
complete  its  shape,  and  any  remaining  seed  is  removed  with  a 
comb.  The  ordinary  broom  is  now  ready  for  market,  but  a 
few  of  the  very  best  are  selected,  the  handles  polished  with 
sandpaper,  varnished  and  fancy  striped,  and  are  for  sale  to 
those  who  can  afford  to  pay  the  extra  expense. 

Sixty  years  ago  there  were  a  good  many  expert  broom  makers 
in  Deerfield,  among  others,  a  colored  man,  deaf  and  dumb, 
named  Calvin  Salisbury,  who  lived  with  Ifajor  Stebbins,  a 
wonderful  broom  maker  who  could  make  a  thousand  brooms 
which  all  seemed  just  alike,  and  No.  1  brooms.  Clet  Leverage 
was  another,  who  could  tie  two  day's  work  in  one  day,  and  kept 
it  up  for  months.  Philander  Dickinson  was  one  of  the  best 
broom  makers  I  ever  knew.  Most  farmers  raising  broom  com 
had  shops,  and  the  brooms  made  here  went  into  all  the  large 
markets,  and  were  sold  all  over  the  country.  Many  went  to 
Canada ;  I  took  a  load  of  brooms  myself  to  Canada  in  1834^ 
which  I  sold  on  Stanstead  Plains,  near  the  home  of  that  Mr. 
Allen  who  married  the  daughter  of  C.  T.  Arms  of  this  town 
and  was  proprietor  of  a  brick  shoe-shop  located  there.  I  have 
also  taken  brooms  to  Springfield  and  Palmer,  before  the  rail- 
roads came  nearer  to  us,  for  shipment  to  the  city  markets. 
Nearly  all  the  brooms  manufactured  in  Deerfield  found  a 
market  in  New  York  City,  and  were  generally  sent  to  commis- 
sion houses  for  sale  for  the  benefit  of  the  shippers. 

It  was  the  custom  in  those  days  for  the  villagers  to  meet  at  the 
tavern  and  talk  over  the  beef  and  broom  markets,  settle  to  their 
own  satisfaction  all  national  questions  troubling  the  public  mind, 
and  incidentally  take  a  little  flip  before  retiring  to  their  homes. 

Among  others  there  was  Elisha  Wells,  living  in  the  Street, 
who  was  a  large  raiser  of  broom  com  and  manufacturer  of 
brooms.  He  had  at  one  time  sent  a  large  lot  of  brooms  to  New 
York  for  sale  on  commission,  and  the  trade  being  dull,  the 
agent  wrote  to  Mr.  Wells  that  he  thought  that  if  he  would  have 


110  Annual  MeeUng— 1900. 

his  brooms  overhanled  and  stain  and  varnish  the  handles,  that 
he  wonld  get  a  quicker  sale  at  better  prices.  Mr.  Wells  con- 
cluded to  go  down  to  the  city  and  do  the  job  himself,  although 
it  was  unusual  to  put  any  finish  upon  the  broom  handles.  When 
he  reached  the  city,  he  found  his  brooms  stored  in  a  large  ware- 
house on  the  top  of  a  large  number  of  hogsheads  of  molasses. 
He  procured  his  sandpaper  and  varnish,  mounted  upon  the  bead 
of  a  molasses  hogshead  and  commenced  his  work,  moving  along 
on  the  hogsheads  as  his  work  proceeded.  One  day  while  busy  at 
work,  his  foundation  gave  way  and  he  found  himself  up  to  his 
neck  in  West  India  molasses.  Getting  cleaned  up,  he  wrote  to 
Major  Stebbins  ^^  that  he  had  been  in  a  sweet  pickle  "  and  giv- 
ing him  a  graphic  account  of  the  affair,  and  asked  him  to  call 
up  all  who  were  at  the  hotel  meeting  ^'  to  take  something  "  and 
he  would  pay  the  bill  when  he  got  home. 

The  manufacture  of  brooms  stimulated  other  business,  and 
especially  the  manufacturing  of  broom  handles.  Almost  every 
day  loads  of  broom  handles  would  pass  through  the  lower  towns 
to  supply  the  demands,  much  to  the  benefit  of  Ashfield,  Col- 
rain,  Wilmington  and  other  towns.  Broom  wire  was  manufac- 
tured at  Hadley  Mills  as  early  as  1825,  and  the  industry  con- 
tinued until  about  1850,  this  being  the  only  wire  mill  in  the 
valley  of  which  I  have  any  knowledge.  There  was  a  wire  used 
more  largely  than  that  made  in  Hadley,  which  was  I  think  of 
English  make,  and  worked  well.  Sewing  machines,  pounders 
and  needles  for  use  m  broom  making  were  made  in  Hadley,  and 
sold  all  through  the  valley. 

The  Shakers  at  Enfield,  Oonnecticut,  began  broom  making  as 
early  as  1830  and  continued  until  about  1855,  making  a  broom 
tied  with  twine  and  with  narrow  shoulders,  which  has  always 
been  known  as  ^^  the  Shaker  broom." 

About  1850  the  farmers  upon  the  western  prairies  began  the 
raising  of  broom  com,  exclusively  for  the  brush.  It  was  of 
larger  growth,  long  and  straight,  cut  while  green,  and  kiln- 
dried,  and  was  much  better  than  the  brush  raised  in  this  valley, 
and  soon  occupied  the  market.  The  brooms  made  from  the 
western  brush  were  of  handsome  color,  the  brush  having  been 
cut  before  ripening,  they  were  a  stronger  and  a  better  broom 
in  every  way,  the  outside  being  covered  with  the  hurls  of  the 
brush  and  no  broom  made  from  native  brush  could  compete 
with  them. 


Reminisoenoe :  Oeorge  Sheldon.  Ill 

Sixty  years  has  made  a  great  ohange ;  the  broom  com  indus- 
try has  left  the  Connecticut  Yalley,  never  to  return,  and  the 
raising  of  tobacco  and  onions  seems  to  have  taken  the  place  of 
broom  com,  as  the  crops  relied  upon  by  the  farmer  for  bringing 
him  ready  money. 

Whether  the  changes  during  the  next  sixty  years  relating  to 
the  industries  of  this  valley  shall  equal  or  exceed  those  of  the 
last  period,  time  alone  will  determine. 


KEMINISOENCE :  GEORGE  SHELDON. 

Mr.  President : — In  the  reports  which  our  friends  of  the  press 
always  give  of  our  annual  meetings  a  statement  is  found  to  this 
effect — that  after  the  heavy  guns  had  been  discharged  there 
followed  a  fusillade  of  small  arms  in  the  shape  of  short  speeches, 
stories,  sharp  shooting  at  short  range,  or  comments  on  the 
papers  of  the  evening  given  by  Messrs.  ^^  Jones,  Smith  and  Rob- 
inson." These  performances  are  usually  characterized  as  bright 
and  witty. 

Among  these  postprandial  speakers  we  all  recall  that  young, 
jovial  octogenarian  of  blessed  memory.  Deacon  Phinehas  Field. 
He  was  the  right-hand  sta£F  of  the  presiding  officer,  to  whom 
he  unconditionally  gave  his  services  to  fill  any  pause  or  acci- 
dental gap,  from  five  minutes  to  an  hour  on  demand.  Drafts 
were  often  made  upon  him  at  such  times,  and  they  were  al- 
ways honored  and  were  always  received  with  satisfaction.  His 
reservoir  of  local  lore  and  anecdote  seemed  inexhaustible.  He 
usually  brought  down  the  house  with  some  funny  story  which 
we  all  saw  twinkling  in  his  eye  long  before  the  climax. 

Then  there  were  the  sallies  and  stories  of  Brother  Finch,  grave 
and  serious  as  befitted  his  cloth,  whose  remarks  were  always 
received  with  a  corresponding  gravity.  Sometimes  pointed  re- 
marks or  detestable  puns  from  the  chair  brought  stirring  re- 
sults. There  was  one  man  whom  it  became  the  fashion  to 
roast  by  allusion  to  the  innocent  little  emblem  of  peace  occupy- 
ing the  same  bed  with  the  king  of  beasts,  varied  occasionally 
by  the  introduction  of  a  wolf ;  until  the  persecuted  man  in  spite 
of  his  Lamb-like  disposition,  called  a  halt  and  declared  that  if 
this  was  not  stopped  he  would  leave  the  fold,  no,  the  field ;  no, 
I  mean  the  hall.    A  final  stop  was  made,  and  it  was  found  that 


112  AnmMl  MeeHnff—^^QOO. 

he  had  other  qualifications  than  his  name  on  which  to  be 
called  up. 

There  were  a  score  of  others  in  the  same  class — Judge  Conant, 
Buckingham,  Crawford,  Crafts,  Crittenden,  Childs,  Hawks, 
Hazen,  Hosmer,  Hall,  Leavitt,  Barney,  Wells,  Felton,  Field, 
Stebbins,  Porter,  Phillips,  Bryant,  Delano,  Tilton,  Champney, 
Bartlett. 

Alas,  how  many  of  these  names  are  now  marked  with  a  star, 
and  on  the  mounds  of  some  the  brown  has  not  yet  turned  to 
green.  Do  not  let  us  here  to-night  forget  the  faces  of  those  of 
our  band  who  have  passed  the  screen,  but  keep  their  memory 
green  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  occasion. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  at  length  reached  the  point  for  which 
I  set  out.  I  do  not  see  here  "  Bobinson ; "  "  Smith  '*  will  be 
commented  on  by  others ;  so  I  devote  my  remarks  to  ^'  Jones," 
and  reminisce  a  while  on  things  called  to  mind  by  the  clear  and 
practical  account  of  the  rise,  progress  and  culmination  of  the 
Broom  to  which  we  have  listened  with  so  much  interest.  The 
broom  shop  especially  wakens  memories  of  the  long,  long  ago. 
There  were,  some  three  score  and  ten  years  since,  about  half  a 
dozen  of  these  shops  on  the  Street  To  some  of  these  I  was  a 
constant  visitor.  There  were  several  strong  attractions :  One 
was  a  fine  market  for  the  molasses  candy,  of  home  manufac- 
ture, which  was  sold  at  one  cent  a  roll,  with  a  piece  of  the 
newspaper  in  which  the  rolls  were  wrapped  thrown  in  for  a 
handle.  This  paper,  by  the  way,  was  taken  from  old  files  in 
the  garret  which  would  now  be  worth  many  times  its  weight 
in  candy. 

Another  attraction,  far  stronger,  which  outlived  the  candy 
season,  and  held  me  fast,  was  the  singing  which  generally 
accompanied  the  various  manipulations  of  the  broom  tyers. 
Hour  after  hour  the  stifling  brimstone  atmosphere  peculiar  to 
the  broom  shop  would  be  cheerfully  endured  while  drinking  in 
the  old  songs  and  ballads  poured  forth  by  the  tuneful  workmen. 
In  that  school  I  acquired  a  love  for  the  ballad  which  still  domi- 
nates all  other  kinds  of  music,  albeit  the  drum  and  fife  is  a 
strong  rival.  John  Trask,  some  of  whose  descendants  I  hope 
now  hear  me,  I  considered  the  very  embodiment  of  vocal  musia 
Beethoven,  Mozart,  etc.,  of  whom  I  have  heard  later,  have 
never  in  my  mind  been  able  to  hold  a  candle  to  John  Trask. 
It  must  be  confessed  that  the  selections  were  not  all  of  the 


Reminiscence:  Oeorge  Sheldon.  113 

highest  order — ^not  all  would  be  tolerated  in  the  modem  conoert 
— and  some  would  be  tolerated  only  in  the  last  stages  of  a 
Greenfield  dub  banquet  or  a  stag  supper. 

The  main  charm  to  me  was  the  plidntive  melodies  which  told 
the  affecting  tales  of  the  woes  and  sorrows  of  the  forlorn  maidens 
and  lovelorn  youths ;  the  hair-raising  lays  of  love  and  murder, 
the  songs  of  war  and  the  rollicking  songs  of  the  sea.  Another 
phase  was  the  medley  of  joke  and  fun  when  parts  of  the  songs 
were  ^^  spoken."  Some  that  I  recall  are :  A  Life  on  the  Ocean 
Wave,  AU  in  the  Downs,  The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,  The  Peacock 
and  Hornet,  Exile  of  Erin,  Poor  Susan,  Crazy  Jane,  Billy  Boy, 
Lord  Lovell,  Poor  Old  Horse,  Dame  Derden,  Betsy  Baker,  Over 
the  Water  to  Charlie,  The  Blue  Bonnets  are  Over  the  Border, 
Cease  Bude  Boreas,  The  Bride's  Farewell,  The  Isle  of  St.  Helena, 
and  so  on. 

This  shop  was  on  the  home  lot  of  ^^  Uncle  Baxter,"  in  these 
later  years  my  own  delightful  home.  At  the  shop  of  '^  Uncle 
Dennis,"  the  chief  attraction  besides  the  profit  on  candy,  was 
to  watch  the  deft  workmanship  and  the  mimicry  of  deaf  and 
dumb  black  ^^  Cab."  *  His  manual  dexterity  in  fitting  on  the 
^^  outside  "  of  a  broom  seemed  marvelous.  The  lightning-like 
stroke  of  his  sharp  broom-knife  with  which  he  trimmed  a  hand- 
ful of  the  stalks  for  the  fine  braiding  on  the  handle,  three  cuts 
to  a  stalk,  each  one  of  which  it  seemed  must  take  off  a  finger, 
then  a  swift  turn  of  the  wrist,  and  the  whole  was  in  place  under 
the  binding  wire  in  a  trice.  Of  this  we  never  tired.  His  talk 
with  his  fingers  and  his  work  with  his  fingers  were  alike 
fascinating. 

I  recall  another  attractive  scene  in  another  department  of  the 
business,  the  process  of  separating  the  seed  from  the  husk,  or 
hetcheling.  It  was  rather  a  rude  parting,  and  a  sort  of  subtle, 
plaintive  fragrance  arose  from  the  bruised  haulms,  and  filled 
the  bam  as  with  incense.  The  pungent  broom-dust  also  per- 
vaded the  air  with  its  itch-provoking  sensation,  but  this  did  not 
bar  us  out. 

Lance  Loveridge  and  Nels  Bumham  made  a  business  of 
hetcheling  broom  com  in  its  season,  and  they  were  a  curiously 
assorted  firm.  Lance  wore  no  hat  and  his  dark,  bushy  hair  was 
always  covered  with  a  coat  of  gray  dust.  Nels  wore  a  hat  of 
coarse  braided  rye  straw,  the  top  usually  gone  and  the  brim  in 

*  Calvin  Salisbury.    See  ante  p.  109. 

8 


114  Annual  MeeUnff— 1900. 

tatteors.  No  dost  ever  settled  on  that— his  head  was  never 
still  enough.  His  motions  were  as  quick  as  a  oat's,  and  as 
jerl^  as — ^well,  more  jerl^  than  anything  I  can  think  of,  unless 
it  be  an  old-fashioned  fanning  mill  or  Charles  Jones  driving  his 
team.  The  seed  flew  to  the  rafters,  and  his  tongue  kept  pace 
with  his  motions;  he  talked  incessantly  the  livelong  day. 
Lance,  on  the  contrary,  was  the  personification  of  moderation ; 
his  strokes  were  as  regular  as  the  swing  of  the  pendulum,  every 
pull  told,  and  the  seed  fell  gently  on  the  pile.  His  motions 
never  varied  except  to  turn  his  head  occasionally  to  discharge 
a  jiU  or  two  of  tobacco  juice  from  his  mouth.  As  for  the  rest. 
Lance  rarely  spoke  a  single  word  from  sun  to  sun,  and  took  no 
more  notice  of  his  chattering  companion  than  if  he  had  been  in 
the  moon.  When  enough  brush  was  cleaned  to  make  a  bundle 
it  was  bound  tightly  with  brush  that  had  grown  crooked.  I 
can  hear  the  chuck  when  the  bundle  was  dropped  on  the  bam 
floor  to  even  the  butts. 

Thinking  of  the  broom  era  always  brings  up  another  picture. 
It  is  of  the  wide  area  of  the  growing  plant  in  North  Meadows. 
A  bird's-eye  view  in  August  showed  broad  expanses  of  waving 
green  turning  to  a  reddish  brown  with  here  and  there  dark, 
narrow  ditches.  These  ditches  were  highways.  We  cultivated 
the  land  by  general  consent  dear  up  to  the  wheel  ruts.  If 
teams  met  care  was  taken  to  pass  with  as  little  damage  as 
possible. 

The  particular  event  that  comes  uppermost  is  the  carting  of 
rowen  from  the  Neck  and  Pogues  Hole  through  Great  Bottom 
where  the  serried  rows  of  this  com  were  in  their  prime.  The 
driver  of  the  ox  team  must  walk  beside  the  yoke  in  the  rat  or 
be  tripped,  while  the  load  of  hay  brushed  the  caps  of  the  tall 
grenadier-like  ranks  on  either  side.  While  riding  on  the  ten- 
foot  high  loads  your  President  has  often  pulled  up  a  stalk  with 
with  which  to  brush  flies  from  the  oxen. 

But  I  must  stop  this  stream  of  talk  for  fear  you  may  compare 
it  to  Tennyson's  Brook  and  wish  it  might  be  dammed. 


FIELD  MEETING— 1900. 


FIELD  MEETING 


OF  THB 


POOUMTUOK  VALLEY  MEMORIAL  ASSOCLA.TION, 

AT  BIYBBSIDB,  GILL,  MA88.,  WEDNB8DAT,  8BPTBMBBJB  12,  1900. 


MosjsnNo  Pboosammb,  10  ▲.  m. 

1.  Pbaybb.  Rev.  L3nman  Whiting 

2.  Music.  Turners  Falls  Quartette 
8.  Addbsss  of  Wsloomb,  and  Presentation  of  Title  Deed. 

Timothy  M.  Stoughton,  of  GiU 

4.  Rbsponsb,  and  Aoobptanob  of  Gift.    Hon.  George  Shel- 

don, President  of  P.  V.  M.  A. 

5.  Papbb.    By  Miss  Rowena  Buell,  of  Marietta,  Ohio ;  read 

by  Mrs.  Laura  B.  Wells,  of  Deerfield. 

6.  HisTOBioAL  Addbess.       Ralph  M.  Stoughton,  of  Riverside 

7.  Collation — Basket  picnic  style.    Coffee  furnished. 

Aftbbnoon  Pboobaiocb,  2  p.  m« 

8.  Music.  Turners  Falls  Quartette 

9.  Addbbss.        Hon.  George  P.  Lawrence,  M.  C,  of  North 

Adams. 

10.  Music. 

11.  Addbbss.  Hon.  Herbert  C.  Parsons,  of  Greenfield 

12.  Spbakino  by  M^xibers  of  the  Association  and  others. 

13.  Smemo  of  Ambbica.    All  join. 

115 


116  Field  MeeUnff—1900. 


KEPOET. 

The  &moii8  old  ground  of  the  battle  between  Captain  Wil- 
liam Tomer  and  the  Indians,  224  years  ago,  has  been  the  soene 
to-day  of  a  most  interesting  historical  meeting,  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association*  The 
special  occasion  is  the  dedication  of  a  monument  built  under 
the  encouragement  of  the  Association  to  mark  the  scene  of  the 
battle,  and  the  delivery  and  acceptance  of  land  given  by  Timo> 
thy  M.  Stoughton,  which  has  the  same  historic  value. 

To  the  activity  and  enthusiasm  of  Mr.  Stoughton  we  largely 
owe  the  placing  of  this  massive  memorial  The  inscription  is 
also  his. 

The  monument  is  a  rectangular  shaft  of  granite  three  feet 
square  and  five  feet  high,  cut  only  on  the  comers  and  on  the 
ftice,  which  bears  the  inscription.  It  stands  in  a  triangle  formed 
by  crossing  roads,  and  it  is  a  fitting  and  enduring  mark  of  the 
scene  of  a  most  tragic  event  in  Indian  days.  The  inscription 
reads  as  follows : 

"  Captain  William  Turner,  with  145  men,  surprised  and  de- 
stroyed over  300  Indians,  encamped  at  this  place,  May  19, 
1676." 

The  land  on  which  the  monument  stands  has  become  by  to- 
day's formal  presentation  and  acceptance,  a  reservation  forever. 
It  is  given  the  Association  by  Mr.  Stoughton,  being  a  part 
of  the  large  tract  of  land  owned  by  him.  Mr.  Stoughton 
has  had  a  lifelong  interest  in  the  development  of  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  region,  and  this  contribution  to  the  public,  as  repre- 
sented by  the  Association,  is  regarded  as  generous  and  appreda- 
tive  of  the  society's  work. 

The  exercises  began  shortly  after  10  this  morning.  The 
physical  comfort  of  the  people  attending  was  marred  some- 
what by  the  terrific  wind,  carrying  a  burden  of  dust  as  it 
swept  over  the  plain.  The  picturesqueness  of  the  place  suffered 
somewhat,  too,  by  the  river  having  ceased  to  flow  over  the  falls 
where  it  carried  the  helpless  Indians,  frightened  to  their  death 
by  Captain  Turner's  onslaught.  The  bed  of  the  river  is  dry, 
only  pools  of  lifeless  water  relieving  the  stretch  of  ragged 
rocks.  But  these  conditions  did  not  destroy  interest  in  the  ex- 
ercises. 


Field  Meeting— 1900.  117 

A  temporary  platform  had  been  erected  on  land  near  tiie 
monument,  and  it  was  draped  with  bunting.  Here  were  seated 
the  speakers,  and  from  this  rostram  they  addressed  the  audi- 
ence, which  numbered  about  300  at  the  opening,  and  steadily 
increased  through  the  morning.  The  venerable  president,  Hon. 
Oeorge  Sheldon,  was  present  and  able  to  direct  the  morning 
proceedings,  but  at  noon  turned  over  the  presiding  task  for 
the  rest  of  the  day  to  Hon.  F.  M.  Thompson,  the  Association's 
vice-president.  Mr.  Sheldon  made  a  short  opening  speech. 
Then  there  was  music,  a  quartette  consisting  of  Mrs.  F.  E. 
Briggs,  Mrs.  Leal  Fales,  Miss  Esther  Gilmore  and  Miss  Jose- 
phine Coyne,  singing  ^^  Kerry  Dance "  in  opening  and  other 
songs  at  times  during  the  exercises. 

T.  M.  Stoughton,  in  presenting  the  deed  of  the  land,  made  an 
interesting  address,  enriched  by  anecdote  and  the  dry  humor 
of  which  he  is  a  master.  Mr.  Stoughton  expressed  great  pleas- 
ure in  turning  over  to  the  Association  the  land  which  had  a 
value  chiefly  in  its  connection  with  the  early  history  of  the 
valley  frontier.  Mr.  Sheldon  accepted  the  gift  for  die  Asso- 
ciation and  read  an  extended  paper,  going  over  the  historical 
bearings  of  the  event  of  1676. 

A  valuable  paper  by  Miss  Eowena  Buell  of  Marietta,  Ohio, 
was  read  by  Mrs.  Laura  B.  Wells  of  Deerfield.  Then  followed 
the  historical  address  by  the  orator  of  the  day,  Kalph  M. 
Stoughton,  a  grandson  of  the  donor  of  the  land.  Mr.  Stoughton 
proved  himself  a  thorough  student  of  the  history  of  the  Indian 
war,  which  the  event  commemorated,  and  presented  the  story 
in  a  most  attractive  form. 

The  people  who  attended  brought  their  lunch  baskets  after  the 
established  fashion  of  the  Pocumtuck  field  days,  but  the  women 
of  Biverside  displayed  their  hospitality  by  providing  an  attrac- 
tive hall  for  the  dhiers  and  adding  hot  coffee  to  their  refresh- 
ment. 

After  the  luncheon,  at  2  o'clock,  the  historic  exercises  were 
resumed.  Judge  Thompson  presiding. 

Congressman  George  P.  Lawrence  of  North  Adams  delivered 
the  principal  address  of  the  afternoon.    He  said  in  part : 

^^  Such  memorials  as  you  are  dedicating  are  an  inspiration  to 
good  citizenship.  They  commemorate  the  struggles  of  the 
pioneer,  the  heroic  devotion  which  makes  the  New  England  of 
to-day  a  reality.    There  is  one  bright  particular  spot  on  the 


118  Meld  Meeting— 1900. 

miiyerse  to  be  bom  in,  and  that  is  among  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  Massachusetts,  and  espeoiaUy  that  part  of  Massachusetts 
which  lies  west  of  the  Connecticut  Biver. 

^^A  short  time  ago  I  visited  the  shores  of  the  great  lakes  and 
was  impressed  with  the  marvelous  growth  of  that  region  from 
Buffalo  to  Duluth.  But  what  impressed  me  more  than  any- 
thing else  was  the  reverence  in  which  the  people  of  the  West 
hold  New  England  and  how  proud  they  are  to  trace  their 
ancestry  or  birth  to  her  soil.  The  pilgrim  from  the  West  when 
he  visits  Massachusetts  seeks  out  her  historic  places.  He  loves 
to  visit  Faneuil  Hall,  Bunker  Hill  and  Concord  Bridge.  He  loves 
to  gaze  upon  the  monuments  which  mark  the  spots  where  scenes 
in  the  early  history  of  America  were  enacted. 

^^  It  is  a  duty  to  mark  with  monuments  these  sacred  places. 
On  such  spots  we  pledge  ourselves  to  be  true  to  our  great 
heritage,  that  we  will  suffer  if  need  be  in  the  cause  of  citizen- 
ship that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  may  never  be  lowered  in  dis- 
honor." 

Mr.  Lawrence  in  his  speech,  which  was  particularly  happy, 
expressed  his  delight  in  renewing  his  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memo- 
rial Association  acquaintance  and  referred  to  the  pleasure  given 
him  at  previous  field  meetings.  Following  him,  there  was  a  suo- 
cession  of  short  speeches,  with  music  interspersed. 

Dr.  Holton  made  an  interesting  address.  He  is  gratefully 
remembered  by  all  the  friends  of  the  Association  for  his  work 
when  the  Association  field  day  was  held  at  Fort  Dummer,  near 
Brattleboro,  some  years  ago.  Dr.  Holton  claims  descent  from 
the  fighting  stock  of  Massachusetts  pioneers.  He  said  that  we 
live  in  an  age  when  the  young  pay  little  attention  to  some  of 
the  important  matters  of  the  past.  This  is  to  be  greatly  re- 
gretted. It  is  wise  to  commemorate  the  virtues,  courage  and 
deeds  of  our  ancestors.  Dr.  Holton  created  considerable  amuse- 
ment by  a  story  that  he  told  at  the  expense  of  Judge  Thompson, 
the  presiding  officer  of  the  afternoon. 

Hon.  H.  C.  Parsons  said :  "  We  stand  on  one  of  the  places 
where  men  displayed  the  valor  that  made  possible  our  New 
England  life  of  to-day.  The  men  who  lay  down  their  lives 
in  such  a  struggle  as  this,  did  it,  not  simply  for  the  mere 
immediate  achievement,  but  to  make  possible  the  realization  of 
some  great  truth.  They  played  a  part  in  the  great,  tragic  story 
of  the  making  of  New  England.    In  such  deeds  as  this  whidi 


CofpUm/a   WiUiam  Turner.  119 

we  commemorate,  the  f omidations  of  New  England  were  laid 
gare  and  deep.  The  principle  of  free  government  was  defended 
here  by  these  men,  even  if  unconsciously.  This  Association  re- 
gards as  a  sacred  trust  every  such  memorial  placed  in  its  care, 
and  may  many  other  historic  spots  in  this  section  be  also  suitably 
marked  and  may  this  Association  frequently  meet  to  pay  its 
tribute  to  such  men  as  those  commemorated  here." 

He  told  several  stories  which  greatly  pleased  the  audience. 
He  said  that  ^*  the  monument  erected  at  Eiverside,  like  that  at 
Bunker  Hill,  marked  a  defeat.  But  it  was  a  defeat  which  led 
to  grand  results.  It  is  because  of  the  results  which  followed 
that  battle  that  it  is  worthy  of  being  commemorated.  On  the 
battlefields  of  colonial  days,  the  struggles  of  the  Revolution, 
the  conflicts  of  the  Civil  War  made  possible  the  American  nation 
of  to^y.  When  the  census  tells  us  that  80  per  cent  of  the 
population  of  Massachusetts  are  of  foreign  birth,  we  do  not 
shudder ;  we  know  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts  will  remain 
true  to  her  ideals,  and  that  the  heroic  events  of  her  early  history 
have  stamped  for  all  time  the  character  of  her  people." 

The  exercises  closed  with  the  singing  of  "  America." 


CAPTAIN  WILLIAM  TURNER. 

BY  GBOBGB  SHELDON. 

Mr.  Chairmcm  and  FeUow-Citizena  of  OiU : — As  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Focumtuck  Valley  Memorial  Association,  I 
thank  you  for  your  invitation  to  join  in  the  duties  of  this  day, 
and  for  your  cordial  welcome.  We  thank  you  for  your  kindly 
mention  of  Deerfield,  the  grandmother  of  GilL  It  is  in  accord- 
ance with  nature  and  custom  that  the  grandmother  and  grand- 
daughter should  be  in  closer  connection  than  the  mother  and 
daughter.  There  is  more  leisure  in  the  extremes  than  in  the 
stress  of  life,  and  I  hope  the  daughters  of  Deerfield, — Greenfield, 
Conway  and  Shelburne, — will  not  feel  slighted  if  the  hospitalities 
of  OiU  are  more  often  accepted. 

This  is  our  fourth  visit.  I  hope  each  has  been  as  agreeable 
to  you  as  it  has  been  profitable  to  us ;  to  you,  sir,  personally, 
thimks  are  due  for  especial  favors,  and  this  deed  is  the  culmina- 
tion of  many  good  acts. 


130  Fidd  Meeting— 1900. 

Yea  live  on  classic  groand.  Nowhere  in  New  England  was 
there  a  more  vital  question  of  the  seventeenth  century  finally 
settled : — Should  the  Indian  or  the  Englishman  dominate  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut  ?  Two  thoughts  are  naturally  engen- 
dered when  one  stands  upon  this  spot.  Your  soil  drank  the 
blood,  and  from  it  you  turn  up  the  bones  and  the  belongings  of 
an  extinct  people ;  and  the  name  of  Turner  persistently  smites 
the  ear  from  your  thundering  waters.  The  two  ideas  thus 
brought  to  the  front  will  find  some  brief  expression  in  what  I 
shall  say  in  introducing  the  exercises  of  the  occasion. 

First,  I  will  touch  upon  the  events  which  led  up  to  the  tragedy 
enacted  here  in  the  dim  light  of  a  May  morning,  two  and  a 
quarter  centuries  ago,  the  culminating  point  of  the  antagonistic 
elements  of  the  two  races  in  contact ;  the  land  seeking  forces  from 
crowded  Europe,  and  the  native  land  holding  forces,  scattered 
up  and  down  the  banks  of  this  noble  river. 

Once  planted  on  the  soil  of  New  England,  the  Pilgrim  and 
Puritan  alike  recognized  the  landed  rights  of  the  copper-colored 
occupant  and  passed  laws  protecting  him  from  encroachment. 
No  white  man  could  take  possession  of  any  tract  of  land  with- 
out the  written  consent  of  the  native  owner.  And,  more,  a 
heavy  penalty  was  imposed  upon  any  who  should  buy,  or  even 
accept  as  a  gift  any  territory  without  the  consent  of  the  colonial 
authorities.  Even  long  leases  were  forbidden,  thus  guarding 
against  the  well  known  tendency  of  civilized  men  to  acquire 
land  without  too  closely  scrutinizing  the  method.  These  laws 
were  by  no  means  a  dead  letter.  We  nowhere  find,  before  the 
Indian  wars  any  colony  settling  a  new  plantation  without  ex- 
tinguishing the  Indian  title.  To  be  sure  in  our  eyes  the  con- 
sideration was  small,  and  we  have  the  right  to  think  the  native 
did  not  fully  realize  the  result  of  his  act.  That  the  Indian  knew 
the  general  effect  of  the  bargain  is  proved  by  the  simple  fact 
that  the  Sachem  who  made  the  sale  claimed  the  tract  conveyed 
as  his  own  against  all  others  of  his  race.  The  right  of  conquest 
was  also  fully  understood  and  acted  upon. 

When  we  come  to  consider  then  how  came  about  the  bloody 
conflict  of  arms,  we  must  seek  other  causes  than  landed  ag- 
gression. But  we  can  point  to  no  one  event,  no  one  act,  no  par- 
ticular time  and  say  here  lies  the  cause.  The  inevitable  colli- 
sion came  from  the  contact  of  the  unsophisticated  native  with 
the  avaricious,  unscrupulous  frontiersman,  half  scout  and  half 


Cafiaw   WWAamh  Tu/mer.  121 

trader.  The  entioing  Are-water  was  exchanged  for  the  furs  of 
the  native  hunter,  and  the  more  befaddled  the  Indian,  the  bet- 
ter the  bargain  for  the  white  man.  The  simple  child  of  nature 
could  not  retain  his  manhood  before  the  temptations  and  vices 
of  the  so-called  civilization,  and  he  became  debased  in  his  own 
eyes.  The  contempt  of  the  dominant  race  for  these  ^^  children 
of  the  devil"  was  but  thinly  veiled,  and  the  thousand  and  one 
acts  by  which  it  was  manifested,  were  felt  by  the  recipients, 
and  they  were  galled  by  their  own  acknowledged  inferiority 
until  the  fires  of  enmity  began  to  take  the  place  of  the  feeling 
of  awe  and  admiration  with  which  the  stranger  was  first 
greeted. 

The  blundering  attempt  to  enforce  the  civil  laws  of  the 
colony  upon  the  f reebom  child  of  the  wild-woods,  even  to  the 
keeping  of  the  Puritan  Sabbath,  was  sadly  out  of  place,  and 
only  added  little  by  little  fuel  to  the  concealed  volcano.  The 
feeling  of  hatred  for  the  white  man  kept  pace  with  their  own 
degradation,  and  as  the  years  went  by,  the  desire  for  vengeance 
on  the  intruder  gradually  became  a  smoldering  fire,  awaiting 
but  an  opportunity  to  become  a  withering  flame.  As  you  all 
know,  the  far-sighted  Philip  of  Pokanoket  grasped  the  situation 
and  applied  the  incendiary  torch  to  this  fuel  of  discontent,  and 
the  fires  of  vengeance  burst  forth  at  Swansea  in  June,  1675. 
The  dreadful  scenes  enacted  in  the  Connecticut  valley  later  in 
that  year  are  familiar  to  you  all.  The  spring  campaign  of  1676 
was  opened  by  the  Nipmucks  at  Lancaster,  February  10.  The 
fire  of  destruction  blazed  aU  along  the  towns  circling  about  Bos- 
ton, and  its  light  reflected  consternation  if  not  despair  from  the 
faces  of  our  rulers, — the  Indians  fairly  terrorized  that  region. 
A  panic  seized  Boston,  and  active  measures  were  taken  to  save 
the  head  of  the  colony,  though  it  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  its  west- 
em  towns. — ^But  I  anticipate. 

Philip  from  his  winter  quarters,  "towards  Albany,"  had 
crossed  the  Green  Mountains,  and  was  at  Northfield  before  the 
flrst  of  March,  1676.  Hostilities  in  the  Connecticut  valley  be- 
gan March  14,  with  a  fruitless  attempt  on  Northampton  and 
Hatfield,  by  a  force  from  the  camp  of  Philip.  As  the  spring 
advanced,  insulting  positions  were  occupied  by  the  boastful 
Indians  on  the  Pocumtuck  at  Cheapside,  and  at  this  place. 
Hundreds  of  acres  of  com  were  planted  on  the  meadows,  and  a 
year's  stock  of  salmon  and  shad  was  being  cured  and  stored  in 


122  Mdd  Meetinff^lQOO. 

convenient  underground  bams.  When  their  spring  work  was 
done,  the  hated  white  man  was  to  be  swept  from  the  valley, 
and  as  we  shall  see  the  governor  and  council,  were  practically, 
if  unwittingly,  aiding  and  abetting  Philip  in  his  plans.  A  dark 
shadow  loomed  over  the  settlements  below. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Capt.  William  Turner  appeared 
on  the  scene  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  in  this  part  of 
the  colony  to  frustrate  the  well  laid  plans  of  the  enemy,  save 
the  settlements,  and  impress  his  name  on  the  spot  we  this  day 
commemorate  so  long  as  grass  grows  and  water  runs. 

Who  was  this  Capt.  Turner  who  gave  his  life  to  save  our 
fathers  with  their  wives  and  children  from  the  tomahawk  and 
scalping  knife  {  This  is  a  fit  question  to  be  asked,  and  I  will 
hastily  outline  such  answer  as  I  may,  oonoeming  this  true  pa. 
triot  and  soldier,  this  man  of  the  hour ! 

Capt.  Turner  is  first  heard  of  at  Dartmouth,  England.  His 
name  does  not  appear  in  Drake's  or  Bouton's  lists  of  inmii- 
grants ;  he  was  doubtless  in  the  great  rush  of  the  thousands 
who  crowded  the  west-bound  ships  from  1630  to  1640.  He  is 
found  at  Dorchester  in  1642;  was  freeman  and  of  course  a 
member  of  the  Puritan  Church  there,  in  1643 ;  he  is  in  1646  a 
landowner  in  a  certain  inclosed  meadow  and  in  a  dispute  con- 
cerning lines  and  fences  he  is  one  of  those  who  agree  to  leave 
its  settlement  to  arbitration ;  in  1652  he  was  elected  on  a  board 
of  town  officers  with  Major  General  Humphrey  Atherton. 
This  connection  with  the  Atherton  family  was  continued  when 
Bev.  Hope,  son  of  Humphrey,  minister  of  Hatfield,  was  made 
chaplain  of  the  expedition  to  this  place.  You  will  recall  the 
pathetic  story  of  the  chaplain,  relating  to  the  disasters  and  suf- 
ferings which  befell  him  on  the  retreat.  In  1661  Turner  was 
chosen  "  Bayliflfe,"  an  office  answering,  I  suppose,  to  our  deputy 
sheriff,  and  reelected  in  1662.  It  appears  from  the  offices  he 
held  that  Turner  was  a  man  of  some  note  in  Dorchester ;  by 
his  submission  of  a  dispute  to  arbitration  he  seems  to  be  a  man 
of  peace ;  judging  from  subsequent  events  we  conclude  he  was 
active  in  military  affairs.  A  large  number  of  Turners  appear 
early  in  the  colony  but  I  do  not  connect  our  subject  with  any 
of  theuL  He  married  after  1647,  Mary,  widow  of  John  Pratt  of 
Dorchester ;  in  1671  he  had  a  wife  named  Frances ;  a  third  wife 
was  the  young  widow  of  Key  Alsop,  of  Boston,  who  is  named  in 
his  will  of  February  16,  1676.    In  this  will  he  also  mentions  sons 


Captain  WWAwin  Turner.  123 

and  daughters,  but  we  have  a  meager  aoooiint  of  his  children. 
His  son  William  was  with  him  in  the  army,  but  was  not  in  the 
action  here.  A  grandson,  William  Turner,  inherited  his  share 
of  the  grant  at  Falltown.  No  reason  appears  for  the  removal 
of  Capt.  Turner  from  Dorchester,  but  he  is  found  in  Boston  in 
1665,  where  a  few  years  later  he  is  put  on  trial  in  the  courts,  is 
convicted,  fined  and  for  many  long  months  he  languished  in 
Boston  jail.  As  we  are  not  in  the  habit  of  thinking  of  our  hero 
as  a  ^'  jail  bird,"  let  us  take  some  time  to  consider  the  circum- 
stances of  his  imprisonment. 

AU  agree  that  our  fathers  were  driven  from  England  because 
they  insisted  on  thinking  for  themselves,  and  they  established 
themselves  where  they  could  worship  God  after  the  dictates  of 
their  own  consciences.    But — 

Aye,  call  it  holy  ground, 

The  spot  where  first  they  trod. 
They  left  unstidned  what  there  they  found, 

Freedom  to  worship  Qod: — 

was  not,  alas,  written  of  the  Puritan  at  Boston,  but  of  the  Pil- 
grim at  Plymouth.  The  Puritan  was  for  freedom  of  thought, 
with  only  this  proviso,  that  all  thoughts  and  acts  must  be  in 
exact  accord  with  the  established  creed  and  the  ecclesiastical 
laws  which  were  the  work  of  the  ministers.  To  state  it  broadly, 
but  truly,  John  Cotton  ruled  the  ministers,  the  ministers  ruled 
the  magistrates  and  the  magistrates  made  and  enforced  the  law, 
ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civiL 

Now  it  happened  that  some  men,  who  did  their  own  think- 
ing and  saw  things  not  seen  through  the  spectacles  of,  say,  John 
Cotton,  came  to  the  front  with  the  question  of  the  true  form  of 
baptism.  All  agreed  upon  the  necessity  of  the  rite,  but  the 
form  of  it,  there  was  the  rub !  Should  it  be  sprinkling  or  dip- 
ping ?  The  Puritans  said  sprinkling  for  all,  infants  and  adults. 
Others  said  dipping,  and  for  adults  only ;  both  finding  sufficient 
Scripture  warrant  to  back  them.  On  this  thin,  watery  line  the 
battle  raged.  According  to  the  regulars  the  newborn  babe 
must  be  carried  to  the  fireless  meetinghouse  the  first  Sunday  of 
its  earthly  career,  be  it  summer  or  winter,  to  receive  the  seal 
of  salvation.  The  protestant  stood  up  and  turned  his  back 
when  the  rite  was  administered  or  walked  quietly  out  of  the 
house.  This  was  the  extent  of  the  protest.  They  did  not,  like 
some  Quakers,  appear  in  the  broad  aisle  clothed  in  sackcloth 


124  Fidd  Mee^—1900. 

and  ashes,  or  in  no  cloth  at  all,  to  denounoe  tiie  minister  to  hk 
face ;  but  their  acts  were  called  a  "  prophane  trick,"  "  unrever- 
ent  carriage,"  a  "  disturbance  of  wordiip,"  and  Capt.  Turner 
and  the  others  were  called  to  account  therefor.  To  settle  the 
matter  quietly  the  dissenters  concluded  to  not  only  walk  out  of 
the  meetinghouse  but  out  of  the  church  communion.  From 
bad  to  worse,  they  were  summoned  before  the  church  and 
solemnly  ^^  admonished."  This  being  ineffectual  to  deter  them 
from  their  purpose  the  offenders  were  haled  before  a  civil  court 
and  fined  for  nonattendance  on  divine  service.  The  fines  were 
paid,  but  they  found  their  attempted  secession  easier  to  contem- 
plate than  to  execute.  They  were  not  allowed  to  live  quietly 
in  the  church  or  peaceably  withdraw  from  it. 

However,  May  25,  1665,  Thomas  Gould,  William  Turner, 
Edward  Drinker  and  six  others  organized  a  Baptist  church  in 
Charlestown. 

They  were  not  disturbed  while  the  King's  commissioners  were 
in  Boston,  ready  to  hear  any  complaints  against  the  civil  or  ec- 
clesiastical authorities ;  but  it  became  noised  about  that  the  Bap- 
tists had  organized  a  church,  and  ^^  Set  up  a  Lecture  at  Edward 
Drinker's  house  once  a  fortnight."  August  21,  the  constable 
was  ordered  to  search  out  the  place  where  these  people  met, 
and  order  them  to  attend  the  established  worship,  although 
they  had  already  been  excommunicated  from  the  church  in 
Charlestown.  These  measures  having  no  effect,  in  September, 
1665,  they  were  brought  before  the  Court  of  Assistants.  They 
offered  in  their  defense,  a  passage  from  a  letter  written  by 
Bev.  John  Robinson,  pastor  of  the  famous  church  of  Leyden, 
— who  gave  chapter  and  verse — as  the  charge  of  Christ  to  the 
Apostles : — ^^  The  Sacrement  of  Baptism  is  to  be  administered 
by  Christ's  appointment,  and  the  apostles  example,  only  to  such 
as  are,  externally,  so  far  as  men  can  judge,  taught  and  made 
dedples ;  do  receive  the  word  gladly ;  believe  and  so  profess. — 
Baptism  administered  to  any  other  is  so  far  from  investing 
them  with  any  saintship  in  that  estate,  that  it  makes  guilty 
both  the  giver  and  receiver  of  sacrilidge  and  is  the  taking  of 
God's  name  in  vain." — This  hard  "nut"  from  the  Pilgrim 
armory  was  cracked  at  a  blow  by  declaring  them  guilty  "  of  a 
schismaticall  rending  from  the  communion  of  the  churches 
heere  &  setting  up  a  public  meeting  in  opposition  to  the  ordi- 
nances of  Christ  here  publicly  exercised "  and  the  magistrates 


Ocyptwin   William  Tamer.  125 

«  solemly  "  charged  ^^ tiie  aoonsed  "  not  to  persist  in  sndi  ^^per- 
nitious  practices  "  ^^  as  they  would  answer  the  contrary  at  their 
perilL" 

Disregarding  this  admonition  the  wicked  distorbers  of  the 
peace  were  called  before  the  great  and  general  court  at  its 
session,  October  11, 1665,  ^^  and  by  their  owne  acknowledgment 
doe  stand  convicted  of  non  observance  &  submission  unto  the 
sentence  &  charge  of  the  Court  of  Assistants,"  and  further  de- 
clared their  determination  to  continue  the  same  course.  ^^  The 
Court  doe  judge  it  meet  to  declare  that  said  Gould  &  company 
are  no  orderly  church  assembly,  and  that  they  stand  justly  con- 

ments,  as  also  the  peace  of  this  government"  Sentence  was 
therefore  pronounced,  that  ^^  such  of  them  as  are  free  men,  to 
be  disfranchised  &  all  of  them  vpon  conviction  before  any  one 
magistrate  or  court  of  their  further  proceeding  herein,  to  be 
committed  to  prison  vntil  the  General  Court  shall  take  further 
order  w^  them."  Their  assertions  of  a  right  to  free  thought 
and  free  practice  in  religion  fell  upon  deaf  ears.  One  ^^  Zecka* 
ryah  Boads,"  evidently  a  sympathizer  with  Capt.  Turner,  being 
present,  said :  "  The  Court  had  not  to  doe  wtb  matters  of  re- 
ligion." This  was  bearding  the  lion  in  his  den,  and  Zachary  was 
promptly  clapped  into  jail  for  his  pains. 

The  Church,  the  Court  of  Assistants,  and  the  General  Court 
had  each  tried  its  haad  upon  the  dissenters  in  vain ;  they  wonld 
not  bend  and  had  not  yet  been  broken ;  and  April  17, 1666,  the 
civil  court  took  a  fourth  hand,  and  they  were  presented  to  the 
County  Court  at  Cambridge,  for  ^^  absenting  tiiemselves  from 
public  worship."  To  their  plea  that  they  did  attend  public  wor- 
ship regularly,  they  were  answered  that  the  Gleneral  Court  had 
declared  their  assembly  unlawful  in  its  edict  of  October,  1665, 
and  each  was  fined  £4  and  ordered  to  give  bail  in  the  sum  of 
£20.  Bef  using  to  do  either  they  were  sent  to  jail.  An  appeal 
was  made  to  the  Court  of  Assistants ;  after  a  hearing  the  jury 
brought  in  a  verdict  in  favor  of  the  accused.  The  court  would 
not  accept  the  verdict,  but  sent  them  out  again  for  their  further 
consideration,  with  proper  instructions.  Even  under  this  stress, 
the  honest  jury  found  only  a  special,  conditional  verdict  which 
the  court  interpreted  to  its  own  taste,  and  of  course  the  lower 
court  was  sustained. 

This  persecution  of  the  Baptists  was  not>  let  us  be  thankful* 


126  Field  Meetmg—19W>. 

a  popular  movement,  and  the  authorities  though  hard  and  firm 
in  their  aotion,  were  anxious  and  troubled  at  the  possible  out- 
come. A  special  session  of  the  General  Court  was  called  for 
September  11, 1666.  The  acting  governor,  at  the  opening,  gave 
the  deputies  the  grounds  for  calling  them  together,  and  the  next 
action  was  to  order  '^  that  some  of  the  reverend  elders  that  are 
or  may  be  in  towne  be  desired  to  be  present  with  the  Generall 
Court  on  the  morrow  morning  &  to  beginn  the  Court  &  spend 
the  fomoone  in  prayer."  Doubtless  this  was  for  effect  on  the 
popular  branch.  It  was  a  troublous  matter  and  for  fear  that 
opportunity  would  be  lost  by  delay,  it  was : 

^^  Ordered  that  the  Elders  now  in  towne  be  desired  to  be 
present  wth  the  Court  presently  after  the  lecture  to  afford  their 
advice  in  the  weighty  matter  now  in  hand." 

This  call  upon  the  ministers  for  advice  was  no  new  thing  for 
the  General  Court.  A  few  years  before  when  the  question  of 
baptism  was  up,  but  in  a  less  acute  form,  the  Elders  were  called 
to  assemble  in  Boston — ^^  Then  and  there  to  discourse  &  declare 
what  they  shall  judge  to  be  the  mind  of  God  "  on  the  subject 
What  they  reported  as  to  the  preference  of  the  Deity,  may  be 
evidenced,  I  suppose,  in  the  proceeding  we  are  now  narrating. 
Even  if  the  results  did  not  manifest  it,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
what  the  ministers  would  advise  when  their  supremacy  was 
threatened.  The  only  comfort  Gould  and  the  others  got  from 
the  General  Court  was,  that  if  they  would  pay  their  fines  ac- 
cording to  the  sentence  and  the  costs  of  courts  they  should  be 
let  out  of  jaiL 

This  persecution,  continued  in  varying  forms,  had  no  effect  in 
reducing  Capt  Turner  and  other  advocates  of  free  thought  to 
subjugation,  so  another  grand  scheme  was  devised  in  which  the 
biggest  guns  of  the  established  order  were  trained  on  the  here- 
tics, and  the  largest  doses  of  the  true  doctrine  were  to  be  forced 
down  their  throats,  all  out  of  the  good  grace  and  mercy  of  the 
General  Court.  They  say,  March,  1668,  "  Being  willing  by  all 
Christian  candor  to  endeavour  the  reducing  of  the  said  persons 
from  the  error  of  their  way,  and  their  return  to  the  Lord  and 
the  communion  of  his  people,  from  whence  they  are  fallen,  do 
judge  meete  to  grant — an  opportunity  of  a  fuU  and  free  debate  of 
their  grounds  for  their  practice— in  the  meetinghouse  in  Boston 
—on  April  11th."  Six  of  the  ablest  orthodox  ministers  were 
selected  to  meet  with  the  governor  and  magistrates — ^^  before 


Ca/ptain   William  Turner.  127 

whom — with  any  other  reverend  £lders  and  ministers  as  shall 
there  assemble/'  the  free  and  full  debate  was  to  be  had,  and 
**  Thomas  Qtold  &  Company  were  ordered  in  his  majesty's  name 
to  appear  and,  in  an  orderly  debate  to  answer  the  question, 
whether  what  they  are  doing  is  justifiable  by  the  word  of  God, 
and  whether  sach  a  practice  is  to  be  allowed  by  the  govern- 
ment." Upon  these  abstmse  questions  in  debate,  all  the  p6- 
lemio  talent  of  the  colony  was  arrayed  against  half  a  dozen 
men  spoken  of  as  a  few  ^^  honest  mechanics,"  and  these  ^^  plow- 
men &  taylors."    Oapt.  Turner  was  a  tailor. 

The  official  report  of  this  meeting  in  the  court  records,  says 
it  ^^  was  held  here  in  Boston  with  a  great  concourse  of  people, 
the  effect  whereof  hath  not  been  prevalent  with  them  as  wee 
could  have  desired."  The  authorities  profess  to  be  disappointed. 
I  doubt  if  they  expected  other  result ;  I  doubt  if  tiiie  whole 
spectacular  performance  was  not  intended  to  produce  an  effect 
on  the  popular  mind,  rather  than  on  that  of  Turner  and  his 
party.  If  another  report  of  this  meeting  be  true,  these  ^^  honest 
mechanics,"  these  advocates  for  free  thought,  received  anything 
but  fair  and  Christian  treatment  in  this  debate.  From  first  to 
last  they  were  looked  upon  as  ^^  vile  persons,"  who  ^^  stood  con- 
demned by  the  court."  They  were  denounced  as  ^^  obstinate 
and  turbulent  Annabaptists,"  ^^  combined  in  a  pretended  church 
state,"  ^^  in  contempt  of  our  civil  order  and  the  authority  here 
established,"  ^^  to  the  great  grief  and  offence  of  the  Godly 
orthodox." 

To  find  out  from  themselves  what  effect  this  gentle  and  per- 
suasive ^^  debate  "  had  upon  the  callow  minds  of  the  culprits, 
they  were  ordered  to  appear  before  the  General  Court,  May  27, 
1668.  ^^  That  the  court  might  understand  what  effect  the  en- 
deavours of  the  Elders  had  with  them."  It  did  not  take  long 
to  find  out.  ^^  The  said  persons  did  in  open  Court  assert  their 
former  practice  to  have  been  according  to  the  mind  of  God,  and 
that  nothing  they  had  heard  had  convinced  them  to  the  con- 
trary." They  did  also  declare  their  purpose  to  continue  their 
own  course  regardless  of  consequences. 

The  next  action  of  the  Goneial  Court  was  to  pass  an  act  of 
banishment,  and  the  grand  result  was  an  increase  of  the  number 
of  dissenters.  The  court  say  to  allow  this  **  would  be  the  setting 
up  a  free  school  for  seduction  into  wayes  of  error  &  casting  off 
the  government  of  Christ  Jesus  in  his  owne  appointments  w^ 


128  Fidd  Meeting— ViW^. 

a  high  hand,  and  threaten  the  disolution  &  roine  both  of  the 
peace  &  order  of  the  Churches  &  the  authority  of  this  govern- 
ment." To  prevent  all  this  desolation,  three  of  the  leaders — 
Gould,  Turner  and  Farnum,  were  banished,  ^'  and  if  found  after 
the  20th  of  July  in  any  part  of  this  jurisdiction,"  they  shall  be 
committed  to  prison — without  bayle  or  majne-prise."  As  the 
offenders  refused  to  budge  they  were  lodged  in  jail. 

November  7, 1668,  Capt.  Edward  Hutchinson,  Capt.  James  Oli- 
ver and  65  others,  citizens  of  Boston  and  Charlestown,  presented 
the  General  Court  a  petition  "asking  the  Courts  fevor"  to 
Turner  and  others.  Instead  of  granting  the  petition  the  prin- 
cipal signers  were  ordered  to  appear  before  the  Court  to  give 
account  for  this  "  scandalous  "  action.  Some  made  a  retraction, 
others  with  more  pluck,  were  fined.  Our  good  forefathers  must 
have  been  utterly  lost  to  a  sense  of  humor  when  they  gravely 
passed  the  following  order,  allowing  the  prisoners  three  days  of 
grace,  in  which  to  learn  the  error  of  their  ways. 

March  2, 1669,  the  governor  and  council  ordered  that  Thomas 
Gould  and  William  Turner  may  have  "  libberty  for  three  days 
to  visit  their  families,  as  also  to  apply  themselves  to  any  that 
are  able  and  orthodox  for  the  further  convincment  of  their 
many  irregularities  in  those  practices  for  which  they  were 
condemed." 

It  does  not  appear  when  this  order  took  effect,  but,  unless  I 
misjudge  these  men,  they  were  of  those  who  attended  the 
"  schismaticaU  assembly  of  Annabaptists  at  Thomas  Gould's 
house  on  the  Lord's  day  the  7th  of  March,"  at  any  rate,  Edward 
Drinker,  Turner's  lieutenant  in  1676,  was  there,  and  for  the 
offense  was  shut  up  in  jail. 

Capt.  Turner  was  feeling  seriously  the  effects  of  his  prison 
life.  Drinker  writes,  "  Brother  Turner's  family  is  very  weakly, 
and  himself  too.  I  fear  he  will  not  trouble  them  long."  It 
was  in  this  condition  of  affairs  that  Turner  sent  the  following 
petition  to  the  General  Court.  This  shows  the  situation  and 
the  man. 

^^  To  the  honored  General  Court  now  sitting  at  boston  the 
humble  address  of  Will :  Turner  now  prisoner  at  boston  humbly 
sheweth. 

That  whereas  it  hath  pleased  some  of  the  honored  magistrates 
to  issue  out  a  warrant  for  the  apprehending  of  my  body  and  Com- 


Captain   William  Twmer.  129 

mitting  mee  to  prison,  and  there  to  remayne  aocording  to  a  sen- 
tence of  a  General  Court  the  29th  of  April  1668  your  poore  peti- 
tioner doth  therefore  humbly  beseech  you  to  consider  that  by 
virtue  of  that  sentence  I  have  already  suffered  about  thirty 
weekes  imprisonment  and  that  a  whole  winter  season  which  was 
a  greate  prejudice  to  my  health  and  distraction  to  my  poore 
family  &  which  I  hope  this  honored  Court  will  consider  with 
the  weakness  of  my  body  and  the  extremity  of  lying  in  prison 
in  a  cold  winter  which  may  be  to  the  utter  mine  of  my  headless 
family. 

^*And  Withal  to  Consider  my  readiness  to  serve  this  Country 
to  the  uttermost  of  my  ability  in  all  Civill  things :  The  maine 
difference  being  only  in  faith  and  order,  of  which  God  only  can 
satisfie  a  poore  soul :  Thus  hoping  this  honored  Court  will  take 
it  into  their  Serious  Consideration  and  extend  their  mercy  as 
becomes  the  Servants  of  Christ  I  shal  leave  both  my  state  and 
condition  and  honored  Court  to  the  wise  disposing  of  the 
Almighty,  remaining  Yours  to  Serve  you  in  all  faithfulness  to 
my  power,  boston  prison  this  27th  of  8th  Mo.  1670. 

"  Will  :  Ttjbnbb.'' 

Capt.  Turner  had  yet  to  learn  that  an  appeal  for  justice  or 
mercy  to  the  man  or  body  of  men  who  set  themselves  up  as  the 
standard  of  all  right  opinion  and  all  excellence  must  be  in  vain, 
in  such  a  case  as  this.  The  popular  branch  voted  almost  unan- 
imously in  favor  of  the  petitioner,  but  they  were  overruled  by 
the  Governor  and  Council.  This  condition  in  the  law-making 
power  continued  until  the  death  of  Gov.  Bellingham. 

The  next  great  attempt  to  subdue  these  sturdy  independents 
was  a  public  appeal  to  tihe  Lord.  June  16, 1670,  was  appointed 
'^  as  a  day  of  humiliation  and  fasting  to  find  out  the  cause  of 
God's  displeasure  against  the  country."  We  may  be  sure  the 
ministers  took  the  occasion  to  make  the  people  understand  that 
the  principal  cause  was  the  breaking  away  from  the  established 
churches,  and  the  advancement  of  free  thought.  At  any  rate 
this  was  a  great  cause  of  anger  with  them,  if  not  with  the  Deity. 
May  16, 1671,  fifteen  of  them  write  in  a  long  address  to  the 
General  Court  lauding  the  magistrates,  and  complaining  of  the 
deputies  as  not  showing  them  proper  respect ;  the  result  was 
that  the  court  apologized  for  this  ^^  anti  ministerial  spirit,  and 
that  the  papers  by  the  deputies  referred  to  in  the  Complaint  are 
9 


130  Fidd  MeeUng— 1900. 

to  be  considered  vslesse."  The  ministers  oame  ont  ahead  as 
nsnaL 

Some  of  the  difficulties  and  inconsistencies  of  the  General 
Court  may  be  seen  in  its  action  May  17,  1672.  They  say 
^^  Although  no  human  power  be  Lord  over  the  faith  and  con- 
sciences of  Men — ^yet  any  who  shall  openly  oppose  the  baptizing 
of  infants,  or  shall  purposely  depart  from  the  congregation  at 
the  administration  of  that  ordinance — ^after  due  means  of  Cor- 
rection shall  be  sentenced  to  banishment." 

Lest  I  should  unwittingly,  my  friends,  give  the  impression 
that  the  spirit  of  persecution  was  confined  to  the  bigoted  clergy 
in  and  about  Boston,  I  will  say  that  this  was  the  one  thing  they 
held  in  common  with  the  ecclesiastics  in  England.  I  do  not 
know  that  young  William  Turner  was  driven  from  his  Dart- 
mouth home  by  ecclesiastical  persecution.  Probably  he  was. 
The  new  power  grown  up  in  the  West  only  did  what  ecclesi- 
astical power  has  always  been  prone  to  do.  Are  we  sure  that 
no  form  of  it  is  to  be  found  among  us  to-day  ?  But  to  go  back 
to  England.  A  pamphlet,  the  title  of  which  would  put  to  blush 
the  yellowist  of  our  dime  novels,  was  issued  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  Archbishop  of  England.  His  name  was  Sheldon, 
and  I  am  sorry  to  say  he  is  said  to  belong  to  my  ancestral  line. 
This  was  the  delectable  thing : 

"  Mr.  Baxter  baptized  in  blood :  or,  a  sad  history  of  the  un- 
parrelled  cruelty  of  the  Annabaptists  in  New  England ;  faith- 
f  uUy  relating  the  cruel,  barberous,  and  bloody  murder  of  Mr. 
Josiah  Baxter,  an  orthodox  minister  who  was  killed  by  the 
Annabaptists,  and  his  skin  most  cruelly  flead  off  from  his  body. 
Published  by  his  mournful  brother,  Benjamin  Baxter." 

This  was  hawked  about  the  streets  of  London  and  a  second 
edition  was  issued  in  a  few  weeks. 

It  may  have  been  unwise  to  dwell  so  long  upon  this  miserable 
business,  but  perhaps  it  will  not  be  altogether  bootless  to  trace 
the  same  spirit  in  another  line,  where  it  again  touches  the  man 
we  to-day  commemorate.  Capt.  Turner  was  accused  amongst 
his  other  frailties  of  "  disobedience  to  government  and  especially 
in  the  point  of  a  defensive  war."  On  the  breaking  out  of  Philip's 
war  he  bestirred  himself  to  prove  the  falsity  of  this  charge.  He 
at  once  raised  a  company  for  the  service  of  the  colony,  but  be- 
cause many  of  the  men  were  Baptists  his  offer  was  refused. 
This  sets  the  bigotry  of  the  magistrates  in  a  notable  contrast 


Captain   WUUam  Twmer.  181 

with  the  patriotism  of  Capt  Turner.  Bat  the  war  had  reached 
that  stage  to  which  I  earlier  called  your  attention,  and  the  au- 
thorities so  far  humbled  themselves  as  to  beg  the  service  of 
Capt.  Turner  and  his  men.  After  demurring  awhile  because 
his  company  had  scattered,  Turner  offered  the  remains  of  his 
prison-weakened  body  to  the  service  of  his  imperilled  country- 
men. He  was  commissioned  captain  with  his  fellow  sufferer, 
Edward  Drinker,  as  bis  lieutenant.  This  action  gives  evidence 
that  Turner  must  have  had  military  experience,  but  no  record 
of  such  service  has  been  found.  One  says  of  him,  ^^  He  was  a 
very  worthy  man  for  soldiery,*'  and  I  find  him  called  "  ser- 
geant "  in  1665.  February  21,  1676,  Turner,  with  63  men,  in- 
cluding his  son,  William,  and  two  servants  or  apprentices, 
marched  out  of  Boston. 

A  foot  company  under  lieut.  Gilman  and  a  troop  of  horse 
under  Capt.  Whipple  were  in  company,  all  under  Major  Thomas 
Savage.  In  due  time  Turner  was  in  ^Northampton,  in  season  to 
repel  the  attack  on  that  town  by  a  band  from  Philip's  camp  at 
Northfield.  With  the  force  under  Savage  and  the  Connecticut 
troops  under  Major  Treat,  the  valley  towns  were  now  safe  from 
any  emergency.  But  trouble  increased  in  the  eastern  towns 
and  the  alarm  in  Boston  became  almost,  if  not  quite,  a  panic. 
Orders  were  posted  to  Savage  to  give  over  Northampton  and 
Hatfield  to  the  Indians,  concentrate  the  inhabitants  at  Hadley 
and  Springfield,  leave  them  small  garrisons  and  move  his 
forces  eastward.  Nothing  but  an*  indignant  storm  of  protest 
from  the  doomed  towns  saved  the  colony  from  that  humilia- 
tion ;  a  step  which  would  have  insured  tiie  success  of  Philip's 
plans. 

April  1, 1676,  the  council  wrote  Major  Savage :  "  Wee  re- 
ceved  your  letter  [of  Mch  28]  and  perceve  ....  that  the  Con- 
eticut  forces  are  drawne  of  &  that  by  the  numerousnes  of  the 
enimy  (according  to  yo'  information)  you  are  not  in  a  capacity 
to  persue  y™,  also  you  intimate  y  fears  of  the  people  of  those 
towns  y*  in  case  you  bee  drawne  of  w**^  yo'  forces,  y  they  wilbe 
in  danger  to  be  destroyed  by  the  enimy."  They  complain  that 
the  towns  do  not  heed  the  directions  to  concentrate.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  council  appears  to  show  that  they  had  little  or  no 
hopes  of  saving  the  west  side  of  the  Connecticut  valley.  To 
remain  in  such  a  scattered  state  they  say,  ^^  is  no  less  than  tempt- 
ing divine  providence."    To  remove  tUs  temptation  the  council 


132  Meld  MeeUnff—1900. 

insists  on  oonoentrating  and  fortifying  on  the  east  side,  ^  or  all 
wiU  be  lost  1 '' 

As  I  have  said,  the  order  was  not  obeyed,  and  thanks  to  Capt 
Turner,  all  was  not  lost.  The  council  continue :  "  Wee  are  willing 
for  the  present  that  you  leave  ....  not  exceeding  150  men,  all 
single  men,  leaving  Capt.  Turner  in  Capt.  Poole's  place ;  with 
the  Rest  of  the  Army  we  expressly  command  you  to  draw  home- 
ward.'* They  then  speak  of  the  sad  condition  of  Lancaster,  Gro- 
ton,  Chelmsford,  Medfield,  etc.,  '^  these  things  considered  you 
may  see  the  Necessity  of  having  o'  Army  nearer  to  us  ....  to 
kepe  the  heart  in  any  competent  Safety."  In  other  words,  we 
must  look  out  for  ourselves,  and  the  devil  take  the  hindermost. 

In  obedience  to  his  orders  Major  Savage  marched  away  with 
the  army,  April  7, 1676,  even  taking  the  company  of  Capt. 
Turner  under  his  Ueutenant,  Edward  Drinker,  who  was  his  right 
arm,  leaving  only  15  of  the  boys  and  "  single  men,"  three  from 
his  own  family,  with  136  of  the  same  class  picked  from  the 
other  companies,  with  no  officer  above  a  sergeant  to  assist  him. 

And  so  Capt.  Turner,  the  contemned  heretic,  was  left  to  com- 
mand in  the  Connecticut  valley,  evidently  considered  by  the 
authorities  a  forlorn  hope.  Is  it  possible  that  the  magistrates 
had  a  method  not  appearing  on  the  surface  in  thus  honoring 
Capt.  Turner  ?  Nine  valiant  captains  had  fallen  in  the  war. 
Could  they  have  reasoned  that :  If  another  is  to  be  sacrificed, 
whom  can  we  spare  better  than  this  arch-disturber  of  our  peace  t 

Deserted  by  the  government  the  men  of  the  valley  rallied 
around  their  commander-in-chief.  He  had  already  earned  their 
confidence  and  he  nerved  them  to  action.  They  shook  off  their 
apathy  and  fears  and  gave  themselves  up  to  his  guidance. 
Turner  had  been  ordered  to  act  strictly  on  the  defensive,  that 
possibly  some  of  the  towns  might  be  saved,  but  as  we  have  seen 
he  had  little  awe  of  the  governor  and  council,  and  less  faith  in 
their  wisdom.  He  now  took  counsel  of  his  own  judgment  and 
being  backed  by  sturdy  John  Russell  and  perhaps — who  knows 
— ^by  Gten.  Gtotle  himself,  certainly  by  the  elders  and  chief  men, 
he  took  the  responsibility  of  disobejdng  orders.  Ton  all  know 
the  result.  His  bold  action  saved  the  towns  and  practically 
closed  the  war  in  the  Connecticut  valley. 

One  more  point  and  I  am  done.  Each  of  three  eminent 
ministers  wrote  a  history  of  Philip's  war.  In  neither  of  them 
do  we  find  a  hint  of  the  circumstances  under  which  Turner  ap- 


Captain  WiOiam  Turner.  133 

peared  in  it  The  scantiest  notice  is  found  of  the  part  he  played, 
and  not  one  iota  of  credit  is  given  for  his  great  service  in  the 
valley.  Hubbard's  first  mention  of  the  name  of  Turner  in  any 
way,  was  to  indirectly  charge  him  with  mismanagement  and 
want  of  foresight,  in  the  attack  of  May  19,  and  that  he  was 
responsible  for  the  principal  loss  on  the  retreat.  Capt.  Holyoke 
is  given  full  notice  and  the  praise  justly  his  due.  Cotton  Ma- 
ther's only  mention  of  Oapt.  Turner's  name  is  a  four- word  notice 
of  his  death.  Increase  Mather  in  describing  the  battle  also 
charges  lack  of  foresight  on  the  part  of  Turner,  whose  name 
appears  in  his  history  for  the  first  time  in  the  following  passage. 
He  is  speaking  of  the  retreat :  ^^  In  this  disorder,  he  that  was 
at  this  time  chief  Captain,  whose  name  was  Turner,  lost  his  life 
....  within  a  few  days  after,  Capt.  Turner's  dead  Corps  was 
found  a  short  distance  from  the  Biver."  This,  and  nothing 
more,  from  beginning  to  end  of  his  book,  save  a  quotation  from 
another  writer. 

Can  it  be  only  accident  that  these  three  reverend  authors, 
contemporaries  of  the  dead  patriot,  give  him  such  slight  and 
contemptuous  notice,  or  did  bigotry  still  blind  their  eyes  to 
honor  and  justice  1  Who  shall  say !  A  lay  writer,  also  a  con- 
temporary, sees  things  differently.  He  says  of  him :  ^^  Capt. 
Turner  by  Trade  a  Taylor,  but  one  that  for  his  Valour,  hath 
left  behinde  him  an  Honorable  Memory." 

Capt.  Turner  was  physically  unfit  for  the  task  of  leading  the 
expedition  from  Hatfield  on  tiie  night  of  May  18.  He  was  well 
on  in  years  and  was  enfeebled  by  his  persecutions  and  prison 
life  in  Boston.  He  writes  to  the  council  April  25, 1676,  modestly 
suggesting  that  another  be  appointed  to  take  his  place.  ''  For 
I  much  doubt,"  he  says,  "  my  weakness  of  body  and  my  often 
infirmaties  will  hardly  Suffer  mee  to  doe  my  duty  as  I  ought 
in  this  imployment :  And  it  would  grieve  me  to  be  negligent 
in  anything  that  might  be  for  the  good  of  this  Country  in  this 
day  of  their  distress."  Here  spoke  the  man  and  the  patriot, 
regardless  of  what  he  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  rulers, 
and  he  gave  his  life  as  the  last  sacrifice,  that  our  fathers'  lives 
and  our  heritage  might  be  preserved. 

And  so  to-day  we  reverently  gather  to  dedicate  a  monument 
to  the  Honored  Memory  of  the  Champion  of  Free  Thought,  the 
Christian  Patriot,  the  wise  and  brave  Soldier,  Captain  William 
Turner. 


134  Fidd  MeeUng— 1900. 


INDIAN  WAB  CONDITIONS. 

BT  MIB8  BOWBNA  BUBLL  OF  OHIO. 

So  soon  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  as  the  spring 
of  1621,  Governor  Carver  made  a  treaty  with  the  great  Indian 
chief  Massasoit,  which  endured,  broadly  speaking,  for  50  years. 
It  was  Philip,  the  son  of  Massasoit,  you  will  remember,  who 
instigated  and  fostered  the  first  general  Indian  war  in  New 
England.  For  us  who  are  to-day  gathered  to  consider  only 
one  of  the  most  important  battles  in  that  war,  the  fight  at 
Turner's  Falls,  it  is  not  necessary  to  recall  Philip's  initiatory 
steps  toward  open  hostilities.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that 
after  six  weeks  of  skirmishing  in  the  east,  and  of  skulking  am- 
buscades, Philip,  in  the  early  summer  of  1675,  was  forced  to 
fiee  to  the  interior,  to  the  country  of  the  Nipmucks.  This  tribe, 
though  nominally  friendly  to  the  English,  had  murderously 
fallen  upon  an  official  messenger  from  the  colonists  and  had  also 
burned  the  town  of  Brookfield.  Having  gone  thus  far  in  their 
depredations,  they  needed  scant  encouragement  from  Philip  to 
join  his  notoriously  hostile  band.  The  news  of  this  alliance 
caused  widespread  alarm  throughout  New  England.  As  yet  no 
general  uprising  of  the  Indians  had  been  feared  but  now  the  ap- 
prehensive colonists  lost  no  time  in  sending  troops  to  the  new 
field  of  action. 

From  the  headquarters  at  Hadley  numerous  parties  went  forth 
on  extended  scouts  only  to  return  without  tidings  of  Philip  and 
his  Nipmuck  allies,  and  with  grave  doubts  of  the  fidelity  of  a 
motley  gathering  of  Indians  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Connecti- 
cut River  at  Hatfield.  That  their  fears  were  well  grounded  these 
Indians  soon  proved  by  attacking  a  party  marching  to  treat  with 
them  concerning  the  relinquishment  of  their  arms. 

Convinced  that  a  war  of  races  had  now  begun  in  earnest,  the 
frontier  colonists  in  this  valley  had  no  time  to  ponder  upon  their 
perilous  situation.  Just  one  week  after  this  first  armed  conflict 
in  the  west,  the  Indians  made  a  vigorous  attack  upon  the  stock- 
ades of  Deerfield,  retiring  only  after  they  had  burned  and  de- 
stroyed all  perishable  property  outside  of  the  forts.  A  similar 
attack  upon  Northfield,  followed  by  the  almost  total  extermina- 
tion of  the  rescuing  party,  resulted  in  the  abandonment  of  that 


Indian   War  Conditions.  185 

settlement  and  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  field  opera- 
tions to  strengthen  the  garrisons  of  the  towns.  This  fruitless 
policy  soon  caused  the  concentration  in  the  valley  of  a  larger 
force  for  the  carrying  on  of  a  more  vigorous  campaign.  The 
second  attack  upon  Deerfield  and  its  subsequent  abandonment, 
the  terrible  massacre  of  Lothrop  and  his  men  at  Bloody  Brook, 
and  the  burning  of  Brookfleld,  Swampfield  and  Northfield  were 
all  disheartening  reverses  which  crowded  the  frontier  line  south 
as  far  as  Hatfield  and  Hadley.  Emboldened  by  such  success, 
the  Indians  now  attacked  Springfield  so  openly  and  insolently 
as  to  force  upon  the  Connecticut  council  of  war  the  tardy  con- 
viction that  it  was  ^^  high  time  for  New  England  to  stir  up  all 
their  strength  and  make  war  their  trade  ....  to  suppress  the 
enemy  before  they  grow  too  much  for  us."  The  subsequent  in- 
creased efforts  of  both  colonies  resulted  in  the  south  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  Narragansett  stronghold,  while  in  the  west  a 
fierce  attack  of  800  Indians  upon  Hatfield  was  repulsed  and  the 
assailants  driven  into  winter  quarters  on  the  Hoosick  Eiver. 

Early  in  the  following  March  the  English  began  the  new 
campaign  by  an  expedition  against  the  Indian  rendezvous  at 
Wenimisset  whence  winter  war  parties  had  rallied  to  spread 
destruction  and  death  among  the  Bay  towns.  The  eastern  tribes 
warily  retreating  toward  their  allies  in  the  western  wilderness, 
the  English  hastily  garrisoned  the  Connecticut  valley.  As  was 
expected,  the  Indians  promptly  attacked  Northampton  and  Hat- 
field, only  to  be  gallantly  repulsed.  They  succeeded,  however, 
in  raiding  Windsor  and  Longmeadow,  in  burning  Simsbury  and 
Marlboro,  and  in  destroying  a  force  of  60  men  on  the  Pawtucket 
Eiver,  an  accumulation  of  disasters  for  the  English  which  filled 
them  with  despair  in  that  they  all  occurred  upon  one  fatal  day. 

The  weeks  that  followed  were  indecisive  ones  for  both  sides. 
The  recent  deluge  of  reverses  caused  the  recall  of  the  main  body 
of  the  Massachusetts  troops  from  the  frontier  for  the  better 
protection  of  the  constantly  ravaged  Bay  towns,  while  the  re- 
maining troops  under  a  strictly  defensive  policy,  were  ordered 
upon  garrison  duty  in  the  valley.  Meanwhile,  in  the  shifting 
body  of  3000  Indians  gathered  on  Pocumtuck  and  Squakheag 
territory  a  peace  party  had  sprung  into  being ;  the  repulse  at 
Northampton,  a  scarcity  of  food  and  ammunition,  the  strong  de- 
fenses of  the  valley  towns,  together  with  tribal  jealousies  had 
resulted  in  a  desire  upon  the  part  of  the  less  hostile  Nipmucks 


186  Mdd  MeeUnff— 1900. 

and  PocomtQoks  to  oonsider  the  overtures  of  peaoe  made  by  the 
colonists  of  Conneoticat.  Even  the  untimely  death  of  the  great 
Karragansett  chief,  Canonchet,  and  with  him  40  sachems,  might 
have  gone  unavenged  had  not  the  near  approach  of  summer  with 
its  abundance  of  food  strengthened  their  courage  by  allaying 
their  anxieties  for  daily  sustenance. 

Under  the  leadership  of  the  provident  Pessacus  a  fort  to  be 
used  in  case  of  retreat  was  established  by  them  40  miles  up  the 
river,  and  camps  were  placed  at  the  best  fishing  places,  the 
principal  one  being  at  these  falls  on  the  right  bank.  While  the 
fishermen  were  engaged  in  storing  their  barns  with  dried  salmon 
and  shad  for  the  campaign,  other  Indians  were  hopefully  sow- 
ing the  fertile  meadows  of  Pocumtuck  and  Squakheag  with  com 
that  was  to  be  garnered  long  after  the  white  encroachers  had 
been  driven  from  the  valley.  With  fears  lulled  by  continued 
non-interference,  the  Indians  ventured  as  far  south  as  the  Hat- 
field meadows  where  they  procured  80  head  of  cattle  to  add  to 
their  already  abundant  supplies.  Men  far  less  savage  than  these 
Indians  would  have  given  themselves  up  to  a  gluttonous  cele- 
bration of  such  a  success ;  small  wonder  is  it  that  these  half- 
starved  confederates,  men,  women  and  children,  fell  recklessly 
upon  the  unwonted  abundance  of  fish,  beef  and  milk.  On  the 
night  of  the  18th  of  May,  having  gorged  themselves  to  repletion, 
they  sank  into  a  heavy  sleep  so  forgetful  of  their  enemies  that 
no  sentinel  was  posted  to  guard  their  slumbers.  A  better  hour 
could  not  have  been  chosen  by  the  English  for  a  sudden  attack 
upon  the  Indian  camp. 

The  quiet  of  the  month  following  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  forces  did  not  deceive  the  set- 
tlers ;  the  small  garrisons  left  in  the  valley  towns  gave  them 
cause  for  fear,  and  a  petition  was  sent  to  Boston  asking  for  more 
men  with  an  offer  to  pay  and  ration  them.  The  appeal  was 
vain.  Left  more  to  their  own  resources,  and  knowing  full  well 
that  the  Indians'  present  devotion  to  the  gathering  of  supplies 
presaged  a  second  vigorous  campaign,  their  inherent  bravery 
manifested  itself  in  a  ^^  growing  spirit  to  be  out  against  the 
enemy."    To  the  General  Court,  the  citizens  of  Hadley  wrote : 

^^  A  great  part  of  the  inhabitants  here,  would  our  committees 
of  militia  but  permitt,  would  be  going  forth.  .  .  .  The  enemy 
is  now  come  so  near  us,  that  we  count  we  might  goe  forth  in 
the  evening,  and  come  upon  them  in  the  darknesse  of  the  samie 


Indian   War  CondiUana.  137 

night.  ...  It  is  the  general!  voyce  of  the  people  here,  now  is 
the  time  to  distresse  the  enemy,  and  that  could  we  drive  them 
from  thair  fishing,  and  keep  out  though  but  lesser  parties  agamst 
them,  famine  would  subdue  them." 

Though  the  authorities  cautiously  withheld  action  in  the  hope 
that  certain  peace  overtures  with  Pessacus  might  yet  bear  fruit, 
the  settlers  only  needed  the  news  of  the  raid  upon  the  Hatfield 
cattle  to  spur  them  into  a  decisive  move.  On  May  18  there 
gathered  at  Hatfield,  a  zealous  force  of  141  men,  85  of  them 
being  volunteers  from  Hadley,  Hatfield,  Northampton,  Spring- 
field and  Westfield ;  the  remainder,  soldiers  from  tiie  garrisons, 
all  under  the  command  of  Captain  William  Turner  of  Boston. 
No  pen  can  so  well  describe  the  night  advance  of  these  brave 
men  as  that  of  your  tireless  historian,  the  Hon.  G^rge  Sheldon. 

^'  After  sunset,  Thursday,"  he  says,  ^^  this  little  army  set  out 
on  a  memorable  march — memorable  for  its  material,  for  its 
good  and  bad  fortune,  and  for  the  results  achieved.  After  a  fer- 
vent prayer  by  the  chaplain,  and  a  tearful  Godspeed  from  their 
friends,  the  cavalcade  passed  out  from  Hatfield  street  with  high 
hopes  and  determined  hearts.  Crossing  the  meadows  to  the 
north,  vowing  vengeance  for  the  stolen  cattle,  they  wended  their 
way  slowly  up  the  Pocumtuck  path.  Tall  Wequamps  loomed 
up  before  them  like  a  pillar  of  cloud  against  the  dim  northern 
sky.  They  followed  the  exact  route  which  had  led  Beers  and 
Lothrop  into  an  ambush  nine  months  before.  Thoughtful  eyes 
peered  mto  the  fatal  swamp  as  they  passed.  Over  the  Wee- 
quioannuck  and  through  the  hushed  woods  as  darkness  was 
closing  down,  to  Bloody  Brook.  Guided  by  Hinsdell,  the 
troops  floundered  through  the  black  morass,  which  drank  the 
blood  of  his  father  and  three  brothers  eight  months  before ; 
they  passed  with  bated  breath  and  clinched  firelock,  the  mound 
under  which  slept  Lothrop  and  his  three  score  men.  As  they 
left  this  gloomy  spot  and  marched  up  the  road,  down  which  the 
heedless  Lothrop  had  led  his  men  into  the  fatal  snare,  the  stout- 
est must  have  quailed  at  the  uncertainty  beyond.  Was  their 
own  leader  wise  ?  Did  he  consider  the  danger  t  Did  not  they  all 
know  that  if  Towcanchasson  was  treacherous  or  any  swift  footed 
friend  of  Pessacus  had  revealed  to  him  their  plans,  that  they 
were  marching  to  sure  destruction )  Was  it  prudent  to  neglect 
precautions  against  surprise  ?  What  if  the  information  of  Beed 
should  prove  incorrect?    Burdened  with  thoughts  like  these, 


138  Fidd  Meefmg—\W^. 

the  command  made  its  way  to  Poomntuok,  guarding  with  closed 
ranks  against  the  gaping  cellars  of  our  rained  village.  More 
than  one  of  these  men,  by  toil  and  frugality,  had  there  built  their 
homes  and  gathered  their  families.  As  they  passed  the  deso- 
late hearthstones,  what  but  faith  in  the  Most  High  could  raise 
their  sinking  hearts  t  Onward  across  North  Meadows,  where 
one  of  the  guides,  Benjamin  Waite,  was  later  to  end  his  event- 
ful life  in  the  brave  attempt  to  rescue  the  captives  of  1704,  and 
where  the  boy  hero  of  this  expedition,  famous  later  as  Captain 
Jonathan  Wells,  tried  vainly  to  temper  his  rash  zeal.  Over  the 
Pocumtuck  Biver,  at  the  mouth  of  Sheldon's  brook,  to  avoid  the 
ford  guarded  by  an  Indian  fort,  and  up  the  steep  side  hill  to 
Petty's  Plain.  Even  with  this  precaution,  the  wading  of  the 
horses  was  heard,  and  the  Indian  sentinel  gave  the  alarm. 
With  lighted  torches  the  party  examined  the  crossing-place,  but 
finding  no  track,  concluded  that  the  noise  was  made  by  moose 
crossing  the  river.  So  narrowly  did  the  party  escape  discovery. 
Following  the  Indian  trail  at  the  foot  of  Shelbume  hills,  the 
adventurers  entered  the  mysterious  and  unexplored  wilderness 
stretching  away  to  Canada.  Full  of  boding  fancies,  they 
marched  on  under  the  fi:loomy  arches  of  a  primeval  forest,  the 
a.rk.e«,n«ie  more  in^nse  iy  the  gl«»  of  lightning,  »d  toe 
silence  occasionally  broken  by  a  peal  of  thunder,  the  bark  of 
the  startled  wolf,  or  raccoon,  the  ghostly  flitting  of  the  won- 
dering owl.  What  wonder  if  these  brave  men  and  boys,  super- 
stitious as  they  were,  and  worn  by  fatigue  and  excitement,  lost 
their  self-possession  a  few  hours  later.  Marching  two  miles 
northward,  then  crossing  Green  Biver  at  the  mouth  of  MiU 
brook,  to  the  eastward,  skirting  the  great  swamp,  Turner 
reached  the  plateau  south  of  Mount  Adams  before  the  break  of 
day,  tired  and  drenched  with  the  shower. 

Leaving  their  horses  with  a  small  guard,  the  main  party 
forded  Fall  Biver,  ascended  a  steep  incline  and  came  out  in 
the  rear  of  the  slumbering  Indian  camp.  As  day  broke,  the 
English  stole  down  among  the  wigwams,  and  at  a  given  signal 
poured  a  deadly  fire  upon  the  stupefied  inhabitants.  The  wild- 
est confusion  followed.  The  Indians  who  survived  the  first 
volley,  supposing  that  their  old  Mohawk  enemies  were  upon 
them,  rushed  for  their  canoes,  but  only  to  be  shot  or  upset  and 
drowned.  So  slight  was  the  resistance  that  only  one  of  the 
assailants  was  wounded.    On  the  other  hand,  the  Indian  loss 


Indicm   Wa^  Conditions.  139 

was  estimated  to  be  between  300  and  400 ;  the  English  also 
destroyed  their  provisions  and  ammunition,  thus  giving  a  death 
blow  to  their  plans  for  a  summer  campaign." 

One  oannot  read  the  story  of  this  fight  without  wishing  that 
it  ended  here.  The  sequel  is  by  no  means  so  fuU  of  the  joy  of 
victory.  By  delaying  too  long  upon  the  battlefield  the  English 
gave  time  to  their  aroused  enemies  from  the  adjacent  camps 
to  gather  about  them  in  an  avenging  horde.  Wearied  by  their 
long  march  and  the  heat  of  conflict,  they  must  now  retreat 
through  the  dense  forest,  their  every  step  dogged  by  Indians, 
until  they  had  passed  through  Deerfield  Street  and  reached  the 
Bars.  In  their  frantic  retreat  the  men  became  so  separated 
that  at  sundown  there  was  a  mournful  mustering  of  but  two- 
thirds  of  the  command  at  Hatfield.  Captain  Turner  himself 
had  fallen  and  41  of  his  men. 

A  terrible  loss  was  this  when  the  life  of  every  man  that  could 
bear  arms  was  incalculably  precious,  but  these  men,  unlike  the 
64  so  fruitlessly  sacrificed  at  Bloody  Brook,  had  helped  to  secure 
the  safety  of  hundreds.  The  brave  attack  upon  the  camp  at 
Peskeompskut,  quickly  followed  as  it  was  by  a  vigorous  repulse 
of  the  Indians  at  Hatfield,  convinced  the  councils  of  war  of  the 
efficacy  of  an  aggressive  policy.  From  the  east  and  south  troops 
simultaneously  advanced,  killing  and  capturing  detached  parties 
of  Indians,  and  finaUy  combining  at  Hadley  to  make  a  formida- 
ble army  of  1000  men.  A  band  of  700  Indians  having  been 
driven  back  from  Hadley  two  days  before  the  union  of  the 
troops,  the  main  body  of  savages  withdrew  to  such  a  distance 
that  scouts  searched  the  woods  for  them  in  vain.  Disheartened 
by  their  reverses,  the  western  tribes  became  further  convinced, 
by  a  sudden  attack  from  the  hostile  Mohawks,  that  the  Connect- 
icut valley  was  no  longer  tenable,  and  finally  withdrew  to  the 
protection  of  their  Mohican  allies  on  the  Hudson. 

The  story  of  the  movements  of  the  eastern  tribes  during  that 
summer  of  1676  is  similar.  In  spite  of  Philip's  insidious  plans 
for  the  prolongation  of  the  war.  Governor  Leverett's  friendly 
negotiations  for  the  redemption  of  captives,  being  followed  by 
an  aggressive  raiding  of  the  enemies'  camps,  resulted  in  Indian 
disorganization  and  dispute.  The  death,  in  August,  of  Philip, 
slain  by  the  hand  of  one  of  his  own  tribe,  removed  the  chief 
advocate  of  further  hostilities,  the  other  leaders  being  apparently 
quite  ready  for  peace. 


140  Field  Meeting— 1900. 

So  ended  a  war  whioh,  insignificant  though  it  may  seem  to 
us,  had  terrorized  the  New  England  settlements  for  14  months ; 
600  colonists  had  lost  their  lives,  13  towns  were  totally  and  11 
partially  destroyed.  A  heavy  debt  had  been  incurred.  Surely 
in  the  face  of  these  facts  no  one  can  fail  to  do  honor  to  Captain 
Turner  and  his  brave  men  who,  on  this  spot,  did  so  much  to 
end  the  conflict. 


ADDRESS  OF  RALPH  M.  STOUGHTON. 

We  have  assembled  here  to-day  upon  historic  ground.  We 
have  come  to  dedicate  a  lasting  monument  to  the  men  who  sur- 
prised and  destroyed  the  Indians  encamped  at  this  place  on 
May  19, 1676.  It  is  with  many  misgivings  and  with  a  con- 
sciousness of  my  own  inexperience,  that  I  undertake  a  task  like 
the  historical  address  for  such  an  occasion,  especially  since  I 
know  how  complete  have  been  the  historical  investigations  of 
Mr.  Sheldon  and  his  colleagues  of  the  Pocumtuck  Association. 
Montaigne,  in  speaking  of  his  own  writings,  said :  ^^  I  have 
gathered  me  a  posie  of  other  men's  flowers,  and  naught  but  the 
cord  that  binds  them  is  mine  own."  So  if  I  also  to  a  large  de- 
gree have  been  necessarily  dependent  upon  the  fruits  of  other 
men's  investigations,  the  cord  that  binds  them  into  one,  at  least, 
is  mine. 

Less  than  300  years  have  elapsed  since  the  time  when  the 
red  man  held  undisputed  sway  over  this  great  valley.  Here  by 
the  river  below  us,  the  Norwottuck,  the  Agawam  and  the 
Squakheag,  the  Indian  of  the  Pocumtuck  pitched  his  wigwam 
while  from  the  depth  of  the  stream  he  drew  his  store  of  fish ; 
in  the  wilderness  along  its  banks  were  his  hunting  grounds,  and 
below  in  the  fertile  fields  his  harvest  of  com  and  beans  was 
planted.  But  all  this  has  changed.  Soon,  as  a  historian  says, 
^^  across  the  ocean  came  a  pilgrim  bark  bewlng  the  seeds  of  life 
and  death.  The  former  were  sown  for  us,  while  the  latter 
sprang  up  in  the  path  of  the  native."  The  result,  however,  did 
not  take  place  at  once,  but  came  about  gradually.  The  idea  we 
generally  derive  from  the  reading  of  history,  through  our  con- 
fusion of  dates,  leads  us  to  suppose  that  our  ancestors  spent 
their  time  unintermittently  in  bloody  wars  with  the  Indian. 
Such  was  not  the  case.  For  the  most  part  the  early  colonists 
lived  at  peace  with  the  savage. 


Address  of  Rol/ph  M.  8ta%igkton.  141 

Soon  after  the  Pilgrims  laoded  at  Pljrmoath  in  the  fall  of 
1620,  an  Indian  chief,  Samoset  by  name,  came  to  them  with 
words  of  hearty  welcome.  Later  they  were  visited  by  Massa- 
soit,  the  great  chief  of  the  Wampanoags,  who  readily  entered 
into  a  treaty  of  friendship  with  the  English  and  a  promise  of 
perpetaal  peace ;  this  leagae  of  ^^  friendship,  commerce  and 
mutual  defence  "  was  kept  inviolate  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury. During  this  period  from  1620  to  1675,  the  red  man  and 
the  white  man  lived  side  by  side.  Hoyt  in  his  Indian  Wars 
remarks :  "  On  a  review  of  the  incidents  connected  with  the 
first  settlement  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  colonies,  it  can 
not  but  appear  on  the  first  view  extraordinary  that  the  planters 
met  with  so  little  interruption  from  the  natives.  For  the  na- 
tives generally  evinced  a  peaceable  disposition  and  admitted  the 
English  among  them  with  apparent  satisfaction." 

There  were  several  causes  which  gave  rise  to  this  state  of 
affairs.  One  of  the  principal  reasons  was  the  small  number  of 
Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  the  colonies.  Shortly  before  the  arri- 
val of  the  settlers,  a  fatal  plague  had  stricken  the  natives,  deso- 
lating the  coast  and  nearly  extirpating  the  tribes  of  that  region. 
Thus,  as  it  were,  had  been  prepared  a  way  for  the  Pilgrims  to 
settle  on  land  claimed  by  no  owner,  and  thus  had  they  been 
shielded  from  attacks  of  the  savage.  Soon  afterward,  small- 
pox broke  out  among  them,  still  further  decreasing  their  people, 
until  the  Indian  population,  never  very  large,  was  reduced  to  a 
small  number.  Another  important  factor  in  the  peace  of  this 
period,  was  the  great  pains  which  the  English  took  to  conciliate 
the  natives.  Express  instructions  regarding  this  had  been  given 
to  the  colonists  by  the  English  company.  The  pioneers  acquired 
all  their  land  by  fair  purchase  from  the  rightful  claimants,  and 
though  the  price  paid  was  often  small,  it  was  equal  to  the  value 
of  the  land  at  that  time.  The  Indian,  retaining  the  rights  of 
hunting  and  fishing,  was  satisfied  that  the  best  of  the  bargain 
was  his. 

In  this  manner  the  colonists  passed  their  first  60  years ;  and 
during  these  years  of  fostering  ^and  prosperityf  the  Un. 
of  emigrants  from  England  to  New  England  was  great.  New 
villages  were  constantly  springing  up.  The  enterprising  settlers 
threaded  their  way  inland,  reclaimed  the  wilderness  to  the  use 
of  agriculture,  and  founded  their  settlements.  Haverhill  was  a 
northern  frontier  town  on  the  Merrimao ;  Lancaster  and  Brook- 


142  Fidd  MeeUng— 1900. 

field  were  isolated  villages,  while  Springfield,  Deerfield  and 
Westfield  were  settlements  farthest  to  the  west.  In  the  first 
25  years  after  the  Pilgrims  landed,  the  colonists  had  settled  50 
towns  and  villages,  had  reared  40  chorohes,  several  forts  and 
prisons,  and  the  Massachusetts  colony  had  established  Harvard 
College.  The  Connecticut  valley  with  its  rich  alluvial  intervals 
at  an  early  time  attracted  the  pioneer,  and  the  towns  of  North- 
ampton, Hadley  and  Deerfield  sprang  up. 

For  50  years  the  English  lived  peacefully  in  these  scattered 
villages,  and  then  came  that  darker  chapter  in  our  colonial  his- 
tory, when  the  red  man  with  all  the  unique  savagery  of  his 
Indian  nature  brought  death  and  destruction  upon  the  settle- 
ments. The  time  when  the  war  whoop  of  the  merciless  savage, 
and  the  shrieks  of  defenseless  families,  arose  to  heaven  together, 
amid  the  smoke  and  flames  of  burning  villapfes  and  towns :  when 

desolation  everywhere.  Yet  out  of  the  carnage  of  battle  and 
massacre,  out  of  the  heavy  trials  of  captivity,  appeare  many  a 
scene  picturesque  amid  the  surrounding  horror. 

King  Philip's  War,  as  this  sanguinary  struggle  is  called  in 
history,  broke  out  in  1675.  Philip  was  the  son  of  Massasoit, 
the  firm  ally  of  the  English,  and  after  the  brief  reign  of  his  elder 
brother,  succeeded  to  the  supreme  control  of  that  powerful 
tribe,  the  Wampanoags,  or  Pokanokets,  as  they  are  also  called. 
Philip  possessed  an  innate  hostility  to  the  white  man  and  from 
the  very  beginning  of  his  power,  his  conduct  was  such  as  to  ex- 
cite the  English  to  suspicion.  How  well  founded  these  suspi- 
cions were,  was  proved  later  only  too  thoroughly. 

The  omnipresent  sentimentalist  has  idealized  Philip  as  a  mag- 
nificent example  of  Indian  leadership,  and  has  endowed  him 
with  all  the  qualities  of  a  romance  hero.  Early  historians  have 
given  him  credit  for  a  grand  scheme,  conceived  with  the  deep 
foresight  of  a  discerning  statesman,  and  carried  out  with  the 
cunning  of  a  skilled  strategist ;  a  brilliant  scheme  to  allay  the 
fears  of  the  English  by  a  continuous  show  of  friendship,  until 
at  a  given  time  all  the  Indian  tribes  should  unite  in  a  simultane- 
ous attack  upon  the  settiers  and  thus  annihilate  them  at  a 
single  blow.  In  reality  there  was  probably  no  such  systematic 
plotting,  for  later  historians  like  Palfrey  and  Bancroft,  found 
^'  no  evidence  of  a  deliberate  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  all  the 
Indian  tribes."    Kor  can  we  attribute  the  war  to  injustice  on 


Address  qf  RaipK  M,  SUmghtan.  143 

the  part  of  the  settler.  It  cannot  be  said  that  they  drove  the 
Indian  from  his  inherited  possessions  and  thus  goaded  them  on 
to  a  war  of  revenge.  It  is  not  tme.  When  almost  the  first  of 
the  colonists  arrived,  they  came  with  instructions  '^  to  do  no 
harm  to  the  heathen  people.  If  they  pretend  any  right  of  in- 
heritance to  any  part  of  the  land,  to  purchase  their  title."  These 
instructions  were  obeyed,  and  at  the  time  of  the  war,  Governor 
Winslow,  in  a  letter  dated  Marshfield,  May  1,  1676,  declared 
that  '^  before  the  present  troubles  broke  out,  the  English  did 
not  possess  one  foot  of  land  but  what  was  fairly  obtained  by 
honest  purchase  from  the  Indian  proprietors."  That  the  set- 
tlers had  their  faults  and  that  they  probably  made  hard  bar- 
gains with  the  simple  savage  is  not  to  be  denied ;  but  I  do  deny 
that  they  were  cruel  and  unjust  to  the  Indian  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  was  compelled  to  war  in  order  to  free  himself  from  the 
oppressor's  yoke. 

The  trouble  lay  far  deeper.  It  was  a  gradual  development, 
an  inevitable  necessity.  For  that  a  war  must  ultimately  arise 
between  the  two  peoples,  is  to  be  conceded  by  every  student  of 
our  early  history.  A  deep  gulf  separated  the  Indian  from  the 
stranger,  an  irreconcilable  difference  which  the  Indian  year 
by  year  more  strongly  realized.  The  missionary  and  the  teacher 
who  went  forth  to  enlighten  the  ignorant  native,  made  him  see 
only  the  more  clearly  the  vast  contrast  between  the  white  man 
and  the  red  man,  and  the  Indian's  proud  heart  burned  within 
him.  Kor  was  he  so  blind  as  not  to  see  how  the  English  were 
yearly  increasing  in  strength  and  number,  while  the  power  of 
his  own  people  decreased.  The  hunting  ground  of  the  savage 
became  the  fertile  field  of  the  indefatigable  farmer ;  his  fishing 
grounds  were  invaded  and  his  favorite  resorts  were  reclaimed 
to  civilized  cultivation.  This  still  more  forcibly  contrasted  the 
idle  savage  with  the  progressive  settler.  The  Indian  felt  the 
antagonism  and  a  frenzy  seized  him.  The  strife  was  not  for 
the  possession  of  land ;  it  was  for  supremacy.  With  the  knowl- 
edge that  he  was  the  weaker  party,  the  savage,  irascible,  vindic- 
tive, and  impetuous,  went  to  war  without  hope  and  fought  without 
mercy.  It  was  this  war,  which  grew  out  of  pure  antagonism,  the 
antagonism  between  civilization  and  barbarism,  a  war  which 
raged  with  all  the  revolting  horror  and  fury  of  a  warfare  only 
waged  by  a  desperate  savage ;  it  was  this  war  which  for  more  than 
a  year  threatened  destruction  to  New  England,  and  which  abated 


144  mdd  MeelAng—WM. 

neither  beneath  the  blaze  of  sommer  nor  amid  the  snow  of  win- 
ter,— ^it  was  this  war,  I  say,  which  was  King  Philip's  war. 

The  threatening  cloud  suddenly  broke  upon  the  colonists  in 
an  attack  by  Philip's  men  on  Swansea  the  24th  of  June,  1675. 
The  dormant  passions  of  the  savage  had  been  awakened  and 
the  war  went  on.  With  amazing  rapidity  it  spread  throughout 
the  colony.  Hardly  had  Swansea  and  Taunton  been  attacked, 
and  Dartmouth  and  Brookfield  been  burned,  when  the  war  was 
turned  toward  this  region.  Deerfield  was  assailed  and  was 
soon  after  the  scene  of  a  memorable  slaughter.  The  awful 
story  of  Bloody  Brook  is  too  well  known  to  need  recounting. 
No  part  of  western  Massachusetts  is  so  fraught  with  the  brutish 
atrocities  of  Indian  warfare  as  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut 
from  Korthfield  to  Springfield.  It  became  the  theater  of  a 
fiendish  drama  unique  in  barbarity.  Nowhere  have  the  con- 
flicts between  the  native  and  the  settler  of  this  valley  been  ex- 
ceeded for  the  relentless  brutality  of  the  one  and  the  indomitable 
fortitude  of  the  other ;  and  some  of  the  bloodiest  struggles  that 
crimson  this  period  were  fought  along  the  banks  of  this  river. 

The  winter  of  1675-76  was  a  sad  and  gloomy  one  for  the 
colonists.  So  far  victory  for  the  most  part  had  been  on  the 
side  of  the  Indian.  Dark  indeed  was  the  prospect.  Many  of 
the  settlers  had  been  killed  and  their  villages  burned,  and  this 
only  tended  to  increase  the  danger  of  the  solitary  settlements 
in  the  interior.  Their  enemy  was  an  enemy  whose  only  war- 
fare was  one  of  stealth  and  ambuscades ;  who  never  met  them 
in  the  open,  but  lurking  in  secret  fired  upon  them  with  fatal 
effect.  As  the  Indian  in  peace  was  an  idler,  so  in  war  he  was 
a  marauder.  Divided  into  innumerable  prowling  bands,  he  at- 
tacked the  lonely  farmhouses  and  distant  settlements,  disap- 
pearing as  suddenly  as  he  came,  yet  leaving  murder,  fire  and 
desolation  behind.  Under  cover  of  the  night  he  furtively  crept 
upon  his  victims.  Often  he  concealed  himself  before  their  very 
doors,  and  the  first  warning  of  his  presence  was  the  ring  of 
musketry,  as  the  settler  dropped  dead  upon  his  own  threshold ; 
the  house  was  then  fired,  the  mother  and  her  children  scalped, 
and  the  work  of  destruction  was  accomplished.  While  the 
English  pursued  in  one  direction,  he  burned  and  plundered  in 
another.  "  His  mode  of  warfare,"  writes  an  historian,  "  was 
secret  and  terrible.  He  seemed  like  the  demon  of  destruction, 
hurling  his  bolts  in  darkness.    Shrouded  by  the  deep  shade  of 


Address  of  Ralph  M.  Stoughtan.  146 

the  midnight,  he  stole  apon  the  villages  and  settlements  of  New 
England,  like  the  pestilence,  unseen  and  unheard.  His  pathway 
could  be  traced  by  the  horrible  desolation  of  its  progress,  by 
its  crimson  prints  upon  the  sands  and  snows,  by  smoke  and  fire, 
by  the  shrieks  of  women,  the  wailing  of  infants  and  the  groans 
of  the  wounded  and  dying." 

During  this  winter  occurred  the  "  Swamp  Fight,"  terrible  in 
its  disaster  for  the  Indian.  The  colonists,  regarding  the  Narra- 
gansetts,  who  were  the  most  powerful  of  the  New  England 
tribes,  as  their  most  dangerous  enemy,  invaded  the  winter 
quarters  of  the  Indians  with  a  force  1000  strong.  In  a  stealthy 
march  they  approached  the  Narragansetts,  stormed  their  forti- 
fications, set  fire  to  their  wigwams,  and  in  the  confusion  a  scene 
of  awful  carnage  ensued,  in  which  the  Indians,  irrespective  of 
age  or  sex,  perished  by  hundreds.  Though  the  English  can 
hardly  be  commended  for  this  cruel  massacre,  equal  in  barbarity 
to  any  Indian  slaughter,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  war 
was  now  to  the  death ;  a  war  of  extermination  for  the  one  or 
the  other.  Mercy  could  not  be  shown  to  a  merciless  foe ;  he 
must  be  met  with  the  weapons  of  his  own  warfare.  The 
^^  Swamp  Fight "  excited  the  Indians  to  new  violence  and  in  the 
spring  the  war  was  renewed  with  redoubled  ferocity.  Lancaster, 
Medfield,  Weymouth  and  Oroton  were  laid  in  ruins ;  then  early 
in  the  spring  the  war  was  again  transferred  to  this  valley,  and 
we  come  at  length  to  the  incident  which  to-day  claims  our  in- 
terest. 

In  those  early  days  when  first  our  ancestors  explored  this 
valley,  no  liver  in  all  New  England  afforded  a  greater  abundance 
of  fish  than  the  Connecticut,  and  no  spot  along  its  banks  pre- 
sented a  more  favorable  station  for  their  capture  than  this  very 
spot  In  the  spring  of  the  year,  immense  qaantities  of  shad 
and  salmon  came  up  the  river  until  the  rapids  and  the  falls  close 
by  obstructed  their  course.  Here  the  river  narrowed  by  the 
girting  hills,  furnished  a  place  remarkably  adapted  by  nature 
for  a  fishing  ground.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  spring  of  1676. 
A  large  camp  of  several  hundred  Indians  was  situated  on  this 
side  of  the  liver,  a  smaller  camp  was  on  the  opposite  bank,  and 
a  third  on  what  is  known  as  ^'  Smead's  Island,"  some  distance 
below  here.  The  Indians,  fearing  no  danger  from  the  valley 
settlements,  camped  here  in  careless  security ;  the  daytime  they 
spent  in  catching  and  drying  fish  to  fill  their  bams  for  the  win- 
10 


146  Fidd  Meeting— 1900. 

tor's  stock,  and  the  night-time  was  passed  in  feasting  and  rev- 
elry,  while  no  military  vigilance  was  kept. 

This  state  of  affairs  in  the  Indian  camp  was  reported  by  two 
boys,  Gilbert  and  Stebbins,  who  had  been  held  as  captives,  but 
who  on  account  of  the  negligence  of  the  Indians,  escaped  and 
found  their  way  to  Hatfield.  Soon  after,  Thomas  Reed,  a  sol- 
dier who  had  been  taken  prisoner  m  the  April  previous,  made 
his  escape  and  came  to  Hadley.  He,  too,  informed  the  English 
of  the  Indians'  carelessness  and  neglect  of  precautions  against 
surprise;  and  how,  secure  and  scornful,  they  boasted  of  the 
great  things  they  had  done  aud  would  do.  When  all  this  was 
known,  the  English,  urged  on  by  the  beginning  of  renewed  in- 
cursions upon  them,  decided  that  the  time  had  come  when  a 
decisive  blow  must  be  dealt  for  the  masterdom  of  this  great 
valley.  No  longer  could  the  red  man  and  white  man  live  here 
as  neighbors.  One  must  yield  to  the  other;  one  must  pass 
away  while  the  other  remained. 

In  accordance  with  this  resolution,  a  force  of  about  145  men 
gathered  at  Hatfield  for  an  expedition  against  the  Indian  camp. 
Rev.  Hope  Atherton,  ^^  who  was  a  courageous  man  and  willing 
to  expose  himself  for  the  public  good,"  was  the  chaplain ;  Ben- 
jamin Waite  and  Experience  HinsdeU  were  the  guides,  and  the 
whole  was  under  the  command  of  Captain  William  Turner  of 
Boston.  Each  man  was  furnished  with  provisions  for  three 
meals  and  nearly  all  were  mounted  men.  Just  after  sunset  on 
Thursday,  May  18,  after  a  "  fervent  prayer  by  the  chaplain  and 
a  tearful  Godspeed  from  their  friends,"  the  little  army  with 
stout  hearts  and  set  purpose,  passed  out  from  Hatfield  for  a 
memorable  night  march  of  more  than  20  miles.  Across  the 
meadows  to  Sugar  Loaf,  up  the  Pocumtuck  path,  past  Bloody 
Brook,  where  on  that  very  day  eight  months  before,  the  heed- 
less Lothrop  and  his  three  score  men  had  dyed  red  the  ground 
with  the  best  blood  of  Essex ;  past  Deerfield  in  ruins,  recently 
burned ;  onward  across  North  Meadows,  over  the  Deerfield  and 
up  the  steep  hillside  to  Betty's  Plain.  Then  turning  to  the  east, 
following  the  Indian  trail  at  the  foot  of  Shelbume  hills,  cross- 
ing Green  River  and  skirting  the  swamp,  the  party  finally 
reached  the  plateau  just  northwest  of  Factory  Village.  Leaving 
the  horses  here  under  a  small  guard,  Turner  led  his  men  noise- 
lessly down  into  the  "  hoUow,"  forded  Fall  River  above  the  upper 
bridge,  scaled  the  steep  ascent  of  the  opposite  bank  and  came 


Address  of  Balph  M,  Stoughtan.  147 

out  on  the  sommit  just  above  us.  On  the  slope  he  drew  up  his 
men  mto  line ;  his  objective  point,  the  Indian  oamp,  was  spread 
out  before  him. 

Save  for  the  monotonous  roar  of  the  cataract,  silence  reigned  in 
the  camp  by  the  river  side.  Not  a  sentinel  was  posted ;  the 
dusky  warrior  was  wrapped  in  profound  slumber.  At  the  very 
time  when  Turner  and  his  adventurous  men  were  making  their 
stealthy  advance,  a  grand  feast  was  being  held  here  at  Feske- 
ompskut.  Warrior  and  squaw,  the  young  and  the  old  alike, 
gorged  themselves  with  the  salmon  drawn  from  the  river  and 
with  beef  gained  by  a  recent  raid  on  the  valley  settlements, 
and  then  filled  to  repletion  the  whole  camp  slept  in  unguarded, 
unsuspecting  security.  Little  did  the  Indian  dream  of  danger, 
yet  the  end  was  near  at  hand. 

Impatiently  the  soldiers  awaited  the  lights  and  in  the  gray 
of  the  early  dawn,  they  stole  silently  down  among  the  un- 
guarded foe ;  the  word  of  command  was  given,  and  a  crash  of 
musketry  aroused  the  stupefied  sleepers.  Many  were  killed  at 
the  first  fire,  while  the  terrified  survivors,  believing  their  furious 
enemy,  the  Mohawks,  were  upon  them,  rushed  madly  to  the 
river,  and  pushed  off  in  paddleless  canoes,  only  to  be  engulfed 
in  the  tumultuous  waters  of  the  cataract.  Others,  hiding  about 
the  banks,  were  hunted  out  and  slain,  and  we  read  that  Captain 
Holyoke  with  his  own  sword,  killed  five  under  a  bank.  Be- 
sistance  was  slight,  and  only  one  of  the  assailants  was  wounded 
by  the  enemy.  The  camp  and  wigwams  were  immediately  set 
on  fire,  and  all  was  entirely  destroyed.  As  to  the  number  of 
Indians  that  perished  in  this  slaughter,  no  intelligent  estimate 
can  be  made  as  contemporary  accounts  differ  widely.  It  must 
have  been,  however,  at  least  300,  for  Indians  themselves  after- 
ward admitted  that  loss ;  whatever  the  number  was,  doubtless 
many  were  women  and  children,  for  we  know  there  was  no  dis- 
tinction of  age  or  sex. 

The  firing  quickly  aroused  the  camp  on  the  shore  opposite, 
and  a  party  soon  crossed  to  bring  assistance.  About  20  of 
Turner's  men  volunteered  to  meet  these,  while  the  main  body 
returned  to  their  horses  and  began  to  march  back.  The  small 
detachment  that  had  gone  to  attack  the  Indians  from  the  other 
camp,  proved  insufficient ;  they  were  forced  to  retreat  and  with 
great  difficulty  reached  their  horses,  only  to  meet  with  attacks 
from  all  sides.    One  of  the  number,  Jonathan  Wells,  a  boy  of 


148  Fidd  MeeMnff— 1900. 

16,  though  wounded,  managed  to  reaoh  Tnmer  and  begged  him 
to  return  to  the  relief ;  but  Turner,  believing  that  it  was  "  bet- 
ter to  save  some  than  lose  all,"  pushed  on. 

Unfortunately  for  Captain  Turner,  he  was  very  feeble,  scarcely 
able  to  sustain  the  excitement  and  fatigue  of  such  service. 
As  the  sun  came  up  and  the  day  grew  warm  and  sultry.  Cap- 
tain Turner's  weakness  increased  until  it  became  evident  to  his 
troops  that  he  must  soon  be  unable  to  guide  them.  At  this  un- 
fortunate time,  attacks  from  various  quarters  and  the  baseless 
rumor  that  Philip  was  approaching  with  a  thousand  warriors, 
caused  a  sudden  panic  among  the  troops.  Order  and  discipline 
were  lost  and  the  retreat  became  a  rout.  The  force  divided 
into  separate  squads,  each  bent  only  on  self-preservation,  and 
during  the  passage  through  the  dense  morass,  one  party  was 
captured  and  the  tradition  is  that  they  met  death  at  the 
stake.  The  main  body  at  length  reached  Oreen  Eiver, 
and  there  Captain  Turner  fell  beneath  the  enemy's  fatal 
fire.  Captain  Holyoke,  upon  whom  the  command  now 
devolved,  was  a  man  equal  to  the  emergency.  Exposing  him- 
self to  every  danger,  his  own  dauntless  courage  was  infused  into 
the  spirits  of  his  men  and  he  incited  them  to  redoubled  exer- 
tions. Hour  by  hour  they  struggled  on  harassed  continually 
by  the  infuriated  foe,  until  at  length,  exhausted,  wounded  and 
bleeding,  the  survivors  of  the  shattered  troop  arrived  at  Hat- 
field, with  a  loss  of  41  men  killed. 

The  panic  that  assailed  the  troops  in  the  early  part  of  the 
retreat  gave  rise  to  several  instances  of  individual  experience 
and  suffering  worthy  of  being  again  recounted.  Jonathan 
Wells  of  Hatfield,  the  youth  whom  I  have  already  mentioned, 
was  among  the  first  to  be  wounded.  Barely  able  to  keep  seat 
upon  his  horse,  he  soon  became  separated  from  the  others ; 
and  bewildered  in  the  woods,  he  turned  to  the  north  instead  of 
the  south,  and  followed  Green  River  up  above  what  is  known 
as  the  Country  Farms.  There  he  fell  from  his  horse  exhausted, 
and  soon  fell  into  a  sound  sleep.  And  while  he  slept,  be  dreamed 
that  his  grandfather  came  to  him  and  told  him  he  was  lost  be- 
cause he  was  traveling  in  the  wrong  direction.  In  the  morning 
his  horse  was  gone,  and  with  his  gun  as  a  staff,  weak  and  faint 
from  loss  of  blood  and  from  hunger,  he  followed  the  direction 
of  his  dream  and  started  homeward.  With  great  difficulty  on 
account  of  his  wound  and  because  of  the  swiftness  of  the  current^ 


Address  of  Ralph  M.  Stoughtan.  149 

he  forded  the  Deerfield,  and  while  lying  down  to  rest,  he  fiaw  an 
Indian  approaching  him  in  a  canoe.  Leveling  his  gun  at  him,  the 
Indian  fled,  and  Wells  knowing  that  others  must  be  near  at  hand, 
thought  how  to  elude,  them.  Finding  two  logs  near  together 
that  projected  out  over  the  river  nearly  level  with  the  stream, 
he  waded  out  and  stood  between  them.  In  this  way  he  escaped 
the  Indians,  who,  as  he  anticipated,  soon  came  to  hunt  for  him. 
When  they  had  departed.  Wells  slowly  pursued  his  journey, 
sometimes  giving  up  in  despair,  often  overcome  by  fatigue  and 
all  the  time  racked  with  pain.  Finally  he  reached  Hatfield  on 
Sunday,  at  noon,  48  hours  after  the  retreat  from  these  grounds. 

The  Eev.  Hope  Atherton,  first  pastor  of  the  Hatfield  church 
and  the  chaplain  of  the  expedition,  on  his  return  gave  an  ac- 
count of  his  experiences  in  a  sermon  to  his  people  on  Sunday  the 
28th  of  May,  in  which  he  said :  "  When  I  was  separated  from 
the  army,  none  pursued  me.  The  night  following  I  wandered 
up  and  down,  but  none  discovered  me.  The  next  day  I  tend- 
ered myself  to  the  enemy  as  a  prisoner,  for  no  way  of  escape 
appeared  and  I  had  long  been  without  food,  but  notwithstanding 
I  offered  myself  to  them,  they  accepted  not  my  offer ;  when  I 
spoke,  they  answered  not ;  when  I  moved  toward  them  they 
fled.  Finding  they  would  not  accept  me  as  a  prisoner,  I  de- 
termined, if  possible,  to  find  my  way  home,  and  after  several 
days  of  hunger,  fatigue  and  danger,  I  reached  Hatfield."  Some 
historical  commentators  have  been  inclined  to  think  that  the 
Bev.  Atherton's  mind  became  bewildered  by  his  exposures,  and 
that  the  incidents  of  his  story  were  merely  the  fancies  of  a  dis- 
ordered imagination.  More  likely,  however,  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  appearance  of  the  chaplain  by  which  the  Indians 
recognized  him  as  a  minister,  and  with  superstitious  fear,  left 
him  unmolested 

The  ^' Falls  Fight"  has  ever  been  memorable  among  the 
events  of  that  Indian  war.  It  was  more  than  merely  a  bloody 
slaughter ;  here,  about  this  very  ground  upon  which  we  now 
stand,  took  place  the  final  struggle  between  the  Indian  and  the 
settler  of  this  valley,  and  here  the  Indian  lost  forever  his  tribal 
power  over  this  region.  Here  beside  the  waters  of  the  river 
below  us,  the  men  of  Hatfield,  the  men  of  Hadley,  the  men  of  the 
Pocumtuck  valley,  wrote  in  bloody  characters  the  concluding 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Pocumtucks  as  a  nation.  Save  for 
feeble  and  ineffectual  attacks  on  Hadley  and  Hatfield  a  few  days 


160  Fidd  Meettnff—1900. 

later,  the  Indian  as  a  tribal  power,  never  after  beset  these  settle- 
ments. All  their  later  depredations  were  made  at  the  instigation 
of  the  French,  and  nnder  their  leadership  for  the  most  part.  From 
this  time  and  place  the  Pocumtuck  tribes  pass  into  oblivion. 

The  fight  here  on  the  19th  of  May,  1676,  was  a  serious  blow 
to  Philip,  for  it  destroyed  the  fisheries  on  which  he  so  largely 
depended  for  supplies.  His  power  soon  ebbed  away ;  hunted 
backward  and  forward  the  monarch  of  the  Wampanoags  be- 
came a  fugitive,  abandoned  by  most  of  his  confederates,  and 
he  finally  fell  by  one  of  his  own  people.  It  is  probable  that 
you  would  gladly  doubt,  if  you  could,  the  recorded  fact  that 
Philip's  head  was  sent  to  Plymouth  and  was  there  long  exposed 
on  a  gibbet.  Before  you  too  harshly  condemn  this  act  of  shock- 
ing barbarity  recollect  that  in  London,  nearly  a  century  later, 
the  heads  of  the  Scotch  rebels  were  exhibited  on  Temple  Bar. 

Few  characters  in  history  have  had  such  conflicting  judg- 
ments passed  upon  them  as  the  Indian  warrior,  Philip.  Early 
chroniclers  were  wont  to  heap  upon  him  the  most  opprobrious 
epithets,  while  later  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  true  patriot, 
whose  enmity  was  national,  not  individual,  an  heroic — ^martyr. 
Modem  historians,  however,  agree  in  representing  him  with  all 
the  vices  and  instincts  of  his  race.  ^^  The  title  of  King,"  says 
Palfrey,  "  disguises  and  transfigures  to  the  view,  the  form  of  a 
squalid  savage  whose  royal  robe  was  a  coarse  blanket  alive 
with  vermin ;  whose  nature  possessed  what  might  be  expected 
from  such  a  race  and  such  habits  of  life.  To  royalty  belong  as- 
sociations of  dignity  and  magnificence.  The  Indian  King 
Philip  is  at  all  events  a  mythical  character." 

My  task  is  done ;  the  sad  and  fearful  story  is  told, — the  story 
of  King  Philip's  War.  But  the  men  who  met  the  brunt  of 
those  fierce  conflicts,  who  were  they  ?  We  are  rather  wont  to 
look  with  scorn  and  ridicule  upon  our  Puritan  ancestors,  for 
their  austere  manners,  their  rigorous  principles  of  stem  piety, 
and  their  antipathy  to  the  diversions  of  society.  But  study,  I 
ask  you,  the  history  of  the  colonies  from  1620  to  1675,  and  then 
scoff  at  the  men  and  women  who  endured  the  hardships  and  ex- 
posures of  that  early  time.  Our  Puritan  forefathers  may  have 
been  harsh  and  severe,  but  their  code  of  laws  was  the  law  di- 
rected by  their  own  conscience ;  they  may  have  detested  mer- 
riment and  festivity ;  the  pioneer  looks  not  for  a  life  of  ease  and 
amusement :  they  doubtless  had  their  faults  and  failings,  but 


Address  of  Ralph  M.  SUmgkton.  151 

that  they  were  selfish,  that  they  were  deliberately  oroel, 
that  they  were  intentionally  unjust  to  the  Indian,  I  find 
no  proof.  I  little  accord  with  the  sentimentalist  who 
portrays  the  Indian  as  a  noble  being,  endowed  with  vir- 
tues unnatural  to  his  race,  while  he  decries  the  Puritan  as  harsh 
and  uncompromising,  narrow  and  arrogant.  I  read  of  the  un- 
tiring efforts  of  Eliot  and  the  May  hews ;  I  read  how  the  Eng- 
lish ministered  to  the  plague-stricken  Indian  when  his  own 
people  forsook  him ;  I  read  of  countless  instances  of  magna- 
nimity to  the  perfidious  native.  There  are  exceptions  in  all 
things  but  as  a  whole  the  Indian  was  defective  both  mentally 
and  morally,  incapable  of  the  larger  instincts  of  humanity,  as 
inspired  by  Christian  influences.  Amid  all  the  uplifting  as- 
sociations of  civilization,  the  Indian  was  an  Indian  still. 

Bead  the  convincing  facts  of  history  and  your  sympathies 
will  be  with  the  early  settlers.  They  were  plain  men  of  com- 
mon sense  and  strong  convictions,  full  of  courage  and  patient 
in  toil ;  men  as  stanch  and  upright  as  the  primeval  pines  they 
felled  to  clear  their  farm.  They  were  men  of  action  who  real- 
ized the  supreme  importance  of  seizing  the  hour.  They  were 
men  in  voluntary  exile  for  the  sake  of  religious  and  civil 
liberty.  They  knew  only  that  it  was  theirs  to  labor  with  pa- 
tience and  hope,  to  hand  down  the  heritage  finally  purchased 
with  their  own  blood.  Search  the  pages  of  history  and  tell  me 
where  you  find  nobler  examples  of  manly  virtues.  And  when 
you  have  seen  the  unfaltering  fortitude  of  the  men  of  1676,  look 
at  the  calm  courage  and  marvellous  hardihood  of  the  farmer 
soldier  a  century  later  at  Bunker  Hill,  at  Concord  and  Lexing- 
ton, at  Bennington  and  Saratoga,  and  tell  me  whence  came  the 
spirit  of  1776.  From  whom  but  those  early  settlers,  to  whose 
blood  and  traditions  the  American  patriots  were  heirs  t  ^^  Four 
score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  upon  this 
continent  a  new  nation,"  said  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg.  To-day 
I  say  two  centuries  and  more  ago,  the  men  of  1676  laid  the 
foundations  for  the  very  principles  of  that  new  nation.  And  so 
I  claim  that  it  is  highly  fitting  that  we  to-day  honor  the  mem- 
ory of  the  men  of  that  early  day,  who  over  200  years  ago  came 
with  shot  and  sword  and  fire,  and  from  this  very  ground,  swept 
the  Indians  to  the  river  below,  ground  their  cabins  to  the  dust 
and  sent  their  wigwams  to  the  clouds  above,  and  freed  forever 
our  valley  from  the  thraldom  of  barbarism. 


ANNUAL   MEETING— 1901. 

REPORT. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  As- 
sociation, which  was  held  in  the  old  kitchen  at  Memorial  Hall 
yesterday  afternoon,  was  of  peculiar  interest  for  the  members 
of  the  society  and  others  interested  in  antiquarian  pursuits.  A 
noteworthy  feature  of  the  meeting  was  the  quality  of  the 
papers  prepared  for  the  occasion.  In  the  afternoon  there  were 
short  sketches  of  the  well  known  members  who  had  passed 
away  in  the  year.  S.  O.  Lamb  spoke  briefly  on  James  S.  Grin- 
nell  and  submitted  the  following  resolution  which  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  Pocumtuck  Valley  Memorial  Association  deeply  feels 
the  great  loss  which  it  has  suffered  in  the  death  of  the  Hon.  James  S. 
Giinnell,  late  of  Greenfield,  and  hereby  places  upon  its  records  an  expres- 
sion of  its  cordial  appreciation  of  his  constant  friendship  and  faithful  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  and  work  of  the  Association;  also  an  expression  of  its 
sincere  sympathy  with  the  bereaved  family  and  friends  of  the  deceased. 

Mr.  Lamb  confined  himself  principally  to  Mr.  GriDnell  as  a 
young  man  at  the  time  of  his  admission  to  the  bar  in  1846,  and 
incidentally  alluded  to  some  of  his  contemporaries.  Mrs.  Lucius 
Nims  read  a  sketch  of  Eben  A.  Hall,  which  was  prepared  by 
Judge  Fessenden ;  a  tribute  to  Charles  H.  McClellan  was  given 
by  Frank  J.  Hosmer ;  Rev.  P.  V.  Finch  contributed  a  sketch  on 
Deacon  Hitchcock,  and  Mrs.  Charles  Stebbins  one  on  Mrs. 
Mary  P.  Wentworth. 

Judge  F.  M.  Thompson,  vice-president  of  the  Association, 
presided.  It  was  voted  to  hold  the  next  field  meeting  at  Deer^ 
field,  July  81.  The  president,  vice-presidents  and  Treasurer, 
with  William  L.  Harris,  E.  A.  Newcomb,  Mrs.  Samuel  Childs, 
Augustus  Y.  Tack  and  Miss  A.  C.  Putnam,  were  authorized 
to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  committee  on  the  "  Old  Home 
Week"  chosen  by  the  citizens  of  the  town  last  October. 
Some  of  the  historic  places  in  town  will  be  marked  by  suitable 
monuments.  The  committee  on  memorials  are :  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
George  Sheldon,  Judge  F.  M.  Thompson  and  George  A.  Shel- 
don.   These  officers  were  elected : — 

President,  George  Sheldon  of  Deerfield  ;  vice-presidents, 
Francis  M.  Thompson  of  Greenfield,  C.  Alice  Baker  of  Cam- 
bridge ;  recording  secretary,  Margaret  Miller  of  Deerfield ;  cor- 


ArmualL  Meeting — 1901.  163 

responding  seoretaiy,  Mary  Elizabeth  Stebbins  of  Deerfteld ; 
treasurer,  John  Sheldon  of  Greenfield ;  members  of  the  council, 
Charles  Jones,  Bobert  Childs,  Edward  A.  Hawks,  Samuel  Childs, 
Frances  W.  Ball,  Madeline  T.  Wynne,  George  W.  SoUey,  Laura 
B.  Wells,  and  Edward  J.  Everett  of  Deerfield ;  P.  Voorhees 
Finch,  Samuel  O.  Lamb,  Herbert  0.  Parsons,  Caroline  C.  Fur- 
bush,  Ellen  L.  Sheldon  and  Eugene  A.  Newcomb  of  Greenfield. 

John  Sheldon,  treasurer  of  the  committee  on  the  publication 
of  the  History  of  Deerfield,  submitted  the  following  report : 
"  Your  committee  would  report  that  during  the  past  year  they 
have  sold  fourteen  sets  of  the  History  of  Deerfield  for  $127. 
There  was  an  edition  of  600  bound  copies  and  in  addition  we 
have  300  unbound  sets.  A  few  complimentary  copies  have 
been  given  away  at  the  request  of  the  author.  Two  sets  were 
sent  to  Washington  to  secure  the  copyright,  some  have  been 
used  in  exchange  for  other  books  to  the  advantage  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. There  have  been  sold  385  sets,  and  we  have  now  some- 
thing over  100  sets  on  hand.  The  sales  have  extended  over  a 
large  part  of  the  United  States,  and  a  few  copies  have  gone 
abroad.  The  price  has  been  collected  for  all  books  sent  out 
to  date,  with  the  exception  of  one  copy  of  Volume  I  sent  to 
Philadelphia.  We  have  paid  all  costs  of  publishing,  delivering 
and  all  other  expenses.  You  now  own  what  books  we  have  on 
hand  clear,  and  we  have  paid  to  your  treasurer  $1067." 

The  report  from  George  Sheldon,  chairman  of  the  publishing 
committee,  was  submitted. 

"  The  Committee  on  the  Publication  of  our  Proceedings  would 
report,  that  Yol.  Ill  has  been  issued  from  the  press  of  T.  Morey 
&  Son,  in  an  acceptable  form  and  satisfactory  manner ;  although 
unfortunate  circumstances  caused  unexpected  delays.  It  is 
herewith  submitted.  Experience  has  demonstrated  that  the  cash 
demand  for  these  volumes  hajs  been  much  smaller  than  was  an- 
ticipated, therefore  the  edition  has  been  limited  to  300  copies. 

^'  The  work  is  useful  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  making  our  As- 
sociation better  known,  and  bringing  valuable  additions  to  our 
library.  Our  field  in  this  direction  is  enlarging  as  the  years 
go  by,  and  I  would  recommend  the  continuance  of  the  series." 

For  the  labor  of  editing,  proofreading,  and  for  the  incidental 
expenses  of  getting  the  volume  through  the  press,  there  has 
been  no  charge  to  the  Association.  This  has  been  a  labor,  in- 
deed, but  a  labor  of  love,  by  the  Ohairman  of  the  Committee. 


154  Anmuxl  Meeting — 1901. 

OURATOK'S  REPOET. 

Your  curator  would  repeat  his  words  of  last  year,  that  the 
future  of  our  Association  never  looked  brighter.  We  are  estab- 
lished in  our  place,  and  are  acknowledged  by  all  to  hold  a  char- 
acteristic collection  unequalled  in  our  broad  land. 

One  of  the  state  commissioners  for  the  Pan-American  Expo- 
sition at  Buffalo  told  me  a  few  weeks  ago  that  he  had  traveled 
far  and  wide,  visiting  museums  in  this  and  other  states  without 
finding  anything  to  compare  with  ours.  We  may  certainly  con- 
gratulate ourselves  on  what  we  have  accomplished  when  such 
men  give  us  such  a  rank. 

Our  collection  is  gradually  enlarging,  but  as  our  schedules 
year  by  year  fill  up,  our  accretions  are  materially  less  than  in 
the  full  tide  of  our  earlier  growth.  Still  the  past  year  has 
brought  us  large  additions,  chiefiy,  however,  to  our  hbrary.  To 
this  45  books,  180  pamphlets  and  other  papers  have  been  added 
since  our  last  report,  and  our  shelves  have  become  uncomfort- 
ably crowded.  To  our  miscellaneous  collection  158  articles 
have  been  added. 

Owing  to  ciroumstances  the  work  in  the  Ubrary  has  faUen 
behind  for  a  year  or  two  past,  but  last  summer  with  an  active 
assistant  I  spent  considerable  time  in  cataloguing  and  arranging 
accumulated  material  Much,  however,  remains  to  be  done. 
We  have  a  large  number  of  old  manuscripts,  historic  and  family 
papers,  which  should  be  catalogued  and  arranged  to  be  available 
to  the  public.  This  work  was  well  begun  by  Mrs.  Wentworth, 
when  through  weakness,  she  was  obliged  to  give  it  up.  We 
have  devoted  a  box  to  each  family  name,  and  all  manuscript 
papers  relating  to  this  name  are  deposited  therein ;  when  these 
are  catalogued  and  numbered  they  become  available  for  public 
use.  Another  and  better  way  to  preserve  family  papers  is  to 
secure  them  in  large  scrapbooks,  prepared  for  the  purpose. 
When  arranged  chronologically  and  indexed  any  paper  is  easily 
found.  If  any  family  will  provide  such  a  book  we  will  under^ 
take  to  arrange  the  papers.  The  Sheldon  family  papers  already 
so  arranged  can  now  be  shown.  I  commend  this  scheme  to  all 
old  families  and  hope  for  fruitful  results. 

For  consultation  in  historic  Unes  there  is  nothing  in  the  Oon- 
necticut  valley  to  compare  with  this  library.  The  question  now 
is.  How  shall  we  increase  its  capacity  ?    It  is  a  question  how 


Ov/rato^B  Report.  155 

mach  more  the  floor  will  sustain.  The  original  eonstmction  of 
this  story  has  been  changed  and  perhaps  an  expert  examination 
should  be  made  to  determine  its  condition. 

Death  has  been  busy  among  our  fellows  during  the  past 
year,  coming  very  near  to  us  in  taking  Nathaniel  Hitchcock,  a 
charter  member  of  our  Association  and  our  faithful  secretary 
and  treasurer  from  the  first.  He  was  one  of  the  noted  twenty- 
four  babies  bom  here  in  1812,  and  at  his  death,  March  3,  was 
nearly  eighty-eight. 

Jonathan  Johnson,  to  whom  we  must  credit  the  first  idea  of 
associated  action  in  local  fields  of  history,  out  of  which  our  As- 
sociation ultimately  grew,  was  an  invaluable  member.  In  our 
early  years  it  was  to  him,  more  than  to  all  others,  that  our 
field  meetings  were  such  great  successes.  He  had  a  genius  for 
initiating  such  affairs. 

The  faithful,  able  and  earnest  assistant  curator,  MraMary  P. 
Wentworth,  who  so  satisfactorily  filled  the  office  for  sixteen 
years,  is  another  who  will  be  sorely  missed  by  us  and  the  visit- 
ing public.  She  so  closely  identified  herself  with  the  place,  that 
in  our  correspondence  the  burden  of  her  hope  was  that  some 
arrangement  might  be  made  whereby  her  last  days  might  be 
spent  within  the  walls  she  loved  so  well.  However  strongly  I 
strove  for  this  it  was  not  to  be.  She  survived  her  removal  but 
a  few  weeks,  dying  January  25, 1901. 

It  may  be  esteemed  fortunate  for  the  Association  that  I  have 
secured  for  her  successor,  Mrs.  Mary  Elizabeth  Stebbins,  who 
will  be  herself  in  evidence  to-day. 

Others  who  have  fallen  by  the  way,  this  fateful  year,  are 
James  S.  Orinnell  and  Eben  A.  Hall  of  Greenfield,  Miss  Maria 
Marshall  of  Weston,  Franklin  J.  Pratt  of  Greenfield,  Chauncey 
B.  Tilton  of  South  Deerfield,  Deacon  Almon  C.  Williams  and 
Mrs.  Oatherine  B.  Yale  of  Deerfield. 

While  the  places  made  vacant  may  not  be  filled,  there  have 
been  good  accessions  to  the  ranks  of  our  membership:  one 
life  Councilor,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Arms  Sheldon  of  Deerfield,  four 
Life  Members,  Mr.  Charles  Herbert  Watson  of  Boston,  Mr. 
George  Arms  Sheldon,  and  Mrs.  Jennie  Edith  Sheldon  of 
Greenfield,  and  twenty  yearly  members. 

The  flow  of  visitors  to  the  hall  has  not  ebbed.  Our  register 
shows  the  names  of  2198  visitors  from  all  over  the  country. 

Little  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  repairs  on  the  tenement  in 


156  Annual  Meeting— IWi. 

late  years,  and  this  year  it  became  necessary  to  do  something 
towards  its  renovation.  The  sum  of  $58.70  has  been  spent  in 
paper  and  paint  under  the  supervision  of  your  treasurer,  which 
was  money  well  laid  out. 

If  I  have  in  this  report  spoken  on  matters  not  strictly  within 
my  province  as  curator  it  is  because  Miss  Miller,  our  secretary 
pro  terriy  could  not  be  expected  to  cover  the  field  this  year. 

In  the  absence  of  President  Sheldon,  Yice-President  Judge 
F.  M.  Thompson  presided  at  the  evening  exercises,  which  began 
by  a  selection  of  old-time  music  by  the  Deerfield  choir  dressed 
in  ancient  costumes.  The  singers  were:  Charles  H.  Ashley, 
conductor;  Mrs.  Ashley,  Mrs.  Edward  WeUs,  Mrs.  George 
Everett,  Miss  Julia  Brown,  Miss  Mary  Stebbins,  Miss  Pomeroy, 
Eev.  Mr.  Solley  Mr.  Sibley  and  Merrill  Childs.  Prayer  was 
offered  by  Mr.  Howard. 

Judge  Thompson  then  introduced  Miss  H.  Isabella  Williams 
of  Deerfield,  a  teacher  at  Smith  College,  who  read  very  interest- 
ing extracts  from  the  diary  of  General  Epaphras  Hoyt. 

The  principal  paper  of  the  evening  was  by  Hon.  Herbert  C. 
Parsons,  upon  "  The  History  of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel." 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Parsons'  paper  Judge  Thompson  told 
how  he  as  a  boy  had  helped  to  draw  part  of  the  boring  machine 
over  the  hills  to  the  place  of  operation.  He  also  stated  that  he 
saw  the  machine  when  it  began  work.  He  then  called  upon 
Edwin  Stratton  and  S.  O.  Lamb  for  personal  reminiscences  of 
that  time.  Mr.  Stratton  said  that  the  machine  bored  into  the 
rock  about  twenty  feet  at  the  bottom  but  only  about  six  at  the 
top  where  the  whole  bigness  of  the  drill  cut.  Mr.  Lamb  said  he 
could  add  but  little  to  what  had  been  said,  but  alluded  to  the 
good  work  done  in  favor  of  the  tunnel  by  Wendell  T.  Davis 
and  Horatio  G.  Packard,  who  were  in  the  legislature  at  that 
time.  He  also  said  that  in  politics  a  man's  position  on  the  tun- 
nel question  made  a  great  difference  in  his  chance  of  election  to 
legi^tive  office.  Many  statesmen  were  made  and  unmade  by 
the  tunnel  question. 

Judge  Thompson  called  for  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Deer- 
field women  and  the  singers,  which  was  unanimously  given. 
He  then  asked  the  singers  to  render  a  touching  ballad  about  a 
young  man  who  went  out  to  mow  and  was  bitten  by  a  "  pizen 
sarpi-ent,"  which  they  did  with  much  feeling.    The  meeting 


Necrology.  157 

closed  by  the  singing  of  "Auld  Lang  Syne"  by  all.  There 
were  abcmt  forty  present  from  Greenfield.  The  Pocumtuck  Val- 
ley Memorial  Association  is  doing  a  grand  work  in  marking  his- 
toric spots  in  our  valley  and  otherwise  commemorating  events 
of  the  past  for  the  benefit  of  future  generations,  and  the  interest 
taken  in  the  meeting  shows  that  their  work  is  being  appreciated 
and  new  enthusiasm  being  aroused. 


NECROLOGY. 

JONATHAN  Johnson's  sbbviob  as  told  by  judgb  Thompson. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  Associa- 
tion was  held  at  the  town  house  in  Deerfield,  May  26,  1870. 
None  of  the  officers  elected  at  that  meeting  now  survive,  ex- 
cepting our  venerable  president,  vice-president  James  M.  Crafts, 
and  Rev.  P.  Voorhees  Finch,  who  was  at  that  time  elected  a 
member  of  the  council. 

Jonathan  Johnson,  then  of  Montague,  was  elected  at  that 
meeting  a  member  of  the  coundl,  and  his  labors  for  the  success 
of  the  Association,  thus  early  begun,  only  ended  with  his  life, 
August  16, 1900. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  well  known  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  this  county  and  the  towns  of  southern  Vermont  and 
New  Hampshire.  Almost  his  whole  business  life  was  spent  in 
traveling  over  the  hills  and  valleys  of  this  vicinity,  and  for  the 
last  twenty  years,  at  least,  his  journeying  was  mostly  on  foot,  for 
which  mode  of  locomotion  nature  had  peculiarly  fitted  him, 
with  his  height  of  six  feet  five  inches,  and  not  an  ounce  of  spare 
flesh  to  overburden  his  long  limbs. 

He  was  by  nature  a  most  observant  man,  and  there  was  no 
nook  or  cranny  of  all  this  section,  which  he  did  not  know,  and 
he  had  a  personal  acquaintance  with  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  of  this  county,  who  had  reached  the  age  of  maturity. 
He  was  born  in  Petersham,  in  1826,  and  lived  at  times  in  Athol, 
Montague,  Sunderland,  Deerfield,  Whately  and  in  Greenfield. 
In  early  years  he  was  by  occupation  a  tin  peddler,  traveling 
over  the  country,  stopping  at  every  house,  and  early  began  mak- 
ing collections  of  Lidian  relics,  antiquarian  papers  and  ancient 
bric-a-brac ;  and  without  doubt  gathered  more  of  these  articles 
than  any  other  person  in  this  county. 


158  Anmud  Meeting — ^1901. 

Always  harassed  by  poverty,  he  was  f oroed  to  part  with  many 
of  his  most  precious  coUections,  in  order  to  protect  his  family 
from  want.  This  Association  has  in  its  collection  very  many 
precious  articles  which  came  to  it  through  the  ceaseless  diligence 
of  Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  always  so  much  interested  in  its 
prosperity.  In  view  of  his  many  donations  to  the  Association, 
its  members  made  him  a  life  councilor  in  1878 ;  one  of  the  high- 
est honors  within  the  gift  of  the  society. 

Mr.  Johnson  in  his  joumeyings  about  the  county,  was  ever 
on  the  lookout  for  details  concerning  each  historic  spot,  and  was 
thus  an  invaluable  member  of  the  committees  appointed  by  the 
Association  to  look  out  places  for  the  annual  field  meetings  of 
the  society ;  a  duty  which  he  faithfully  performed  for  many 
years.  He  had  more  knowledge  of  the  Indian  names  of  rivers, 
mountains,  meadows  and  streams,  than  any  other  member  of 
the  Association,  and  used  to  talk  interestingly  and  intelligently 
upon  these  subjects  at  the  meetings  of  the  society. 

Mr.  Johnson  took  great  satisfaction  in  having  been  a  member 
of  the  old  free  soil  party,  and  was  instrumental  in  the  forming 
of  the  association  of  the  surviving  members  of  that  party,  whose 
meetings  he  always  attended. 

In  later  years  he  had  been  greatly  weakened  by  an  affection 
of  the  heart,  which  caused  a  shortness  of  breath,  and  he  was 
reluctantly  compelled  to  give  up  his  business  of  canvassing  for 
newspapers,  and  consequently  his  gathering  in  of  the  ancient 
specimens  of  an  earlier  civilization,  and  of  the  savages  that  once 
inhabited  this  valley. 

In  the  death  of  Mr.  Johnson  this  Association  has  lost  the  serv- 
ice of  an  intelligent  and  successful  collector,  and  the  constant 
assistance  of  a  person  who  had  unusual  means  of  helping  the 
society  in  its  work,  and  these  means  were  always  used  to  their 
fullest  extent  for  its  good. 

MB.    finch's    BSmCATB  OF   DBAOON   HnOHOOCK. 

Since  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  Pocumtuck  Yalley 
Memorial  Association,  Deacon  Nathaniel  Hitchcock  has  been 
gathered  to  his  fathers.  The  mention  of  his  name  recalls  the 
man.  He  was  a  type  of  the  sturdy  New  England  Puritan 
stock,  loyal  to  the  traditions  and  faith  of  his  ancestors. 

Bom  in  Deerfield,  June  22, 1812,  he  always  lived  in  the  quiet 
old  village;  and  died  in  the  same  house  in  which  he  was 


Necrology.  159 

bom,  and  had  passed  the  many  years  of  his  unobtrusive  life. 
This  house  was  built  by  his  grandfather  in  1779,  and  had  always 
been  occupied  by  a  Hitchcock.  He  was  the  son  of  Deacon 
Henry  Hitchcock,  who  was  son  of  Justin,  and  brother  of  Presi- 
dent Edward  Hitchcock  of  Amherst  College.  A  sister,  living  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  survives  the  deacon.  He  left  no  children,  his 
son  having  died  in  AndersonviUe  in  1864. 

Deacon  Hitchcock  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the 
P.  Y.  M.  A.,  and  held  the  office  of  recording  secretary  and 
treasurer  from  the  date  of  its  organization  to  the  day  of  his 
death.  He  discharged  the  duties  which  devolved  upon  him 
with  promptness  and  efficiency,  and  to  the  entire  satis&ction  of 
his  associates. 

He  was  greatly  interested  in  all  that  concerned  the  wel&re  of 
our  institution,  was  always  present  on  the  occasions  of  its  field 
days,  and  annual  and  special  meetings,  and  contributed  largely 
to  the  interest  of  the  meeting  held  in  this  hall  in  the  winter  of 
1887,  by  reading  a  paper  describing  his  visit  to  Ridgeway, 
N.  Y.,  in  the  year  1834.  The  peculiar  modes  of  traveling  at 
that  time,  by  canal  boats,  stage  coach,  and  by  cars  drawn  by 
horses,  were  graphically  portrayed. 

He  died  at  the  age  of  88  years,  on  March  8,  1900,  having 
lived  a  just  and  upright  life,  loving  the  Lord  his  Gk>d,  with 
heart,  soul,  mind  and  strengtJi,  and  his  neighbor  as  himself. 

JTTDOE  FESSBNDBN's  BSTIMATB   OF  HON.   BBBN  A.   HALL. 

Judge  Fessenden  in  his  sketch  of  Eben  A.  Hall  reviewed 
his  early  life  and  paid  high  tribute  to  the  sterling  virtues  of 
the  man. 

Mr.  Hall  received  his  education  in  the  district  schools  and 
academy  of  Taunton.  He  did  not  have  the  advantages  of  a  col- 
lege education.  This  lack  of  collegiate  training,  however, 
seemed  to  spur  him  on  to  greater  effort.  He  had  Franklin's 
example  in  mind.  By  dint  of  painstaking  study  and  practice, 
he  trained  himself  so  that  he  acquired  a  plain  and  direct  style 
of  writing,  and  an  accurate  estimation  of  the  writings  of  others 
which  was  of  inestimable  service  to  him  later  on. 

While  thus  laboring  in  the  preparation  for  his  chosen  profes- 
sion, he  was  not  forgetful  that  a  knowledge  of  his  fellow-men 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  success.  As  a  young  man  he  min- 
gled with  others  and  became  acquainted  with  their  natures, 


160  AnntuU  Meeting— 1901. 

ways  and  thoughts.  He  learned  that  a  correct  judgment  of 
men  could  only  be  had  by  patient  observation ;  that  a  quickly 
formed  opinion  was  often  wrong.  The  men  are  few  who  knew 
others  as  well  as  he ;  and  so  we  are  not  surprised  that  he  was 
able  to  have  around  him,  when  he  was  publishing  his  journal, 
persons  of  skill  and  talent. 

He  studied  public  events,  past  and  present ;  could  recognize 
and  appreciate  great  movements,  and  distinguish  short-lived, 
spasmodic  disturbances,  and  was  able  to,  and  did,  direct  the 
policy  of  his  sheet  accordingly.  Its  standard  was  high  and 
firmly  maintained. 

He  came  to  Greenfield  with  his  steadfast  purpose  and  high 
ideals.  It  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  his  merit  should 
be  recognized.  In  less  than  three  years  he  became  a  part  owner 
of  the  Gazette  and  Courier.  In  1876  he  became  sole  owner. 
This  paper  is  a  lasting  monument  of  his  work. 

Although  he  gave  his  greatest  energies  to  his  newspaper,  we 
should  not  lose  sight  of  what  he  did  in  other  ways.  His  train* 
ing  had  given  him  good  judgment.  His  nature  was  sincere  and 
honest.  And  so  he  was  asked  to  give  the  benefit  of  his  experi- 
ence and  judgment  to  many  institutions  and  enterprises,  private 
and  public,  and  was  called  to  public  and  representative  office. 
The  list  is  too  long  to  give  in  detail  It  is  enough  to  say  that 
he  rendered  valuable  and  unselfish  service. 

For  this  Association  of  ours  he  always  had  a  feeling  of  fond 
solicitude.  One  of  the  first  members,  for  several  terms  a  coun- 
cilor, vice-president  for  two  years,  his  labors  were  timely  and 
of  assistance  to  us.  The  object  of  our  organization  appealed 
most  strongly  to  him.  He  was  never  found  wanting  when  bis 
help  was  needed. 

It  is  a  loss  when  such  a  man  dies.  But  it  is  a  gain  that 
such  a  man  was  given  to  be  with  us. 

FRANKLIN  J.   PRATT'S  LIFE  8KBT0HBD   BY  MRS.   A.    D.    POTTER. 

Franklin  Josiah  Pratt  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  our 
Association.  His  genial,  warm-hearted  and  stimulating  person- 
ality created  for  him  a  wide  circle  of  friends,  while  his  breadth 
of  view  and  degree  of  intelligence  with  a  capacity  for  leadership 
made  him  a  prominent  figure  in  any  circle. 

The  son  of  Josiah  and  Catherine  Hall  Pratt  he  was  bom  in 
East  Charlemont  in  1829.     He  removed  with  his  family  in  1843 


Necrology.  161 

to  Shelbnme  Falls  where  he  attended  the  then  f  amoos  school, 
Franklm  Academy.  He  was  afterwards  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  manuf actore  of  axes,  then  in  the  hardware  business 
in  New  York.  Ever  on  the  alert  for  active  business  enterprises, 
his  interests  embraced  a  wide  stretch  of  territory  in  the  north, 
south,  east  and  west.  His  broadening  interests  in  localities  far 
removed  from  New  England  never  affected  his  affection  for  his 
native  heath  and  in  Franklin  county  he  always  had  a  home. 

In  politics  he  was  identified  with  the  Democratic  party  and 
at  one  time  held  the  office  of  collector  of  internal  revenue.  He 
was  a  Mason  and  instrumental  in  founding  the  Mountain  Lodge 
of  Shelbume  Falls  and  he  was  its  first  master. 

The  last  six  years  of  his  life  were  years  of  patient  suffering 
during  which  his  brave  spirit  overmastered  the  sublunary 
things  of  life  and  it  seemed  as  if  his  setting  sun  suffused  his 
spirit  and  all  things  around  him  with  a  beautiful  radiance.  In 
the  retirement  of  home,  surrounded  by  those  near  to  him,  his 
life  wore  gently  to  its  close  and  he  departed  this  earth  on  the 
24th  day  of  September,  1900. 

SEBTOH  OF  MBS.   IC.   P.   WBNTWOBTH,  BY  MBS.   M.  B.    STEBBINS. 

Mary  P.  Wentworth  died  at  the  home  of  her  sister,  Mrs. 
Henry  S.  Childs,  January  18, 1901.  She  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Hawley  sixty-five  years  ago  and  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  that  place  and  at  the  Deerfield  Academy  when  By- 
land  Warriner  was  its  principal.  At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War, 
while  teaching  in  Maryland,  she  met  and  married  Benjamin 
Wentworth,  who  was  a  soldier  there  on  duty.  After  her  mar- 
riage, she  with  her  husband  went  to  Bromfield,  Maine,  and  from 
there  to  Kansas,  where  they  took  up  some  government  land. 
This  did  not  prove  prosperous  and  soon  they  returned  to  South 
Deerfield  where  they  lived  for  a  time  before  coming  to  Deer- 
field. 

For  nearly  sixteen  years  Mrs.  Wentworth  has  had  a  home  at 
Memorial  Hall  as  assistant  curator,  her  labor  and  faithfulness 
in  this  office,  and  as  a  member  and  coworker  in  the  Pocum- 
tuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association  will  keep  her  in  memory  for 
many  years,  to  those  who  knew  her  love  and  devotion  for  its 
every  interest.  Although  for  many  years,  her  health  has  been 
frail,  her  spirit  of  hope  and  patience  often  prevailed  over 
bodily  weakness. 
11 


162  Aimual  Meeting— 1901. 

She  was  always  a  cordial,  estimable  woman  with  much 
knowledge  of  the  world,  gained  by  her  travels  in  early  life,  her 
love  of  reading  and  a  retentive  memory — these  combined  to 
make  her  an  interesting  and  intelligent  companion. 

Since  the  death  of  her  hnsband  last  October  she  has  gradually 
failed,  and  her  last  days  were  spent  with  her  two  sisters,  who 
ministered  to  her  every  comfort  and  attention  that  affection 
and  devotion  could  bestow. 

JOITBNAL  OF  OBKEBAL  EPAPHBAS  HOYT,  BY  H.  I8ABBLLB  WILLIAMS. 

Epaphras,  son  of  David  Hoy  t,  bom  1765 ;  maj.  gen.  Mass.  Mili- 
tia, surveyor,  student,  antiquary,  author,  and  man  of  affairs ; 
postmaster,  justice  of  the  peace,  reg.  of  deeds  for  Franklin  Co. 
1811-14,  high  sheriff  1814-31,  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  1820  ;  was  deeply  interested  in  military  science  and 
was  offered  by  Washington  an  appointment  in  the  U.  S.  Army; 
he  published  in  1798  a  "  Treatise  on  the  Military  Art,"  for  the 
use  of  the  army,  which  passed  through  several  editions ;  a  more 
elaborate  work  on  the  movement  of  armies  in  the  field  was  pub- 
lished in  1816 ;  he  was  a  student  of  natural  science  and  con- 
tributed papers  to  SUUmcm^a  Jov/mal  and  other  publications ; 
in  1813  he  published  an  elaborate  paper  on  astronomy,  of  100 
pages,  as  an  introduction  to  Dickinson's  geography ;  he  is  best 
known,  however,  by  his  "Antiquarian  Eesearches  " ;  he  left  an 
unpublished  work  on  Burgoyne's  campaign,  and  copious  notes 
on  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  of  which  he  made  an  especial 
study.  He  died  Feb.  8,  1850.  He  m.  Nov.  4,  1792,  Experi- 
ence, dau.  Simeon  Harvey.  Children.  Fanny,  May  29, 1794 ; 
Adeline,  b.  Mch.  26,  1798 :  Isabella,  b.  Nov.  10, 1804 ;  Arthur 
WeUesley,  b.  Oct.  6, 1812  ;  the  latter  in  the  Little  Brown  House 
on  the  Albany  Boad. 

Gen.  Hoyt's  manuscript  runs :  "A  Journal  of  a  voyage  (by 
Gk)d's  permission)  on  board  of  Capt.  Sweet's  Fall-Boat  begun 
July  17th,  1790,  Saturday  17th  July  12  o'clock  a.  m." 

"I  entered  on  board  Capt.  Sweet's  Boat  at  Cheapside  in 
company  with  my  friend  Mr.  Solomon  Williams.  Wind  N.  E. 
Sailed  down  Deerfield  Eiver  about  2  miles  where  it  enters  the 
Connecticut  Eiver.  About  2  o'clock  p.  m.  (having  some  busi- 
ness with  Mr.  Bardwell  of  Montague)  went  on  shore — ^had  but 
just  got  into  quarters  when  we  had  a  prodigeous  Thunder  storm 
attended  with  Hail-stones  as  large  as  musquet-balls — the  stones 


Oen.  HoyfB  Jov/mal.  168 

were  in  general  nearly  spherical,  but  some  of  them  were  Poly- 
gones — the  violent  explosions  of  Thunder  were  equal  to  any  I 
ever  heard — the  rain  having  abated  we  set  out  for  our  Boat — 
which  to  our  great  surprise  we  found  had  got  loose  and  gone 
adrift  down  the  river  with  all  our  bagage — but  drifting  verry 
near  the  shore  her  Mast  fortunately  catched  in  the  top  of  a  Tree 
which  secured  it.  We  got  on  board,  proceded  down  the  River, 
— ^f ound  the  wind  against  us  from  the  South  but  soon  lulld  away 
— the  storm  by  this  time  had  almost  ceased  but  the  violent  ex- 
plosions of  thunder  continued — We  were  now  moving  on  slowly 
— I  happened  to  be  looking  at  some  trees  on  the  E.  side  of  the 
Kiver — had  the  pleasure  to  see  1  of  them  sustain  the  electrical 
shock  of  lightning  not  more  than  80  rods  from  us — ^it  struck  off 
some  of  longest  limbs  from  the  body  of  the  tree  but  did  not 
shiver  the  body  as  it  frequently  does — We  proceeded  down  the 
River,  arrived  at  Mr.  Newtons  Tavern  at  N.  End  of  Hadley 
when  we  put  up  for  Lodgings  about  12  o'clock  at  Night — 

"  Sunday  18th.  Went  on  board  our  Boat  about  6  o'clock  sailed 
round  Hadley-meddows  to  the  S.  End  of  the  Town — went  on 
shore  and  took  breakfast  at  Mr.  GkK)dmans — ^in  this  run  round 
Hadley  meddows  which  is  5  miles  we  gained  but  1  mile  from 
our  lodgings — ^the  turn  of  the  River  includes  a  pretty  large 
meddow  in  form  of  a  Semicircle— on  the  E.  its  bounded  by 
Hadley  Street  which  with  [the  ]  River  completely  invelopes  it 
— After  breakfast  set  sail — ^found  the  wind  in  the  S.  sailed  very 
slow — went  on  shore  in  Northampton  meddows  to  see  the  crops 
— ^f ound  excellent  long  grass  in  old  RaMvJ>ov)  like  to  our  Poges- 
hole — proceeded  on  our  voyage  arrived  at  the  head  of  Spring- 
field falls  about  9  o'clock — ^marched  about  2  miles  put  up  at  Mr. 
Millers  Tavern. 

"  Monday  19th.  Rainy  Morning.  Wind  N.  E.  set  out  from 
Mr.  Millers  marched  to  the  Landing  below  the  Falls  took  break- 
fast at  Days  left  Capt.  Sweet  to  bring  on  the  loading  which  ar- 
rived at  the  landing  about  3  o'clock  p.  m.  Dined — set  sail  with 
brisk  gale  which  increased  attended  with  rain — ^about  six  o'clock 
rain  ceased — had  a  very  pleasant  run  from  Springfield  to  the 
head  of  Endfield-falls — put  up  at  Abby's  Tavern — ^We  saw  this 
day  a  great  Number  of  Sturgeon  leaping  out  of  the  water — some 
of  them  would  project  themselves  a  foot  perpendicular  into  the 
air  then  bring  themselves  into  a  horizontal  direction  and  fall 
into  the  water — they  may  be  heard  at  a  distance  of  100  rods,  we 


164  Annual  Meeting— 1901. 

had  more  or  less  of  these  fish  throughout  oar  ran  from  Cheap- 
side  to  Hartford — 

"  Tuesday  20th.  Secured  a  Pilot.  Sailed  over  the  falls  with- 
out any  accident — these  falls  are  called  Endfield-falls  from  the 
adjacent  town  of  Endfield — are  from  the  uppermost  to  the  low- 
ermost Bar  about  6  miles  in  length — these  falls  are  not  very  re- 
markable for  the  rufness  of  the  water  but  they  are  very  singular 
on  account  of  a  remarkable  channel  near  the  middle  of  the 
river  about  1^  rods  in  width  which  the  Boats  are  to  keep 
within  or  they  are  immediately  upon  the  breakers — ^the  water 
on  each  side  of  this  Channel  is  very  shallow  not  so  deep  but  a 
man  might  wade  the  greatest  part  of  the  way  up  the  faJls — we 
had  a  very  quick  passage  from  the  falls  to  Hartford  arrived  about 
11  o'clock  with  wind  N.  took  breakfast  at  Mrs.  Enoxes — 
found  a  sloop  for  N.  York  Capt.  Butler  Commander.  Agreed 
for  a  passage  to  sail  next  day — spend  the  afternoon  m  visiting 
the  different  parts  of  Hartford — the  Cyty  is  a  considerable 
place  of  trade. — Vessels  come  up  here  in  low  water  but  above 
the  Cyty  the  water  is  too  shallow  to  admit  of  any  but  flat  bot- 
tomed Boats — ^the  main  street  is  about  2  miles  in  length — it  is 
about  half  a  mild  from  the  river  rising  parrallel  to  it — ^lies  on 
the  W.  side,  the  soil  is  of  a  redish  colour  produces  fine  crops 
the  Houses  are  chiefly  built  of  wood  but  there  are  some  brick 
— ^but  2  meeting-houses  with  spires — A  little  S.  of  the  center  of 
the  Cyty  there  is  a  fine  small  river  running  across  the  main 
street  at  right  L's.  About  8  or  10  rods  wide  over  which  there 
is  a  bridge  at  a  considerable  height  from  the  water — they  have 
excellent  Mills  on  the  river  which  make  it  very  convenient  for 
the  inhabitants — there  are  some  farmers  in  the  Cyty  but  the 
greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  follow  trading — We  put  up  at 
Mr.  Butlers  over  night — ^I  had  this  day  an  extreme  pain  in  my 
head — ^but  our  quarters  were  so  good  that  it  quite  cured  my 
head  before  I  went  to  bed.  This  Tavern  is  just  on  the  S.  bank 
of  the  little  river  above  mentioned  a  few  rods  from  the  Bridge. 
— ^We  parted  with  Capt.  Sweet  this  Day — which  ends  the  Jour- 
nal on  board  his  Boat. — 

"  Wednesday  21st.  Walking  the  city — ^paid  a  visit  to  Mr. 
Bliss — took  dinner  with  him — Afternoon  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr. 
John  Russell — went  on  board  our  Sloop  at  6  o'clock — fell  down 
the  river — wind  S.  by  W.  sailed  down  as  far  as  the  town  front 
of  Wetherfield.    Capt.  anchored  till  morning. 


O^n.  HoyiB  Journal.  166 

^^  The  sloop  we  are  aboard  of  is  about  60  tons  Burthem,  an 
excellent  fine  vessel — She  has  very  good  acoomidations  for  pas- 
sengers, her  cabbin  is  an  elegant  room  completely  painted  in  the 
neatest  manner — She  has  every  convenience  that  could  be 
wanted — In  her  stem  between  her  4  cabbin  windows  there 
hangs  a  looking  glass — on  each  sid6  of  the  room  are  the  beds 
with  small  beautiful  curtains — ^some  Windsor  Chairs,  besides 
sects — a  small  square  table  and  Cupboard  richly  furnished  with 
Crockery — She  is  called  the  Hartford. 

^^  Thursday  22nd.  weighed  anchor  sailed  slowly  not  much 
wind  passing  over  a  shoal  of  sand  our  vessel  struck  which  with 
a  little  trouble  we  got  off — met  with  old  companion  Capt 
Sweet  from  Middletovni  vdth  his  Boat  loaded — ^got  aboard  our 
Long-boat  sailed  out  to  him  took  some  grog  and  parted — ^he 
informed  us  that  on  Tuesday  night  a  sailor  belonging  to  an 
English  Brig  lying  at  Middl**  fell  over  board  and  was  drowned. 
We  cast  anchor  off  K  Haddam  about  Sun  set — went  on 
shore  took  in  fresh  water  drank  some  punch  &o.  returned  on 
board — spent  the  Evening  on  Deck  it  being  very  warm — ^in 
sailing  down  the  River  the  scene  was  very  romantick — when  we 
view'd  the  shores  from  the  Cabbin  windows  sometimes  whirl- 
ing round  with  great  velocity  at  other  times  seeming  to  be  in 
full  chase  up  the  river  we  in  the  Cabbin  could  percieve  no  mo- 
tion of  the  vesselL 

^^  Friday  23.  the  Mosquitoes  drove  us  passengers  out  of  the 
Cabbin  before  Sun  rise — ^found  the  ship  10  miles  ahead  from 
where  we  anchored — ^the  tide  setting  out  the  Capt.  thought  best 
to  tide  it  out  of  the  river — sailed  till  we  met  it  again  cast  anchor 
waited  till  it  was  in  our  favor  then  with  brisk  gaJe  set  sail 
again.  About  1  o'clock  p.  h.  got  sight  of  Land — tide  setting 
very  rapid  came  up  with  Capt.  Bumham  Sloop  belonging  to 
Hartford  bound  for  N.  York — who  set  sail  from  Hartford 
about  24  hours  before  us.  Cast  anchor  along  side  of  him — 
here  we  had  the  long  wished  for  sight  of  the  ocean,  it  appeared 
grand  beyond  description:  Long  Island  was  very  plain  to 
be  seen  in  some  parts,  in  others,  it  was  so  low  that  we  could 
scarcely  discern  it  appeared  like  a  cloud  at  the  very  edge  of  the 
Horizon.  About  4  o'clock  weighed  anchor  sailed  over  Sea- 
brock  bar  into  the  Sound — ^here  we  saw  a  great  Number  of 
Porpoises  leaping  out  of  the  water  or  rather  rolling  out,  they 
made  a  similar  appearance  to  a  large  wheel  under  water  that 


166  AnrnkU  Meeting— 1901. 

in  its  rotatknis  diew'd  its  drcnmf eranoe  now  and  ih^i — they 
made  a  noise  when  on  the  sarfaoe  like  the  snorting  of  a  H<»rse 
— Capt.  Bomham  kept  company  with  as  thoogh  we  rather  oat- 
sailed  him  in  a  brisk  gale,  the  wind  lalled  away  aboat  8 
o'clock  he  came  ap  with  as — ^the  Evening  was  very  pleasant 
the  Moon  shone  in  fall  laster  the  appearance  was  majestick 
and  solemn — ^nothing  bat  the  wide  extended  Horizon  aroand 
OS.  We  kept  on  Deck  till  aboat  9  o'clock  then  retired  to  oar 
hanmiocks  to  rock  to  sleep— the  sailors  kept  the  Deck. 

^^  Satnrday  24th.  Foggy  Morning  light  wind — no  land  to  be 
seen.  Wind  diing  away  and  tide  against  as.  Cast  anchor  in 
12  fathoms  of  water — About  2  o'clock  wind  sprang  ap  hoisted 
anchor  bore  away  S.  W.  in  company  with  Capt.  Barnham — 
About  Sun  set  we  had  like  to  have  got  on  to  a  shole  of  sand — 
this  shole  lies  off  Stratford  point  about  the  middle  of  the 
Sound — not  more  than  3  feet  at  low  water — ^it  is  conjectured 
that  formerly  there  was  a  small  Island  where  this  shole  lies 
and  being  of  a  Sandy  Soil  was  worn  away  by  the  tides  which 
frequently  run  very  rapid.  We  tack'd  bore  away  to  the  S. 
stood  over  to  long  Island  tack'd  a  2nd  time  passed  by  the  shole 
— we  had  about  this  time  a  small  squall  of  rain  with  lighten- 
ing and  Thunder  saw  a  couple  of  2  mast  Boats  pass  us — We 
saw  this  day  several  shark  swimming  about  our  vessell  and  a 
number  of  schools  of  sprats,  the  water  appeared  to  be  alive 
with  them. 

"  Sunday  25th.  Foggy  morning,  light  wind — about  7  o'clock 
fog  cleared  off  found  ourselves  close  under  Long  Island  tacked 
stood  away  to  the  Northward — Saw  Vessels  on  all  sides  of  us 
counted  18  sail — about  Noon  a  fresh  gale  spnmgup  from  N.  W. 
bore  down  through  the  Sound  very  swift — about  Sun  set  pas- 
sed the  Boston  and  Rhode  Island  Packets — ten  o'clock  took  in 
a  Pilot  sailed  through  the  celebrated  Hell-gate — saw  a  number 
of  fine  Seats  on  shore — ^arrived  at  N.  York  about  2  o'clock. 
Cast  anchor — the  Sea  run  so  high  this  day  that  the  water 
dash'd  over  her  bow  carried  her  low  so  that  the  water  came 
into  her  scuttle  holes  but  felt  nothing  of  the  sickness  which 
usually  attends  the  rocking  of  a  vesseU. 

"  Monday  26th.  Hailed  in  alongside  Tankey- wharf  (as  the 
inhabitants  call  it)  on  the  S.  E.  side  of  the  Cyty — we  now  un- 
dertook to  visit  the  different  parts  of  the  Cyty  travel'd  all  most 
every  part  of  it — the  Houses  are  built  Chiefly  with  Brick — ^it 


Oen.  HoyfB  Jov/mal.  167 

is  surrounded  by  water  on  the  S.  E.  and  W.  on  the  North  of 
the  Cyty  we  find  a  beautiful  country  interspersed  with  Field 
and  groves — ^here  are  a  great  number  of  gentlemans  Seats  with 
fine  orchards  of  fruit  trees — ^f rom  a  hill  on  the  N.  side  of  the 
Cyty  the  scene  is  very  pleasing,  to  the  S.  we  have  a  full  view 
of  the  City  with  the  shipping  on  the  E.  and  S.  side  of  it — to 
the  N.  we  have  a  prospect  of  the  above  described  country 
which  at  once  excites  in  us  admiration  and  delight — there  are 
to  be  f oimd  here  people  of  most  all  nations — On  the  S.  side  of 
the  City  there  are  13  Cannon  upon  a  platform  Completely 
mounted — ^1  of  them  is  a  24  pounder — the  others  are  nines  be- 
side these  there  are  great  Numbers  dismounted  lying  upon  the 
ground — ^the  Old  Battery's  almost  demolished  (which  stood  on 
the  W.  side  of  the  City)  there  is  a  wharf  a  building  along  the 
N.  River  the  W.  side  of  the  City  from  the  remains  of  the  Bat- 
tery— .Went  about  11  oclock  to  the  Federal  Hall  heard  the 
debates  of  Congress — ^Mr.  Sedgwick,  Mr.  Livermore,  Mr.  Maddi- 
son,  Mr.  Smith  S.  C,  Mr.  Smith  Abany,  Mr.  Jackson  Georgia, 
Mr.  Bansler,  Mr.  Bloodworth  a  member  from  N.  C.  and  others 
spoke  while  we  were  there — About  one  third  of  the  members 
appear  to  be  what  I  call  Pretty  Men  the  bigest  part  of  them 
sett  with  hats  on  their  heads  and  canes  in  their  hands.  There 
is  generally  a  pretty  large  Number  of  spectators  in  the  Gallery 
— some  of  them  females.  I  heard  that  McGiUivary  [?]  with  the 
Indian  chiefs  had  been  in  the  city  a  few  days  before  we  ar- 
rived— ^that  they  had  gone  out  a  little  way  into  the  country 
that  they  were  to  be  back  tomorrow,  that  the  independent  com- 
panys  of  Militia  would  parade  took  a  walk  in  the  evening 
with  my  friend  and  Capt.  Butler,  came  acrost  a  gang  of  fel- 
lows who  after  we  had  past  them  undertook  to  stone  us,  we 
returned  them  the  stones  back  again  with  as  great  velocity  as 
we  were  able.  Whether  we  did  any  execution  among  them  I 
cannot  determine — ^but  they  came  after  us  and  we  got  out  of 
their  way  &  went  on  board  our  vessell. 

Tuesday  27.  determined  to  attend  upon  the  parade  to  see  the 
troops — were  told  that  they  would  be  on  it  in  the  afternoon — 
took  Dinner  sett  out  for  the  parade — to  our  great  disappoint- 
ment met  the  troops  returning  back  into  the  city — the  Presi- 
dent, Governor  and  the  Indian  Chiefs  had  been  upon  the  parade 
to  see  the  troops.  We  followed  the  troops  into  the  Cyty  where 
we  saw  a  company  of  Infantry  preform  the  firings  by  platoon 


168  Annual  Me^mg—lWi. 

and  DiTision.  The  troops  were  dressed  in  a  complete  uniform 
— ^their  arms  were  also  very  neat — but  in  their  Manoevres  they 
were  not  very  exact — ^the  Position  of  a  Soldier  on  the  parade 
was  very  little  attended  to— looking  about  in  every  direction, 
moving  their  feet,  no  attention  to  dressing  the  line,  laughing 
and  talking  (fee.  After  being  dismissed  they  kept  their  Mus- 
quets  constantly  a  going  amongst  a  numerous  gang  of  specta- 
tors— held  them  level  when  they  discharged  them — ^f or  my  own 
part  I  thought  myself  in  eminent  danger  of  having  my  head 
shot  off — this  in  the  County  of  Hampshire  would  be  called  very 
unmilitary  indeed — if  our  troops  could  be  dressed  in  the  same 
manner  that  these  were  they  would  by  military  judges  be  called 
disciplined  troops  when  compared  to  these,  the  following  is  a 
list  of  the  corps  that  paraded — 1  Company  of  Artillery  with  2 
pieces,  1  Troop  of  Horse  (these  I  did  not  see)  1  Company  of 
Light-infantry  with  hair  caps  1  Company  of  Infantry  with 
round  hats  one  side  turned  up,  1  Company  of  Granideers  with 
high  Beaver  skin  Caps.  After  the  troops  had  got  through  their 
firings  7  of  the  Indians  pass'd  by  toward  the  Presidents  House. 
I  now  was  somewhat  gratified  in  my  desire— followed  them  till 
they  entered  the  Presidents  House,  they  had  a  new  suit  of 
Regimentals  given  them  by  Congress — blue  with  red  facings, 
hats  with  red  feathers  Indian  trousers  and  shoes — returned  to 
our  vessell  very  much  disappointed  at  the  luck  of  the  Day. 

Wednesday  28th.  Entered  on  board  of  Sloop  Julia  of  Hart- 
ford Capt.  Webb  Commander  sailed  out  of  N.  York  about  11 
o'clock  for  S.  Amboy  had  a  very  quick  passage  arrived  about 
3  o'clock  put  up  for  ^NTight — ^this  place  lies  on  the  S.  side  of 
Baretan  Eiver — at  the  Meritts  is  the  place  that  the  Stage  from 
N.  York  put  in  at  where  the  Land  stage  mett  them.  On  the 
N.  side  of  the  River  lies  Perth  Amboy  very  pleasantly  situated 
— ^from  this  place  we  have  a  fine  prospect  of  the  Ocean  to  the 
E.  with  the  Light  House  on  Sandy  Hook.  Clams  are  caught 
in  the  Bay  which  lies  of  this  place  in  great  plenty. 

Thursday  29th.  At  2  o'clock  morning  set  out  from  Amboy 
in  the  Bordington  Stage,  arrived  atBonUngton  about  11  o'clock 
— this  place  lies  on  the  E.  side  Delaware  River,  is  the  place 
where  the  passengers  go  on  board  the  Stage  Boats,  about  30 
miles  above  Philadelphia — New  Jersey  is  a  very  level  country, 
we  never  saw  a  mountain  nor  a  hill  promentory  to  Bordington 
except  now  and  then  a  little  uneven  ground  not  more  than  we 


Qen.  E<yiffB  Journal.  169 

find  in  paasdng  through  Deerfleld  Stoeet  though  the  distance 
is  not  less  than  60  miles — the  soil  is  rich  inclined  to  clay — ^the 
roads  are  very  hard  (though  free  from  stones)  which  made  it 
very  uncomfortable  riding  in  the  stage — ^the  traveller  in  passing 
through  this  state  on  the  Stage  road  meets  with  no  large  towns 
built  like  ours  compact  but  finds  here  and  there  a  House  sur- 
rounded with  large  spacious  Fields  of  Com  and  other  crops^ 
excellent  fruit  trees — ^the  Com  was  some  of  it  excellent  some 
small — ^but  with  manure  the  Land  produces  fine  crops — we  had 
a  gentleman  and  Lady  from  Ireland  with  us  in  the  stage  besides 
4  more  women  with  4  children  and  ourselves  making  in  the 
whole  12  souls  exclusive  of  the  Coachman — about  12  o'clock  got 
a  board  the  Packet  Boat  sailed  down  the  Delaware  with  little 
wind  which  lulled  away,  cast  anchor  several  times  to  prevent 
being  taken  back  by  the  Tide— our  women  passengers  were 
very  uneasy  on  account  of  Delay,  particularly  2  of  them  whose 
Husbands  were  in  Philadelphia — ^We  saw  2  very  fine  built  towns 
in  our  passage  down  the  Biver — 1  of  them  on  the  Jersey  side 
called  Burlington  very  pleasantly  situated. — ^I  observed  a  great 
Number  of  fine  orchards  at  this  place  as  well  as  in  every  other 
part  of  Jersey — the  other  was  on  the  Pensilvania  side  called 
Bristol — One  of  our  passengers  an  Irishman  that  entered  at 
Boardington  having  made  to  free  use  of  a  Bottle  he  had  on 
board  grew  very  troublesome  challenging  every  person  on  board 
to  takea  bot  [?]  with  him  &c.  we  put  him  in  the  hole  and  bared 
him  down,  which  stiUed  him  awhile,  but  soon  after  being  set  at 
liberty  he  began  his  old  pranks,  went  so  far  as  to  strike  a  hand 
belonging  to  the  Packet — ^but  we  soon  brot  him  to  reason  by 
threatening  to  shut  him  up  again — About  four  a  breeze  sprung 
up  our  2  women  above  mentioned  began  to  feel  themselves  al- 
most incWd  in  their  Husbands  arms  but  to  their  sad  disap- 
pointment had  to  lie  on  board  the  Packet  till  the  next  morning 
— arrived  at  Philadelphia  about  1  o'clock  morning — ^the  Houses 
were  all  shut  so  that  we  could  not  have  got  in  if  we  had  at- 
tempted it — ^besides  the  streets  were  full  of  Patroles  crying  the 
time  of  night — they  take  up  all  straglers  found  at  that  time—' 
the  women  kept  the  Cabbin  as  did  the  Europeans — ^hands  went 
into  the  forecastle.  Mr.  Williams  and  I  waJked  the  wharf  till 
about  3  o'clock  when  we  went  on  board  rolled  ourselves  up  in 
the  Main  Sail  upon  the  deck  rather  than  go  into  a  Cabbin  that 
had  been  crowded  all  most  full  for  18  hours. 


170  Annual  Meeting— 1901. 

^'  Friday  80th.  Gtot  out  of  our  very  uncomfortable  beds  about 
4  o'clock,  took  breakfast  at  the  Crooked-billet  Tavern  with  our 
2  Europeans — ^thej  were  going  to  Baltimore  the  Lady  having  a 
husband  there — ^They  were  42  days  in  the  passage  from  lime- 
rick to  N.  York  the  lady  appeared  to  be  very  polite  indeed 
waited  on  us  at  the  tablo— when  we  had  drunk  a  sufficiency  the 
woman  insists  upon  our  taking  another  dish — ^take  her  own 
words  "  Sir  shall  I  help  you  to  another  cup  of  coffee ''  "  Not  any 
more  "  '*  Sir  please  to  have  another  cup  you  had  better."  ^^  Suffi- 
cient Marm"  ^^  Take  half  a  dish  with  you  "  &c.  went  on  board  of 
the  packet  to  see  our  trunk  but  no  trunk  was  to  be  found — very 
much  surprised — concluded  it  stolen — but  we  were  relieved  in 
our  fears.  One  of  the  women  passengers  sent  a  man  after  her 
trunk  but  he  took  ours  by  mistake.  Soon  found  the  House  where 
she  was — ^rectified  the  mistake — ^this  House  is  a  Tavern  it  stands 
in  the  L  made  by  the  intersection  of  Second  and  Bace  streets  E. 
side  Sign  Franklins  Head — i  Stories  high  built  with  brick  is 
very  handsomely  furnished  with  furniture— owners  name  Ham- 
burg— here  we  took  lodgings  while  we  tarried  in  the  city. 
Visited  the  different  parts  of  the  Cyty. 

^^  Saturday  Slst.  got  up  very  late  in  the  morning — after 
Breakfast  visited  the  Market — fine  one,  everything  that  is 
wanted  may  be  had  excepting  fish  which  are  not  very  plenty — 
attended  a  Yendue — articles  very  Cheap — Calicoes  that  in  Deer- 
field  are  sold  4  &  5  shillings  might  be  bought  for  2  or  2/6  Pen- 
sylvania  currency — went  to  Mr.  Prichards  &  Mr.  Siddons  Book- 
stores in  Market  street  between  first  and  second  streets  S.  side 
— ^Mr.  Prichard  keeps  a  Circulating  Library — has  a  very  large 
Collection  of  Books — ^there  is  as  much  as  2762  Yolumes — ^has 
great  numbers  of  second  hand  books  which  may  be  bought  very 
low.  Mr.  Prichard  gave  us  a  Catalogue  of  the  whole — here  a 
man  may  have  Books  to  read  at  anytime  (if  he  is  no  subscriber) 
by  leaving  a  Deposit  and  paying  sizpense  (Pensilvania  money) 
for  a  Duodecimo,  which  may  not  be  kept  more  than  four  Days, 
a  shilling  for  an  Octavo  not  longer  than  7  Days  under  penalty 
of  paying  for  the  same.  Yearly  subscribers — ^before  their 
names  can  be  inserted  in  the  Library  Book  pay  20  shillings. 
No  Book  or  set  of  Books  to  be  kept  longer  than  8  days.  If  a 
transfer  is  desired  the  Librarian  must  be  consulted.  In  the 
edge  of  the  evening  we  saw  several  Sky-rockets  thrown  in  Bose 
Street — they  made  a  very  beautiful  appearance. 


Chn.  Hoyt^s  Jowmdl.  171 

Angusty  Sunday  Ist.  Mr.  Williams  was  very  unwell,  we  spent 
forenoon  in  our  chamber  which  is  the  third  story,  observed  the 
different  sects  going  to  worship — ^the  Quakers  might  be  distin- 
guished from  the  others  by  their  manner  of  dressing  which 
is  very  plain — Old  fashioned  Bonnets  of  various  colours  some  of 
near  white  others  black  ones.  A  Capt.  Green  that  was  in  this 
Cy ty  (with  his  wife)  came  to  see  us  at  our  quarters — ^this  gentle- 
man we  first  got  acquainted  with  at  Amboy — ^he  formerly  be- 
longed to  N.  York — was  an  Adjutant  in  the  British  Service  in 
Gtenl  Burgoyne's  army — ^he  is  an  American  bom,  well  ac- 
quainted in  the  Northern  States — ^knew  Major  Catlin,  Mr. 
Munn  &c. — ^he  informed  us  that  a  British  vessell  arrived  at  this 
place  last  night  who  had  been  captured  by  a  Spaniard — that 
the  Spaniard  fired  several  shot  at  him  before  he  struck — that 
they  put  hands  on  board  his  vessell  to  take  her  into  a  Spanish 
port  but  being  a  slow  sailor  could  not  keep  up  with  the  Spanish 
Yessell  and  not  having  much  value  on  board  dismissed  her  to  go 
at  her  pleasure.  Afternoon  I  went  to  Christ  Church  with  Our 
Betsy — took  a  book  looked  over  at  the  Bishop  rose  up  set  down 
with  the  rest,  looked  wise  in  short  was  a  complete  Churchman 
— ^but  amdst  my  zeal  I  could  not  withhold  from  making  some 
observations  upon  the  many  objects  that  surrounded  me  par- 
ticularly a  couple  of  Ladies  Bonnets  who  sat  in  the  gallery 
opposite  for  the  information  of  our  Deerfield  Ladies  (who  are 
not  backward  in  embracing  the  newest  mode  of  dress)  I  shall 
give  as  accurate  a  description  of  them  as  I  am  able.  The 
lower  part  of  the  Bonnet  i.  e.  the  rim  is  in  form  of  the  Lower 
frustem  of  a  Cone — the  Diameter  of  the  Base  about  =  to  the 
Bonnets  our  Ladies  wore  when  I  left  Deerfield,  open  behind, 
above  this  was  a  piece  of  white  silk  with  blue  spots,  somewhat 
like  my  Cotton  Stockings,  in  form  of  a  Parabola  except  the  lower 
part  which  went  almost  or  quite  round  the  Bonnet,  this  was 
made  fast  to  the  first  piece,  it  represented  the  trap  front  piece 
on  our  Helmets — from  the  Vertical  point  of  this  piece  hung  a 
loose  piece  of  Blue  Sarsnet  with  wire  to  keep  it  up  5  or  6  inches 
back  on  the  level  with  the  vertical  point — After  passing  over 
these  wires  it  hung  down  loose  behind  fio wing  gracefully  in  the 
air — the  trimming  about  the  bottom  was  wide  lace  which  hung 
down  over  their  eyes ;  the  appearance  of  the  Bonnet  was  not 
much  xmlike  the  Bonnets  worn  by  our  ladies  when  1  came  away — 
except  the  front  piece  which  represented  a  Grenideers  Cap.    The 


172  Annual  Jfeeimg— 1901. 

Leghorn  hats  are  worn  here  trimed  much  like  om^the  rims  not 
quite  so  large— the  other  part  of  their  dress  which  is  most  worn  is 
white— but  their  dress  in  gajness  is  by  no  means  =  to  the  N. 
York  Ladies,  nor  do  the  Men  equal  those  of  N.  York.  I  this  day 
went  to  see  the  famous  Steam  Boat  but  had  not  an  opportunity 
of  exammining  it — enough  to  give  a  full  description — ^the  Machin- 
ery is  in  the  middle  of  the  Boat — ^f  rom  which  there  is  two  small 
Irin  chains  running  back  to  her  stem  in  loops  where  they  go 
round  each  end  of  an  Iron  crank  like  a  band  to  which  are  fast- 
ened 3  large  paddles — ^this  crank  with  one  rotation  dips  the 
paddle  alternately  into  the  water  which  after  they  are  in  are 
carried  back  with  a  considerable  force  and  shoves  the  Boat  for- 
ward— ^At  the  time  one  paddle  comes  out  of  the  water  another 
enters  so  that  1  paddle  is  kept  constantly  in  the  water — I  could 
not  see  what  the  primary  cause  of  this  motion  was  but  was  told 
it  was  produced  by  fire,  the  Boat  was  to  sail  down  the  river 
in  the  morning — the  Wind  and  tide  was  very  strong  down  but 
the  machinery  would  not  perform  its  office  because  of  the  wind 
(as  they  told  me). 

Monday  2nd.  This  Day  3  independent  Companies  of  Militia 
were  out  upon  the  Common  we  attended  upon  them  to  see 
their  Maneuvres ;  they  performed  tolarably  well  for  Militia — 1 
company  practised  the  slow  step  kept  very  good  time — In  their 
Manual  Exercise  the  motions  were  middling  well  timed  but 
wanted  that  life  and  spirit  in  them  which  greatly  contribute 
to  the  beauty  of  the  performance — ^their  dress  was  neat  and 
convenient — ^the  following  were  the  corps  that  paraded  1  Com- 
pany of  Artilery  1  Company  of  Infantry  with  hair  caps,  1  Com- 
pany of  Infantry  with  small  round  hats  covered  with  Bear 
Skin— one  side  turned  up — ^the  Artillery  were  dressed  much 
like  Maj.  Steven's  each  man  carried  a  sword — the  Infantry 
were  dressed  in  short  Blue  Coats  turned  up  with  read.  1 
Company  wore  Cartridge  Boxes  and  Bayonets — scabbards — 
their  belts  white,  the  other  Cartridge  Boxes  only — ^We  returned 
to  our  quarters  with  our  old  friend  Green  who  had  been  to  see 
the  troops — he  thought  40  or  60  of  the  British  Infantry  would 
clear  the  Field  of  them — This  day  heard  of  the  death  of  Gov- 
ernor Mifflin's  Lady  who  is  to  be  interred  tomorrow  morning. 

Tuesday  3rd.  Making  preparations  for  our  return  home  by 
N.  London — about  noon  took  leave  of  our  Landlady  Mrs.  Ham- 
birg  (Mr.  H.  being  at  Baltimore)  and  Family — went  on  board 


Gen.  Hoyfs  Jowmal.  178 

a  Barlington  Packet  W.  North — which  is  right  down  the  river 
— ^tide  of  flood  in  onr  favor — sailed  up  to  Burlington  by  tack- 
ing arrived  at  9  o'clock — ^this  river  is  about  =  to  Con.  River  for 
Magnitude — ^the  Banks  very  low — ^Land  level  the  water  seldom 
overflows  the  land  adjoining  the  river  (as  the  Boatmen  told 
me)  though  they  are  not  more  than  5  or  6  feet  above  high 
water  mark  which  is  a  Demonstration  that  but  little  snow 
falls  in  the  country  about  the  river — ^banks  are  interspersed 
with  fine  crops  of  com — excellent  orchards  with  beautiful 
country  seats  belonging  to  gentlemen  in  Philaf.  it  appears 
that  there  is  but  very  little  trade  carried  on  up  the  river  when 
compared  with  Con.  River — ^here  we  see  but  a  very  few  ship- 
ping in  the  river  at  Burlington  was  a  vessel  upon  the  stockEH- 
the  place  is  an  town,  has  a  market  Houses  good  buildings.  I 
shall  not  undertake  to  describe  the  city  of  Philadelphia  in  full 
for  it  would  be  needless  to  perform  what  is  already  done  in  so 
many  authors.  The  river  where  it  passes  by  the  City  runs  a 
little  E.  of  S.  the  streets  running  paraUel  to  it  are  numbered 
from  the  river  after  Front  street  1,  2,  8  &c  the  streets  cross- 
ing these  have  particular  names,  such  as  Market,  Rose,  Arch, 
Chesnut,  Walnut  Streets  &c.  from  the  water  there  is  an  ad- 
jacent ground  back  from  the  water  the  width  of  1  street 
They  are  paved  very  handsomely  rising  in  the  middle  on  each 
side  there  is  a  row  of  Lamps  which  are  kept  running  every 
evening  un  till  11  d  or  later  if  it  is  very  dark — a  watch  is  kept 
in  every  street  from  11  tiU  day  who  cry  the  time  of  night  and 
take  up  all  straglers — ^it  is  very  curious  for  a  stranger  to  hear 
the  different  cries. 

^  Wednesday  5th.  Gh>t  on  board  the  stage  Waggon — set  out 
for  S.  Amboy  arrived  about  2  o'clock,  here  we  had  to  wait  for 
the  Boardington  Stage  which  arrived  about  Sun  half  hour  high 
— ^while  we  lay  here  we  had  a  number  of  religious  disputes — 
had  a  couple  of  Methodists  and  a  Doct. — All  of  N.  York  with 
one  or  two  Philadelphian — ^the  Methodists  were  against  the 
Doct.  among  many  other  topicks  this  dispute  was  introduced — 
the  Doct.  thought  a  man  had  no  right  to  give  his  assent  to  a 
proposition  that  he  could  not  comprehend,  or  could  not  see 
anything  to  make  it  appear  to  be  so— the  Methodists  thought 
differently  because  there  were  many  things  contained  in  Scrip- 
ture that  we  could  not  comprehend  nor  see  any  reason  for 
but  because  it  was  written  in  that  Book  we  must  believe  it. 


174  Anntud  JfeeHng—lQOl. 

the  Doct  urged  that  it  oould  not  be  said  that  we  believed  a 
proposition  that  we  oonld  not  see  anything  to  make  this  be- 
lief in  OS,  for  it  might  or  might  not  be  so ;  but  was  no  belief 
in  us  &c.  A  Man  I  think  might  believe  a  proposition  that  he 
could  not  comprehend  or  tell  why  it  was  so,  but  then  he  would 
believe  it  for  the  reason  perhaps  that  the  agent  who  asserted  it 
was  capable  of  knowing  whether  it  was  so  or  not — A  Man,  for 
instance,  who  never  studied  Mathematicks  might  believe  that 
the  <  s  of  a  A  were = to  2  L  when  a  Mathematician  who  (he  be- 
lieved) understood  geometry  asserted  it — ^but  here  he  has  a 
reason  to  believe  it  because  he  supposes  the  asserter  perfectly 
understands  the  proposition  but  for  him  to  believe  it  when  he 
knows  nothing  of  the  atribute  of  the  asserter,  nor  has  other 
reason  to  believe  it  and  understands  nothing  of  the  proposi- 
tion, it  all  is  absurd  and  no  belief,  to  return  from  this  Digres- 
sion— we  got  on  board  the  Amboy  Packet,  weighed  anchor  W. 
Southerly  stood  out  of  the  Bay — ^this  Bay  which  lies  at  the 
Mouth  of  the  Raretan  is  famous  for  Clams  and  oysters — here 
may  be  seen  a  great  number  of  boats  almost  at  any  time  fish- 
ing for  they  use  long  rakes  to  take  them — ^here  also  the  ship- 
ping from  Connecticut  River  comes  for  clay  to  glaze  their 
Earthen  wares  which  is  excellent — we  were  pretty  soon  over- 
taken by  the  dark  evening  there  being  no  Moon — ^I  now  ob- 
served that  common  though  very  singular  appearance  of  the 
water  appearing  luminous  around  the  Yessell  especially  where 
a  swell  broke  against  her  bow — it  appeared  like  potash  when 
ignited — ^I  put  out  an  oar  which  as  soon  as  it  struck  the  surface 
of  the  water  seemed  to  be  all  on  fire — took  up  a  Bucket  of  it 
which  when  agitated  appeared  like  small  coals  of  fire — when 
turned  on  the  deck  it  had  the  same  appearance — I  took  some  of 
it  into  my  mouth  which  when  spit  out  resembled  Liquid  fire — 
this  differs  from  rotten  wood,  for  that  shines  when  at  rest,  con- 
stantly but  there  is  no  appearance  of  light  in  water  unless  it  is 
aggitated — ^what  can  be  the  cause  of  this  I  revolved  in  my 
mind  ?  is  it  the  electrical  fluid  which  is  known  to  exist  in  the 
air,  or  owing  to  the  particles  of  Salt  which  reflect  the  rays  of 
light  from  their  several  surfaces  ?  We  arrived  at  N.  York  about 
1  o'clock  in  the  Morning. 

"  Thursday  6th.  Went  to  Federal  Hall— the  House  went  into 
a  commiti  of  the  whole  upon  several  bills  while  I  was  present, 
I  believe  1/3  of  the  Members  were  absent  when  I  first  went 


Oen,  Hoyta  Jovmal.  175 

into  the  House  but  about  2  o'clock  p.  m.  Numbers  of  them  re- 
turned and  being  soon  very  much  fatigued  I  suppose  by  reason 
of  their  very  hard  Labour  Mr.  Jackson  moved  that  the  House 
adjourn  till  tomorrow  which  was  2nded  and  put  to  vote  and 
negatived — there  was  but  3  of  the  Members  that  had  tired 
themselves  so  badly.  Mr.  Eansler,  Mr.  Jackson  and  another 
Southern  Buck  were  for  the  adjournment,  but  the  other  part  of 
the  House  I  suppose  thought  6  Dollars  were  not  earned  in  S 
Hours  therefore  the  above  members  were  obliged  to  submit  to 
the  disagreeable  task  of  keeping  their  Seats,  found  the  Lady 
Washington  Packet  of  Norwich  lying  at  Cranes  Wharf,  to  sdl 
tomorrow  about  noon — agreed  for  a  passage  to  give  him  2  Dol- 
lars for  the  passage  1  Dollar  for  Boarding — she  has  very  good 
accommodations  for  passingers,  is  a  clean  neat  Yessell  of  50 
Tons  Burthen,  we  lay  aboard  her  this  night — 

"Friday  6th  got  up  about  5  o'clock  took  a  walk  up  into 
Broadway  in  hopes  of  having  a  sight  of  the  President  who  we 
were  informed  commonly  Eoad  out  in  the  Morning  through  the 
Street  (his  House  is  in  this  street)  We  walked  with  a  slow 
pace  expecting  to  come  across  him  in  the  street.  But  finding 
a  Tavern  we  went  in,  placed  ourselves  by  a  front  Window  took 
some  sherry  sling,  almost  dispared  of  seeing  him,  the  Landlord 
told  us  it  was  not  likely  he  would  be  out  so  late  as  it  was  6 
o'clock — We  determined  to  wait  untill  we  were  sure  of  his  not 
coming — ^had  not  set  long  before  an  old  gentleman  at  the  door 
cry'd  out  "  there  he  comes  now."  We  now  went  very  quick  to 
the  Door  to  see  the  Great  Washington — who  was  upon  a  white 
Horse  with  Colo.  Humphrey  at  his  left  hand — wore  a  Blue  Coat 
— ^they  were  a  riding  out  of  the  Cyty  to  the  N — ^We  from 
there  walked  down  near  the  President's  House,  went  into  a 
Tavern  intended  to  get  a  nearer  view  of  him  when  he  returned, 
in  about  an  hour  he  came  back.  I  had  now  got  right  against 
his  House  when  he  dismounted — ^had  a  fair  view  of  him — he  is 
of  a  tall  and  noble  Stature,  well  proportioned,  of  a  mild  coun- 
tenance, his  body  very  slim,  to  give  an  adequate  discription  of 
him  is  to  say  Tie  is  Genl  Washington.  I  now  felt  as  though  I 
could  leave  N.  York  contented,  that  my  business  in  this  city 
was  accomplished." 

After  this  portrait  the  rest  of  the  Journal  seems  almost  an 
anticlimax  yet  it  is  full  of  observation  and  incident.  For  in- 
stance, next  day  after  setting  sail  they  drink  ^'  a  bowl  of  Punch 


176  Anntud  Meeting— 1901. 

made  with  Ice  which  a  Mr.  Yates^  a  Passenger  had  took  on 
board  "  and  he  finds  it  ^'  very  oorions  to  see  Ice  at  this  season 
of  the  year."  They  meet  a  little  bad  weather  and  one  notices 
the  growth  of  the  writer's  nautical  vocabulary  in  his  descrip- 
tions. At  New  London  he  saw  ^'  acquaintances  and  took  some 
letters  for  Cheapside."  Entering  the  Thames  he  describes  Fort 
Trumbull  which  they  passed.  They  then  continued  their  jour- 
ney to  Norwich  where  they  took  lodgings  at  Mr.  Leffingwells 
and  the  next  day  ^^  went  Huckleberrjring  on  the  hill  behind 
Mr.  Lefflngwell's  House."  From  Norwich  they  sent  their  bag- 
gage to  Hartford  by  stage  and  continued  on  foot  in  order  to 
nudce  a  detour  to  visit  friends.  At  Windsor  they  took  the  stage 
but  at  W.  Springfield  "  the  stage,"  says  the  writer,  "  having 
got  to  the  Boad  that  left  our  course  we  took  shanks  Mare." 
Traveling  thus  they  reach  Northampton,  "  our  run  this  day 
in  the  Stage  and  on  foot  was  65  miles."  The  following  day, 
Thursday,  August  19th,  after  dining  at  Mr.  Partridge's  in  Hat- 
field, '^  about  five  o'clock  got  sight  of  the  Steeple  of  the  Meet* 
ing  House,  sup'd  at  Capt  Locks  at  the  Bars  arrived  at  My 
Fathers  about  7  o'clock,  found  my  Friends  welL" 

To-day  it  takes  less  hours  than  it  then  took  days  to  reach 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  but  we  descendants  of  these  earlier 
travelers  still  rejoice,  returning  from  afar,  when  ^^  the  Steeple 
of  the  Meeting  House "  teUs  us  that  we  are  nearing  the*  old 
tovm. 


THE  HOOSAO  TUNNEL. 

BY  HON.  H.  O.  PASSONS. 

The  legislature  of  1826  confronted  what  was  regarded  as  a 
serious  situation.  The  western  portion  of  the  Conmionwealth 
which  had  been  bound  to  it  by  tiie  closest  ties  of  kindred  was 
thought  to  be  losing  something  of  that  intimacy  of  relation 
through  trade  which  was  essential  as  a  foundation  for  continued 
social  and  political  peace.  The  development  of  lines  of  commu- 
nication between  Berkshire  and  New  York  was  found  to  be 
diverting  the  trade  of  the  western  county  away  from  Boston. 
Something  of  the  same  sort  was  true  of  the  Connecticut  valley. 
The  building  of  canals  and  locks  had  made  possible  the  naviga- 


The  Hoosao  Tunnd.  17T 

tion  of  the  river  by  rough  boats  of  commeroe,  which  slow  and 
di£Bcalt  as  was  their  passage,  were  serious  rivals  of  the  stage 
ooach  lumbering  over  the  hills  that  lay  between  the  valley  and 
Boston.  It  was  urged  that  something  must  be  done  to  pre- 
serve the  unity  of  the  state  and  to  keep  Boston  from  losing  its 
rightful  trade.  The  same  ambition  which  now  leads  Boston  to 
bid  for  the  commerce  of  the  Mississippi  valley  then  saw  its 
limitation  in  that  of  the  Hudson.  But  that  it  was  regarded 
with  as  great  seriousness  is  evident  by  the  sober  turn  the  dis- 
cussion in  the  legislature  of  this  and  the  subsequent  years  took. 

Let  the  Hall  of  Bepresentatives  in  the  then  new  State  House 
be  the  first  scene  in  our  story.  The  time,  1826.  A  body  of 
more  than  five  hundred  members,  the  chosen  representatives  of 
Massachusetts  towns,  is  crowded  into  the  chamber  whose  dimen- 
sions are  now  considered  no  more  than  sufficient  for  forty  mod- 
em senators.  Not  only  are  they  crowded  like  schoolboys  on 
the  benches  of  the  floor,  but  the  galleries  are  packed,  not  a  few 
of  the  incipient  statesmen  being  condemned  to  obscurity  in 
corners  beyond  the  range  of  the  Speaker's  eye.  A  member  of 
the  western  portion  of  the  state  arises  and  offering  a  motion 
that  the  legislature  inquire  into  the  means  of  better  communica- 
tion between  the  remote  ends  of  the  state,  sets  forth  the  possible 
breaking  away  of  the  western  towns  because  of  the  loss  of  trade 
relationship.  So  moving  is  his  speech  that  the  House  authorizes 
the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  to  appoint  a  commission  to 
inquire  into  the  public  needs  and  to  make  reports  as  to  how  the 
calamity  may  be  avoided. 

As  a  result  of  the  legislature's  action,  its  successor  of  1828  has 
laid  before  it  the  survey  of  the  commission  appointed,  accom- 
panied by  a  solemn  message  from  Governor  Levi  Lincoln  de- 
livered January  29th.  The  dream  which  these  commissioners 
had  strained  their  imaginations  to  produce  was  that  of  a  horse 
railroad  extending  all  the  way  from  Boston  to  the  Hudson. 
They  submitted  a  survey  of  the  southern  of  several  proposed 
routes.  In  making  this  they  had  discovered  the  two  obstacles 
to  be  the  high  ridge  which  crosses  the  state  through  the  center 
of  Worcester  county  and  the  higher  one  between  the  Connecti- 
cut and  Hudson.  The  most  favorable  crossing  point  here  they 
found  to  be  in  the  town  of  Washington  where  the  elevation  was 
1440  feet  above  the  Connecticut.  The  incline  by  which  this 
was  to  be  reached  would  not  exceed  eighty  feet  in  a  mile.  But 
12 


178  Anntial  Mee^inff— 1901. 

they  did  not  regard  this  difficulty  as  overwhehning.  Gh>vemor 
Liiux>ln  snmmarizes  their  conclusion  in  these  words  : 

^^  The  Commissioners  are  of  the  opinion  that  upon  this  degree 
of  elevation  the  power  of  two  horses  working  the  usual  time  in 
a  day  and  at  the  ordinary  rate  of  travel  will  be  equal  to  the 
draft  of  eight  tons'  weight,  and  that  on  every  other  part  of  the 
road,  one  horse  will  be  fully  competent  to  such  load." 

He  added  his  own  solemn  conclusion  that  the  commission 
could  be  ^^  considered  as  fully  establishing  the  practicability 
within  the  reasonable  application  of  means  of  the  construction 
of  the  road,  strengthening  every  conviction  and  anticipation  of 
its  vast  utility." 

This  commission  appears  not  to  have  gone  deeply  into  the 
question  of  construction.  It  mildly  suggested  the  building  of  a 
stone  track,  but  left  the  elaboration  of  the  scheme  to  its  succes- 
sors. It  went  deeply,  however,  into  the  question  of  motive 
power.  It  made  a  scientific  observation  of  the  horse  with  the 
thoroughness  which  suggests  the  preparation  of  the  commis- 
sioners in  the  school  of  Yankee  horse  trading.    They  say : 

"The  exploration  and  survey  have  been  conducted  exclu- 
sively with  reference  to  the  use  of  animal  power,  which  is 
thought  to  be  better  adapted  to  the  accommodation  of  the  com- 
munity in  the  transportation  of  that  endless  variety  of  loading 
which  a  dense  and  industrious  population  required." 

It  foresaw  that  "the  introduction  of  incHned  planes  with 
mechanical  power  may  hereafter  present  an  important  ques- 
tion "  and  admitted  that  there  were  places  where  this  device 
might  afford  a  great  saving  in  distance  and  expense  and  per- 
haps in  time,  where  the  location  was  favorable.  But  it  laid 
down  as  a  rule  for  conduct  in  any  progressive  movement  that 
"  While  investigating  the  practicability  of  this  project  it  was 
thought  best  to  proceed  on  the  most  simple  system,  and  that 
which  in  practice  will  be  found  to  comport  with  the  common 
habits  and  opinions  of  the  people."  It  was  the  horse  that  com< 
ported  with  the  common  habits  and  opinions  of  the  people.  And 
anything  so  revolutionary  as  an  inclined  plane  would  be  too 
violent  an  intrusion  upon  their  mode  of  life. 

The  commission  found  that  the  weight  of  11  pounds  was 
sufficient  to  overcome  the  friction  of  a  ton  weight  on  rails. 
And  that  another  11  pounds  would  overcome  the  gravity  on  a 
grade  of  26  feet  to  the  mile ;  and  that  in  moving  the  load  in 


The  Hooaao  Tunnel.  179 

the  downward  direction  the  gravity  of  a  ton  on  this  grade  will 
be  just  sufficient  to  overcome  the  friction.  The  value  of  this 
wise  conclusion  is  to  be  found  in  the  observation  which  follows 
^^  that  the  only  power  necessary  to  be  exerted  by  the  horse  at- 
tached to  the  load  will  be  to  regulate  its  motion  at  the  most 
convenient  pace  to  itself.  What  that  most  convenient  pace  for 
the  horse  from  the  horse's  standpoint  was  expected  to  be  will 
be  revealed  farther  on.  There  was  the  most  intricate  calcula- 
tion as  to  what  the  horse  could  do  in  the  way  of  a  draft,  how 
much  he  could  endure  to  work  in  a  day,  how  often  he  would 
need  to  be  relieved  and  how  many  would  be  required  between 
Boston  and  the  Hudson.  Then  the  commission  swung  off  into 
a  learned  discussion  of  the  comparative  value  of  canals  and  a 
road  built  of  rails  as  to  cost  and  utility,  and  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  double  the  speed  could  be  attained  on  a  railroad 
that  was  reached  from  the  canaL* 

What  was  hoped  of  the  horse  railroad  is  suggested  in  the 
commission's  discovery  that  the  trade  of  the  western  counties 
was  going  away  from  the  state,  and  that  in  consequence  ^^  Those 
moral  influences  which  give  harmony  and  effect  to  all  efforts 
for  the  public  welfare  will  be  diminished."  With  the  road  built 
it  was  hoped  ^^  To  place  the  whole  commonwealth  if  possible  in 
a  condition  of  more  intimate  and  cordial  union." 

This  tarrying  with  the  commission  of  1828  gives  us  the  back- 
ground for  the  development  of  the  project  which  gave  to  Mass- 
achusetts that  achievement  of  engineering  skill  and  persistent 
enterprise,  the  Hoosac  Tunnel.  We  are  led  in  their  report  di- 
rectly to  the  foot  of  the  mountain  which  presented  the  great 
obstacle  to  the  western  traffic.  There  were  those  who  believed 
that  a  more  northern  route  was  feasible,  coming  from  Boston 
on  the  course  now  occupied  by  the  Massachusetts  Central  Bail- 
road,  crossing  the  Connecticut  at  Northampton,  and  turning 
northerly  to  follow  the  valley  of  the  Deerfield,  or  perhaps 
reaching  the  Connecticut  by  the  line  of  a  proposed  canal,  the 
survey  for  which  had  been  made  some  years  earlier.  The 
commission  of  1828  spoke  of  the  possibility  of  using  for  the  rail- 
road '^  The  route  of  the  canal  survey  by  Millers  and  the  Deer- 

*  It  may  be  worth  while  to  stick  a  pin  in  the  commission's  discovery  of 
raibroad  dates:  That  wooden  railways  were  first  used  in  the  16th  century, 
the  first  iron  rail  in  1767;  the  first  public  railway  opened  in  1789;  the  first 
plate  nil  made  in  1799;  the  first  malleable  iron  rail  in  1811. 


180  Annual  Me$tmjh-1901. 

field  river  on  which  it  has  been  suggested  the  passage  across 
the  mountain  to  Hoosac  Biver  might  be  affected  by  stationary 
engines."  But  this  appears  not  to  have  been  regarded  very 
seriously. 

What  has  later  become  the  tunnel  route  was  first  drawn 
upon  the  map  of  Massachusetts  by  Loammi  Baldwin.  It  was 
he  who  developed  the  idea  of  a  canal  running  the  length  of  the 
state  and  to  him  appears  to  belong  the  credit  of  first  suggesting 
a  tunnel  under  the  Hoosac  mountain.  He  was  enthusiastic  as 
to  its  feasibility,  and  he  estimated  that  the  tunnel  would  cost  a 
million  dollars.  He  was  a  high  authority  in  engineering,  had 
traveled  and  studied  engineering  feats  in  Europe,  and  was  in- 
trusted by  the  government  with  the  construction  of  its  dry 
docks.  The  sort  of  a  man  he  was  and  the  sort  of  cabinet  offi- 
cers we  must  have  had  in  the  early  days  is  shown  by  the  in- 
structions which  are  recorded  as  having  been  given  to  him  by 
an  early  Secretary  of  the  Navy  of  name  and  date  unknown. 
"  We  will  furnish  you,"  he  said  in  answer  to  Baldwin's  request 
for  instructions,  "  with  sub-engineers,  with  men,  with  money  to 
the  amount  of  millions,  but  we  have  no  instructions  to  give  you. 
Use  your  own  judgment."  It  is  safe  to  say  in  passing,  that 
that  method  of  awarding  government  contracts  belonged  to  an- 
other period  and  to  another  race  of  men  than  the  present.  It 
may  also  be  remarked  that  the  legislature  did  well  not  to  place 
a  million  dollars  in  Engineer  Baldwin's  hands  with  expectation 
that  he  would  return  a  completed  tunnel  under  Hoosac. 

By  another  year,  1829,  there  had  come  into  being  a  state 
board  of  directors  of  internal  improvements.  Its  report  on  the 
proposed  horse  railway,  is  a  fine  specimen  of  elaboration  of 
English,  possible  only  to  officials  whose  literary  productions  are 
printed  at  the  expense  of  the  government.  First  it  discussed 
the  rails.  It  waved  aside  the  suggestion  of  iron  rails  which  it 
found  were  in  use  in  England  on  the  ground  that  the  high  cost 
of  iron  in  this  country  and  the  great  abundance  and  cheapness 
of  fine  granite  made  a  stone  railroad  the  necessary  kind  for 
America.  It  proposed  parallel  stone  walls  laid  so  deep  as  to  be 
below  frost,  surmounted  by  a  rail  of  split  granite  of  a  foot 
thickness  and  breadth  with  a  thin  bar  of  iron  placed  on  the 
top.  These  were  to  be  laid  five  feet  apart  with  a  space  filled 
in  with  earth  and  gravel  so  as  to  form  a  path  for  horses. 

Next,  it  took  another  view  of  the  horse.    By  careful  study  it 


The  HooMG  Tunnd.  181 

waa  found  ^  that  a  steady  and  long  oontinued  exertion  by  a 
horse  is  more  fatiguing  to  him  than  even  the  greater  exertion 
occasionally  remitted.  And  so  it  proposed  to  reward  the  mo- 
tive power  for  a  hard  pnll  up  an  incline  by  providing  a  platform 
placed  on  small  wheels  on  the  long  descents  on  which  tiie  horse 
himself  may  ride.  As  a  further  economy^  it  suggested  that 
with  this  provision,  the  horses  might  eat  their  provender  while 
returning  to  a  point  where  their  labor  was  resumed.  To  help 
up  the  inclined  planes  stationary  water  or  horse  power  might 
be  employed. 

The  conmiission  was  exact  in  its  calculation  as  to  cost  Find- 
ing that  a  mile  of  the  stone  road  would  cost  $14,940.70  and 
allowing  10^  for  possible  error,  $16,434.77.  From  Boston  to 
the  state  line,  the  road  would  cost  $2,638,628.64.  To  Albany, 
$3,254,876.46.  Ko  calculation  was  made  of  land  damages,  and 
it  was  apparently  expected  that  a  patriotic  people  would  gladly 
give  the  land  to  promote  the  scheme  of  rapid  transit 

Just  how  rapid  the  transit  was  to  be,  the  commission  investi- 
gated and  reached  the  conclusion  that  ^^  the  most  easy  and  con- 
venient rate  of  travelling  would  perhaps  average  about  three 
miles  an  hour  and  the  journey  may  be  accomplished  in 
four  days.'* 

The  cost  of  operating  the  railroad  was  accurately  ascertained. 
It  was  to  include  the  wages  and  subsistence  of  a  man  to  con- 
duct the  teams,  one  dollar  a  day.  The  horse,  including  inter- 
est, depreciation,  hay  and  keeping,  50c.  The  daily  cost  of  a 
carriage,  six  of  which  in  a  train  were  to  carry  sixteen  tons,  75c. 
Thus,  the  cost  of  carrying  a  ton  of  freight  from  Boston  to  the 
Hudson  was  to  be  $1.59,  provided  some  stationary  powers  were 
to  be  used,  or  an  unassisted  haul,  $1.97.  The  cost  of  carrying 
a  passenger  from  Boston  to  Albany,  using  the  stationary 
powers,  was  to  be  82jc.    Without  the  stationary  powers,  $1.05. 

By  this  time,  the  suggestion  had  come  of  a  steam  locomotive. 
But  it  appears  not  to  have  been  harbored  by  the  commissioners 
longer  than  was  necessary  to  demonstrate  that  this  device 
would  be  of  no  use  in  America.  Their  words  on  this  point  are 
graphic.  ^*0n  railroads  recentiy  built  and  now  building  in 
England  and  France  it  is  proposed  to  make  use  almost  exclu- 
sively of  locomotive  engines ;  or  (by  way  of  explanation)  car- 
riages moved  by  a  steam  engine  placed  within  them,  of  a  suffi- 
cient force  to  draw  after  them  without  the  aid  of  animal  power 


182  Annual  Meetinff— 1900. 

a  successioii  of  20  or  25  loaded  wagons.  These  engines  are  in 
operation  with  entire  suooess  on  several  railroads  in  England. 
Where  coal  is  abundant  and  cheap  and  where  the  subsistence 
of  horses  is  dear,  steam  power  may  be  advantageously  used  for 
many  purposes  in  which  it  can  not  be  economicaUy  employed 
in  a  country  where  coal  is  dear.  For  the  purpose  of  determin- 
ing whether  locomotive  engines  can  be  advantageously  employed 
by  Bail  Eoads  in  this  country,  we  have  examined  the  cost  of 
maintaining  these  engines  in  England  where  [note  this  obser- 
vation] they  have  been  brought  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection. 
And  where  the  cost  of  coal  for  fuel  which  constitutes  a  fourth 
part  of  the  expense  does  not  exceed  a  third  part  of  its  cost  here. 
We  find  that  by  the  lowest  of  these  estimates  the  cost  of  the 
effective  power  of  these  engines  is  greater  with  the  advantages 
there  possessed  than  that  of  maintaining  horses  to  produce 
the  same  power  in  this  country.  .  .  .  The  cost  of  oats  and 
other  food  for  horses  in  England  in  general  is  nearly  double  its 
cost  in  this  country,  and  the  cost  of  this  description  of  animal 
power  must  therefore  be  greater  in  nearly  the  same  proportion." 

By  this  circumlocution  the  commission  reached  the  conclu- 
sion which  they  evidently  regarded  as  good  for  all  time,  that  in 
England,  where  coal  was  cheap  and  oats  were  high,  coal  was 
the  fuel  for  railroad  purposes.  But  in  America  where  oats 
were  cheap  and  coal  was  high,  oats  were  the  available  base  of 
power. 

Some  additional  surveys  appear  in  this  report.  One  takes 
the  course  west  of  the  Connecticut  through  Williamsburg  to 
the  north  branch  of  Mill  Eiver  to  Conway,  thence  along  a  high 
range  of  land  through  the  southerly  part  of  Ashfield  and  the 
northerly  part  of  Plainfield  to  the  height  of  land  in  Savoy ; 
thence  to  the  Hoosic  and  the  south  village  of  Adams. 

But  Franklin  county  had  its  vigorous  spokesman  of  this 
period  in  General  Hoyt  who  insisted  that  Deerfield  should  be 
on  the  line  of  the  proposed  horse  road.  He  had  his  scheme 
well  worked  up.  It  was  to  cross  the  Connecticut  at  Wilson*s  a 
mile  below  the  mouth  of  the  Deerfield ;  thence  to  the  Deerfield 
Biver  at  Stebbins'  milldam ;  thence  to  the  head  of  Shelbume 
Falls,  to  Cold  Biver,  to  Gulf  Stream ;  then  to  the  summit  by 
Haskins  Tavern,  near  the  old  glass  works  on  Hoosac  Mountain, 
a  rise  of  1886  feet 

Here  must  fall  the  curtain  on  the  first  act  of  the  Hoosao 


The  Hoosac  Twnnd.  183 

Tunnel  story.  It  shows  the  infancy  of  the  railroad  idea,  the 
childish  miscalculation  of  natural  forces  and  the  lack  of  any 
grasp  of  the  cost  either  of  constructing  or  operating  such  a  novel 
institution  as  a  raUroad. 

Between  scenes  there  is  a  lapse  of  20  years.  Meanwhile  we 
must  imagine  the  decline  of  the  horse  railroad  idea,  the  sub- 
merging of  the  prejudice  against  so  unnatural  a  thing  as  a  steam 
engine,  and  a  demonstration  that  on  the  whole  coal  was  a  less 
costly  fuel  than  provender.  Ko  horse  ever  came  to  enjoy  the 
delights  of  coasting  down  the  slopes  of  the  Hoosac  Bange  on  a 
low-wheeled  car  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  his  meal  at  a  cost  of 
two  shillings  a  day,  making  up  for  what  it  lacked  in  enjoyment 
of  its  placid  scenery.  No  passenger  ever  experienced  the  thrill- 
ing sensation  of  being  transported  at  a  speed  somewhere  be- 
tween twice  that  obtained  on  a  canal  and  three  miles  an  hour. 
Nor  up  to  this  time  has  living  man  found  the  draft  upon  his 
purse  for  a  trip  from  the  capital  of  Massachusetts  to  the  capital 
of  New  York  to  fall  within  82^.  But  in  the  pioneer  calcu- 
lations of  these  commissions,  we  find  the  first  promise  of  over- 
coming by  some  engineering  undertaking,  the  barrier  between 
east  and  west  on  the  border  of  Massachusetts.  It  was  the  pro- 
jector of  a  two  hundred  mile  canal  who  first  rapped  at  the  stony 
gate  of  the  Hoosac  region,  and  if  his  calculation  of  the  cost  of 
penetrating  the  great  wall  was  woefully  small,  it  was  hardly 
less  than  that  of  tihe  later  day  promoters  of  the  tunnel  enterprise. 

The  time  now  is  1848.  The  curtain  rises  again  upon  the 
legislature  before  whom  appear  as  humble  petitioners  George 
Grenell  and  others,  praying  for  a  charter  to  build  a  railroad 
from  Greenfield  to  the  state  line  in  Williamstown.  They  pro- 
posed two  routes,  one  of  them  tunneling  Hoosac  Mountahi,  the 
other  turning  northward  at  the  base  of  the  mountain  and  get- 
ting around  it  through  the  towns  of  Monroe,  Beedsboro,  Stam- 
ford, Clarksburg,  Adams  and  Williamstown.  The  tunnel  route 
is  estimated  to  cost  $3,000,000,  the  other  $2,585,000.  The  com- 
mittee of  the  legislature  sees  no  merit  in  the  scheme,  and  to 
appease  the  petitioners,  reports  the  bill,  giving  them  a  right  to 
build  a  road  from  Greenfield  to  Shelbume  Falls.  The  com- 
mittee says  it  is  unable  to  discover  any  exigency  in  the  local 
wants  of  Franklin  county  for  undertaking  the  Herculean  task 
of  piercing  this  barrier,  while  the  gain  of  20  miles  in  distance  as 
compared  with  the  Western,  now  the  Boston  &  Albany  Bailroad, 


184  Annual  Jfe&Ung—lQOl. 

was  not  worth  considering  when  distance  is  so  readily  annihi- 
lated by  railroads.  There  was  another  serious  reason;  it 
might  be  that  the  new  road  would  have  advantages  over  the 
Western  in  point  of  grade,  and  if  it  did,  reasoned  the  commit- 
tee, it  would  take  away  all  the  through  business  of  the  Western 
and  two-thirds  of  the  entire  capital  of  that  railroad  would  be 
jeopardised  and  probably  be  rendered  worthless.  The  legisla- 
ture of  1848  had  progressed  far  enough  toward  the  modem  view 
of  the  uses  of  corporations  to  make  its  calculation  on  what  was 
for  the  advantage  and  security  of  the  corporation,  rather  than 
on  the  profit  and  convenience  of  the  public. 

Moreover,  went  on  the  committee,  competition  between  the 
two  roads  would  not  lower  rates  to  maintain  even  a  sickly  ex- 
istence for  the  two  roads,  the  rates  would  have  to  be  kept  up. 
These  are  the  opening  guns  of  the  great  tunnel  debate.  The 
great  talk  was  not  confined  to  the  legislature  nor  limited  by 
fewer  than  twenty  years.  It  entered  into  the  politics  of  the 
state  as  a  violent  disturber.  It  made  statesmen  and  wrought 
their  ruin.  It  developed  ardent  promoters  into  persuasive  ora- 
tors. It  aroused  contending  factions  in  the  town  meetings.  It 
gave  the  newspapers  a  burning  topic.  Every  citizen  of  ordi- 
nary  wit  made  his  own  calculation  as  to  the  cost  of  puncturing 
the  Hoosac  Eange  and  the  length  of  time  the  operation  would 
require.  And  as  the  scheme  with  its  varied  fortunes  advanced 
into  reality,  the  incapacity  for  calculation  as  to  the  cost  of  an 
engineering  work  was  revealed  the  most  strikingly  in  those  who 
undertook  to  look  the  wisest.  Perhaps  the  earliest  of  the  news- 
papers to  develop  high  heat  in  its  editorial  columns  over  this 
topic,  was  the  Boston  Advertiser ^  although  we  must  cautiously 
give  it  precedence  over  the  Springfield  RepubUccmy  which  for  a 
quarter  century  fulminated  with  the  most  effective  editorial 
explosives  against  "  the  great  bore."  The  phrase  which  passed 
into  common  speech  as  descriptive  of  the  tunnel  and  the  discus- 
sion over  it,  is  credited  to  Samuel  Bowles,  and  whether  origi- 
nated with  him  or  not  was  kept  standing  in  editorial  type  in 
his  office  for  use  in  every  new  combination  of  denunciatory  Eng- 
lish he  could  devise.  The  Advertiser  in  the  early  days  under 
discussion,  showed  its  grasp  of  the  problem  by  estimating  on 
the  basis  of  English  experience  that  the  length  of  time  neces- 
sary to  build  the  tunnel  would  be  seventy-three  and  a  half  years. 

The  dramatis  personam  of  the  controversy  is  rich  in  interest- 


The  EooBOO  Turmel.  186 

ing  figares  and  crowded  with  minor  actors,  induding  in  its  last 
line  the  whole  body  of  the  legislature,  which  on  successive  years 
found  diversion  in  the  journey  to  the  tunnel  at  the  cost  of  the 
admiring  populace.  Perhaps  no  figure  stands  out  more  in  relief 
than  that  of  CoL  Alvah  Crocker.  A  boyhood  recollection  of 
this  man,  heard  rather  than  seen,  when  in  a  crowded  hotel  din- 
ing room,  his  voice  in  ordinary  conversation  rose  far  above  the 
combined  noises  of  others'  talk  and  feasting,  will  go  with  me 
through  life.  He  was  a  strong,  persistent  character.  The  tun- 
nel was  his  early  dream  and  into  bringing  it  to  pass,  he  threw 
all  the  energy  of  a  most  determined  and  invincible  will. 

The  real  legislative  controversy  began  in  1851,  with  a  petition 
for  state  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  tunnel  The  Troy  and 
Gi*eenfield  Sailroad  had  been  incorporated.  It  had  quickly 
found  itself  unequal  to  the  task  of  building  the  tunnel  by  private 
enterprise  and  in  1851,  it  threw  into  the  legislature  the  bomb 
of  Hoosac  Tunnel  dispute  which  might  be  more  graphically 
described  as  a  mine  of  high  explosives  so  arranged  as  to  keep  up 
a  recurring  discharge.  The  discussion  was  violent  at  the  outset. 
The  committee  of  the  petitioners  estimated  the  cost  at  $1,948,557, 
and  that  the  time  for  construction  would  be  1556  working  days, 
if  no  shaft  were  sunk,  or  1054  days  if  a  shaft  were  used.  One 
engineer,  Mr.  Parrett,  estimated  the  cost  at  $2,856,000,  and  the 
time  of  building  at  sixty-three  and  a  half  years,  with  the  length 
of  time  reduced  and  the  cost  increased  on  a  regular  schedule  by 
multiplying  the  number  of  shafts  to  divide  the  work.  What 
was  asked  was  the  loan  of  the  state  credit.  It  was  proposed 
that  the  money  should  all  be  returned  to  the  treasury,  even  by 
the  time  that  the  tunnel  was  completed.  It  was  a  new  propo- 
sition that  the  state  should  embark  upon  such  a  project  and 
nothing  short  of  a  revolution  could  have  precipitated  a  more 
flaming  discussion  in  the  newspapers.  After  fierce  debate  the 
proposition  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  108  to  237. 

In  1853  the  project  reappeared.  The  newspapers  reawoke. 
The  pamphleteers  came  to  their  aid  with  highly  wrought  argu- 
ments, pro  and  con.  A  commission  was  appointed  to  investigate 
the  project  and  a  bill  giving  the  required  loan  at  first  passed, 
but  was  later  rejected. 

The  legislature  of  1864  yielded  to  the  petition,  and  $2,000,000 
was  voted  to  be  loaned.  Never  was  the  interest  of  the  lender 
more  thoroughly  guarded  in  the  terms  of  the  contract.    Before  it 


186  Anntutl  Meeting— 1901. 

could  reoeive  any  of  this  money,  the  Boston  and  Troy  Bailroad 
was  to  seoure  a  stock  subscription  of  $600,000.  It  was  to  con- 
struct in  one  or  two  sections,  seven  miles  of  road.  It  was  to 
complete  and  make  ready  for  single  or  double  track  one  thous- 
and lineal  feet  of  tunnel.  It  could  then  have  $100,000.  For 
each  successive  $100,000  up  to  $700,000,  a  like  amount  of  work 
was  to  be  done,  so  that  at  this  point  the  road  would  be  completed 
and  the  mountain  pierced  for  70,000  feet.  The  final  payment 
was  to  be  made  when  the  road  and  tunnel  were  completed  and 
in  operation.  Within  three  months  after  each  payment,  $10,000 
was  to  be  paid  back  to  the  state  to  constitute  a  sinking  fund. 
The  entire  property  was  to  be  mortgaged  to  the  state  for  the 
fulfillment  of  the  contract. 

This  was  regarded  as  a  victory  for  the  tunnel,  but  no  sooner 
was  the  legislation  secured  than  signs  appeared  of  anxiety  on  the 
part  of  the  promoters  as  to  the  elephant  on  their  hands,  and  on  the 
part  of  the  public  as  to  the  probable  end  of  the  money  it  had 
invested.  The  public  was  given  an  opportunity  to  subscribe  to 
the  stock,  but  stupidly  declined  to  do  so.  Nevertheless,  in  1855, 
a  contract  was  awarded  to  E.  E.  Sewell  and  Ciompany  of  Phil- 
adelphia to  build  the  tunnel  and  the  railroad  for  three  and  a 
half  million  dollars.  The  work  was  begun  in  1855  and  carried 
on  for  a  few  months  and  until  the  treasury  of  the  railroad  was 
depleted.  The  promoters  again  took  the  journey  to  Boston, 
this  time  to  ask  the  legislature  of  1856  to  subscribe  $150,000 
for  stock,  which  was  summarily  refused.  The  Sewell  contract 
was  broken  and  the  lapse  of  time  left  to  bring  forth  new  prom- 
ises and  new  funds.  In  July,  1856,  there  appears  a  man  whose 
name  will  remain  long  associated  with  the  enterprise,  Herman 
Haupt.  First,  he  comes  in  the  rdle  of  a  contractor,  but  later, 
by  a  curious  turn  in  affairs,  he  takes  upon  himself  the  task  of 
promoting  the  entire  tunnel  scheme.  The  contract  binds  him 
to  build  the  road  and  tunnel  for  $3,880,000, — the  common- 
wealth's $2,000,000,  with  but  $382,000  in  cash  from  the  railroad 
company.  Haupt  was  to  take  6000  shares  of  the  stock.  The 
towns  stolidly  refused  to  subscribe  for  the  stock,  and  the  famil- 
iar road  to  the  State  House  was  again  traveled  in  pursuit  of 
money. 

The  year  1857  witnessed  a  tremendous  struggle  in  the  legis- 
lature over  the  tunnel  project.  A  special  committee  was  sent 
to  inspect  the  work  done,  and  reported  the  tunnel  worked  to  a 


Ths  Hoo9ao  Tunnel.  187 

depth  of  621  feet  at  the  east  and  185  feet  at  the  west  end. 
After  one  of  the  stormiest  experiences  the  State  House  ever  went 
through,  the  bill  granting  easier  terms  was  passed,  only  to  be 
vetoed  by  Governor  Gardner,  whose  message  denounced  the 
whole  projeot.  The  House  was  persuaded  to  pass  the  bill  over 
the  governor's  veto,  but  the  Senate  failed  to  do  so  by  a  single 
vote.  These  were  dark  days  for  the  tunnel  and  work  was  prac- 
tically in  suspense.  It  was  due  to  the  Haupts,  father  and  son, 
that  it  was  given  new  life,  they  agreeing  to  a  contract  in  which 
the  cost  of  completing  the  work  was  marked  up  to  four  millions, 
but  they  were  to  receive  no  cash  payment  from  the  railroad 
company.  The  contractors  now  assumed  the  novel  responsibil- 
ity of  cajoling  the  towns  into  subscribing  for  the  stock.  Haupt, 
Sr.,  engineer,  contractor,  builder,  now  became  campaigner  and 
organized  the  line  of  attack  upon  the  towns  within  the  Hoosac 
Tunnel  region.  The  most  extreme  exertions  brought  but  a  few 
of  these  to  the  subscription  roll,  their  total  promise  being 
$140,000. 

The  work  was  resumed  in  1858,  and  enough  of  the  tunnel  dug 
out  and  of  the  road  built  to  win  the  first  1100,000  from  the 
state.  A  new  ray  of  hope  was  created  by  the  invention  of  a 
rock-cutting  machine  to  take  the  place  of  the  hand-drilling. 
The  legislative  committee  looked  upon  this  and  approved  it,  but 
the  tough  rock  of  Hoosac  met  it  and  proved  it  worthless. 

The  legislature  of  1859  good  naturedly  modified  the  terms  of 
the  state's  grant,  confidence  returned  and  the  belief  became  gen- 
eral that  the  tunnel  would  be  completed  for  the  $2,000,000.  It 
occurred  to  the  legislature  of  1860,  however,  to  investigate  the 
work.  It  was  moved  to  do  so  by  one  stroke  of  Haupt's  man- 
agement, which  was  not  regarded  as  altogether  sound.  It  was 
required  that  the  stock  should  be  paid  for  in  cash,  Haupt's  six 
thousand  shares  being  no  exception.  One  day  in  July,  1858, 
Haupt  borrowed  $600,000  at  a  bank,  handed  it  to  the  treasurer 
of  the  railroad,  received  it  back  from  his  hand,  and  returned  it 
to  the  bank,  all  within  the  limits  of  a  banking  day, — common 
practice  now.  Thus  meeting  the  letter  of  the  requirement  as 
to  the  stock  subscription.  The  investigators  found  the  road 
built  represented  to  be  of  so  many  miles'  length,  to  be  varied 
by  gaps  between  its  several  sections  with  rivers  unbridged  and 
cuts  and  fills  postponed  in  the  attempt  to  draw  out  as  many 
miles  as  possible  to  meet  the  state's  requirements  with  the  least 


188  AnmuU  MeeHng— 1901. 

possible  outlay.  The  road  was  discredited  and  kept  up  a  strug- 
gling attempt  only  at  continuing  the  work  until  July,  1861,  when 
the  state  engineer  refused  longer  to  certify  to  the  contractors' 
bill  and  the  Troy  and  Greenfield  Bailroad  laid  down  its  work. 

The  next  period  is  that  of  the  state's  undertaking  to  build  and 
operate  the  road  and  tunnel  on  its  own  account.  Induced  by 
Governor  Andrews'  favorable  message,  the  legislature  placed 
the  tunnel  and  road  in  the  state's  possession  and  committed  the 
commonwealth  to  its  completion.  The  successive  years  give  an 
interesting  picture  of  the  state  in  the  socialistic  business  of 
carrying  on  the  construction  of  a  public  work  by  the  direct  em- 
ployment of  men  and  the  liberal  appropriation  of  the  people's 
money.  At  the  outset,  it  was  found  that  serious  mistakes  had 
been  made  in  the  tunnel  construction.  It  is  highly  desirable,  as 
even  the  unprofessional  in  tunnel  construction  can  appreciate, 
that  in  tunneling  from  the  two  sides  of  the  mountain  tie  work 
should  be  directed  to  a  common  point,  but  it  was  found  in  this 
case  that  the  contractors  had  not  paid  heed  to  this  requirement 
The  holes  penetrating  from  the  east  and  west  ends  were  not 
pointed  toward  each  other.  Their  continuance  would  have  re- 
sulted in  two  tunnels  under  the  mountain,  and  the  trouble  at- 
tending the  digging  of  one  were  quite  sufficient.  The  western 
entrance  was  being  pushed  at  least  ten  feet  north  of  the  eastern. 
In  consequence,  the  western  end  was  entirely  abandoned  and 
the  line  of  the  eastern  section  corrected  at  no  Uttle  cost.  Work 
was  begun  on  the  shaft  in  December.  The  entire  work  thus  far 
had  been  done  with  only  hand  power  and  the  state  immediately 
set  about  supplying  a  motive  power.  For  this  purpose  the 
Deerfield  Biver  was  dammed  and  a  fall  of  thirty  feet  secured 
with  a  view  to  supplying  compressed  air  for  the  drills.  This 
move  aroused  a  new  volume  of  ridicule  and  the  critics  set  down 
the  commonwealth  as  incompetent  in  tunnel  making.  Events, 
however,  justified  the  proceeding  and  the  working  at  the  eastern 
end  was  expedited  greatly  although  the  scheme  to  run  the  com- 
pressed air  in  pipes  over  the  mountain  to  be  used  at  the  western 
end  was  never  undertaken.  Compressed  air  was  not  actually 
used  until  June,  1866,  but  meanwhile  the  hand  drilling  had  ac- 
complished a  considerable  lengthening  of  the  eastern  entrance. 

Nature,  as  if  jealous  of  the  attempt  to  break  down  its  barrier, 
now  threw  in  a  new  obstacle.  The  drilling  had  struck  the  hid- 
den fountains  and  a  flood  of  water  and  mud  put  the  work  to  a 


The  Hooaac  Tunnd.  189 

sadden  end.  The  opponents  who  stood  ready  to  hold  their  sides 
at  every  new  disoomfitore  of  the  project,  now  enjoyed  another 
hearty  langh  at  the  state's  expense.  Their  amusement  was 
farther  aided  by  the  action  of  the  laborers  at  the  western  end, 
who  interrapted  the  work  by  a  strike,  and  in  their  violence, 
bamed  the  shaft  hoase  and  destroyed  machinery.  Bat  this  was 
by  the  discovery  of  a  new  explosive  dynamite,  first  ased  here 
in  1866.  It  was  in  this  year  that  the  contract  was  made  with 
B.  N.  Farren  who  shouldered  the  task  of  carrying  on  the  work 
of  the  western  section.  Decided  progress  was  made  daring  1867, 
bat  the  opponents  of  the  scheme  rallied  in  the  legislature  of 
1868,  and  made  an  attempt  to  have  the  state  entirely  abandon 
the  work.  Here  occurred  one  of  the  most  memorable  of  the 
great  debates  in  which  George  Walker  of  Springfield  and  Bich- 
ard  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  of  Cambridge,  led  with  great  vigor  the  forces 
of  the  opposition.  Its  upshot  was  only  that  the  state  gave  up 
its  direct  supervision,  the  governor  and  council  being  authorized 
to  make  contracts  for  the  completion  of  the  entire  work  at  a 
cost  not  exoeediug  $5,000,000.  Under  this  provision  the  &mous 
Shanly  contract  was  made  in  December,  1868,  and  the  work 
again  resumed,  March  29, 1869.  The  central  shaft  had  now 
sunk  to  the  level  of  the  tunnel,  and  from  it  the  arms  were  reached 
out  in  the  mountain  depths  to  both  east  and  west.  The  subse- 
quent years  are  stories  of  the  great  progress  of  the  work  and 
by  December  12,  1872,  the  junction  was  made  of  the  east  end 
and  the  workings  from  the  central  shaft.  Yariation  of  only 
5/16  of  an  inch  was  found  to  have  occurred  and  the  careful  en- 
gineering which  had  proceeded  on  entirely  new  Unes,  was 
grandly  justified. 

November  27,  1873,  will  remam  one  of  the  great  historic 
dates  in  the  story  of  this  undertaking.  For  a  few  days  previous 
it  had  been  possible  for  the  workers  in  approaching  excavations 
to  hear  through  the  intervening  wall  of  rock,  the  tapping  of  the 
drills  on  the  other  side.  It  was  a  dismal  Sunday  morning  when 
groups  of  newspaper  men  and  others  curious  to  witness  the  final 
opening  were  lowered  through  the  central  shaft  or  pushed  in  on 
flat  cars  from  the  eastern  portal.  A  heavy  charge  of  nitro- 
glycerine, 150  pounds,  had  been  placed  in  the  drill  holes  and 
the  electrical  connections  only  awaited  the  completion  of  a  cir- 
cuit for  the  final  blast.  It  was  at  8 :  20  in  the  afternoon  that 
the  discharge  was  made.    The  observers  rose  from  their  position 


190  Annual  Meetmg— 1901. 

lying  flat  in  the  tunnel's  bed,  to  feel  the  first  draft  of  air  to  find 
its  free  course  through  the  oompleted  hole.  As  the  smoke  was 
driven  away,  they  rushed  forward  over  the  fallen  rocks  to  ex- 
change greetings  through  the  aperture  with  their  fellow  ob- 
servers from  the  other  side.  The  first  man  privileged  to  pass 
through  the  opening  was  Robert  Johnson,  who  in  his  official 
capacity  as  the  chairman  of  the  railroad  committee  of  the  legis- 
lature, proclaimed  that  the  great  bore  had  come  to  its  comple- 
tion. 

It  was  nearly  two  years  after  that  the  people  entered  into 
the  full  enjoyment  of  the  tunnel.  Meanwhile  there  was  avast 
amount  of  work  accomplished  in  perfecting  the  structure  and 
completing  the  approaching  railroad. 

Running  aU  through  the  history  of  the  project,  we  find  a 
discussion  of  the  use  to  be  made  of  it  when  it  should  be  com- 
pleted if  it  ever  was.  Originally  undertaken  for  public  rea- 
sons and  such  a  profound  public  reason  as  the  preservation  of 
a  united  commonwealth,  it  was  constantly  held  out  by  its  ad- 
vocates as  a  public  work,  undertaken  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people  of  the  state.  For  a  season,  after  it  entered  into  actual 
use,  the  state  undertook  to  employ  it  in  accordance  with  this 
idea.  It  was  operated,  tunnel  and  road,  on  the  state's  account 
and  by  state  officials.  No  particular  encouragement  is  given 
to  the  theory  of  state  management  of  railroads  by  the  results 
of  this  experiment.  On  the  other  hand,  the  limitations  in  the 
connections  for  its  western  freight  business,  were  such  as  to 
prevent  a  fair  test  of  the  policy  of  a  railroad  being  run  on  pub- 
lic account.  The  state,  at  all  events,  found  it  wise  to  dispose 
of  its  property,  receiving  in  return  for  it,  the  common  stock  of 
the  Fitchburg  Railroad  which  for  a  series  of  years  was  regarded 
as  an  interesting  souvenir  of  the  tunnel  enterprise  without  any 
particular  cash  value.  The  recent  revival  of  value  in  this 
scrap  of  paper  under  the  business  touch  of  the  present  governor 
is  familiar  beyond  need  of  more  than  a  mention. 

The  great  tunnel,  the  second  longest  in  the  world,  has  ceased 
to  have  interest  as  a  curiosity.  It  has  come  into  the  common 
daily  use  of  the  millions  who  travel  through  it,  and  is  accepted 
with  the  calm  indifference  with  which  all  great  improvements 
are  accepted  after  the  momentary  gasp  of  surprise.  It  has  ful- 
filled the  predictions  of  its  most  ardent  promoters  as  a  means 
of  giving  commercial  life  to  its  neighborhood  and  furnishing 


The  Eooaac  Turmd.  191 

an  avenue  for  the  commerce  of  the  west  and  the  coast.  That 
it  has  passed  into  the  ownership  and  control  of  a  single  cor- 
poration, so  defeating  the  promises  that  it  shoold  be  an  open 
gateway  for  whatever  competing  lines  should  approach  it  from 
the  west,  is  perhaps  an  unavoidable  consequence  of  the  condi- 
tions which  for  the  present  give  to  private  control  and  private 
enterprise  the  responsibility  and  the  profits  of  public  service. 
But  the  tunnel  is  permanent  Its  usefulness  is  for  all  time, 
and  it  must  stand  as  a  monument  to  the  foresight  and  enterprise 
and  pluck  of  the  men  associated  with  its  beginnings  while  it 
also  serves  as  a  mausoleum  of  the  departed  millions  of  unwisely 
spent  money. 


OLD  HOME  WEEK  * 

OF  THB 

POOUMTUCK  VALLEY  MEMORLiL  ASSOCIATION, 

AT  DBERFIBLD,  JULY  28 ^AUOUST  3,  1901. 

DEDICATION  OF  MEMORIAL  STONES. 

PROGRAMME. 


Old  Home  Week  will  open  Sunday  July  28,  at  10  a.  m.  with 
an  Historical  Service  in  the  Old  Brick  Meetinghouse,  to  ded- 
icate the  Willard  Memorial  tablet. 

At  4  p.  M.  Oeorge  Sheldon  will  extend  a  hearty  welcome 
from  the  town,  and  will  give  briefly  the  pedigree  of  the  old 
meetinghouse.  Other  speakers  are:  Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock, 
dean  of  Amherst  College,  on  the  life  of  his  father.  President 
Hitchcock ;  Prof.  Henry  H.  Barber  on  New  England  General 
History ;  Rev.  Gleorge  "W.  Solley  on  the  Forefathers'  Parish ; 
Rev.  Frank  W.  Pratt  on  Home  Coming.  It  is  hoped  that 
Bishop  Huntington  and  Dr.  Lyman  Whiting  will  also  be 
present. 

On  Tuesday,  July  30,  at  2  p.  m.,  there  will  be  an  historical 
ride  to  the  scene  of  the  First  Encounter  between  the  Indians  and 
the  whites  in  the  Counecticut  Yalley.  The  route  will  be  that 
taken  by  Capt.  Lothrop  in  1675,  and  by  Joseph  Barnard  in 
1695,  leading  both  into  fatal  ambush.  The  scene  of  the  Bars 
Fight  in  1746,  will  be  noted.  Near  by  is  the  memorial  stone 
to  Joseph  Barnard  placed  by  a  descendant,  James  M.  Barnard 
of  Boston.  Here  a  brief  dedicatory  service  will  be  held.  An 
original  poem  vrill  be  read  by  Elizabeth  W.  Champney,  and  a 
short  address  given  by  William  Lambert  Barnard  of  Boston, 
the  representative  of  his  uncle,  James  M.  Barnard. 

Continuing,  we  pass  the  home  of  ^'  The  Last  Indian,"  thence 
to  Bloody  Brook,  where  stands  the  monument  to  the  ^^  Flower 

*  The  Old  Home  Week  was  planned  and  carried  out  by  our  Aasociation; 
therefore,  it  \b  fitting  that  all  the  proceedings  of  the  week  should  be  in- 
cluded in  this  chapter. 


Old  H(yme  Week.  198 

of  Essex."    Here  Dexter  F.  Hager  will  note  some  of  the  facts 
connected  with  the  massacre. 

Onward  again  mider  the  guidance  of  James  M.  Crafts,  past 
Wequamps  and  over  the  Weekioannack  to  the  place  of  the 
First  Encoonter,  where  incidents  will  be  related  concerning 
this  epoch  in  our  history,  and  seed  planted,  we  hope,  for  a  mon- 
ument to  mark  the  site.  This  ride  will  be  under  the  direction 
of  William  L.  Harris. 
18 


FIELD  MEETING— 1901. 


FIELD  MEETING 

OF  THB 

POCUMTUCK  VALLEY  MEMORLAX  ASSOCLA.TION, 

AT  DBBBFIBLD)  MASS.,  WEDNESDAY,  JULY  31,  1901. 


OBDEB  OF   EXEB0I8B8. 

1.  Musio.    Dram  and  fife. 

2.  Invocation.    Rev.  Geobob  W.  Sollex,  Ohaplain. 

8.  WoBDs  OF  Welcome.    Geoboe  Sheldon,  Fbancis  M.  Thomp- 
son. 

4.  SiNoiNo  by  the  choir,  under  the  direction  of  Chablbs  H. 

Ashley. 

5.  Rbpobt  of  Committee  on  Memorial  Stones,  J.  M.  Abmb 

Sheldon. 

6.  Singing  by  the  choir. 

7.  HisTOBioAL  Addbbss.    Db.  a.  E.  Winship  of  Boston. 

8.  Intebmission — Basket  Picnic  Lunch. 

9.  March  of  the  children  to  the  Jonathan  Wells  MemoriaL 

Ode,  Geoboe  Sheldon,  sung  by  the  children.  Report, 
Jonathan  P.  Ashley.  Address,  Maby  P.  Wells  Smith. 
Ballad,  Eleanob  M.  Abms,  sung  by  Maby  Field  Fulleb. 
10.  At  2:30  p.  m.  Remarks  may  be  expected  from  Senatob 
Gboboe  F.  Hoab,  Db.  Hbnby  D.  Holton,  Pbbs.  G.  Stan- 
ley Hall,  Hon.  H.  0.  Pabsons,  Pbof.  Chablbs  Eliot 
Nobton,  William  Lambebt  Babnabd,  Esq.,  Sabcubl  O. 
Lamb,  Esq.,  Geobgb  P.  Lawbbnob,  M.  C,  and  others. 


Programme.  196 

The  exhibition  of  Deerfield  Arts  and  Crafts  will  be  held  at 
the  Martha  Pratt  Memorial  Boom  every  week  day  excepting 
Wednesday  from  10  to  12  in  the  morning,  and  from  2:30  to  6  in 
the  afternoon.  This  exhibit  will  include  the  work  of  Mrs. 
Wynne  and  Miss  Patnam  in  metals ;  photographs  by  Miss  Oole- 
man  and  the  Misses  Allen ;  the  products  of  the  badcet  makers, 
rug  makers,  and,  most  prominent  of  aU,  of  the  Blue  and  White 
Society,  with  some  interesting  pieces  of  furniture,  and  other  ex- 
amples of  village  handicraft. 

On  Wednesday  evening  at  8,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Champney 
will  give  a  reception  at  her  home. 

On  Thursday  evening,  August  1,  there  will  be  a  dance  and  song 
party  at  the  bam  of  President  and  Mrs.  Sheldon  from  7:30  to  11. 

On  Friday  evening,  August  2,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Ash- 
ley will  give  a  musical  at  their  home  beginning  at  8  o'clock. 
They  will  be  assisted  by  Mrs.  Bogers,  Miss  Orr  and  Miss  Oowles. 

A  few  rare  paintings  of  George  Fuller  will  be  brought  to  his 
old  studio  at  the  Bars,  still  kept  as  he  left  it  by  his  family. 
These  wiU  be  exhibited  on  the  afternoons  of  August  1,  2,  8. 

At  the  studio  of  Augustus  Vincent  Tack  will  be  shown  dur- 
ing the  week  a  few  of  his  recent  portraits,  with  some  good 
specimens  of  the  work  of  J.  Wells  Champney,  Bruce  Crane  and 
others  who  are  identified  with  the  Old  Town. 

During  the  week  walks  to  historic  and  picturesque  places  will 
be  in  charge  of  John  Sheldon. 

Committee  of  arrangements,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Sheldon, 
Francis  M.  Thompson,  C.  Alice  Baker,  John  Sheldon,  Annie  0. 
Putnam,  M.  Anna  Y.  Childs,  Augustus  Y.  Tack,  Eugene  A. 
Newcomb,  Charles  Jones,  Edward  J.  Everett^  Mary  K  Aliens 
William  L.  Harris. 


196  Old  Home  Week— 1901. 

WILLARD  MEMORIAL. 
REPORT. 

Deerfield's  Old  Home  Week  had  a  fitting  beginning  in  the  serv- 
ice Sunday  morning  at  the  old  meetinghouse  which  was  de- 
voted to  the  unveiling  of  a  memorial  tablet  and  portrait  of 
Rev.  Samuel  WiUard,  D.  D.,  a  minister  of  the  church  of  hon- 
ored memory.  The  tablet  is  a  handsome  one  of  mahogany,  in 
colonial  style,  conforming  with  the  pulpit,  with  a  (»*ayon  por- 
trait of  Dr.  WiUard  which  is  a  remarkable  reproduction  of  the 
face  of  the  distinguished  clergyman.  The  portrait  is  by  Mrs. 
Richard  Hildreth,  wife  of  the  historiajo. 

The  tablet  is  designed  by  Clarence  Hoyt.  It  is  provided  by 
the  Willard  &mily,  friends  and  citizens  of  Deerfield.  There 
have  also  been  erected  two  tablets  in  the  vestibule,  designed  by 
Mr.  Solley.  One  of  these  gives  the  list  of  ministers  of  the 
church  and  some  general  facts  relating  to  its  organization. 
The  other  gives  the  covenant  of  the  church.  These  came  from 
wood  in  the  old  Boyden  house,  probably  100  years  old,  and  the 
pieces  were  too  large  to  go  into  any  wood  plajier  in  Greenfield. 
The  Willard  tablet  was  unveiled  by  Susan  Barker  Willard  of 
Hingham,  a  granddaughter  of  Dr.  Willard.  There  was  music 
by  the  choir  and  the  Sunday  school.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Winthrop 
Rogers  of  New  York,  assisted  in  the  musical  service,  Mrs. 
Rogers  singing  a  solo.  The  Fortieth  Chapter  of  Isaiah  was 
read,  this  one  being  the  last  that  Dr.  Willard  ever  read  in  the 
pulpit.    The  dosing  hymn  was  one  written  by  Dr.  WiUard. 

DEDICATION  HYMN. 

Composed  by  Rev.  Samuel  Willard,  D.  D.,  lot  the  laying  of 
the  comer  stone  of  the  Unitarian  Meetinghouse,  June  1st,  1824 : 

Tunb-Wbbb. 

On  this  foundation,  Lord,  we  raise 
A  house  of  prayer, — a  house  of  praise; 
Where  hiunble  Souls  may  seek  their  Qod, 
And  find  with  thee  a  blest  abode. 

AsGost  us,  Lord,  with  power  divine; 
Let  Christian  love  and  zeal  combine 
To  rear  a  temple  strong  and  fair. 
To  Him  who  makes  the  Church  his  care. 


Samud  WiUiPrd.  197 

Ab  Zion's  hOl  to  Judah'fl  race, 

To  U8 — ^be  this  a  joyful  place; 

Our  children's  joy,— our  children's  home. 

For  years  and  ages  long  to  come. 

And  while  of  wood  and  brick  we  build, 
Let  every  mind  with  grace  be  filled. 
Diviner  temples  thou  oan'st  rear. 
OhI  make  each  heart  a  house  of  prayer. 


ADDRESS  OF  REV.  GEORGE  W.  SOLLET. 

It  is  very  fitting  that  Deerfield  should  begin  its  Old  Home 
Week  celebration,  on  that  day  which  our  New  England  fore- 
fathers set  apart  as  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  made  sacred 
to  religion.  It  is  also  equally  fitting  that  the  services  should 
be  held  in  the  old  parish  meetinghouse,  which  was  built 
by  the  town.  This  house  was  erected  during  the  ministry  of 
Rev.  Samuel  WiUard,  D.  D.,  in  1824,  and  was  Hie  fifth  of  the 
five  meetinghouses  which  have  graced  the  Common,  since  the 
settlement  of  the  town,  and  was  dedicated  with  religious  cere- 
monies. It  is  also  particularly  fitting  that  the  services  for  this 
morning,  while  conmiemorating  all  the  other  ministers  of  the 
first  parish,  should  center  about  the  name  of  the  great  blind 
preacher  of  Deerfield,  who,  more  than  all  the  ministers  of  the 
past  two  hundred  and  thirteen  years,  is  the  best  representative 
of  all  that  is  sacred  in  Kew  England  life. 

Dr.  WiUard  came  to  Deerfield  as  a  young  man,  and  threw 
his  whole  soul  into  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministry.  He 
was  installed  here  by  the  town,  and  the  whole  town  became 
his  parish,  nay  more,  he  was  like  one  of  the  ancient  MetropoU- 
tan  Bishops  of  the  early  church,  for  his  ministrations  reached 
to  other  towns  within  a  radius  of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from 
the  old  parish  church.  Everything  of  interest  to  the  fellow- 
citizens  of  Deerfield  became  of  deepest  interest  to  him. 

He  found  the  public  schools  in  a  weak  and  unsettled  condi- 
tion ;  this  engaged  his  earnest  attention.  He  not  only  saperin- 
tended  their  work,  and  secured  a  better  grade  of  teachers,  but  the 
text-books  in  use  being  found  unsuitable,  he  wrote  new  and 
better  ones.  The  influence  of  such  a  public  spirit  as  Dr.  Wil- 
lard's  could  not  be  confined  to  any  one  town.    Next,  the  schools 


198  Old  Home  Week— 1901. 

of  Franklin  oountj  demanded  his  attention.  He  called  together 
all  interested  in  education,  and  soon  a  revival  of  edacation 
sprang  up  throaghoat  the  towns  of  the  valley,  as  a  result  of  the 
work  which  he  started  here  in  Deerfield.  It  is  said  that  Dr. 
Willard,  like  other  ministers  of  his  time,  was  one  of  the  most 
prominent  tutors  of  college  lads.  We  are  told  that  the  third 
story  of  the  old  "  Manse "  was  always  full  of  boys  studjdng 
under  the  old  doctor ;  and  as  in  the  story  of  the  famous  Master 
of  Drumtochty,  the  grass  was  never  allowed  to  grow  in  the 
pathway  which  led  from  the  Deerfield  ^^  Manse "  to  Harvard 
College.  During  Dr.  Willard's  ministry,  our  famous  old  Acad- 
emy was  at  the  height  of  its  power,  and  his  son-in-law,  Luther 
B.  Lincoln,  became  its  most  noted  principal. 

The  church  music  of  the  day  became  of  absorbing  interest  to 
Dr.  Willard.  We  are  told  it  was  in  a  very  low  state.  He 
began  the  movement  for  a  more  worshipful  order  of  music  in 
the  meetinghouses,  and  in  1830  published  his  collection  of  five 
hundred  and  eighteen  hynms,  which  were  used  here  for  twenty 
years.  To-day  no  collector  of  ancient  church  music  considers 
his  library  complete,  without  Dr.  Willard's  famous  "Deer- 
field Collection." 

The  first  attempt  to  beautify  "  The  Street ."  of  the  town,  is 
connected  with  Dr.  WiUard's  name.  There  are  those  still  liv- 
ing who  point  out  the  magnificent  maples  at  the  "  South  End  " 
as  having  been  planted  under  his  direction.  We  are  told  that, 
although  he  was  blind,  the  grounds  of  the  "  Manse  "  were  kept 
in  beautiful  order  by  his  own  hands ;  that  its  northern  terrace 
ornamented  with  shrubbery,  and  the  fish  pond  were  his  own 
design ;  and  to-day  in  front  of  the  "  Manse  "  may  still  be  seena 
little  patch  of  mosaic  walk  of  round  stones,  which  he  brought 
from  the  river  and  laid  himself  in  place. 

Although  Dr.  Willard  was  the  leader  of  the  liberal  forces  of 
religion  in  the  western  part  of  New  England,  the  townspeople 
stood  by  him,  and  the  parish  was  not  divided  by  theological 
diflferences.  The  most  conservative  members  were  his  warmest 
friends  and  supporters.  He  himself  knew  neither  friends  nor 
enemies;  everyone  was  his  parishioner.  He  took  men  and 
women  as  they  were,  and  ministered  to  their  needs ;  he  looked 
upon  life  with  the  same  generous  fatherly  spirit  as  his  Creator. 
All  mankind  were  children  of  God  to  him.  And  although  the 
period  of  his  ministry  from  1807  to  1829  was  that  of  the  most 


Scmud  WiUard.  199 

heated  theolc^oal  oontroversy  throughout  New  England,  it 
seems  to  have  affected  his  own  parish  bat  little.  Here  he  was 
respected,  loved  and  followed  by  all ;  and  the  day  of  his  resig- 
nation, September  23, 1829,  was  one  of  great  solemnity  and  re- 
gret for  the  town. 

We  are  told  of  his  long  jonmeys,  by  night  and  by  day, 
throughout  all  the  valley,  to  minister  to  the  sick  and  dying ; 
and  even,  when  his  blindness  came  upon  him,  we  are  told  of 
how  he  found  his  way  across  the  ice  of  the  turbulent  Deerfield 
Biver  with  its  many  dangerous  holes,  to  visit  families  in  the 
western  part  of  the  town.  Later  he  continued  these  ministra- 
tions, led  either  by  the  hand  of  a  friend  or  driven  from  place  to 
place.  The  epitaph  of  one  of  the  country's  most  famous  minis- 
ters we  can  well  apply  to  him : — "  The  whole  city  was  his  parish 
and  every  one  in  need  his  parishioner." 

Although  Dr.  WiUard  moved  his  family  from  Deerfield  to 
Hingham,  upon  his  resigning  his  ministry  here  in  1829,  and  be- 
came very  actively  engaged  in  educational  work  there,  still  his 
heart  remained  in  Deerfield,  and  in  1836  he  moved  back  here  again. 
The  old  ^^  Manse  "  became  once  more  a  center  of  power  and  in- 
fluence for  good.  He  lived  to  help  select  and  install  four  other 
ministers  over  this  parish ;  and  for  the  remainder  of  his  life 
was  moderator  of  the  church  and  kept  its  records.  It  was  not 
until  the  ministry  of  the  Bev.  John  Fessenden  in  1839,  that  any 
trouble  arose  relating  to  theology.  Then  twelve  persons,  men 
and  women,  addressed  a  respectful  letter  to  the  church  asking 
that  they  be  allowed  to  withdraw  and  form  a  separate  orthodox 
society.  This  movement  was  carried  out  in  the  same  year,  and 
the  orthodox  society  was  formed. 

The  most  perfect  fellowship  always  prevailed  between  Dr. 
WiUard  and  his  successors  in  the  old  parish  church.  As  long 
as  he  lived  he  used  to  occupy  a  seat  in  this  pulpit  and  frequently 
took  part  in  its  services.  When  vacancies  occurred,  it  was  Dr. 
WiUsid  who  fiUed  the  gap. 

Dr.  WiUard  became  the  organizer  and  prime  mover  of  the 
FrankUn  Evangelical  Association  in  1819,  which  was  composed 
of  the  Uberal  or  Unitarian  ministers  of  this  section  of  the  countiy. 
Here  we  find  associated  with  him  such  noted  leaders  of  his  day 
as  Eev.  Preserved  Smith  of  Eowe,  Alpheus  Harding  of  New 
Salem,  Dan  Huntington  of  Hadley,  and  Dr.  Peabody  of  Spring- 
field.    He  preached  at  Shelburne  gratuitously  for  a  year,  and 


200  Old  Home  Fie*— 1901. 

then  on  every  fourth  Sunday  until  1840.  He  also  preached  at 
Heath,  Leverett,  Greenfield  and  Charlemont,  where  Unitarian 
societies  had  been  formed. 

Each  reform  or  forward  moyement,  as  they  followed  each 
other  in  torn  down  the  century,  received  his  attention  and  com- 
manded his  services.  If  it  was  temperance,  he  was  at  the  front, 
writing  and  speaking  in  behalf  of  a  purer  and  better  life.  If  it 
was  anti-slavery,  he  was  joining  hands,  and  voice,  and  pen 
with  the  greatest  leaders  of  his  day.  During  the  Kansas-Ke- 
braska  troubles,  he  had  an  illness  caused  by  overwork  and  ex- 
citement, which  his  wife  called  the  ^'  Nebraska  Fever.''  One 
of  the  most  dramatic  incidents  in  Dr.  Willard's  life  was  at  the 
famous  Springfield  meeting  of  the  American  Unitarian  Associ- 
ation in  1850,  shortly  after  the  passage  by  Congress  of  the  Fu- 
gitive Slave  Act,  when  a  resolution  denouncing  the  act  was 
brought  before  the  meeting.  Excitement  ran  high,  and  as  the 
house  was  equally  divided,  an  attempt  was  made  to  table  the 
resolutions.  We  are  told  that  the  aged  minister  passed  a  sleep- 
less night,  and  on  the  first  opportunity  after  the  opening  of  the 
morning  session  he  was  on  his  feet  calling  for  a  reconsideration 
of  the  resolutions,  and,  after  a  speech  of  twenty  or  thirty  min- 
utes, he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  it  passed.  We  are  told 
that  as  the  aged  minister  stood  there  in  his  bUndness,  surrounded 
by  the  young  men  of  the  Oonference,  who  all  sympathized  with 
him  as  he  pleaded  for  the  slave  and  for  his  nation's  honor,  there 
was  scarcely  a  dry  eye  in  the  large  assembly.  This  remarkable 
scene  has  been  preserved  in  some  verses  wrftten  by  Be  v.  George 
Osgood  for  the  "  Christian  RegisterP 

Oh!  when,  amid  the  gathered  throng, 
We  saw  his  aged  form  arise, 
We  thought  that  naught  could  ever  dim 
The  truth,  that  lit  his  sightless  eyes. 

Like  an  old  prophet  in  his  might 
His  noble  form  arose  sublime. 
When  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  right, 
He  dared  denounce  a  nation's  crime. 

Dr.  Willard's  life  is  a  record  of  accomplishment  in  the  face 
of  obstacles.  The  charge  of  heresy,  the  severe  trial,  the  ex- 
communication which  he  underwent  at  the  opening  of  his  min- 
istry here,  would  have  killed  a  man  less  devoted  to  his  ideal, 
but  this  trial  made  him  the  leader  of  the  Unitarian  movement 


Scmmd  WiUard.  201 

in  Western  New  England.  The  blindness  which  came  npon 
him  in  1818  would  have  incapacitated  some  men,  but  with  Dr. 
WiUard  it  only  diversified  and  multiplied  his  employments. 
His  son,  upon  whom  he  leaned,  became  blind  also  early  in  his 
life,  and  the  noble  doctor  had  to  see  his  wife  pass  on  to  higher 
things  before  himself ;  but  even  with  all  these  sorrows,  in  his 
eightieth  year,  we  find  him  writing  that  ^^  he  still  had  ten  years 
of  work  laid  out  before  him."  One  of  the  noblest  tributes 
which  we  can  give  to  his  life  to^iay,  after  forty-two  years,  is 
this ;  hard  things  never  daunted  him. 

Dr.  Willard  lives  before  us  to-day,  although  his  ashes  rest  in 
the  bosom  of  yonder  hill,  overlooking  the  town  which  he  loved. 
Ko  such  life  can  ever  pass  away.  It  remains  ever  a  challenge 
to  future  generations  to  choose  the  highest,  and  to  live  the 
noblest.  And  this  fine  old  meetinghouse,  so  symmetrical,  so  dig- 
nified, one  of  the  best  in  New  England,  built  by  his  inspiration, 
and  dedicated  with  his  prayer,  with  its  white  spire  ever  point- 
ing upward,  is  an  enduring  memorial  to  him  who,  ^^  Being  dead 
yet  speaketh." 

The  following  letter  from  Miss  Eliza  Starr  of  Chicago  was 
read: — 

"It  is  gratifying  to  be  lemembered  by  our  Deerfield  friendB  on  oooasions 
of  special  interest  as  if  we  still  were  among  them,  with  the  same  grateful 
sentiments  toward  those  who  have  done,  not  only  so  much  for  the  town  but 
for  us  individually  as  Rev.  Samuel  Willard. 

No  one  who  was  bom  in  Deerfield  during  Dr.  Willard's  pastorate  can  dis- 
claim an  indebtedness  to  him;  but  while  many  works,  like  the  church,  the 
pulpit,  church  music  and  hymns,  the  beautifying  of  the  Street,  as  well  as  his 
own  grand  personality  are  often  spoken  of,  no  one  refers  to  his  admirable  set 
of  readers — ^The  Fnmklin  Primer,  Improved  Reader,  General  Class  Book, 
Popular  Reader — ^no  one  could  go  through  this  set  of  readers  without  acquir- 
ing a  taste  for  pure  literature,  and  I  do  not  recall  any  instance  in  which  he 
was  not  historically,  as  I  now  realize,  eminently  candid.  I  have  often  spoken 
of  these  readers,  as  having  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  my  own  literary  taste, 
and  have  more  than  once  expressed  a  wish  that  I  had  a  fuU  set  of  them,  how- 
ever worn  or  thumbed. 

It  was  a  happy  thought,  we  all  considered,  to  place  BIrs.  Hildreth's  charao- 
teristic  portrait  of  him  in  the  church  which  he  built,  presided  over  and  embel- 
lished by  the  wonderful  pulpit,  which  I  admired  as  a  child,  and  which  I  have 
since  learned  was  of  remarkable  beauty.  His  portrait  at  its  side  was  well 
placed,  and  now  the  additional  honor  of  an  architectural  frame  by  a  son  of 
Old  Deerfield  is  fuU  of  significance,  as  a  proof  of  the  veneration  in  which 
'  Dr.  Willard'  is  held  in  this  generation.  To  my  own  mind,  it  is,  also,  an  honor 
paid  to  a  veritable  work  of  art  by  my  dear  Mend,  Mrs.  Hildreth;  thus,  you 
see  yoiu"  scheme  has  a  daim,  a  token  of  good  will  to  your  fund  with  eveiy 
best  wish  for  my  beloved  friends  in  Old  Deerfield." 


202  Old  Home  Weeh— 1901. 

The  following  is  the  inscription  on  the  tablet : — 

SAMUEL  WILLARD 

1776-1869. 

Pioneer  of  the  Unitarian  Movement  in 

Western  Massachusetts. 

Minister  of  this  Church  1807-1829. 

Organizer  of  the  Franklin  Evangelical 

Association  1819. 
One  of  the  Founders  of  the  American 

Unitarian  Association  1825. 
Harvard  College  1803,  A.  A.  S.,  D.  D. 
Scholar,  Author,  Patriot,  and  although  blind,  a  Leader  for  fifty  yean  in  Educa- 
tional, Temperance,  Peace  and  Anti-Slaveiy  Reforms. 
His  life  ever  remains  a  challenge  to  future  generations. 

Li  Memoriam,  1901. 

The  sketch  of  the  life  of  Dr.  Willard  by  Kev.  Charles  E. 
Park  spoke  of  him  as  a  great  man,  his  greatness  not  of  the  flag- 
waving  and  horn-blowing  sort,  nor  comparatively  speaking,  in 
native  talent  and  abilities,  but  the  sort  indigenous  to  the  New 
England  country  community,  and  peculiar  to  the  old-school 
New  England  country  parson,  a  greatness  compacted  of  diligence 
and  honesty,  of  sympathy  and  consecration,  of  fidelity  and 
impregnable  serenity  and  greatness  that  does  not  seek  to  be 
ministered  unto  but  to  minister.  His  mental  power  and 
thoughtful  temperament  were  the  direct  inheritance  of  at  least 
four  generations.  The  first  Willard  of  this  line  bom  in  this 
country  was  Dr.  Samuel  Willard,  great-great-grandfather  of  our 
Samued  Willard,  a  minister  of  the  old  South  Church  in  Boston, 
and  virtually  president  of  Harvard  College.  His  grandfather, 
another  Samuel  Willard,  was  minister  of  the  church  in  Bidde- 
ford.  Me.  His  own  uncle,  one  of  the  brothers  of  the  Peter- 
sham farmer,  William  Willard,  was  the  Kev.  Dr.  Joseph  Wil- 
lard, also  president  of  Harvard  College. 

The  story  of  Samuel  WiUard's  education  is  a  story  familiar 
enough  in  tJie  farming  towns  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  one 
of  eleven  children.  His  father's  income  depended  upon  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  farm.  Surely  these  facts  are  sufficient  to  set  the 
imagination  vividly  at  work  picturing  the  perseverance,  the 
pinching  struggle,  the  self-sacrifice  and  determination  which 
had  to  be  exercised  before  that  education  was  at  last  acquired. 
How  many  a  New  England  statesman,  a  prophet,  a  seer,  of 
whom  the  country  is  proud,  has  had  to  go  Uirough  that  same 


Samud  Willard.  203 

experience,  and  pay  that  same  exorbitant  price  1  On  some  ac- 
counts it  is  a  good  thing  that  a  liberal  education  should  cost  so 
much  and  come  so  hard.  It  is  a  guarantee  that  none  will  get 
it  save  those  who  really  appreciate  its  worth  and  are  determined 
to  have  it,  and  use  it,  and  make  the  most  of  it  after  it  has  been 
acquired. 

Samuel  Willard,  when  a  child  of  but  five  or  six,  began  his  at- 
tendance at  a  school  in  Petersham  taught  by  Ensign  Mann, 
Esq.,  who  had  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1764.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  boy's  haphazard  and  desultory  schooUng,  contin- 
ually  interrupted  by  hard  times  and  changing  teachers  and 
the  constant  demand  of  farm  chores.  The  Bible,  Dilworth's 
spelling  book,  and  the  New  England  Primer,  were  his  text- 
books until  he  was  nine  or  ten  years  old.  When  about  fourteen^ 
he  ^^was  exercised,"  as  he  himself  states  it,  ^^in  declamation 
and  arithmetic."  He  was  the  best  speller  in  the  school,  and 
very  fine  in  arithmetic. 

It  was  at  about  this  age  also  that  he  began  his  education  in 
one  of  the  branches  of  culture,  in  which  he  was  destined  later  to 
shine  as  an  authority — that  is,  music.  It  is  very  evident  that 
he  was  a  passionate  lover  of  good  music,  and  possessed  nat- 
urally of  a  very  keen  and  discriminating  taste. 

After  describing  his  struggle  to  secure  an  education  and  his 
early  supply  of  pulpits  near  Boston,  the  farthest  away  being  at 
Montague,  the  sketch  took  up  his  Deerfield  life. 

The  invitation  to  assume  charge  of  the  church  at  Deerfield 
came  in  March  of  1807.  After  long  and  prayerful  deliberation, 
after  visiting  the  church  and  preaching  repeatedly  on  trial,  he 
decided  to  accept  the  call.  The  first  council  caUed  to  ordain 
him,  refused  to  do  so  on  the  ground  that  be  did  not  admit  the 
divinity  of  Christ.  But  on  September  22  a  second  council  con- 
vened and  voted  unanimously  to  ordain  him,  and  after  im- 
pressive services  held  next  day.  Dr.  Samuel  Willard  found  him- 
self a  settled  minister,  settled  in  his  first  and  only  regular  parish. 

His  career  in  Deerfield,  with  the  persecutions  he  had  to  un- 
dergo on  the  score  of  heresy,  the  years  of  hard  labor  and  loving 
service  and  vigorous  growth,  must  be  treated  by  another  hand. 

Upon  one  occasion  he  was  obliged  to  take  a  journey  by  stage 
from  Deerfield  to  the  eastern  part  of  the  state.  The  stage 
reached  New  Salem  very  late,  and  a  young  man  came  out  of 
the  hotel  to  embark,  in  a  boiling  rage  at  having  been  kept 


204  Old  Home  Week— 1901. 

waiting  so  long.  Taming  to  the  pix^nietor  he  ponred  forth 
a  volley  of  oaths  and  abuse  in  his  chagrin.  But  as  he  was 
about  to  get  into  the  stage,  Dr.  Willard  called  out  to  the  pro- 
prietor that  if  that  profane  young  man  got  in  he  would  get 
out,  for  he  would  not  ride  witJi  such  a  foul  tongue.  The  result 
was  that  the  young  man  rode  with  the  driver.  How  many 
persons  to-day  would  have  suffered  and  said  nothing !  Not  so, 
Dr.  Wiilard.  He  would  not  countenance,  even  by  a  noncom- 
mittal silence,  what  he  considered  wrong.  It  would  have  been 
easy  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  young  man's  profanity.  But  by 
doing  this  he  would  be  giving  tacit  consent  to  it,  and  that  he 
could  not  do. 

Dr.  Wiilard  was  the  kind  of  a  man  who  not  only  would  do 
no  wrong  himself,  he  would  not  allow  another  to  do  it  if  he 
could  help  it.  His  morality  was  of  the  aggressive  sort,  that  re- 
joices to  pick  out  a  foe  and  do  him  up.  In  a  supine  and  eai^* 
going  generation,  this  kind  of  a  man  is  most  uncomfortable  to 
live  with.  But  every  bit  of  good  work  that  was  ever  done  in 
this  world  of  ours  has  been  done  by  just  such  fighting  Puritans 
as  Dr.  Samuel  Wiilard. 


A  EARE  OLD  TOWN. 

The  fine  old-time  interior  of  the  brick  meetinghouse  in  Deer- 
field,  an  interior  happily  preserved  in  its  architecture  of  a  cen- 
tury ago,  gave  an  impressive  setting  for  a  service,  Sunday  after- 
noon, in  which  the  claims  of  a  historic  New  England  town  upon 
the  affections  of  her  sons  and  daughters  was  the  central  theme. 
The  succession  of  addresses  then  given  presented  with  perfect 
balance  the  historic  and  sentimental  tie,  and  furnished  the  broad 
foundation  for  the  observance  of  the  Old  Home  Week  which  runs 
through  the  days  that  follow. 

The  services  of  that  afternoon  are  not  likely  soon  to  fade  from 
the  memory  of  those  who  shared  in  them.  The  service  was  not 
religious  in  any  exclusive  sense.  Neither  was  it  alone  historical 
The  historic  past  was  not  indeed  neglected,  nor  was  the  rever- 
ential tone  missed.  But  there  was  room  for  the  lighter  vein 
and  ample  play  for  the  personal  reminiscence. 

Over  it  all  there  presided  the  representative  historian  of  the 
town,  the  man  who  more  than  any  other  or  all  others,  has  made 


Old  Meetmghouaee.  205 

seoore  the  links  of  the  old  and  the  new.  Mr.  Sheldon's  presence 
and  his  characteristic  treatment  of  a  historical  theme  was  the 
essential  to  its  completeness.  But  he  was  not  alone.  The  broad 
import  of  the  New  England  history  had  a  deeply  thoughtful  and 
happy  treatment  at  the  hands  of  Bev.  and  Prof.  Henry  H.  Bar- 
ber. The  personal  reminiscence  was  furnished  in  a  bright  and 
witty  contribution  by  Br.  Edward  Hitchcock,  who,  speaking  of 
his  father's  notable  career,  kept  clearly  in  view  the  impression  of 
the  Deerfield  formative  influence  upon  him.  The  worth  of  the 
historic  background  and  the  environment  of  natural  beauty  upon 
the  youth  of  the  present  generation  was  tenderly  acknowledged 
by  a  junior  member  of  the  household,  Bev.  Frank  Pratt,  now  of 
WoUaston.  A  word  of  historic  interest  on  the  Indian,  who 
stands  for  all  that  is  evil  in  the  Deerfield  pioneer  annals,  was 
added  by  Charles  Barnard  of  New  York,  whose  ancestor  fell  a 
victim  to  the  savage.  And  the  final  word  for  the  church  itself 
was  weU  spoken  by  the  present  pastor  of  the  old  parish,  Eev. 
G.  W.  Solley. 

The  music  of  the  afternoon  kept  in  the  same  lines,  with  not 
only  the  ancient  hymn,  accompanied  by  the  organ  in  the  loft, 
but  as  well  the  secular  songs,  ^^Home  Again,"  and  ^^  The  Break- 
ing Waves  Dashed  High."  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Ashley  and  Miss 
Susan  B.  Hawks,  a  granddaughter  of  G^rge  Sheldon,  gave  a 
pleasing  organ  and  piano  duet. 


THE  OLD  MEETINGHOUSES  OF  DEERFIELD. 

BY  OSOBOB  SHBLDON. 

In  the  genesis  of  New  England  the  earliest  organizations, 
after  that  of  the  colony,  were  bodies  of  men  to  whom  were 
granted  authority  to  make  settlements  on  certain  tracts  of  land, 
where  the  title  was  to  be  obtained  by  them  from  the  native 
owners.  These  organizations  were  known  as  "The  Proprie- 
tors ; "  as  the  Proprietors  of  Hadley,  the  Proprietors  of  Pocum- 
tuck,  as  the  case  might  be.  These  settlements  were  merely 
colonies  under  the  direct  care  and  guidance  of  the  General 
Court  in  all  important  matters.  As  a  rule  their  earlier  meet- 
ings were  held  elsewhere  than  on  the  place  of  settlement^ 
as  there  would  be  on  the  spot  no  house  in  which  to  meet    As 


206  Old  Home  Week— 1901. 

soon  as  such  places  were  provided,  frequent  meetings  were  held 
for  the  allotment  of  land  and  the  ordering  of  their  prudential 
affairs. 

Gradually,  by  successive  steps,  the  colony  was  endowed  with 
authority  to  set  up  the  machinery  of  a  town  organization,  and 
hold  meetings  to  choose  officers,  lay  out  highways,  raise  money 
by  general  tax,  and  make  orders  and  rules  necessary  for  the 
well-being  of  the  community. 

The  second  organization  in  the  settlement  was  the  church. 
This  was  usually  enjoined  by  the  power  which  granted  the  right 
of  settlement  and  made  one  of  the  conditions  of  the  grant.  In 
perfecting  this  organization  frequent  meetings  also  became 
necessary. 

These  meetings  of  the  Proprietors,  the  church  and  the  town, 
were  necessarily  held  in  such  of  the  cabins  as  were  most  avail- 
able, and  must  have  been  a  great  tax  on  the  householders.  Add 
to  this  the  gathering  of  the  whole  population,  young  and  old, 
for  public  worship  on  Sundays  and  Lecture  days,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  a  building  for  a  common  place  of  meeting  is  too  obvious 
to  need  mention.  Out  of  this  necessity  grew  the  meetinghouse 
in  every  town.  The  town  and  the  church  were  practically  one, 
and  the  meetinghouse  was  built  by  a  general  tax,  and  it  was 
used  alike  for  civil  action  and  religious  observances.  It  was 
never  dedicated  to  divine  service,  never  considered  a  sacred  edi- 
fice. It  was  never  called  a  "  church  "  and  never  a  town  house. 
It  was,  and  should  continue  to  be,  written  of  and  spoken  of  as 
a  meetinghouse.  It  is  therefore  advisedly,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  customs  of  the  Fathers,  that  I  have  called  you  together 
on  this  occasion,  in  the  old  meetinghouse  of  1824,  and  it  is  with 
no  ordinary  feeling  of  pleasure,  that,  as  the  representative  of 
the  Old  Home  Week  committee,  I  welcome  you  within  its  walls. 
It  is  by  name  and  in  fact  the  fifth  in  lineal  descent  from  the  one 
in  which  Parson  Samuel  Mather  preached  more  than  two  and 
three  quarters  of  a  century  ago. 

Come  you  as  pilgrims  come 

Back  to  ancestral  home, 
To  grove  or  plain, 
Where  memory's  seed  was  sown. 
Where  brook  and  tree  and  stone 
Bear  fruitage  all  your  own — 

For  joy  or  pain. 


Meetmghcmae.  207 

Or,  where  in  olence  deep, 
What  earth  will  ever  keep, 

A  sacred  trust; 
What  forms  your  fathers  wore. 
What  sorrowing  mothers  bore 
Were  laid  in  anguish  sore. 

Alike  now  dust. 

In  1668  the  Worshipful  Major  John  Pynohon  of  Springfield 
was  the  owner  of  38  cow  commons  of  kmd  at  Poonmtack,  and 
in  his  aoooont  book  are  entries  giving  the  tax  levied  on  it  for 
the  support  of  public  worship  here.  In  December,  1675,  he 
enters  the  amounts  of  his  rates.    One  item  is : 

"  To  ye  httle  house  for  a  Meetinghouse  y*  ye  Meet  in." 

This  is  aU  that  has  yet  been  found  referring  to  the  first  meeting- 
house. A  single  scratch  of  a  quill,  a  blot  or  crack  in  the  time- 
stained  leaf,  and  every  jot  of  evidence  that  this  building  had 
ever  existed  would  have  been  forever  lost.  During  that  year 
Philip's  war  fiashed  out,  and  not  only  this  little  meetinghouse, 
but  every  dwelling  of  those  for  whom  it  was  raised,  went  up  in 
fiames.  All  that  was  left  of  the  prospering  village  were  here 
and  there  a  bit  of  charcoal  and  a  pile  of  ashes. 

The  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  second  meetinghouse  is 
not  much  more  extended  but  is  equally  sure. 

^^  March,  1693,  the  town  voted  that  the  Meetinghouse  shall 
be  reseated :  That  Deacon  David  Hoy t  and  Deacon  John  Shel- 
don shall  be  2  of  ye  persons  to  doe  it,  and  Benoni  Stebbins  be 
with  ym  in  s*  work. " 

At  this  date  the  town  had  been  resettled  about  a  dozen  years, 
and  either  the  limited  accommodations,  or  some  discontent  at 
the  new  seating  brought  matters  to  a  head.  A  new  building 
was  thought  necessary.  It  was  doubtless  a  poor  affair,  but  no 
other  word  comes  to  enlighten  us  thereon.  We  must  make  the 
most  of  that  sbgle  line. 

The  wonder  of  it  all  is  that  March  8,  three  days  before  this 
vote  on  seating  was  discussed  and  settled,  Capt.  John  Pynchon 
had  written  a  long  and  impassioned  letter  to  Gov.  Pbips,  im- 
ploring military  aid  for  distressed  Deerfield.  He  says  provis- 
ions are  scant  and  can  only  be  had  from  other  towns,  the  com 
last  year  being  destroyed  by  worms.  He  had  heard  of  plans 
in  Canada  for  pouncing  upon  poor  Deerfield,  and  he  ordered  a 
stockade  to  fortify  Meetinghouse  HilL  June  3, 1693,  the  blow 
fell  upon  the  Broughton  and  Wells  families  at  the  north  end  of 
the  Street. 


208  Old  Home  Week— 1901. 

Two  days  before  the  vote  upon  seating  the  meetinghouse,  the 
(General  Court  of  Connecticut  had  agreed  to  send  soldiers  for 
the  protection  of  Deerfield.  The  accession  of  William  of  Orange 
to  the  throne  of  England  had  brought  on  a  war  with  France 
which  was  now  raging  in  their  colonies  in  America. 

October  6, 1693,  Capt.  Jonathan  Wells  for  the  militia,  Joseph 
Barnard  for  the  selectmen,  and  November  6,  Bev.  John  Wil- 
liams for  the  inhabitants,  sent  appeals  to  the  General  Court  for 
aid,  ^^  without  which  we  must  of  necessity  forsake  our  habita- 
tions and  draw  off  to  some  neighboring  town. "  Capt  Fynchon 
indorses  these  appeals.  But  not  danger,  famine  or  death  could 
turn  aside  the  demand  for  proper  and  orderly  meetinghouse 
aoconmiodations. 

Of  the  next  meetinghouse  we  shall  be  permitted  to  know 
more.  September  15, 1694,  Baron  Castine  made  an  assault  on 
the  fort  with  an  army  of  French  and  Indians.  He  was  driven 
off  with  a  loss  to  the  settlers  of  one  killed  and  two  wounded. 

At  a  legal  meeting  in  Deerfield,  October  80,  only  six  weeks 
after  this  assault,  ^^  Ens.  John  Sheldon,  Moderator,  voted  that 
there  shall  be  a  meetinghouse  Built  in  deerfield  upon  the  Town 
Charge,"  that  David  Hoyt,  Sergt.  John  Hawkes,  Henry  White, 
Thomas  French  and  Ens.  John  Sheldon  ^^  be  a  committee  chosen 
and  empowered  to  agree  with  workmen  to  begin  said  building 
forthwith  and  carry  it  on  as  may  be."  It  was  to  be  ^^  y^  bigness 
of  Hatfield  Meeting  House"  [80x80]. 

^^  For  carrying  on  s^  work  there  was  chosen  as  a  Committee 
Ltt  David  Hoyt,  Serg.  John  Hawks,  Henry  White,  Thomas 
French  and  Ens.  John  Sheldon.  To  supply  means  a  Bate  was 
made  of  one  hundred  and  forty  pounds  payable  this  present 
year  in  pork  and  Indian  com  in  equal  porportions." 

The  committee  were  given  '^  full  power  to  Bargain  with,  and 
let  out  unto  particular  persons  y •  severall  parsalls  of  work  for  the 
carrying  out  and  completing  sd  Building  as,  y«  falling,  hewing, 
framing,  shingling,  dobording,  etc." 

The  contemplated  building  was  then  standing  and  growing 
in  Ood's  great  temple  on  East  mountain,  and  even  with  this 
provision  for  division  of  labor  and  contemporaneous  action  the 
progress  was  slow.  November  32,  1695,  Godfrey  Nims  was 
chosen  to  gather  the  meetinghouse  rate  laid  the  year  before. 

June  15, 1696,  another  meetinghouse  rate  was  voted,  payable 
the  next  January  in  pork  and  Indian  com.     The  seats  were  to 


Meetinghouse.  909 

be  of  plain  pine  boards,  not  wainsoot.  The  meetinghonse  was 
used  in  1696,  but  was  not  fully  finished  before  1701.  The  seats 
were  long  benches  on  each  side  of  an  aisle  leading  from  the 
entrance  to  the  pulpit  The  men  sat  on  one  side  of  this  aisle, 
the  women  on  the  other.  This  house  was  one  of  the  buildings 
which  escaped  destruction  February  29, 1704. 

In  1709  a  pew  was  built  for  the  minister's  family.  Another 
accident  has  given  us  all  that  is  known  concerning  the  form  of 
this  meetinghouse  of  1694.  In  1729  two  Harvard  students  left 
Cambridge,  after  commencement,  on  a  horseback  tour  to  the  far 
West — Deerfield  being  the  ultimatum.  One  of  them  kept  a 
journal  of  adventures  and  sights.  The  fly  leaf  of  this  journal 
was  covered  with  rough  pen  and  ink  sketches  of  various  kinds, 
the  meetinghouses  on  the  route  being  prominent.  Only  one  is 
located ;  over  that  is  written,  ^*  Deerfield  Meetinghouse."  It 
appears  square,  as  voted,  two  stories  high,  the  four-sided  roof 
running  up  to  a  belfry  surmounted  by  a  turret.  The  picture  is 
a  mere  skeleton  in  straight  lines,  but  it  gives  a  clear  idea  of  the 
building.  The  myth  of  the  ^Bell  of  St  Begis"  grew  up 
around  a  supposed  bell  in  the  steeple  of  this  meetinghouse. 

From  time  to  time  this  house  was  repaired  to  ^^  make  it  some- 
thing comfortable,"  but  November  25,1728,a  committee  reported 
it  could  not  be  made  **  something  comfortable  "  any  longer,  and 
a  vote  was  passed  to  build  a  new  meetinghouse  40x50.  Oapt 
Thomas  Wells,  John  Catlin,  Sr.,  Deacon  Samuel  Childs  and 
Dr.  Thomas  Wells  were  chosen  a  committee  to  see  it  done  sea- 
sonably. It  was  voted  to  set  the  meetinghouse  ^'on  y^  highest 
part  of  that  nolo  between  y^  sine  poet  and  Deacon  ChUds,  his 
shop,  y*  east  side  of  it  to  Bange  with  y«  front  of  y*  West  teer 
of  home  lots."  The  original  minutes  of  this  meeting  have  been 
found  in  a  fairly  good  condition.  By  these  it  is  seen  that  pro- 
vision was  made  for  buying  a  bell  for  the  steeple.  These  min- 
utes are  signed  by  the  moderator.  The  action  of  this  meeting 
is  a  matter  of  record  on  the  town  book,  but  the  part  relating  to 
the  bell  is  not  found  there.  The  last  written  word  of  the  meet- 
inghouse of  1694,  is  a  vote  November  20, 1730,  "  to  sell  y*  old 
meetinghouse  this  night  to  the  highest  bidder,  reserving  only 
y^  benches  and  liberty  to  meet  in  it  until  next  March."  Its  site 
was  discovered  a  few  years  ago,  some  six  rods  northwest  of  the 
soldiers'  monument. 

Mr.  Williams  died  in  1729,  and  his  successor,  Jonathan  Ash- 
14 


210  Old  Home  Weeh—l^Ol. 

ley,  was  installed  in  the  new  meetinghouse  in  1732.  This  was 
a  fine  building  of  two  stories ;  the  belfry,  over  the  center  of  the 
roof,  open,  with  eight  pillars  supporting  a  tall,  graceful  spire 
above  it.  Its  site  covered  the  spot  on  which  the  soldiers'  mon- 
ument stands.  It  was  never  dedicated  to  religious  service,  and 
for  94  years  was  the  conmion  meeting  place  for  the  Pro- 
prietors, the  town,  the  congregation,  and  lesser  bodies  of  the 
inhabitants. 

In  1765,  following  the  fashion  of  that  period,  the  steeple  was 
removed  from  the  roof  and  planted  on  the  ground  at  the  north 
end  of  the  building,  copying  the  steeple  at  Northfield.  Oapt. 
Jonas  Lodce,  who  17  years  later  led  the  Deerfield  minutemen 
to  Boston  on  the  Lexington  Alarm,  was  the  architect.  The  old 
weathercock  was  taken  down,  regilded,  furnished  with  "  new 
globe  eyes  "  by  Shem  Drowne  of  Boston,  and  returned  to  his 
new  perch,  where  until  1824,  he  kept  faithful  watch  and  ward 
over  the  going  and  coming  generations  of  men.  On  the  grace- 
ful spire  crowning  the  edifice  in  which  we  are  met,  he  still  ful- 
fills the  duty  assigned  him  in  1729. 

February  17, 1828,  the  town  voted  to  build  a  new  meeting- 
house on  certain  conditions.  The  site  was  bought  for  $530  by 
people  who  wished  the  common  might  be  open  and  clear; 
$4,500  was  raised  for  a  building  fund  by  interested  townsmen. 

The  comer  stone  was  laid  with  ceremony,  June  1, 1824.  The 
work  was  pushed,  and  the  new  meetinghouse,  the  fifth  in  de- 
scent, was  dedicated  December  22, 1824. 

My  friends,  whatever  brings  you  here  to-day ;  whether  it  be 
the  name  or  the  fame  of  Deerfield's  sons  and  daughters ;  whether 
you  find  here  kith  or  kin,  our  hearts  are  open  to  welcome  you 
all  to  our  fields  and  hills  and  waters.  Whether  you  come  the 
arts  and  crafts  to  view,  memorial  stones,  old  or  new ;  our  an- 
cient trees  and  houses  brown,  you  are  welcome  guests  to  our 
dear  old  town. 

Mr.  Sheldon  then  turned  the  conduct  of  the  afternoon  serv- 
ices over  to  Prof.  Henry  H.  Barber  of  Meadville. 

Prof.  Barber  speaking  of  the  exercises  of  the  morning,  in  dedi- 
cation of  the  tablet  to  Eev.  Dr.  Willard,  said  that  the  talent  in 
the  Willard  family  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the  doctor, 
and  referred  to  the  poems  written  by  his  daughter  Mary.  He 
then  introduced  her  niece,  Susan  Bsurker  Willard,  who  read  the 
following  unpublished  lines : — 


Poem  hy  Samud  WiUard.  211 

Lovely  home  of  eariy  3rears, 
Shrined  in  memory's  jojrB  and  tearsy 
Linked  by  many  a  tender  tie 
With  the  loved  of  days  gone  by. 

Beauty,  without  stint  or  bound, 
Glows  above  me  and  aroimd, 
Breathes  through  all  and  every  part. 
Stamps  its  impress  on  my  heart. 

On  the  mountain's  'solenm  graoe/ 
On  the  meadow's  smiling  face, 
Broods  a  Presence,  holier  far, 
Than  these  forms  of  nature  are. 

Dear  and  saintly  ones,  who  made 
Sunshine  in  life's  joy  and  shade. 
Sure  they  watch  aroimd  me  yet; — 
Loving  hearts  can  ne'er  forget. 

I  below  and  they  above, 
Interchanging  love  for  love; 
While  my  inmost  being  lies 
Open  to  ihekt  tender  eyes. 

In  these  paths  their  feet  have  trod, 
Walked  with  man,  and  walked  with  Qod. 
Peace  that  passeth  words  to  tell 
Falls  upon  me  like  a  spell. 

And  I  bow  in  faith  and  trust 
That  the  Holy  One  and  Just, 
Calling  home  a  child  from  earth 
To  the  spirit's  higher  birth. 

Purified  and  cleansed  from  sin, 
Peace  without  and  peace  within, 
Will  the  lost  of  earth  restore 
To  my  longing  heart  once  more. 


Prof.  Barber  then  referred  to  the  wide  scientific  reputation 
acquired  by  President  Edward  Hitchcock,  and  introduced  his 
son,  Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock,  dean  of  Amherst  College,  to  speak 
of  his  father.  Dr.  Hitchcock  said  in  part:  The  old  hymn 
'*Where,  O Where  are  the  Hebrew  Children  ? "  has  been  running 
in  my  mind  ever  since  I  struck  the  platform  at  Deerfield  station, 
and  I  have  been  asking  myself  "  Where,  O  Where,  are  the  good 
Old  Deerfield  people  ? "    Where  are  the  pretty  Dickinson  girls, 


212  Old  Some  Weeh—1901. 

where  is  Miss  Pratt,  where  Ephraim  Williams  and  his  pretty 
girls,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  good  people  ?  They  are  safe  in  the 
promised  land,  I  am  glad  to  say,  and  do  we  not  rejoice  that  they 
are  not  here  with  us  worrying  over  the  infelicities  of  this  life. 
As  to  my  father,  I  don't  know  much  about  him  as  a  boy,  for  I  was 
not  there.  I  think  he  was  an  ordinary  boy,  with  some  deviltry, 
wide  awake,  with  an  ambition  to  learn.  You  know  that  big 
tree  not  far  from  the  old  place ;  well,  my  father  put  up  some  big 
sticks  in  the  crotch  and  there  he  would  climb  up  in  the  early 
evening  to  read  until  the  stars  came  out.  That  showed  his 
studious  disposition.  He  had  other  tricks,  but  I  won't  speak  of 
these,  as  it  might  bring  our  family  into  reproach. 

My  father  was  greatly  indebted  to  G^n.  Epaphras  Hoyt,  who 
interested  him  particularly  in  astronomy  and  military  affairs. 
He  had  a  commission  as  aid-de-camp  from  G^n.  Hoyt.  My 
father  took  a  deep  interest  in  astronomy,  and  at  a  time  when  a 
comet  was  to  be  seen  knew  all  the  facts  about  it,  and  had  to 
make  his  own  instruments  to  make  his  observations.  He  had 
literary  tastes.  That  was  the  time  when  Napoleon  was  in  his 
glory,  and  he  wrote  a  tragedy  on  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  the 
first  book  printed  in  Deerfield.  He  used  to  calculate  eclipses. 
These  studies  occupied  three  or  four  years,  and  for  that  time  he 
had  made  remarkable  progress  in  astronomy.  He  made  Deer- 
field  widely  known  by  some  errors  he  had  found  in  a  nautical 
almanac,  published  by  a  Philadelphia  man.  Errors  in  such  an 
almanac  might  well  be  fatal  to  a  ship  in  finding  its  reckoning. 
My  father  got  hold  of  this  almanac,  and  with  a  boy-like  desire 
to  punch  some  one  between  the  ribs,  he  began  to  go  over  the 
calculations  and  found  some  mistakes.  He  wrote  to  the  pub- 
lisher about  it,  who  ridiculed  the  claim,  and  said  he  would  give 
$10  for  every  error  found.  My  father  went  to  work  and  found 
thirty,  and  though  he  never  got  the  $800  to  which  he  was  entitled, 
the  matter  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  the  publisher 
had  to  admit  that  he  was  wrong.  My  father  was  very  anxious 
to  go  to  college  but  the  poverty  of  the  family  placed  difficulties 
in  the  way.  He  had  however  gotten  nearly  ready  to  go,  when 
his  eyesight  gave  out,  which  proved  a  severe  blow.  He  could 
do  nothing  with  his  eyes  for  years.  The  result  was  to  set  him 
out  to  work  along  another  line  of  scientific  study.  He  began 
to  study  flowers  and  rocks,  and  became  a  geologist.  Thus  in 
losing  an  ordinary  minister,  we  gained  a  scientific  mian.    He 


New  England's  Mstary.  213 

disoovered  the  reptile  tracks  in  the  Connecticat  valley,  like 
which  nothing  else  in  the  world  has  ever  been  found,  enormous 
prehistoric  reptiles,  toads  as  big  as  an  ox,  and  creatures  at  the 
sight  of  which  you  would  run  for  the  house.  Tracks  of  130  to 
140  different  animals  were  found. 

The  religious  feeling  was  very  prominent  with  him.  He 
dared  preach  the  harmony  of  science  and  religion  at  a  time  when 
every  scientific  man  was  supposed  to  be  in  league  with  the  deviL 
He  held  that  God  was  the  author  of  both  science  and  religion. 
He  tried  to  show  nature  in  the  cross,  the  cross  in  nature.  He 
saw  the  highest  thing  in  everything ;  saw  some  religious  end  in 
reptile  tracks  and  all  else.  And  now  all  the  scientific  men  are 
coming  around  to  his  point  of  view.  I  am  sure  that  a  revival 
of  religion  is  coming ;  not  the  old  fashioned  revival,  not  a  revival 
of  man  made  theology,  but  the  religious  life,  serving  God  and 
serving  man. 


NEW  ENGLAND'S  HISTORY. 

FBOF.  BABBBb's  8T7HMABY  OF  FTS  IMPOBT. 

Prof.  Barber  then  gave  an  address  on  the  history  of  New 
England,  treating  in  a  comprehensive  way  its  relations  to 
American  civilization.  Treating  the  saying  that  ^^  history  is 
philosophy,  teaching  by  example,"  Prof.  Barber  said  it  seemed 
to  him  that  in  this  old  home  and  memorial  week,  history  itself 
was  being  taught  by  example.  Something  of  the  kindergarten 
method  is  being  followed,  pleasure  and  science, — ^the  science  of 
history, — ^being  combined,  and  we  shall  find  our  minds  and 
hearts  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  old  times.  This  is  the  best 
way  history  can  be  taught.  The  human  element  in  it  is  more 
thsji  the  array  of  names  and  dates.  Our  best  historians  to-day 
are  writing  histories  of  the  people,  and  their  work  haa  a  new 
power  and  inspiration.  I  wish  you  to  join  me,  he  continued, 
in  special  thanks  to  Mr.  Sheldon.  It  is  by  his  laborious  and 
fruitful  work  in  bringing  forth  the  details  of  the  early  days 
that  we  are  made  familiar  with  the  heroism,  sacrifice  and  God 
fearing  and  man  loving  service  of  the  pioneers  of  this  valley. 

There  are  two  errors  in  the  regard  for  history  which  should 
be  avoided.  One  is  in  making  it  the  standard  of  life  and  truth, 
our  creed  in  thought  and  pattern  in  life.  The  other  appearing 
in  the  transcendentalism  of  the  early  part  of  the  last  century, 


214  Old  Home  TTe^?*— 1901. 

and  in  the  rationalism  of  the  century  before,  is  the  notion  that 
the  individual  is  sufficient,  so  severing  relationship  with  the 
past.  Both  extremes  are  pernicious,  the  one  giving  us  a  Chinese 
view  of  life,  the  other  giving  us  a  truncated  manhood,  without 
foundation,  and  without  continuity.  New  England  history  is 
surely  not  to  be  subjected  to  either  view,  because  it  sets  out 
great  principles,  not  to  bind  us  to  the  past  but  as  inspiration 
and  instruction  for  the  Christian  commonwealth. 

Those  who  underrate  the  history  of  New  England  by  dwell- 
ing on  the  treatment  of  witchcraft,  and  the  extermination  of  the 
Indians,  and  religious  intolerance,  do  it  an  absolute  injustice.  In 
the  hanging  of  the  witches, — ^not  the  burning,  for  no  witch  was 
ever  burned  in  New  England, — ^her  people  yielded  to  one  of  the 
delusions  of  the  time  which  spread  over  Europe  and  was  actually 
shorter  lived  here  than  there.  It  was  only  about  half  the  time 
of  the  Indian  struggles  that  our  fathers  were  combatting  the 
Indians ;  for  the  rest  they  were  feeling  the  effect  of  the  hostile 
interests  of  England  and  France.  Nor  was  their  intolerance  so 
marked  a  development. 

They  lived  in  an  age  of  intolerance  and  yet  there  were  many 
among  them  who  were  most  tolerant.  They  came  here  that 
they  might  exercise  their  own  religion,  and  they  were  not  able 
to  get  on  with  the  man  who  said  their  church  was  no  church. 
Their  treatment  of  Boger  Williams  was  tolerant  for  its  time. 
It  was  a  mild  sentence  when  they  said  to  him  that  he  must  go. 
The  same  was  true  of  the  treatment  of  the  Quakers ;  it  was  only 
after  they  had  been  sent  away  and  come  back,  were  implored 
to  go  away  in  peace  and  refused,  that  they  were  hung.  In  our 
day  Mary  Dyer  and  others  like  her,  would  have  been  put  in  a 
lunatic  asylum  for  such  conduct,  but  there  were  no  lunatic  asy- 
lums then.  They  believed  the  devil  possessed  them  and  only 
so  could  they  be  rid  of  him.  John  Endicott  and  John  Wilson 
were  the  narrow  men  among  them,  but  there  was  Sir  Harry 
Vane,  and  there  were  John  Winthrop,  John  Cotton,  and  John 
Eliot,  peers  in  culture  and  tolerance  of  Cromwell  and  Milton. 
They  were  tolerant  as  far  as  men  could  be  by  the  circumstances 
of  their  time.  The  Puritan  clergymen  were  true  leaders  of  the 
people.  Peter  Bulkley  went  into  the  wilderness  with  his  flock 
and  was  a  father  to  his  people.  Thomas  Hooker,  who  led  his 
company  from  Newtown  to  Connecticut,  was  a  father  to  his 
people.    John  Williams,  here  in  Deerfield  was  the  father  and 


Neu)  Englomd^s  History.  215 

helper  of  his  people,  guiding  them  through  the  years  of  dark- 
ness in  the  history  of  this  settlement  and  coming  back  from  his 
captivity  to  help  plant  anew  the  town  as  a  Christian  community. 
We  shall  fail  to  understand  them  if  we  do  not  regard  them  as 
forward-looking,  energetic,  earnest,  progressive  men.  John 
Bobinson  spoke  of  greater  light  to  come,  and  asked  his  people 
not  to  follow  him  further  than  they  saw  he  followed  Gk)d. 

In  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  the  rights  of  citizenship  were 
restricted  to  the  church  members,  and  here  the  halfway  cove- 
nant, extending  these  rights  to  men  of  upright  conduct,  followed, 
later  to  give  way  to  perfect  freedom.  There  may  have  been 
blots  on  the  early  history  of  New  England,  but  we  can  only 
think  of  the  pioneers  with  profound  reverence,  and  honor  the 
men  whose  ideal  in  the  planting  of  the  colony  was  the  bringing 
forth  of  a  higher  civilization. 

Prof.  Barber  paid  a  high  tribute  to  John  Fiske  for  his  service 
in  reconciling  science  and  faith.  There  has  been,  he  said,  an 
unbroken  succession  of  men  who  have  served  this  great  end 
from  the  earliest  days  down.  We  find  in  it  the  names  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  the  greatest  embodiment  of  common  sense; 
Samuel  Adams,  the  herald  of  liberty  and  lifelong  crusader  of 
independence ;  Jonathan  Edwards,  whom  we  are  apt  to  think 
of  as  the  preacher  of  terrible  sermons,  but  who  was  a  scientific 
thinker,  a  poet,  a  saint  of  the  Lord,  a  Christian  philosopher ; 
William  Ellery  Channing,  who  corrected  Edwards'  error  in  ex- 
alting God  so  high  as  to  lose  sight  of  man. 

The  Puritan  spirit  has  been  growing  and  broadening.  The 
history  of  New  England  is  to  be  read  large  in  the  lives  of  these 
men  and  their  children.  It  is  pervasive  and  permanent  and  it 
will  yet  bring  back  the  people  from  the  new  Napoleonism, 
which  has  swept  over  Christendom,  and  developed  the  denial  of 
the  old  truths  in  South  Africa  and  China  and  the  Philippine 
Islands,  back  to  the  ideals  of  John  Bobinson  and  Samuel  Adams. 

The  Pilgrim  spirit  is  not  fled; 

It  walks  in  noon's  broad  light; 
And  it  watches  the  bed  of  the  glorious  dead 

By  the  silent  stars  at  night. 
It  watches  the  bed  of  the  brave  who  have  bled, 
And  shall  guard  this  rock-bound  shore, 
Till  the  waves  of  the  bay 
Where  the  Mayflower  lay 
ShaU  foam  and  freeze  no  more. 


216  Old  Home   Week— 1901. 


THE  OLD  HOME  SPIKIT. 

BBY.  FRANK  W.  PBATT's  TBIBUTB  TO  DBSBFIBLD,  AS  A  BON. 

We  come  as  loyal  children  of  Deerfield,  gladly  bringing  oar 
gratitude  and  love.  At  this  time  it  is  easy  to  awaJcen  precious 
memories,  and  to  stir  the  fires  of  affection  into  a  glowing  flame. 
We  rejoice  together  in  all  that  this  old  town  of  ours  has  been 
to  us,  and  during  the  coming  week  as  we  gather  upon  spots 
made  sacred  by  brave  deeds  done,  and  the  blood  of  martyrs 
spilled,  we  shall  Uve  in  the  consciousness  of  the  larger  and 
deeper  meaning  of  the  life  of  a  "  frontier  town." 

I  like  that  title — "  a  frontier  town."  It  tells  of  energy  and 
push,  and  plenty  of  New  England  fortitude  and  perseverance. 
It  speaks  of  that  progressive  manhood  which  knows  how  to  turn 
forest  trees  into  habitations  and  wildernesses  into  gardens. 

We  are  not  surprised  that  the  same  spirit  which  led  Samuel 
Hinsdale  and  his  followers  to  come  up  the  river  and  ^'  beare  the 
venture  of  the  place,"  also  made  them  chafe  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Proprietors  of  the  ^'  Dedham  Grant,"  and  caused 
them  to  hasten  to  petition  for  the  rights  of  an  independent  town- 
ship. Twice  deserted  and  twice  reclaimed ;  those  words  tell  of 
the  hardships  endured  and  the  price  which  was  paid  that  our 
town  might  take  its  place  among  the  townships  of  old  Mass- 
achusetts. 

But  during  our  reunion  and  memorial  week  we  would  not  re- 
call only  scenes  of  suffering  and  bloodshed  and  death,  inspiring 
as  they  are  when  consecrated  by  the  greatest  acts  of  heroism 
and  self-sacrifice.  But  we  would  also  remember  the  many 
peaceful  periods — ^those  months  which  immediately  followed  the 
coming  of  Hinsdale,  when  our  first  cabins  were  built  without 
molestation,  when  the  men  tilled  the  virgin  soil  without  fear 
of  the  Indian  war  whoop,  and  our  little  village  nestled  among 
the  trees  amidst  all  the  peace  and  beauty  of  a  Garden  of  Eden. 

We  have  had  within  our  borders  many  periods  like  this. 
When  the  men  raised  their  crops,  and  the  women  looked  after 
their  household  cares,  and  all  the  family  gathered  together  after 
supper — ^in  the  summer  upon  the  steps,  in  the  winter  before  the 
great  fire— illustrating  a  happy  family  Ufe.    Bloody  Brook  did 


The  Old  Home  Spirit.  217 

not  always  nm  red  with  blood.  The  underbrush  did  not  al- 
ways conoeal  red  men.  The  hills  did  not  always  echo  with  the 
sound  of  Indian  warfare.  There  were  times,  although  often  in 
earlier  days  they  were  brief,  when  the  sun  came  over  the  moun- 
tain and  looked  into  our  dear  valley  when  it  was  as  quiet  and 
peaceful  as  upon  summer  days  we  have  known.  We  would  re- 
member these  times,  too,  when  between  the  rude  shock  of  warfare 
came  the  daily  pursuits  of  village  and  family  life,  lighting  up  the 
shadows  by  peaceful  industries  and  happy  companionships. 

And  yet  we  would  not  have  those  early  days  freed  from  hard- 
ship and  privation.  I  think  we  are  all  thankful  that  the  Pil- 
grims did  not  land  upon  a  shore  where  all  was  balmy  and  at- 
tractive. Tom  Beed  has  said  that  he  trembled  to  think  what 
the  fate  of  this  country  would  have  been  if  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
had  landed  on  the  fertile  soil  of  California,  where  the  reward 
of  the  husbandman  comes  without  effort,  instead  of  upon  Ply. 
mouth  Kock,  where  the  surroundings  demanded  the  work  that 
develops  the  best  that  is  in  the  man. 

It  was  the  meeting  face  to  face  of  the  sterner  aspects  of  na- 
ture and  life  which  kept  alive  in  our  forefathers  the  same  spirit 
which  fought  the  battles  of  Naseby  and  Marston  Moor,  and  led 
them  to  cross  the  water  that  their  ideal  Commonwealth  should 
be  built,  although  it  might  cost  suffering  and  death.  And  so 
they  braved  the  dangers  of  the  new  land,  and  planted  com  over 
the  bodies  of  their  rapidly  increasing  dead  that  there  should  be 
no  tell-tale  graves.  It  is  manhood  and  womanhood  like  unto 
this  moulded  in  the  very  fire  of  adversity,  which  has  been  in- 
carnated into  the  bone  and  fiber  of  our  national  life. 

This  nation  of  ours  has  had  a  stupendous  task  before  it — the 
turning  of  the  immense  stream  of  foreign  blood  which  has  flowed 
across  the  water  like  a  great  ocean  current — the  turning  of  this 
stream  into  something  like  the  blood  of  our  own  land.  There 
has  often  been  the  danger,  in  some  sections  of  our  country,  that 
instead  of  that  foreign  element  being  transformed  into  the  char- 
acteristics of  American  citizens,  that  the  foreign  element  should 
transform  our  national  life. 

Here  is  where  the  great  work  of  New  England  has  been  done. 
Her  influence  has  gone  forth  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  our  land,  emphasizing  the  principles  of  civilization  which  have 
always  been  dear  to  her  heart.  The  experiences  of  New  Eng- 
land created  a  type  of  manhood  so  permanent  that  it  refuses  to 


218  Old  Home  Week— 19QI. 

be  warped  and  changed  by  the  influences  of  foreign  immigra- 
tion. Go  out  into  the  far  west  and  you  see  by  the  census  re- 
turns that  a  large  percentage  of  the  population  of  some  of  the 
states  is  of  foreign  birth.  But  when  you  investigate  as  to  who 
the  men  are  who  hold  the  positions  of  influence — who  it  is  who 
are  interested  in  schools  and  good  government  and  clean  streets 
you  find  that  they  are  almost  to  a  man  Kew  England  bom  or 
closely  related  to  New  England  stock. 

Our  old  town  of  Deerfield  has  done  her  share  in  this  great 
work  of  spreading  abroad  that  best  American  spirit  which  is 
the  native  product  of  New  England.  Her  boys  and  girls  have 
gone  forth  as  living  testimonies  to  the  principles  for  which  New 
England  has  ever  stood. 

As  we  walk  up  and  down  our  old  Street,  and  feel  its  dignity 
and  peace  creep  into  our  souls,  I  think  we  are  all  filled  with  a 
deep  gratitude  that  we  passed  our  youth  in  the  country.  The 
early  years  of  life  are  the  most  receptive  ones,  and  there  are 
some  things,  which  if  we  do  not  get  when  we  are  young,  are 
lost  to  us  forever.  There  is  a  spirit  of  friendliness  to  nature, 
which  one  learns  best  before  the  coming  of  the  years  of  maturity. 
Thus  Deerfield  gave  us  an  education,  not  only  by  teaching  us 
reading  and  writing  and  the  multiplication  table,  but  she  also 
gave  us  a  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  varying  moods  of 
€k)d's  world. 

Tint  of  mountain,  gleam  of  sinuous  river,  the  overarching 
elms,  the  call  of  flicker  and  cry  of  whip-poor-will,  the  smell  of 
new  mown  hay,  the  view  from  old  Pocumtuck — these  are  come 
of  the  subtle  influences  which  have  become  permanent  factors 
in  our  lives.  They  came  to  us  as  naturally  as  the  sunlight 
comes  in  the  morning,  but  they  became  instilled  into  our  very 
natures  and  exist  now  as  a  perpetual  inbred  memory. 

Thus  we  must  gratefully  recognize  this  education  which  Old 
Deerfield  gave  to  us  almost  unconsciously,  but  which  perhaps 
was  the  best  education  of  alL 

At  this  time  the  country  and  country  life  is  being  appreciated 
as  never  before.  Educators  are  beginning  to  understand  its  im- 
portant influence  upon  child  development.  The  bookstores  of 
our  great  cities  are  filled  with  books  upon  nature  and  outdoor 
life.  A  great  desire  is  springing  up  in  our  people  to  get  closer 
to  this  old  earth  of  ours  and  into  better  sympathy  with  her  in- 
numerable  moods  and  her  innumerable  children. 


CJumtUs  Ba/nukrd  on  the  Indians.  219 

The  mad  rash  for  the  city  is  being  partly  equalized  by  a 
growing  love  for  the  country.  Every  year  abandoned  farms  in 
Kew  England  are  becoming  fewer  and  as  time  goes  on  the  city 
will  grow  more  and  more  to  be  a  place,  not  to  live  in,  but  to 
work  in.  And  we  may  well  imagine  that  before  our  opening 
century  draws  to  a  close  the  problem  of  rapid  transit  will  have 
been  so  solved  that  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  for  a  man  to  live 
here  in  Old  Deerfield  Street  and  go  to  his  business  in  Boston 
every  morning.  That  indeed  will  be  an  ideal  adjustment  and 
will  help  to  give  to  a  greater  number  the  blessings  of  country 
life  which  we  have  received. 

But  the  depth  of  the  springs  of  affection  cannot  be  measured 
by  words.  Our  love  for  Old  Deerfield  is  something  too  subtle 
to  be  so  easily  explained.  We  only  know  we  have  as  children 
sat  in  her  lap  and  felt  her  arms  around  us,  and  looked  up  into 
her  face  and  seen  her  smiles  and  her  tears,  and  we  love  her. 
And  we  come  back  to  her  from  our  wanderings  and  are  glad. 
And  our  thoughts  turn  to  her  in  our  absence  and  we  wish  her 
well.  In  our  greatest  griefs  we  bring  our  dead  and  give  them 
into  her  keeping.  And  when  our  time  shall  come  we  too  shall 
be  brought  and  laid  to  rest  within  her  protecting  care.  All  be- 
cause we  love  her. 


MR.  BARNARD  ON  THE  INDIANS. 

Charles  Barnard  of  Boston  was  the  next  speaker.  After  one 
of  Prof.  Barber's  felicitous  introductions  he  spoke  on  the  evo- 
lution of  modem  transportation  from  the  old  Indian  trails. 
The  Indian,  he  said,  occupied  too  much  land.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  economy  that  he  should  go.  But  the  Indian  influence 
stiU  survives,  and  the  teachers  in  our  schools  should  impress 
this  fact  upon  their  scholars.  Matthew  Arnold  made  fun  of 
the  names  of  American  cities  and  towns.  The  earliest  explor- 
ers gave  names  to  their  discoveries  in  their  own  language. 
Lake  George  was  discovered  by  a  Frenchman  who  gave  it  the 
name  of  the  ^^  Lake  of  the  Holy  Spirit"  and  the  speaker  re- 
gretted that  this  name  had  not  been  retained.  French  names 
are  found  in  the  north  and  west,  Dutch  names  in  New  York 
and  Spanish  in  the  south.    Those  classical  names  in  the  Mo- 


220  Old  Home  Weeh-1901. 

hawk  valley — Utica,  Troy,  Syraoose,  Ilion  and  others — were 
given  by  the  surveyors,  who  were  graduates  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege. Teachers  should  learn  the  meaning  of  the  old  Indian 
names  and  teach  them.  Many  of  them  have  beautiful  mean- 
ings. 

The  Indians  were  great  traders.  They  built  the  first  roads. 
One  of  their  trails  extended  from  Montreal  to  New  Haven  and 
another  from  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the  headwaters  of  the 
Hudson.  These  lines  of  travel  avoided  the  mountains  and  ran 
direct  to  the  water  courses,  for  the  Indians  took  advantage  of 
every  opportunity  to  use  their  canoes.  The  white  man  fol- 
lowed Uie  Indian  trails.  They  became  bridle  paths,  then  fol- 
lowed the  cart,  then  came  roads,  highways  and  turnpikes,  and 
the  railroad  of  to-day  follows  the  old  In(Uan  trail. 

Eev.  Gteorge  W.  SoUey  of  Deerfield  was  then  introduced  as 
one  who  had  been  faithful  to  the  best  ideals  of  New  England 
life.  He  spoke  briefly  of  the  old  Puritan  parish.  The  meet- 
inghouse was  the  center  of  all  that  was  holiest,  the  home  of 
all,  from  poorest  to  ridiest.  The  old  Puritan  parish,  until  we 
came  into  the  habit  of  thinking  that  because  there  were  differ- 
ences of  opinion  there  must  be  division,  meant  the  inclusion  of 
the  whole  community.  Every  man  felt  an  obligation  to  the 
parish,  and  the  parish  felt  an  obligation  to  every  one  that 
needed  help.  Why  should  there  not  be  room  for  people  who 
think  differently  in  the  same  parish  t  There  used  to  be  100 
years  ago.  The  old  spirit  is  coming  again,  when  the  limits 
of  the  town  and  the  parish  will  be  the  same. 

If  anyone  wants  to  believe  Mohammedanism  or  any  other  'ism, 
why  should  he  not  have  a  place  in  the  pews.  We  have  wrongly 
come  to  think  that  the  church  will  never  be  filled  again.  But 
there  is  more  brain  and  muscle  in  these  old  towns  than  there 
ever  was.  It  is  not  an  impossibility  to  fill  these  old  hill  town 
meetinghouses,  and  they  will  be  filled  some  day  again,  when 
this  broader  conception  of  the  parish  is  realized. 

The  exercises  dosed  with  tiie  benediction  pronounced  by 
Bev.  Mr.  Solley. 


Deerfidd  's  Historical  Ride.  221 


DEEBFIELD'S  HISTOEICAL  EIDE. 

The  histcMric  ride  at  Deerfield,  Tuesday,  was  the  most  novel 
feature  of  the  Home  Week,  and  in  many  ways  the  most  pictur* 
esque  and  interesting.  Old  Deerfield  Street  presented  at  2 
o'clock,  the  hour  for  the  starting,  a  most  unusual  sight,  the  Street 
being  filled  with  carriages  for  a  long  distance.  The  turnout 
was  much  larger  than  any  one  had  expected,  and  about  seventy 
teams  were  counted,  besides  a  number  of  bicyclists.  A  barge 
from  Nims's  stable  brought  a  party  from  Greenfield,  and  a  score 
of  young  women  and  girls  from  Deerfield  made  a  pretty  pic- 
ture in  a  cart  partly  filled  with  hay.  A  general  air  of  festiv- 
ity pervaded  the  scene,  children  waved  their  little  flags,  and 
at  2:15  the  party  started  out  ably  marshaled  by  Spencer  Ful- 
ler, who  was  assisted  by  William  P.  Saxton,  both  on  horse- 
back. 

The  long  procession  took  up  its  winding  way  to  the  Bars, 
and  it  may  be  asserted  as  probable  that  Deerfield  never  saw 
another  such  line  of  carriages.  It  reminded  one  who  had  lived 
near  the  sea  shore  of  the  almost  endless  line  of  teams  that  go 
to  make  up  what  is  called  a  ^^  beach  party,"  when  all  the  in- 
habitants of  a  town  turn  out  to  visit  the  ocean.  Others  com- 
pared it  to  a  cattle  show  crowd,  but  whatever  one  likened  it 
to,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  procession  of  Bamum's,  Forepaugh's 
and  Eingliug's  circuses  combined  could  attract  so  much  inter- 
est among  the  dwellers  along  the  line  of  the  afternoon's  traveL 
The}"^  gazed  long  and  earnestly  at  each  carriage  and  wondered 
what  had  gotten  into  the  sober  minded  Franklin  county  people, 
for  the  party,  from  the  fun  and  jollity  that  prevailed  was  cer- 
tainly not  a  funeral  procession.  The  horses  from  that  love  of 
comradeship  which  appeals  to  dumb  animals  as  well  as  to  hu- 
mans, seemed  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  afternoon,  and 
made  the  trip  in  what  seemed  a  remarkably  short  time,  consid- 
ering the  distance  traveled  and  the  exercises  that  were  car- 
ried out.  Gtoorge  Sheldon  was  in  the  van  of  the  procession, 
and  the  cavalcade  followed  on  his  trail  in  Indian  file  most 
of  the  time,  better  than  ever  the  Israelites  followed  their 
Moses. 

As  a  party  passed  the  Barnard  Monument,  Spencer  Fuller 


222  Old  Home  Weeh-ASQl. 

took  up  his  stand  by  the  side  of  the  road,  and  pointed  out  to 
every  carriage  load  how  the  Indians  hid  in  the  bushes  overgrow- 
ing the  banks  of  a  brook,  thus  securing  a  very  effective  ambush. 
A  halt  was  made  on  the  lawn  in  front  of  the  late  George  Ful- 
ler's studio,  the  carriages  gathered  in  a  compact  mass.  Mrs. 
Champney  read  her  poem,  and  William  Lambert  Barnard  of  Bos- 
ton, grandnephew  of  James  M.  Barnard,  the  giver  of  the  Bar- 
nard Monument,  made  an  able  address  on  the  Barnard  mas- 
sacre and  its  lessons.  Mr.  Barnard  is  quite  a  young  man,  but 
he  made  a  most  creditable  appearance. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  LAMBERT  BARNARD. 

AT  THE   DEDICATION  OF  A  MEMOBIAL    STONE    TO  JOSEPH    BAENABD 

AT  DEEBFIELD,   MASS.,  JULY   80,    1901. 

I  am  fortunate  indeed  in  being  able  to  be  with  you  to-day 
and  to  assist  in  these  exercises  commemorative  of  Deerfield's 
past.  But  my  good  fortune  is  your  loss,  for  Mr.  James  M. 
Barnard,  of  Boston,  the  donor  of  this  stone,  which  we  have 
come  to  dedicate,  is  unable  to  be  here  himself  and  to  express  to 
you  in  person  his  interest  in  this  occasion.  I  come,  therefore, 
as  his  representative, — as  his  substitute,  I  may  say.  The  situa- 
tion is  very  much  akin  to  that  in  which  an  old  lady,  on  being 
asked  by  a  neighbor  to  ^^  lend "  a  half-pound  of  well-seasoned 
and  valuable  herbs,  regretted  her  inability  to  do  so,  and  prof- 
fered as  a  substitute  ^^  a  small  parcel  of  greens." 

Joseph  Barnard,  to  honor  whose  memory  we  are  gathered 
together,  was  bom  in  the  year  1641,  and  moved  to  Deerfield 
with  his  parents  when  but  a  mere  lad.  Deerfield  was  then  in 
the  first  days  of  its  infancy. 

Young  Barnard  grew  up  in  the  midst  of  its  hard,  character- 
building  life  and  became  one  of  the  foremost  in  the  permanent 
settlement  of  the  town.  He  was,  by  turns,  a  tailor,  a  surveyor, 
and  a  farmer.  In  those  strenuous  days  one  must  needs  be 
something  of  a  jack-of -all-trades  or  else  fall  by  the  wayside. 
We  are  forced  to  assume  that  he  was  a  man  of  some  popularity, 
and  one  to  be  trusted  by  his  superiors,  for  he  held  at  various 
times  the  positions  of  Recorder  for  the  Proprietors,  Clerk  of 


Address  by  William  Lambert  Bama/rd.  228 

the  Writs,  and  Town  Clerk.  He  was  elected  to  this  last  office 
soon  after  the  b^inning  of  what  we  know  as  ^^  £ing  William's 
War." 

The  French,  jealous  of  the  snocesses  of  William  of  Orange, 
were  fighting  tooth  and  nail  to  retain  their  supremacy  in  Europe 
and  to  extend  their  dominion  in  America.  In  pursuit  of  the 
latter,  they  strove  to  harass  the  English  Colonies.  As  a  means 
toward  tUs  end,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  incite  the  Canadian 
Indians  against  our  sturdy  forefathers,  and  thus  turned  upon 
their  devoted  heads  a  terrible  and  relentless  weapon. 

Deerfield  and  the  regions  hereabout  were  peculiarly  suscepti- 
ble to  these  Indian  attacks,  owing  to  the  ahnost  unbroken  chain 
of  waterways  to  the  north  of  us,  which  made  easy  communica- 
tion with  Quebec  and  Montreal. 

Beginning  with  the  massacre  at  Schenectady  in  1690,  the 
inhabitants  of  Deerfield,  about  sixty  families  in  all,  were  con- 
stantly exposed  to  calamity  at  the  hands  of  the  red  men.  At- 
tacks were  made  in  1693  and  1694. 

On  a  bright  August  morning  in  1695,  five  Deerfield  men 
starts  together  for  mutual  protection,  to  go  to  the  mill,  three 
miles  away,  at  Mill  River.  They  were  all  mounted  on  horses, 
each  with  his  gun  on  his  saddle-bow  and  his  bag  of  grain  be- 
neath or  behind  him. 

By  some  mysterious  and  subtle  influence,  Capt.  Wells,  at  that 
time  the  Commander  of  the  town,  had  the  night  previous  felt 
a  premonition  of  impending  disaster  from  the  Indians,  passing 
in  consequence  a  sleepless  and  watchful  night.  On  seeing  the 
little  cavalcade  the  next  morning,  he  went  out  and  stopped  the 
men  to  forbid  their  trip.  But  he  could  give  no  reason  fordoing 
so.  Perhaps  the  cheering  summer  sun  had  weakened  his  noc- 
turnal impression,  and  seeing  Mr.  Barnard,  whom  he  deemed  a 
careful  and  prudent  man,  let  the  party  proceed. 

With  Joseph  Barnard  were  Henry  White,  Philip  Mattoon, 
Godfrey  Nims  and  another  whose  name  has  not  come  down  to 
us.  They  rode  on  soberly  enough  until  they  reached  the  spot 
where  we  now  stand.  Here  their  horses  began  to  snuff  and 
became  frightened.  At  this  moment  one  of  the  party  gave  the 
alarm — '^  Indians !  Indians ! "  and  at  the  same  moment  eight 
Indians,  who  were  ambushed  in  the  underbrush  on  both  sides 
of  the  road,  fired  a  volley. 

Joseph  Barnard  was  shot  through  the  hand  and  his  wrist 


224  Old  Home  Weeh^liOl. 

broken  to  bits.  He  was  also  dislodged  from  his  horse.  While 
the  others  hastily  returned  the  fire  of  their  unseen  foe,  Nims 
assisted  Barnard  to  remount,  all  the  time  shouting  lustily  as  if 
calling  up  expected  reinforcements.  It  may  be  that  this  ruse 
deceived  the  Indians, — in  any  event  they  providentially  re- 
frained from  rushing  in  on  the  little  party. 

The  five  men,  however,  had  hardly  begun  a  well-ordered 
retreat  before  a  second  volley  was  fired  upon  them.  Again 
Joseph  Barnard  was  the  only  one  injured.  He  was  shot  through 
the  body  and  his  horse  was  killed  under  him.  But  Nims  helped 
him  to  a  seat  on  his  own  horse  and  all  got  back  to  Deerfield 
without  further  misadventure. 

Once  back  in  the  little  town  the  usual  precautions  were  taken 
against  an  attack.  Barnard,  however,  never  recovered  and 
died  from  the  effects  of  his  wounds  on  the  sixth  of  the  follow- 
ing month, — September,  1695. 

The  times  in  which  he  lived  were  hard  and  exacting.  They 
were  days  of  strife,  warfare,  and  mortal  combat.  No  man  could 
safely  till  his  fields  unarmed,  and  he  might  rise  any  night  to 
see  his  neighbor's  cabin  in  flames  and  to  hear  the  dreaded  war- 
whoop  at  his  own  door.  Not  even  five  men,  as  we  have  seen, 
could  safely  ride  forth  on  that  ordinarily  most  peaceful  of  mis- 
sions,— to  go  to  miU  to  have  one's  com  ground.  From  sunrise 
to  sunset  a  gun  was  as  much  a  part  of  a  man's  self  as  his  very 
hand,  while  from  sunset  to  sunrise  every  door  and  window  was 
double  barred  and  locked, — ^the  settlers  almost  took  their 
weapons  to  bed  with  them. 

Think  then  of  the  change  wrought  by  three  centuries !  We 
live  in  a  country  that  basks  in  the  smile  of  peace.  Over  the 
whole  vast  extent  of  these  United  States  quiet  and  kindliness 
reign  omnipotent. 

What  may  not  the  next  three  centuries  bring  forth  ?  Is  it 
not  reasonable  to  hope, — to  believe, — ^that  another  such  period 
of  time  may  see  univereal  peace  an  actual  fact  t  I  feel  assured 
of  it.  I  believe  that  future  generations  will  reap,  from  the  seed 
now  being  sown,  a  harvest  of  peace ;  that  nations  will  no  longer 
consider  war  a  means  by  which  to  settle  their  disputes,  but  that 
international  law  will  have  so  grown,  and  the  principles  of  arbi- 
tration become  so  extended,  that  the  clash  of  arms  will  have 
vanished  forever  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

And  the  donor  of  this  little  monument  has  erected  it  not  only 


Address  of  Caleb  AUm  Sta/rr.  225 

as  a  memorial  of  Joseph  Barnard's  life,  but  also  as  a  lesson  to 
ns  and  our  suocessors,  that  war  is  giving  way  to  peace,  and  that 
it  may  point  out  the  path  to  a  state  of  supreme  and  universal 
brotherhood  among  all  men. 

The  party  then  rode  out  on  the  edge  of  the  bluff  overlooking 
the  scene  of  the  Bars  Fight.  Here  Caleb  Allen  Starr  of  Illinois 
spoke  of  the  death  of  his  great-grandfather  Allen  in  the  fight, 
and  he  told  how  the  bloody  catastrophe  occurred,  how  the 
farmers  had  gone  off  haying,  and  were  set  upon  by  the  savages, 
how  some  of  them  escaped  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  women 
and  children,  and  the  rest,  including  Mr.  Allen,  stayed  to  en- 
gage the  savages. 


ADDRESS  OF  CALEB  ALLEN  STARR, 
OF  DURAND,  ILL. 

Friends :  You  may  think  it  strange  that  I  should  be  called 
upon  to  tell  the  story  of  any  part  of  the  early  history  of  Deer- 
field  when  the  name  of  Starr  does  not  appear  in  any  of  its  early 
annals.  But  my  mother  was  an  AUen  and  the  Aliens  were 
among  the  early  settlers.  Samuel  Allen,  son  of  Edward — the 
founder  of  the  Allen  family  of  Deerfield — ^built  the  house  you 
see  and  in  front  of  which  you  listened  to  the  eloquent  paper  by 
Mr.  Barnard — and  which  has  sheltered  five  generations  of 
Aliens.  It  was  transformed  into  a  studio  by  my  dear  friend 
and  early  schoolmate,  George  Fuller,  and  is  now  occupied  by 
his  artist  sons. 

The  scene  of  the  fight  which  is  the  subject  of  this  halt,  is  just 
northwest  of  us  on  the  flat  below  this  bluff,  on  what  in  my 
boyhood  days  was  called  The  Island,  but  I  note  is  now  referred 
to  as  Stebbins  Meadow.  The  AUen  family  with  some  of  their 
Amsden  neighbors  were  haying  and  were  necessarily  scattered 
over  the  field,  apart  from  their  arms.  The  Indians  were  in 
ambush  in  the  forest  to  the  southwest  waiting  for  a  favorable 
opportunity  to  spring  upon  the  workers.  Eleizer  Hawks,  a 
brother  of  Mrs.  AUen,  not  feeling  well  enough  to  work  had 
taken  his  gun  to  hunt  for  game  near  the  lair  of  the  Indians ; 
the  discharge  of  his  gun  at  a  partridge  was  taken  by  the  In- 
15 


226  Old  Home  Week— 1901. 

dians  to  be  an  aLarm ;  he  was  shot  down,  and  they  at  once 
charged  upon  the  defenseless  people,  who  fled  in  dismay,  some 
fighting  as  they  retreated ;  but  Samuel  Allen  stood  his  ground 
to  hold  the  savages  in  check,  while  his  children  fled.  He  was 
killed,  scalped,  and  otherwise  mutilated.^  One  daughter, 
Eunice,  a  child  of  thirteen,  was  overtaken  by  an  Indian  who 
split  her  head  with  his  hatchet  and  left  her  for  dead,  but  did  not 
scalp  her.  She  recovered,  and  lived  to  be  85  years  old.  The 
later  part  of  her  life  she  was  a  living  encyclopedia  of  Indian 
lore.  She  was  found  just  southwest  of  the  place  now  owned 
by  Mr.  Charles  H.  Stebbins,  and  west  of  the  canal.  The  site 
of  the  old  road  from  the  Meadow  where  it  was  cut  through  the 
bluff  was  plain  in  my  boyhood  days.  Towards  this  gap  Eunice 
was  running ;  and  you  must  remember  that  instead  of  a  canal 
with  its  abrupt  bank,  it  was  only  a  brook  which  drained  the  Boggy 
Meadow  swamp  south  of  the  Stebbins'  house.  One  son,  Caleb, 
nine  years  old  and  small  for  bis  age,  taking  refuge  in  an  adja- 
cent cornfield,  was  not  discovered  by  the  Indians.  One  son 
of  eight,  Samuel,  Jr.,  was  taken  prisoner  and  carried  to  Canada. 
He  was  afterward  redeemed  by  his  uncle,  Colonel,  then  Sergeant 
John  Hawks.  And  thereby  hangs  a  very  interesting  tale. 
Just  north  of  the  Allen  home  which  we  see,  on  the  edge  of  the 
bluff  lived  in  her  wigwam,  an  Indian  woman  with  her  son 
who  was  slowly  fading  away  with  consumption,  and  many 
were  the  kindnesses  bestowed  upon  the  sick  boy  by  the  Allen 
family.  The  son  died,  and  was  buried  near  the  mother's  wig- 
wam. In  the  spring  of  1746  the  children  of  the  Allen  family 
reported  that  the  Indian  mother  had  dug  up  the  bones  of  her 
son  and  was  cleansing  them,  and  drying  them  in  the  sun.  One 
morning  soon  after,  she  was  missing  without  giving  any  warn, 
ing  or  leaving  any  sign,  and  whither  she  went  no  one  could 
guess.    While  Col.  John  Hawks  was  in  Canada,  negotiating  for 

*  Since  that  notable  ^'Historical  Ride/'  July  30,  1901,  a  Bowlder  Monu- 
ment with  suitable  inscription  has  been  placed  by  his  descendants  to  mark 
the  site  of  the  tragic  death  of  Samuel  Allen.    [C.  A.  S.] 

Others  slain  on  the  same  occasion,  were  Adonijah  Gillet,  Oliver  Amsden, 
and  his  l»x>ther  Simeon.  The  assailants  were  a  smaU  detachment  from  the 
army  of  De  Vaudreuil,  who  had  captured  Fort  Massachusetts  and  its  heroic 
garrison  five  days  before,  and  taken  the  commander,  Sergt.  John  Hawks, 
the  ''Hero  of  Fort  lilassachusetts,''  and  his  men  to  Canada.  Here  his  poor 
sister,  Mrs.  Allen,  lost  her  husband  and  a  nephew  killed,  had  a  brother  and  a 
son  captured,  and  a  daughter  apparently  wounded  unto  death.    [Editor.] 


\\ 


Poem  ly  Mrs.  Chwnypney.  227 

the  exohange  or  redemption  of  prisoners  in  1748,  he  was  unable 
to  get  any  traoe  of  little  Sam  Allen,  and  had  almost  despaired 
of  finding  him.  One  morning  an  old  squaw  attracted  his  at- 
tention by  her  singular  behavior— peering  into  his  door  and 
quickly  disappearing;  this  she  repeated  several  times,  and 
he  finally  addressed  her,  inquiring  what  she  wanted.  She  said, 
"  You  find  Sammy  Allen  ? ''  "  No,"  said  he, "  I  can't  find  him." 
— She  answered,  "  Indian  know."  She  finally  gave  him  all  the 
information  he  needed.  The  colonel  procured  his  release  and 
returned  him  to  his  mother.  A  curious  question  arises  here. 
Did  this  old  Indian  woman  know  that  this  attack  was  contem- 
plated? And  if  so  would  not  all  the  kindness  she  had 
received  from  the  Allen  family  have  prompted  her  to  warn 
them }  But  as  has  often  been  said,  '^  blood  is  thicker  than 
water,"  and  she  must  be  true  to  her  tribe.  But  when  the  op- 
portunity came  to  do  something  directly  for  the  family,  she 
was  true  to  the  Indian  code,  viz.,  reciprocity  of  favors. 

The  wife  of  Samuel  Allen  was  the  sister  of  Col.  John  Hawks, 
who  was  an  intrepid  soldier  and  pioneer  and  a  natural  diplo- 
mat. The  attraction  of  the  Aliens  and  Hawkses  did  not  end 
here,  for  I  find  that  six  times  have  the  scions  of  the  two  fami- 
lies been  united  in  marriage. 

The  party  made  a  picturesque  sight  as  they  gathered  under 
the  magnificent  maples  that  dignify  the  scene. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Champney's  poem  : 

Do  you  ask,  Why  this  stone  by  the  brookside, 

Since  with  heroes  your  fame-roil  is  fiUed, 
Why  honor  this  plain  Joseph  Barnard 

Who  amply  went  out  and  was  killed? 

He  was  warned  by  the  guard  at  the  stockade, 

He  was  certainly  rash  or  self-willed, 
It  was  worse  than  a  crime,  'twas  a  blunder, 

To  go  out,  and  to  get  himself  killed. 

Stout  Jonathan  Wells  had  a  vision, 

That  leader  unused  to  affright, 
"The  Indians  skulk  by  the  highway: 

I  saw  them  in  dreams  of  the  night." 

Brave  Barnard  smiled  at  the  warning, 

"In  danger  our  meadows  were  tilled. 
Our  loved  ones  would  surely  go  hungiy 

If  their  bread-winners  feared  to  be  killed. 


328  Old  HofM  Weeh—\^^\. 

"They  are  worth  every  risk,  our  good  womeny 
And  our  children's  mouths  we  must  fill, 
So  in  spite  of  all  possible  danger 
There  is  one  grist  will  go  to  the  milL" 

The  hand  of  the  leader  saluted, 

The  man  was  so  cheerful  and  calm, 
And  as  Barnard  rode  through  the  meadows 

His  heart  was  repeating  a  psalm: 

"Thou  leadest  me  by  the  still  waters. 

My  home  in  green  pastures  is  blest, 
Tis  a  man's  part  to  dare  for  his  dearest. 

And  humUy  trust  God  for  the  rest." 

So  we  grave  the  brave  name  on  this  tablet. 
For  our  hearts  by  the  story  are  thriUed — 

Of  the  hero  who  flinched  not  in  danger, 
But  who  loved,  and  who  dared,  and  was  killed. 

After  a  brief  stop  during  which  the  beautifol  view  into 
the  meadows  was  fully  enjoyed,  the  party  got  into  line  again 
and  proceeded  over  the  hill,  enjoying  as  they  went  the  lovely 
prospect  of  Mt.  Tom  and  the  other  hills  to  the  southward.  Ar- 
rived at  South  Deerfield  a  halt  was  made  at  the  Bloody  Brook 
monument.  The  carriages  lined  up  two  or  three  deep  about 
the  little  park,  and  Prof.  Barber  of  Meadville  introduced  Dexter 
F.  Hager  to  tell  the  story  of  the  famous  fight.  Mr.  Hager  re- 
cited the  facts  of  the  heroic  struggle  made  by  the  whites  with 
a  band  of  Indians  greatly  outnumbering  them.  Prof.  Barber 
then  referred  to  the  number  of  historic  speeches  that  had  been 
made  at  this  place,  and  said  it  was  not  generally  known  that 
about  fifteen  years  ago,  Edward  Everett  Hale  when  in  Deerfield 
had  written  a  poem  on  the  subject.  This  poem  was  then  read 
by  Eev.  Frank  W.  Pratt. 

THE  LAMENTABLE  BALLAD  OF  BLOODY  BEOOK* 

BY   EDWARD  BVEBBTT   HALB. 

Come  liften  to  the  Story  of  brave  Lathrop  and  his  Men, 

How  they  fought — how  they  died, 
When  th^  marched  againft  the  Redfkins,  in  the  Autumn  Days,  and  then* 

How  they  fell, — in  their  Pride, 

By  Pocumtuok  Side. 

*  This  ballad  was  written  by  Mr.  Hale  for  the  bi-oentennial  of  the  founding 
of  the  First  Church  of  Deerfield,  October  17,  1688. 


Poem,  hy  JSdward  Everett  Hale.  229 

"Who  will  go  to  Deerfield  Meadows  and  bring  the  ripened  QrainT" 

Said  old  Mofdy  to  his  men  in  array. 
''Take  the  Wagons  and  the  Horfes  and  bring  it  back  again. 

Be  f  ure  that  no  Man  f  tray 

All  the  Day,— on  the  way." 

Then  the  Flower  of  Eilez  ftarted,  witii  Lathrop  at  their  head. 

Wife  and  brave,  bold  and  true. 
He  had  fought  the  Pequote  long  ago,  and  now  to  Mofely  faid, 

"Be  there  many,  be  there  few, 

I  wiU  bring  the  Grain  to  you.'' 

They  gathered  all  the  Harveft,  and  th^  marched  on  the  Way 

Through  the  Woods  which  blazed  like  Fire. 
No  Soldier  left  the  Line  of  march  to  wander  or  to  f tray. 

Till  the  Wagons  were  f tailed  in  the  Mire, 

And  the  Men  began  to  tire. 

The  Wagons  have  all  forded  the  Brook  as  it  flows. 

And  then  the  Rear-Guard  ftays 
To  pick  the  purple  Grapes  that  are  hanging  from  the  Boughs, 

When  crack  1 — to  their  Amaze — 

A  hundred  Ilrdocks  blazel 

Brave  Lathrop  he  lay  dyiog,  but  as  he  fell  he  cried, 

"Each  Man  to  his  Tree,"  faid  he, 
"Let  no  one  yield  an  Lich,"  and  fo  the  Soldier  died:  — 

And  not  a  Man  of  all  can  fee 

Where  the  Foe  can  be. 

And  Philip  and  his  Devils  pour  in  their  Shot  f o  faft. 

From  behind  and  before, 
That  Man  after  Man  is  fhot  down  and  breathes  his  laft: 

Every  Man  lies  dead  in  his  Gore 

To  fight  no  more, — ^no  more. 

Oh,  weep,  ye  Maids  of  ElTex,  for  the  Lads  who  have  died, — 

The  Flower  of  ElTez  they! 
The  Bloody  Brook  ftiU  ripples  by  the  black  Mountain-fide, 
But  never  fhall  they  come  again  to  fee  the  Ocean-tide, 
And  never  fhall  the  Bridegroom  return  to  his  Bride 

From  that  dark  and  cruel  Day— cruel  Dayl 

The  party  then  took  the  old  road  to  East  Whately,  that  rans 
alongside  the  Boston  &  Maine  tracks  for  some  distance,  and 
then  strikes  ofF  into  the  woods.  This  road  runs  for  nearly  a 
half  mile  through  sand  so  deep  that  one  would  imagine  one's 
self  on  some  of  the  sand  dunes  near  the  seashore. 

Great  was  the  astonishment  of  a  carriage  load  of  people  going 


280  Old  Borne  WeeJh— 1901. 

in  the  opposite  direction,  to  have  to  torn  out  for  a  oavalcade  of 
people  down  in  that  apparently  little  nsed  road.  This  road  is 
still  a  publio  highway,  and  the  Whately  people  say  it  used  to 
be  called  the  Great  Boad,  because  it  was  one  of  the  old  stage 
routes.  On  the  procession  went,  brushing  up  against  bushes 
and  low  growing  trees,  until  they  struck  off  to  the  left  through 
an  old  cart  path  by  the  side  of  a  field  of  tall  corn.  Over  a  sand 
bank  they  proceeded  and  off  into  a  kind  of  clearing  in  pretty 
rough  ground,  where  the  primroses  came  up  above  the  wagon 
shafts. 

Here  a  stop  was  made  at  the  scene  of  the  first  hostile  encounter 
between  the  whites  and  Indians  in  the  valley.  This  has  been 
hitherto  a  little  known  spot  and  it  is  only  recently  that  the  precise 
place  has  been  definitely  located.  It  lies  just  over  the  line  in 
Whately,  and  is  on  the  old  Indian  path  from  Deerfield  to  Hat- 
field. Here,  on  a  bluff,  in  1675,  Capt.  Lothrop  and  100  men 
were  ambushed  by  Indians,  losing  six  men  on  the  field  and 
three  dying  later  from  their  wounds.  James  M.  Crafts  of 
Orange,  formerly  of  Whately,  whose  age  almost  takes  him  back 
to  the  time  of  the  fight,  was  in  charge  of  the  trip  from  Bloody 
Brook  to  this  place.  The  Indians  concealed  themselves  in  the 
swamp  that  borders  on  this  bluff,  now  an  almost  impenetrable 
thicket. 

A  large  part  of  the  excursionists  alighted  from  their  car- 
riages and  penetrated  the  thicket,  clambered  down  the  edge  of 
the  bluff  to  an  old  spring  of  delightfully  cool  water,  where  the 
thirst  of  the  multitude  was  assuaged  by  means  of  a  tin  pail  bor- 
rowed from  some  member  of  the  party.  Afterward  Hubbard 
S.  AUis  of  Whately  spoke  briefly  upon  the  clearing  as  follows : 

^'  It  gives  me  great  pleasure,  as  a  lineal  descendant  of  CoL 
Wm.  AUis,  one  of  the  first  25  settlers  and  Proprietors  of  Hadley 
Plantation,  to  welcome  the  officers  and  members  of  the  Pocum- 
tuck  Valley  Memorial  Association,  in  their  visit  to  the  ground 
in  Whately  where  our  ancestors  fought  their  first  battle  with 
the  Indians  in  this  valley.  Their  descendants  owe  much  to  the 
indefatigable  efforts  of  your  society,  and  especially  to  Mr. 
George  Sheldon,  your  venerable  president,  for  locating  and  re- 
cording the  trials  of  our  fathers  when  this  valley  was  a  wilder- 
ness 240  years  ago,  and  now  clothed  with  a  landscape  beauty 
from  Greenfield  to  Springfield,  far  exceeding  any  view  I  have 
seen  during  a  long  life  of  82  years. 


Rema/rJcs  of  Hubba/rd  S.  AUU.  231 

^^  History  shows  that  our  ancestors,  who  settled  Hadley  Plan- 
tation in  1659,  had  resided  there  in  peace  with  all  the  world 
for  15  years  (and  the  Indians  too)  until  1675.  The  settlers  in 
Hadley  had  erected  no  fortification  and  lived  in  peace  with  the 
Indians  surrounding  them,  who  came  and  went  as  they  pleased. ' 
It  was  upon  this  spot  where  the  settiers  of  the  Connecticut  val- 
ley had  their  first  fight,  which  lasted  three  hours,  with  the  In- 
dians in  1675,  fighting  them  from  tree  to  tree,  Indian  fashion, 
resulting  in  the  defeat  of  the  Indians,  the  settiers  losing  six  men 
killed,  and  three  died  of  their  wounds  afterward.  Blessed  is 
our  lot  in  life  that  we  do  not  exist  in  daily  fear  of  the  scalping 
knife  and  tomahawk,  but  dwell  here  in  peace  and  safety,  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  comforts  of  life  in  this  beautiful  valley  of 
the  Connecticut  Eiver,  where  from  the  surrounding  hills  you 
can  view  Mt.  Holyoke,  Mt.  Toby,  Sugar  Loaf,  and  the  towns  of 
Amherst,  Shutesbury,  Hadley,  North  Hadley,  Hatfield,  North- 
ampton, Sunderland,  South  Deerfield,  Deerfield  and  Greenfield. 
These  all  can  be  seen  from  Whately  Street  where  I  now  reside. 

"  It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  if  on  your  route  home,  you 
would  visit  my  residence  and  partake  of  my  hospitality,  and 
have  a  view  of  the  valley,  from  Oreenfield  to  Mt.  Holyoke,  20 
miles,  which  is  very  grand  to  behold  and  appreciated  by  lovers 
of  rural  scenery." 

James  M.  Crafts  was  then  introduced  and  spoke  of  the  work 
of  the  Pocumtuck  Valley  Memorial  Association.  He  hoped 
that  in  the  near  future  the  Association  would  erect  a  suitable 
marker  for  this  spot.  This  was  the  "  seed-planting  "  for  a  monu- 
ment, referred  to  in  the  programme.  This  met  with  general  ap- 
proval, and  it  is  rather  to  be  expected  that  this  task  will  be  one 
of  the  duties  to  be  assumed  by  the  Association  in  coming 
years. 

The  party  then  resumed  their  carriages,  went  out  to  the  old 
road,  and  continued  between  fields  of  com  and  tobacco  closely 
bordering  the  highway,  then  turning  eastward  near  the  Maple- 
wood  house  on  the  Eiver  Koad  they  proceeded  homeward,  get- 
ting a  beautiful  view  of  Sugar  Loaf,  much  finer  than  that  which 
one  has  from  any  other  point.  A  delightful  afternoon  had 
passed,  and  the  ride  could  not  fail  to  make  clearer  to  every  one 
the  historical  events  which  were  commemorated. 


232  Field  MeeHng—ldOl. 


REPOET. 

The  culmination  of  the  Old  Home  Week  at  Deerfield  came 
to-day  with  the  annual  field  meeting  of  the  Pocnmtuck 
Yalley  Memorial  Association.  Ten  memorial  stones,  marking 
places  of  interest  in  the  village,  were  dedicated.  The  exercises 
through  the  week,  beginning  with  Sunday,  when  a  service  was 
held  in  the  meetinghouse  and  continuing  Tuesday  with  the  his- 
toric ride,  have  been  of  exceptional  interest  and  value.  Many 
of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  town  have  come  back  to  help 
make  the  week  a  success.  Altogether  it  has  been  a  great  week 
for  the  old  town,  one  that  will  be  long  remembered  and  one 
that  will  leave  its  impress. 


HISTORIC  SPOTS. 

MABEED  WITH  PLAOABDS — 200  FLAGS  BOB  OLD  S0LDIBB8. 

A  striking  feature  of  the  week's  observances  is  the  use  of  pla- 
cards to  indicate  the  historical  events  connected  with  the  old 
houses,  and  to  mark  other  historic  spots.  Houses  in  which  a 
soldier  or  soldiers  of  the  colonial  wars  lived,  are  marked  also  by 
flags.  Black  flags  indicate  houses  burned  by  Indians ;  white 
flags,  soldiers  in  King  Philip's  war ;  orange  flags,  soldiers  in 
King  William's  war ;  red  flags,  soldiers  in  Queen  Anne's  war ; 
yellow  flags,  soldiers  in  Father  Basic's  war ;  blue  flags,  soldiers 
in  the  French  and  Indian  war ;  United  States  flags,  soldiers  in 
the  Revolutionary  war.  These  planted  on  the  grassy  lawns 
and  grouped  in  various  colors  gave  to  the  Old  Street  a  pecu- 
liarly attractive  appearance. 

The  following  houses  and  other  historic  places  are  marked  by 
placards  indicating  historic  events ;  the  dates  after  names  indi- 
cating, unless  otherwise  specified,  the  year  of  the  first  occupation 
of  the  spot  by  the  settler : 

Beginning  at  the  north  end  of  the  Old  Street,  on  the 
west  side: 

Amidon  place — Thomas  Weller  killed  at  Bloody  Brook,  1675. 


Historic  Spots.  233 

ThomaB  Broughton,  wife  and  f oar  children  killed  here  by  In- 
dians, June  6, 1693. 

Ashley  place — ^Thomas  Wells,  commander  of  the  fort,  died 
1690 ;  widow  and  three  children  killed  or  wounded  by  Indians, 
1693 ;  home  of  the  second  minister,  Mr.  Ashley ;  house  fortified 
in  old  French  war. 

Sheldon  place — Sheldon  homestead,  1708 ;  longest  holding  in 
one  family  of  any  estate  in  the  county. 

Henry  Stebbins  place — ^Ebenezer  and  Nathaniel  Brooks ;  house 
burned  1704;  David  Dickinson,  major  in  Bevolutionary  War. 

John  Stebbins  place— Gov.  Belcher's  treaty  with  Indians, 
1735 ;  Jonathan  Hoyt  captured  1704,  commander  of  the  gar- 
rison in  the  old  French  war. 

Charles  Jones  place — Joseph  Barnard,  first  town  clerk,  1685 ; 
brother  John  killed  at  Bloody  Brook ;  Thomas  WeUs,  soldier 
in  Philip's  war ;  Thomas  Wells,  captain  in  Father  Basle's  war ; 
Thomas  Dickinson,  captain  in  Bevolutionary  War. 

BiUings  place — ^Barnabas  Hinsdale,  killed  at  Bloody  Brook, 
1675 ;  Samuel  Hinsdale,  killed  at  Bloody  Brook,  1675 ;  Thomas 
Williams,  1746;  lieutenant  colonel  and  surgeon  in  the  last 
French  war. 

Joseph  Stebbins  place— Daniel  Belden,  1686 ;  self,  wife  and 
seven  children  killed,  wounded  or  captured,  1696 ;  Joseph  Steb- 
bins, captain  at  Bunker  Hill,  1775. 

Site  of  the  third  meetinghouse,  1696— (on  the  common). 

Site  of  the  fourth  meetinghouse,  1729^near  soldiers'  monu- 
ment. 

Site  of  the  fifth  meetinghouse,  1824 ;  weather  vane,  old  roos- 
ter, 1729. 

Old  Fort  well,  1689 ;  on  the  common. 

Old  Street  laid  out,  1671. 

Laura  Wells  place — ensign  John  Sheldon,  1687 ;  Old  Indian 
House,  torn  down,  1848. 

Lincoln  Wells  place — ^Benoni  Stebbins,  1677 ;  house  defended 
by  seven  men  and  a  few  women  against  the  French  and  Indians, 
February  29,  1703-4. 

Home  lot  Rev.  John  Williams,  1686. 

Old  corner  store,  military  headquarters  for  Korthem  Hamp* 
shire  county  in  French  wars  (on  academy  lot). 

Old  Hitchcock  place — ^Birthplace  of  Edwwl  Hitchcock,  bom 
1793 ;  died  1864,  a  leading  scientist  of  America. 


234  Fidd  Meeting— 1901. 

Whiting  place— Mehuman  Hinsdale,  bom  1673 ;  first  white 
man  bom  in  Deerfield ;  Samuel  Hinsdale  killed  with  Lothrop, 
1675. 

Champney  place— Timothy  Childs,  1718,  soldier  in  Queen 
Anne's  war,  captain  in  Father  Basle's  war ;  his  son,  Timothy, 
captain  in  French  war. 

Fogg  place— Jonathan  Wells,  1686 ;  boy  hero  of  the  Con- 
necticut valley,  1676 ;  commander  of  garrison,  1704 ;  house 
fortified  and  not  captured,  February  29, 1704. 

Horatio  Hoyt  sen.,  place — Sergt.  John  Hawks,  the  hero  of 
Fort  Massachusetts,  1746 ;  lieutenant  colonel  in  the  last  French 
war. 

Abercrombie  place — Dedham  church  lot,  1671. 

Arms  corner — William  Arms,  1698,  head  of  Arms  family 
in  America. 

Barnard  place — John  Arms,  1712 ;  house  fortified,  1744. 

Elizabeth  Wells  place — John  Catlin,  served  in  Father  Basle's 
war ;  captain  in  French  wars ;  died  in  the  service,  1758. 

Cyrus  Brown  place — John  Plympton,  1672,  captured  and 
burned  at  the  stake,  1677 ;  son  Jonathan  killed  with  Loth- 
rop,  1675. 

Site  of  the  old  Smead  place — William  Smead,  1671,  head  of 
the  Smead  family  in  America;  son  William  killed  with 
Lothrop,  1676. 

Miller  place — Qodtrej  Nims,  1692 ;  founder  of  Nims  family 
in  America.    House  burned  1694. 

C.  Alice  Baker  place— Samson  Frary,  1686,  killed,  1704 ;  north 
part  of  house  standing,  1698 ;  oldest  house  in  Franklin  county. 

Site  of  Old  Pocumtuck  tavern  opposite  the  common — ^William 
Williams,  1743 ;  lieutenant  colonel  at  Louisburg,  1746 ;  commis- 
sary store  for  northern  Hampshire,  1748. 

Orthodox  parsonage — Quintin  Stock  well,  1673,  house  forti- 
fied, 1676 ;  he  was  captured  and  carried  to  Canada,  1677. 

Yale  place — two  original  lots — Bobert  Hinsdale,  1671 ;  head  of 
Hinsdale  family  in  America ;  killed  with  three  sons  at  Bloody 
Brook,  1676 ;  Joseph  Gillett,  1672,  killed  with  Lothrop,  1676  ;son 
Joseph  captured,  1696 ;  Ethan  Allen's  father  born  here,  1708 ; 
Samuel  Barnard,  1711,  captain  in  Father  Basle's  War. 

Samuel  Childs  place — John  Allen  killed  at  Bloody  Brook, 
1676 ;  David  Field,  colonel  in  the  Bevolutionary  War ;  liberty 
pole  and  headquarters  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  1774. 


Hutoric  Spots.  235 

William  Sheldon  place — Joshua  Carter,  killed  at  Bloody 
Brook,  1675 ;  Daniel  Severance  killed  here,  1694 ;  Martin  and 
Joseph  Eellogg,  captains  in  Father  Basle's  war,  and  Province 
interpreters  to  the  Indians. 

Alien  place — Hannah  Beaman,  1687;  first  known  school 
dame;  pupils  attacked  by  Indians  under  Baron  St.  Oastine, 
1694 ;  left  estate  by  will  to  publi6  schools. 

Fort  Hill,  east  of  Unitarian  parsonage — ^Bluff  where  stood 
the  stronghold  of  the  Pocumtucks,  which  was  stormed  and  taken 
by  the  Mohawks,  1665. 

Unitarian  parsonage— Joseph  Clesson,  served  in  King  Wil- 
liam's and  Queen  Anne's  wars ;  lieutenant  in  Father  Basle's 
war ;  captain  in  French  war ;  died  in  service,  1753 ;  son  Matthew 
served  in  Father  Basle's  war ;  lieutenant  in  last  French  war ; 
died  in  service,  1756. 

Cowles  place— Ebenezer  Hinsdale,  1738  ;  chaplain  and  colonel 
in  French  wars ;  builder  of  Fort  Hinsdale,  and  founder  of  the 
town  of  Hinsdale  N.  H. 

Lydia  Stebbins  place— Nathaniel  Sutliffe,  1672;  killed  at 
Turners  Falls,  1676. 

This  is  Deerfield's  day,  one  of  the  great  days  in  the  history  of 
the  most  historic  of  western  Massachusetts  towns,  and  great 
because  it  is  devoted  to  the  fitting  establishment  of  permanent 
memorials  of  the  days  of  her  trial  and  heroism.  The  work  of 
her  venerable  historian  is  rounded  out  in  the  placing  of  the  stones 
which  shall  indicate  for  time  to  come  the  exact  sites  of  her  most 
notable  places  and  events,  which  he  has  largely  devoted 
his  life  to  making  familiar  to  the  present  generation.  Should 
the  Pocumtuck  Association  carry  no  further  its  work  of  arousing 
an  interest  in  the  heroic  deeds  of  the  fathers,  should  it  end  to- 
day its  attempt  to  place  these  events  and  the  brave  actors  in 
them  rightly  and  familiarly  before  the  world,  it  would  have 
grandly  served  the  purpose  of  its  founder,  and  richly  justified 
all  that  has  been  expended  of  effort  and  money  in  its  undertak- 
ings. Fortunately,  it  is  not  to-day  reaching  its  completion.  As 
town  after  town  has  felt  the  impulse  of  its  memorializing  and 
preserving  spirit,  there  has  developed  a  widening  field  for  such 
endeavor.  There  are  still  memorials  to  be  raised,  and  every 
stone  erected  offers  suggestions  of  the  good  yet  to  be  wrought. 

Of  the  significance  of  the  memorials  dedicated  to-day  in  the 
mother  town  of  our  region,  there  could  be  no  better  statement 


236  Fidd  Meeting— 1901. 

than  is  contained  in  the  report  of  the  monument  committee,  in 
which  a  devoted  daughter  of  the  old  families  has  set  forth  in 
remarkable  comprehensiveness  the  signal  facts  of  the  tragic  and 
romantic  story  of  the  town.  It  is  not  Deerfield's  fortune  alone, 
but  that  of  every  person  everywhere,  who  has  any  care  for  the 
preservation  of  the  old  Kew  England  character,  that  these 
memorials  are  so  fittingly  presented.  The  sacrifices  and  the 
personal  quality  of  the  pioneers  could  not  be  forgotten  without 
a  positive  loss  to  the  present  and  the  future.  So  it  is  that  this 
is  to  be  reckoned  among  the  great  days  in  the  annals  of  the 
town  and  of  Kew  England. 

The  exercises  began  in  the  morning  with  fife  and  drum  music 
by  Hiram  Willard  and  Albert  M.  Thompson  of  Greenfield. 
Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  G.  "W.  Solley,  the  chaplain  of  the 
day.  George  Sheldon,  the  venerable  president  of  the  Associa- 
tion, whose  idea  it  was  to  have  an  Old  Home  Week,  made  a 
brief  address  of  welcome,  and  turned  the  meeting  over  to  Judge 
Francis  M.  Thompson,  vice-president. 


ADDRESS  BY  JUDGE  THOMPSON. 

The  commander-in-chief  has  bid  you  all  welcome  to  the  fes- 
tivities of  this  "  Old  Home  Week,"  in  old  Deerfield.  I  know 
that  the  welcome  is  sincere,  and  tiiat  ^'  it  is  good  to  be  here." 
I  shall  speak  as  a  stranger,  and  not  as  an  officer  of  this  Associa- 
tion. We,  of  Greenfield,  know  what  a  welcome  to  old  Deer- 
field  means.  It  is  a  welcome  to  beautiful  scenery,  to  happy 
homes,  to  good  society,  highly  appreciative  of  art  and  literature, 
and  to  all  the  creature  comforts  which  are  good  for  man. 
Deerfield  has  been  welcoming  some  one  to  the  enjoyment  of 
her  garnered  stores  for  many  years.  Before  even  the  child 
was  named,  she  welcomed  the  agents  of  Pynchon,  in  1637,  when 
they  visited  her  to  purchase  succor  for  the  starving  settlers  in 
Connecticut,  and  the  Pocumtuck  chiefs  sent  fifty  canoe  loads  of 
corn  to  their  relief.  In  1666  she  welcomed  Lieutenant  Fisher 
and  the  land  hunters  of  Dedham,  who  coveted  her  rich  lands. 
In  1707  she  welcomed  back  Rev.  John  Williams,  "  The  Re- 
deemed Captive  "  upon  "  his  return  to  Zion."  In  1736  she  wel- 
comed Governor  Belcher,  the  Colonial  council,  the  committee 


Address  ly  Judge  Thompson.  237 

of  the  L^islature,  many  other  fine  gentlemen,  and  several  hun- 
dred Indians  of  the  Caoghnawaga,  St.  Francis,  Moheag,  Scauta- 
cook  and  Honsatonic  tribes  while  they  held  a  seven  days'  con- 
ference and  negotiated  a  treaty  of  peace.  From  1744  to  1760 
when  the  strife  was  ended  by  the  victory  of  Amherst  at  Mont- 
real, she  welcomed  to  this,  the  headquarters  of  the  frontier,  the 
oiBcers  and  men  who  risked  their  lives  in  the  straggle  against 
Canada.  In  1746  she  welcomed  Dr.  Thomas  Williams  and  his 
band  of  thirteen  men  who  were  sent  out  by  John  Hawks  from  Fort 
Massachusetts,  to  bring  relief  to  his  brave  Uttle  garrison.  Little 
they  dreamed  that  they  had  marched  unmolested  within  a  few 
feet  of  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  of  seven  hundred  ambushed 
French  and  Indians.  In  1755,  she  welcomed  and  entertained 
Col.  Ephraim  Williams,  while  he  formed  his  regiment  which 
was  decimated  at  Lake  Gleorge  on  the  morning  of  ^^  the  bloody 
scout."  In  1767  she  met  and  welcomed  her  trespassing  children 
from  Greenfield,  with  pitchforks,  rakes  and  cudgels,  as  they  at- 
tempted to  remove  the  hay  from  the  disputed  sequestered  lands. 
But  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  Greenfield  had  her  re- 
venge, and  perhaps  Deerfield  is  not  disconsolate.  In  1775  she 
welcomed  Benedict  Arnold  and  entertained  him  at  Frary 
house  as  he  sped  on  his  way  hoping  to  surprise  ^^  Old  Ti." 

For  thirty  years  the  good  people  of  the  town  have  been  wel- 
coming the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association,  and  freely 
providing  entertainment  fit  for  the  gods ;  and  now  she  bids  all 
her  children,  uncles  and  aunts,  welcome  to  the  festivities  of  this 
happy  occasion. 

Let  me  take  up  a  few  minutes  more  of  the  precious  hours  of 
this  day,  as  I  bear,  by  their  special  request,  a  message  from  the 
women  of  Deerfield. 

When  I  read  the  story  of  the  many  deeds  of  valor  performed 
by  the  sturdy  men  of  this  Pocumtuck  Valley,  in  their  struggle 
for  the  possession  of  this  beautiful  land,  I  sometimes  wonder  if 
there  were  any  women  in  those  days ;  so  little  has  been  written 
concerning  them,  and  of  their  lives,  and  so  little  credit  has  been 
given  them  for  the  important  share  they  bore  in  laying  broad 
and  deep  the  foundations  of  our  beloved  Commonwealth.  The 
..ritere  in  those  early  days  seem  not  to  have  had  the  experience 
of  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague,  who,  being  asked  upon  her 
return  from  a  voyage  around  the  world,  "  what  kind  of  people 
she  had  seen  "  replied,  ^^  I  met  two  kinds,  Men  and  Women."    I 


238  Held  Meeting— 1901. 

think  it  better,  on  an  oooasion  like  this,  that  the  old  Boman 
maxim,  ^^  say  nothing  bat  good  of  the  dead,"  should  be  para- 
phrased to,  '^  speak  nothing  but  good  of  woman,  or  keep  silence." 

But  happily,  in  this  case  silence  is  not  needed,  for  had  one  the 
eloquence  of  a  Beecher,  not  half  the  due  credit  could  be  given 
to  those  mothers  of  old,  who,  perhaps  when  the  mind  and  con- 
science were  yet  tender,  moulded  the  thoughts  of  their  sons  to 
high  ideals,  and  implanted  therein  the  seeds  of  upright  life 
which  in  after  years  made  them  strong  to  do  a  brave  man's 
work  in  the  world,  and  be  of  service  to  their  day  and  generation. 

The  constant  guard,  the  ranging  of  the  forest  trails,  done  by 
our  fathers  in  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold,  the  surprise  and 
the  fight  with  the  ambushed  foe,  were  not  the  only  battles 
fought  in  this  now  happy  valley,  in  those  old  days.  By  the 
ancient  hearthstones,  in  the  humble  home,  went  on  a  struggle 
more  fierce,  more  bitter,  more  heartrending  than  that  known 
upon  the  battlefield,  from  day  to  day  and  in  the  silent  watches 
of  the  night ;  where  women  bereft  of  their  protectors,  bravely 
did  their  work  without  complaint,  even  when  loved  ones  were 
brought  home  the  bleeding  victims  of  some  ambushed  foe. 

The  bravest  battle  that  was  ever  fought, 

Shall  I  teU  you  where  and  when? 
On  the  maps  of  the  world  you  will  find  it  not, 

Twas  fought  by  the  mothers  of  men. 

The  spirit  of  the  generation  in  which  they  lived,  is  well  ex- 
pressed in  Cromwell's  declaration  in  regard  to  his  army :  "  They 
had  the  fear  of  God  before  them,  and  made  conscience  of  what 
they  did."  So  with  our  New  England  mothers ;  they  drilled 
and  instilled  into  the  minds  of  their  sons  and  daughters  the 
principles  of  piety,  industry  and  frugality,  the  result  of  which 
has  caused  an  able  writer  to  say :  ^^  History  has  given  us  no 
record  of  a  people  so  eminently  intelligent,  thrifty,  energetic 
and  frugal,  who  have  submitted  these  qualities  so  absolutely  to 
the  control  of  a  strong  religious  faith,  and  allowed  the  distinc- 
tion between  right  and  wrong,  as  they  saw  and  felt  it,  to  domi- 
nate every  interest  in  life." 

It  is  said  that  the  lot  of  the  woman  in  the  olden  time  was 
hard,  that  ^'  the  woman's  heart  constantly  longed  for  a  kindlier 
and  tenderer  civilization,  and,  turning  away  from  the  stern 
days  in  which  she  lived,  prayed  that  her  children,  in  the  years 


Address  by  Judge  Thompson.  239 

to  oome,  might  find  a  better  life  and  a  gentler  lot ; "  and  a  Bos- 
ton woman  has  been  cmel  enough  to  say  that  the  women  of 
those  days  ^^  not  only  had  to  endure  the  same  trials  and  hard- 
ships which  the  fathers  did,  but  they  also  had  to  endure  the 
fathers  to  boot." 

n  those  old  mothers  were  anything,  they  were  religious; 
they  believed  the  Bible;  they  had  fuU  faith  that  what  was 
written  there  meant  what  it  said.  They  believed  in  the  provi- 
dences of  God,  and  their  faith  gave  them  enduring  courage. 

One  of  the  fathers  departing  one  day  on  a  journey  to  a  dis- 
tant field,  took  his  long  rifle  from  the  rack,  and  starting  for  the 
door,  his  wife  said,  "  My  dear,  why  do  you  take  that  gun  when 
you  go  out ;  don't  you  know  that  the  time  and  manner  of 
your  taking  oflf  was  fixed  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and 
that  the  rifle  can 't  vary  the  decree  one  hair's  breadth  ? "  "  That 
is  true,  my  dear  wife ;  I  don 't  take  my  rifle  to  vary^  but  to 
execute  the  decree.  What  if  I  should  meet  an  Indian  whose 
time  had  come,  according  to  the  decree,  and  I  didn't  have  my 
rifle  with  me  ? "  The  pious  woman  acknowledged  her  short- 
sightedness. 

Since  my  active  connection  with  our  beloved  society,  I  have 
had  occasion  to  study  the  wonderful  resources  of  the  women  of 
Deerfield.  The  shelves  of  our  libraries,  the  pages  of  our  peri- 
odicals and  magazines,  and  our  library  tables,  all  attest  the 
merit  of  the  daughters  of  the  old  town  in  art  and  literature. 
The  extensive  and  beautiful  collection  of  handiwork  now  on 
exhibition  at  the  Pratt  Memorial,  is  a  most  wonderful  confir- 
mation of  the  recognized  merit  of  the  ^^  Arts  and  Crafts  "  of  the 
town,  while  the  building  itself  is  not  only  a  deserved  monument 
to  a  noble  and  beloved  woman,  but  it  is  as  well  an  enduring 
token  of  the  loyalty  of  the  women  of  Deerfield,  who  caused 
its  erection.  Neither  can  I  forget  the  steady  devotion  of  these 
women  to  the  interests  of  our  Association.  I  can  well  say,  that 
the  women  of  this  generation  are  the  worthy  daughters  of 
noble  mothers. 

Long  before  Samuel  Hinsdale  had  turned  the  first  sod  in 
these  fertile  meadows,  this  had  been  the  home  of  the  Pocum- 
tucks.  Here  their  wily  Sachems  planned  the  subjugation  of 
the  Pequots,  which  they  would  have  accomplished  but  for  the 
intervention  of  the  English.  Near  by  stood  their  fort ;  they 
were  swelled  by  their  prowess  and  importance,  and  murdered 


240  Fidd  Meeting— 1901. 

the  embassy  sent  to  them  by  the  Mohawks.  The  Mohawks 
planned  revenge.  Secreting  a  large  body  of  warriors  upon 
Pine  Hill,  they  made  a  furious  attack  upon  the  Pocumtuck 
fort.  Boutedy  they  withdrew  across  the  meadow  toward  their 
ambushed  friends,  closely  followed  by  the  eager  Pocumtucks, 
who  fell  into  the  trap  set  for  them  and  suffered  a  crushing  de- 
feat Comparatively  few  were  left  at  the  time  of  the  coming 
of  the  English  settlers.* 

The  story  of  the  tragic  events  which  took  place  on  this  ground 
February  29, 1703-4  has  often  been  told  by  abler  pens  than 
mine.  I  have  to  do  with  one  actor  in  that  scene,  John  Sheldon, 
a  member  of  the  first  board  of  selectmen  of  Deerfield,  and  a 
principal  man  of  the  town. 

On  that  fearful  night,  his  house  stood  within  the  palisaded 
walls,  and  was  one  of  the  few  so  standing  which  was  not  de- 
stroyed. This,  **  The  Old  Indian  House,"  being  the  largest 
in  town,  together  with  the  meetinghouse  was  used  as  a  depot 
for  the  collection  of  the  captives,  and  their  preparation  for 
the  march  to  Canada.  Three  of  John  Sheldon's  children  and 
his  son's  wife  were  captured,  and  his  wife,  Hannah,  and  one 
child  kiUed. 

On  the  20th  of  December,  1704,  Capt.  John  Livingston  of 
Albany,  John  Sheldon  and  John  Wells  of  Deerfield  were  com- 
missioned by  Gh>vemor  Dudley  to  proceed  to  Canada  and  secure, 
if  possible,  the  release  of  the  captives.  Hannah  Belding,  the 
mother  of  John  Wells,  was  taken  captive,  but,  unknown  to  her 
son,  she  had  been  killed  upon  the  march. 

Armed  with  conciliatory  letters  to  Yaudreuil,  the  Gk>vemor 
of  Canada,  these  brave  men  set  forth  in  the  middle  of  winter, 
in  their  journey  by  unknown  paths,  over  Hoosac  mountain  and 
by  the  lakes,  for  Canada.  Miss  Baker  has  depicted  in  chaste 
and  glowing  words,  in  a  paper  upon  the  life  of  this  John  Shel- 
don, read  before  our  society,  the  terrible  hardships  endured  by 
these  daring  men.  Three  times  did  this  noble  man  make  th^ 
terrible  journey  to  the  frozen  north  for  the  rescue  of  his  fellow 
townsmen,  and  he  was  instrumental  in  the  return  of  Rev.  John 
Williams  and  one  hundred  and  twelve  others  from  their  savage 
bondage. 

Through  the  blood  of  this  old  hero,  mixed  with  the  blood  of 

*  The  storj  of  the  final  catastrophe  as  read  by  some,  differs  slightly 
from  the  abore.  pSDrroB.] 


Address  by  Judge  Thompson.  241 

Stebbins,  Chapin,  Arms  and  Hoyt,  comes  our  honored  president, 
George  Sheldon,  and  it  is  in  his  honor  that  I  am  invited  to 
speak.  Like  begets  like.  Deerfield  owes  great  honor  to  the 
memory  of  old  Ensign  John  Sheldon,  and  his  virtues  have  been 
most  charmingly  inscribed  upon  the  roU  of  fame.  The  people 
of  the  Connecticut  valley  owe  to  Gteorge  Sheldon  a  debt  of 
gratitude  as  deep  as  everlasting,  for  the  great  work  he  has 
accomplished  in  rescuing  from  oblivion  so  much  of  the  story  of 
the  olden  times.  As  the  years  roll  on  those  who  come  after  us 
will  more  and  more  appreciate  the  work  of  his  hands.  Practi- 
cally his  life  has  been  spent  in  this  labor  of  love.  He  has 
builded  to  himself  a  more  enduring  monument  than  granite, 
and  more  worthy  the  praises  of  men.  By  his  enthusiasm  Mr. 
Sheldon  created  a  sentiment  which  demanded  the  publication 
of  a  reliable  history  of  the  old  mother  town  of  Deerfield.  He 
instituted  a  systematic  search  for  the  necessary  information; 
family  traditions  were  sifted  and  compared,  the  records  of  the 
town,  the  courts,  the  churches,  and  the  voluminous  archives  of 
the  state  were  examined  and  transcribed  with  wonderful  fidelity. 
The  attics  of  old  homesteads  were  searched,  and  old  newspapers, 
old  diaries,  family  letters,  account  books  of  business  men  and 
miscellaneous  papers  of  all  kinds  sought  out  and  examined ; 
dates  and  statistics  compared,  and  data  from  every  conceivable 
source  which  bore  upon  the  early  history  of  the  town,  were 
made  use  of  to  complete  the  story  of  the  upbuilding  of  Deerfield. 
His  history  of  Deerfield  is  a  most  wonderful  work. 

Having  had  occasion  recently  to  examine  the  records  and  files 
in  the  Massachusetts  Archives,  I  was  struck  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  faithful  manner  in  which  Mr.  Sheldon  had  covered  the 
whole  ground,  leaving  little  for  his  successors  to  tell.  None 
but  a  master  hand  could  do  the  work,  and  no  master  hand  has 
done  better  work  in  local  history  than  George  Sheldon.  The 
work  of  all  these  years  has  been  a  labor  of  love,  for  it  has  been 
wholly  without  pecuniary  reward,  all  the  profits  of  the  publica- 
tion having  been  donated  to  the  treasury  of  our  Association. 

The  antiquarian  collection  in  Memorial  HaU  is  to  a  large  ex- 
tent the  result  of  Mr.  Sheldon's  personal  efforts. 

When  aided  by  others,  it  was  work  done  under  his  inspira- 
tion. The  financial  interests  of  our  Association  have  been  ad- 
mirably managed,  and  although  almost  without  endowment,  it 
is  on  solid  ground,  and  well  equipped  for  the  work  it  is  intended 
16 


242  Fidd  MeeUnji— 1901. 

to  do.  Mr.  Sheldon  has  written  many  papers  of  great  historic 
value,  and  some,  which  have  been  published  in  the  three  volumes 
of  the  Proceedings  of  our  Association,  have  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  celebrated  antiquarians. 

His  work,  and  the  success  of  his  work,  has  added  much  to  the 
celebrity  of  the  old  town,  and  the  unique  antiquarian  collection 
at  Memorial  Hall,  attracts  the  attention  of  many  people  from 
afar,  who  are  surprised  at  its  extent  and  value. 

With  a  vivid  conception  of  the  high  honor  conferred  upon  me 
by  the  women  of  Deerfield,  I  take  great  pleasure  in  tendering 
to  you,  Mr.  President,  in  their  name,  their  deepest  and  most 
sincere  thanks  for  the  noble  work  which  you  have  performed 
for  the  enduring  good  of  the  people  of  this  grand  old  town,  and 
to  express  for  them,  their  love  and  devotion  and  the  hope  that 
your  years  may  yet  be  many,  and  that  you  may  fully  realize 
that  your  labors  have  not  been  in  vain,  and  that  your  work  is 
fully  appreciated  by  your  fellow  townsmen. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Judge  Thompson's  remarks,  there  was 
singing  by  a  choir  under  Charles  H.  Ashley.  The  report  of  the 
committee  on  memorial  stones  was  then  presented. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  MONUMENTS. 

BY  J.   M.   ASMS   SHELDON. 

It  is  fitting  that  this  opening  year  of  the  twentieth  century 
should  set  an  indelible  seal  upon  the  worthy  deeds  of  our  fathers. 
We,  as  a  people,  are  waking  to  the  truth  that  it  is  our  impera- 
tive duty  to  preserve  the  history  of  early  New  England  life. 
And  why  is  this  duty  imperative  ?  Because  the  history  of  our 
forefathers,  rightly  interpreted  is  an  inspiration  to  both  young 
and  old ;  because  the  present  can  be  read  clearly  and  intelligibly 
only  by  the  light  of  the  past ;  and,  more  than  this,  because  it  is 
only  by  preserving  all  that  is  pure  and  heroic  in  the  past  and 
the  present  that  the  future  will  be  able  to  realize  its  largest  and 
best  possibilities.  Therefore,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  sentiment 
only,  but  it  is  the  highest  wisdom,  in  accordance  with  the  most 
far-reaching  utilitarian  policy  that  leads  us  to  engrave  on  en- 
during stone  the  annals  of  an  earlier  time. 


Report  of  the  OommUtee  on  JUontmhonts.  243 

For  these  reasons,  we,  to-day,  pledge  ourselves  anew  to  guard 
well  these  ancient  hearthstones,  to  protect  these  grand  old  trees, 
and  to  treasure  the  homely  implements  of  husbandry  and  the 
household,  the  time-stained  manuscripts,  the  relics  of  every  kind 
that  tell  us  of  Pocumtuck  and  the  Deerfield  of  old. 

When  we  contemplate  the  events  occurring  in  this  town  dur- 
ing the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  a  few  pictures 
stand  out  in  bold  relief.  Let  us  look  at  these  in  the  order  of 
their  chronology  that  we  may  thus  preserve  the  sequence  of 
events  from  1676  to  1788. 

The  first  picture  is  of  a  lad  of  16  years  who  in  Philip^s  War 
was  a  soldier  under  Captain  Turner  at  the  Falls  of  Peskeompskut. 
Strong  and  clear-headed  in  battle,  full  of  resources  in  extremest 
peril,  Jonathan  WeUs  may  truly  be  called  a  "  Boy  Hero."  No 
one  can  read  his  story  without  noting  his  ^^  bravery  and  cool- 
ness when  attacked ;  his  knightly  courtesy  in  stopping  in  his 
flight  to  rescue  Belding ;  his  thoughtfulness  for  those  behind, 
and  judgment  in  pleading  with  Captain  Turner  to  keep  his 
command  in  a  body ;  his  humanity  in  releasing  his  horse ;  his 
resignation  when  lying  down  to  die ;  his  forethought  in  putting 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  foe  his  powder  horn  and  bullets ;  his 
courage  in  preparing  for  one  more  shot;  his  expedient  for 
lighting  a  fire  to  keep  off  the  insects;  his  self-possession  in 
building  a  fire  to  lie  down  by  after  his  narrow  escape  from  be- 
ing burned  to  death  ....  his  persistent  care  for  his  gun  and 
ammunition  ;  his  ingenuity  in  saving  himself  when  in  the  very 
jaws  of  the  enemy ;  his  fortitude  under  the  discouragements  by 
the  way,  and  his  expedients  for  overcoming  them ;  his  rever- 
ence and  care  for  the  dead  at  Bloody  Brook.  Here  stand  clearly 
revealed  traits  of  the  noblest  character  in  a  lad  ripened  to  self- 
reliance  by  the  exigencies  of  frontier  life."  As  we  shall  learn 
later,  the  sequel  of  the  boy's  story  was  written  in  fire,  Febru- 
ary 29, 1703-4. 

In  1695,  nineteen  years  after  the  Falls  Fight,  Joseph  Barnard, 
a  public-spirited  citizen,  was  serving  Deerfield  as  town  clerk. 
This  was  his  eighth  year  in  office.  He  had  also  been  elected 
townsman  in  1689,  and  a  representative  to  the  General  Court 
in  1692  and  1693.  Nineteen  times  he  had  acted  as  moderator  in 
town  meeting.  Other  important  duties  had  devolved  upon  him. 
With  Joshua  Pomroy  he  had  been  sent  to  Ipswich  in  search  of 
a  minister  for  the  ^^  plantation,"  and  his  name  appears  on  a  pe- 


244  Fitld  Meeiinff— 1901. 

tdtion  to  the  Gleneral  Oourt,  ^'  In  y^  name  &  behalf  of  y^  In- 
habitants of  DearfcL" 

On  a  summer  morning  in  1695,  Barnard,  with  three  compan- 
ions, rode  down  the  Street  on  horsebaok,  sitting  astride  the 
bags  of  com  which  was  to  be  ground  at  Mill  Biver,  three  miles 
away.  At  the  house  of  Captain  Jonathan  WeUs,  whom  as  a 
boy  we  ahready  know,  they  halted,  for  the  captain  was  already 
out  to  greet  them.  ^^  By  some  subtle  and  mysterious  influence," 
says  our  historian,  ^^  Captain  Wells,  the  commander  of  the  town, 
had  the  night  before  been  warned  of  impending  danger  from 
the  Indians,  and  had  passed  a  sleepless  and  watchful  night  in 
consequence.  On  seeing  the  mill  party  riding  down  the  Street, 
he  went  out  to  stop  them.  He  could  give  no  substantial  reason 
for  his  order.  The  bright  morning  sunshine  may  have  weak- 
ened his  nocturnal  impressions,  and  seeing  Mr.  Barnard,  whom 
he  thought  to  be  a  prudent  man,  he  let  them  go  on.  The 
stone  at  Indian  Bridge,  which  we  dedicate  to-day  tells  the  story 
of  the  tragic  event  that  followed  : 

Joseph  Barnard, 
Godfrey  Nims,  Henry  White 

and  Philip  Mattoon, 

going  to  mill  on  horseback, 

were  here  fired  upon 

by  Indians  in  ambush 

Aug.  21,  1696. 

Barnard  was  mortally  wotmded 

and  died  Sept.  6. 

He  was  the  first  Town  Clerk  and 

"A  veiy  vseful  &  helpful  man  in  y«  place." 

These  words  of  appreciation  are  quoted  from  a  letter  of  John 
PynchoD,  written  September  13,  seven  days  after  the  death  of 
Joseph  Barnard. 

It  is  in  honor  of  good  citizenship  that  this  memorial  stone  is 
erected  by  a  descendant  of  Joseph  Barnard,  James  M.  Barnard 
of  Boston,  a  gentleman  who  takes  keen  delight  in  advancing 
good  causes. 

In  1698,  three  years  after  Joseph  Barnard  was  killed,  Wil- 
liam Arms,  the  first  by  the  name  in  this  country,  came  to  Deer- 
field  and  built  a  house  on  the  east  corner  lot  at  the  south  end 
of  the  Street.  Here  were  born  five  sons  (three  of  whom  grew 
to  manhood)  and  four  daughters.  Excepting  the  years  from 
1828  to  1841  that  part  of  this  old  homestead  on  which  the  house 


Meport  of  the  CommiUee  on  MowumenU.  245 

stood  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  descendants  who  hold  it  to- 
day as  a  predoas  heirloom.  The  memorial  stone  nutrlring  this 
home  lot  bears  the  inscription : 

Homestead  of  William  Arms 

1698 

Founder  of  the 

Arms  Family  in  America. 

This  stone  is  erected  by  Mrs.  Ellen  Arms  Sheldon  and  Miss 
Avice  S.  Arms,  direct  descendants  of  William  Arms  through  his 
son  DanieL 

We  now  come  to  the  blackest  page  in  the  history  of  our  old 
town.  We  shudder  at  the  horror  of  that  awful  night  of  Feb- 
ruary 29,  1703-4.  The  tragic  tale  is  well  known  to  you  all. 
Those  within  our  borders  have  heard  it  from  childhood,  and 
strangers  have  learned  it  from  their  school  books.  You  know 
of  the  little  settlement  of  about  300  souls ;  of  the  stealthy  ap- 
proach of  the  barbarous  French  and  Indians  across  the  river 
and  meadows  on  our  west ;  of  the  ladder  of  drifted  snow  against 
the  palisades ;  of  the  sleeping  sentinel ;  the  fiendish  carnage ; 
the  slaughter  of  infants ;  the  capture  of  111  men,  women  and 
children ;  the  burning  houses  and  the  48  left  dead. 

Amidst  this  wreckage  of  human  homes  and  human  hearts  the 
sturdy  house  of  Ensign  John  Sheldon  stood  firm — it  would  not 
yidd,  neither  would  it  bum.  A  wave  of  sorrow  sweeps  over  us 
when  we  are  forced  to  accept  the  unwelcome  truth  that  this 
resolute  old  veteran  was  ruthlessly  laid  low  in  1848.  But  to- 
day we  do  all  that  is  left  us  to  do— we  honor  its  memory  and 
place  a  memorial  with  this  inscription : 


SiTB  OF  THB 

Old  Indian  Houbb 

Built  by  Ensign  John  Sheldon,  1008. 

It  stood  for  144  yean 

testifying  to  the  tragedy  of 

Feb.  29,  1703-4. 

Its  stout  door  which  kept  at  bay 

the  French  and  Indians 

is  now  safe  in  Memorial  Hall 

where  its  hatchet-hewn  face 

still  tells  the  tale  of 

that  fateful  ni^t. 


346  Fidd  Meeting— 1901. 

Contributions  to  this  stone  have  been  received  from  Ellen 
Chase,  Margaret  Marshall,  Anna  C.  Kenyon,  S.  Willard  Sax- 
ton,  Ellen  L.  Sheldon,  John  Sheldon  and  others. 

Close  by  the  Old  Indian  House  on  that  dread  night  the  mag- 
nificent pluck  of  our  forefathers  and  foremothers  was  proving 
itself  equal  to  the  appalhng  emergency.  Proudly  we  dedicate 
the  stone  which  will  tell  to  future  generations  liiis  marvelous 
tale  of  valor : 

Feb.  29, 1703-4. 

The  unfortified  house  of  Benoni  Stebbiii8» 
standing  on  this  lot,  was  held  by 

"7  men,  besides  women  and  children" 

for  three  hours 

against  the  assault  of  200  soldiers 

and  the  wiles  of  140  Indians 

under  a  French  officer  of  the  line. 

Stebbins  was  killed 

Mary  Hoyt  and  one  man  wounded. 

When  forced  to  draw  off 

The  French  had  lost  their  lieutenant 

and  the  Indians  their  chief. 

How  we  exult  in  this  gallant  defense  of  a  mere  handful  of 
men  and  women  against  a  horde  of  savages !  Less  brave  souls 
would  have  said,  ^'  It  is  useless,  it  is  folly  to  oppose  Fate."  Kot 
so  with  our  fathers.  They  were  made  of  a  different  mettle,  and 
the  ring  of  that  mettle  resounds  through  time,  quickening  us, 
their  descendants,  to  ceaseless  and  courageous  action,  as  neces- 
sary in  times  of  peace  as  of  war. 

Already  the  home  of  Rev.  John  Williams,  the  beloved  pastor, 
"  guide,  counselor  and  friend,"  had  been  pillaged,  two  of  his 
little  ones  murdered,  and  he  with  his  wife  and  five  children  cap- 
tured. Through  the  heartrending  agony  of  these  scenes,  and 
of  his  long  captivity  in  Canada,  it  may  truly  be  said  of  John 
Williams  that  "  By  faith  he  endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is  in- 
visible." On  his  return  to  Deerfield  his  people  built  him  an- 
other house  which — ^let  us  rejoice  with  exceeding  great  joy — 
is  still  standing.  The  memorial  on  the  Williams  homestead 
gives  this  interesting  history : 


Report  of  the  OommitUe  on  Monutnenta.  817 

This  lot  with  a  houBe  42  l^  20 

ma  given  by  the  settlers  in  1686  to 

Rev.  John  Williams 

the  first  settled  minister. 

Family  captured  and  house  burned 

l^  De  RouviUe,  1704. 

Present  house  built  in  1707  for 

"The  Redeemed  Captive." 

Here  he  died,  1729. 

Erected  by  the 

Pocumtuok  Valley  Memorial  Assodation 

July  31, 1901. 

Although  ^^  The  Great  Fort "  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French 
and  Indians,  the  fortified  house  or  fort  of  Captain  Jonathan 
Wells  towards  the  south  end  of  the  Street,  was  not  taken,  and 
this  served  as  a  refuge  for  the  survivors.  The  memorial  stone 
is  erected  by  the  children  of  Deerfield  in  honor  of  the  ^^  Boj 
Hero  "  of  Philip's  War,  and  also  to  mark  the  site  of  the  fort 
The  inscription  reads  thus : 


Here  stood  the  palisaded  house 

of 

Captain  Jonathan  Wells 

to  which  those 

esoi^ing  the  fury  of  the  savages 

fled  for  safety,  Feb.  29, 1703-4. 

Jonathan  was  the 

**Boy  Hero  of  the  Connecticut  VaUey'' 

1676  and 
Commanded  in  the  Meadow  H^t, 

1704. 

Erected  l^ 

The  Children  of  Deerfield. 

1901. 

It  is  peculiarly  fitting  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  youth 
of  this  old  town  which,  be  it  said,  reaches  out  beyond  our 
territorial  limits,  should  find  lasting  expression  in  a  memo- 
rial stone ;  and  who  can  tell  what  inspirations  shall  be  born  this 
day  that  shall  lead  to  strong,  efficient  action  in  future  years. 

Only  the  silence  that  is  too  profound  for  spoken  word  can  ad- 


248  Fidd  MeeHnff— 1901. 

eqoately  portray  the  soene  when  the  beloved  dead  of  that  crael 
massacre  were  laid  to  rest  in  yonder  burial  ground.  Well  nigh 
200  years  have  passed  since  then.  To-day  the  grassy  monnd  is 
reared,  and  on  its  summit  is  placed  the  monumental  stone,  hewn 
from  the  very  foundation  rock  of  our  valley.  On  one  of  the 
faces  of  this  memorial  are  engraved  the  simple,  impressive 
words: 

The  Dead  of  1704. 

On  the  opposite  face : 

The  Gnve  of 

48  Men  Women  and 

Children,  yiotini0 

of  the  French  and 

Indian  Raid  on 

Deerfield 

February  29, 1704. 

The  list  of  the  slain  includes  the  names  of  families  that  were 
prominent  in  the  early  history  of  New  England,  whose  descend- 
ants have  filled  places  of  trust  and  honor  in  the  state  and  nation. 
These  names  are  Alexander,  Boltwood,  Carter,  Catlin,  Field, 
Frary,  French,  Hawks,  Hoy t,  Hinsdale,  Ingersol,  Kellogg,  Mat- 
toon,  Nims,  Price,  Boot,  Sheldon,  Smead,  Smith,  Stebbins, 
Wells,  Williams.  This  monument  is  erected  by  Miss  0.  Alice 
Baker  of  Deerfield  and  Cambridge,  a  descendant  of  Joseph  Cat- 
lin, one  of  the  seven  brave  defenders  of  the  Benoni  Stebbins 
house,  who,  pursuing  the  enemy,  was  killed  in  the  Meadow 
Fight^  and  was  buried  with  the  48  in  the  common  grave. 

Scenes  of  utter  woe  must  change — Nature  has  so  decreed. 
The  dauntless  settlers  in  time  picked  up  the  broken  threads  of 
their  lives,  and  again  they  sowed  and  reaped.  In  1708  Ensign 
John  Sheldon  bought  a  home  lot  near  the  north  end  of  the  Street 
for  his  son  John.  Before  1743  the  house  now  standing  was 
built.  It  is  indeed  rare  when  a  homestead  remains  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  family  for  nearly  200  years,  and  such  a  homestead, 
wherever  found,  deserves  to  be  appropriately  marked. 

It  is  with  the  strong  conviction  that  this  memorial  will  help 
on  the  good  cause  of  the  preservation  of  ancestral  homes  that 
it  is  erected  and  engraved  with  this  inscription : 


Beport  of  the  Committee  on  Monuments.  249 

Sheldon  Homestead. 
Bought  by  John  Sheldon,  1708. 
Handed  down  from  sire  to  son 
to  the  present  owner. 


Longest  holding  of  any  estate  in 
Franklin  County. 


Erected  1901. 

The  pilgrim  seeking  historic  landmarks,  who  pauses  to  read 
this  inscription,  will  feel  a  deeper  love  for  the  home  of  his  fathers, 
and  a  stronger  desire  to  preserve  that  home  from  the  hands  of 
the  spoiler. 

Of  the  pre-Eevolutionary  families  who  occupied  homesteads  on 
Old  Deerfield  Street  six  still  hold  their  ancestral  acres.  Of  the 
21  pre-Kevolutionary  houses  now  standing  on  the  Street  two  are 
owned  and  occupied  by  the  descendants  of  the  builders.  These 
are  the  homesteads  of  John  Sheldon  and  Joseph  Stebbins.  Steb- 
bins  was  a  young  man  of  twenty-five  when  Samuel  Adams 
breathed  into  this  American  people  the  breath  of  a  new  life. 
It  was  a  time  when  the  question  for  prompt  decision  lay  be- 
tween righteous  war  and  unrighteous  peace.  Though  more 
than  a  century  has  passed  we  have  not  yet  reached  a  stage  in 
the  evolutionary  history  of  the  race  when  arbitration,  the 
cherished  ideal  of  individuals,  has  become  a  national  realiza- 
tion. The  men  of  the  Revolution  knew  that  it  is  only  by 
granting  the  largest  freedom  that  the  fullest  development  is 
possible.  Therefore  they  fought  till  freedom  was  won  for 
themselves  and  for  us,  their  descendants. 

As  we  walk  toward  the  north  end  of  the  Old  Street  we  pass 
on  the  right  a  bowlder  upon  which  we  read : 

Liberty  Pole 

Planted  here  by  the  Patriots 

July  29,  1774. 

This  appropriate  bowlder  was  found  and  drawn  to  its  present 
position  by  Edward  J.  Everett. 

Nearly  opposite  is  the  homestead  of  Joseph  Stebbins,  a  leader 
of  the  Patriots.  His  grand  old  house  still  stands  in  all  its  prim- 
itive simplicity — a  spacious  and  restful  home.    How  the  blood 


250  Fidd  Meeting— 1901. 

quickens  in  my  veins  as  I  read  this  tribute  to  my  great  grand- 
father : 

Home  of  Joeeph  Stebbins 

bom  1749,  died  1816. 

A  lover  of  liberty 

and  a  servant  of  hia  country. 


Lieutenant  of  Minute  Men 

who  marched  on  the  Lexington  alarm. 

Captain  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  HilL 

Fought  at  Stillwater  and  Bemis  Heights. 

He  led  a  force  of  volunteers 

across  the  Hudson 

near  Fort  Bfiller  and  captured  an  outpost 

in  the  rear  of  Buigoyne. 


CommiBwioned  Colonel  of  Bfilitia,  1788. 


His  descendants  honor  his  memory 
and  cherish  his  old  home. 

Mr.  President)  it  is  with  gladness  I  submit  this  report.  It  is 
indeed  fortnnate  that  yon  who  have  lived,  as  you  say,  200  years 
in  Deerfieldy  who  have  written  its  history,  and  kept  its  b^t  in- 
terests close  to  your  heart,  should  be  able  with  the  cooperation 
of  friends,  of  townspeople  and  'Uhe  children"  to  ere^^  these 
memorial  stones  which  shall  hand  down  to  generations  yet  un- 
born the  name  and  the  fame  of  dear,  historic  Old  Deerfield. 

Prof.  Henry  H.  Barber  was  introduced  and  said  in  part:  The 
Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association  holds  its  Field  Meet- 
ing tliis  year  in  this  old  town  of  its  inception  and  central  his- 
toric interest.  For  several  years  past  its  summer  meetings  have 
been  held  at  points  that  mark  the  sites  of  Indian  fights  or  mas- 
sacres at  Northfield,  Charlemont,  Colrain,  Greenfield  or  Turners 
Falls,  where  suitable  memorial  stones  have  from  time  to  time 
been  erected  and  dedicated. 

To-day,  the  wishes  and  labors  of  this  Society,  and  of  its  founder 
are  fulfilled  in  the  erection  of  monuments  at  points  of  special 
interest  in  this  vicinity.  The  descendants  of  those  who  had 
part  in  the  tragic  scenes  of  the  early  days  have  loyally  and  gen- 
erously joined  to  make  this  notable  and  permanent  record,  on 
the  spots  made  historic  by  the  brave  deeds  and  bitter  sufferings 


PocunUuck  Valley  in,  the  World  ^8  Arena.  251 

of  their  anoestors.  Yesterday's  beautiful  ride  took  us  to  the 
outlying  places  of  early  Indian  fight  or  massacre,  where  we 
dedicated  memorial  stones,  or  visited  anew  the  spots  already 
dedicated  to  the  memory  of  those  who  fell  by  slaughter  or  sur- 
prise. Kow,  we  give  a  day  in  the  midst  of  the  delightful  in- 
tercourse and  associations  of  Home  Week  to  the  memories  and 
inspirations  connected  with  the  monuments  that  have  just  been 
erected  in  this  Street  and  its  neighborhood.  Their  story  has 
been  adequately  and  beautifully  told  in  our  hearing  this  morn- 
ing. As  we  dedicate  these  stones,  we  are  summoned  to  the  fel- 
lowship of  heroic  worth,  and  strenuous  deeds  of  courage  and 
sacrifice,  and  high  service  of  our  country  and  our  time.  These 
memorial  tablets  stand  here  to  speak  to  us  of  manful  work  and 
womanly  endurance  in  this  valley  long  generations  before  we 
came.  They  will  stand  to  tell  the  story  of  old-time  enterprise, 
character  and  religious  purpose  to  other  generations  after  we 
are  gone.  May  the  lessons  they  teach  be  well  learned  by  us ; 
and,  joined  with  the  later  lessons  the  instructive  centuries  are 
brining,  of  .  larger )«.««.  .mo«  eoUghteoed  Wth, .  h,m»er 
social  and  civic  order,  help  to  inspire  us,  and  our  posterity,  for 
a  sweeter  and  purer  home  life,  a  nobler  ideal  of  social  and  polit- 
ical duty  and  a  higher  and  truly  Christian  civilization. 

After  singing  by  the  choir,  the  following  eloquent  historical 
address  was  given  by  Dr.  Albert  £.  Winship  of  Boston. 


POOUMTUOK  VALLEY  IN  THE  WOELD'S  AEENA. 

BY  DB.   ALBERT  B.   WINSHIP. 

Nearly  seventy  years  ago  Edward  Everett  delivered  his  most 
oft-recited  oration  on  such  an  occasion  as  this  under  the  inspi- 
ration of  Sugar  Loaf.  Other  historical  addresses  were  de- 
livered occasionally  up  to  1870,  since  which  time  one  generation 
has  annually  assembled  in  midsummer  to  kindle  anew  historic 
pride  and  patriotic  devotion  at  the  embers  which  have  been  so 
tenderly  cherished  by  George  Sheldon  in  his  exhaustive  and  in- 
teresting "History  of  Deerfield."  Thirty  men  suspected  of 
being  specialists  or  experts  have  fanned  these  embers  in  the 
morning,  and  more  than  100  more  brilliant  orators  have  swung 
their  flaming  after-dinner  torches,  kindled  by  the  morning 
effort    Thus,  before  and  after  the  lunch  baskets,  for  80  years 


252  Fidd  Meeting— 1901. 

some  200  men  have  talked  upon  the  same  subjeot,  using  the 
same  material,  expecting  the  same  audience  to  appear  to  won- 
der and  admire.  These  addresses  have  all  been  published  and 
more  or  less  read  by  the  same  persons  who  heard  them.  It  is 
no  enviable  task  assigned  one  to  start  a  new  generation  of 
speeches  with  the  same  old  generation  of  listeners,  thereby  set- 
ting the  pace  for  a  new  century  of  celebrations  with  only  one 
advantage.  I  am  not  a  native  of  the  valley  and  have  never 
before  attended  these  historical  festivities. 

A  supreme  demand  which  the  twentieth  century  makes  upon 
those  who  were  unfortunate  enough  to  pass  the  meridian  of  life 
in  the  nineteenth  is  that  we  shall  appreciate  the  fact  that  every 
important  event  is  a  part  of  the  movement  that  is  eternal  as 
well  as  universal.  It  took  the  Pocumtuck  valley  more  than  a 
century  to  realize  its  citizens  were  being  scalped,  its  houses 
burned,  and  its  crops  laid  waste  for  the  amusement  of  kings 
and  queens,  of  weak  men  and  bad  women  in  European  courts 
who  never  so  much  as  inquired  whether  there  was  such  a  val- 
ley on  the  face  of  the  globe.  Then  it  took  more  than  another 
century  for  the  valley  to  understand  that  it  had  any  responsi- 
bility for  the  starving  of  reconcentrados  or  for  the  massacres 
by  the  Boxers.  How  can  the  century  be  more  fittingly  initi- 
ated into  Pocumtuck  mysteries  than  by  studying  the  eternal 
and  universal  sweep  of  all  important  and  local  actions  ?  Where 
can  such  a  study  be  more  appropriately  suggested  than  in  this 
loveliest  of  valleys,  where  a  larger  percentage  of  the  population 
was  killed  or  captured,  and  the  homes  and  crops  oftener  de- 
stroyed than  in  any  equal  area  in  the  New  World?  What 
people  could  famish  as  good  an  illustration  as  your  fathers,  who 
were  merely  pawns  for  kings  and  queens,  knights  and  bishops 
of  the  Old  World,  being  massacred  or  taken  into  captivity  until 
that  noble  hour  in  1759,  when  they  realized  that  their  history 
had  not  been  written  upon  Sugar  Loaf,  but  in  the  Pyrenees ; 
that  their  battle  ground  was  not  in  the  Pocumtuck  valley,  but 
on  the  Heights  of  Abraham.  The  world's  progress  is  by  the 
majestic  strides  of  great  events,  which  are  largely  the  result  of 
the  impulse,  the  imitative  spirit,  or  the  purpose  of  peoples.  Noth- 
ing is  more  irresistible  than  the  impulsiveness  of  a  peerless 
nation.  From  the  time  when  the  first  Palm  Sunday  was  soon 
followed  by  the  cracifixion,  by  the  change  of  the  impulse  of  an 
intense  people,  to  the  day  when  the  American  Congress  forgot 


Pooumtuck  VaJley  in,  the  World  ^8  Arena.  253 

all  partisan  prejadioes  and  sectional  strife  in  one  wild  unani- 
mous vote  for  the  Cuban  war,  impulse  has  been  a  prominent 
factor  in  human  history. 

The  imitative  tendency  of  human  nature  is  as  uncontrollable 
as  impulse.  At  the  Twentieth  Century  Club,  recentiy,  a  schol- 
arly gentieman  argued,  with  exhaustless  data,  that  the  proposed 
charter  for  Greater  New  York  was  all  wrong  because  it  intro- 
duced features  not  provided  for  in  the  original  charter  of  Lon- 
don, granted  by  "William  the  Conqueror  in  1067.  And  this  is 
but  the  exaggeration  of  what  one  finds  continually  in  history 
and  in  some  who  are  not  as  yet  historic  characters. 

Occasionally  one  discovers  a  people  that  has  moved  between 
the  dangers  of  impulse  and  the  humiliation  of  imitators  of  the 
fathers,  and  such  we  find  in  the  history  of  the  Pocumtuck  val- 
ley. The  story  of  this  people  in  1670  and  1759  is  one  of  the 
noblest  exemplifications  of  exalted  purpose  in  distinction  from 
impulsive  and  imitative  tendencies.  The  settiement  of  this 
valley  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  the  experiences  of 
American  pioneers.  The  Connecticut  valley  was  America's 
first  attempt  at  expansion.  The  motives  which  have  always 
actuated  people  in  their  expanding  tendencies  are  rivalry,  hope 
of  better  material  conditions,  religious  dissensions,  or  some 
noble  purpose.  All  of  these  in  time  inspired  the  English  of 
Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay  to  expand  into  the  Connecti- 
cut valley.  Rivalry  was  the  first  cause  of  activity.  There 
was  not  the  slightest  desire  to  go  from  the  bay  to  the  valley 
until,  in  1633,  some  one  brought  word  that  the  Dutch  of  New 
York  had  erected  a  fort  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  and  then 
William  Holmes  of  Plymouth  could  not  sleep  peacefully  until 
he  had  framed  a  building,  loaded  it  upon  a  sloop  and  sailed  de- 
fiantly above  the  fort  and  established  a  trading  post  near  Wind- 
sor. Soon  it  was  reported  that  the  valley  lands  were  in  strik- 
ing contrast  with  the  sands  of  Cape  Cod,  and  in  1635,  there 
were  60  men,  women  and  children,  with  cattle  and  household 
goods  on  the  move  to  Windsor  in  search  of  better  material  con- 
ditions for  a  home.  It  was  only  about  100  miles,  and  yet  it 
took  them  14  days,  three  times  as  long  as  it  now  takes  to  go  to 
the  Golden  Gate.  Of  course  their  ideals  of  better  condition 
required  navigation,  and  the  charming,  fertile  valleys  above 
Holyoke  had  no  interest  for  them.  The  church  dissensions 
came  to  the  assistance  of  the  valley.    There  was  a  popular  pastor 


254  Fidd  MeeHng— 1901. 

at  Wethersfield  who  aroused  much  opposition  in  his  own  ohorch, 
and  possibly  some  jealousy  in  neighboring  churches,  so  that  in 
1659  he  had  to  leave  his  church,  but  many  loyal  men  and  more 
loyal  women  went  with  him,  and  braved  the  non-commercial 
conditions  above  navigation,  and  the  beautiful  valley  was  set- 
tled as  far  as,  and  in  Hadley.  Even  now  the  lovely  Pocumtuck 
valley  had  no  charms.  One  man  who  had  come  into  posses- 
sion of  450  acres  offered  to  sell  it  for  six  pence  an  acre,  and 
agreed  to  take  two-fifths  of  his  pay  in  com,  and  three-fifths  in 
cows,  but  even  this  was  no  temptation.  It  remained  unim- 
proved until  through  complications  resulting  from  the  philan- 
thropic purpose  of  the  apostle  John  Eliot,  8000  acres  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  town  of  Dedham. 

The  friends  who  rallied  about  Eliot  felt  keenly  the  limitations 
at  Boxbury  and  moved  to  Nonantum  (Newton),  and  even  here 
the  conditions  were  not  satisfactorjr  and  the  Indian  colony  was 
removed  to  Natick.  After  a  time  Dedham  claimed  this  as  a 
part  of  their  town  and  were  unwilling  that  they  should  remain. 
An  appeal  to  state  authorities  was  taken  and  the  decision  made 
that  Dedham  should  have  in  exchange  8000  acres  iu  the  Pocum- 
tuck valley ;  an  '^  artiste  "  was  employed  to  come  here  and  make 
a  plan  of  the  town  with  streets  and  farms,  after  which  Dedham 
men  drew  lots  for  farms  in  the  Pocumtuck  valley,  and,  by  1675, 
25  families  had  erected  houses  and  barns  and  put  in  their  crops. 
Friendship  for  the  Indians  had  dictated  the  home-makiug  of 
this  people  at  Newton  and  Natick  by  the  English,  and  now  the 
resultant  events  have  brought  the  English  to  Deerfield.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  have  come  and  gone  since  those  noble 
men,  women  and  children,  and  aU  their  belongings  settied  at 
Pocumtuck,  and  time  and  again  were  the  houses  burned  by  the 
merciless  red  man,  and  season  after  season  were  their  crops 
destroyed  by  this  same  foe  just  as  they  were  ready  for  harvest^ 
leaving  them  more  than  once  without  seed  for  the  next  sowing, 
and  yet  never  in  230  years  have  these  men,  their  children  and 
their  children's  children  failed  to  maintain  the  beauty  of  Old 
Deerfield  Street  or  to  have  pride  in  the  work  of  that  "  artiste  *' 
in  1670.  Scarcely  has  one  line  laid  out  by  him  been  changed 
through  eight  generations. 

Why  should  a  settlement  under  such  conditions  have  suffered 
more  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians  than  any  other  in  all  this  broad 
land  {    Why  could  not  these  noble  men  and  women  have  lived 


Pooumtfuoh  YaUey  in  the  WorWs  Arena.  256 

as  peacefully  with  the  Indians  they  sought  to  befriend  on  the 
banks  of  the  Pooumtuck  as  did  the  followers  of  Penn  on  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware?  Unfortunately  Pooumtuck  was  the 
skirmish  line,  was  the  point  nearest  the  Mohawks  on  the  west 
and  the  French  of  Canada.  The  English  unfortunately  were 
the  only  rivals  of  France's  political  power  in  Europe  and  the 
French  were  the  only  rivals  of  England's  commercial  power  in 
the  Old  World  and  the  New.  France  held  the  St  Lawrence 
and  the  Mississippi  valleys  and  looked  with  envious  eyes  upon 
every  English  colonist  that  dwelt  in  any  valley  near  by. 

In  1604,  before  either  Jamestown  or  Pljnnouth  was  settled, 
the  French  king  had  made  a  grant  to  one  of  his  subjects  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  farthest  west  of  all  lands  between  the  points 
now  occupied  by  Montreal  and  Philadelphia,  but  failures  to 
settle  it  lost  most  of  this  region  to  the  French  and  every  new 
English  settlement  towards  the  north  was  fresh  cause  for  griev- 
ance. The  25  families  from  Natick  had  not  been  in  their  new 
homes  five  years  before  their  intrusion  was  resented  and  nearly 
half  the  families,  all  who  had  drawn  lots  on  Old  Deerfield 
Street,  and  near  the  center,  were  either  killed  or  captured,  their 
houses  burned  and  their  crops  destroyed. 

Two  of  the  most  significant  Indian  massacres  must  suffice  to 
illustrate  the  way  Pooumtuck  figured  in  the  world's  arena.  Feb- 
ruary 28, 1703-4,  was  one  of  those  days  which  Whittier  has 
immortalized  in  "  Snow  Bound."  Three  feet  of  snow  had  fallen 
the  past  few  days  and  had  gathered  in  great  drifts  about  the 
houses  and  the  fort,  for  which  they  expected  no  further  use  as 
they  were  at  peace  with  all  the  Indians.  Time  and  again  in 
80  years  they  had  been  forced  from  this  beautiful  valley  and 
each  time  peace  had  been  made  with  the  Indians,  but  this  was 
a  permanent  peace  they  thought.  After  a  quiet  evening  in 
their  homes  the  families  had  retired  leaving  one  of  the  citizens, 
as  was  their  wont,  to  patrol  the  streets  more  from  habit  than 
necessity,  and  in  the  fort,  as  usual,  a  few  men  slept  by  their 
muskets  in  case  of  need,  a  custom  that  they  hoped  soon  to 
abandon.  The  next  morning  the  17  houses  in  the  heart  of  the 
town  were  in  ashes,  48  men  and  women  were  cold  in  death  and 
111  men,  women  and  children  were  being  marched  through  the 
snows  and  forests  to  a  long  captivity  in  Canada.  Look  out 
upon  this  lovely  valley  to-day,  walk  through  beautiful  Old 
Deerfield  Street,  the  "  artiste  "  laid  out  230  years  ago,  draw 


256  FidA  MeeHng— 1901. 

a  picture  of  those  quiet  firesides  on  the  night  of  Febroary 
28,  1703-4)  and  then  as  jour  blood  curdles  at  the  view  of 
the  scene  at  the  dawning  of  another  day  ask  yourselves  why 
it  happened.  For  that  answer  we  must  go  back  a  long 
way,  but  first  we  may  ask,  Who  did  it  t  In  that  murderous 
band  were  200  French  soldiers  and  140  Canadian  Indians  who 
were  unacquainted  with  these  colonists  and  without  interest 
in  them.  War  between  France  and  England  was  inevitable, 
and  as  usual  the  French  sought  the  assistance  of  the  Indians, 
who  could  send  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  English  colonists 
as  no  army  of  French  soldiers  could.  The  Indians  wearied 
of  these  wars  and  hesitated,  giving  as  an  excuse  that  the 
French  never  joined  them  or  did  aught  for  them,  but  always 
sought  their  aid  in  their  own  distress.  As  an  evidence  of  the 
fallacy  of  this  the  French  offered  to  furnish  the  larger  part 
of  an  army  for  a  march  whose  object  should  be  the  secur- 
ing of  captives  in  large  numbers  for  the  Canadian  Indians. 
Hardship  t  Yes,  beyond  description  when  we  consider  what 
such  captivity  meant.  The  story  of  those  111  captives,  or  as 
many  of  them  as  were  not  killed  outright  in  that  32  days' 
march,  is  too  blood  curdling  for  such  an  hour  as  this.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  the  pastor  of  the  Deerfield  church,  who, 
with  most  of  his  family,  was  among  the  captives,  not  only  had 
his  pet  daughter  separated  from  the  family  in  captivity  to  rear 
children  for  an  Indian  in  Canada,  but  saw  her  so  enamored 
with  that  savage  life  that  she  positively  refused  to  come  back 
to  him  or  to  civilization. 

Another  horror  of  that  captivity  was  the  determination  of  the 
Indians  to  get  a  money  ransom  for  these  captives.  The  English 
were  inexorable.  Not  one  cent  would  they  pay  or  allow  to  be 
paid.  Take  an  incident,  Mr.  Arms,  a  respected  citizen,  was  per- 
mitted to  come  from  his  Canadian  captivity  to  Deerfield  to 
secure  the  money  for  his  ransom  on  condition  that  he  should 
return  if  he  did  not  get  it.  He  walked  into  Deerfield  with  mes- 
sages from  their  loved  ones  with  the  privilege  of  freedom,  home 
and  family  if  he  could  send  back  to  them  the  price  of  his  ran- 
som, but  his  neighbors  and  nearest  friends  said  "  No,"  the  town 
and  the  state  said  ^^  No,"  and  Mr.  Arms,  true  to  his  word,  bade 
his  friends  a  sad  adieu  and  returned  to  captivity.  What  a  pic- 
ture for  men  and  angels  to  look  upon.  "  Pay  one  dollar  ran- 
som and  no  woman  or  child  will  be  safe  from  that  minute. 


Poeumt'uck  VdUey  in  the  Wcrld^a  Arena.  867 

Eldnappiiig  will  be  the  chief  emidoymeiit  of  the  Indiaiuu  Go 
bock  to  your  captivity."  Fathers  would  not  pay  one  dollar  for 
the  ransom  of  a  child.  This  eyentoally  coded  the  Indian  craze 
t(x  captives.  England  was  easily  the  commercial  mistress  of 
the  world  as  France  was  as  eacdly  the  political  and  military 
master.  Each  denied  the  prestige  of  the  other  without  sacrific- 
ing aoght  of  its  own.  France  commanded  the  valleys  of  the 
St  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi.  This  advantage  promised 
much  commercially  that  was  displeasing  to  England,  but  all 
that  she  dared  suggest  in  view  of  Louis  XIY's  military  power 
and  political  sagacity  was  that  the  Maritime  Provinces  were  not 
in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  that  the  Ohio  valley  was 
Bot  a  part  of  the  Mississippi. 

While  these  issues  were  undetermined  Charles  II,  the  weak 
and  vicious  ruler  of  Spain,  was  about  to  die  childless.  By  a 
move  that  was  more  brilliant  than  creditable  Louis  XIY  at- 
tached Spain  to  France  with  all  the  military  and  commercial 
advantage  which  it  carried  with  it.  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
as  his  dying  bequest,  provided  for  a  war  between  the  two  nations 
which  should  not  end  until  the  alliance  between  France  and 
Spain  was  broken.  It  took  ten  long  years,  and  New  England 
was  made  to  bleed  incessantly  all  that  time  with  everything  to 
lose  and  nothing  to  gain.  When  at  length  the  death  of  Uie 
claimant  to  the  Spanish  throne  transferred  Spain's  alliance  to 
Austria^  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  was  signed  and  the  citizens  of 
Deerfield  were  allowed  to  come  back  to  these  pleasant  &rms, 
rebuild  their  homes  and  live  at  peace  with  the  Indians  because 
the  Pyrenees  were  once  more  a  wall  between  France  and  Spain. 
Incidentally  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  apparently  the  term 
^  John  Bull "  was  bom  at  this  time.  A  humorist  drew  a  daz- 
zling picture  of  Lord  Strutt  (Spain)  being  prepared  for  burial 
by  his  ancient  enemy,  Lewis  Baboon,  France's  tailor,  while  his 
servant,  Nick  Frog  (Holland  and  big  foeman,  John  Bull)  took 
a  lively  interest  in  the  proceedings. 

After  this,  wars  came  and  went  until  the  treaty  of  Ait  la 
Chapelle  (1748)  was  supposed  to  give  permanent  peace  to  the 
world.  Instead  it  merely  gave  England  an  opportunity  to  force 
upon  Louis  XY,  who  was  as  weak  as  Louis  XIY  was  strong,  a 
war  which  he  did  not  desire  and  for  which  he  was  wholly  un- 
prepared. Without  warning,  without  a  pretext  of  cause,  Eng- 
land in  1761  captured  more  than  800  French  vessels  on  the  high 
17 


258  Field  Meeting— 1901. 

seas,  confiscated  more  than  $5,000,000  worth  of  cargoes  and  im- 
prettied  more  than  10,000  sailors  into  the  British  naval  service. 
She  vras  having  everything  her  own  way  nntil  the  women 
mixed  in  the  affair.  Madame  Pompadour,  beaatiful  and  vile, 
the  evil  genius  of  Louis  XY,  had  long  been  enraged  because 
Frederick  of  Prussia — ^afterward  "  the  Great  *'  had  applied  a 
vile  epithet  to  her,  and  she  enlisted  the  friendship  of  Maria 
Theresa  and  Elizabeth  of  Russia,  which  led  to  an  alliance 
against  Frederick,  whose  sympathies  were  with  England. 

It  is  150  years,  almost  to  a  day,  since  Joseph  Pynchon, 
Josiah  D  wight  and  John  Ashley  took  dinner  in  Old  Deerfield. 
They  were  delegates  from  the  General  Court  at  Boston  to  the 
Mohawk  Indians  to  whom  they  were  sent  to  insure  peace  in 
case  of  war  between  England  and  France.  They  conferred 
with  the  leading  citizens  as  to  what  they  should  carry  with 
them  as  a  peace  offering  and  as  a  result  of  the  conference  de- 
cided to  purchase  in  the  country  store  of  Deerfield  about  $25 
worth  of  calico  and  garlic.  With  these  they  went  on  their 
way.  The  Indians  accepted  calico  and  garlic  and  shed  no  blood 
until  opportunity  offered,  which  came  all  too  soon. 

In  less  than  three  years  war  was  at  their  doors  and  Governor 
William  Shirley  issued  orders  that  a  depot  for  military  stores 
for  the  Northwest  frontier  should  be  at  Deerfield.  North- 
western frontier  ?  Think  of  it,  ye  much  travelled  people !  What 
would  the  men  of  Oregon  and  Washington  and  Alaska  think 
should  they  hear  us  say,  almost  within  sound  of  the  waves  of 
the  Atlantic,  that  this  had  been  officially  designated  as  the  . 
headquarters  for  the  Northwest  frontier !  The  most  cruel  of 
wars  was  developed.  England  soon  saw  that  she  had  gone  too 
far.  Montcalm  had  won  a  great  victory  at  Fort  William 
Henry,  and  France,  Bussia  and  Saxony  had  raised  an  army 
large  enough  to  paralyze  even  Pitt  and  Frederick.  England 
practically  withdrew  from  her  alliance  with  Prussia  and  Fred- 
erick sought  peace  with  France  in  1757,  but  Madame  Pompa- 
dour was  inexorable  and  Frederick  was  forced  in  very  despera- 
tion to  hurl  an  army  of  20,000  against  one  of  50,000,  but  he  did 
it  with  such  fierceness  that  with  a  loss  of  less  than  400  men  he 
slew  8,000,  captured  7,000,  together  with  much  ordnance,  and 
the  whole  face  of  Europe  was  changed.  Pitt  exclaimed  when 
he  heard  of  it : — "  Yesterday  I  would  have  been  content  to  see 
France  humbled,  but  now  I  will  see  her  lying  in  the  dust." 


PootwUuok  Valley  in  the  World  ^e  Arena.  259 

Now  the  oolonies  suddenly  awoke.  Stung  to  the  quick  by 
Montoalm's  action  at  Fort  William  Henry  and  seeing  that  this 
time  the  defeat  of  France  must  mean  her  expulsion  from  the 
New  World  they  rose  in  their  might.  That  was  an  hour  for 
the  gods  to  look  upon  when  the  men  of  Deerfield,  as  of  all  the 
settlements  of  New  England,  decided  to  leave  their  wives  and 
children  to  the  mercy  of  the  Indians  with  the  protection  of  the 
youth,  the  aged  and  the  invalids,  and  go  to  the  very  walls  of 
Quebec  and  deal  a  fatal  blow  to  Montcalm  and  to  the  French 
cause  in  America.  Forty  thousand  strong  they  traversed  the 
forests  of  Northern  New  England,  and  you  know  the  story  of 
that  battle  in  1759.    It  was  the  end. 

America  has  made  three  moves  on  the  chessboard  of  the  ages. 
The  first  was  in  1620,  the  second  in  1759,  the  third  in  1898. 

Beautiful  indeed  for  situation  is  Old  Deerfield  Street  with  its 
interlacing  elms.  The  purple  dawn  has  no  cheerier  welcome 
for  Cape  Ann  or  Cape  Norm  than  the  sweet  caress  of  Deerfield 
waters.  The  angel  of  peace  has  no  more  tempting  resting  place 
than  at  the  foot  of  Sugar  Loaf,  and  yet  for  almost  one  hundred 
years  she  left  the  primeval  forests  and  rich  intervale  to  the  god 
of  war  and  to  unholy  devastation.  For  about  one  hundred 
years  no  man  built  a  house  or  bam  with  assurance  that  it  would 
not  be  a  bonfire  for  the  Indians,  none  sowed  in  the  spring  time 
without  a  suspicion  that  the  red  men  would  harvest  it ;  none 
even  went  out  of  one  door  without  a  lurking  dread  that  the  foe 
might  enter  the  other  with  a  scalping  knife.  It  was  a  lovely 
July  morning  that  five  men  took  sickle  in  one  hand  and  musket 
in  the  other  and  went  out  into  yonder  meadows  to  harvest  fiax. 
They  leaned  their  muskets  against  a  stack  of  fiax  and  went  on 
with  their  reaping.  On  yonder  hillside  some  alert  savages  were 
walking.  They  saw  the  situation,  sped  down  to  the  meadow, 
crept  along  until  they  were  between  the  men  and  their  muskets, 
sprang  out  upon  them,  shot  and  scalped  one  and  took  the  other 
four  captives,  but  as  one  of  these  was  lame  and  could  not  go 
fast  enough  to  get  beyond  danger  of  recapture  they  shot  and 
scalped  him  in  the  view  of  the  other  three  whom  they  rushed 
off.  All  this  at  the  general  instigation  of  Montcalm,  who  in  an 
official  report  to  the  French  government,  said  with  a  glow  of 
triumph,  that  he  was  making  the  Indians  scatter  the  consterna- 
tion and  missives  of  war  throughout  the  New  England  colonies. 

What  had  the  men  who  removed  from  Natick  done  to  merit 


260  FidA  Meeting— \Wl. 

ill  this  t  Kothing.  Absolutely  nothing.  This  settlement  was 
merely  a  pawn  upon  the  world's  chessboard.  The  kings  and 
queens,  knights  and  bishops  were  in  European  courts,  and  the 
colonial  pawns  were  moved  forward  lor  defense  or  surrendw 
according  to  some  man  or  woman  in  European  court  circles. 
Cromwell  decided  upon  some  policy  and  the  tomahawk  was  the 
response*  The  Stuart  dynasty  was  set  aside  and  the  scalping 
knife  in  the  Pocumtuck  valley  was  given  a  keener  edge. 
Charles  II  was  about  to  die  childless,  and  hundreds  of  mothers 
in  the  colonies  must  live  childless.  Madame  Pompadour  was 
living  a  disreputable  life  at  the  French  court  and  virtuous  girls 
were  taken  into  captivity  by  conscienceless  savages.  Even  the 
little  country  grocery  store  up  yonder  sold  $25  worth  of  calico 
and  garlic  150  years  ago  because  Pitt  was  goading  the  British 
government  to  take  advantage  of  the  voluptuousness  and  weak- 
ness of  the  French  court. 

All  this  changed  in  1759,  when  literally  every  able  bodied 
man,  who  was  not  of  the  Catholic  faith,  left  all  for  one  great 
effort  against  the  French  at  Quebea  From  that  hour  the 
eolonists  prepared  to  say  to  England  and  to  all  the  rest  of 
Europe,  "  Henceforth  we  make  our  own  moves."  Until  that 
hour  America  had  been  dominated  by  Europe,  from  that  hour 
she  was  practically  independent,  though  it  required  the  strenu- 
ous war  of  the  Revolution  to  convince  Europe  of  the  fact  In- 
cidentally it  is  interesting  to  note  that  f'rance  that  had  been 
her  bane  for  a  century  became  her  ally,  without  whose  timely 
assistance  the  issues  of  war  might  have  been  doubtful.  Such 
is  always  the  chance  of  war.  From  that  day  until  1898,  America 
maintained  her  entire  independence  of  European  affairs. 

Suddenly,  as  if  by  magic,  borne  on  the  wings  of  impulse, 
America  entered  the  world's  arena  and  there  she  will  remain 
for  good  or  ill,  and  henceforth  there  will  be  no  political,  finan- 
cial, industrial  or  commercial  crisis  on  the  globe  in  which 
America  will  not  be  a  prominent  if  not  a  controlling  factor. 
Far  be  it  from  me,  who  am  neither  a  prophet  nor  the  son  of  a 
prophet,  to  venture  to  foretell  the  consequences  to  the  United 
States  or  to  the  world,  of  the  new  life  upon  which  we  have 
entered,  nor  is  this  the  occasion  to  venture  a  Yankee  guess,  but 
it  is  interesting  to  trace  the  history  of  the  Pocumtuck  valley 
from  the  day  when  the  friends  of  John  Eliot,  moved  on  at  the 
]deaipire  pf  Pedham,  hired  an  ^^  artiste  "  to  lay  out  the  village 


Jonathan  WMi  MonuhieM  Pedieated.  961 

and  draw  lots  for  their  houses,  through  th^  generation  of  mas- 
saore  and  captivity  to  the  hoar,  when,  with  righteons  indigna- 
tion they  ignored  the  Indians  and  struck  a  &ital  blow  at  Mont- 
calm and  the  French  cause  in  Ammca ;  interesting  to  follow 
the  celebrations  accompanying  the  placing  of  tablets  and 
memorials  to  mark  the  cruel  events  for  which  Europe  was  re- 
sponsible ;  &scinating  to  look  out  upon  and  contemplate  the 
possibilities  of  the  Pocumtuck  valley  in  its  relation  to  the  in- 
dustry and  commerce,  the  civilization  and  Ohristianity  from  the 
farthest  east  to  the  farthest  west. 


JONATHAN  WELLS  MONUMENT  DEDICATED. 

A  pleasing  feature  of  the  afternoon  was  the  procession  of 
about  100  children  to  the  Jonathan  Wells  memorial,  marching 
to  the  music  of  a  drum  and  fife  and  led  by  the  marshall  of  the 
day  and  his  assistant  on  horseback.  Hundreds  of  people  fol- 
lowed the  procession.  On  arriving  at  the  monument,  the  chil- 
dren sang,  to  ^^  America,''  the  following  ode  by  George  Sheldon : 

Hero  of  tender  age 
High  on  historio  page 

Thy  name  we  write. 
Of  did  when  through  the  land 
Ran  dread  of  torch  and  brand. 
With  Turner's  valiant  band 

Dared  thou  the  fight. 

Wisdom  beyond  thy  yean 
On  storied  page  appears 

Attained  by  few. 
In  manhood's  prime  thy  fame 
Glows  like  a  brilliant  flame 
And  gilds  a  noble  name 

With  honors  due. 

As  slowly  furled  life's  sails 
Stood  thou  with  balanced  scales 

To  justice  wed. 
With  civic  h<mors  crowned. 
Rest  at  four-score  was  found 
In  our  Old  Burial  Ground 

With  kindred  dead. 


262  Fidd  Meeting— 1901. 

We  come  to  mark  the  site 
Where  on  that  fatal  night 

The  helpless  fled; 
Home  of  a  hero  brave, 
Strong  were  tl^  gates  to  save, 
Thy  name  whidi  here  we  grave 

Fot  aye  be  read. 

The  exercises  in  connection  with  the  dedication  of  the  memo- 
rial stone  erected  to  the  memory  of  Jonathan  Wells,  were  of 
special  interest,  from  the  fact  that  the  children  of  the  town 
raised  the  money  for  the  stone,  and  one  of  their  number,  Jona- 
than P.  Ashley,  gave  a  report,  telling  how  the  money  was 
provided.  The  monument  cost  $60.33.  The  sum  of  $55  was 
secured  by  an  entertainment,  and  $20.40  by  subscription. 

A  ballad  by  Eleanor  M.  Arms  was  sung  by  Mary  Field 
Puller. 

The  following  address  was  given  by  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Wells 
Smith : — 

IN  MEMOBIAM — JONATHAN    WELLS. 

As  we  stand  here  to-day,  under  Deerfield's  grand  old  trees, 
some  of  which  shone  red  in  the  glare  of  the  burning  homes  of 
1704,  their  young  branches  quivering  to  Indian  war  whoop  and 
the  screams  of  the  terror-stricken  settlers,  whose  brave  remnant 
fled  to  this  spot  for  refuge,  we  may  well  believe  that  the  little 
company  clustered  around  this  stone  stands  not  alone.  The 
summer  breeze  whispering  in  the  elms  has  a  certain  solemn 
significance  as  we  feel  about  us  the  unseen  presence  of  those 
who  here  so  bravely  lived  and  died,  and  who,  even  amid  the 
joys  that  the  heart  of  man  has  not  imagined,  cannot  be  wholly 
unmindful  of  the  pious  reverence  of  their  descendants. 

Whv  should  the  children  of  Deerfield  erect  a  memorial  stone 
to  Jonathan  Wells  t  What  do  we  know  of  this  man  whose 
body  so  long  ago  returned  to  its  native  earth  in  Deerfield's  old 
burying  ground,  and  why  do  we  call  him  a  hero  ? 

First,  he  unmistakably  possessed  in  large  measure  that  chief 
essential  of  a  hero's  character,  bravery.  A  boy  of  only  sixteen, 
lame  from  a  partly  healed  wound,  yet  he  volunteered  with  the 
forces  under  Capt.  Turner,  marching  20  miles  in  the  night 
through  an  unknown,  unbroken  wilderness,  to  attack  a  superior 
number  of  the  much  dreaded  savage  foe.     Another  quality  of 


Jonathan  Wells.  263 

the  genuine  hero  was  his,  a  great  and  tender  heart  that  oonld 
saorifioe  itself  for  others.  His  impulses  were  noble.  It  is  in 
great  emergencies  that  a  man's  true  nature  is  revealed. 
Wounded,  fleeing,  yet  fighting  as  he  fled,  amid  the  panic- 
stricken  crowd  he  drew  rein,  risking  his  own  slender  chance  of 
escape,  to  take  up  on  his  wounded  horse  his  boy  friend,  Stephen 
Belding.  It  is  pleasant  to  note  in  genealogical  records,  often 
so  rich  in  hints  of  romance,  the  marriage  in  after  years  of  Ste- 
phen to  his  friend's  younger  sister,  Mary  Wells.  Jonathan's 
tender  thoughtfuhiess  is  shown  when,  despairing  of  regaining 
home  himself,  he  released  his  horse,  hoping  thus  to  save  the 
poor  beast's  life.  We  are  glad  to  know  that  the  wounded 
horse  found  its  way  safely  back  to  Hadley.  Again,  when  half 
fainting,  suffering  incredible  torture,  dragging  himself  painfully 
along  by  inches,  Jonathan  yet  stopped  to  bury  the  head  which 
some  wild  beast  had  dug  out  from  the  tragic  mound  under 
Wequamp's  shadow. 

Another  of  our  hero's  traits  must  have  been  an  indomitable 
will  and  persistence;  otherwise  his  body  would  have  fallen 
somewhere  in  the  wilderness,  unknown  and  uncared  for,  a  prey 
to  ravages  of  wild  beast  and  bird,  and  his  name  have  been 
simply  one  more  in  the  list  of  the  dead,  slain  at  Turners  Falls, 
merely  a  name,  with  no  savor  of  individuality  or  meaning,  after 
all  these  226  years  with  their  many  happenings  that  have 
passed  since  that  battle  day.  Indeed,  the  almost  incredible 
story  of  the  brave  struggle  of  the  sorely  wounded  boy  to  reach 
home  through  an  unknown  ^region,  still  in  all  its  primeval  wild- 
ness  save  for  the  blackened  cellar  holes  marking  the  vain 
attempt  to  settle  this  fertile  Pocumtuck  valley,  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  among  the  many  ^^  Tragedies  of  the  Wilderness" 
marking  the  early  history  of  our  country.  Familiar  to  me 
from  earliest  childhood,  often  recounted  by  my  father,  it 
is  not  strange  that  a  drive  through  the  pleasant  Greenfield 
Meadows,  when 

I  hie  me  away  to  the  woodland  scene. 
Where  wanders  the  stream  with  waters  green. 

is  quite  prone  to  bring  Jonathan  Wells  to  mind. 

That  fairy  mnsio  I  never  hear, 

Nor  gaze  on  those  waters,  so  green  and  clear, 

And  mark  them  winding  away  from  sight, 


S64  Fidi  Meetinff—lMl. 

Darkened  with  shade  or  flashing  with  Uf^if 
While  o'er  them  the  vine  to  its  thicket  dings, 
And  the  sephyr  stoops  to  freshen  his  wings, 

without  seeing  in  fancy  the  pathetic  figure  of  the  wounded  bojr 
struggling  alone  along  the  river's  bank.  Our  Oreen  Biver  ii 
not  Bryant's  Green  Biver,  as  I  loved  to  think  in  childhood ; 
but  it  will  be  forever  associated  with  this  early  story  of  the 
heroic  Puritan  boy. 

Especially  as  the  road  begins  to  descend  the  steep  hillside  to- 
wardis  the  bridge  near  the  Eunice  Williams'  monument,  crossing 
the  river  where  that  pitiful  band  of  captives  forded  the  wintry 
stream  in  1704,  does  Jonathan  Wells  come  to  mind,  because 
this  must  have  been  the  critical  turning  point  in  his  wanderings, 
the  scene  of  his  remarkable  dream,  the  spot  where,  as  the  quaint 
old  narrative  recounts,  he,  having  **  f oUowd  y^  Green  river  up 
to  y*  place  called  y*  Country  Farms  &  passd  over  Green  river 
&  attemptd  to  go  up  y*  mountain,  as  he  assend'd  the  hill  he 
fainted  &  fell  from  his  horse." — ^^  At  length  he  grew  so  weak 
y^  he  c^  not  get  upon  his  horse  &  concluded  he  must  dye  there 
himself  &  so  pitying  his  horse  he  dismissd  him."  This  is  the 
first  point  where  the  western  mountain  bends  in  towards  the 
river,  becoming  the  river  bank,  and  must  have  been  the  scene 
of  the  dream,  one  of  those  wonderful  visions  beyond  human  ex- 
planation, which  makes  us  reali^  how  close  lies  the  surrounding 
spirit  world  to  this  visible  world  of  flesh  and  blood.  As  the 
old  narrative  says — ^^  when  asleep,  he  dreamt  y^  his  grandfather 
came  to  him  &  told  him  he  was  lost,  but  y^  he  must  go  down 
y^  river  till  he  came  to  the  end  of  the  mountain  &  then  turn 
away  upon  y*  plain  &  y*  was  the  way  home."  Following  the 
advice  of  this  dream,  he  succeeded  at  last  in  reaching  home. 

Fancy  brings  before  us  the  pathetic  picture  of  the  wounded^ 
famished  boy  as  he  slowly  limped  through  the  desolate  ruins  of 
Focumtuck  settlement.  The  sun  had  sunk  behind  the  Shelbume 
hills.  In  the  gathering  shadows  of  the  silent  evening  the 
densely  wooded  steep  of  Mt.  Focumtuck  loomed  up  above  him 
grand  and  wild,  in  the  dim  light  seeming  not  unlike  some  huge 
monster  couched  beside  the  way.  Past  blackened  cellar  holes, 
where  the  scorched  skeletons  of  trees  stretched  out  their  bare, 
black  arms  threateningly  above  him,  the  pale,  suffering  boy 
hobbled  on,  alone  in  this  deserted,  gloomy  spot,  alone  in  the 
vast  surrounding  wilderness;  the  croaking  of  frogs  in  the 


Jonathan  WelU.  B65 

swampSy  the  gnsri  of  wild  beast  or  moan  of  pined  borne  by  the 
erening  wind  from  the  mountain  side  only  making  more  keen 
his  sense  of  utter  desolation  and  forlornness. 

His  arrival  at  Hadley  was  followed  by  years  of  acutest  suffer- 
ingj  which  only  a  strong  inherited  store  of  vitality  enabled  him 
to  survive.  The  old  narrative  tells  us,  ^^  He  lay  lame  under  Dr. 
Locke  for  some  time,  and  was  under  Mrs.  Allen  and  Mr.  Buck- 
ley [in  Connecticut]  four  years  and  two  montlis  in  all ;  he  lay  at 
one  time  half  a  year  in  one  spot  on  a  bed,  without  being  turned 
once,  or  once  token  out ;  often  dispared  of  his  life."  Hadley 
had  no  resident  physician.  Dr.  Locke,  who  had  come  with 
Oapt.  Lothrop  and  his  troops,  only  remained  one  year.  It  was 
probably  at  his  departure,  tiiat  Jonathan  was  taken  to  Hartford, 
Connecticut  for  the  medical  care  so  greatly  needed.  Mrs. 
Allen  was  a  forerunner  of  the  women  doctors  of  to-day.  Judd 
Hays,  "At  the  close  of  Philip's  War,  the  Council  of  Conn,  al- 
lowed Mrs.  AUyn  20  lbs.  for  attending  and  curing  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers."  Hadley's  old  town  records  give  us  glimpses 
of  Jonathan's  history  at  this  period.  Li  March  1677,  it  was 
"  voted  that  the  Towne  doe  approve  of  what  the  Townsmen 
Ingaged  for  Jonathan  Wells  as  to  the  cure  of  his  wound.  Ll 
case  the  Countrie  do  not  paie  the  sama"  In  January  1681, 
appears  this  record : 

"  Mr  Jonathan  Oilbert  of  Hartford  claimed  of  this  Town  to 
the  value  of  11  pounds  odd  moneys  or  thereabouts  expended 
upon  maintaining  of  Jonathan  Wells,  a  wounded  man,  in  the 
time  of  his  cure  of  his  wounds,  the  which  the  Towne  considering 
and  concluding  some  care  remains  upon  them  about  the  said 
matter,  notwithstanding  what  is  allowed  by  our  Honored  Gen- 
eral Court " — ^it  was  voted  that  "  the  accounts  of  said  debt  be 
viewed  by  Left  Smith  or  Baml  Partrigg,  one  or  both,  and 
what  they  find  legal  and  just  to  be  paid  said  Gilbert."  The 
town  had  previously  voted  that  in  case  any  person  ^^  goeing  up 
to  the  fall  fight  against  the  enemie  should  come  to  real  damage 
&  expence  in  person  &  estate,  he  should,  if  the  Countrye  fail  of 
paiment,  be  paid  by  the  Towne."  Jonathan's  expenses  in  ill- 
ness were  a  just  due  from  the  town  in  return  for  his  valiant 
service. 

Little  did  Jonathan  dream,  as,  in  despair,  he  hobbled  dovni 
the  grassy  Indian  trail  where  now  runs  Deerfield  Street,  that 
seven  years  later,  restored  once  more  to  life  and  activity,  he 


266  Field  Meeting— 1901. 

was  to  return  here  with  the  permanent  settlement,  here  to  live 
an  honored,  useful  and  prominent  citizen  for  fif ty-seven  years, 
serving  the  town  in  both  civil  and  military  affairs,  notably  as 
Captain  of  the  militia.  All  through  those  troubled  times,  the 
name  of  Captain  Jonathan  Wells  constantly  appears  on  the 
town  records,  prominent  in  all  the  alarms  so  often  befolling  this  be- 
leaguered frontier  settlement.  In  February,  1704,  as  military  com- 
mander of  the  town,  he  led  in  pursuit  the  remnant  of  Deerfield 
men,  and  the  thirty  who  had  hurried  up  from  Hadley  and  Hat- 
field when  the  smoke  and  blaze  of  burning  buildings  to  the 
north  gave  notice  of  Deerfield's  calamity.  To  his  picketed 
house,  standing  on  this  spot  marked  by  this  stone  to-day,  fled 
the  women  and  children  escaped  from  Benoni  Stebbins'  house 
and  other  survivors,  as  out  of  the  palisade's  north  gate  marched 
the  little  band  of  45  men  led  by  Capt.  Wells,  to  make  one 
desperate  effort  in  face  of  overwhelmingly  superior  numbers  of 
the  enemy,  to  rescue  their  wives,  children,  pastor  and  friends. 
They  gave  hot  chase  to  the  French  and  Indians,  slajdng  many. 
When  about  a  mile  and  a  half  above  Deerfield,  Capt.  Wells, 
who  had  not  forgotten  the  reverses  following  the  battle  of 
Turners  Falls,  knowing  the  vast  superiority  of  the  enemy's 
forces,  ordered  a  retreat  The  excited  men  did  not  heed  Uie 
order,  but  pressed  on,  to  be  ambushed  by  a  fresh  body  of  Indians 
lying  in  wait  for  them  on  the  river  bank.  The  men,  though 
spent  and  breathless  from  the  ardor  of  their  pursuit,  showed 
that  courage  in  face  of  superior  numbers,  which  indicates  a  cool, 
brave  leader,  retreating  in  good  order,  facing  about  and  firing 
as  they  went. 

In  spite  of  his  early  wound  and  prolonged  suffering,  his  fre- 
quent exposure  in  later  years  in  Indian  battle  and  skirmish,  his 
many  journeys  through  the  wilderness  as  representative  to  the 
General  Court  at  Boston,  Capt.  Wells  lived  to  the  ripe  age  of 
eighty,  his  body  resting  peacefully  at  last  in  the  old  burying 
ground,  his  memory  and  story  an  abiding  influence  all  up  and 
down  the  Connecticut  valley,  but  especially  here  in  his  old 
Deerfield  home.  To-day  we  have  striking  evidence  of  the 
reverence  for  his  memory  here,  where  he  would  especially  love 
to  be  remembered,  when  the  children  of  Deerfield  proudly 
dedicate  this  stone  erected  by  their  own  efforts,  to  the  boy  hero 
of  long  ago.  To-day,  children,  you  are  not  called  upon  like 
young  Jonathan  Wells  to  serve  in  the  train  band,  to  walk  the 


Jonathan  Wells  Monument  Dedicated.  267 

Street  under  the  stars  in  the  night-watch,  to  fight  Indians,  or 
risk  your  lives  in  battle.  But  there  is  still  room  and  need  to- 
day for  all  the  qualities  that  adorned  his  character.  You  can 
still  be,  like  him,  ^^  tender  and  trusty  and  true."  If,  like  him, 
you  cherish  high  ideals,  if  you  are  filled  with  a  spirit  of  heroic 
courage,  of  helpfulness,  of  self-sacrifice  and  devotion,  this  twen- 
tieth century  will  furnish  you  ample  opportunity  for  the  exer- 
cise of  all  these  high  qualities.  There  are  still  giants  and 
dragons  to  be  slain, — ^^The  cause  that  needs  assistance,  the 
wrongs  that  need  resistance,"  still  cry  aloud  for  the  hero  spirit. 
In  erecting  this  stone,  you  have  done  a  most  fitting  and  beauti- 
ful act,  giving  us  strong  reason  to  hope  that  when  those — shall 
I  not  rather  say,  when  he,  who  has  done  so  much  to  preserve 
the  history  of  Deerfield  and  all  this  region,  the  priceless  tradi- 
tions, customs  and  memories,  of  the  olden  time,  shall  rest  from 
his  labors,  others  will  arise  from  among  the  children  of  his  loved 
Deerfield  to  continue  those  labors  and  preserve  their  fruits. 

In  this  audience  must  be  many  descendants  from  the  old 
Wells  family,  collateral  relatives  of  Jonathan.  His  father, 
Thomas  WeUs,  one  of  the  engagers  who  settled  Hadley,  had  thir- 
teen children,  of  whom  ten  were  sons.  From  him  are  descended 
most  of  the  Wellses  not  only  in  our  vicinity  or  in  Massachu- 
setts, but  largely  the  Wellses  scattered  all  over  our  land. 
Wellses  have  played  an  honourable  part  in  the  country's  history, 
from  the  time  of  Jonathan  down.  The  old  Puritan  stock  was 
good  stock,  none  better,  and  it  has  left  a  deep  and  lasting  im- 
press on  our  nation.  Proud  of  our  Puritan  ancestors,  let  us, 
as  in  years  to  come  we  gaze  upon  the  memorial  stones  here 
erected  to-day  in  memory  of  their  worthy  deeds  and  lives,  hope 
to  be  not  unworthy  of  these  brave,  faithful  forefathers  and  fore- 
mothers.  Let  these  stones  be  perpetual  reminders  pointing  to 
the  upward  path,  the  higher  life. 

Read,  sweet,  how  others  strove, 
TUl  we  are  stouter; 
What  they  renounced. 
Till  we  are  lees  afraid; 
How  many  times  they  bore 
The  faithful  witness, 
Till  we  are  helped, 
As  if  a  kingdom  caredl 

Read  then  of  faith 

*       ^^ 

That  shone  above  the  fagot; 


266  Fidd  Meetmg— 1901. 

dear  strains  of  hjmn. 
The  river  could  not  drowH; 
Brave  names  of  men 
And  celestial  women. 
Passed  out  of  record 
Into  renownl 

President  Sheldon,  in  opening  the  afternoon  ezercises  on  the 
village  green,  said  he  had  rashly  promised  in  the  morning  to 
be  here  25  years  hence,  and  therefore  he  found  it  necessary  to 
save  himself  and  rely  on  the  help  of  others.  He  then  introduced 
H.  C.  Parsons  as  the  presiding  officer.  Mr.  Parsons,  in  taking 
the  chair,  said  that  the  usual  fortune  in  regard  to  the  failure  c^ 
speakers  to  be  present  had  been  experienced.  Letters  of  regret 
at  inability  to  be  present  were  read  by  Prof.  Barber  from 
two  men  of  national  reputation,  Senator  George  F.  Hoar  and 
Oen.  Bufus  Saxton. 

''Committee  on  the  Judidaiy, 

United  States  Senate, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Mar.  15, 1001. 
Mj  dear  Mr.  Sheldon: 

I  cannot  think  of  anylliing  in  this  world  miom  attractive  than  the  thought 

of  visiting  Old  Deerfield  Street,  and  seeing  the  elms  and  the  old  houses,  and 

more  especially  and  above  all  of  seeing  the  Deerfield  people  and  hearing  the 

old  stories.    I  cannot  now  say  what  my  engagements  will  be  at  the  time. 

So  I  must  ask  you  to  permit  me  to  postpone  an  answer  imtU  the  time  draws 

I  am  faithfully  yours, 

Geo.  F.  Hoar.»' 

''Worcester,  Mass.,  July  17, 1901. 
My  dear  Mr.  Sheldon: 

1  am  very  sorry  that  it  is  unlikely  that  I  can  attaul  the  fidd  meeting  of 
your  Association.  You  may  be  quite  sure  that,  if  I  can,  I  shall  do  so,  without 
money  and  without  price,  and  be  abundantly  compensated  by  the  delight  <rf 
seeing  the  people  in  the  old  town.  I  have  made  in  my  lifetime  a  good  many 
pilgrimages  there,  simply  for  the  pleasure  of  going  through  Deerfield  Street, 
and  generally  taking  in  Hadley  <m  the  way. 

But  I  have  been  laid  up  in  bed  for  about  a  week,  and  am  still  imder  the 
doctor's  care.  He  is  quite  peremptory  in  his  orders  that  I  keep  absolutely 
quiet.  There  is  not  much  tibe  matter  with  me,  but  I  have  had  no  vacation 
since  the  autimm  of  1899,  and  during  that  time  I  have  been  through  a  great 
deal  of  hard  work  and  a  great  deal  of  anxiety,  which  for  me  is  worse  than  hard 
work.  So  I  have  been  obliged  to  refuse  some  very  attractive  invitations  for 
the  next  two  or  three  weeks,  and  have  given  up  pretty  much  everything 
that  can  be  called  woik. 

If,  when  the  time  approaches,  it  should  turn  out  that  I  can  go  iq>  and 


Letters:  Senaior  Moor— Gen.  Saaton.  269 

Baton  to  wk»H  ntfaer  paop^  a^y,  I  dMMild  likf  yeiy  mueh  to  4o  i^  fyit  J  cimo- 
not  uAdertake  to  Q)eak, 

I  am,  with  high  regard,  faithfully  touts, 

Geo.  F.  Hoar." 

''Intenrale,  N.  H.,  July  16. 
My  dear  Mr.  Sheldon: 

Thank  you  for  your  kind  and  thoughtful  note  which  with  its  enclosures 
brings  to  mind  coimtless  memories  of  boyhood  in  the  fair  fields  of  Deerfield, 
where  I  toiled  and  grew  to  manhood,  where  mountains,  hill,  valley,  wood- 
land, meadow,  brook  and  bird  were  photographed  on  my  brain. 

The  lists  of  names  too,  contains  those  who  were  comrades,  friends,  and 
sweethearts.  I  was  christened  in  the  old  brick  church  where  Dr.  Willard 
preached  a  pure  and  liberal  gospel,  and  I  was  present  when  Edward  Everett 
dedicated  the  monument  at  Bloody  Brook  to  the  "Flower  of  Essex,"  in  an 
oration  of  matchless  power,  eloquence  and  beauty. 

I  regret  extremely  that  circumstances  prevent  my  wife  and  I  from  aocq>t- 
ing  the  hoq)italities  of  Mrs.  Sheldon  and  yourself.  If  I  could  consult  my  own 
inclinations,  nothing  would  give  me  more  satisfaction  than  to  make  a  pious 
pilgrimage  to  my  old  home,  reviving  there  dear  and  hallowed  memories. 
But  especially  would  it  bring  an  exaltal^on  of  the  spirit  to  recall  the  heroic 
days  of  the  early  settiera— the  sturdy  men  and  the  t^ider  women,  who  not 
only  braved  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  untrodden  wilderness  but  also 
conquered  in  the  c<mflicts  of  the  soul  with  loneliness,  homesickness,  exile, 
disease,  and  death. 

Yet  from  all  this  what  grand  results  were  achieved — fertile  valley  redeemed 
from  stem  nature,  a  community  of  settlers,  self  reliant,  resourceful,  coura- 
geous, who  laid  the  foimdations  of  a  broad  and  intelligent  civilisation. 

Fit  themes,  these  men  and  women  for  song  and  stoiy,  and  their  deeds  to 
be  'gathered  into  Hiatoiy'a  Sacred  Urn.' 

Cordially  your  friend, 

Rufua  Saxton." 

A  letter  from  Joseph  Stebbina,  written  from  the  constitutional 
convention  of  Virginia^  expressed  his  wish  that  he  might  be 
present  to  meet  the  descendants  of  those  who  at  great  peril  had 
planted  the  settlements.  Dr.  Henry  D.  Holton  of  Brattleboro 
was  called  upon  for  a  short  speech.  Rev.  Frank  Pratt  followed 
Dr.  Holton.  He  obeyed  the  injunction  of  Mr.  Parsons  not  to 
be  dull  or  uninteresting.  Prof.  Barber  responded  briefly.  Dr. 
Edward  Hitchcock  of  Amherst  made  a  rattling  speech  in  the 
first  part,  and  then  paid  a  grateful  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
Luther  B.  Lincoln,  an  old-time  principal  of  Deerfield  Academy. 
Dr.  A.  £.  Winship  was  introduced  as  being  at  his  best  in  after- 
dinner  speeches.  Rev.  Dr.  George  E.  Piper  of  North  field  was 
called  upon  as  a  representative  of  the  historical  enthusiasm  of 
his  town.    Rev.  E.  P.  Pressey  of  Montague  contributed  a  few 


270  Mdd  Me^Hnff— 1901. 

words,  and  then  called  oat  Oharles  Barnard  of  Kew  York,  a 
desoendant  of  Joseph  Barnard  of  colonial  days,  who  said  that 
the  motto  of  the  Bamards  is  ^^  The  truth  without  fear,"  and  he 
said  he  would  proceed  to  illustrate  it  by  reporting  some  things  he 
had  heard  that  morning  of  great  historical  importance.  He  was 
at  the  Memorial  Hall,  looking  at  the  old  door  of  the  Indian  house, 
when  a  young  man  and  young  woman  came  in,  and  the  fellow 
told  the  girl  that  he  was  in  the  old  house  when  the  Indians  made 
their  attack  on  it.  Mr.  Barnard  questioned  the  young  man,  who 
said  that  he  was  upstairs  when  the  attack  began,  that  he  rushed 
downstairs  with  a  kodak,  and  saw  an  Indian's  gun  muzzle  com- 
ing through  the  door.  He  pulled  on  the  muzzle,  and  the  Indian 
came  in,  all  but  his  moccasins.  He  went  out  and  saw  the  cap- 
tain of  the  French  forces,  who  was  about  to  kill  him.  The 
yonng  man  took  a  snap  shot  of  the  Frenchman,  with  the 
consequence  that  the  latter  fell  dead.  He  telephoned  the 
Springfield  RepubUoan  to  send  up  a  reporter  to  write  up 
a  story,  but  instead  the  New  York  Journal  was  called 
up  by  mistake,  which  sent  up  a  full  force  of  writers  and 
artists  and  had  the  thing  in  print  before  it  had  happened. 
He  picked  up  a  frog  out  of  a  bog,  and  put  it  on  the  head  of  a 
wounded  man,  who  immediately  got  well  on  being  treated  with 
Pond's  Extract.  The  Indians  rode  oflf  in  their  automobiles  for 
Montreal.  But  the  Frenchmen  stayed  to  bury  the  man  killed 
by  the  snap  shot.  They  talked  French  with  the  Journal  re- 
porter, who  talked  back  so  rank  that  they  all  fell  dead  in  ranks. 
Thereupon  the  brass  cockerel  crowed  three  times,  and  has  been 
crowing  for  Deerfield  ever  since.  This  valuable  bit  of  history, 
overlooked  by  Mr.  Sheldon  in  the  mass  of  historical  material 
which  he  has  had  to  sift,  was  received  with  great  applause. 

Kev.  Lyndon  A.  Crawford  spoke  first  in  a  jovial  vein,  and  then 
urged  the  gathering  together  of  the  splendid  spirit  of  the  fathers, 
and  that  it  be  poured  into  the  coming  years.  Let  us  believe 
that  Deerfield  has  a  future  as  well  as  a  past.  He  had  been  very 
much  pleased  to  see  a  baby  in  Deerfield,  for  he  had  been  afraid 
there  were  not  going  to  be  any  more,  and  he  was  still  afraid  it 
might  prove  by  accident  to  have  been  bom  in  New  York  or 
Chicago.  We  want  to  see  more  energetic  life  here,  he  said. 
These  monuments  will  mean  a  great  deal  in  the  instruction  of 
the  rising  generation. 

Prof.  Grosvenor  of  Amherst  College  made  one  of  the  best 


Dt.  O-roBvenof^s  Bema/rka.  271 

speeches  of  the  afternoon.  He  claimed  some  relationship  with 
Deerfield,  for  his  first  ancestor  in  this  coantry  had  been  tpma- 
hawked,  and  one  of  his  daughters  married  one  of  the  sons  of 
Deerfleld.  He  paid  a  fine  tribute  to  Mr.  Sheldon  for  his  work 
as  an  historian.  He  said  it  had  been  his  privilege  to  stady  many 
histories  of  New  England  towns,  all  instinct  with  battle  and 
struggle  of  the  early  years.  But  he  did  not  know  one  that 
showed  the  broad,  comprehensive  research  that  characterized 
the  work  of  Mr.  Sheldon.  If  I  was  a  member  of  the  school 
committee  here  I  would  make  it  my  study  to  see  that  the  young 
people  of  Deerfield  knew  about  this  history.  There  was  some- 
thing grand  about  the  way  the  settlers  came  into  this  vnlderness. 
They  heard  the  voice  of  long  ago  saying,  "Prepare  ye  the 
way  of  the  Lord,"  and  they  did  prepare  the  way  of  civilization, 
of  a  broader  religion  at  a  time  when  men  were  bound  by  iron 
creeds ;  they  prepared  the  way  of  modern  knowledge  and  free- 
dom. I  wonder  what  some  of  these  great  men  of  old  would 
say  could  they  come  back  and  look  down  on  us.  I  believe  that 
the  splendid  vine  of  years  ago  has  brought  forth  good  fruit. 
As  I  reverence  the  past  I  reverence  the  present.  The  men  of 
to-day  are  true  to  their  lineage. 

Eev.  George  W.  SoUey  of  Deerfield  was  the  last  speaker.  He 
spoke  in  an  optimistic  vein  of  the  future  of  Deerfield.  The  work 
is  going  on,  and  will  go  on  in  Deerfield  for  the  next  25  centuries. 
Babies  ?  Yes,  there  will  be  thousands  of  them.  We  have  got 
the  best  possible  sort  of  young  people  here  to-day.  These  com- 
memorations are  having  their  impression  on  our  children.  My 
little  boy  was  disappointed  down  in  the  thicket  yesterday  be- 
cause the  Indians  did  not  come  out.  I  am  glad  I  came  to  Deer- 
field. It  has  been  a  delightful  place  to  live  in.  I  shall  be  glad 
to  be  near  our  historian,  Mr.  Sheldon,  and  thus  have  the  Pocum- 
tuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association  with  me  for  six  months  in 
the  year.  What  Deerfield  sets  out  to  do  she  always  accom- 
plishes. 

The  meeting  closed  by  three  cheers  for  Mr.  Sheldon,  led  by 
Mr.  Saxton. 


S79  Old  JBbme  Week— 1901. 


THE  EXHTBITIOHS  OF  PAINTINGa 

One  who  knows  Deerfleld  is  quite  used  to  the  habit  of  the 
place  of  doing  original  and  attractive  things  sooiallyi  and  the 
saooess  of  Home  Week  has  been  no  sort  of  surprise.  It  has 
been  a  picturesque  occasion  all  the  way ;  with  its  processions 
of  the  historic  ride  and  of  the  children,  with  its  speaking  on  the 
Tillage  green  beneath  the  elms  and  button  woods ;  with  its  ram- 
bling people,  women  without  hats  and  in  gay,  light  summer 
gowns,  nrnking  lively  the  wide,  shaded  streets,  the  green,  the 
yards  and  the  fields.  The  treasures  of  Memorial  Hall  have  been 
visited  and  there  have  been  sundry  social  features. 

The  special  art  exhibit  at  the  studio  of  Augustus  Vincent 
Tack  on  the  Whiting  place,  is  of  much  interest  and  value  be- 
cause of  several  of  Mr.  Tack's  recent  portraits,  and  landscapes 
by  George  Spencer  Fuller,  son  of  the  great  artist  Gteorge  Fuller, 
and  some  others.  Mr.  Tack,  whose  two  portraits  of  George 
Sheld(»i  the  historian,  have  made  his  power  in  portraiture 
known,  this  year  exhibits  his  painting  of  Cardinal  Gibbons,  one 
of  CoL  Thomas  W.  Higginson,  one  of  Elizabeth,  the  little 
daughter  of  Spencer  Fuller,  a  sketch  of  a  young  girl,  Betty, 
some  drawings  and  his  remarkable  portrait  of  his  wife,  G^rge 
Fuller's  daughter,  besides  a  ^^  Moonrise  "  and  another  landscape. 
The  portrait  of  Mrs.  Tack  is  one  of  extraordinary  charm,  the 
unusual  and  poetic  beauty  of  the  countenance  being  rendered 
not  merely  with  skill  of  technic,  which  Mr.  Tack  possesses  in 
high  degree,  but  with  an  imaginative  thought  which  gives  the 
canvas  a  place  with  that  work  which  lasts — with  the  work  of 
Reynolds  and  Lawrence  and  Bomney.  The  whole  treatment 
of  the  accessories,  the  tone  of  the  gown,  the  lace,  the  background, 
these  make  a  simple  and  serious  harmony  which  satisfies  the 
eye.  The  portraits  of  CoL  Higginson  and  Cardinal  Gibbons 
have  each  their  own  interest,  but  the  delightful  picture  of  little 
Elizabeth  is  one  that  the  visitor  dwells  on  longest  It  is  a  really 
ideal  picture  of  childhood,  ^^  moving  about  in  worlds  not  real- 
ized," as  Wordsworth  says  in  his  great  ideal  poem  of  the  child. 

Spencer  Fuller,  like  his  father,  is  both  farmer  and  painter, 
and  also  like  him,  he  is  working  out  in  his  own  way  his  own 
mode  of  expression.  It  was  on  the  farm  at  The  Bars  that 
Gtoorge  Fuller  found  himself.    The  schools  had  failed  him,  and 


JSMbUion  i(f  PiUntings.  373 

yet  he  had  a  restless  genius  whioh  deioanded  expression.  Here 
he  found  it  by  oommunion  with  Natnrey  and  developed  those 
marvelous  veiled  idealizations  which  have  placed  him  at  the 
head  of  American  art  as  our  greatest  painter.  No  one  can  pos- 
sibly imitate  or  copy  his  unique  work.  It  would  have  be^i 
impossible  to  gather  here  for  Deerfield's  Home  Week  even  a  few 
of  the  great  paintings  which  have  placed  him  among  the  im- 
mortals. The  "Nydia,"  "The  Romany  Girl,"  "Lorette," 
**  Winifred  Dysart,"  "And  She  Was  a  Witch  1'^  "The  Herb 
Gatherer,'*  "  The  Turkey  Pasture,"  "  The  Girl  With  a  Calf  "— 
these  and  others  are  treasures  of  public  or  private  galleries. 
But  in  the  studio  at  Tbe  Bars  are  grouped  some  family  por- 
traits which  were  opened  to  the  public  to-day,  and  wbich  in- 
clude a  lovely  portrait  of  his  wife— who  to-day  retains  the 
beauty  which  distinguished  her  when  she  was  Agnes  Higgin- 
son ;  and  other  family  portraits.  Besides,  there  were  to  be  seen 
photographic  reproductions  of  several  of  his  paintings.  The 
old  house  whose  north  side  he  transformed  into  a  lofty  studio 
is  in  itself  of  much  interest,  and  his  palettes  hanging  on  the 
walls,  the  ancient  clock  and  the  great  fireplace,  the  easels,  and 
all  those  appurtenances  of  the  artist's  occupation,  give  to  ttus 
room  a  fascination  which  belongs  to  the  home  of  a  great 
genius. 

To  return  to  the  exhibit  at  Mr.  Tack's  studio,  and  to  Spencer 
Fuller's  beautiful  winter  landscape,  which  would  undoubtedly 
make  a  serious  impression  if  shown  in  New  York  or  in  Boston. 
The  son's  work  in  no  respect  recalls  his  father's,  and  he  can 
stand  upon  his  own  merits  in  this  fine  rendering  of  tbe  winter 
day,  as  one  looks  upon  a  winding  country  road  in  a  young  for- 
est,— surveying  from  a  higher  plain  the  long,  sinuous  trail,  seen 
in  the  tender  roseate-golden  light  of  the  sun.  The  scene  is  in- 
fused with  delicate  and  subtle  magic,  and  the  sky  lifts  from 
the  woodland  in  that  gentle  beauty  which  belongs  to  the  mo* 
ment.  This  landscape,  showing  him  in  his  character  as  lover 
of  and  familiar  with  Nature,  as  well  as  painter,  warrants  Mr. 
Fuller's  calling  of  artist.  Besides,  one  should  notice  in  this 
exhibit  the  excellent  pastels  of  J.  Wells  Champney.  His  copy 
of  Giovanni  Bellini's  portrait  of  a  young  Venetian  noble  is  one 
of  the  most  competent  interpretations  that  have  been  made  of 
the  very  spirit  of  the  renaissance  artist.  The  treatment  of  the 
high  patrician  features  and  the  curiously  dressed  hair  could  not 
18 


874  Old  Home  Fi^*— 1901. 

beexoelled in technioal exoellenoe.  Hisoopyof the '^ Daughter 
of  Louis  XIY  "  is  very  genial  and  clever.  Besides  these,  there 
are  still  life  pictures  by  Miss  Lane,  a  landscape  by  Miss  Eleanor 
M.  Arms  and  some  others.  There  should  also  be  mentioned  an 
agreeable  example  of  the  skill  as  miniaturist  of  Mrs.  Marie 
Champney  Humphreys,  in  the  portrait  of  her  father  in  the  vil- 
lage room,  with  the  arts  and  crafts  exhibit. 

The  picture  of  the  meetinghouse  in  Deerfield,  built  in 
the  early  days,  is  from  a  photograph  by  the  Misses  Allen  of  a 
painting  by  Mrs.  Eels,  elaborated  from  the  sketch  of  some  un- 
known artist.  The  old  meetinghouse  stood  on  the  village  green, 
and  behind  it  may  be  seen  the  so-called  ^^  Indian  House,"  which, 
built  about  1698,  was  torn  down  in  1848,  the  town  then  losing 
an  inestimable  historic  monument.  There  are  now  but  few  who 
remember  the  house,  but  its  door,  with  the  marks  of  the  Indian 
tomahawks  which  cut  the  hole  through  which  the  shot  was 
fired  that  killed  the  wife  of  Ensign  John  Sheldon  in  the  de- 
structive assault  of  1704,  is  in  the  museum  of  Memorial  Hall, 
and  as  Josiah  D.  Canning  wrote  in  his  poem  other  towns  may 
boast  of  various  treasures,  but  as  for  Deerfield : 

She  has  the  Door  of  History, — here's  the  One. 


EXHIBITION  OF  THE  ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  THE 

MARTHA  PRATT  MEMORIAL. 

Deerfield  once  again  exemplified  her  claim  as  an  art  center 
to  be  a  serious  one  by  the  brilliant  show  of  local  handicrafts  in 
the  Village  Room.  Here  are  gathered  a  display  of  objects  of 
decorative  art  that  a  much  larger  community  might  feel  a  pride 
in  showing ;  all  products  of  the  village  people,  and  all  made  in 
the  year  that  has  passed  since  the  last  exhibit  of  work.  In 
standard  of  merit  it  ranks  favorably  with  the  large  shows  of 
city  Arts  and  Grafts  societies,  which  draw  upon  large  areas  for 
contributions,  and  in  variety,  also,  it  is  equally  noteworthy. 
To  bring  together  such  excellent  examples  of  the  use  of  wood, 
iron,  metals,  enamels  and  semi-precious  stones,  of  basketry,  of 
embroidery  and  kindred  materials,  is  an  achievement  that 
marks  the  movement  toward  a  wider  artistic  appreciation  and 


ATt8  and  OraftB.  275 

capacity  that  has  lately  become  evident  in  America.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  Deerfield  has  become  a  considerable  fac- 
tor in  the  progress  of  art  in  this  country.  The  spirit  of  fellow- 
ship in  aim,  which  only  makes  such  results  possible,  is  shown 
in  the  fact  that  these  yearly  exhibitions  in  the  town  are  under 
no  formal  management.  Deerfield  has  no  organized  '^  society 
of  arts  and  crafts "  to  control  and  encumber  the  individuality 
of  the  craftsmen,  but  with  mutual  helpfulness  the  producers 
unite  to  display  their  best,  animated  with  a  single  desire  to 
keep  the  standard  high. 

The  work  of  Mrs.  Madeline  Yale  Wynne  and  Miss  Annie  C. 
Putnam  in  metals  is  as  different  as  possible  from  that  shown 
by  them  last  year,  but  since  such  is  what  they  have  taught  the 
public  to  expect  of  their  work,  it  occasions  no  surprise.  Mrs. 
Wynne  has  taken  to  setting  stones,— opals,  moonstones  and 
common  pebbles, — with  unique  success.  Here  are  brooches  and 
clasps,  made  of  silver,  with  pendants  of  milky  opals  and  clear 
moonstones  forming  strange  and  unexpected  designs ;  a  buckle 
with  blue  and  green  enamels  surrounding  an  opal  which  shows 
those  iridescent  hues ;  another  of  red-bronze  copper,  holding  a 
pebble  from  Monterey  beach ;  one  of  gray-toned  copper  and 
pink  enamel  that  defines  a  charming  design  of  single  tur- 
quoises ;  a  brooch  of  silver,  with  orange  and  ruby-colored  opals 
from  Mexico,  hanging  on  little  silver  chains,  and  still  another, 
whose  pendant  is  formed  of  a  single  water-stone.  There  are 
but  two  bowls  in  Mrs.  Wynne's  collection  this  year,  one  of  sil- 
ver, of  a  very  pleasing  shape,  and  the  other,  made  of  copper, 
mottled  and  streaked  with  darker  color,  like  a  strange  shell,  is 
supported  upon  three  legs.  The  most  original  example  of  Mrs. 
Wynne's  work  is  a  small  box,  dull  blue  and  green  and  bronze 
in  color,  bearing  on  its  lid  an  inset  ornament  of  silver,  the  de- 
sign being  a  rabbit,  in  the  moon,  surrounded  by  flowers,  set 
with  moonstones ;  the  comer  pieces  of  the  box  are  oxidized 
metal,  set  with  dull  green  pebbles.  On  the  inside  of  the  lid 
the  legend  which  the  device  illustrates  is  carved.  Miss  Put- 
nam's work,  very  different  in  style,  light  and  fantastic  in  design 
often,  is  equally  interesting.  She  shows  a  hairpin  of  silver 
enameled  with  delicate  turquoise  hues  that  run  into  ruby  by  a 
delicate  gradation,  fashioned  in  a  flower  form  ;  a  charming 
stock-fastener,  with  hanging  pendants,  ornamented  with  many- 
colored  enamels ;  a  large  silver  belt  buckle  bearing  a  design  of 


276  OU  Mame  W$eh^l901. 

coyotes  against  a  suggested  landsoape  that  is  a  beautifal  har- 
mony of  blae  and  green  enamels^  and  a  belt  and  bag  oi  wine- 
colored  leather,  ornamented  by  many  devices  of  highly  decorar 
tive  fishes  done  in  copper. 

The  bride's  chest  of  oak  and  soft  wood  made  by  Edwin  C. 
Thorn  and  Caleb  Allen,  and  decorated  in  low  rcdief  by  Dr. 
Thorn,  with  old  iron  hinges  matched  by  the  village  blacksmith 
with  iron  draw-handles  and  key-plate,  ocoapies  the  place  of 
honor  in  front  of  the  chimney.  It  is  a  beantif ul  specimen  of 
true  craft,  made  in  the  same  spirit  of  honest  thoroughness  that 
belonged  to  the  maker  of  the  chest  now  in  the  Memorial  Hall 
of  Deerfield,  in  the  style  of  which  this  chest  is  made ;  standing 
squarely  on  its  strong  supports,  with  a  drawer  that  slides  as 
though  it  were  on  oiled  runners,  with  a  heavy  lid,  and  admiral 
ble  ornamentation  it  is  one  of  the  most  successful  specimens  oi 
work  in  the  exhibit  Close  beside  it  are  a  splint-bottomed  chair 
and  small  square  stand,  both  made  of  cherry,  the  latter  article 
showing  how  bits  of  several  broken  pieces  of  old  furniture  may 
be  remodeled  into  pleasing  shape,  and  these  are  also  the  work 
of  Dr.  Thorn.  In  the  same  class  is  a  hanging  smoker's  cabinet 
of  two  drawers  admirably  made  of  cherry,  which  is  sent  by 
Caleb  Allen.  Over  the  chest,  depending  from  the  ceiling,  is  a 
wrought-iron  lantern  designed  and  made  by  the  blacksmith, 
Cornelius  Eelley.  This  is  boldly  simple  in  form,  without  omar 
ment,  but  so  well  proportioned  and  excellently  true  in  workman* 
ship  that  it  is  satisfactory  to  the  eye. 

In  quite  another  sort  of  material,  but  kindred  in  aim,  is  the 
work  of  the  basket-makers,  the  associated  gronp  who  work  in 
palm  leaf.  With  them  perfection  is  not  too  high  a  goal,  and 
the  exquisite  nicety  of  their  plaiting  is  worth  study,  while  the 
shapes  they  evolve  in  their  little  and  big  baskets,  trays  and 
cases,  from  the  simple  material,  is  testimony  to  their  ingenuity. 
With  them  this  year  are  shown  for  the  first  time  some  ex- 
periments  in  other  basket  materials;  reed  baskets  in  the  old- 
&shioned  shapes  that  are  associated  in  our  minds  with  mending 
stockings  or  doing  patchwork ;  flat  flower  baskets  copied  from 
those  peculiar  to  the  Fayal  islanders,  made  by  Miss  Sarah  and 
Miss  Catherine  Wells,  and  raflSa  baskets,  strong  in  color,  dar- 
ing in  shape  and  altogether  interesting,  which  are  contributed 
by  Mrs.  Wynne,  Miss  Miller,  Miss  Whiting  and  Miss  Brown. 

The  rugs  this  year  are  of  considerable  variety  and  show  whafc 


Arts  and  Orqfta.  277 

ddll  and  a  sMte  of  color  can  make  oat  of  the  ordinary  rag- 
carpeting  of  oar  f oremothers ;  it  is  a  large  exhibit  The  d» 
play  of  the  Blae  and  White  Society  is  varied  and  fresh.  A 
bedspread  in  blaes  is  a  carefal  reprodnction  of  one  worked  by 
Eetarah  Baldwin  of  Dorset,  Yt,  about  1750,  which  was  burned 
last  year ;  the  society  possessed  a  drawing  of  it  and  as  an  act 
of  picas  duty  has  made  this  copy,  lest  so  beaatifal  a  design 
shoold  cease  to  exist.  A  bold  excursion  into  colors  is  shown  in 
a  three-fold  screen  loaned  by  its  owner,  Mrs.  0.  C.  Furbush  of 
Greenfield,  which  shows  the  tree  of  life  springing  on  the  cen- 
tral panel  from  a  grassy  field  of  fiowers,  which  with  its  spread- 
ing floral  branches  forms  the  top  and  bottom  decoration  of  the 
side  panels ;  this  is  executed  in  blues  and  greens,  so  combined 
as  often  to  produce  a  peacock  hue,  pink  and  orange  colors  with 
a  great  variety  of  textures  produced  by  the  different  stitches 
employed.  For  the  bookcase  is  shown  a  set  of  curtains  on  coarse 
gray  crash,  decorated  with  flower  baskets  in  several  colors.  A 
table  square  with  a  blue  design  of  bachelor's  buttons  according 
to  the  curious  conventions  of  the  colonial  period,  another  of 
shells  in  colors,  a  ^^  bleeding  heart "  design  for  a  sofa  pillow,  a 
good  variety  of  center-pieces  and  doilies,  a  number  of  quaint 
sampler  designs  in  cross*stitch,  complete  a  large  show  of  this 
society.  Each  worker  of  the  society  is  represented  by  a  piece 
of  embroidery  bearing  her  name,  to  show  how  even  is  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  several  craftswomen. 

Closely  allied  to  both  art  and  craftsmanship,  as  photography 
now  is,  the  work  of  Miss  Frances  Allen  and  Miss  Mary  Allen 
and  of  Miss  Coleman  would  be  equaUy  at  home  in  this  room  or 
next  door  to  the  small  gallery  of  paintings  which  Mr.  Tack  has 
hung  in  his  studio.  The  Misses  Allen  use  their  camera  in  the 
same  spirit  with  which  a  painter  uses  his  brush,  and  their  sense 
of  composition,  of  the  drwiatic  moment,  is  as  eminent  a  qual- 
ification for  their  art  as  for  his.  How  greatly  they  improve  in 
their  craft  is  shown  by  their  present  exhibit  of  new  work  Here 
are  groups  of  portraits  which  are  character  studies,  of  figure 
compositions  that  are  pictures,  and  of  landscapes  that  are  poetia 
The  extraordinary  piotare  of  a  coming  ^^  Storm  on  the  North 
Meadows,"  where  the  black  sky  throws  a  row  of  comstacks  into 
almost  tragic  relief ;  the  fortunate  fiower  studies,  particularly 
of  blooming  laurel  bushes  in  the  fresh  early  sunlight  of  spring; 
the  single  figure  of  a  little  girl  sewing  in  a  porch  comer, 


278  Old  Home  Weeh-1901. 

which  is  fall  of  old-fashioned  sobriety ;  the  remarkable  series  of 
character  pictures  which  they  call  ^^  Miss  Fidelia's  Story,^  that 
is  fall  of  New  England  humor ;  the  portrait  of  a  woman  in  her 
grandmother's  wedding  gown,  and  that  head  of  a  little  dark- 
skinned  boy  in  profile,  are  all  brilliant  examples  of  the  variety 
of  their  artistic  perceptions.  Miss  Emma  L.  Coleman,  exhibits 
only  a  small  number  of  her  photographs,  but  these  are  of  high 
quality.  The  subjects  are  chosen  in  the  South,  except  for  two 
views  of  the  Niagara  Bapids,  which  are  remarkable  pictures  and 
beautiful  studies  of  light  and  shade ;  the  negro  pictures  are  also 
full  of  character,  particularly  that  of  an  old  woman  in  a  turban 
walking  over  plowed  ground ;  another  is  of  a  single  figure  of  a 
woman  hoeing;  there  are  two  groups  of  pickaninnies  that  are 
delightfully  conceived.  One  seldom  sees  photographs  of  negroes 
that  are  so  dignified,  one  may  even  say  respectful,  in  treatment ; 
this  trait,  so  conspicuous  in  Miss  Ooleman's  pictures,  forms  a  very 
component  part  of  the  merit  of  her  work  as  art  Best  of  sdl 
her  contribution  is  the  magnificent  portrait  of  a  turkey  gobbler, 
with  every  feather  spread  to  the  sun ;  it  is  full  of  color  and  life. 

Clarence  Hoyt,  the  Boston  architect,  has  sent  in  as  a  con- 
tribution from  a  son  of  Deerfield,  three  drawings  of  buildings  he 
has  lately  designed,  the  most  important  being  a  handsome  high 
school  for  Georgetown,  Mass.,  recently  finished.  This  exhibit 
is  particularly  appropriate  to  the  village  room,  which  Mr.  Hoyt 
designed,  and  which  was  built  by  his  father,  Horatio  Hoyt,  a 
lifelong  resident  of  the  Street. 

In  one  of  the  showcases  is  placed  a  miniature  by  Mrs.  Marie 
Champney  Humphreys — an  admirable  portrait  of  her  artist 
father,  J.  Wells  Champney.  It  is  the  one  which  has  attracted 
much  &.vorable  comment  in  larger  exhibitions,  and  would  have 
been  put  in  Mr.  Tack's  studio  if  the  delicate  nature  of  the  paint- 
ing had  not  made  protection  necessary. 

By  way  of  these  interesting  pictures  the  distance  between 
handiwork  and  literature  is  deftly  bridged.  Thus  we  find  a 
reason  beyond  that  of  commendable  pride  in  two  books  by 
Deerfield  authors  which  have  been  printed  since  the  exhibit  two 
years  ago,  when  a  dozen  volumes  were  shown.  These 
books  are  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Champney 's  beautifully  il- 
lustrated ^^  Bomance  of  the  Feudal  Chateaux,"  which  was  re- 
cently published  by  the  Putnams;  and  the  monograph  on 
^^  Claystones,"  which  Mrs.  Jennie  Arms  Sheldon  brought  out 


Three  Dewfidd  Ihemnffs.  279 

last  winter.  In  conneotion  with  the  latter  volnme  a  showcase 
displays  a  small  collection  of  Mrs.  Sheldon's  concretions  to 
show  what  Deerfield  itself,  unaided  by  the  arts  or  crafts  of  man, 
can  produce. 


REPORT  OF  THREE  DEERFIELD  EVENINGS. 

One  evening  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Ashley  opened  their 
pleasant  home  for  a  musical.  They  were  assisted  by  Mrs. 
Rogers,  Miss  Orr  and  Miss  Cowles.  The  following  programme 
was  rendered : 

BoLBBo, Moszkowski 

Mrs.  Ashley,  Miss  Orr. 

SOKO, 

Mrs.  Rogers. 
Duo,  Andante  from  0  major  Concerto,        .        .      Beethoven 

Miss  Orr,  Mrs.  Ashley. 
Song, 

Mrs.  Rogers. 

"  Tannhabusbb  "  overture,         ....         Wagner 

Mrs.  Rogers,  Mrs.  Ashley,  Miss  Orr,  Miss  Cowles. 


Among  the  pleasant  occasions  of  the  most  delightful  week 
that  ever  has  come  to  Old  Deerfield  was  the  reception  given  by 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Williams  Champney  to  all  Deerfield  and  its 
many  guests.  The  avenues  to  this  charming  home,  where 
Judge  Williams  lived,  were  lighted  by  many  Chinese  lanterns. 
The  gracious  hostess  received  her  guests  at  the  door,  while  the 
daughter  of  artistic  fame,  Mrs.  Marie  Humphreys,  had  a  kindly 
greeting  for  all  within. 

The  charm  of  the  evening  was  when  Mrs.  Madeline  Yaii^ 
Wynne  was  asked  by  Mrs.  Champney  to  say  a  few  words. 
With  great  grace  of  nmnner  and  wonderful  clearness  of  voice 
and  enunciation  she  said : 

^^  Nature  is  very  subtle  and  clever  at  the  Crafts,  but  when  she 
made  the  laurel  leaf  she  herself  was  surprised  at  its  beauty. 
Never  before  had  such  a  satis&ctory  green  come  from  her  dye- 
pot, — a  color  that  would  not  fade  in  summer's  heat  or  winter's 


380  Old  Home  Week— 1901. 

snow.  And  the  texture  of  the  leaf  was  to  her  liking.  She 
said :  ^  This  bush  must  be  dedicated  to  the  hi^est  of  purposes. 
It  shall  not  grow  tall  enough  to  yield  mast  for  ship,  or  beam  for 
house,  or  frame  for  church  ;  neither  shall  the  limbs  so  spread  as 
to  become  a  shade  for  the  street ;  nor  shall  the  verdure  serve  as 
food  for  cattle.  The  blossoms  shall  be  of  exquisite  shape,  and  in 
their  abundance  shall  be  as  a  torrent  of  pink  down  the  moun- 
tain side,  and  its  leaves  shaU  be  woven  into  wreaths  for  the 
hero.'  In  Deerfield,  Nature  waited  long  for  a  hero  to  her  mind. 
She  was  not  willing  to  crown  the  Bed  man,  for  she  liked  not 
his  ways,  nor  would  she  give  the  crown  to  our  ancestors,  whose 
praises  we  have  sung  to-day,  for  their  ways  were  not  the  wajrs 
of  Peace.  She  waited  for  one  to  come  who  was  to  be  a  link  be- 
tween the  Past  and  the  Future,  who  should  select  all  that  was 
admirable  from  out  the  Past,  that  it  might  become  an  inspira- 
tion to  the  Future.  And  so  it  is  that  I  stand  here  to-night 
with  this  laurel  wreath  in  my  hand,  with  which  to  crown  the 
hero  of  this  day — the  Hon.  George  Sheldon.  In  his  absence  I 
give  it  to  Mrs.  Sheldon,  who  not  only  represents  him  here  to- 
night, but  who  in  all  his  honorable  work  is  his  most  able  and 
loving  coadjutor.''  The  receptions  in  Deerfield  are  charming 
in  their  novelty,  and  this  was  no  exception. 

The  hum  of  many  voices,  like  the  waves  of  a  singing  sea, 
ceased  when  Mrs.  Champney  announced  that  her  guest,  Mr. 
Charles  Barnard  of  New  York,  would  repeat  a  story  he  told 
her  once,  and  it  was  the  funniest  she  ever  heard.  With  a  very 
severe  manner  Mr.  Barnard,  who  called  everybody  cousin  that 
spent  that  week  in  Deerfield,  told  the  story  of  a  man,  retired 
from  business  with  a  fortune,  who  promised  his  wife  that  she 
should  have  anything  she  wished.  The  model  husband  heard 
her  request,  made  with  great  simplicity,  for  she  asked  a  seeming 
impossibility.  She  wished  a  bouse  vdth  the  sun  in  every  room, 
morning  and  afternoon.  Architects  of  renown  were  sought, 
but  all  failed  to  satisfy  this  grasping  woman.  The  amiable 
husband  at  last  evolved  a  plan  for  her  gratification.  He  saw 
a  house  near  a  railroad  which  had  failed  and  was  no  longer 
used.  He  took  his  wife  to  see  the  prize,  and  he  told  her  he  had 
evolved  a  solar  system  so  novel  but  unique  that  at  last  she 
oould  have  the  sun  in  every  room.  With  the  trust  of  woman, 
she  simply  believed  her  lord  and  master,  and  the  house  was 
bought.    Time  fails  to  tell  how  this  man  accomplished  the 


Boftn  Pwrty.  281 

hnpofisible,  but  Mr.  Barnard  told  us  how  this  genius  of  a  maa 
gratified  his  wife.  It  is  a  connndram  which  the  reader  may 
gaess.  If  this  man  had  only  been  bom  in  Deerfield,  a  stone 
would  have  been  erected  to  his  memory  by  the  aspiring  wives 
of  to-day,  who  would  worship  his  character. 

The  festivities  of  Deerfield's  ^^  Home  Week  "  culminated  with 
the  ^^  Bam  Party ''  of  Hon.  and  Mrs.  Gtoorge  Sheldon  on  Thurs- 
day evening.  Everybody  between  the  ages  of  17  and  9Y  was 
invited  to  "  come  promptly  vnthout  frills  or  trains,"  and  every- 
body came.  The  long  bam  floor  was  swept,  and  garnished 
with  forest  greens ;  the  long  scaffold  and  hay  terraced  bay  were 
transformed  into  balconies,  locomotive  headlights  and  Japanese 
lanterns  lit  up  the  scene ;  and  Deerfield's  old  and  young,  with 
multitudes  of  her  returned  children  and  visitors,  crowded  this 
new  Sheldonian  theatre,  or  overflowed  the  lawn  where  music 
and  moonlight  lent  enchantment  to  the  perfect  night. 

Various  old-time  songs  were  announced  during  the  evening, 
"  The  Old  Oaken  Bucket"  and  "  Auld  Lang  Syne"  were  well 
rendered  by  a  quartette  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Ashley.  Then 
came  a  charming  Scotch  ballad,  sung  by  Mrs.  George  Spencer 
Fuller,  so  sweet  in  word  and  tone  it  was  entrancing. 

The  singing  of  "  The  Sword  of  Bunker  Hill "  by  the  sympa- 
thetic voice  of  Mr.  Hough  roused  the  whole  audience  and  made 
the  hero  blood  tingle  as  the  notes  rolled  up  through  the  loft 
to  heaven. 

Soon  after  eight  o'clock  the  familiar  strains  of  Si  Ball's  violin 
were  heard.  The  floor  was  soon  cleared  for  dancing,  and  Mrs. 
Sheldon  led  off  in  the  Virginia  reeL  Hull's  Victory,  Money 
Musk,  Speed  the  Plow,  etc.,  followed,  and  in  contra  dances,  in- 
spired by  the  music  of  the  violins,  the  merry  feet  flew : 

The  pastor,  the  deacon,  the  proud  one,  the  meek  one, 
All  merrily  joined  in  the  brisk  promenade, — 

Then  the  big  barn  doors  at  the  back  opened,  and  martial 
music  was  heard ;  down  the  long  aisle,  thickly  fringed  with 
evergreen  and  vine,  swept  a  column  in  scarlet  and  gold,  marched 
out  under  the  lanterns  and  the  moon  to  the  iQuminated  orchard. 
Our  minds  were  filled  with  wonder,  what  surprise  could  come 
next !  Then  came  surprise  number  two,  in  the  shape  of  a  most 
grateful  entertainment  of  refreshing  nature,  and  young  men 
and  maidens  brought  it  to  the  elders  seated  in  the  loft,  who 
were  served  first, — a  relic  of  ancient  day  custom. 


282  Old  Home  WeekH-1901. 

The  music  on  the  lawn,  and  the  full  moon  above  the  noble 
trees,  joined  with  the  many  delightful  associations  of  the  week 
to  make  the  occasion  one  to  be  long  remembered.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sheldon  were  happy  with  their  guests  in  the  unbroken 
success  of  the  social  and  historical  function  they  so  laigely 
planned,  and  have  been  unwearied  in  carrying  out ;  and  when 
at  eleven  o'clock,  ^^Home,  Sweet  Home"  was  sung,  all  present 
joined  in  it  with  a  deep  sense  that  something  very  beautiful  and 
inspiring  had  come  into  their  Uves. 

B  ut  pleasures  must  end,  and  vrith  the  singing  of  ^^  Home,  Sweet 
Home,"  adieus  were  said  to  the  host  and  hostess.  We  walked 
down  the  shaded  streets  by  the  light  of  the  glorious  moon,  and 
entered  into  dreamland  with  visions  and  memories  that  time 
can  never  efface.  Who  will  not  say  after  this  week  of  weeks, 
that  Old  Deerfield  is  a  paradise  t 


ANNUAL  MEETING— 1902. 


REPORT. 


The  annaal  meeting  of  the  Pocumtack  Valley  If  emorial  As- 
sociation was  held  at  Deerfield  yesterday  afternoon  and  even- 
ing. The  business  meeting  was  held  in  the  old  kitchen  in 
Memorial  Hall.  Yice-president  F.  M.  Thompson  presided  in  the 
absence  of  the  president,  George  Sheldon.  After  the  business 
meeting  there  were  short  papers  read  on  Rev.  P.  Y.  Finch  and 
Solon  L.  Newton  by  Rev.  J.  D.  Reid  and  S.  O.  Lamb  of  Green- 
field. The  exercises  of  the  evening  were  held  in  the  town  halL 
Rev.  R.  E.  Birks  offered  the  invocation  and  the  old  fashioned 
choir,  under  the  lead  of  Oharles  H.  Ashley,  sang  old-time  tunes 
and  songs.  Miss  0.  Alice  Baker  of  Boston  read  the  first  paper 
on  "  The  Story  of  Joseph  Fry,  a  Kittery  captive,  carried  to 
Oanada  in  1694-5.''  These  officers  were  elected  at  the  business 
meeting : 

President,  George  Sheldon  of  Deerfield. 

Yice-presidents,  Francis  M.  Thompson  of  Greenfield ;  0.  Alice 
Baker  of  Boston. 

Recording  secretary,  Margaret  Miller  of  Deerfield. 

Corresponding  secretary,  Mary  Elizabeth  Stebbins  of  Deer- 
field. 

Treasurer,  John  Sheldon  of  Greenfield. 

Councilors,  Charles  Jones,  Robert  Childs,  Edward  A.  Hawks, 
Samuel  Childs,  Laura  B.  Wells,  Madeline  Yale  Wynne,  Spencer 
Fuller,  all  of  Deerfield ;  Emma  L.  Coleman,  and  Herbert  C.  Wat- 
son, of  Boston ;  Rev.  G.  W.  SoUey  of  Dorchester ;  Samuel  O. 
Lamb,  H.  C.  Parsons,  Caroline  C.  Furbush,  E.  A.  Newcomb 
and  Mrs.  Ellen  L.  Sheldon,  all  of  Greenfield. 

The  report  of  the  curator,  George  Sheldon,  showed  receipts 
from  admission  to  the  hall,  sale  of  books  and  pictures,  $273. 
The  register  shows  that  2366  persons  visited  the  hall  during  the 
year,  coming  from  all  over  the  United  States,  from  the  British 
Isles,  most  of  the  European  countries,  and  even  from  China. 
283 


284  Annual  Meetinff— 1902. 

^  It  is  not  supposed^"  says  the  report,  ^^that  cUl  the  visitors  left 
home  with  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  collections  in  the  mnseom." 
There  have  been  added  during  the  year  160  titles  to  the  library, 
among  them  being  valuable  town  and  family  histories.  The 
library  shelves  are  overcrowded,  and  it  is  recommended  that 
provision  be  made  for  securing  additional  quarters.  The  report 
pays  a  tribute  to  Solon  L.  Newton  of  Greenfield,  who,  although 
not  a  member  of  the  Association,  had  taken  an  interest  in  its 
work  and  left  a  large  share  of  his  collection  to  the  Association. 
It  speaks  feelingly  of  the  death  of  Bev.  P.  Y.  Finch,  who  was 
<<  one  of  us  from  the  start,"  and  on  the  list  of  the  first  five 
councilors.  Appreciative  mention  is  made  of  a  set  of  broom- 
making  machinery  given  to  the  Association  by  the  late  Albert 
Smith  of  Biverside.  In  closing,  Mr.  Sheldon  alludes  to  the 
crowded  condition  of  the  hall  and  expresses  the  hope  that  some- 
thing will  be  done  to  relieve  the  congested  condition. 

The  report  of  John  Sheldon,  treasurer,  showed  that  the  total 
receipts  had  been  $544  for  the  year  and  expenses  $228.  The 
balance  on  hand  is  $2103. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  make  provision  for  the  exten- 
sion  of  the  collections,  and  to  provide  quarters  for  the  caretaker, 
who  has  always  occupied  a  part  of  the  building.  It  is  likely 
that  a  house  will  be  built  east  of  the  Hall  for  the  caretaker. 
Then  the  northwest  wing  of  the  present  building  can  be  devoted 
to  displaying  the  collections.  One  room  will  probably  be  set 
apart  for  the  collection  given  to  the  Association  by  Solon  L. 
Newton  of  Greenfield.  The  committee  consists  of  the  presi- 
dent, vice-presidents,  secretary,  treasurer,  and  S.  O.  Lamb. 

A  committee  consisting  of  Judge  Thompson,  E.  A.  Newcombi 
Spencer  Fuller,  and  W.  L.  Harris  with  power  to  enlarge  their 
number,  was  chosen  to  plan  for  a  field  day.  No  arrangements 
have  yet  been  made  as  to  where  the  field  meeting  shall  be  held. 

S.  O.  Lamb  read  the  following  tribute  to  the  late  S.  L. 
Newton: 

SKETCH  OF  SOLON  L.  NEWTON. 

Solon  L.  Newton  was  bom  in  Greenfield,  March  9,  1841. 
With  the  exception  of  several  years  in  the  city  of  Holyoke,  in 
the  service  of  his  brother  as  bookkeeper,  he  lived  all  his  life  in 
Greenfield.    He  died  June  27, 1901.    In  his  last  will  and  testa* 


Skeioh  of  Solan  L.  Newton.  285 

ment  he  remembered  the  Pocamtuek  Valley  Memorial  Asaoeiar 
tion  in  a  manner  whioh  deserves  something  more  than  a  mere 
passing  acknowledgment 

He  was  the  youngest  of  seven  sons  of  the  late  James  Newton, 
a  man  of  estimable  character  and  sterling  worth.  His  brothersi 
except  one  who  died  at  the  age  of  16,  have  occapied  various 
positions,  all  responsible  and  many  of  more  than  ordinary  im- 
portance and  responsibility  in  social,  economic  and  business 
circles.  I  do  not  propose  to  speak  further  of  them  on  this  oc- 
casion. 

My  acquaintance  with  Solon  L.  Newton  began  in  the  days  of 
his  boyhood  and  continued  to  the  day  of  his  death.  His  char> 
acter  as  a  youth  was  marked  by  that  regard  for  precision,  ac- 
curacy and  dignity  which  distinguished  it  in  later  years.  When 
asked  his  age,  he  invariably  with  the  same  accent  and  emphasis 
gave  bis  full  name  with  a  statement  of  his  age.  He  retained 
this  habit  of  full,  accurate  and  dignified  expression  in  all  the 
social  relations  and  business  transactions  of  life. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  take  part  with  him  at  different  times  in 
matters,  some  of  them  of  much  importance,  including  the  man- 
agement and  settlement  of  the  estate  of  his  &ther  and  mother, 
in  all  of  which  he  displayed  the  most  careful  attention  to  de> 
tails,  regard  for  method  and  fullness  and  accuracy  of  statement, 
with  entire  dignity  of  deportment. 

He  was  not  an  ambitious  man,  he  was  not  an  enterprising 
man,  he  never  sought  position  or  preferment  He  was  a  quiet, 
self-possessed,  conscientious  man,  seeking  for  no  great  thing  to 
do,  but  aiming  to  do  faithfully  and  well  such  work  as  came  to 
his  bands. 

Two  prominent  features  in  the  character  of  Mr.  Newton,  both 
arising  from  the  same  source,  deserve  particular  mention.  One 
was  his  passion,  I  think  it  may  be  properly  styled  passion,  for 
and  his  industry  in  the  collection  of  old  fadiioned  furniture  and 
domestic  utensQs  of  every  description.  In  this  respect  his  zeal 
and  enthusiasm  show  a  feeling  near  akin  to  devotion  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  term.  And  his  taste,  judgment  and  success  are  well 
attested  by  the  generous  bequest  above  mentioned,  to  the  Pocum- 
tnck  Yalley  Memorial  Association. 

Another,  and  perhaps  the  most  distinguishing  feature  of  the 
character  of  Mr.  Newton  was  his  intense  and  undeviating  devo- 
tion to  the  Second  Congregational  Church  and  Society  of  Green- 


286  Armtial  Meetinff— 1902. 

field.  This  sprang  partly  no  doubt  from  his  early  training,  bat 
mainly  from  his  own  deep  and  strong  religions  convictions.  He 
devoutly  believed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  church  and  gave  freely 
of  his  time,  labor  and  substance  to  promote  its  interest  and  ex- 
tend its  influence.  The  bequest  in  his  will  shows  that  his  care 
for  the  church  did  not  cease  with  this  mortal  life.  For  some 
years  he  served  the  church  as  its  clerk,  and  his  name  will  ever 
retain  its  place  in  the  list  of  its  most  faithful,  competent  and 
worthy  members. 

The  legacies  given  by  Mr.  Newton  to  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  Foreign  Missions,  the  Home  Missionary 
Society  and  the  Seaman's  Friend  Society,  show  that  his  inter- 
est in  and  sympathy  with  Christian  work  were  not  confined 
within  narrow  limits,  but  extended  to  all  the  world. 

Kev.  J.  D.  Beid  of  Greenfield  than  gave  a  study  of  the  life 
of  the  late  P.  V.  Finch. 

THE  REV.  P.  VOORHEES  FINCH. 

In  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Peter  Yoorhees  Finch  which  took 
place  the  3d  of  May,  1901,  the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  As- 
sociation lost  one  of  its  first  members,  whose  name  has  been 
associated  with  its  history  since  the  earliest  days  of  its  organiza- 
tion. 

Mr.  Finch  was  bom  the  19th  of  March,  1836,  at  Shrewsbury, 
New  Jersey.  He  graduated  from  Burlington  College,  New 
Jersey,  in  1854,  when  he  had  the  honor  of  making  the  Greek 
oration.  From  the  same  institution,  in  1858,  he  received  his 
master's  degree.  In  1860,  he  was  further  honored  by  Trinity 
College.  In  the  years  1855,  1866,  he  was  a  clerk  in  the  Metro- 
politan Bank  of  New  York  City.  He  then  entered  the  General 
Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1859. 
On  the  4tb  of  July  of  that  year,  he  took  the  order  of  deacon, 
being  ordained  to  that  ofSce  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  by 
the  Right  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  then  Bishop  of  New  York.  He 
received  ordination  to  the  priesthood  at  the  hands  of  Bishop 
Williams  of  Connecticut,  on  the  3d  of  July,  1860.  His  residence 
for  the  following  three  years  and  a  half  was  in  Connecticut, 
but  for  part  of  that  time  he  was  chaplain  of  the  16th  Connecti- 
cut Yolunteers,  and  saw  much  real  service  in  the  field  and 
under  fire.    He  was  present  at  the  battles  of  Antietam  and 


Memoir  of  Reo.  P.  V.  Finch.  287 

Frederioksburg.  He  came  to  Greenfield  in  late  December^  1868, 
and  supplied  the  pulpit  of  St  James  Church  from  Christmas 
until  Easter  of  the  following  spring,  when  he  became  rector  of 
the  parish.  Here  he  stayed  until  October,  1871.  He  then  went 
to  Pittsburg  to  become  rector  of  St.  John's  Church  in  that  city. 
In  1873  he  made  another  remove,  this  time  to  Denver,  and  for 
the  next  six  years  he  was  rector  of  St.  John's  Church  there. 
The  year  1879  saw  him  back  in  Oreenfield,  once  more  installed 
as  rector  of  St.  James,  and  here  he  stayed  until  the  end.  The 
renewal  of  an  old  pastorate  is  an  experiment  seldom  made ; 
and  still  more  seldom  does  it  prove  successful  when  made.  But 
in  this  case  the  unexpected  happened.  That  the  result  was  so 
entirely  fortunate  is  highly  creditable  to  both  rector  and  parish. 

By  this  record  it  appears  that  for  a  period  of  over  forty 
years,  including  an  absence  of  eight  years,  Mr.  Finch  made  his 
home  in  New  England.  As  we  have  seen,  he  was  not  a  New 
Englander  by  birth.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  be- 
came one  by  adoption  and  aflbiity.  That  is  a  very  good  plan 
to  foUow.  Better  late  than  never.  I  have  seen  a  young  man 
of  unimpeachable  New  England  antecedents,  who  himself  had 
been  educated  in  Boston  and  was  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
New  England  spirit,  refused  membership  in  the  New  England 
Society  of  a  far  western  state,  because  he  happened  to  have 
been  bom  in  Ohio.  To  his  huge  disgust  he  had  to  stand  by 
and  see  the  coveted  privilege  to  which  he  had  thus  been  de- 
clared ineligible,  bestowed  on  a  youth  of  French-Canadian  par- 
entage, who  knew  no  more  of  New  England  traditions  than  he 
did  of  the  Elgin  Marbles,  for  the  very  suflScient  reason  that  his 
parents  had  migrated  to  New  Hampshire  shortly  before  his 
birth,  so  that  he  bad  first  opened  his  eyes  among  the  hiUs  of 
that  indubitably  New  England  state. 

By  long  years  of  endearing  association  Mr.  Finch  made  this 
beautiful  region  of  the  Connecticut  and  Deerfield  valleys  his 
home.  Here  the  most  enthusiastic  and  vigorous  years  of  his 
still  youthful  manhood  were  passed.  And  hither  he  returned 
to  gamer  the  full  sheaf  of  his  matured  wisdom  and  experi- 
ence. 

Mr.  Finch  married  Miss  Harriet  Bronson  of  Hartford,  in  that 
city,  the  38th  of  April,  1864.  Mrs.  Finch  is  now  living  in 
Oreenfield.  Of  the  three  children  bom  of  this  marriage,  one 
survives :  Dr.  Edward  Bronson  Finch  of  New  York  city. 


388  AnntuU  Meeting— 1902. 

To  his  aotiTities  as  rector  of  St.  James,  Mr.  Finoh  added 
those  of  a  public  spirited  citizen  and  of  a  nature  that  included  a 
wide  range  of  interests.  In  1866  he  was  chosen  as  one  of  the 
school  committee,  and  for  twelve  consecutive  years,  beginning 
in  1880,  he  held  tlie  same  position.  He  was  a  Mason  and  in  the 
circles  of  that  order  he  held  honorable  and  influential  posts. 

He  was  P.  M.  E.  High  Priest  of  Franklin  B.  A.  Chapter ;  Past 
Thrice  Illustrious  Master  of  Titos  Strong  Council,  B.  &  S. 
Masters ;  Past  Eminent  Commander  of  the  Connecticut  Yalloy 
Commandery;  Grand  Prelate  of  the  Grand  Commanderj  of 
Knights  Templars  of  Massachusetts  and  Bhode  Island ;  and  at 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  Worshipful  Master  in  Bepublican 
Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Greenfield. 

He  was  an  interested  member  of  the  Fortnightly  Club  of 
Greenfield,  and  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  was  the  presi- 
dent of  that  society. 

His  bent  for  historical  matters  appears  in  his  connection  with 
the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association.  He  was  one  of 
its  first  councilors,  an  oflSoe  to  which  he  was  elected  many 
times.  At  different  times  he  served  as  vice-president.  At 
field  meetings  he  occasionally  acted  as  president  of  the  day. 
On  various  occasions  he  read  papers  and  gave  addresses  before 
the  Association.  These  contributions  were  always  welcome,  and 
always  interesting. 

like  the  poet,  the  after-dinner  speaker  is  bom,  not  made. 
Mr.  Finch  had  this  gift,  and  his  good  nature  in  accepting  the 
invitations  that  frequently  came  to  him  to  exercise  it,  made  it  a 
source  of  great  pleasure  to  those  who  had  the  good  fortune  to 
hear  him.  He  was  exceedingly  happy  and  entertaining  as  a 
public  speaker,  and  on  occasions  when  speaking  was  the  order 
of  the  day  he  was  sure  to  be  in  demand. 

Looked  on  as  a  whole  this  life  that  we  are  considering  was 
a  very  even  Ufe,  and  a  very  transparent  one.  Such  a  life,  I 
take  it,  is  worth  more  than  the  generality  of  those  that  present 
more  striking  contrasts  and  conspicuous  traits.  It  means  so 
much  as  a  quiet,  unobtrusive  influence  for  good ;  an  influence 
imperceptibly  diffused,  as  it  were,  throughout  the  circle  of  its 
acquaintance.  It  is  not  a  slight  achievement  just  to  live  for 
over  a  generation  in  one  village  and  win  and  hold  the  respect 
and  affection  of  the  community.  Another  country  parson  who 
had  lived  in  and  near  Greenfield  a  matter  of  forty  years,  was 


Memoir  of  Rev.  P.  V.  Finch.  289 

driving  alcmg  one  of  our  beautiful  roads  one  day  with  a  friend 
from  another  place,  who  was  visiting  him.  A  party  of  pio- 
niokers  at  a  little  distance  to  one  side  of  the  road,  recc^ized 
the  minister  as  he  passed,  and  hats  were  raised  and  handker- 
chiefs waved  in  salute.  The  greeting  was  returned,  and  as 
they  left  the  party  behind,  this  minister  turned  to  his  guest  and 
said :  ^^  I  can't  tell  who  those  people  were,  but  it  seems  they  all 
know  me.  I  teU  you  it's  a  dreadful  thing  to  live  forty  years  in 
one  place.    You  can't  be  wicked,  if  you  want  to." 

Now  in  the  guise  of  a  jest,  that  expresses  a  bit  of  shrewd  and 
profound  wisdom.  The  test  of  the  years  is  a  test  of  character, 
and  it  is  the  most  searching  test  to  which  one  can  be  put.  He 
who  stands  it  is  as  gold  tried  by  the  fire.  And  how  revealing 
of  the  true  measure  of  human  and  spiritual  values  is  such  a  test 
It  shows  as  dear  as  noonday  how  infinitely  worth  more  than 
anything  that  a  man  does  or  can  do  is  the  man  himself.  In 
himself,  and  not  in  any  performance  of  his,  is  summed  up  both 
his  inherent  worth  and  his  worth  as  an  influence  on  the  lives 
he  has  touched. 

It  was  Mr.  Finch's  distinction  that  he  met  this  supreme  test 
and  that  it  set  upon  him  the  ineffaceable  stamp  of  a  worth 
and  genuineness  which  cannot  be  counterfeited. 

In  all  the  relations  of  his  life  and  of  his  calling  he  bore  him- 
Belf  with  credit.  He  was  the  good  shepherd  of  his  flock,  and 
the  good  friend  of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  To  be 
good  and  do  good  was  as  natural  for  him  as  it  is  for  the  grass 
to  grow.  He  knew  how  to  rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice,  and 
to  weep  with  them  that  weep.  He  was  a  man  of  large  public 
spirit,  sterling  common  sense  and  broadly  tolerant  vision  and 
attitude.  He  believed  thoroughly  that  his  way  was  for  him 
the  right  way,  but  he  never  sought  to  impose  his  way  on  others 
against  their  will  and  judgment.  He  was  a  man  of  moderate 
and  sensible  views,  absolutely  devoid  of  fanaticism.  He  had  an 
ample  flow  of  good  spirits,  and  an  unfailing  sense  of  humor 
which,  properly  balanced,  as  it  was  in  him,  is  a  sure  mark  of 
mental  and  moral  soundness.  His  exhaustless  fund  of  anec- 
dotes and  pleasantry  made  him  at  all  times  an  entertaining 
converser  and  a  congenial  companion. 

It  was  in  his  personal  bearing  that  the  true  quality  of  the 
man  was  revealed.    In  his  case  surely  the  style  was  the  man. 
It  has  been  said  of  him  that  he  was  ^^  a  gentleman  of  the  old 
19 


290  Armual  Meeting— 190% 

school."  As  that  expression  is  usually  meant,  it  fitted  him  very 
welL  But  to  speak  precisely,  it  was  not  an  apt  characterization. 
A  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  especially  a  clergyman  of 
the  old  school,  was  a  personage  to  be  dreaded.  He  did  not 
bring  joy  with  him,  but  rather  clouds  of  darkness.  His  bearing 
and  conversation  were  such  as  to  cause  an  immediate  drop  of 
the  barometer  in  the  atmosphere  surcharged  with  his  porten- 
tous presence.  Were  a  clergyman  strictly  of  the  old  school  to 
appear  among  us  to-day,  doubtless  we  should  hail  him  as  an  ob- 
ject of  curious  interest.  But  as  far  as  the  ordinary  intercourse 
of  life  is  concerned,  we  should  presently  find  it  expedient  to 
avoid  him  as  much  as  possible.  Quite  the  reverse  of  this  awe- 
inspiring  type  was  Mr.  Finch.  He  had  none  of  that  stiffness, 
that  preternatural  gravity,  that  demeanor  as  of  a  peripatetic 
judgment-day.  He  met  dl  alike  with  quiet  dignity,  a  tact  that 
disarmed  suspicion,  and  unaffected  sincerity  that  put  one  at 
one's  ease,  a  gentleness  that  had  nothing  of  the  effeminate  in  it, 
a  kindliness  that  was  not  forced,  and  a  grace  of  self-possession 
at  the  farthest  remove  from  assurance,  that  would  instantly 
have  made  him  at  home  in  any  circle,  from  the  humblest  to 
the  most  exalted. 

Equally  was  he  removed  from  all  the  various  sorts  of  attitud- 
inizing, mannerisms,  and  professional  airs  that  characterize  cer- 
tain modem  types  of  clergymen.  He  was  not  fiippant.  He 
did  not  belittle  himself  or  his  office.  He  indulged  in  none  of 
the  kinds  of  familiarity  that  breed  contempt.  The  ingratiating 
manner  was  utterly  foreign  to  his  nature.  He  did  not  stoop  to 
make  bids  for  a  cheap  popularity.  As  Eipling  says  of  Lord 
Eoberts,  ^^  He  did  not  advertise."  His  greeting  had  in  it  no 
taint  of  artificiality,  no  pompousness,  no  supernal  gush.  You 
did  not  have  to  be  on  your  guard  with  him  against  that  abom- 
inable mixture  of  condescending  amiability  and  pious  palavering 
which  comes  from,  I  know  not  where,  and  serves,  I  know  not 
what  purpose,  save  to  make  the  now  happily  diminishing  num- 
ber of  those  who  affect  it,  the  shiny  objects  of  a  kind  of  regard 
that  no  right-minded  person  in  his  senses  would  for  a  moment 
tolerate. 

He  kept  always  the  golden  mean.  He  neither  protested  too 
much,  nor  was  he  of  the  churlish  manner  of  those  who  are  so 
fearful  lest  their  dignity  be  called  in  question,  that,  watch-dog 
fashion,  they  mount  perpetual  guard  over  it.    He  was  natural. 


JItemoir  of  JR&o.  P.  V.  Finch.  291 

easy,  cordial.  He  met  you  in  frank,  hnman  fashion,  and  on  a 
worthy  level  of  humanity.  In  a  word,  his  bearing  was  always 
that  of  a  man  and  a  gentleman ;  and  this  did  not  belie  his  in- 
most nature. 

^^  The  place  thereof  shall  know  it  no  more,"  is  not  a  true 
word  concerning  any  human  life  that  has  had  real  meaning, 
that  has  been  a  real  life.  There  are  men,  it  may  be,  who  come 
and  go  like  shadows.  They  have  no  substance,  no  presence,  no 
personality,  no  vital  human  touch.  They  are  apparitions,  phe- 
nomena, not  warm  living  personalities.  No  mere  brilliance  of 
achievement  can  save  them  from  their  fate. 

But  of  such  as  these  was  not  our  friend.  Eather  was  he  of 
the  company  of  those  who,  whether  they  be  widely  known  or 
not,  yet  wherever  they  are  known  are  known.  We  feel  the 
presence  while  it  is  in  our  midst.  We  miss  the  presence  with- 
drawn. And  then  again  we  do  not  miss  it ;  for  in  a  finer,  truer 
sense  it  cannot  be  withdrawn. 

Ko  one,  susceptible  to  a  great  personal  influence,  can  visit  Mt. 
Yemon  and  not  feel  that  somehow  the  mighty  dead  still  inhabits 
there.  A  great  spirit  broods  over  the  place  and  hallows  it. 
You  go  there  and  you  speak  with  hushed  voice  and  walk  as  in  a 
waking  dream.  Thus  potent  is  a  real  human  presence  to  perpet- 
uate itself.  And  lesser  lives,  so  they  too  be  real,  do  in  their  meas- 
ure share  this  potentiality.  And  so  every  community  becomes 
in  a  sense  a  shrine  of  the  departed.  We  speak  of  the  burying- 
ground  as  the  "  city  of  the  dead."  But  the  true  earthly  city  of 
those  we  call  dead  is  the  place  where  they  lived  and  wrought 
and  loved  and  sufiFered  and  achieved.  I  went  to  Concord  and 
visited  the  tomb  of  Emerson.  But  he  was  not  there.  He  never 
had  been  there.  Then  I  was  permitted  to  visit  his  home,  his 
library ;  and  there  I  found  him.  They  who  have  wrought  them- 
selves into  the  life  of  a  community,  live  on  in  that  life. 

There  are  those  whose  forms  grow  to  seem  as  truly  land- 
marks as  the  rocks  and  hills.  To  call  to  mind  the  scenes  amid 
which  they  lived  is  to  call  them  to  mind.  They  are  as  much  a 
part  of  the  landscape,  as  really  help  to  make  it,  as  the  elms 
that  gave  them  shade.  Those  out  of  whom  virtue  went  while 
they  walked  the  village  streets  do  not,  cannot  so  pass  away, 
but  that  they  still  walk  those  streets  with  us  who  remain. 

To  the  many  who  knew  and  loved  him  our  friend  is  not  dead ; 
he  is  not  even  away.    Being  dead,  he  yet  speaketh. 


292  Ami^uxl  MeeHnff— 1902. 

And  for  our  own  speaking,  we  may  best  end  it  so : 

His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 

So  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  mig^t  stand  up 

And  say  to  all  the  worid,  '"This  was  a  manl" 


JOSEPH  FRY  OF  KITTEET,  MAINE. 

BY  O.    ALIOS   BAKSB. 

That  this  story  may  have  its  proper  setting,  we  most  go  back 
for  a  moment,  to  Devonshire  in  old  England.  There,  on  the 
records  of  Dartmouth*  Mr.  Alexander  Shapleigh  appears,  as  a 
merchant  of  Eingsweare,  a  town  on  the  river  Dart,  directly 
opposite  Dartmouth. 

In  that  part  of  Kingsweare  known  as  Eittery  Point,  there  still 
stands,  as  it  stood  in  1620,  the  manor  house  of  the  Shapleigh 
family.  At  that  period,  Alexander  Shapleigh  was  profitably 
cUspatching  ships  with  merchandise  to  Lisbon,  to  Newfoundland 
and  a  little  later  to  New  England. 

In  1635,  James  Treworgy,  as  agent  for  his  father-in-law, 
Alexander  Shapleigh,  bought  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the 
Province  of  Maine  extending  half  way  from  Piscataquaf  to 
Agamenticus  river.  :f 

In  1642,  this  whole  estate  was  conveyed  to  Treworgy,  wh6 
b^ore  1650  made  it  over  to  his  brother-in-law,  Nicholas 
Shapleigh,  the  third  son  of  Alexander. 

This  tract  of  land  the  Shapleighs  named  Kittery  Point,  in 
memory  of  their  home  in  Kingsweare ;  and  a  deposition  is  extant, 
to  the  effect  that  Alexander  himself  came  over  ^^  and  did  peace- 
ably enjoy  his  domain  at  Kittery  Point,  except  the  farthest 
point  of  all,  which  as  long  as  his  father  lived,  (and  after  his 
death),  was  possessed  by  his  son  Major  Nicholas  Shapleigh, 
w%o  built  the  warehouse  at  the  point,  and  sold  several  lots  of 
land.^  § 

Nicholas  Shapleigh  held  many  ofllces  of  trust  and  honor  in 

♦  N.  E.  -Gen.  lUg.,  Vol.  60,  p.  210. 

t  Portsmouth,  N.  H. 

t  York,  Me. 

{  Gen.  Reg.,  Vol  50,  p.  219. 


Jo^h  ^  of  Kituvy^  aea 

Eitterj.  The  glimpses  of  him  that  we  get  through  the  old 
records,  warrant  our  belief  that  he  was  a  man  of  strong  char- 
acter and  liberal  opinions.  A  rare  old  volame  concerning  the 
early  Quakers  in  K.  £.  entitled  ^^  New  England  Judged,"  gives 
us  the  following : 

"  In  the  year  1662,  Mary  Tomkins  and  Alice  Ambrose,  who 
came  from  Old  England  with  Gleorge  Preston,  and  Edward 
Wharton  of  Salem,  came  to  Piscataqua  Biver  and  landed  at  the 
town  of  Dover,  whither  to  go,  it  was  with  them  from  the  Lord, 
— ^where  they  had  a  good  opportunity  in  the  Inn  with  the 
People  that  resorted  to  them,  who  reasoned  with  them  concern- 
ing their  Faith  and  Hope  which  to  the  People  being  made 
manifest,  some  to  the  Truth  thereof  Confessed,  and  others  not 
able  to  gainsay  the  Truth,  ran  to  Bayner  their  Priest,  and  told 
him  that  such  a  People  were  come  to  town,  and  that  they  had 
much  Discourse  with  them  about  their  Beligion,  and  were  not 
able  to  contradict  what  they  said,  and  therefore  desired  him  to 
come  forth  and  help  them,  ^  or  else '  said  they  ^  we  are  like  to 
be  run  on  ground.' " 

At  this  the  Priest  chafed  and  fretted,  and  asked  his  people 
why  they  went  among  them.  To  which  they  answered,  "  Sir 
it  is  so,  we  have  been  amongst  them,  and  if  you  come  not  forth 
to  help  us  we  are  on  ground."  And  said  the  Priest's  wife, 
"  Which  do  you  like  best,  my  Husband,  or  the  Quakers  ? " 

Said  one  of  them,  ^'  We  shall  tell  you  that  after  your  Husband 
hath  been  with  them."  Whereupon  in  a  fretting  and  forward 
manner,  Bayner  came  among  them,  saying  ^^What  came  ye 
here  for  ?  seeing  the  Laws  of  the  Country  are  against  such  as 
you  are  ? " 

^^What  hast  thou  against  us?"  replied  Mary  Tomkins. 
^  You  deny  Majesties  and  Ministers  and  Churches  of  Christ." 
**  Thou  sayst  so,"  said  Mary.  "  And  you  deny  the  three  Per- 
sons in  the  Trinity,"  said  the  Priest.  To  which  Mary  answered, 
— "  Take  notice  People,  this  man  falsely  accuses  us, — ^for  godly 
Magistrates,  and  the  Ministers  of  Christ  we  own,  and  the  churches 
of  Christ  we  own,  and  there  are  three  that  bear  Becord  in 
Heaven,  which  three  are  the  Father,  Word  and  Spirit,  — 
that  we  own,  but  for  the  Three  Persons  in  the  Trinity  that's 
for  thee  to  prove."  "  I  will  prove  it "  said  Bayner.  "  Thou 
sayst  so,"  said  George  Preston,  ^^but  prove  it  by  the  Scrip- 
ture." 


394  Annual  MeeUnjf— 1902. 

^^  I  will  prove  it,''  said  Bayner,  ^^  where  it  is  said  he  is  the  ex- 
press Image  of  his  Father's  Person."  *^  That  is  falsely  trans- 
lated "  said  one. 

<<  Yes  "  replied  the  learned  man  in  the  aadience,  ^^  for  in  the 
Greek  it  is  not  Person,  bat  substance."  ^^  But "  said  the  Priest 
^^  It  is  a  Person." 

"  Thou  sayst  so,"  said  Gteorge,  "  but  prove  the  other  two  if 
thou  canst."  ^^  There  are  three  Somethings,"  cried  the  Priest, 
and  in  a  rs^  flung  away,  calling  to  his  people  at  the  window  to 
go  from  amongst  them ;  but  Mary  soon  got  after  him,  and  spake 
to  him  to  come  back  and  not  leave  his  people,  amongst  them  he 
called  wolves.  But  away  packt  the  Priest,  whereupon  she  said 
unto  the  people,  **  Is  not  this  the  Hireling  that  flees  and  leaves 
the  Flock  ?  So  truth  came  over  them  all ...  .  and  many  were 
oonvinc'd  that  Day." 

We  may  imagine  that  it  was  long  before  Parson  Bayner  heard 
the  last  of  his  ^^  three  Somethings."  ^^  When  they  had  had  this 
good  meeting  at  Dover  for  the  Lord,  they  passed  into  the  Prov- 
ince of  Maine,  being  invited  to  Major  Shapleigh's  who  was 
magistrate  for  that  part  of  the  country,  who  kept  a  Priest  in 
his  house,  and  allowed  him  and  the  people  a  room  in  his  house 
to  do  their  worship ;  and  being  an  inquiring  man  after  the 
truth,  desired  the  Priest  that  he  and  the  Quakers  might  have 
some  Dispute  together,  unto  which  the  Priest  seemed  willing, 
but  soon  after  that  he  got  away  by  which  his  Deceit  was  mani- 
fest." 

Shapleigh  turned  the  Priest  and  his  meetings  out  of  his  house. 
.  .  .  .  "  He  and  his  wife  were  convinced  of  the  Truth,"  says  the 
chronicler,  "  and  in  great  measitre  of  obedience  game  up  to  itP 
The  sympathy  of  Nicholas  Shapleigh  with  the  Quakers  at  this 
time  cannot  be  gainsaid.  The  Massachusetts  authorities  believed 
him  to  be  a  Quaker ;  he  was  accused  of  harboring  them,  and 
the  constable  of  Kittery  was  ordered  to  go  to  his  house  on 
successive  Sundays  to  prevent  their  meeting  there. 

In  1669,  on  the  charge  of  being  a  Quaker,  he  was  deposed 
from  his  office  as  selectman ;  but  in  1677  his  Quakerism  did  not 
prevent  his  fellow  citizens  from  giving  him  the  command  of  the 
militia  in  time  of  danger  from  the  Indians, — nor  did  it  overrule 
his  common  sense  in  accepting  the  commission.  With  the  name 
of  Nicholas  Shapleigh  that  of  Adrian  Fry,  appears  often  on 
Eittery  records.    He  also  was  a  Quaker.    His  mark  often  with 


Jowph  Fry  of  KUtery,  296 

that  of  his  wife  Sarah,  (both  in  rude  initials)  is  aflbed  to  many 
legal  papers  from  1664  to  1692  inolosive. 

In  1664,  Adrian  witnesses  a  receipt  given  by  one  EUingham 
to  his  father,  for  ^^  a  Negro  Boy  named  Mingoe,  and  a  Sorrell 
Horse."  July  15,  1690,  "  At  a  Court  of  Sessions  held  at  York, 
Adrian  Fry  and  family  were  p'sented  for  not  Comeing  to  Hit- 
ting." During  this  period  he  appears  as  grantor  and  grantee  of 
various  tracts  of  land  in  old  Kittery.  In  one  of  these  deeds,  he 
is  called  Adrian  Fry  Planter.* 

About  1680,  Nicholas  Shapleigh  and  Adrian  Fry  with  116 
others  whose  names  are  well  known  to  students  of  early  New 
England  history,  signed  a  petitionf  to  Charles  II  for  protection 
against  the  intrusion  of  the  Massachusetts  government  upon  the 
Province  of  Maine.  It  is  a  dignified  statement  of  facts.  They 
say  that  ^^  Upon  the  invitations  and  incouradgements,  granted  to 
Sir  Ferdinando  Grorges,  the  petitioners  had  settled  in  the  said 
Province,  and  had  increased  to  several  townships  ....  having 
general  courts  of  judicature  ....  and  were  for  several  yeares, 
governed  by  laws  made  by  the  Commissioners  of  Sir  Ferdinando 
....  but  the  Bostoners,  under  pretence  of  an  imaginary  patent 
had  invaded  their  rights  and  privileges,  and  later,  Walderne 
and  Major  Leverett  ....  with  force  of  arms  entered  upon  the 
Province  and  disturbed  the  Inhabitants  then  at  a  Court  holden* 
at  Yorke  ....  in  His  Majesty's  Province  of  Maine,  command- 
ing all  Proceedings  for  the  future  to  be  managed  by  their  own 
authority  ....  since  which  time "  they  say  "  notwithstanding 
the  greate  loss  sustained  by  the  late  Indian  war,  we  are  still  op- 
pressed with  heavy  rates  and  taxes."  They  beg  his  Majesty  to 
reestablish  them  under  His  Royal  authority. 

On  the  12th  of  October,  1692,  Adrian  Fry  executed  the 
following  paper.:(  ^^Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  that 
I,  Adrian  flfry  of  Kittery  in  y*  County  of  York  and 
Province  of  y^  Massachusetts  bay  in  New  England,  planter, 
for  many  good  Causes  and  Considerations  me  moving  here 
unto.  Especially  for  the  Naturall  love  and  affection  I  bear 
unto  my  loving  son  William  ffry,  as  also  for  y*  Comfort- 
able provision  for  my  self  and  my  wife  Sarah  during  our  Nat- 
urall lives,  have  granted.  Demised  and  do  farm  letten  unto 

*  The  word  Planter  so  used,  means  a  first  settler, 
t  CoU.  Me.  Hist.  Soc.,  Vol.  I,  p.  400. 
X  Book  VI,  Folio  87,  York  Deeds. 


396  Anmud  Meetmg—190i. 

mj  foresaid  loving  son  William  ff ry  a  certain  tract  of  land  lying 
in  Kittery  aforsd  joyning  to  Creek's  mouth  on  y«  south  side  of 
8^  Creek,  containing  about  nine  acres ....  with  y^  Orchard 
upon  it  And  twenty-seven  acres  more  of  land  lying  on  or  near 
horsidown  hilL"  ....  This  land  William  Fry  and  his  heirs 
are  to  have  and  hold  during  the  lives  of  his  father  and  mother, 
on  certain  conditions,  and  after  their  death,  William  is  to  have 
absolute  ownership  of  the  said  property. 

As  rent  for  the  same  during  the  life  of  his  parents,  William 
is  to  keep  up  good  fences,  and  well  improve  the  land,  and  to  give 
to  Adrian,  half  of  the  grain  grown  thereon  and  ^^  one  halfe  of 
the  Cyder  and  Perry  that  the  orchard  shall  yield."  Adrian  is 
also  to  have  the  use  of  an  acre  of  ^^  land  lying  next  the  great 
river,"  and  in  case  Sarah  outlives  Adrian,  son  William  is  to  pay 
her  the  same  rent.  Adrian  and  Sarah  or  the  ^'  longest  liver,"  is  to 
have  '^  the  free  use  of  the  now  Dwelling  house,  and  a  quarter  of 
an  acre  of  land  for  a  garden,  with  libertie  to  cutt  and  carry  off, 
such  firewood  or  building  timber  as  they  shall  have  occation  for 
....  and  when  their  abilities  shall  fail,  and  need  be,  William 
shall  help  his  father  and  mother,  or  either  of  them,  in  cutting  and 
carrying  s^  timber  and  firewood  and  shall  pay  both  or  either  \  of 
whatsoever  grain  the  land  shall  yield." 

William  shall  have  two  cows  from  his  father,  and  keep  them 
till  they  with  their  increase  amount  to  six,  when  he  shall  divide 
with  his  father  or  mother,  always  allowing  them  all  the  milk  of 
two  cows,  and  after  this  division  William  shall  ^'  carefully  keep 
4  neate  Cattle  ....  with  sufficient  winter  meat  for  his  father 
and  mother  ....  and  if  they  shall  procure  any  sheep,  William 
shall  always  keep  ten,  summer  and  winter  for  half  y^  increase 
of  y®  lambs  and  wool  ....  If  any  controversie  arises  between 
William  and  his  parents  as  to  these  conditions,  it  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  Indifferent  men,  mutually  chosen."  The  old  couple 
set  their  hands  and  Seals  to  this  paper,  and  a  little  less  than 
three  years  later,  Bobert  Allen  made  oath  before  Justice  Frost 
that  he  saw  Adrian  sign  and  seal  the  above  said  Instrument. 

From  this  paper  it  would  seem  that  Adrian  Fry,  though  still 
strong  in  mind  and  body,  was  yet  so  far  advanced  in  years,  as 
to  feel  the  need  of  making  due  provision  for  himself  and  wife, 
when  the  weakness  of  age  should  overtake  them.  At  this 
point  Adrian  Fry  planter  and  wife  Sarah,  disappear  from  Kit- 
tery records. 


J(mph  Fry  of  Eiiimy.  297 

June  8,  17QS,  an  Adrian  Fry  married  Mercy  Chapman. 
From  that  date  to  1714  their  names  appear  on  varions  legal 
papers.  In  these  records  this  Adrian  is  called  ^^  weaver ''  and 
<<  glazer."  He  is  not  mentioned  as  Adrian  Fry,  junior.  In  1724 
he  is  spoken  of  as  ^^  late  of  Eittery.'^  If  this  Adrian  were  the 
son  of  Adrian  the  ^^  planter,"  the  latter  most  have  died  before 
1705.  In  the  paper  quoted  above,  he  mentions  no  child  bat 
William.    He  made  no  will. 

It  does  not  seem  probable  that  Adrian  the  ^^  planter  "  would 
after  1692  become  Adrian  the  "  weaver  "  and  "  glazer," — ^marry 
a  second  wife  and  live  thirty-two  years  after  he  had  made  over 
his  property  to  his  son  WiUiam.  Nevertheless  stranger  things 
have  happened.  Suppose  Adrian  the  planter  to  have  been  at 
least  twenty-one  in  1664,  when  he  first  appears  on  the  records 
a  witness  to  a  deed, — ^then  in  1724  when  an  Adrian  is  spoken 
of  as  "  late  of  Kittery,"  he  would  have  been  about  eighty-one. 
His  wife  Sarah  may  have  died  before  1705.  His  son  William's 
wife  may  not  have  been  kind  to  her  father-in-law,  and  he  may 
have  yielded  to  the  charms  of  Mercy  Chapman.  Some  facts 
point  this  way,  but  I  leave  this  for  future  study .^ 

William  Fry  was  also  a  Quaker. 

From  1688  to  the  peace  of  Ryswick,  our  frontier  suffered  ter- 
ribly from  frequent  and  unprovoked  attacks  by  the  Indians. 

Kittery,  then  including  Eliot,  Berwick,  Spruce  Creek  and 
Sturgeon  Creek,  was  more  than  once  attacked,  buildings  burned, 
cattle  killed  and  the  frightened  people,  unable  to  cultivate  their 
fields,  fled  to  the  garrison  houses.  In  1694-1695  many  in  this  vi- 
cinity were  killed  or  captured.  April  8, 1697,  the  selectmen  of 
Eittery  petitioned  for  abatement  of  taxes,  saying  that  they  ^^  are 
overcome  and  discouraged  by  the  tediousness  of  the  war." 

The  strait  to  which  the  Ejttery  people  had  been  reduced 
appears  in  a  later  petitionf  from  their  selectmen.  ^  They  say 
.  .  .  .  ^^  We  have  tried  to  raise  it  by  all  lawful  means,  but  the 
People  are  utterly  unable  to  pay  it  in  money  ....  we  have 


*  Rev.  £.  S.  Staokpole  of  Bradford,  who  is  writing  the  history  of  Eittery, 
and  has  been  very  hdpful  to  me  in  my  searoh  for  the  Fry  family,  sends  me 
the  names  of  Adrian's  children  as  follows:— Vniliam,  Elisabeth,  Sarah, 
Joanna  and  perhaps  Thomas. 

t  Mass.  Archives,  Deo.  28,  1704. 

I  William  Peppmll,  John  Shapleigh,  John  Leighton,  John  Hill  and  Charles 
Frost. 


298  Annual  Jieeeinff—1902. 

offered  their  GKx)ds  and  Chattels  at  an  outcry*  aooording  to  di- 
rections in  the  Treasurer's  warrant,  but  find  none  of  abilitie 
to  buy  ....  Considering  the  seat  of  Warr  is  with  us,  and  y^ 
Burden  exceeding  heavy  as  we  are  a  poor  Scattering  People 
Kessesitated  to  watch,  ward  Scout  build  Garrisons  and  fortifica- 
tions, and  one  half e  of  us  to  be  furnished  with  Snowshoos  and 
Mogginsons  and  all  at  our  own  Charge  ....  and  at  every 
alarm  Driven  from  our  Imployment.*' 

This  appeal  signed  by  the  foremost  men  of  Kittery,  was 
heeded  by  the  Government  at  Boston.t  "  June  80, 1705.  The 
following  Eesolve  passed  in  the  House  upon  the  Petition  of  the 
Representatives  of  Kittery  for  abatement  of  the  Arrearages  of 
their  Taxes,  and  was  sent  up  for  Concurrence."  "Resolved, 
that  the  Sum  of  Thirty-eight  pounds  be  abated  to  the  poor  of 
the  town  of  Kittery,  according  to  the  Disposition  of  y^  Select- 
men and  Representatives  of  s^  Town — ^they  being  most  capable 
to  relieve  such  as  they  Know  have  met  with  most  sufferings  by 
the  Heathen.  Provided  that  the  names  of  P'sons,  and  Sums 
respectively  abated  to  them,  be  by  the  Selectmen  and  Represen- 
tatives laid  before  this  Court  at  their  next  Session." 

Among  the  names  is  that  of  William  Fry,  whose  abatement 
was  8s. 

In  1711,  on  a  list  of  freeholders  of  Kittery,  the  value  of  the 
year's  income  of  William  Fry's  estate  is  7£ 

The  youngest  child  of  William  Fry  and  his  wife  Hannah  Hill 
was  Joseph,  bom  March  12, 1704.  Whatever  he  may  have  been 
to  his  parents,  this  Joseph  Fry,  has  made  me  no  end  of  trouble. 

Just  fourteen  years  ago,  shortly  after  the  publication  in  the 
Gazette  and  Cotiriery  of  my  paper  called  "  My  Hunt  for  the 
Captives,"  a  pleasant  notice  of  it  appeared  in  the  Montreal  Go- 
zeUe  written,  as  I  learned,  by  an  Irish  Roman  Catholic  gentle- 
man of  Montreal.  Soon  after  this  I  received  a  letter  from  a 
Catholic  lady  of  high  position  in  Canada,  demanding  rather  im- 
periously, why  in  my  account  of  the  Deerfield  captives,  I  had 
omitted  the  name  of  Andr£,  son  of  Deacon  Thomas  French, 
who  had  remained  and  married  in  Canada  and  whose  descen- 
dants could  still  be  easily  found  there. 

The  facts  which  I  had  stated  concerning  Deacon  French  and 
his  family,  being  well  authenticated,  both  by  Deerfield  and  Ca- 

*  Public  Auction. 

t  Mass.  Archives,  Vol.  3,  p.  416. 


Joseph  Fry  of  Kittery.  299 

nadian  reoords,  I  felt  perfeotlj  seoure  in  my  position, — ^bnt  what 
of  that  ?  Was  I  to  follow  my  impulse  and  reiterate  my  state- 
ments with  proof  of  their  correctness,  thereby  to  incur  the  in- 
dignation of  my  correspondent  ?  I  remember  to  have  reflected 
that  it  was  a  pretty  serious  business  to  cut  ofF  the  parent  stock 
of  six  generations,  and  to  have  felt  i^dX  I  should  hardly  endure 
to  have  anyone  make  a  similar  attempt  upon  my  family  tree. 
So  I  wrote  politely  to  my  correspondent,  asking  for  proof  of  her 
statement,  giving  her  Deacon  French's  connection  with  my  own 
family,  and  assuring  her  of  my  wish  to  make  honorable  amends 
if  I  had  erred.  My  letter  was  as  politely  answered  by  another, 
my  reply,  by  stiU  another,  and  after  some  months  of  the  most 
interesting  experience  on  my  part,  a  direct  correspondence  was 
opened  with  this  supposed  descendant  of  Andr6  French.  She 
told  me  that  French  was  her  family  name,  and  that  her  direct 
ancestor  was  the  youngest  son  of  Deacon  Thomas  French  of 
Deerfield,  named  Andr6,  carried  captive  in  1704  and  remaining 
in  Canada. 

From  January  1882  to  1894  my  new  relative,  a  bom  anti- 
quary and  historian,  left  no  stone  unturned  to  prove  her  kin- 
ship to  me,  whom  she  affectionately  called  cousin.  We  wrote 
frequently  to  each  other,  she  in  French  and  in  the  most  beauti- 
ful handwriting, — I  in  bald  English.  During  those  years  I 
went  often  to  Canada  to  see  her. 

My  first  visit  was  in  the  autumn  of  1889.  Early  in  the  after- 
noon of  a  beautiful  September  day,  we  presented  ourselves  at 
the  door  of  the  convent,  a  massive  pile  of  granite,  crowning  the 
summit  of  a  lofty  hill  about  two  miles  out  of  the  city.  It  was 
evident  from  the  air  and  manner  of  the  nun  who  admitted  us, 
and  of  those  who  were  passing  hither  and  thither  about  the 
halls,  that  there  was  a  flutter  of  excitement  in  the  community, 
relative  to  the  visit  of  these  Boston  heretics.  We  were  ushered 
into  the  ^^  parloir,"  simply  a  ^^  speaking  place  "  as  the  name  im- 
plies, an  enormous  room  chilly  but  well  lighted,  a  row  of  wooden 
chairs  against  the  wall,  bare  floors  as  scrupulously  white  as  pen- 
itent nuns  on  their  hands  and  knees  could  scrub  them, — and 
scantily  adorned  with  rag  rugs  made  by  the  sisters. 

After  some  delay,  in  which  we  spoke  in  awed  whispers, — my 
correspondent  entered,  walking  with  difficulty,  and  supported 
by  two  nuns.  After  mutual  introductions  she  courteously  dis- 
missed her  attendants,  and  taking  our  hands,  welcomed  us  with 


300  Annual  Meeting— 1902. 

a  grace  possible  only  to  a  French  woman,  but  scarcely  to  be  ex- 
pected from  a  recluse.  She  was  a  well  proportioned  woman  of 
more  than  medium  height,  erect  in  carriage.  A  face  of  ineffabkt 
sadness,  whose  deathly  pallor  was  enhanced  by  the  stiff  white 
cornet  enveloping  the  forehead,  cheeks,  and  throat; — sur- 
mounted by  the  long  black  veil.  Large,  dark  eyes,  a  beautiful 
smile,  the  whole  face  quickly  responsive  in  expression  from  grave 
to  gay,  according  to  the  subject  of  conversation.  She  talked  in 
French,  which  I  could  understand,  my  friend  translating  my 
English  into  French  for  her.  As  we  all  became  more  at  our 
ease,  many  were  her  arch  side  glances,  many  her  hearty  laughs 
and  witty  sallies,  as  quickly  followed  by  tears,  when  our  con- 
versation turned  on  serious  themes.  Once  when  she  dropped 
an  expression  in  English,  having  declared  that  she  could  not 
speak  our  language,  my  companion  laughingly  called  her  a 
"  humbug."  Turning  to  me  she  asked  deprecatingly  "  what  is 
a  humbug } "  Now  and  then  when  we  talked  English  together, 
the  nun's  expressive  eyes  glanced  from  one  to  the  other,  with  a 
half -suspicious  intensity,  quickly  relieved  by  our  translation.  So 
the  afternoon  glided  too  quickly  away.  My  new  cousin  insisted 
on  accompanying  us  to  the  outer  door  where,  repeatedly  kissing 
us  ^^  au  revoir,"  she  turned  with  the  air  of  a  queen,  summoning 
the  lay  sister  in  waiting  to  take  her  back  in  her  wheeled  chair 
to  her  room.  With  mingled  emotions  of  pity  and  admiration, 
we  turned  away,  smiling  through  tears,  and  walked  briskly  back 
to  our  hotel.  All  these  years  I  had  been  trying  my  best  to  find 
among  our  unredeemed  captives  an  ancestor  for  her,  in  place  of 
that  Andr6  French  she  held  so  dear,  but  who  never  had  a  real 
existence. 

Just  before  we  met,  she  had  sent  me  some  ^^  Notes  sur  la 
f amille  French,"  given  her  many  years  before,  by  an  ecclesiastic 
then  and  now  justly  regarded  as  a  historical  authority.  Ac- 
cording to  these  notes  Andr6  was  married  in  1713,  at  Pointe 
Claire,  on  the  Island  of  Montreal,  as  Andr6  Laframboise  of  Bos- 
ton, son  of  Andr6  Laframboise  and  Marie  Fraim,  both  of  Bos- 
ton. My  common  sense  showed  me  that  here  was  a  muddle  of 
names  at  the  start.  I  found  by  these  notes  that  in  due  time 
there  were  bom  to  Andr6  Laframboise  and  his  wife,  Marie 
Louise  Bigras,  twelve  children.  In  the  records  of  these  births, 
the  father  is  mentioned  successively  as  Andr6  Laframboise, 
Andr6  Piret  dit  Laframboise,  And[r6  Fray  dit  Laframboisa, 


Joseph  Fry  of  Mttery.  801 

Andr6  Fraye,  Andr6  Frem  French  dit  Laf  ramboise,  and  finally 
seven  times  in  snooession  as  Andr6  Fraye. 

In  the  marriages  of  these  children,  and  the  births  of  grand- 
children they  are  designated  as  Frinche  dit  Laframboise,  Frem 
dit  Laframboise,  Frte  dite  Laframboise,  Frange,  Franche,  La- 
framboise,  Frey dit  Laframboise,  making  in  all  ten  varia- 
tions. My  absolute  knowledge  that  my  nan  was  not  descended 
from  a  Deerfield  French ;  these  ten  variations  in  Andre's  sor- 
name,  and  the  fact  that  of  all  the  variations  Andr6  Fray  or 
Fraye  was  the  most  constant,  led  me  to  believe  that  Andr6  lSray> 
anglicized  Andrew  Fry,  was  the  captive  ancestor,  of  her  whd 
had  become  my  friend  and  helper. 

Together  we  worked :  she  in  her  seclusion  miles  away,  and  I 
nearly  twenty  years  younger  than  I  am  to-day,  poring  over 
Archives  in  the  State  House  at  Boston,  faring  in  queer  convey- 
ances up  and  down  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  in  winter  cold  and 
summer  heat,  studying  the  records  of  many  a  hamlet,  until  bit 
by  bit  we  had  collected  the  disjointed  fragments  I  bring  you 
to-night 

A  family  tradition  confirming  their  belief  in  their  Deerfield 
descent  is  still  cherished  by  my  nun's  relatives.  It  runs  as  fol- 
lows : — Andr6  French,  a  young  son  of  Deacon  Thomas  French 
was  playing  on  the  sandy  shore  by  the  river  near  his  father's 
house,  when  he  was  seized  and  carried  off  by  savages.  They 
treated  him  with  great  cruelty  cutting  ten  strips  of  flesh  from 
the  fattest  part  of  his  body.  A  squaw  of  the  tribe,  moved  by 
compassion  on  hearing  his  cries  under  torture,  offered  his  cap- 
tors a  sheep  in  exchange  for  the  boy.  They  gave  her  the  child. 
She  fed  him  on  wild  raspberries,  and  thanks  to  her  care,  he  re- 
covered from  his  terrible  wounds.  When  full  grown,  he  married 
and  settled  at  Pointe  Claire.  A  year  after  his  marriage  two  of 
his  uncles  visited  him,  urging  him  to  return  with  them  to  New 
England.  At  last  he  consented  on  condition  that  he  might  re- 
turn to  Canada  after  seeing  his  relatives,  and  receiving  his  in- 
lieritance. 

Embarking  with  his  uncles  in  a  sloop,  they  were  not  out  of 
hailing  distance,  when  Andre's  young  wife  standing  on  the  shore, 
and  holding  their  baby  aloft  in  her  arms  cried  "  Andr6,  Andr6, 
you  are  abandoning  your  wife,  but  can  you  desert  your  own 
child."  Unable  to  withstand  this  appeal,  the  poor  fellow  threw 
himself  into  the  water  and  swam  quickly  to  shore.    His  uncles, 


302  Annual  MeeHng— 1902. 

convinced  that  farther  attempts  to  induce  him  to  return  would 
be  useless,  continued  their  homeward  voyage. 

The  incongruity  of  this  tradition  with  the  theory  of  Andr6's 
descent  from  Deacon  Thomas  French  is  evident.  It,  however, 
gives  us  the  clew  to  the  name  Za  Framboise  under  which  Andr6 
so  often  appears.  Whether  this  name  which  means  '^  the  rasp- 
herry  "  was  given  him  because  of  the  tradition,  or  the  tradition 
was  made  to  fit  the  name,  I  cannot  say.  I  do  know  that  up  to 
recent  times  such  nicknames  have  been  so  common  in  Canada, 
as  often  to  supplant  the  original  name,  and  sometimes  to  make 
the  task  of  the  genealogist  hopeless. 

A  family  still  lives  near  Montreal  named  French-Laframboise, 
a  strange  mingling  of  fact  and  fancy,  wrongly  applied  to  the 
actual  descendants  of  Andr6  Fry.  Having  decided  that  my 
friend's  family  name  was  Fry,  the  next  thing  to  do  was  to  find 
an  unredeemed  captive  by  that  name ! 

In  1888,  in  hunting  for  the  captive  Samuel  Gill,  I  had  found 
the  following  petition :  * 

"May  29, 1701. 
To  the  right  honorable  the  Leftenant  Qovemor,  with  the  Reet  of  His 
Majeetie's  Council  of  this  Provinoe  of  the  Massajuciks  by  (bay)  in  New  Eng- 
land the  humble  petition  of  Samuel  Gill  of  Salsbeiy  and  of  benieman  hutchins 
of  the  town  of  Citterie,  sheweth  that  whereas  it  pleased  the  Honorable  the 
great  and  generall  assembly  in  May  1700,  to  grant  that  ther  should  be  ussed 
to  recover  the  captives  from  the  French  and  Indins  at  Canida  and  left  it  with 
your  honouers  to  be  put  in  execution:  we  humbly  entreat  that  it  may  be  put 
in  execution  with  all  speed  which  will  much  obUdg  your  poor  pettitioners 

Samuel  Gill 
BENJEMIN  HUCHINS 

Here  is  an  account  of  captives  tacken  from  Salsbeiy  newberj 
Amesbery  Kittery  yorck  which  are  not  returned. 

Samuel  gill  taken  from  sabbry  jun  10th,  1697  agged  nine 
yeres.  John  or  Joseph  goodaridg  taken  from  newbery  about 
October  in :  92  about  eight  yeares  old. 

ann  white  takene  from  amesbery  at  the  same  time. 

Jonathan  hutchins  taken  from  Kettery  May  9th  1698  agged 
about  fifteen  yeres. 

Charles  Traffton  taken  from  york  about  1695  agged  about  IS 
yeres,  and  one  Bobert  Winchester  about  July  in :  96  agged  about 
14  years  and  Joseph  Frey  of  Kittery  taken  about  1695  agged 
about  15  or  16  yeres." 

*  Biaas.  Archives,  Vol.  70,  p.  626. 


Joseph  Fry  of  Exttery.  803 

All  these  captives  except  the  last  two  I  later  traced  and  ac- 
counted for.  Could  not  this  Joseph  Frey  of  Ejtterj  be  the 
Andr6  Fry  I  wanted, — the  missing  link  in  my  friend's  ancestry  ? 

Clearly  this  Joseph  was  neither  the  Joseph,  son  of  William 
Fry  born  as  we  have  seen  March  12, 1704 ;  nor  of  Adrian  and 
Mercy  Chapman,  married  in  1705.  As  there  was  no  other 
family  named  Fry  in  Elittery  or  in  that  region,  nearer  than 
Andover,  Mass.,  except  that  of  Adrian  Fry  the  ^^pUmter^^  I  as- 
sume that  Joseph  the  Captive  was  Adrian's  son,  a  younger 
brother  of  William. 

During  the  period  from  1705  to  1712,  strenuous  efforts  were 
made  by  both  the  French  and  English  governments,  for  an  ex- 
change of  captives.  Among  others  we  had  ^^  JBapUste "  and 
Beauvenire  de  Yerchdres,  whom  the  French  were  most  anxious 
to  recover.  They  had  Eunice  Williams  and  John  Arms  of 
Deerfield,  the  Hills  from  Maine,  Esther  Wheelwright  and  many 
more  from  New  England. 

Samuel  Hill,  bringing  the  first  news  of  the  Wells  captives 
was  in  Kittery  May  10th,  1705,  having  been  sent  down  on  parole 
as  Interpreter,  with  an  embassy  concerning  exchange,  returning 
to  Canada  with  Courtemanche  who  had  escorted  Ensign  Shel- 
don home. 

In  February  1709-10,  Messieurs  de  la  Peridre  and  Dupuis, 
with  six  men  were  sent  to  Albany  with  John  Arms  and  Barent 
Staats.* 

To  demand  Beauvenire  (or  Boveney)  as  he  is  known  in  our 
archives,  and  Le  Feorcf  The  name  of  Joseph  Fry,  is  neither  in 
a  "  List  of  captives  brot  home  in  the  Province  Galley,"  nor 
of  "  those  yett  in  the  Indians  Hands  y*  24  January  1698-9  "  X 
though  there  are  Kittery  captives  in  both.  Hutchings  and 
Gill  are  in  the  latter  list  as  already  carried  to  Canada  ;  also 
'^an  Eastard  Boy,  his  name  is  Bobart,  cannot  speak  one  word 
of  English,  is  att  the  Fort  cald  Norrockeomegog."  § 

*  Lieut.  Barent  Staats  married  Peter  Schuyler's  niece  and  John  Schuyler 
married  B.  S.'s  aunt  so  ''he  is  connected  in  2  ways/'  captured  Oct.  12,  1709, 
N.  Y.  CoL  Doc,  Vol  IX,  1838. 

t  Beauvenire  de  Verch^ree,  youngest  brother  of  the  heroine  Madefleine  de 
Verch^res,  captured  at  Haverhill,  had  been  held  in  the  hopes  of  getting 
Eunice  Williams  in  exchange. 

I  Vol.  70,  p.  398,  Mass.  Archives. 

S  This  is  doubtless  the  Robert  Winchester  mentioned  in  Qill's  petition.  The 
fort  is  Noirridgewock. 


804  Afmfual  Meeting— 190^. 

From  this  I  judge  tkat  Joseph  Fry  was  beyond  the  ken  of 
the  French  authorities,  held  by  his  savage  captors,  in  some  In- 
dian village,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  money  for  his  release. 

Mean  while,  in  the  early  autunm  of  1710,  Port  Boyal  was  taken 
by  the  English  fleet.  Its  captors  were  jubilant.  Major  Philip 
livingston,  who  had  served  in  the  expedition,  was  sent  at  onoe 
with  St  Castine  the  younger,  who  had  been  one  of  the  garrison 
at  Port  Boyal,  to  De  Yaudreuil  the  news  of  the  surrender, 
and  the  terms  agreed  upon  by  Nicholson  and  Subercase,  the 
late  Governor  of  Acadia.  It  was  about  the  middle  of  October. 
They  stopped  at  Biguyduoe  at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot* 
to  see  Castine's  family,  who  treated  Livingstone  kindly.  After 
resting  there,  they  went  as  far  as  Indian  Old  Town.  There, 
but  for  Castine,  Livingston  would  have  been  killed  by  a  sav- 
age, maddened  by  the  theft  of  his  boat  by  some  English  cap- 
tives. 

After  some  delay,  they  started  again,  but  their  canoes  were 
so  broken  by  the  ice,  that  they  had  to  finish  their  journey  on 
foot 

Six  days,  they  travelled  by  compass,  over  hiU  and  dale, 
through  dense  and  almost  impenetrable  forests. 

Before  they  reached  a  French  settlement  their  {nrovisions 
gave  out,  and  they  lived  on  such  leaves,  roots  and  berries  as 
they  could  find.f  Arriving  at  Quebec  on  the  16th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1710,  they  delivered  the  following  letter  from  Nicholson 
to  De  Vaudreuil.:|: 

"Annapoub,  Rotalb,  11,  Oct  1710. 
Sir: 

It  having  pleaaed  God  to  bless  with  success  the  just  and  royal  enterprise 

of  Her  Majesty  Anne,  by  the  grace  of  God  Queen  of  England,  France  and 

Ireland,    ♦    ♦    ♦    ♦    by  reducing  to  her  obedience  the  Fort  of  Port  Rojral, 

and  the  adjacent  country,  as  the  articles  of  capitulation  wiU  inform  you  in 

detail,    *    *    *    *    we  deem  it  proper  to  inform  you  that  as  you  have  made 

many  incursions  on  several  of  her  majesty's  frontiers    ♦    ♦    ♦    ♦    your 

cruel  and  barbarous  savages  and  French  having  inhumanly  killed  many  poor 

people  and  children,  we  warn  you,  that  in  case  the  French,  after  this  reaches 

you,  continue  these  atrocities,  on  the  first  information  we  have,  we  wiU  im> 

mediately  retaliate  upon  your  principal  people  of  Acadia,  now  at  our  mercy. 

But,  as  we  abhor  the  cruelty  of  your  savages  in  war,  we  hope  that  you  wiU 

give  us  no  occasion  to  imitate  it;  and  as  we  are  correctly  informed  that  you 

have  under  your  command,  a  great  nimiber  of  prisoners,  and  especially  a 

♦  Now  Castine. 

t  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,  W6L  vi.,  p.  60. 

X  2  Doc.  Rel.  It  la  Nouvdle,  France,  Vol.  n.,  p.  524. 


Joseph  Fry  of  EUtery.  305 

young  girl,  daughter  of  the  Rever^id  Mr.  WiUiams,  minister  of  Dearfield, 

we  expect  you  to  have  all  the  said  captives  ready  to  be  delivered  to  the  first 

flag  of  truce  which  will  be  sent  for  that  purpose  next  May.    Otherwise  you 

must  expect  the  same  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  will  be  put 

in  bondage  among  our  savages,  until  there  is  complete  restitution  of  Her 

Majesty's  subjects  under  your  domination,  whether  in  the  possession  of  the 

French  or  the  Savages. 

But  if  you  agree  to  our  just  and  reasonable  demand,  we  assure  you  that 

your  pec^le  wUl  be  treated  with  all  the  civility  that  the  laws  of  war  permit. 
«    *    «    « 

Signed.)  F.  Nicholbon, 

Samuel  Vetch  and  6  others." 

Mr.  Livingston  on  his  retam,  escorted  by  Hertel  de  Bonville, 
and  the  Sieur  Dupuis,  arrived  in  Boston,  Friday,  Feb.  23, 
1710-11,*  with  De  Vaudreuil's  answer.f 

They  went  to  the  Sun  Tavern,  kept  by  Samuel  Mears,  in 
Com  Court,  near  Dock  Square.  The  next  day,  Gk>vemor 
Dudley  sent  Mr.  Commissary  General,  and  Mr.  Sheriff  Dyer, 
to  help  them  settle  there,  to  tell  them  that  he  '^  will  take  care 
that  they  be  not  imposed  upon  by  excessive  rates  for  their  ex- 
pences,"  and  that  he  will  receive  them  with  their  credentials, 
in  Council  the  following  Monday. 

It  would  be  worth  one's  while  to  stand  to-day  in  the  Council 
Chamber  of  the  old  State  House  at  the  head  of  State  street 
in  Boston,  and  picture  the  session  of  the  Council  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed, just  192  years  ago  to-morrow.  The  governor  in  his 
robes  of  state ;  the  councillors  on  his  left  hand,  Sewall  jotting 
down  his  records,  Colonel  Vetch,  Mr.  Livingston,  the  French 
ambassadors,  Mr.  Secretary  and  Mr.  Commissary  General  at 
his  right.  A  somewhat  stormy  session,  according  to  SewaU's 
private  record  of  it.X  Mr.  Weaver,  the  interpreter,  reads  the 
Credentials  of  the  Frenchmen ;  Antony  Oliver  is  reprimanded 
for  visiting  them  at  Mears'  and  made  to  take  the  oaths  and 
subscribe  to  the  Declaration. §  The  Governor  ^^  told  the  mcEh 
sengers  that  they  should  depart  that  day  sennight,  as  he  had 
told  the  Council  with  some  spirit  last  Satterday." 

*  Council  Records,  vol.  5,  pp.  350  to  355. 

t  In  his  report  to  the  French  minister  of  this  whole  affair,  De  Vaudreuil  says 
that  he  "sent  these  two  officers  in  order  that  they  might  spy  out  the  land, 
and  obtain  information  of  the  movements  of  the  enemy." 

X  Sewall's  Diary,  Vol.  11.,  p.  301. 

§  Oaths  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  Declaration  against  Transubstantii^ 
tion. 

20 


306  Anwaal  Meeting— 1902. 

There  were,  however,  the  usual  delays,  and  it  was  the  17th 
of  March,  when  they  left  Boston  for  New  London  on  their 
homeward  way,  arriving  at  Chambly,  the  15th  of  April.*  They 
carried  a  ^'  Boll  of  English  Prisoners  in  the  Hands  of  the  French 
and  Indians  at  Canada."  On  the  back  of  the  list  is  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  Colonel  Schuyler : 

"Boston,  5th  Maroh,  1710. t 
Sir: 

This  comes  to  your  hand  by  MesBn.  DHouviUe  and  Dupuis,  MeoBengera 

from  Mr.  D'Voucbiiille.    I  have  to  thank  your  kind  Discreation  in  wwiding 

them  the  Round  Way,  that  they  might  not  Know  our  Albany  Road,  upon 

the  Same  Consideration  I  have  Returned  them  the  same  way,  and  am  (^ad 

we  have  had  no  News  from  Europe  dureing  their  stay  here  and  hope  to  have 

them  Dispatch  before  anything  Arrive.    They  have  shewed  themselves  good 

men  here,  have  signed  articles  with  me  for  the  Rendition  of  all  Prisoners  in 

June  next,  I  pray  you  to  speed  them  away  as  soon  as  possiUe. 

I  am  sir  your  very 

humble  Serv't 

J.  DtJDUBT." 

A  duplicate  of  the  list  carried  by  De  Rouville  and  Dupuis  is 
in  our  Archiyes.:^  ^^  bears  the  names  of  113  New  England 
captives,  with  a  few  repetitions.  Among  them,  the  minister's 
daughter  of  Deerfield,  Johnson  Harmon  of  York,  Maine,  and 
Joseph  Fry  of  Kittery.  This  is  his  last  appearance  in  our  Ar- 
chives :  indeed  his  last  as  Joseph  anywhere.  During  this  pe- 
riod of  exchange  between  the  two  goyernments,  an  epidemic 
of  baptism  and  naturalization  was  raging  among  the  English 
captives  in  Canada. 

I  have  formerly  described  my  first  encounter  with  a  list  of 
English  captives  in  Canada, — a  scrap  of  paper,  (evidently  the 
first  draft)  containing  the  names  of  a  few  English,  Dutch,  and 
Flemish  boys  and  girk  who  ^^  besought  His  Majesty  Louis  XIV., 
to  be  pleased  to  grant  them  naturalization  in  Canada,  they  be- 
ing already  established  there."§ 

The  tug  of  war  came  later,  when  I  was  seeking  such  Usts  in 
Canadian  archives.      Here  and  there,  among  scores  of  other 

*  Letter  from  De  Vaudreuil  to  the  MiniBter,  dated  Quebec,  25th  April,  1711. 

t  Evidently  this  should  be  1710-11. 

t  Vol.  71,  p.  765. 

S  Among  theee  names  were  Andr6  fray,  Matthiew  Claude  Famet,  Pierre 
Augustin  Letrefills,  Louis  Marie  Strafton,  which  prop^y  read  would  stand 
as  follows:  Joseph  Fry,  Matthew  Famsworth,  Aaron  Littlefield,  Charles 
Trafton. 


Joseph  Fry  of  KUtery.  307 

doouments,  with  no  sequence,  written  in  old  French,  in  gran- 
diloquent phrase,  and  encumbered  with  formalities,  I  found 
them.  Made  by  those  who  had  no  knowledge  of  English 
names  or  places,  and  no  interest  in  the  sabject,  they  were 
Greek  to  me.  I  copied  them  mechanically  from  the  huge  vol- 
umes in  which  they  were  bound,  written  on  paper  yellowed  by 
time,  with  no  margins,  no  capitals  and  no  punctuation.  To-day 
there  is  hardly  a  captive  on  those  lists  whose  story  I  do  not 
know. 

The  name  of  Joseph  Frye  is  not  on  these  lists. 

On  that  date.  May,  1710,  the  period  of  the  embassies,  is 
Andr6  Fray,  with  no  comment. 

As  no  captive  was  naturalized  without  re-baptism  in  Canada, 
and  as  the  original  Christian  name  was  often  omitted  in  the 
new  baptism,  I  believe  that  Andr6  Fray  was  our  Joseph  Fry 
of  Kittery,  and  that  sometime  his  baptism  will  be  foand  on  the 
records  of  some  Indian  mission  far  from  Quebec  or  Montreal. 

If  this  Andr6  were  our  Joseph,  he  would  have  been  about 
thirty  years  old  when  naturalized.  As  baptism  was  the  first 
step  towards  naturalization,  so  marriage  soon  followed  natural- 
ization among  the  captives. 

One  beautiful  afternoon,  about  the  middle  of  October,  1713, 
Fran9ois  Bigras  and  his  wife,  Marie  Brunet,  with  their  daughter, 
Marie  Louise,  all  in  holiday  attire,  wended  their  way  to  Mon- 
treal, where  the  betrothal  of  Andr6  Fray  and  Marie  Louise 
Bigras  was  to  take  place.  There  at  the  house  of  Jacques  La- 
Celle,  master  carpenter,  they  found  Andr6  with  another  friend, 
Etienne  Gibault,  also  a  carpenter,  and  Michel  Brunet,  uncle  of 
the  bride's  mother,  waiting  for  them,  with  other  friends  of 
both  parties.    Soon  came  Le  Pailleur  the  notary. 

Bent  like  a  laboring  oar  that  toils  in  the  surf  of  the  ocean, — 

Bent,  but  not  broken  by  age  was  the  form  of  the  Notaiy  public; 

Shocks  of  yellow  hair  like  the  silken  floss  of  the  maize,  hung 

Over  his  shoulders,  his  forehead  was  high,  and  glasses  with  horn  bows 

Sat  astride  on  his  nose  with  a  look  of  wisdom  supernal. 

Father  of  twenty  children  was  he,  and  more  than  a  hundred 

Children's  children  rode  on  his  knee  and  heard  his  great  watch  tick. 
*********** 

Then  from  his  pocket  the  notaiy  drew  his  papers  and  inkhom; 
Wrote  with  a  steady  hand  the  date  and  the  age  of  the  parties: — 

Andr6,  aged  about  thirty-six,  Marie  Louise  about  nineteen.  The 
friends  and  relatives  of  the  bride  and  groom  agreeing  for  them, 


308  Aimual  Meeting!— 1902. 

and  they  reoiprooally  promising  that  they  will  take  each  other 
for  husband  and  wife  under  the  name  and  laws  of  marriage^ 
hereafter  as  soon  as  possible ;  the  said  marriage  ^'  to  be  solem- 
nized according  to  the  rites  of  our  Holy  Mother  Church."  Mut- 
ually they  promise,  from  their  wedding  day,  to  hold  in  common 
all  the  goods  and  chattels,  all  their  property  real  and  personal^ 
of  which  they  are  now  possessed,  or  which  they  shall  hereafter 
acquire,  ^  according  to  the  Custom  of  Paris,  followed  in  Canada," 
with  this  saving  clause  for  Marie,  ^^even  though  they  may 
hereafter  dwell  and  acquire  property  in  a  country  where  the 
Mstoms  are  different."  Neither  can  be  held  for  the  debts  of 
the  other  contracted  before  marriage.  The  future  husband  en- 
dows the  future  wife  with  the  customary  marriage  portion  of 
500  livres*  to  be  paid  at  her  option  without  her  being  obliged 
to  sue  him  for  it  Upon  the  death  of  either,  the  survivor  is  to 
have  200  livres  of  their  common  property  after  an  inventory 
and  an  estimate  made  of  the  whole. 

They  take  each  other  with  all  the  rights  they  now  have,  and 
which  may  fall  to  them  or  become  due  them  either  by  gift  or 
inheritance,  and  for  the  affection  they  bear  to  each  other,  they 
make,  while  yet  living,  this  present  reciprocal  gift  to  each  other, 
of  all  and  several  of  their  goods  and  chattels,  both  what  they 
now  have,  and  what  they  may  acquire,  to  be  enjoyed  by  the 
survivor  in  full  ownership  as  his  or  her  lawful  possession,  pro- 
vided always  that  no  children  are  bom  of  this  marriage.  And 
if  this  marriage  be  dissolved  by  the  death  of  said  husband,  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  wife  to  reject  or  accept  the  said 
community  of  goods  herein  agreed  upon  and  to  reclaim  and 
take  back  freely  without  mortgage  for  the  payment  of  debts, 
all  that  she  may  have  brought  as  her  said  dowry, — such  as  her 
household  goods,  her  wearing  apparel,  her  jewels  and  orna- 
ments, her  bed  and  bedding,  and  in  general  all  that  may  have 
fallen  to  her  by  gift  or  inheritance ;  without  her  being  held  for 
the  debts  of  said  community,  even  though  she  may  have  said 
that  she  was  so  bound.  Thus  it  is  agreed  and  stipulated ;  with- 
out which  agreement  the  said  marriage  could  not  be  consum- 
mated. Done  in  the  city  of  Yille  Marie  at  the  house  of  Jacques 
La  Celle,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  12th  of  October,  1718,  in 
the  presence  of  Messrs.  Jean  Petit,  royal  bailiff,  and  Pierre 

*  $83.33. 


I 


Ja8y>h  Fry  of  KiMery.  309 

Cresp6  as  witnesses ;  who  with  Messrs.  Bigras,  La  Celle  and 
Oibaolt  have  signed :  the  said  future  bridegroom  and  bride,  and 
her  mother  and  uncle,  declaring  that  they  could  not  sign  thm 
contract 

Orderly  all  things  proceeded  and  duly  and  well  were  completed; 
And  the  great  seal  of  the  law  was  set  like  a  sun  in  the  maigin. 

And  the  notaiy  rising  and  blessing  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom. 

Lifted  aloft  a  tankard  of  ale,  and  drank  to  their  welfare, 

Wiping  the  foam  from  his  lips  he  sotonmly  bowed  and  departed. 

Four  days  later  on  the  16th  of  October,  1713,  at  the  parish 
church  of  St.  Joachim,  at  Pointe  Claire,  Andr6  Fray  and  Marie 
Louise  Bigras  were  married.  Theirs  is  the  first  marriage  on  the 
register.  On  this  record,  the  couple  appear  as  Andr6  Lafram- 
boise  of  Boston,  son  of  Andr6  Laf  ramboise  and  Marie  Fraim  of 
the  same  town ;  and  Marie  Louise  Bigras,  daughter  of  Frangois 
Bigras  of  La  Bochelle,  France,  and  Marie  Brunet  of  Montreal, 
living  in  this  parish.  Elizabeth,  their  first  child,  was  born  Au- 
gust 28  th,  1714.    Others  followed  in  rapid  succession. 

The  epidemic  of  exchange  having  somewhat  abated  at  this 
period,  it  was  thought  best  to  establish  Andr6  Fry  more  firmly 
in  Canada.  Accordingly,  Monsieur  de  Belmont,  the  Superior 
of  the  Seminary  of  Saint  Sulpice,  who  were  then  the  feudal 
lords  of  the  island  of  Montreal,  granted  him  land  in  the  island. 
By  this  deed,  dated  April  14, 1716,  under  the  usual  conditions 
of  the  Canadian  feudal  system,  Andr6  became  the  nominal 
owner  of  a  strip  of  land  three  arpents  front,  by  twenty  arpents 
deep  at  Grande  Anse  au  haut  de  Cetis  ide.* 

The  Seigneurs  thus  parcelled  out  their  domain  to  their  feudal 
tenants,  in  long  narrow  strips  adjoining  each  other,  with  a  front- 
age on  the  river,  and  sloping  back  for  a  mile  or  more  to  a  high 
horizon  line.  This  gave  the  tenant  both  tillage  and  woodland. 
Naturally,  he  built  his  house  on  the  front  of  his  lot,  the  river 
being  then  his  only  highway.  This  single  row  of  dwellings  not 
very  far  apart,  formed  what  to  this  day  is  called  a  c6te. 

There  is  no  more  interesting  study  than  that  of  the  old  regime 
in  Canada.  ^^  Canadian  feudalism,"  says  Mr.  Parkman,  ^^  was 
an  offshoot  of  the  feudalism  of  France,  modified  by  the  lapse 

*  One  arpent  is  180  feet.  Qnnde  Anse  is  between  Pointe  CSaire  and  La 
Chine. 


810  Afmual  Meetrng-^liQi. 

of  centaries  and  further  modified  by  the  royal  will.''  .  .  .  . 
^^  It  was  Bicheliea  who  first  planted  feudalism  in  Canada.  The 
King  would  preserve  it  there,  because  with  its  teeth  drawn,  he 
was  fond  of  it.  He  continued  as  Bichelieu  had  begun,  and 
moulded  it  to  the  form  that  pleased  him.  Nothing  was  left 
which  could  threaten  his  absolute  and  undivided  authority  over 
the  colony.  Thus  retrenched,  Canadian  feudalism  was  made  to 
serve  a  double  end  ;  to  produce  a  harmless  reflection  of  French 
aristocracy,  and  to  supply  agencies  for  distributing  the  land 
among  the  settlers.''  Its  distinctive  feature  was  the  condition 
imposed  upon  the  Seigneur  of  clearing  his  land  within  a  lim- 
ited time  on  pain  of  forfeiture.  The  often  penniless  Seigneur 
could  not  afford  to  clear  the  whole  of  a  tract  "  three  or  four  feet 
wide  and  proportionably  deep."  His  title  forbade  him  to  sell 
any  uncleared  portion.  He  was  therefore  compelled  to  grant 
it  without  price,  "on  condition  of  a  small  perpetual  rent." 
This  brings  us  to  the  Censitaire  as  he  is  called  in  the  law.* 

Briefly  summed  up,  Louis  XIY  gave  the  land  directly  and 
gratuitously  to  the  Seigneur.  He  in  turn  granted  it  in  smaller 
lots  to  bis  tenants.  The  habitant  Cenaitairey  or  tenant,  held  his 
land  in  perpetuity  of  the  Seigneur  en  oensivdy — that  is,  he 
bound  himself  to  pay  annually  a  nominal  rent  in  money,  or 
produce,  or  both,  besides  other  obligations.  In  the  case  we  are 
considering,  the  Seminary  Priests  of  Montreal  were  the  Seign- 
eurs of  the  island ;  Andr6  Fray,  one  of  their  many  Censitadres 
or  perpetual  tenants. 

The  deed  of  land  at  Orand  Anse,  given  him  in  1716,  was  can- 
celled by  a  later  one,  that  of  the  16th  of  November,  1718,  from 
which  I  cannot  forbear  quoting,  as  it  contains  all  the  interesting 
features  of  Canadian  feudalism. 

"  Monsieur  Fran9ois  Yachon  de  Belmont,  priest  of  the  Semi- 
nary of  Saint-Sulpice  at  Paris,  acting  Superior  of  the  same  or- 
der in  Yille-Marie,  who  are  the  Seigneurs  of  the  island  of  Mon- 
treal and  of  other  places  in  Canada,  hereby  acknowledges  that 
he  has  granted  by  a  title  jt  cens,t  from  now  henceforth  and  for- 

*  Cenaiiaire:  A  tenant,  holding  under  a  Seigneur,  by  virtue  of  payment  of 
Cens, 

Cens:  An  annual  payment  by  a  tenant  to  the  Sdgneur  in  recognition  of  the 
latter's  feudal  Buperiority. 

t  Tide  d  cens:  A  legal  title,  on  condition  of  certain  annual  pajrments  by  the 
tenant. 


Joseph  Fry  of  Kittery.  811 

ever  to  Andr^  Freincb,  English  by  nation  now  habitant,  and 
accepting  this  title  as  lessee,  for  himself,  his  heirs  and  as- 
signs, a  domain,  situated  at  the  Cote  St.  B6my,  in  this  island,  of 
four  arpents  front,  by  twenty-three  arpents  deep  to  be  enjoyed, 
improved  and  laid  out  by  the  lessee,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  on  the 
following  conditions,  namely :  He  is  to  pay  every  year  to  my 
said  Messieurs  Seigneurs,  at  theu*  Seigniorial  mansion,  or  wher- 
ever they  receive  it  in  the  said  Yille  Marie,  ten  sous,  and  a  half 
minot  *  of  the  finest,  whitest  wheat,  clean,  marketable  and  law- 
ful weight,  for  every  twenty  arpents  of  the  superficial  contents 
of  the  said  domain. 

"  The  first  year  for  payment  shall  expire  on  the  11th  of  No- 
vember, 1719.  The  said  cens  f  bearing  the  right  of  loda  et  ventesj 
seizmj  etc." 

Andr6's  annual  rent  was  therefore  about  fifty  cents  and  two 
bushels  and  a  half  of  wheat. 

^^  He  is  to  sow  the  said  land,  to  build  and  have  a  house  and 
home  upon  it  within  a  year  from  to-day  at  the  latest,  to  clear 
the  adjacent  wilderness  as  shall  be  necessary,  to  grind  his 
grain  at  the  mill  of  said  Messieurs  Seigneurs  and  nowhere  else, 
on  pain  of  confiscation  of  the  said  grain,  an  arbitrary  fine,  and 
of  payment  for  the  right  to  transport  the  grain  which  he  has 
had  ground  elsewhere.  He  is  to  permit  such  roads  as  Mes- 
sieurs les  Seigneurs  shall  think  necessary,  and  among  others  a 
cart  road,  which  the  said  lessee,  his  heirs  and  assigns  shall  make 
and  keep  in  good  order.:^  Messieurs  les  Seigneurs  shall  have  the 
right  to  take  on  the  said  land,  all  the  timber  which  they  may 
need  for  their  buildings  and  fences ;  with  an  arpent  of  standing 
wood,  the  nearest,  to  the  cultivated  land,   where  the  woods 

*  Minot:  An  old  measure  vaiying  according  to  the  commodity.  In  grain 
a  minot  equals  39  litres.  A  litre  is  a  little  less  than  one  quart.  Therefore  a 
half  a  minot  eqiials  a  little  less  than  19  qts.  or  2^  pks.  or  \  bushel. 

t  The  ceru,  or  title  h  cens,  reserved  to  the  grantor  many  rights  such  as: 

Lod8  et  ventes,  or  mutations  fines  by  which  if  the  grantee  sold  any  part  of 
his  grant,  one  twelfth  of  the  purchase  money  must  go  to  the  Seigneur. 

Saisines  or  Seinn,  the  right  of  the  Seigneur  to  seize  the  land  in  case  the 
tenant  fails  to  comply  with  the  conditions  of  the  deed  or  grant. 

Deffauia  et  Amendes:  Fines  to  which  the  tenant  was  liaUe  if  he  failed  to 
comply  with  the  conditions  of  his  deed  or  grant. 

Qutn<:  A  fifth. 

Requint:  A  twenty-fifth  of  the  purchase  money  mutation  fines  which  the 
Seigneur  had  to  pay  to  his  feudal  superior  if  he  sold  his  Seignisfiy. 

t  N^ect  to  do  this  rendered  him  UaUe  to  forfeiture. 


312  Annual  Meeting— 1902. 

shall  not  have  been  conva  *  to  all,  which  wood  my  said  Seigneurs 
shall  cut  and  carry  off,  whenever  they  shall  see  fit  withoat  pay- 
ing anything  for  it  ...  " 

'^  And  my  said  Sieur  de  Belmont  reserves  for  my  said  Seig- 
neurs the  right  to  withdraw  the  said  land  from  the  purchaser 
by  preference  by  reimbursing  [indemnifying]  the  holder  at  tiie 
time  of  the  withdrawal,  with  the  sum  paid  for  the  same  and 
legal  costs,  the  said  lessee,  his  heirs  and  assigns  being  precluded 
from  selling,  bartering,  giving,  or  otherwise  alienating  the  same 
to  any  mmn  morUj  or  community  f  in  so  far  as  such  bargaining 
may  injure,  or  prejudice  the  rights  of  my  said  Seigneurs. 

^^  To  all  which  clauses  and  conditions,  liabilities  and  reserva- 
tions, the  said  lessee  submits  and  is  bound,  for  himself,  his  heixs 
and  assigns,  and  has  promised  to  observe  and  perform  them  alL 
In  case  of  failure  to  keep  his  agreement,  the  said  lands  conceded 
by  these  presents,  shall  return  of  right  to  the  Domain  of  the 
said  Messieurs  Seigneurs,  to  dispose  of  at  their  pleasure,  with- 
out any  legal  formalities.  Given  at  the  said  Yille  Marie  at  the 
office  of  the  said  Notary,  on  the  15th  of  November,  of  the  year 
1718,  in  the  presence  of  Messieurs  Ignace  Gamelin,  and  Jean 
Baptiste  Hervieux,  merchants;  The  lessee  being  duly  called 
upon  after  the  reading  of  this  enqtdte  declares  that  he  cannot 
sign  and  Andre  Friench  as  the  deed  names  him,  departs  with 
it." 

A  year  passes. 

It  is  Martinmas  day,  the  11th  of  November,  1719,  the  day 
named  in  the  deed  for  Andre's  first  payment.  A  noisy  crowd 
of  habitants  tenants,  each  laden  with  his  annual  tribute  to  the 
Seigneurs,  is  gathering  in  the  great  barnyard  of  the  Gentlemen 
of  the  Seminary  at  Montreal,  awaiting  their  turn  for  payment. 
Some  with  grain,  some  with  eggs,  and  some  with  live  poultry, 
ducks,  fat  capons,  hens  and  chickens,  tied  together  by  the  legs 
and  slung  over  their  shoulders.  Geese  quacking,  turkeys  gob- 
bling, cocks  crowing  lustily  ; — the  habitants  chattering  volubly 
between  theirs  puffs  of  rank  tobacco. 

In  his  boots  of  untanned  deerskin,  his  blue  homespun  belted 
with  a  scarlet  sash,  his  long  red  woollen  cap  with  its  tasseUed 
peak,  his  bag  of  the  best  wheat  across  his  shoulder,  and  his  big 

*  /.  e.,  shall  not  have  been  tramped  over  or  beaten  for  game, 
t  Main  marte.    No  F^nglmH  equivalent.    It  means  here  a  religious  com- 
munity whose  hands  are  dead  to  give  back  whatever  they  have  once  acquired. 


Peter  a/nd  John  Schuyler.  813 

copper  coins  jingling  in  his  hand ; — Andrg  is  easily  distingoished 
bj  his  English  face,  and  stolid  manner. 

In  a  few  hours  it  is  all  over  and  the  crowd  disperses.  One 
by  one  they  drop  in  at  the  church  door  to  say  their  evening 
prayer.  Then  Andr6  unties  his  boat  at  the  river  side,  and 
slowly  paddles  homeward  in  the  early  twilight  of  St.  Martin's 
day. 

How  far,  far  away  he  seems  from  his  childhood's  home  among 
the  staid  Quakers  of  old  Kittery.  With  a  sense  of  relief  from 
debt,  and  of  real  ownership,  he  draws  near  his  thatched  cottage 
where  his  wife  and  children  are  watching  for  his  return.  His 
little  four-year-old  Elizabeth,  hearing  the  splash  of  the  big  stone 
that  serves  him  for  an  anchor,  runs  down  to  the  shore  to  meet 
him.  He  takes  her  by  the  band,  and  with  a  pail  of  water  in 
the  other,  enters  his  humble  dwelling. 

Does  he  then  for  a  moment  remember  his  father  and  mother, 
Adrian  and  Sarah  Frye,  and  his  boyhood  among  his  brothers 
and  sisters  in  New  England  ?  The  door  closes  and  we  see  him 
no  more.  We  only  know  that  he  was  living,  when  his  little 
Elizabeth  married  in  1785,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one, — and  that 
he  was  dead,  when  his  tenth  child  Jacques  was  married,  in  1757. 
His  great-great-granddaughter,  third  in  descent  from  this 
Jacques,  was  my  friend  and  co-worker,  the  dear  nun,  Marie 
Philomene  Claire  French. 


MASSACHUSETTS  COLONY  AND  PETER  AND  JOHN 

SCHUYLER. 

BT  FJEtANOIS  M.   THOMPSON. 

Jamestown,  the  first  English  settlement  in  North  America, 
had  been  in  existence  two  years,  when  in  1609,  Hendrick  Hud- 
son, in  the  little  Dutch  ship,  Half  Moon,  had  made  his  way  up 
the  great  river  which  now  bears  his  name,  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
present  city  of  Albany,  in  his  vain  search  for  a  north-west  pas- 
sage. Almost  at  the  same  time,  within  twenty  leagues  of  the 
Hudson,  that  illustrious  Frenchman,  Samuel  de  Champlain,  at 
the  solicitations  of  the  Canadian  Algonquins,  was  upon  the  shore 
of  the  beautiful  lake  which  now  bears  hie  name,  giving  aid  to 


814  Annual  Meeting — 1901. 

sixty  red  savages  in  their  attack  upon  two  hundred  Iroquois, 
and  giving  these  famous  warriors  their  first  lesson  in  the  use  of 
fire  arms ;  the  volleys  from  the  French  muskets  causing  them 
to  fiee  in  terror  and  dismay.  But  in  after  years  the  French 
paid  dearly  for  this  attack,  as  the  haughty  Iroquois  never  for- 
got their  wrong,  and  held  a  Frenchman  to  be  their  natural 
enemy.  Who  knows  but  that  the  whole  destiny  of  North 
America  hinged  upon  the  shots  which  echoed  across  the  waters 
of  the  beautiful  lake  on  that  fall  day  of  1609  ? 

The  English  settlement  at  Jamestown ;  the  forlorn  attempt 
to  establish  a  colony  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec;  the 
building  of  the  Dutch  trading  house,  called  Beverwyc,  on  the 
upper  Hudson ;  and  the  permanent  occupation  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence by  the  French,  all  took  place  at  about  the  same  time ; 
and  from  this  seed,  planted  by  three  distinct  nations  came  about 
the  fierce  and  bloody  struggle  which  continued  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  for  the  control  of  the  North  American  continent. 
In  1664  the  English  by  the  capture  of  New  Netherlands,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  quarrel  of  the  Dutch  settlements.  Year  after 
year  expeditions  were  sent  out  by  the  Dutch  and  their  succes- 
sors, the  English,  in  aid  of  the  Indians  of  the  Six  Nations, 
against  their  enemies  in  Canada ;  the  object  of  the  Dutch  and 
English  being  the  control  of  the  trade  of  the  Six  Nations,  and 
to  prevent  the  interference  of  the  French  therein. 

When  Hendrick  Hudson  returned  to  Holland,  the  Dutch  were 
not  in  condition  to  colonize  the  newly  discovered  territory,  but 
the  East  India  Company  under  whose  auspices  he  made  the 
voyage,  immediately  established  three  trading  posts,  and  opened 
trade  with  the  river  Indians ;  taking  possession  of  an  old  fort  built 
by  the  French  in  1540  [?]  on  an  island  just  below  the  present 
site  of  Albany.  Here  they  were  flooded  out  in  1617,  and  moved 
down  the  river  about  four  miles  to  "  Tawasentha  Grove,"  where 
they  built  Fort  Nashua,  where  was  held  the  great  treaty  be- 
tween the  Dutch  and  the  Five  Nations,  which  continued  un- 
broken until  the  Revolutionary  war,  when  the  Mohawks,  under 
the  leadership  of  Brant,  sided  with  the  British,  and  at  its  close 
removed  to  Canada.  In  1728  the  Dutch  moved  up  the  river, 
and  built  Fort  Orange,  where  Albany  now  stands.  Great  ri- 
valry grew  up  between  the  French  and  the  Dutch  and  their 
English  successors,  for  the  control  of  the  fur  trade  of  the  Five 
Nations  and  their  western  allies.    The  Dutch,  secure  in  their 


Peter  and  John  Schuyler.  316 

alliance  with  the  Five  Kations,  supplied  them  with  fire  arms 
and  ammunition  and  every  article  necessary  to  enable  them  to 
maintain  an  unrelenting  warfare  against  all  tribes  which  were 
under  French  influence.  The  willing  savages  yearly  poured 
forth  their  swarms  upon  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  dwelling 
in  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa  valleys,  nearly  wiping  out  the 
great  Huron  nation,  killing  men,  women  and  children,  not  even 
sparing  the  resident  Jesuit  priests.  A  small  remnant  of  the 
Hurons  escaped  to  an  island  lying  in  the  great  lake  which  mem- 
orizes their  name,  but  their  power  was  forever  broken. 

All  those  savages  who  would  bring  their  barter  to  the  Hud- 
son, were  to  the  Iroquois,  friends  and  brothers ;  all  others  were 
their  enemies,  and  were  made  to  feel  the  weight  of  their  en- 
mity. 

The  Dutch,  and  their  successors  the  English,  gave  better 
prices  for  furs  than  the  French,  and  furnished  better  goods  in 
return,  which  together  with  the  great  fear  with  which  the 
neighboring  tribes  held  the  domineering  Iroquois,  greatly  in- 
jured the  trade  of  the  French ;  and  as  a  consequence  their  hatred 
of  these  heretics,  and  their  allies,  the  Iroquois  was  very  strong 
and  deep.  Long  before  the  arrival  of  the  French  in  New  France, 
or  the  Dutch  in  New  Netherlands,  war  had  existed  between 
the  Five  Nations  and  the  Huron  and  Algonquin  tribes  inhabit- 
ing the  valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Ottawa,  and  the 
rivers  and  the  lakes  lying  between  New  York  and  Canada 
had  been  the  scene  of  many  bloody  battles  ere  the  muskets 
of  Champlain  and  his  two  companions  awoke  the  echoes  in 
1609. 

Large  numbers  of  Canadian  captives  taken  by  the  Iroquois, 
and  held  by  them  as  slaves,  were  converts  of  the  Jesuit  priests, 
who,  seemingly  denying  themselves  of  all  the  comforts  of  civil- 
ized life,  for  the  hope  of  a  glorious  martyrdom,  daily  put  their 
lives  in  jeopardy  in  their  efforts  to  save  souls.  The  world's  his- 
tory contains  no  record  to  compare  with  the  zeal,  heroism  and 
devotion  of  these  Jesuit  priests.  The  lives  of  several  of  these 
brave  and  devoted  men  were  sacrificed  in  their  persistent  efforts 
to  extend  their  religion  among  the  people  of  the  Five  Nations, 
and  by  1670  they  had  succeeded  in  establishing  several  missions 
among  the  Onondagas,  and  had  converted  a  large  portion  of  the 
Mohawks,  as  many  as  seven  hundred  catholic  converts  having 
taken  up  their  residence  in  Canada.    This  increase  of  the  French 


816  Annual  Meetinff— 1902. 

influence  was  miKdi  feared  by  the  Dutch  at  Scheneotadj  and 
Fort  Orange. 

In  1664  the  goTemment  of  New  Netherlands  fell  mto  the 
hands  of  the  English,  and  their  policy  was  to  retain  the  trade 
of  the  great  Iroquois  nation,  and  constant  effort  was  made  to 
keep  the  chain  of  their  friendship,  bright  and  shining,  so  that 
the  Five  Nations  might  remain  a  solid  bulwark  between  the 
English  and  the  ever  pushing  and  aggressive  French.  The  pol- 
icy of  the  French  was  to  dominate  the  Five  Nations,  and  by 
their  commanding  influence  control  the  trade  and  barter  of  idl 
the  western  tribes,  so  that  they  might  safely  erect  forts  and 
trading  stations  along  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys,  as  they 
laid  claim  to  all  the  country  west  of  the  Appalachian  chain  of 
mountains,  including  the  great  lakes  and  all  the  country  east  of 
the  Kennebec. 

As  for  the  English, 

The  soil  they  demanded,  or  threatened  the  worst. 
Insisting  that  Cabot,  had  looked  on  it  first. 

The  Indian  policy  was  to  receive  all  the  presents  offered  by 
either  party,  their  habit  being  to  dally  with  the  French  when 
they  seemed  to  be  in  the  ascendency,  to  call  them  their  ^^  fathers," 
and  in  turn  pledge  themselves  to  "  Corlear  ^'  their  "  brother,"  as 
they  called  the  English  governors,  if  they  were  temporarily  the 
more  successful.  But  the  French,  notwithstanding  the  secret 
influence  of  the  subtile  Jesuit  priests,  never  obtained  more  than 
a  passive  neutrality  from  the  proud  and  crafty  Iroquois,  and  the 
Five  Nations  were  upon  the  whole  fairly  loyal  to  the  Englidi 
interests. 

Such,  at  a  glance,  was  the  real  situation  of  affairs  between 
New  France  and  New  Netherland,  at  the  commencement  of 
my  story. 

In  the  family  records  of  Philip  Peterse  Schuyler,  of  Bens- 
selaerswyc,  written  in  good  black  Dutch,  will  be  found  these 
entries : 

Bom ;  September  17, 1657,  Peter  Von  Schuyler ;  and  April 
5, 1668,  Johannes  Yon  Schuyler ;  and  written  after  the  name 
of  each,  these  words :  May  tiie  good  Lord  God  let  him  grow 
up  in  virtues  to  his  salvation ;  Amen ! 

But  little  is  known  of  the  early  life  of  these  Schuylers,  who^ 
when  they  arrived  to  manhood's  estate,  each  bore  so  conspico^ 


Peter  and  John  Schuyler.  817 

oQsa  part  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  their  native  state, 
and  gained  prominence  to  the  family  name.  But  it  so  hap- 
pened, in  the  providence  of  God,  that  for  nearly  sixty  years 
these  two  brothers,  or  the  sorvivor,  were  of  the  utmost  service 
to  the  pioneers  of  the  Connecticut  valley,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Deerfield,  being  for  the 
greater  period,  the  nearest  frontier  town  to  their  home,  was  the 
recipient  of  many  favors,  and  it  is  well  that  their  services 
should  not  be  forgotten. 

At  the  time  of  Peter  Schuyler's  entrance  in  public  life, 
Albany  was  but  a  frontier  town.  No  other  Dutch  settlement 
existed  to  the  west  but  Schenectady,  where  a  few  burghers  had 
purchased  lands  in  order  to  escape  the  serfdom  of  the  Patroons^ 
these  being  under  the  guidance  of  Aren  Yan  Corlear,  in  whom 
the  Indians  had  the  utmost  confidence,  and  because  of  their 
love  for  him,  they  called  all  the  governors  of  New  York 
«  Corlear.'' 

To  the  north  of  Albany  stretched  the  great  wilderness ;  the 
lakes,  George  and  Champlain ;  and  beyond,  the  wicked  French. 
On  the  east  the  nearest  settlements  were  Springfield  and  Deer- 
field,  and  no  town  but  Kingston  existed  between  Albany  and 
New  York.  The  Mohawks,  a  strong  and  warlike  people  in- 
habited the  lower  valley  of  the  Mohawk  river  and  the  country 
about  Albany. 

Remnants  of  the  scattered  tribes  who  had  been  dispersed 
from  the  Connecticut  valley  when  King  Philip's  war  ended, 
were  gathered  about  the  mouth  of  the  Hoosick  river,  and  collec- 
tively called  Schaghticookes.  The  Mohawks  kept  up  constant 
communication  with  their  relatives  at  Caughnawaga,  where  the 
Jesuit  priests  had  gathered  their  converts.  Peter  Schuyler,  by 
virtue  of  his  oflSce  as  Mayor  of  Albany,  and  commander  of  the 
fort,  became  chief  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  for  the  Colony. 
To  him  the  Indians  of  the  Five  Nations  had  become  greatly 
attached,  and  he  was  known  and  beloved  by  all  the  tribes  who 
called  him  "  Quidor,"  (Keedor,  the  Indians'  friend,)  that  word 
being  the  nearest  approach  the  Indians  could  make  to  pro- 
nouncing "  Peter." 

By  means  of  his  great  influence  with  the  savages,  and  their 
boundless  love  and  respect  for  him,  no  act  of  the  French  govern- 
ment in  Canada  which  became  at  all  public ;  no  secret  move- 
ment of  war  parties  against  the  English  frontiers  by  instigation 


318  Annual  Meeti/ng—lWi. 

of  the  French,  or  by  ambitioos  chiefs  and  no  covert  embassy 
could  be  sent  ont  to  the  Iroquois,  without  some  inkling  or 
knowledge  of  these  things  soon  reaching  the  ^'  Quidor's  "  ears. 

In  the  fall  of  1689,  it  became  known  to  the  people  of  Albany, 
through  these  friends  of  ^'  Quidor,"  that  Frontenac  was  organ- 
izing an  expedition  to  attack  the  town ;  so  its  garrison  was 
strengthened  and  all  available  means  used  to  make  Fort  Orange 
impregnable.  Men  and  money  were  scarce,  but  an  arrange- 
ment was  made  to  keep  upon  the  frontiers  a  scout  of  forty  Mo- 
hawk warriors,  who  should  carefully  watch  every  avenue  by 
which  the  French  and  Indians  could  approach,  and  give  imme- 
diate alarm.  But  the  red  warriors  having  already  drawn  their 
allowances,  found  it  much  more  comfortable  and  far  less  dan- 
gerous to  hang  around  the  outskirts  of  Schenectady,  trusting 
to  the  great  depth  of  snow  and  the  severe  winter  weather,  as 
preventive  to  the  advance  of  the  enemy. 

As  the  French  commander  approached  the  English  settle- 
ments, his  Indian  allies  began  to  fear  to  attack  so  strong  a  place 
as  Albany,  and  finally  prevailed  upon  him  to  turn  his  attack 
upon  Schenectady,  which  appeared  to  offer  much  more  certain 
success. 

Upon  reaching  the  settlement,  late  upon  a  stormy  night,  they 
found  it  unguarded,  with  gates  wide  open ;  and  setting  fire  to 
the  houses,  the  inhabitants  were  murdered  as  they  rushed  from 
their  beds.  Peter  Schuyler  teUs  the  horrid  story  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  Massachusetts  government. 

"  Albany  the  15th.  day  of  Feb.  1689-90.  Honoured  Gentle- 
men :  To  our  Great  Greefe  and  Sorrow,  we  must  acquaint  you 
with  our  deplorable  condition,  there  having  never  the  like 
massacre  and  murthur  been  Committed  in  these  parts  of  Amer- 
ica, as  hath  been  acted  by  the  French  and  their  Indians  at 
Schenectady,  20  miles  from  Albanie,  betwixt  Saturday  and 
Sunday  last  at  11  a  clock  at  night.  A  companie  of  Two  hun- 
dred French  and  Indians  fell  upon  said  village  and  murthured 
sixty  men  women  and  children  most  barbarously ;  burning  the 
Place  and  carried  27  along  with  them  Prisoners,  among  which 
leftenant  of  Capt.  Bull ;  Enos  Tallmadge :  and  4  more  of  said 
companie  were  killed  and  5  taken  prisoners,  the  rest  being  In- 
habitants; and  above  25  persons  their  limbs  frozen  in  the 
flight.  The  cruelties  committed  at  said  Place  no  Penn  can 
write  or  tongue  express." 


Peter  and  John  Schuyler.  319 

His  letter  was  long  and  enters  into  the  fullest  details  of  the 
horrible  story,  and  with  all  his  power  he  urges  the  Massachu- 
setts government  to  aid  in  the  invasion  of  Canada  during  the 
coming  season,  and  concludes  in  these  words :  ^^  We  have  writ  to 
CoL  Pjnchon  to  warn  the  upper  towns  to  be  on  their  guarde, 
fearing  that  some  French  and  Indians  might  be  out  and  Destroy 
them." 

During  the  next  season,  Peter  Schuyler  received  notice  from 
his  agents,  that  an  embassy  had  arrived  from  Frontenao  to  the 
Onondagas,  but  that  the  Indians  would  not  receive  or  hear  them 
until  a  full  council  should  be  called.  Schuyler,  with  some  others 
named  by  the  city  council,  taking  with  them  two  resident 
Frenchmen  as  interpreters,  attended  at  the  long  house  of  the 
Onondagas,  being  full  of  indignation  that  these  French  spies 
should  steal  into  English  territory,  and  offer  presents  to  their 
friends  and  allies.  After  long  parleying,  the  French  derived  no 
satisfaction  from  this  council. 

The  Indians  remained  firm  in  their  friendship  for  ^^  Quidor  " 
and  his  people.  As  soon  as  the  following  spring  opened  an- 
other and  larger  delegation  was  sent  from  Quebec,  and  again 
runners  summoned  '^  Quidor "  and  his  friends  to  an  Onondaga 
council ;  the  result  being  that  the  French  emissaries  were  seized 
and  distributed  among  the  several  sachems,  some  doubtless  to 
suffer  death,  but  the  chief  of  the  embassy,  Chevalier  D' Auz, 
was  given  to  Schuyler,  who  took  him  to  Albany  and  sent  him 
home. 

Schuyler  immediately  collected  a  force  of  Mohawk  warriors, 
and  marching  them  to  Wood  creek,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  set  them  at  work  building  bark  canoes,  which  he  felt 
would  be  needed  in  a  campaign  against  Canada  during  the  com- 
ing season.  The  next  season  a  campaign  was  organized  to  in- 
vade Canada,  but  General  Winthrop  and  his  army  got  no  far- 
ther than  the  head  of  the  lakes,  his  soldiers  suffering  from  small- 
pox, and  having  no  suflScient  commissary  organized,  it  proved 
fruitless.  Sir  William  Phipps  attacked  Quebec  with  a  fleet  of 
thirty  vessels,  but  without  effect.  Schuyler's  Mohawks  were 
much  chagrined  at  the  failure  of  the  expedition,  and  a  party  of 
forty  Dutch  and  English  and  one  hundred  Indians  placed  them- 
selves under  the  command  of  Capt.  Johannes  Schuyler,  (the 
young  brother  of  Peter),  then  22  years  old,  and  set  out  down 
the  lake,  to  show  themselves  to  the  enemy.    The  young  captain 


320  Annual  Jieetinff—ldOi. 

kept  a  diary  during  this  expedition  (which  may  be  found  in 
YoL  2,  page  285  of  the  Documentary  History  of  York)  which 
ift  interesting,  bat  too  long  for  this  paper.  They  entered  the 
Bichelien  or  ^^Ohambly"  river,  and  came  near  the  fort  La 
Prairie,  within  fifteen  miles  of  Montreal  Captain  Schayler 
says  ^^  We  christians  resolved  to  fall  upon  the  fort ;  bat  could 
not  move  the  savages  to  give  their  consent  to  help  us  to  attack 
the  fort ;  the  fort  fired  alarms  when  Montryal  and  Ghamble 
answered,  so  we  resolved  to  depart  with  the  prisoners  to  Al- 
bany," where  they  arrived  after  an  absence  of  seventeen  days, 
bringing  nineteen  prisoners  and  six  scalps. 

The  failure  of  the  Winslow  expedition  was  largely  due  to  the 
anomalous  condition  of  affairs,  caused  by  the  usurpation  of  the 
Colonial  government  of  New  York,  by  Jacob  Leisler,  to  whom 
Albany  would  not  submit.  Leisler  was  the  sworn  enemy  of 
Schuyler,  and  when  he  obtained  control  of  the  dty,  he  removed 
him  from  oflSce,  and  appointed  more  pliable  men  as  agents. 

Upon  the  arrival  in  New  York  of  the  Royal  governor,  Slough- 
ter,  Leisler  and  bis  son-in-law,  Jacob  Milbourne  bis  right  hand 
man,  were  arrested  and  tried  on  a  charge  of  treason,  condemned, 
and  were  hanged.  The  hasty  action  of  the  new  governor  has 
always  been  heartily  condemned  by  unprejudiced  historians. 
Peter  Schuyler  was  at  once  restored  to  his  office  of  Mayor,  made 
a  member  of  the  Colonial  Council,  and  a  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas. 

In  1692,  a  Great  Council  consisting  of  forty  sachems,  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  Colony,  his  Council,  the  Mayor,  alderman,  and  the 
chief  military  officers  of  the  Province,  was  held  at  Albany,  and 
an  agreement  entered  into  with  the  Five  Nations  to  undertake 
another  expedition  against  Canada.  Governor  Sloughter  wrote 
the  other  Colonies  urging  them  to  aid  in  this  movement,  using 
the  sound  argument,  that,  ^^  all  the  Colonies  would  be  endangered 
by  the  loss  of  Albany." 

Major  Peter  Schuyler  was  given  the  conmiand  of  the  expe- 
dition, which  was  to  consist  of  two  hundred  Dutch  and  English, 
and  three  hundred  Mohawk  and  Biver  Indians.  The  Seneca 
sachems  agreed  to  send  five  hundred  warriors  to  join  and  aid 
them,  as  they  reached  the  St.  Lawrence  river. 

June  22nd,  1691,  Schuyler  began  his  march,  with  only  one 
hundred  whites,  eighty  Mohawks  and  sixty  Biver  Indians. 
With  this  little  army  he  made  a  spirited  attack  upon  the  French 


Peter  and  John  Sehuyler.  321 

fort,  La  Prairie,  sitaate  within  fifteen  miles  of  Montreal,  and  de- 
fended by  four  hundred  and  sixty  men.  During  the  attack  he 
learned  from  some  prisoners,  that  the  French  had  plaoed  three 
hundred  French  and  forty  Indians  between  his  men  and  their 
canoes,  which  they  had  concealed  upon  the  Ohambly  or  Sorel 
river ;  so  he  drew  off  from  the  fort  and  marching  eight  miles, 
attacked  this  ambuscading  party,  which  made  a  most  desperate 
resistance,  but  were  at  last  compelled  to  retire ;  and  Schuyler 
laconically  says  in  his  report,  ^^  to  say  the  truth,  we  were  all 
glad  to  see  them  retreate."  In  his  report  to  Gov.  Sloughter,  he 
says,  ^^  We  lost  in  this  expedition  twenty  one  christians,  sixteen 
Mohauges,  six  River  Indians  &  the  wounded,  in  all  twenty-five," 
and  afterwards  adds ;  ^^  Memorandum :  since  the  first  date  of 
this  journal,  six  christians  and  Indians,  thought  to  be  killed 
have  returned."  The  historian,  Colden,  always  an  enemy  of 
Schuyler,  in  his  history  of  the  Five  Nations,  says, "  The  French 
by  their  own  account  lost  six  lieutenants,  five  ensigns,  and  three 
hundred  men ;  so  that  the  slain  were  more  in  number  than  Major 
Schuyler  had  with  him." 

This  expedition  resulted  in  giving  the  Indians  the  greatest 
confidence  in  the  English ;  it  renewed  their  war  spirit  and  they 
kept  the  French  in  constant  alarm,  killing,  burning  and  capturing 
all  along  the  St.  Lawrence,  between  Montreal  and  Quebec ;  so 
that  few  French  soldiers  could  be  spared  for  attacking  the  Five 
Nations ;  but  small  parties  under  French  officers  raided  the  New 
England  frontiers  from  Maine  to  New  York. 

In  every  emergency  "  Quidor  "  was  called  upon  by  the  In- 
dians, and  long  journeys  had  to  be  taken,  without  regard  to 
weather  or  means  of  transportation,  to  aid  the  Indians  in  devis- 
ing means  to  repel  the  invading  hordes  from  Canada.  Golden 
says  that  Schuyler  told  him  that  at  one  time  he  was  invited  by 
some  Indians  to  eat  broth  with  them,  which  they  had  already 
cooked,  which  he  did  with  a  relish,  until  dipping  in  the  ladle  to 
take  out  more,  he  fished  out  a  Frenchman's  hand,  which  put  an 
end  to  his  appetite. 

Oouncil  after  council  was  held,  at  which  Schuyler  was  the 
chief  agent  of  the  Colony,  endeavouring  by  all  the  means  in  his 
power  to  encourage  and  retain  the  wavering  loyalty  of  the 
frightened  Iroquois.  February  14th,  1704,  he  writes  to  Gover- 
nor Fletcher,  ^^  I  have  struggled  with  the  sachems  of  the  Five 
Nations  for  ten  days ;  they  are  awed  and  weary  of  war  and  dis- 
21 


322  AnntKU  Meetinff— 1902. 

trust  oar  ability  to  support  them  against  the  French.  I  would 
not  for  anything,  I  had  gone  to  Onondaga  to  have  been  there 
at  their  meeting ;  that  I  should  have  quite  despaired  of  ever  ef- 
fecting what  I  have  done  now ;  for  I  never  found  them  speak 
with  more  hesitation ;  yet  I  have  gained  that  point,  to  win  time 
until  your  Excellency  comes  up,  when  they  all  engage  to  be 
here,  and  Dekanissora  in  person,  who  is  the  man  the  governor 
of  Canada  so  much  longs  for." 

But  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  Schuyler,  and  the  presents 
and  blandishments  of  the  governor,  Dekanissora  and  his  sachems 
went  to  Quebec,  where  Frontenac  received  him  with  the  great- 
est honors,  and  a  great  exhibition  of  the  power  and  strength  of 
the  Canadian  forces.  Dekanissora  with  great  eloquence  sued 
for  a  treaty  of  peace  which  should  include  the  governor  of  New 
York,  and  Peter  Schuyler,  ^^  Mayor  and  Commandant  of  Al- 
bany." 

The  ensuing  May  the  council  which  the  Indians  had  agreed 
to  with  Schuyler  was  held  at  Albany,  and  there  Dekanissora 
reported  that  Frontenac  would  ms^e  peace  with  the  Five 
Nations,  but  would  not  include  the  governor  of  New  York, 
and  he  declared  that  the  Indians  must  have  peace  at  all 
events. 

Governor  Fletcher  was  at  last  compelled  to  permit  the  Five 
Nations  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Frontenac,  always 
provided  they  kept  their  covenant  with  the  English.  Unfor- 
tunately for  the  French,  before  the  treaty  had  been  fully  con- 
cluded, the  Indians  learned  that  Frontenac  was  making  prepa- 
rations to  rebuild  his  fort  at  Cadaraquie,  which  the  IndiaoB 
refused  to  permit  upon  any  terms,  and  they  rejected  all  his  prop- 
ositions. One  of  the  chiefs  said  to  Frontenac,  ^^  You  call  us 
*  children  *  what  father  are  you  ?  You  deal  with  us  whom  you 
call  ^  children '  as  with  hogs,  which  are  called  home  from  the 
woods  by  Indian  com,  and  then  put  in  prison  until  they  are 
killed." 

But  the  conclusion  of  the  Five  Nations  was  not  final,  and 
after  much  negotiation  a  peace  was  agreed  upon  with  the  French, 
in  spite  of  all  the  influence  which  the  English  could  bring  to 
bear  upon  them,  to  keep  up  the  fight. 

In  1693  a  large  party  of  French  and  Indians  came  down  and 
attacked  the  Mohawks,  destroying  their  castles,  killing  many 
and  taking  some  three  hundred  captives,  with  whom  they  started 


i 


Peter  and  John  Schuyler.  323 

on  their  return  to  Oanada.  Major  Peter  Schuyler  hastily 
gathered  three  hundred  whites  and  as  many  savages,  and  being 
joined  by  Major  Ingoldsby  from  Albany  with  quite  a  force, 
they  entrenched  themselves  near  Mt.  McGregor,  on  the  ^^  old 
trail "  intending  to  rescue  the  prisoners.  The  French  discovered 
their  presence  and  made  a  furious  attack  upon  their  position  in 
the  night,  but  being  beaten  off  three  times,  they  retreated  and 
continued  their  flight.  The  battle  place  is  known  as  ^^  the  old 
Indian  burying  ground." 

Queen  Anne  in  1709  issued  letters  to  the  governors  of  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  and  the  New  England  provinces,  inviting 
them  to  unite  with  the  home  government  in  the  invasion  of 
Canada,  with  an  overwhelming  force.  Fifteen  hundred  men 
were  to  march  by  way  of  Ohamplain,  while  five  regiments  of 
regulars  and  twelve  hundred  Massachusetts  men  were  to  sail  in 
ships  to  attack  Quebec.  Ool.  Nicholson  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  forces  which  were  to  attack  Montreal,  with  CoL  Peter 
Schuyler  as  his  chief  officer,  and  he  was  to  have  command  of 
the  Indian  allies. 

As  usual,  preparations  were  delayed,  but  in  June,  Major  Jo- 
hannes Schuyler  was  pushed  forward  with  228  English  and  In- 
dians, down  the  lake  to  Otter  Creek,  in  order  to  intercept  a  war 
party  of  French  and  Indians  who  were  known  to  have  started 
for  the  Connecticut  river.  At  the  same  time  fifteen  hundred 
men  had  been  gathered  by  the  French  to  surprise  and  capture 
the  English  forts  and  stores  at  Wood  Creek,  at  the  south  end 
of  Lake  Champlain. 

Major  Schuyler  discovered  the  enemy  at  Crown  Point,  and 
after  a  lively  skirmish,  the  French  retreated.  CoL  Nicholson 
returned  to  Albany  leaving  the  army  under  the  conmiand  of 
CoL  Peter  Schuyler,  who  waited  for  some  report  from  the  Que- 
bec forces  (which  in  fact  never  sailed)  until  the  season  was  so 
far  spent,  that  the  expedition,  much  to  Schuyler's  disgost,  had 
to  be  abandoned. 

In  order  to  keep  the  Mohawk  chie&  from  dwelling  upon  their 
disappointment,  and  to  create  an  interest  in  the  fate  of  the  Five 
Nations  in  Europe,  Major  Schuyler  selected  five  Mohawk  chiefs, 
and  with  Captain  Abram  Schuyler,  a  relative,  as  interpreter,  at 
his  own  expense,  took  the  whole  party  to  England,  where  they 
spent  several  months  in  impressing  upon  the  minds  of  these  un- 
tutored  savages  the  great  strength  and  power  of  the  English 


824  Annual  Meeting— 190^. 

government  One  chief  died  upon  the  voyage,  bat  the  othen 
safely  returned  in  December,  1710. 

The  Queen,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  generosity  and  great 
services  of  CoL  Schuyler,  offered  to  confer  knighthood  upon 
him,  but  he  modestly  declined  the  distinction,  and  she  then 
ordered  his  portrait  painted  and  presented  to  him,  which  picture 
his  descendants  still  possess. 

Col.  Schuyler  was  acting  governor  of  New  York  from  1719 
to  1720.  Time  and  your  patience  will  not  permit  the  following 
of  the  personal  history  of  Peter  and  John  Schuyler,  or  further 
illustrate  the  honorable  parts  they  performed  in  the  building 
up  of  the  Empire  State,  or  to  give  any  sketch  of  the  life  of 
General  Philip  Schuyler,  a  grandson  of  John,  who  was  a  trusted 
lieutenant  of  Washington. 

During  the  raids  of  the  French  and  Indians  in  King  Wil- 
liam's war,  many  prisoners  had  been  taken  by  them  and  car- 
ried away  to  Canada.  Among  others  were  John  Gillett,  MaJ^ 
tin  Smith,  and  Daniel  Belding  and  several  of  his  children,  from 
Deerfield.  In  1697,  CoL  Peter  Schuyler,  taking  with  him  the 
Dutch  Dominie  and  others,  went  to  Canada,  and  after  much 
negotiation  they  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  release  of  these 
prisoners  and  about  twenty  others,  whom  they  took  to  Albany, 
where  they  were  treated  with  the  greatest  kindness,  and  later 
dispatched  homeward  by  the  way  of  New  York  city  and  the 
Sound.  John  Gillett  returned  by  the  way  of  France  and  Eng- 
land. From  1697  to  1702  there  was  an  interval  of  peace,  and 
then  commenced  Queen  Anne's  war,  and  once  more  the  gov- 
ernor of  Canada  turned  loose  his  savages  to  wage  cruel  warfare 
against  the  English  borders.  In  1703  Governor  Yaudreuil 
writes  to  the  French  king  that  his  armies  had  laid  waste  more 
than  fifteen  leagues  of  territory,  and  that  they  had  taken  or 
killed  more  than  three  hundred  people. 

This  year  Schuyler  sent  word  that  his  Mohawk  spies  reported 
that  a  large  expedition  was  setting  out  for  Deerfield.  Once 
when  sending  warning  words,  he  wrote, "  Do  be  on  your  guard, 
to  prevent  your  people  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  these 
bloody  savages ;  but  I  cannot  enlarge  for  I  will  have  the  mes- 
senger ride  this  night,  and  it  is  now  ten  o'clock."  Thus  faithful 
was  he  to  forward  the  news  of  any  movement  of  the  common 
enemy. 

The  Council  allowed  Deerfield  a  guard  of  twenty  men,  two 


P^ter  and  John  Sohuyler.  8S6 

1  of  whom  were  quartered  in  the  house  of  Ber.  Mr.  Williams ; 

and  those  people  who  had  settled  in  the  more  remote  and  ex- 

1  posed  places  were  gathered  into  the  palisades ;  but  the  garri- 

I  son  grew  weary  of  watching,  the  sentinel  slept,  and  we,  this 

I  night,  meet  in  memory  of  their  neglect. 

!  During  the  season  Zebediah  Williams  and  John  Mms,  while 

in  the  meadows  looking  after  cattle,  were  ambushed  by  Indians 

)  lying  in  the  ditch  just  beyond  Frary's  bridge,  captured  and  taken 

I  to  Canada.    Williams  died  in  captivity,  but  Nims,  Joseph  Petty, 

Thomas  Baker  and  Martin  Eellogg  escaped,  and  after  great  suf- 
fering reached  Deerfield.  Peter  and  John  Schuyler  were  most 
earnest  and  active  in  warning  the  frontier  settlers  of  approach- 
ing danger,  and  so  far  as  possible  aided  in  preventing  surprises 
of  the  scattered  settlers  upon  the  Massachusetts  frontiers.  They 
were  well  known  and  honored  and  respected  by  the  French  gov- 
ernors, and  their  influence  went  very  far  in  procuring  the  re- 
lease of  captives  from  their  Indian  masters,  and  they  protested 
in  strong  language  against  every  effort  made  by  the  French  to 
induce  the  Five  Nations  to  depart  from  the  strict  rule  of  neu- 
trality which  had  been  agreed  upon,  and  without  doubt  pre- 
vented in  several  instances  the  invasion  of  the  territory  of  the 
Five  Nations  by  the  Indians  under  French  controL  They  aided 
in  every  possible  way  in  the  efforts  of  Ensign  Sheldon  and  his 
oompanions  in  their  endeavors  to  secure  the  return  of  the  Deer- 
field  captives.  Major  John  wrote  to  Col.  Partridge  that  he  saw 
Deacon  Sheldon  at  Montreal,  ^^  who  had  liberty  to  walk  the 
streets,  but  was  detained,  and  had  not  liberty  to  go  home." 

In  all  the  efforts  of  Kev.  John  Williams  for  the  recovery  of 
his  children  the  Schuylers  were  most  energetic  and  deeply  sym- 
pathetic in  their  aid.  The  father's  discouraging  and  unsuccess- 
ful work  for  the  recovery  of  little  Eunice,  was  ably  seconded  by 
the  Schuylers.  Major  John,  in  a  letter  to  Gk>vemor  Dudley, 
dated  December  12th,  1712,  says : 

"  As  to  what  your  Excellency  mentions  relating  to  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, his  daughter  and  the  squaw,  she  is  not  come  here  yet,  nor 
have  I  heard  anything  of  her  coming,  although  I  shall  be  very 
glad  to  see  them  and  to  advise  your  Excellency  if  they  come 
together,  or  the  squaw  alone.  I  shall  use  all  possible  means  to 
get  the  child  exchanged,  either  as  your  Excellency  or  what 
other  way  the  squaw  will  be  most  willing  to  comply  with. 
<<  Meanwhile  I  shall  inform  myself  by  all  opportunities, 


326  Annual  Meetinff— 1902. 

whether  the  said  squaw  and  child  be  coming  here,  or  if  tiiey  be 
anywhere  nearby.  Your  Excellency  may  depend  that  whatever 
I  can  do,  for  ye  obtaining  y^  said  child,  shall  at  no  time  be 
wanting,  and  so  I  shall  take  leave  to  subscribe  myself ;  Your 
Excellency's  most  humble  servant ;  John  Schuyler.'' 

Under  date  of  June  13th,  1713,  John  Schuyler  wrote  Gov. 
Dudley,  of  his  journey  to  Montreal,  and  of  his  failure,  after  a 
personal  interview  with  Eunice  Williams,  (then  married  to  an 
Indian)  to  induce  her  to  return  to  her  Deei^eld  relatives.  His 
story  of  his  interview  with  the  historic  Eunice,  the  Jesuit  priest 
and  the  Indian  relatives.  Miss  Baker,  in  her  story  of  Eunice 
Williams,  declares  the  most  touching  state  paper  which  she  ever 
read.  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  was  for  a  considerable  time  the  guest 
of  Col.  Schuyler  at  Albany,  and,  during  his  stay,  he  caused  hia 
portrait  to  be  painted. 

In  1707,  CoL  Schuyler  writes  to  Col.  Partridge  that  he  has 
rescued  from  the  Indians,  Ebenezer  Carter,  ^^  and  when  his  friends 
come  to  redeem  him,  shall  be  delivered  up."  Under  date  of 
August  lltb,  the  same  year,  he  writes  to  Col.  Partridge  that  his 
spies  report  that  twenty-seven  French  and  Indians  were  at  the 
mouth  of  Otter  Creek  on  the  6th  bound  for  the  New  England 
frontiers.  In  February,  1708,  the  Schuylers  reported  that  a 
large  war  party  had  left  Canada  about  the  middle  of  January, 
and  when  the  raiders  reached  the  frontier  they  found  the  settlers 
on  their  guard,  and  the  party  broke  up  into  small  detachments, 
which  hovered  around  the  settlements  all  summer,  surprising 
and  killing  two  sons  of  Capt.  John  Parsons  and  some  others, 
and  capturing  several  prisoners  at  Chicopee. 

The  next  August  Schuyler  informed  Governor  Dudley  that 
eight  hundred  French  and  Indians  had  marched  for  New  Eng- 
land. In  order  to  conceal  his  movements  as  much  as  possible 
as  to  his  destination,  De  Eouville,  the  French  commande'r,  di- 
vided his  forces,  marching  one  party  by  the  St.  Francis  river, 
and  sending  the  other  by  Lake  Champlain.  The  latter  party 
was  made  up  from  the  Canadian  Mohawks,  over  whom  Schuyler 
had  much  influence ;  he  caused  his  messengers  to  meet  them 
on  the  lake,  and  under  plea  of  danger  from  small-pox,  induced 
the  Indians  to  turn  back,  thus  saving  our  frontiers  from 
their  depredations.  The  main  body  under  De  Rouville  laid 
HaverhUl  in  waste,  and  killed  forty  persons  and  took  many 
prisoners. 


t 


Peter  and  John  Schuyler.  827 

July  ISth,  1712,  twenty  Indians  under  Graylook,  left  Canada, 
V  intending  to  attack  oar  settlements ;  Schuyler  heard  of  it  the 

s  28thy  and  immediately  sent  an  express  to  Col.  Partridge ;  but 

I  he  was  too  late ;  the  Indians  captured  men  belonging  to  Spring- 

field, Deerfield,  Sunderland  and  Hartford,  escaping  with  their 
prisoners  to  Canada,  this  being  the  last  raid  during  Queen 
Anne's  war. 

The  Massachusetts  government  fully  trusted  the  Schuylers, 
and  relied  upon  their  faithful  services,  as  will  appear  by  the  fol- 
lowing letter : 

^^  Gentlemen :  This  encloses  a  vote  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  this  Province,  desiring  that  one  of  you  gentlemen,  as  will  best 
suit  your  convenience,  will  please  favor  us  with  a  visit,  that  we 
may  confer  with  you  upon  the  Present  situation  of  our  Capital 
affairs  respecting  the  Maquois  &  the  Eastern  Indians ;  which 
will  also  oblige;  Gentlemen,  Yr.  Most  Humble  Serv't  Wm. 
Dummer.  Boston,  Aug.  13th.  1723.  To  the  Hon.  ColL  Peter 
&  ColL  John  Skiler." 

In  September  of  the  same  year  the  Schuylers  sent  word  that 
fifty  Indians  were  then  on  their  way,  at  Otter  Creek,  to  attack 
our  settlements ;  and  Governor  Dummer  writes  the  Schuylers 
under  date  of  September  13th,  ^^  Gentlemen ;  I  have  received 
yr.  advice  in  a  Letter  Directed  to  Coll.  Partridge,  of  a  party  of 
fifty  Indians  come  over  the  lake  to  attack  our  frontiers.  I  hope 
the  seasonable  arrival  of  this  Intelligence  will  be  the  means  to 
disappoint  the  Enemy.  I  do  for  myself  &  in  Behalf  and  at  the 
desire  of  his  Majesties  Council  of  this  Province,  give  you  thanks 
for  your  good  offices  to  this  Gov't  from  Time  to  Time ;  espe- 
cially in  advising  us  so  opportunely  of  the  Motions  of  the  Enemy 
&  other  matters  that  so  nearly  conceam  this  Province,  and  pray 
the  continuance  of  yo'r.  care  &  Friendship  to  us  in  this  respect ; 
and  we  shall  punctually  pay  y'r  expenses." 

CoL  John  attended  the  conference  in  Boston,  and  in  a  letter 
announcing  his  safe  arrival  at  Albany,  he  says ;  ^^  On  the  2nd. 
day  of  this  inst.  I  sent  my  son  and  two  others  towards  Can- 
ada, with  instructions  y*  if  they  met  vnth  any  news  of  any  par- 
ties of  Ind's  designed  for  New  England,  they  would  dispatch 
an  express  directly,  and  also  to  enquire  respecting  Captives  & 
any  other  news  which  may  be  servicable." 

The  Schuylers  were  instrumental  in  enlisting  several  Mo- 
hawks and  Schaghticooke  Indians  for  service  scouts  for  the 


338  Annual  Meetmf^l902. 

Oolony^  at  Fort  Dammer,  bat  they  only  proved  of  use  when 
drawing  their  pay  and  sabsistence.  The  next  Aagast  he  sends 
word  to  CoL  Stoddard,  ^' There  is  now  again  fourty  Indians 
Gk>ne  Against  your  Gk>v't.;  but  I  know  not  where  they  will 
make  their  attempt" 

Col.  John  Schuyler  with  oommissioners  sent  from  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Massachusetts  arrived  in  Montreal,  March  Sd,  1725, 
diarged  with  the  endeavor  to  make  peace  with  the  Eastern  In- 
dians, but  their  efforts  were  vrithout  avaiL 

Col.  John  Schuyler  was  also  charged  by  Governor  Belcher 
to  summon  the  Kew  York  Indians  to  hold  the  Great  Council  at 
Deerfield  in  1736,  but  the  official  journal  does  not  mention  his 
presence  at  that  celebrated  Conference. 

Peter  Schuyler  died  February  19th,  1724,  and  John  Schuyler 
died  in  February  1747,  neither  of  them  being  spared  to  see  the 
humbling  of  the  French,  against  whom  they  both  had  spent 
their  lives  in  contention. 

At  the  decease  of  CoL  John  Schuyler  the  control  of  Indian 
affairs  passed  into  the  hands  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  whose 
great  tact  and  ability  in  this  respect  made  him  their  acknowl- 
edged leader.  He  was  the  commanding  officer  at  Lake  George, 
upon  the  day  when  CoL  Ephraim  WiUiams  led  forth  his  little 
army  to  slaughter ;  an  occasion  long  remembered  in  this  valley, 
as  the  "  Bloody  Morning  Scout."  In  the  battle  which  followed 
the  same  day,  Johnson  was  wounded  and  CoL  Lyman  of  Mas- 
sachusetts the  second  in  command  gained  a  victory,  taking 
Baron  Dieskau,  the  French  commander,  prisoner ;  but  Johnson 
got  all  the  glory  and  the  honor  of  knighthood. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1758,  Gteorge  Washington,  a  young 
lieutenant  of  Gen.  Forbes,  planted  the  British  banners  upon  the 
Walls  of  Fort  DuQuesne,  and  in  honor  of  William  Pitt,  named 
it  Pittsburg.  Gen.  Amherst,  on  the  26th  of  July,  received  the 
surrender  of  the  great  fortress  of  Louisbourg,  and  Isle  BoyaL 
and  St.  John  became  British  possessions.  Lord  Abercrombie 
swept  up  the  lakes,  with  a  flotiUa  of  a  thousand  boats,  but  made 
an  ill  advised  attack  upon  the  walls  of  old  Ticonderoga,  losing 
two  thousand  men  in  front  of  the  fortification.  Massachusetts 
raised  seven  thousand  men  for  the  ensuing  campaign,  and  the 
other  colonies  put  forth  their  best  efforts.  By  the  25th  of  July, 
1769,  Sir  William  Johnson  had  possession  of  all  the  French 
posts  as  far  west  as  Erie ;  and  upon  the  1st  of  August,  G^en. 


■I 


Peter  and  John  Sohvyler.  329 

Amherst  had  taken  Crown  Point  and  Tioonderoga^  which  had 
been  abandoned  by  die  French,  who  fled  to  the  lower  end  of 
the  lake.  At  the  same  time  Gen.  Wolfe  was  hammering  at 
the  gates  of  Quebec,  and  on  the  13th  of  September,  1759,  at  the 
great  battle  upon  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  Uie  victor  Wolfe,  and 
the  vanquished  Montcalm,  had  proved  ^^  the  path  to  glory  a 
short  one  to  the  grave." 

England  and  the  Colonies  were  wild  with  delight. 

Sept.  9, 1760,  Lord  Amherst  received  the  surrender  of  Mont- 
real, and  with  it  went  the  submission  of  Canada,  henceforward 
to  be  a  British  Province. 


ANNUAL  MEETING— 1903. 


REPORT. 


The  annual  meeting  of  the  Pocnmtnck  Yalley  Memorial  As- 
sociation was  held  in  Memorial  Hall  at  Deerfield  yesterday 
afternoon  and  evening.  Instead  of  the  business  meeting  being 
held  in  the  old  kitchen,  where  it  has  been  held  for  many  years, 
the  Association  met  in  an  adjoining  room,  formerly  a  part  of  the 
tenement  occupied  by  the  caretaker,  and  which  will  henceforth 
be  used  for  exhibition  purposes,  since  a  handsome  colonial  cot- 
tage has  been  erected  for  the  caretaker  just  east  of  the  hall, 
within  the  past  year.  Judge  F.  M.  Thompson  of  Greenfield, 
vice-president  of  the  Association,  presided,  in  the  absence  of  Mr. 
Sheldon,  who  is  wintering  in  Boston.  By  the  report  of  the 
treasurer,  John  Sheldon  of  Greenfield,  it  appears  that  the 
number  of  paid  admissions  to  the  hall  was  largely  increased 
over  that  of  preceding  years,  the  receipts  from  that  source 
being  $332.80.  Other  items  of  income  are :  Sales  of  History 
of  Deerfield,  $1 14 ;  sales  of  photographs,  pamphlets,  etc.,  $55.93 ; 
annual  dues,  $21,  and  new  members,  $9.  In  the  expense  ac- 
count the  heaviest  item,  $414.88,  is  for  repairs  on  the  L  formerly 
used  as  a  dwelling.    The  balance  on  deposit  is  $2072. 

George  Sheldon,  the  curator,  in  his  report  says  that  the  chief 
event  of  the  year,  and  indeed  of  our  history  since  acquiring 
Memorial  Hall,  has  been  the  erection  of  the  beautiful  cottage 
on  the  grounds,  a  structure  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  place 
where  it  is  located,  and  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  built.  The 
cottage  was  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Sheldon,  although  the  report  does 
not  mention  her  by  name.  "  On  the  very  evening  of  the  day 
on  which  we  organized  under  our  charter,"  says  Curator  Shel- 
don, ^'  the  great  and  wise  Agassiz  invited  me  to  his  room  in  the 
Pocumtuck  house,  where  he  was  an  invalid.  He  was  greatly 
interested  in  the  movement,  and  he  impressed  upon  me  the  im- 
portance of  distinguishing  in  our  collections,  between  the  relics, 
and  the  setting  in  which  they  are  to  be  exhibited.    He  could 


Annual  Meetinff—IQOS.  331 

speak  only  in  a  whisper,  bat  the  whole  matter  was  summed  up 
in  his  last  intensely  emphasized  words,  ^  Mr.  Sheldon,  put  yonr 
money  on  the  inside.'  This  advice  has  been  the  keynote  from 
the  first  start.  Ton  all  know  that  not  a  dollar  of  your  slowly 
gathered  money  has  been  spent  for  mere  show.  Our  horizontal 
cases  were  made  from  lumber  picked  up  about  the  building ; 
the  Ubrary  fixtures  were  mostly  improvised  in  the  same  way, 
or  obtained  by  gift,  all  old  and  second-hand.  In  utilizing  our 
added  quarters,  great  judgment  will  be  required  in  the  expan- 
sion, that  the  result  be  a  harmonious  whole.  As  Peter  Sprague 
used  to  say,  ^  There's  a  thousand  things  to  everything.' "  Mr. 
Sheldon  refers  to  the  repairs  in  the  north  wing.  ^^  It  follows, 
of  course,  that  a  new  catalogue  for  the  library  will  be  necessary. 
This  means  large  expense.  It  will  be  at  once  seen  that  with  any 
considerable  change  in  the  location  of  our  relics  our  old  cata- 
logue wiU  become  useless.  Probably  a  printed  book,  with  blank 
leaves,  or  additions  would  be  better  than  a  card  catalogue." 
Mr.  Sheldon  roughly  estimates  the  cost  at  about  $900. 

Mrs.  M.  E.  Stebbins  gave  the  assistant's  report,  which  showed 
that  the  number  of  visitors  for  the  year  had  been  3,432.  There 
had  been  many  requests  for  Sunday  opening,  but  it  had  been 
thought  best  not  to  take  this  step.  Visitors  come  from  remote 
sections  of  the  country  and  from  foreign  lands.  One  California 
man  said  he  would  like  to  spend  the  summer  in  Deerfield  and 
visit  the  collection  every  day. 

Brief  sketches  were  read  of  Albert  C.  Parsons  and  Jarvis  B. 
Bardwell,  written  by  Herbert  C.  Parsons,  and  of  Charles  Jones 
and  Luther  Joshua  Barker  Lincoln,  written  by  George  Sheldon, 
all  being  members  who  have  died  within  the  year.  Of  Mr. 
Parsons  it  was  said  that  he  was  closely  identified  with  the 
affairs  of  the  town  of  Northfield,  that  he  was  attached  to  the 
town  and  believed  it  to  have  been  very  specially  favored.  He 
was  interested  in  the  movement  for  the  preservation  of  historical 
traditions,  and  gave  the  project  of  publishing  the  town  history 
his  cordial  support.  He  was  an  early  member  and  councillor 
of  the  P.  Y.  M.  A.  He  stoutly  defended  the  old  boundary  line 
of  Deerfield  in  the  Legislature  of  '61,  arguing  against  what  he 
believed  to  be  an  injustice  to  the  old  town.  He  was  an  early 
free  soiler,  a  Republican  at  the  formation  of  the  party,  and  af tear 
the  nomination  of  Blaine  a  political  dissenter.  He  showed 
moral  fearlessness,  unselfishness  in  every  good  cause. 


882  Annual  J£eetinji—190S. 

The  sketch  of  Janris  B.  Bardwell  briefly  reviewed  the  life  of 
tiie  oentenarian,  speaking  of  his  life  as  one  of  activity,  publio 
spirit  and  unfailing  good  nature,  and  with  a  precious  store  of 
memories  of  the  olden  days. 

The  sketch  of  Charles  Jones  spoke  of  his  response  to  all  calls 
for  services  for  the  Association  and  the  town.  He  was  a  hard 
worker  in  early  life,  beginning  for  the  wages  of  $15  a  month. 
He  steadily  made  his  way,  showing  sturdy  industry,  and  through 
this  industry  came  to  possess  one  of  the  finest  old  provincial 
homes  in  the  Street  He  was  opposed  to  idleness,  and  a  man 
for  youth  to  pattern  after. 

Regarding  Mr.  Lincoln  it  was  recalled  that  he  was  employed 
in  1886  in  making  a  catalogue  for  the  Association,  a  task  for 
which  he  was  admirably  equipped.  While  engaged  in  this 
work  he  considered  the  feasibility  of  having  a  local  history 
class  in  connection  with  the  library.  His  fertile  brain  evolved 
the  idea  of  a  summer  school  of  history  and  romance,  which 
drew  to  Deerfield  a  brilliant  galaxy  of  men  and  women  of  the 
front  ranks  of  American  literature.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  brilliant 
after-dinner  speaker  and  writer. 

Samuel  O.  Lamb  was  then  asked  to  speak  concerning  these 
men.  He  recalled  some  legal  business  in  which  he  had  been 
concerned  with  Mr.  Parsons  and  remembered  him  well  as  a 
man  of  high  character  and  public  spirit.  Regarding  Mr.  Bard- 
well, Mr.  Lamb  gave  a  reminiscence  of  the  old  log  cabin  and 
hard  cider  campaign.  Democrats  were  scarce  in  Shelburne 
at  that  time,  but  the  few  there  were  enterprising.  They  had  a 
public  meeting  which  Mr.  Lamb  attended,  addressed  by  two  of 
that  faith.  A  group  of  young  men  made  considerable  distur- 
bance, and  Mr.  Bardwell  rebuked  them,  speaking  of  the  im- 
propriety of  interrupting  a  public  meeting.  He  said  that 
they  could  afford  to  hear  these  remarks,  that  they  did  them  no 
harm,  even  if  they  did  not  believe  them.  Mr.  Lamb  did  not 
remember  Mr.  Lincoln  well,  but  knew  him  as  being  talented 
and  possessing  public  spirit  He  paid  a  high  tribute  to  Mr. 
Jones.  Mr.  Lamb  told  of  litigation  with  the  old  Cheapside 
bridge  corporation.  A  judgment  was  secured  after  a  good 
while,  but  it  was  then  found  that  the  corporation  had  quietly 
dissolved  and  disposed  of  its  property.  Mr.  Jones  consulted 
him  to  learn  if  they  could  not  recover  from  the  stockholders. 
Mr.  Lamb  said  not.    The  selectmen  of  Deerfield  decided  to 


AnniuU  Meeting— 1908.  333 

parsae  the  matter  farther^  bat  were  finally  beaten  in  the  Su- 
preme Court  Mr.  Jones  was  a  man  of  good,  sonnd  judgment, 
safe  to  follow.  Mr.  Lamb  remarked  that  he  was  of  the  same 
elass  politicallj  as  himself,  marohing  in  the  same  troop  and  to 
the  same  musia  A.  L.  Wing  spoke  of  Mr.  Jones'  unquestioned 
honesty,  and  spoke  of  Mr.  Bardwell's  sociability.  Judge 
Thompson  recalled  a  controversy  between  Mr.  Bardwell  and 
D.  O.  Fisk  of  Shelbume. 

The  fascinating  subject  of  the  old  Deerfield  cannon  was 
brought  up  by  Spencer  Fuller,  who  was  recalling  Mr.  Jones' 
sympathy  with  young  people.  He  said  that  in  1876  Mr.  Jones 
had  given  the  boys  liberty  to  use  the  cannon,  which  had  been 
hidden  in  his  cellar.  The  South  Deerfield  boys  made  up  their 
minds  to  steal  it.  The  Deerfield  boys  got  it  up  Fort  hill,  but 
were  in  consternation  when  they  heard  that  the  South  Deer- 
field boys  were  after  it.  They  called  in  Mr.  Jones  to  help 
them.  The  latter  started  out  heading  a  company  of  boys 
but  when  they  came  in  sight  of  their  opponents,  many  turned 
faint-hearted  and  fied.  But  Mr.  Jones  was  not  daunted,  grab- 
bed a  fence  stake,  and  scattered  the  South  Deerfield  invaders. 

E.  A.  Newcomb  then  told  of  his  experiences  with  the  cannon. 
He  remembered  how  the  boys  dug  it  up  at  the  time  of  the  fall 
of  Richmond,  and  how  they  fired  it  all  night.  Lacking  amuse- 
ment one  day,  he  had  fiUed  it  up  with  earth,  and  the  South 
Deerfield  boys  who  afterward  stole  it  had  a  hard  job  to  clean 
it  out. 

Spencer  Fuller  told  of  the  difficulty  the  boys  had  in  han- 
dling the  cannon  and  transporting  it  between  the  two  villages. 
They  got  it  on  a  car,  but  could  not  get  it  off  the  track.  An 
express  train  was  due  at  about  that  time,  and  he  said  that 
John  Sheldon,  who  was  left  in  charge,  went  to  sleep  in  the 
bushes  when  he  should  have  been  watching  for  the  train.  This 
was  denied  by  Mr.  Sheldon.  A.  W.  Root  of  Wapping  told  of 
the  troubles  over  the  draft  in  Greenfield,  and  said  that  fears 
were  expressed  lest  some  disorderly  element  get  hold  of  the 
cannon  and  make  trouble.  It  was  then  buried  to  keep  it  out 
of  sight. 

Mr.  Sheldon  recollected  how  at  the  time  of  a  dinner  at  the 
Pocumtuck  tavern  the  cannon  was  fired.  The  wadding  fell 
short,  and  some  one  stole  a  bale  of  dried  codfish  from  the 
grocery  store  for  that  purpose.    The  cannon  was  once  taken  up 


334  Annual  Meeti/ng—lWZ. 

to  the  oemeterjy  and  it  was  decided  to  salute  a  coming  train. 
It  was  decided  to  fire  ahead  of  the  train,  bat  the  gan  held  fire, 
and  almost  blew  off  the  end  of  the  rear  car.  The  boys  who 
were  firing  it  scattered  in  all  directions,  two  jumping  into  a  new- 
made  grave,  and  others  dodging  behind  tombstones  and  one 
went  to  Shutesbury  and  staid  eight  months. 

The  talk  then  drifted  back  to  Mr.  Jones.  His  industry  was 
spoken  of,  and  it  was  recalled  that  he  generally  got  to  work 
dX  3  o'clock.  His  acquaintance  with  Gk>T.  Andrew  was  men- 
tioned. 

The  chairman  here  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  sesqui- 
centennial  of  Greenfield  is  to  be  celebrated  June  9,  and  it  was 
understood  that  the  society  would  be  invited  to  join  in  a  celebra- 
tion. Provision  was  made  for  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee to  act  with  the  town. 

These  ofScers  were  elected ;  Pres.,  George  Sheldon  of  Deer- 
field  ;  vice-pres.,  Francis  M.  Thompson  of  Greenfield,  0.  Alice 
Baker  of  Boston  ;  rec.  sec.,  Margaret  Miller  of  Deerfield ;  cor. 
sec.  Mary  Elizabeth  Stebbins  of  Deerfield ;  treasurer,  John  Shel- 
don of  Greenfield ;  councilors  Robert  Childs,  Frances  S.  Ball, 
Edward  A.  Hawks,  Rev.  Richard  E.  Birks,  Laura  B.  Wells, 
Spencer  Fuller,  Edward  J.  Everett,  all  of  Deerfield,  Emma  L. 
Coleman  and  Annie  C.  Putnam  of  Boston,  Herbert  C.  Parsons, 
Charles  R.  Lowell,  Samuel  O.  Lamb,  Ellen  L.  Sheldon,  Caro- 
line C.  Furbush,  Eugene  A.  Newcomb,  all  of  Greenfield. 

The  evening  session  was  held  in  the  town  haU  and  was  pre- 
ceded by  a  supper  served  by  the  women  of  the  village  in  ai^  of 
the  lighting  fund.  The  papers  were  of  interest,  especially  the 
one  on  Rev.  Jonathan  Leavitt  of  Charlemont  and  Heath,  which 
was  prepared  by  his  great-grandson,  William  H.  Leavitt  of 
Minneapolis,  Minn.  In  this  Mr.  Leavitt  takes  up  the  cudgels  in 
defense  of  the  memory  of  his  ancestor  and  challenges,  if  he  does 
not  wholly  succeed  in  refuting,  some  of  the  stories  concerning 
the  doughty  old  minister  that  have  been  handed  down  to  pos- 
terity. This  was  read  by  Rev.  Richard  E.  Birks  of  Deerfield.  * 
The  other  paperis  were  on  the  adventures  of  Baptiste,  by  Miss 
C.  Alice  Baker,  and  a  review  of  the  journal  of  Capt.  Nathaniel 
Dwigbt,  by  George  Sheldon,  read  by  John  Sheldon.  The  ex- 
ercises began  with  prayer  by  Rev.  Richard  E.  Birks.  Music 
was  furnished  by  a  quartet  consisting  of  A.  J.  Mealand,  C.  J. 
Day,  W.  S.  Allen  and  Jacob  H.  Sauter  of  Greenfield. 


Parwn  Zeavitt  Vindicated.  886 

The  journal  of  Capt  Nathaniel  Dwight  of  Belchertown 
during  the  Grown  Point  expedition,  1775,  which  was  reviewed 
by  Mr.  Sheldon,  was  printed  last  year  in  Kew  York,  and  through 
the  courtesy  of  Kev.  M.  E.  Dwight  of  New  York  the  library  of 
the  Association  at  Deerfield  was  supplied  with  a  copy. 

Dr.  Henry  D.  Holton  and  C.  F.  B.  Jennie  of  Brattleboro  at- 
tended the  evening  meeting. 


PARSON  LEAVITT  VINDICATED. 

BOMB  OLD  OALUMKIBS    BBFUTED  BT   A   DB80ENDAKT, 
WILLIAM   H.    LEAVITT,   OF  MINNEAPOLIS. 

Mr.  Sheldon,  our  honored  president,  has  said,  ^^  No  human 
action  is  too  trivial  to  be  interesting."  Who  will  say  that  the 
lives  of  our  ancestors,  the  pioneers  of  our  New  England  hiUs 
and  valleys,  who,  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  uncon- 
sciously builded  the  foundations  of  a  mighty  nation,  are  not 
better  worth  our  study  than  the  bloody  deeds  of  the  profligate 
rulers  of  the  old  world. 

The  subject  of  this  paper  is  the  life  and  character  of  the  first 
minister  of  Oharlemont,  his  one  daughter  and  eleven  sons. 

Jonathan  Leavitt  was  bom  in  Suffield,  Ot.,  in  1731.  Before 
he  was  two  years  old  his  father,  a  brother  and  a  sister,  all  died 
within  three  consecutive  days.  The  character  of  the  family  is 
best  inferred  from  the  fact  that  three  of  the  sons  were  educated 
at  Yale.  Two  of  them  became  ministers  and  a  daughter  be- 
came the  mother  of  Chief  Justice  Ellsworth  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court.  Jonathan  was  graduated  from  Yale 
and  ordained  at  Walpole,  N.  H.,  in  1761,  (his  brother  Freegrace, 
of  Somers,  Ct.,  preaching  the  ordination  sermon,  an  apprecia- 
tive and  interesting  discourse  worthy  the  care  with  which  it 
has  been  preserved). 

The  custom  of  the  New  England  fathers,  to  plant  first  the 
home,  then  the  schoolhouse,  and  later  the  church,  was  carried 
out  by  the  people  of  Charlemont,  but  for  the  first  25  years 
their  efforts  to  form  a  church  were  unavailing  because  of  the 
oontinuoas  Indian  warfare.  In  March,  1767,  David  White  was 
chosen  by  the  town  to  go  to  Walpole  and  invite  Mr.  Leavitt  to 


386  Annual  Meetmg—l^QZ. 

preach  as  a  candidate.  Negotiations  were  not  completed  until 
September  first,  when  the  town  voted  ^^  to  accept  the  proposals 
of  Mr.  Leavitt  to  become  their  minister,"  and  a  committee  was 
iq>pointed  to  prepare  for  the  installation. 

The  installation,  however,  was  postponed  nntil  October  of  the 
fdlowing  year,  (1768),  probably  for  lack  of  a  soitable  place  for 
the  exercises. 

Mr.  Leavitt  was  living  in  Oharlemont  in  November,  1767. 
Although  no  records  of  the  organization  of  the  church  have 
been  found  it  is  probable,  from  the  best  evidence  obtainable, 
that  during  the  year  the  church  was  organized,  the  meeting- 
house constructed,  and  Mr.  Leavitt's  residence  built  for  him  by 
the  town,  as  agreed  upon  the  terms  of  the  settlement.  For  135 
years  this  house  has  withstood  the  gales  which  swept  over  the 
top  of  Greylock  and  Hoosac  mountains,  and  at  the  present 
time  is  connected  with  the  outside  world  by  that  modem  in- 
vention the  telephone.  The  timbers  of  the  frame  are  very 
large,  and  including  the  studs  and  braces,  were  hewn  from  the 
primeval  forest.  The  clapboards  are  split  and  shaved  and  are 
less  than  six  feet  in  length.  The  boards  used  in  the  floors  are 
very  wide,  some  of  them  measuring  three  feet  across. 

The  amount  of  labor  represented  by  the  construction  in  the 
wilderness  of  two  such  substantial  buildings  in  one  season  by  a 
small  handful  of  men  well  illustrates  the  intelligent  industry  and 
determination  characteristic  of  the  New  England  pioneer. 

It  is  said  of  Mr.  Leavitt  that  ^^  be  was  endowed  with  good 
talents,  a  gentleman  in  his  manner,  hospitable  and  very  social 
in  his  ample  home,  and  a  Christian  in  his  deportment  at  home 
and  abroad. 

^'  He  dressed  in  the  costume  of  the  day,  wearing  a  powdered 
wig  and  cocked  hat,  and  made  a  dignified  appearance.  The 
congregation  were  accustomed  to  rise  and  salute  their  minister 
upon  his  entrance  to  the  meetinghouse  for  the  Sabbath  service. 

^^  His  sermons  are  sound  in  theology  and  manifest  a  mind  able 
to  work  with  profound  subjects." 

Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Leavitt,  a  hundred  years  ago,  a  tradi- 
tion has  prevailed  that  he  favored  the  mother  country  during 
the  Revolutionary  period,  but  the  following  incident  would  seem 
to  disprove  such  a  theory,  and  establish  beyond  question  the 
fact  that  bis  sympathies  were  with  the  patriots  in  their  strag- 
gle for  independence. 


Penrsan  Leamtt  Vindicated.  387 

On  Thanksgiving  day  in  1777  Mr.  Leavitt  prrached  a  sermon 
to  his  congregation  in  Oharlemont  whioh  bears  on  the  title 
page,  in  his  own  handwriting,  the  following  inscription :  ^^  A 
Thanksgiving  anniversary  discourse  in  commemoration  of  the 
glorious  victory  of  the  American  troops  over  a  whole  British 
army  under  General  Burgoyne,  resulting  in  the  surrender  of 
the  whole  army  to  the  Americans  under  General  Gates  on  Oc- 
tober 17th,  1777/'  Eighty-eight  years  later  Eev.  William  S. 
Leavitt,  (then  a  pastor  at  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  a  great-grandson  of 
Bev.  Jonathan  Leavitt),  preached  a  Thanksgiving  sermon  in 
commemoration  of  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  At 
the  beginning  of  his  discourse  he  held  up  to  the  view  of  his 
audience  this  ancient  manuscript,  read  to  them  the  title  page, 
and  used  the  same  text  as  the  subject  of  his  sermon. 

In  common  with  other  ministers  of  the  period,  Mr.  Leavitt 
found  it  difficult  to  collect  his  salary.  The  tradition  that  he 
personally  took  from  two  of  his  poorer  parishioners  (without 
their  consent)  their  only  cow  in  payment  for  taxes  due  the 
town  for  his  salary,  is  doubtless  another  fabrication.  It  was  no 
part  of  the  duties  of  the  minister  to  collect  taxes.  Mr.  Leavitt 
was  a  man  of  more  than  common  business  sagacity,  and  certainly 
would  not  have  been  guilty  of  so  gross  a  violation  of  the  rights 
of  an  individual  and  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth,  nor  is  it 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  such  an  outrage  would  have  been 
tolerated  in  a  New  England  community. 

Eev.  Moses  Miller,  who  was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Heath 
for  40  years  closely  following  the  death  of  Mr.  Leavitt,  has  left 
the  following  references  to  these  reports.  ^'  In  Oharlemont  in 
former  days  there  existed  something  of  the  spirit  of  mobocracy, 
especially  in  reference  to  their  first  minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Leavitt. 
With  this  spirit  very  few  of  the  inhabitants  of  Heath  sympa- 
thized, though  they  had  the  same  grounds  of  dissatisfaction. 

^^  How  much  provocation  there  was  to  this  state  of  feeling  and 
action  (for  some  of  it  was  quite  outrageous),  I  am  not  able  to 
state,  but  whether  more  or  less,  it  did  not  justify  the  course 
pursued.^' 

A  life-long  resident  of  Heath  and  Oharlemont,  and  a  careful 
student  of  these  times,  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  these  calum- 
nies originated  with  the  patrons  of  the  two  rum  taverns  that 
wrecked  the  fortunes  and  character  of  a  large  class  of  other- 
wise useful  citizens  of  Oharlemont.  Some  of  these  men  were 
22 


388  Annual  MeeUnff—190Z. 

of  more  than  usual  intelligenoe  and  gained  a  reputation  as  nar- 
rators of  marvelous  stories.  One  acquainted  with  the  localities 
and  customs  of  the  times  will  detect  in  these  tales  such  ele- 
ments of  untruthf  uhiess  as  lead  to  the  conviction  that  they  were 
originated  for  the  entertainment  of  bar-room  companions,  with 
no  expectation  that  they  would  be  taken  seriously.  The  theory 
is  weU  illustrated  by  the  story  recently  published  in  the  Green- 
field Gazette  that  Mr.  Leavitt's  farm  was  included  in  Heath  be- 
cause of  the  enmity  of  the  people  of  Charlemont.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  reason,  the  north  boundary  line  of  Oharle- 
mont  its  entire  length  of  14  miles  is  perfectly  natural,  con- 
forming to  the  topography  of  the  country,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  convenience  of  people  living  north  or  south  of  the 
line  in  their  attendance  at  school  and  meetings.  Two  reasons 
may  be  assigned  for  the  two  farms  adjoining  Mr.  Leavitt's  on 
the  south  remaining  in  Charlemont  First,  the  town  at  this 
point  is  only  about  one  mile  wide;  with  these  farms  in 
Heath  the  width  would  be  reduced  to  half  a  mile.  The  second 
reason  is  probably  the  correct  one,  viz. :  These  families  were 
closely  related  to  a  number  of  other  Charlemont  families  and 
for  that  reason  doubtless  preferred  to  remain  in  the  old  town. 

The  legend  that  Mr.  Giles  refused  to  assist  Mr.  Leavitt  to 
rescue  his  horse,  which  had  fallen  through  the  ice  in  crossing 
the  Deerfield  river,  and  the  conversation  reported  to  have  taken 
place  as  Mr.  Giles  stood  at  the  door  of  his  residence  and  Mr. 
Leavitt  on  the  ice,  is  refuted  by  the  fact  that  the  river  could  not 
be  seen  from  Mr.  Giles'  home,  and  the  conversation  as  related 
could  not  have  taken  place  at  so  great  a  distance. 

Mr.  Leavitt's  pastorate  in  Charlemont  covered  a  period  of 
18  years,  and  terminated  with  the  organization  of  the  new  town 
of  Heath  (which  included  Mr.  Leavitt's  residence,)  in  1785. 
At  the  same  time  a  new  church  was  formed  in  Heath,  but  for 
five  years  they  had  no  settled  pastor.  A  part  of  this  time  Mr. 
Leavitt  officiated  as  their  minister. 

But  few  newspapers  were  taken  in  Heath  at  that  time  and 
consequently  the  voters  were  not  weU  informed  on  political 
subjects.  The  following  incident  illustrates  the  confidence  Mr. 
Leavitt's  townsmen  placed  in  his  judgment. 

At  a  town  meeting  in  Heath  the  people  voted  for  Samuel 
Adams  for  governor.  Mr.  Leavitt  arrived  at  the  meeting  after 
the  vote  had  been  taken,  and  informed  the  voters  that  Mr. 


Pa/raon  Leavitt  Vindicated.  839 

Adams  was  a  Democrat  and  that  they  should  have  voted  for 
the  Whig  candidate.  The  people  became  excited  at  this  in- 
formation and  decided  to  ballot  a  second  time,  with  the  result 
that  the  Whig  candidate  received  the  vote  of  the  town. 

That  he  possessed  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  ministerial 
associates  is  illustrated  in  too  many  ways  to  mention  in  detail 
in  this  paper. 

He  was  active  in  business  affairs  and  acquired  considerable 
property.  His  home  from  the  time  of  his  settlement  in  Charle- 
mont  in  1768  until  his  death  in  1802  was  the  house  built  for  him 
at  the  time  of  his  settlement. 

Mr.  Leavitt  married  in  1761  Sarah  Hooker,  a  great-grand- 
daughter of  Bev.  Samuel  Hooker,  a  noted  New  England  divine. 
She  died  in  1791,  and  Rev.  John  Emerson  of  Conway  in  the 
funeral  sermon  says :  ^^  In  addition  to  good  natural  talents  Mrs. 
Leavitt  possessed  an  unaffected  and  most  engaging  temper  and 
deportment,  which  gave  a  luster  to  the  beauty  of  her  person  far 
superior  to  what  it  could  have  derived  from  the  most  brilliant 
ornaments  of  art." 

Mr.  Leavitt  has  said  of  the  oldest  child :  ^^  My  dear  and  only 
daughter  Clarissa  died  in  1798.  She  was  a  professor  of  the 
faith  and  in  the  judgment  of  charity  died  in  the  Lord." 

Jonathan,  the  oldest  son,  was  graduated  from  Yale  and  be- 
came a  successful  lawyer  at  Greenfield.  He  was  appointed 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1812,  and  judge  of 
Probate  in  1814,  which  office  he  held  until  1821. 

The  family  home  in  Greenfield  is  now  known  as  the  Hovey 
residence  and  is  still  a  prominent  feature  in  Greenfield  archi- 
tecture. The  west  wing  was  used  as  a  business  office.  His 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  President  Stiles  of  Yale,  and  his  family 
of  daughters  were  conspicuous  in  the  social  life  of  the  period  in 
Greenfield, 

Hart,  the  second  son,  was  also  a  resident  of  Greenfield.  He 
kept  an  old-fashioned  store  of  general  merchandise  located  just 
west  of  the  residence  of  his  brother  Jonathan.  His  home  was 
on  the  same  side  of  Main  Street  a  little  farther  east.  The  follow- 
ing account  of  his  marriage  is  taken  from  the  ^^  Boston  Gazette 
and  Centwry  Magazine^^  dated  Feb.  11, 1793.  "Marriages  at 
Deerfield,  Mass.,  Capt.  Joshua  Clapp  of  Burlington,  Vt.,  to  Miss 
Abigal  Barnard  of  Deerfield.  Mr.  Hart  Leavitt  of  Greenfield 
to  Miss  Rachael  Barnard.    Dr.  Stone  of  Greenfield  to  Miss 


340  Annual  Meetinff—190i. 

Sally  Barnard."    It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  three  brides 
were  sisters  and  one  matrimonial  eve  made  wives  of  them  all. 

Joshua^  the  third  son,  left  Kew  England  for  the  West  Indies 
in  1791.  The  ship  was  wrecked  on  a  desert  island,  where  he 
Hved  for  several  years,  subsisting  principaUy  upon  crawfish. 
After  his  rescae  he  established  a  business  in  Charleston,  S.  C, 
but  did  not  communicate  with  his  New  England  friends. 

In  the  summer  of  1802  some  bales  of  cotton  were  seen  on  a 
wharf  in  New  York  marked  ^^  Joshua  Leavitt."  In  Augast 
Mt.  Leavitt  made  a  journey  on  horseback  to  New  York  to 
trace  this  clue.  The  fatigue  and  excitement  of  the  journey 
resulted  in  his  death  soon  after  his  return  and  before  tidings 
had  been  received  from  the  absent  son.  A  few  weeks  later  a 
letter  was  received  from  him  dated  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  express- 
ing pleasure  at  hearing  again  from  his  relatives  at  home  and  his 
sorrow  at  the  death  of  his  parents  and  sister.  His  letters  show 
a  genial  and  loving  character.  The  reason  of  his  absence  is 
not  known,  although  tradition  has  it  that  it  was  a  love  affair. 
At  his  invitation  four  of  his  brothers  settled  at  various  points  in 
the  South.  They  seem  to  have  succeeded  fairly  well  in  business, 
but  the  average  length  of  life  of  the  five  brothers  who  settled 
in  the  South  was  less  by  eighteen  years  than  of  the  six  who 
remained  in  their  native  climate. 

David,  the  fourth  son,  lived  for  a  series  of  years  in  Putney, 
Yt.,  and  kept  a  general  store.  He  was  active  in  church  and 
military  affairs.  His  last  years  were  spent  in  Boston,  and  his 
last  Sabbath  in  teaching  (as  was  his  usual  custom)  a  Bible  class 
in  the  state's  prison  at  Charlestown. 

Boger,  the  fifth  son,  lived  on  the  homestead  in  Heath.  He 
removed  to  Charlemont  in  1835,  which  was  his  home  until  his 
death  in  1840.  He  acquired  a  large  fortune  for  the  period  and 
locaUty.  His  intelligence,  integrity  and  uprightness  commanded 
the  confidence  of  his  associates.  He  held  perhaps  every  ofBice 
in  the  gift  of  the  town,  and  was  active  in  church  and  military 
affairs,  holding  the  several  grades  of  office  in  the  local  militia, 
including  the  command  of  a  regiment  noted  for  its  superior 
drill  and  equipment.  He  was  also  active  in  educational  and 
political  reforms  of  the  period,  and  in  company  with  Miss  Lyon 
canvassed  the  town  of  Heath  and  raised  $1200  for  the  first  sem- 
inary building  at  South  Hadley.  ^  A  remarkable  record  of 
benevolence  for  a  small  agricultural  town. 


PoTBon  Lsamtt  YindicaUd.  841 

He  helped  to  locate  and  btdld  the  new  county  boildingfli  at 
Greenfield  at  the  organization  of  the  new  coanty,  and  on  tli^ 
day  before  his  death,  June  1, 1840,  was  nominated  by  the  new 
Liberty  party  of  Massachusetts  as  their  candidate  for  Ueutenant^ 
governor. 

His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  CoL  Hugh  Maxwell  of  Heath. 
The  oldest  son,  Joshua,  was  graduated  from  Yale,  and  so  far  as 
known  was  the  only  man  who  ever  ventured  to  open  a  law 
office  in  Heath.  Later  he  became  a  minister,  and  active  in  the 
temperance  and  anti-slavery  movements,  but  is  better  known  as 
editor  of  the  Emancipator  and  New  York  Independent. 

In  the  early  anti-slavery  period  he  spent  several  winters  in 
Washington  reporting  the  proceedings  of  Congress  for  his 
paper.  He  was  present  when  John  Quincy  Adams  presented  a 
petition  from  the  people  of  his  district  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  Southern  members 
were  opposing  the  reception  of  petitions  upon  the  subject  of 
slavery.  Mr.  Adams,  in  his  defense  of  the  right  of  petition, 
requested  the  clerk  to  read  the  constitution. 

The  clerk  read  a  few  sentences  and  stopped.  Mr.  Adams 
said,  ^^  read  on.''  The  clerk  read  again  and  stopped.  After 
several  repetitions  Mr.  Adams  said :  ^^  Bead  on  until  I  tell  you 
to  stop."  When  he  reached  the  words,  ^^  Congress  shall  make 
no  law  abridging  the  right  of  the  people  to  petition  the  govern- 
ment for  a  redress  of  grievances,"  Mr.  Adams  said,  ^^  that  will 
do."  And  without  previous  special  preparation  spoke  for  three 
days  in  defense  of  the  right  of  petition.  Mr.  Leavitt  reported 
the  speech  in  full,  but  by  some  means  the  Southern  sympathizers 
obtained  possession  of  it  and  in  consequence  it  has  never  been 
printed.  Mr.  Leavitt  often  said  it  was  the  most  eloquent 
speech  he  ever  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  ^^old  mim  elo- 
quent." 

Boswell  was  a  successful  physician  and  a  respected  and  useful 
citizen  of  Cornish,  K  H.  !ffis  wife  was  a  granddaughter  of 
Bev.  Jonathan  Ashley,  the  second  minister  of  Deerfield,  and  a 
daughter  of  Tirzah  (Field)  Ashley,  the  second  wife  of  Rev. 
Jonathan  Leavitt.  Their  first  son,  Jonathan,  was  for  twenty- 
five  years  pastor  of  the  Richmond  Street  church  of  Providence, 
R.  I.  A  daughter  was  the  wife  of  Rev.  Aaron  Foster,  for 
twenty  years  the  honored  pastor  of  the  little  church  in  East 
Gharlemont.    Mrs.  Foster  lived  a  beautiful  and  quiet  life.    She 


842  Annual  MeeUng— 1903. 

had  a  lively  interest  in  each  individoality  and  her  influence 
became  a  power  in  the  community. 

Hooker,  the  youngest  of  the  eleven  sons,  was  a  resident  of 
Greenfield,  an  attorney,  and  held  the  offices  of  county  treasurer 
and  clerk  of  the  court  from  1815  until  his  death  in  1842. 

This  family  received  the  usual  excellent  New  England  social 
and  religious  training,  and  also  did  their  full  share  of  the  work 
of  clearing  the  wilderness  of  the  native  forest  and  reducing  to 
ashes  the  magnificent  growth  of  timber  at  the  time  on  the  soiL 
Beoalling  these  youthful  experiences,  a  brother  in  Charleston, 
S.  0.,  wrote  to  the  brother  on  the  homestead  in  Heath  as  follows : 
^^  I  rejoice  in  your  prosperity  and  successful  pursuit  of  agricnl- 
ture  on  the  soil  which  gave  the  most  of  us  birth  and  all  of  us  a 
happy  subsistence.  Our  pleasures  were  many  and  great  The 
refiection  is  highly  animating,  but  our  labors  and  fatigues  were 
extreme  and  excessive  and  would  strike  a  Oarolinian  with  hor- 
ror.'* 

This  in  brief  is  the  history  of  one  of  a  multitude  of  New  Eng- 
land families  which,  by  industry,  thrift,  and  above  all  a  con- 
scientious performance  of  life's  daily  duties,  have  helped  to  build 
the  Bepublic. 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  BAPTISTE. 

BY  0.  ALIOS  BAKER. 

In  the  stories  of  the  captives  carried  to  Canada  during  the 
old  wars,  both  the  reader  and  the  writer  have  a  sort  of  personal 
interest.  These  captives  were  the  friends  and  neighbors  of  our 
forbears.  They  went  from  surroundings  with  which  we  our- 
selves are  familiar.  Snatched  from  homes  desolated  by  their 
loss,  they  have  naturally  a  claim  on  our  sympathy.  Their  kins- 
men and  townsfolk,  in  great  peril  of  their  own  lives,  sought 
their  redemption.  They  found  them  scattered  up  and  down  the 
beautiful  Canadian  rivers,  and  by  unwearied  perseverance  res-  ! 

cued  many.    The  writer  of  these  stories  of  heroism  and  endur-  | 

ance  has  all  the  help  that  local  color  can  give.      He  can  tread  I 

the  paths  they  trod,  can  live  the  lives  they  lived.    He  can  go  j 

with  them  to  their  betrothals  and  their  buriaL 

He  may  pore  over  the  very  records  to  which,  with  trembling 


TJi6  AdverUurea  of  Baptiste.  343 

hands,  they  signed  their  names  or  made  their  mark ;  and  writer 
and  reader  must  be  doll  indeed  who  does  not  make  it  or  find  it 
of  intense  interest. 

But  when  it  comes  to  writing  and  reading  the  story  of  a 
renegade  Acadian  Frenchman,  whose  life  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances would  be  scarcely  worth  considering,  it  becomes  quite 
a  different  thing,  and  one  would  feel  almost  like  apologizing  for 
wasting  words  on  a  daredevil,  without  honor,  and  without 
patriotism,  except  that  his  career  involved  the  lives  and  liber- 
ties of  so  many  better  people,  and  that  he  was  the  prisoner  for 
whose  retention  or  deliverance  the  diplomatists  of  two  govern- 
ments intrigued  and  contended. 

For  many  years  I  have  been  trying  to  run  to  cover  that  sly 
fox  who  figures  in  New  England  and  Canadian  annals  as 
"  Baptiste."  While  I  have  been  now  following  the  scent,  anon 
losing  the  trail,  the  years  have  sped,  until  I  can  no  longer  delay 
giving  you  the  fruits  of  my  chase. 

From  the  beginning  of  my  research  in  the  archives  of  New 
France  and  New  England  I  have  not  believed  Baptiste  to  be 
the  surname  of  the  individual  in  question,  and  I  hope  to  be  able 
to  justify  my  unbelief.  I  must,  however,  frankly  admit  that  in 
the  official  correspondence  between  the  two  governments  he  is 
rarely  mentioned  by  any  other  name.  Governor  Dudley  invari- 
ably speaking  of  him  as  Baptiste,  and  De  Yaudreuil  almost  as 
persistently  naming  him  as  Captain  Baptiste,  or  more  cautiously 
as  "  the  one  called  Baptiste."  We  all  know,  however,  that  a 
man  may  be  known,  and  ordinarily  spoken  of  among  his  fellows 
by  another  name  than  his  true  surname.  One  who  for  any 
reason  is  prominent  in  a  community  often  goes  down  to  pos- 
terity witJiout  his  surname.  Of  this  Deerfield  gives  us  many 
examples :  Captain  Dave,  Colonel  Jo.,  Uncle  Ep.,  are  familiar 
to  us  all  as  household  words,  not  to  speak  of  Uncle  Bob,  Colonel 
Scope,  and  others.  The  name  Baptiste  does  not  appear  as  a 
surname  on  old  Canadian  records.  John  the  Baptist  is  a  saint 
in  the  Bomish  calendar  for  whom  children  of  Roman  Catholics 
have  been,  and  to  this  day  are,  frequently  named.  In  some  in- 
stances Jean  Baptiste  appears  as  Saint  Baptiste,  which  latter 
more  than  once  occurs  in  New  England  history,  corrupted  by 
our  captives  to  Sabatis. 

Different  and  contemporaneous  French  accounts  mention 
Dion-D'Young-Guyon  and  Baptiste  each  as  a  noted  pilot.    A 


844  Aimual  MeeHng—lWZ. 

oai6M  oompariion  of  facts  and  dates  shows  me  timt  in  several  in- 
stances one  and  the  same  act  at  one  and  the  same  date  is  attrib- 
uted by  different  authors  of  the  two  nationalities  to  Dion,  to 
D' Young,  to  Gujon  and  to  Baptiste,  the  logical  sequence  bdng 
that  no  matter  under  which  of  these  names  the  hero  appears^ 
he  must  have  been  one  and  the  same  man. 

Thus  having  found  Guyon  as  a  well  known  surname  in  Can- 
ada— not  finding  Baptiste  ever  used  as  a  surname — and  finally 
finding  Guyon  and  Baptiste  used  synonymously  as  the  hero  of 
the  same  exploit,  and  assuming  that  Jean  Baptiste  was  simply 
the  Christian  name  of  the  one  called  Baptiste,  I  have  sought  in 
Tanguay's  Genealogical  Dictionary*  for  a  Jean  Baptiste  Guyon 
or  Dion.  I  find  there  one  Michel  de  Bouvray  Guion,  a  ship  car- 
penter, with  son,  Jean  Baptiste  Guion,  bom  1673.  It  will  be  for 
you  to  decide  upon  the  evidence  adduced  whether  this  is  he 
whom  we  have  hitherto  known  as  Baptiste.  The  careful  stud^it 
must,  however,  honestly  admit  that  other  Guyons  appear  in  our 
archives,  but  there  is  ample  proof  that  certain  experiences  of  our 
Baptiste  are  credited  to  Guion,  the  two  names  being  more  than 
once  used  indiscriminately.  His  career  is  most  romantic,  and 
one  of  its  most  interesting  episodes  is  his  introduction  to  us  in 
Boston  two  hundred  years  ago. 

The  General  Court  adjourned  on  Friday,  the  21st  of  Febru- 
ary, 1689-90.  Towards  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  follow- 
ing Monday  f  guests  began  to  arrive  at  the  hospitable  mansion 
of  Judge  Samuel  Sewall,  then  one  of  the  governor's  council,  and 
the  richest  man  in  Boston.  On  foot,  on  pillions,  in  sedan  chairs^ 
— Governor  Bradstreet  and  his  wife  in  their  great  hackney  coach 
— ^tbey  came.  The  house  was  at  the  north  end  of  'what  is  now 
Pemberton  Square,  fronting  on  what  is  now  Treraont  Kow, "  dis- 
tant from  other  buildings  and  standing  very  bleak, ''  says  Sew- 
all,  j:  there  was  a  keen  east  wind,  and  the  guests  as  they  alighted 
were  grateful  for  the  shelter  of  the  "  smale  porch  of  wood, 
which  the  General  Court  had  given  Sewall  liberty  to  build ''  to 
^^  breake  of  the  winde  from  the  fore  doore."  It  was  a  notable 
assembly  that  gathered  there. 

^^  Governor  Bradstreet  and  Lady,  Mr.  Stoughton,  Major 
Hutchinson  and  wife,  Mrs  Mather,  Maria,  Mr.  Allen  and  wi£e^ 

*  Tanguay  is  to  Canada  what  Savage  is  to  New  England, 
t  Sewall'0  Diary,  Vol.  1,  p.  311. 
X  Diary,  Vol.  1,  p.  60. 


The  Adventures  of  Baptiste.  345 

Oonsin  Dnmer  and  wife,  Ooas.  Quinsy  and  wife,  Mr.  Ootton 
Mather,  Mr.  Thomas  Brattle,  who  with  Mother,  Wife  and  Self, 
made  Twenty.  Sat  all  weU  at  the  Table.  Marshall  Green 
waited." 

We  cannot  doubt  that  the  dinner  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 

^^The  bitterness  in  our  Oup,"  continues  Sewall,  ^^was  the 
massacre  at  Schenectady  by  the  French :  the  amazing  news 
on't  was  by  Post  brought  to  town  this  Day :  Gov'  Bradstreet 
brought  the  papers  and  read  them  before  Dinner. 

Dinner  being  over,  Mr.  Cotton  Mather  returned  thanks  in 
an  Excellent  manner :  Sung  part  of  the  Six  and  Fiftieth  Psalm 
in  Mr.  Miles  Smith's  Version  ....  Mr.  Mather  was  minded 
to  have  that  ....  I  set  it  to  Windsor  Tune."  .... 

While  the  Governor  again  read  the  papers  sent  post  haste 
from  Albany,  and  the  guests  discussed  the  dreadful  news, 
Mrs.  Sewall,  as  was  her  custom,  was  doubtless  sending 
^^  tastes  "  of  her  sumptuous  dinner  to  her  friends  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

^^  At  last  Mr.  Danf orth.  Major  Bichards,  Major  General  Win- 
throp,  Col.  Shrimpton,  Mr.  Addington  came  in,  and  dispatcht 
Orders  to  the  Majors  to  stand  upon  their  Guard."  .... 

Just  about  dinner  time  Mr.  Kelson*  had  come  in,  and  got 
Sewall  ^^  to  subscribe  100  to  the  Proposals  against  the  French.  I 
thought  'twas  time  to  Doe  something,  now  we're  thus  destroy'd 
by  Land  too.  Mr.  Danforth  looks  very  sorrowfully.  Mr. 
Stoughton  thinks  best  to  prosecute  vigorously  the  business 
against  the  Eastern  French."  .... 

After  this  exciting»evening  the  guests  took  their  leave  punc- 
tually at  nine  of  the  clock. 

News  of  the  attack  at  Salmon  Falls  reached  Boston  the  21st 
of  March,  1689-90,  and  the  following  day  Sir  William  Phips 
offered  to  lead  the  expedition  against  Port  Royal.    Sewall  says, 

^  The  Governor  sends  for  me  and  tells  me  of  it.  I  tell  the 
Court ;  they  send  for  Sir  William  who  accepts  to  goe  ....  Sir 
William  had  been  sent  to  at  first ;  but  some  feared  he  would 
not  goe ;  others  thought  his  Lady  could  not  consent." 

Drums  were  beaten  through  the  streets  for  volunteers,  and 
on  the  28th  of  April  a  fleet  of  seven  or  eight  vessels,  with  about 

*  John  Nelaon  of  Boston,  nephew  and  heir  to  Sir  William  Temple,  in 
whose  right  he  claimed  the  proprietorship  of  Acadia  under  ah  old  grant  from 
Cromwell. 


346  Annual  Meeting— 1903. 

seyen  hundred  men,  sailed  from  Nantasket  Gov.  Bradstreet's 
instniotions  to  Phips  were  to  **  take  care  that  the  worship  of 
God  be  duly  observed  on  board  all  the  vessels :  to  offer  the 
enemy  fair  terms  upon  summons  to  surrender,  which  if  they  obey 
the  said  terms  are  to  be  duly  observed.  If  not,  you  are  to  gain 
the  best  advantage  you  may,  to  assault  Kill  and  utterly  extirpate 
the  common  £nemy,  and  to  bum  aud  demolish  their  fortifica- 
tions and  shipping." 

In  the  library  of  Harvard  College  there  is  a  MS.  journal  of 
this  expedition  against  Port  Boyal.  We  have  also,  in  various 
forms,  De  Meneval's  own  account  of  his  surrender,  written  in 
French  on  the  spot  and  immediately  after.  The  following  is  a 
free  translation.  See  for  the  original.  Doc.  BeL  &  Fhistoire  de 
la  Nouvelle  France,  Vol.  2,  p.  6. 

<<  On  the  19tb  of  May  1690,  the  coastguard  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river  ran  to  inform  Monsieur  de  Meneval,  Governor  of 
Acadia,  that  an  English  fleet  of  three  large  and  five  or  six  smal- 
ler ships,  filled  with  soldiers,  was  preparing  to  enter  the  river. 

The  next  day  at  dawn,  the  ships  anchored  a  half  league  from 
here  and  a  boat  was  at  once  dispatched  to  the  town.  It  was 
received  by  ten  French  musketeers,  who,  bandaging  the  eyes  of 
the  messenger,  led  him  to  the  (Governor  to  whom  he  presented 
a  written  summons  from  the  Commander  of  the  fleet,  for  the 
immediate  surrender  of  Port  Boyal,  with  a  promise  of  quarter, 
provided  no  defence  of  the  place  were  attempted. 

Under  pretext  of  answering  this  letter,  the  Governor  had 
the  messenger  put  under  guard,  and  for  lack  of  a  suitable  mili- 
tary ofScer  to  act  as  his  envoy,  sent  Father  Petit,  cur6  of  Port 
Boyal,  with  a  letter  to  the  English  Commander,  with  orders  to 
acquaint  him  with  the  Governor's  intention  to  defend  himself, 
but  also  with  discretionary  power  to  negotiate,  if  need  be,  the 
best  possible  conditions  for  a  surrender. 

Father  Petit,  too  well  aware  of  the  Governor's  helpless  con- 
dition, disabled  as  he  was,  with  gout  in  both  legs,  with  no  prom- 
ise of  support  from  the  inhabitants,  three  only  offering  him 
help  at  this  crisis,  with  no  fortifications  whatever,  and  less  than 
seventy  wretched,  badly  armed  and  worse-intentioned  soldiers, — 
as  soon  as.  he  saw  that  the  enemy  could  land  in  a  half-hour 
more  than  eight  hundred  soldiers  concluded  discretion  to  be  the 
better  part  of  valor,  and  after  long  discussion,  the  following 
terms'were  agreed  upon : 


The  AcheffUxurea  of  Baptiste.  947 

That  De  Meneyal  and  the  garrison  should  march  out  as  sol- 
diers with  all  their  arms,  accoutrements  and  belongings,  and  be 
safely  transported  to  Quebec  by  the  shortest  route,  in  a  vessel 
provided  by  Phips :  The  people  of  Port  Koyal  should  be  left 
in  peaceable  possession  of  their  property,  without  pillage,  or 
harm  to  the  women  and  children:  that  liberty  of  conscience 
should  be  left  them,  the  free  exercise  of  the  Boman  Catholic 
religion,  and  the  preservation  of  their  church  edifice. 

To  Father  Petit's  request  that  this  should  be  put  in  writing 
and  signed  by  the  English  commander,  Phips  replied  that  there 
was  no  need  of  that, — that  his  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond, 
and  in  fact  worth  more  than  all  the  writing^  in  the  world. 

The  cur6  returned  with  this  answer.  The  Governor,  un- 
able to  do  otherwise,  accepted  the  conditions,  and  the  next  day 
went  on  board  the  English  ship  where  the  terms  were  ratified 
in  presence  of  the  priest  and  others.  Promising  to  return  the 
Governor  and  his  garrison  to  Quebec,  or  to  France  as  he  might 
prefer,  the  English  commander  disembarked  his  troops  and  re- 
turned to  Port  Boyal  with  De  Meneval,  who  surrendered  as 
agreed  upon. 

On  reaching  the  town  and  seeing  its  defenceless  condition, 
Phips  was  much  chagrined,  and  through  some  quibble  declaring 
himself  not  bound  to  abide  by  the  terms  agreed  upon,  he  dis- 
armed the  little  garrison,  shut  them  ap  in  the  church  as  prison- 
ers of  war,  confined  De  Meneval  under  guard  in  his  own  house, 
taking  away  his  clothes  and  his  money ;  allowed  his  troops  to 
pillage  the  inhabitants  and  finally  to  ruin  the  church  and  the 
priest's  house.  In  short,  it  may  be  said  that  except  they  killed 
nobody,  they  behaved  as  if  the  place  had  been  taken  by  assault, 
without  regard  to  the  capitulation." 

This  is  the  story  as  it  stands  on  the  French  records,*  certi- 
fied by  the  principal  sufferers  as 

"  the  just  and  true  statement  of  things  that  happened  within  our  Knowledge 
from  the  arrival  of  the  English  at  Port  Royal  up  to  to-day  May  27th,  1690. 

fPETIT.^ 
Q.^^  J  TROUVE. 
Signed^  IJUBREUIL. 

,Dh  MENEVAL." 

Then  Phips  sailed  away  to  Boston  with  much  booty  and  59 
prisoners,  49  of  whom  were  received  into  custody  by  John 

*  Doc.  Rel.,  VoL  2,p,7et  aeq. 


348  AnMMl  Mee^—1908. 

Arnold,  the  jailer  in  Boston,  on  the  30th  of  May,  1690.*  Thej 
were  not  all  regular  soldiers,  bat  a  rabble  of  the  yoong  men  of 
the  town,  acting  at  the  time  as  a  sort  of  home  gaard.  Side 
by  side  on  the  list  of  these  prisoners  are  the  names  Baptiste  and 
Jasmin,  boon  companions,  whom  we  shaU  meet  later  in  on 
annals  as  famous  pilots  and  privateers.  This  is  our  introduc- 
tion to  Baptiste,  then  about  17  years  old. 

The  names  of  De  Meneval,  those  who  signed  the  above 
^^  Belation ''  with  him,  and  others  do  not  appear  on  the  jail  lists. 
They  were  not  imprisoned  with  the  rank  and  file,  but  were 
carefully  guarded  in  the  houses  of  Boston  citizens.  Later, 
Monsieur  de  Meneval  lodged  with  Mr.  Nelson,  ^^  where  he  had 
great  freedom,  and  saw  and  examined  everything."  f  Immedi- 
ately after  Phips'  return  from  Port  Eoyal  a  conmiittee  was  ap> 
pointed  by  the  Oouncil  to  sell  all  the  plunder  to  pay  the  ex- 
penses of  the  expedition,  the  surplus  to  be  divided  between  the 
colony  and  soldiers,  and  Sewall  tells  us:|:  that  ^^on  Monday, 
June  16, 1690,  notice  was  given  by  beat  of  drum  of  the  sale  of 
the  soldiers'  part  of  the  plunder  taken  at  Port  Eoyal,  to  be 
made  next  Wednesday  between  3  and  4  p.  m.'' 

In  vain  did  De  Meneval  represent  to  the  authorities  at  Boston 
the  injustice  done  him  by  Phips,  and  demand  reparation.  In- 
flated by  success,  they  were  too  busy  in  preparing  for  an  attack 
upon  Quebec  to  heed  these  complaints.  A  little  money  and  the 
poorest  of  his  clothes  were  the  only  personal  result  of  his  im- 
portunities. At  length,  after  nearly  seven  months'  detention, 
upon  Phips'  return  from  his  fruitless  invasion  of  Canada,  Be 
Meneval  obtained  a  hearing  before  the  Oouncil.§  As  to  the 
money  he  had  entrusted  to  Phips  for  safe  keeping  at  the  time 
of  his  surrender,  Sewall  says  there  were 

"veiy  fierie  words  between  Sir  William  and  Mr.  Nelson.  When  Sir  William 
went  out,  seemed  to  say  would  never  come  there  more,  had  been  so  abus'd 
by  said  NeLson,  and  if  Council  would  not  right  him,  he  would  right  himself." 

Just  a  week  later  the  following  order  was  issued  :§§ 

"These  may  Certify  any  whom  it  may  concern,  that  monsr  De  Meneval 

*  Acts  and  Reedves  of  the  province  of  Mass.  Bay,  V<^.  VII,  p.  628. 
t  Plan  of  enterprise  against  Boston  and  N.  Y.  l^  M.  de  Lagny,  Doe.  Rel., 
Vol.  II,  p.  263;  also  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,  Vol.  EX,  p.  659j. 
X  SewaU's  Diary  Vol.  I,  p.  323. 
i  Nov.  29,  1690. 
{{  Mass.  Archives,  Vol.  XXXVI,  p.  233. 


The  Advenl/urea  of  BaptUte.  849 

Iftte  Got.  of  Port  Royml  in  Lacada  or  Nova  Sootia,  who  was  brought  hither 
to  Boston  hj  Sir  William  Phippe  the  last  Spring  when  those  Pts  were  sub- 
dued and  surrendered  to  their  Maties  of  great  Brittaine,  hath  free  liberty  to 
transport  himselfe  with  two  servts  and  other  necessar^rs  to  En^and  or  any 
other  pt  of  Europe,  without  any  Lett  or  interruption  of  any  of  his  liaties 
Subjects  of  this  Colony  ^diatsoever.  In  Testimony  whereof  I  have  hereunto 
Sett  my  hand  and  Seal  this  6th  of  Deobr  1600. 

Sim  Bradstreet  Govt." 

Phips'  anger  on  this  oooadon  probably  found  vent  in  the  fol- 

"To  the  Keeper  of  their  Maties  Qoale  of  Boston. 

These  are  in  their  Maties  name  to  will  and  require  you  to  take  into  yor 
Custody  the  Body,  which  I  do  herewith  send  you,  of  Monsieur  Demeneval 
late  Qovemor  of  Port  Ro3raI,  who  is  now  Prisoner  of  Warre  taken  by  their 
Maties  forces  under  my  Command  in  the  late  Expedition  agt  the  ffrench 
King's  Subjects  at  Port  Royal  aforesd.  for  that  he  the  sd  Monsieur  Do- 
meneval  hath  acted  contemptuously  agt  our  Soveraigne  Lord  and  Lady  the 
King  and  Queens  Matys,  and  broken  the  Articles  of  Treaty  by  him  agreed  to, 
and  for  several  other  high  misdemeanors,  by  him  ye  same  Prisoner  of  Warre 
Comitted  and  done.  You  are  therefore  his  Body  in  sure  and  safe  Custody  to 
keep,  until  he  shall  be  tiyed  by  ft  Council  of  Warre  or  Delivered  by  myselfe 
or  other  lawful  authority  according  to  Law;  and  for  yor  so  doing  this  shall 
be  your  Warrant.  Given  under  my  hand  and  Scale  this  25th  day  of  Do- 
eembr  Anno  Domini  1690  Annoque  RRs  of  Ra  Gul.  et  Marie  Secunda 

William  Phips." 

The  Ooonoil  evidently  considering  this  too  great  an  outrage, 
after  they  had  given  the  French  governor  liberty  to  return  to 
any  European  port,  issued  an  order  for  the  immediate  delivery  to 
him  of  his  chest  and  clothes  in  Phips'  custody.  This  order  being 
disregarded,  after  another  week's  delay  Governor  Bradstreet 
wrote  personally  to  Phips  as  following  :* 

''The  Council,  at  their  meeting  upon  the  SOth  of  Deoembr  ult  made  an 
Order  for  the  delivering  of  Mons  de  Meneval's  chest  and  cloths  that  were 
taken  into  custody  by  yor  order  when  he  was  brought  up  from  on  board  the 
vessel,  and  that  they  should  be  delivered  without  charge  to  him,  which  Mr. 
Deputy  and  Major  Phillips  were  desired  to  Acquaint  yor  Selfe  with  that 
Evening  and  suppose  ihay  accordin^y  did.  But  being  yesterday  informed 
that  he  had  not  as  yet  received  Ins  dothing  dec  of  which  he  is  in  great  want, 
I  have  given  you  the  trouble  of  these  lines  to  signify  the  same  unto  you,  and 
hope  upon  receipt  hereof,  you  will  take  effectual  care  for  the  speedy  execu- 
tion of  the  Council  order  in  that  behalfe  with  the  tender  of  my  Service  I  am 
8r 

Yor  Humble  Servt 

(Signed)        S.  B. 
Boskm  January  1600." 

♦  Mass.  Archives,  V<rf.  XXXVI,  p.  262. 


850  Annual  Meetmg—19QZ. 

Although  for  reasons  of  his  own  Phips  still  continued  to  pat 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  departure,  De  Meneval  was  probably 
released  not  long  after  this.  I  find  him  in  Paris  the  6th  of 
April,  1691,  issuing  a  '^memorial"  to  the  minister  concerning 
his  capture  and  the  details  of  his  imprisonment.*  As  to  his 
soldiers,  the  following  is  on  the  Council  records,  June  14, 1690.t 

"Whereas  the  French  soldiers  lately  brou^t  ....  from  Port  Royal, 
did  surrender  on  capitulation,  liberty  is  granted  them  to  diepoee  themadves 
in  such  families  as  shall  be  willing  to  receive  them,  until  there  be  opportunity 
to  transport  themselves  to  some  of  the  French  King's  dominions  in  Europe 
.  .  .  .  to  demean  themselves  peaceably  and  orderly  keeping  themadves 
within  the  limits  appointed  unto  them  by  the  Committee  chosen  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  not  to  depart  from  those  limits." 

In  pursuance  of  this  order  the  French  soldiers  were  distrib- 
uted among  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  vicinity  to  work  for 
their  own  support.  Baptiste,  after  three  weeks  and  one  day  in 
jail,  wai3  allotted  to  Henry  Mare  of  Boston ;  Jasmin  after  three 
weeks  and  three  days,  to  Jno.  Gordale  of  Dorchester.^: 

The  date  of  the  return  of  the  Port  Boyal  soldiers  is  uncertain. 

Much  correspondence  in  relation  to  it  may  be  found  in  the 
archives  of  both  nations. 

When  or  how  Baptiste  got  back  to  Port  Boyal  I  have  not 
learned.  Probably  by  way  of  France,  the  order  of  the  council 
above  mentioned  being  explicit  that  the  soldiers  should  ^^  trans- 
port themselves  to  some  of  the  French  King's  dominions  in 
Europe."  Aside  from  the  fact  that  the  habitant  takes  to  the 
water  ais  naturally  as  a  duck,  if  his  father  were  Guyon  the  ship 
builder,  the  son  would  be  quite  familiar  with  the  handling  of  a 
boat,  and  the  somewhat  venturesome  youth  might  easily  be- 
come a  sea-rover. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  Baptiste's  first  appearance  in  French  annals 
is  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  when  he  is  given  command  of  a  frig- 
ate to  engage  in  privateering  in  New  England  waters. 

After  Phips'  expedition  against  Quebec,  Canada  wais  in  a  state 
of  constant  apprehension.  To  forestall  an  expected  attack, 
France  prepared  to  take  the  offensive. 

In  the  spring  of  1694  the  ship  Bretonne  was  fitted  out,  under 

♦  Doc.  Rel.,  Vol.  n,  p.  40,  et  neq, 

t  Vol.  VI,  p.  192. 

X  See  list  in  Mass.  Acts  and  Resolves,  Vol.  VII,  p.  628. 


The  AdverUtires  of  Bctptiite.  851 

the  oommand  of  the  Sienr  Bonaventure,  whose  avowed  purpose 
was: 

^'  To  carry  aid  to  Acadia,  and  all  that  M.  de  Yillebon  has 
asked  for  the  defence  and  maintenance  of  Fort  Maxonat  [M]* 
and  to  make  war  on  the  English."  ^^  Captain  Baptiste  having 
obtained  a  corvette  f  from  his  Majesty,  armed  to  make  war  on 
the  enemy,  particularly  in  Acadian  and  New  England  waters, 
pledges  himself  to  be  at  the  places  indicated  to  him  by  the  said 
Sieur  Yillebon  at  the  time  ordered. 

Aside  from  proceeding  to  the  river  St.  John  with  the  Bre- 
tonne  shoold  the  Sieur  de  Bonaventure  need  him  at  Pentagoet, 
his  Majesty  has  given  M.  de  Bonaventure  permission  to  take 
him  with  him  under  his  orders  to  scout  and  act  as  guard  while  he 
[i.  e.  Bonaventure]  is  obliged  to  anchor  there ; — after  which, 
and  when  the  said  Sieur  de  Bonaventure  shall  have  left  Penta- 
goet, the  said  Sieur  Baptiste  will  do  what  he  shall  think  best  for 
the  carrying  out  his  own  private  designs  against  the  enemy,  of 
which  he  will  inform  the  said  Sieur  de  Yillebon  in  order  that 
he,  Yillebon,  may  render  an  account  of  it  to  his  Majesty."  X 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  Frontenac  shows  that 
the  former  had  recommended  Baptiste  to  the  King. 

"Vereailles,  Hay  8, 1092. 
Beoauae  of  your  good  report  of  Captain  Baptiste,  his  Majesty  has  given 
him  a  brigantine  armed  and  equipped  with  which  he  permits  him  to  do  much 
damage  to  the  English  on  the  Acadian  and  New  England  coasts,  and  after- 
wards to  winter  in  Flaisanoe,  thence  to  make  war  on  the  English  of  New- 
foundland." 

Here  is  Baptiste's  own  account  of  his  adventures  :§  from 
which  it  appears  that  our  hero  soon  found  an  excuse  to  cast  loose 
from  his  superior  in  command. 

^^  I,  Captain  Baptiste  commanding  the  King's  corvette,  named 
the  Bonne,  set  out  from  La  Kochelle  the  8th  of  April,  1694,  with 
M.  de  Bonaventure  conmianding  the  ^  Bretonne '  for  Acadia, 
from  whom  I  was  separated  the  16th  of  the  said  month,  by  bad 
weather  and  fog,  and  continued  my  voyage  to  Acadia,  which 

*  Naxouat,  a  fort  built  by  Yillebon  on  the  St.  John's  riyer. 
t  A  wooden  ship-of-war,  frigate  rigged  with  one  tier  of  guns. 
t  Doc.  Rel.,  Vol.  II,  p.  146.    Instruction  to  ViUebon  13th  Bfaroh.  1004. 
i  Doc.  Rel.,  Vol.  II,  p.  151  ei  seq.      Relation  des  combats  entre  le  Oap- 
itaine  Baptiste,  et  les  Bostonnais. 


852  Annual  JHeeUng—190S. 


land  I  toaolied  the  first  of  June,  of  the  said  year  abreast  of 
Gape  Sable,  where  I  encountered  several  English  ships  fishing, 
to  which  I  gave  chase  and  captured  five  of  them  and  took  them 
to  the  St.  John's  river,  and  drove  the  others  off  the  coast  The 
25th  of  the  said  month  I  careened  my  boat,  in  order  to  continue 
my  course,  and  went  out  of  the  said  river  the  8th  of  the  month 
of  July,  to  cruise  about  Boston,  when  I  fell  in  with  a  small 
fishing  boat,  and  sunk  her,  so  as  not  to  be  discovered,  she  not 
being  of  great  consequence. 

The  12th  of  July  at  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  took  a  Eetch 
sailing  from  Boston  with  provisions  for  the  Isbinds  of  America.* 
Then  about  8  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  I  encountered  another 
ship  coming  from  the  Islands  loaded  with  sugar  and  molasses, 
which  I  also  took.  The  same  afternoon  I  fell  in  with  another 
vessel  coming  from  old  England  to  Boston,  loaded  with  stuffs 
and  salt,  which  I  took.  The  next  morning  about  8  o'clock  hav- 
ing fallen  in  with  a  fishing  Eetch,  I  took  her  also,  and  as  I  was 
convoying  my  prizes  to  the  St.  John's  river  I  met  quite  near 
the  said  river,  an  English  frigate  of  44  guns  that  took  from  me 
the  Ketch  laden  with  provisions  of  which  I  have  before  spoken 
and  also  the  Ketch,  so  that  I  could  take  but  two  prizes  to  the  St. 
John's  river.f 

The  29th  of  July  I  left  the  river  St.  John  to  go  to  Minas  for 
provisions  in  order  to  continue  my  cruise,  but  as  the  summer 
was  very  dry  this  year  I  had  much  difficulty  in  procuring  even 
fifteen  barrels  of  flour. 

From  there  I  ventured  to  the  St.  John's  river  to  get  bread 
baked  so  that  it  was  the  2d  of  October  when  I  put  out  of  the 
said  river  to  return  to  my  cruising,  and  after  having  reoonnoi- 
tered  for  three  weeks  without  meeting  anything,  I  finally  fell 
in  with  a  ship  from  the  Islands  laden  with  sugar  for  Boston, 
which  I  took.  As  my  corvette  leaked  badly,  I  was  forced  to 
make  sail  for  the  St.  John's  river,  and  being  unable  to  enter  be- 
cause of  the  ice,  I  was  obliged  to  put  into  another  harbor  called 
Nisgascorf  three  leagues  from  the  St.  John's,  where  the  corvette 
wintered  from  the  24th  of  December,  1694  to  the  20th  of  April, 

♦  The  West  Indies. 

t  Baptiste's  first  5  priies  he  had  left  in  the  St.  John's  river.  Sailing  thence 
tofwards  Boston  he  had  taken  5  more,  of  which  he  had  sunk  1,  and  the  frigate 
of  44  guns  had  taken  2  more  from  him,  so  that  he  oould  take  but  2  prises  to 
the  St.  John's  river. 


The  Adoentwres  of  Ba/piAsie.  353 

1695,  when  I  set  out  to  omise  along  Kew  England.  The  7th 
of  May  I  met  a  small  boat  coming  oat  from  Boston  laden  with 
provisions  for  the  Islands,  whioh  I  took  and  carried  to  Nisgascorf . 

I  was  ready  to  leave  the  said  port  on  the  24th  of  the  said 
month  to  go  back  to  my  croising,  bat  as  I  was  setting  sail  to  go 
out,  I  encountered  an  English  frigate  named  the  Sorlings,*  carry- 
ing 32  guns  with  a  Brigantine  of  4  guns,  and  being  unable  either 
to  go  out  or  to  go  back  I  was  forced  to  run  aground.  Having 
landed  three  cannon,  I  defended  myself  from  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning  till  six  in  the  evemng,  when  in  spite  of  my  resist- 
ance my  ship  was  taken  from  me.  Having  put  all  of  the 
King's  property  that  I  could  save  into  the  hands  of  his  secre- 
tary, Sieur  de  Saint  Goutin,  I  embarked  the  22d  of  July  on  the 
vessel,  L'Envieux,  to  go  to  France  to  render  an  account  of  my 
King's  ship.  Arriving  at  Plaisance  on  the  12th  of  August  and 
finding  that  the  L'Envieux,  which  was  ordered  to  convoy  the 
fishing  fieet,  f  usually  stayed  there  till  the  end  of  September  I 
embarked  on  a  frigate  of  St.  Jean  de  Luz  %  of  20  guns,  named 
La  Charmante,  Captain  Durachoux,  which  I  took  to  cruise  during 
this  time  near  Boston.  We  took  two  prizes ;  one  a  ship  of  8 
guns  carrying  provisions  to  St.  Johns  in  Newfoundland,  the 
other  a  Brigantine  with  the  same  cargo  for  Saint  John,  both 
from  Boston.  By  these  we  learned  that  two  vessels  of  40  and  32 
guns  §  had  gone  15  days  ago  to  seek  the  ship  L'Envieux  at  the 
St.  John's  river,  and  that  the  new  Governor  had  arrived  at 
Boston  in  a  frigate  of  50  guns,  which  was  to  remain  there. 

We  then  returned  to  Plaisance  and  I  embarked  on  L'  En- 
vieux,  and  proceeded  to  Versailles  to  report  to  Monseigneur  and 
await  his  orders. 

Monseigneur  will  have  the  goodness  to  remember  that  I  in- 
formed him  last  year  that  this  corvette  was  so  old,  and  that  I 
had  run  so  great  a  risk  while  taking  her  to  Acadia,  that  it  would 

*  The  Newport  and  the  Sorling,  two  Engliah  frigates,  constantly  occupied 
in  protecting  New  England  merchant  vessels  from  French  privateers  that  in- 
fested our  coast.  These  being  too  bulky  to  pursue  small  crafts  into  the  shoal 
water  of  our  bays  and  inlets,  an  appropriation  was  made  by  our  general  court 
for  building  and  equipping  a  small  vessel  mounting  10  guns.  This  is  known 
in  our  annab  as  the  Province  Galley. 

t  From  Newfoundland  to  France. 

X  Formerly  an  important  port  11  m.  S.  W.  of  Bayonne.    Dept.  of  Baaso- 

S  The  Newport  and  the  Soriings. 
23 


354  Annual  Meeting— 190Z. 

be  endangering  a  crew  to  tryto  take  her  back  to  France:  and 
in  fact  12  hoars  after  she  was  taken  from  me  she  sank  with  eight 
Englishmen  who  had  been  put  aboard  her  to  take  her  to  Bos- 
ton." 

In  the  above  we  have  Baptiste's  own  account  of  his  exploits 
from  April  1694  to  October  1695. 

In  addition  to  this  diffuse  account  which,  though  written  in 
the  first  person  is  not  signed  by  Baptiste,  but  seems  to  be  a  jour- 
nal kept  by  him,  we  have  his  "  Proces- Verbal "  or  official  re- 
port to  the  government,  a  shorter,  and  more  formal  document 
signed  by  himself  and  his  second  mate.  The  latter  paper  is 
most  interesting,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  f ao-simile  of  the  original, 
which  is  in  the  French  archives  in  Paris. 

While  Baptiste  was  thus  engaged  the  Sieur  de  Yillieu,  captain 
of  a  detachment  of  the  marines,  had  been  sent  to  supersede 
Portneuf,  a  brother  of  Villebon,  with  orders  to  raise  a  war 
party  against  the  English. 

We  have  his  journal  of  his  achievements,  during  that  memor- 
able summer  so  disastrous  to  New  England  both  on  land  and 
sea.* 

"  It  was  the  end  of  June,"  says  Mr.  Parkman,  who  follows 
exactly  Villieu's  account,  "  when  Villieu  and  Father  Thury 
with  one  Frenchman  and  a  hundred  and  five  Indians  began 
their  long  canoe  voyage  to  the  English  border.  The  savages 
were  directed  to  give  no  quarter." 

The  party,  reinforced  later  by  Father  Bigot's  Indians, 
amounting  in  all  to  230,  held  a  council  to  decide  on  the  point 
of  attack. 

On  the  23d  of  July,  Yillieu  and  others  who  were  exhausted 
by  hunger  and  fatigue,  determined  to  strike  at  the  nearest  set- 
tlement, that  of  Oyster  river,  now  Durham,  N.  H.  Scouts  re- 
ported the  little  settlement  unguarded. You  know  the  rest 

The  village  of  farmhouses  scattered  along  the  stream — the  silver 
moon  wending  silent  to  her  setting — the  calm,  still  air — ^the 
sleeping  people— the  savages  in  separate  squads  creeping  stealth- 
ily nearer — the  sudden  dash,  the  yell,  the  shrieks,  the  anguish  and 
horrible  carnage.  One  hundred  and  four  (mostly  women  and 
children)  slaughtered,  and  twenty-seven  captives.  But  the  lit- 
tle settlement  was  not  lacking  in  heroes.  At  the  lower  end  of 
the  village,  Thomas  Bickford,  roused  by  the  firing,  hurried  his 

♦  Doc.  Rd.,  Vd.  n,  p.  135. 


TTie  Adventures  of  Bofptivte.  355 

wife  and  children  to  his  boat  in  the  stream  behind  his  house 
sent  them  down  the  river  and  went  back  alone  to  defend  his 
hard-earned  home.  Mad  with  viotory  the  savage  crew  ap- 
proached. Undaunted,  he  fired  at  them,  now  from  one  loophole, 
then  from  another,  shouting  commands  as  if  to  a  garrison,  and 
fearlessly  showing  himself  in  a  different  hat,  cap  or  coat  success- 
ively in  different  parts  of  his  house,  in  this  way  saving  his  fam- 
ily and  his  home.  Some  of  the  attaddng  psurty,  not  yet  satis- 
fied, set  out  on  another  ^^  excursion." 

"  They  mean,"  says  Villieu  in  his  relation,  "  to  divide  into 
bands  of  four  or  five,  and  knock  people  in  the  head  by  surprise, 
which  cannot  fail  to  produce  a  good  effect." 

In  the  massacre  of  forty  people  at  Groton  they  had  their  sat- 
isfaction. Yillieu,  after  what  Mr.  Parkman  calls  his  detestable 
exploit,  hastened  to  Quebec  to  warn  Frontenao  of  a  probable  at- 
tack on  that  place. 

Thus  we  have  from  the  principal  actors,  Baptiste  and  Yillieu, 
an  account  of  their  achievements  by  sea  and  land  against  Kew 
England  at  the  same  period — ^namdy  from  the  spring  of  1694 
through  the  summer  of  1695. 

This  success  made  Yillebon  urge  upon  the  home  government 
an  expedition  against  Pemaquid,  under  command  of  Bonaven- 
ture.  He  goes  so  far  as  to  make  a  list  of  presents  for  the  In- 
dians who  may  be  employed  in  this  service.  Among  them  are 
^'  200  tufts  of  white  feathers  to  designate  them  during  the  night 
in  case  of  attack,  and  which  will  cost  at  most  only  6  or  7  cen- 
times :  to  be  selected  in  Paris  by  M.  de  Bonaventure."  One 
smiles  at  the  picture  of  that  amiable  gentleman  selecting  them 
in  Paris  at  the  Bon  March6  of  the  period.  Yillieu  goes  on  to 
say  that  Pemaquid  being  captured,  attacks  could  be  made  along 
the  coast,  and  Baptiste  and  others  could  pilot  the  ship  safely 
within  sight  of  Boston.  Commenting  later  on  the  massacre  at 
Oyster  river.* 

"This  blow  is  very  advantageous,  because  it  breaks  up  all  peace  parleys, 
and  we  can  count  upon  there  being  no  end  of  resentment  between  our  Indians 
and  the  English,  who  are  in  despair  because  they  have  slain  even  infants  in 
the  cradle.  .  .  .  The  captures  of  the  Sieur  Baptiste  are  not  only  in  them- 
selves advantageous,  but  they  occupy  nearly  four  hundred  of  the  enemy  in 
different  boats  to  guard  the  coast,  and  as  they  are  obliged  to  have  a  much 
larger  number  on  land,  because  of  the  savages,  they  must  succumb  if  the  court 
will  make  any  efforts  to  that  end." 

*  Doo.  Rel.,  Yd.  H,  p.  158,  letter  of  VOlebcm  19  Sept  1604. 


866  Annual  Meeting— 190S. 

As  to  BonaveDtore's  adventures  after  parting  company  with 
Baptiste,  I  know  nothing.  A  letter  from  Champigny  to  the 
minister*  states  that  the  Bretonne  did  not  touch  at  Pentagoet, 
much  to  the  distress  of  the  savages  who  thus  failed  of  their  im- 
mediate supplies,  and  that  next  year  one  may  be  sent  who 
will  better  execute  the  king's  orders.  That  the  minister  him- 
self was  satisfied  is  proved  by  his  appointing  Bonaventure  the 
next  year  to  the  command  of  the  Envieux  dispatched  on  similar 
service  to  Pentagoet  and  the  river  St  John  with  orders  to  cruise 
later  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  keep  it  clear  of  priva- 
teers for  vessels  bound  for  Quebec. 

In  his  instructions  to  Bonaventure  the  minister  expresses 
the  hope  that  the  Sieur  Baptiste  will  this  time  be  more  fortu- 
nate in  keeping  the  prizes  he  may  take,  especially  if  Bonaven- 
ture has  been  able  to  set  him  right  with  his  crew,  which  should 
be  his  duty.  He  also  enquires  whether  Baptiste's  corvette, 
given  him  last  year  by  the  king,  is  actually  unfit  to  cross  the 
ocean  to  France,  as  Baptiste  has  informed  him,  and  finally  he 
orders  Bonaventure  to  continue  to  watch  Baptiste,  and  inform 
him  whether  he  is  worthy  of  confidence,  so  that  he  may  decide 
upon  a  proposition  which  those  interested  in  the  company  have 
made  to  give  Baptiste  a  frigate  of  16  or  18  guns,  and  to  share 
the  expense.    This  was  done. 

It  would  seem  that  about  this  time  his  fellow  countrymen 
were  beginning  to  observe  Mr.  Baptiste.  Frontenac,  vmting 
to  M.  de  Lagny  in  November,  1695,  says: 

"In  former  years  on  the  testimony  of  M.  de  Vfllebon,  I  recommended  the 
Sieur  Baptiste  to  you.  But  within  two  or  three  months  I  have  heard  of  some 
discourse  of  his  a  little  before  he  pased  into  France  which  show  his  bad  inten- 
lions.  Moreover,  I  have  been  told  that  he  has  wives  in  several  places  in  France 
and  in  HoUand,  besides  the  one  he  has  now  in  Port  Royal.  M.  de  Vaudreuil 
has  assured  me  that  he  is  acquainted  with  the  one  whom  he  married  in  France 
who  is  near  his  home  in  Languedoc." 

In  the  interval  between  his  return  to  France  after  his  release 
from  Boston  jail,  and  his  appointment  to  the  command  of  the 
Corvette,  it  is  probable  that  Baptiste  married  the  wife  whom 
Vaudreuil  knew  in  Languedoo.  He  must  have  left  her  in  France 
when  he  sailed  from  La  Kochelle,  in  the  springtime  of  the  year 
and  of  his  life,  to  seek  his  fortune  as  a  filibuster. 

*  Doc.  Rel.  p.  162,  Quebec,  24  Oct.  1694. 


J 


Tht  Adv&fitfures  of  Baptiste.  357 

Whether,  as  Frontenao  declared,  he  married  another  wife  in 
Port  Boyal,  thus  verifying  the  adage  that  the  sailor  has  a  wife 
in  every  port,  I  cannot  say. 

About  to  return  to  Acadia  after  reporting  in  France  the  loss 
of  his  ship  ^^  Captain  Baptiste,  Acadian  corsair,  is  granted  his 
passage  on  one  of  His  Majesty's  vessels,  with  his  wife,  his 
daughter  and  two  servants."  * 

The  Envieux  and  the  Profond,  on  one  of  which  Baptiste  re- 
turned to  Acadia  in  1696,  were  a  part  of  the  fleet  against  Fort 
Pemaquid  under  the  command  of  D'Iberville,  one  of  the  brav- 
est of  the  French  commanders.  On  their  way,  D'Iberville  and 
Bonaventure  encountered  the  two  English  warships,  the  New- 
port, Capt.  Paxton,  and  the  Sorlings,  Capt.  Eames. 

Baptiste  may  have  had  a  hand  in  this  sea  fight,  in  which  the 
Newport  was  captured, — the  Sorlings  escaping  in  a  fog. 

At  Pentagoet  [now  Castine]  they  added  to  their  forces  Cas- 
tine  and  240  of  his  Indians,  together  with  the  Sieur  Yillieu,  his 
lieutenant  Montigny  and  twenty-five  soldiers.  With  them  and 
their  prize,  the  Newport,  they  proceeded  to  Pemaquid,  of  which 
fort  Yillieu  had  secretly  made  a  plan  on  his  memorable  expe- 
dition ending  in  the  tragedy  at  Oyster  River. 

Immediately  after  the  surrender  of  Pemaquid,  D'Iberville 
sent  a  sloop  to  Boston  to  carry  some  of  the  soldiers  of  the  fort, 
with  Capt.  Paxton  and  the  sick  men  of  his  crew,  under  charge 
of  seven  of  his  own  men,  who  were  ordered  not  to  stay  over 
two  days  in  Boston,  Yillieu  being  left  at  Pentagoet  with  sixteen 
of  the  captured  garrison,  to  attend  to  the  expected  exchange. 

As  his  messengers  did  not  return,  D'Iberville  wrote  to  our 
governor,  reproaching  him  for  theu-  detention. 

"I  might  have  gone  into  your  roads  with  my  vessel  and  near  400  Indians, 
and  had  satisfaction  for  this  injury,  to  the  cost  and  Ruin  of  your  colonies,  but 
for  the  future,  the  slowness  of  your  Council  in  determining  affairs,  shall  be 
a  reason  for  the  French  to  take  different  measures.  I  have  left  Mr.  Yillieu 
with  16  of  your  men,  of  whom  Shute  is  one,  as  surety  for  the  others.  I  have 
hastened  this  way  for  them  to  get  out  of  prison,  that  soe  they  might  not  goe 
to  Canada,  ....  and  to  give  you  roome  to  repair  the  injuries  you  have 
done  yourself  in  delaying  my  men.  It  lyes  only  on  you  to  doe  it  which  is  to 
lett  them  and  the  Guyons  depart  from  you  forthwith.  I  have  ordered  the 
Captain  not  to  wait  for  your  answer  longer  than  the  17th  of  this  month,  after 
which  they  will  be  given  to  the  Indians,  who  I  do  not  doubt  will  treat  them 
better  than  the  English  treat  their  prisoners.''    .... 

*  Doc.  Eel.  II,  p.  202,  letter  of  the  minister  to  M.  de  Begon,  22  Feb.  1606. 


358  Annual  Meeting— 190S. 

While  awaiting  the  return  of  D'lberville^s  envoys,  Villieu  M 
in  with  Cyprian  Sonthack  with  the  Province  Galley,  to  whom 
he  wrote  some  spicy  letters  concerning  the  exchange.  The  first, 
dated  the  7th  of  September  (1696)  and  addressed  to, — 

"M.  Ciprien  Comm 

La  proyinoe  de  QaDe 

a  son  bold. 
Sir. 

I  am  veiy  sony  that  we  oamiot  midentand  one  another,  for  I  am  permiaded 
that  as  we  have  returned  to  you  fifty-five  or  six  prisoners  first  I  ought  not  to 
go  any  further  to  return  the  others,  before  you  send  back  to  me  all  the  French- 
men that  are  on  board  your  ships  and  this  is  my  Resolution.  But  you  may 
be  assured  that  ....  I  shall  not  faile  sending  you  your  Englishmen 
as  I  promised  Mr.  Sayre.  I  also  pray  you  to  give  a  passport  for  Mr.  Guyon 
and  his  ketch,  that  so  he  may  go  safely  to  some  place  belonging  to  the  general 
government  of  Canada  at  his  own  choice. 

Be  persuaded  that  I  am  your  veiy  humble  and  obedient  servant, 

VILLIEU 

7th  Sept  1096.  At  the  Mount  deserts." 

Southack's  terms  in  reply,  not  being  satisfactory  to  Yillieu,  he 
writes  again  during  the  day,  and  again  at  7  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing giving  his  vltimatum. 

He  demands  a  passport  for  40  days  at  least  for  Mr.  Guyon  to 
go  with  his  ketch  to  the  General  Government  of  Canada,  to 
any  place  he  chooses.  He  demands  also  a  man  of  Southack's 
crew  named  Louis,  the  restitution  of  some  provisions,  some  can- 
dles and  an  hour-glass. 

The  matter  ended  by  the  seizure  of  Yillieu  and  his  men, 
among  whom  was  one  Pr^mond. 

The  following  statement  made  to  the  Gheneral  Court  by 
Caleb  Ray,  keeper  of  Boston  Gaol,  Nov.  28,  1696,  explains 
itself.* 

"Among  the  said  Prisoners  there  is  one  Capn  Value  a  person  of  note  con- 
cerning whose  treatment  the  said  Ray  had  a  verball  ordr  from  some  of  yor 
Honors  that  it  should  be  very  handsom  and  in  a  Generous  way,  which  hithcoio 
has  been  accordingly  attended  with  such  Entertainement  as  cannot  be  af- 
forded und'  Eight  Shillings  per  weeke.  The  other  of  y«  prisoners  of  warr 
-TT^  are  more  closely  Confined  then  y®  sd  Valew,  makes  their  Complaint  that 
they  want  some  fireing  in  this  hard  Season  to  render  their  Lives  Comfortable 
amidst  the  hardships  of  prison  Entertainment.  .  .  .  Ray  in  their  behalf 
humbly  desires  that  their  Condition  may  be  considered  ....  and  that 
their  weekly  allowance  may  be  stated  ....  woh  the  said  Ray  humbly 
conceives    ....    that  in  this  Deare  season  of  provisions  it  cannot  in 

*  Acts  and  Resolves,  Mass.  Bay,  Vol.  Vn,  p.  546^ 


The  AdverUi^es  of  Bo/pUste.  859 

any  Tolerable  way  be  done  under  f oure  shillings  per  weeke  for  y^  meanest  of 
ye  prisoners  and  Eight  shillings  per  wk  for  ye  Captain." 

It  appears  that  the  Boston  government  remembering  perhaps 
ViUieu's  exploits  at  Oyster  Eiver,  was  not  inclined  to  treat  him 
with  undue  distinction.  Five  shillings  a  week  was  allowed  for 
his  maintenance  and  4  shillings  for  the  French  and  Indian  sol- 
diers. 

The  French  account  of  Villieu's  experiences  is  that  "  the  Com- 
mander of  the  frigate  ....  made  himself  master  of  Sieurs 
Yillieu  ....  who  is  not  to  be  accused  of  being  taken  by  his 
own  fault;  for  though  he  should  have  accepted  the  English 
Commander's  offer  of  a  passport  for  eight  days,  he  would 
have  required  many  more  to  go  coastwise  ....  to  the  river 
St.  John  ....  his  passport  would  be  useless  to  him  after  the 
expiration  of  that  term  ....  they  have  detained  him  in  a  very 
confined  prison,  allowing  him  no  communication  with  anyone. 
....  Pr6mond  says  that  his  prison  was  narrower  and  ruder 
than  could  be  imagined ;  in  fact  Pr6mond  brought  from  him  a 
sort  of  letter  of  credit  written  on  a  wretched  scrap  of  paper  with 
blood  for  want  of  ink." 

While  these  things  were  being  done,  our  Major  Church,  then 
on  his  fourth  expedition  to  the  eastward  was  superseded  by  Colo- 
nel John  Hathorne  and  ordered  to  assist  E[athorne  in  attacking 
Villebon's  fort  at  Nachouak*  on  the  river  St.  John.  An  amusing 
and  minute  account  of  the  siege  of  Naxouat,  written  by  Ville- 
bon  is  among  the  Paris  documents.  He  began  his  prepara- 
tions to  receive  the  enemy  on  the  4th  of  October,  1696.  On 
the  16th  our  whaleboats  having  proceeded  up  the  river  as  far 
as  Jemsec,  he  strengthens  his  defences,  removes  his  powder 
magazine,  and  plies  his  men  with  plenty  of  food,  and  wine  and 
brandy.  On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  he  says,  "  I  found  we 
had  nothing  more  to  do  but  to  enjoy  ourselves  and  await  the 
attack."  At  evening,  while  he  was  addressing  his  men,  Bap- 
tiste  appeared,  and  putting  himself  under  Villebon's  orders, 
was  told  to  take  command  of  the  savages,  and  keep  them  at 
whatever  points  the  English  should  attempt  an  attack, — not 
failing  to  send  daily  to  headquarters  for  fresh  orders. 

*  Naxouat,  opposite  the  present  city  of  Fredericton.  Villebon  in  the  be- 
ginning of  his  government  of  Acadia  built  a  fort  at  Naxouat,  thinking  that 
Port  Royal  might  be  retaken  by  the  English  and  he  might  have  there  a  re- 
treat inaccessible  to  the  ''Boetonnais." 


360  Annttal  Mee^in^— 1903. 

The  attack  began  about  9  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  18th, 
when  Hathome's  men  landed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  liver, 
shouting  "Long  live  our  King"  in  answer  to  the  "  Vive  le  Eoi " 
of  the  French.  A  little  way  down  the  river  Baptiste  and  his 
savages  were  fiercely  fighting  the  English  and  their  Indian  allies. 
Though  the  night  of  the  18th  was  bitterly  cold,  the  English  raked 
by  merciless  grape-shot,  were  forced  to  put  out  their  fires.  The 
French  began  cannonading  again  at  daybreak,  the  English  lamely 
returning  their  fire  at  eight  or  nine  o'clock.  About  seven 
o'clock  that  evening  Yillebon  heard  them  loading  their  boats, 
and  if  Baptiste  could  have  made  his  Indians  cross  the  river 
with  him  above  Naxouat  a  complete  victory  would  have  resulted 
for  the  French.  The  English  fled  down  the  river,  destroying 
scattered  dwellings  as  they  went,  and  the  wind  being  in  their 
favor,  they  took  to  their  ships,  and  sailed  out  to  the  bay. 

We  hear  nothing  more  of  Baptiste  till  his  name  appears  on 
a  list  of  men  who  at  one  time  or  another  have  been  at  Boston. 

A  great  attack  on  Canada  was  expected  in  the  summer  of  1697 
and  the  Minister  warns  Yillebon  to  be  on  his  guard  and  ordered 
him  "  to  keep  Baptiste  with  him  till  further  orders."  This  let- 
ter from  Tibierge,  the  company's  agent  at  Naxouat,  gives  us  our 
last  glimpse  of  Baptiste  for  the  present. 

"Fort  St  Jean, 
Hay  5,  1697. 
Madame  Baptiste  arrived  home  yesterday  evening.  She  came  from  down 
the  river,  where  she  had  been  to  see  her  husband  and  this  morning  she  brought 
letters  to  M.  de  Yillebon.  .  .  .  Sieur  Baptiste  set  out  from  the  mouth  of 
the  river  the  first  of  this  mcmth  to  go  privateering.  He  has  one  of  the  fishing 
boats  which  he  formeriy  took,  and  a  crew  of  twenty-five  men.'' 


THE  JOURNAL  OF  CAPTAIN  NATHANIEL  DWIGHT 

AND  ITS  LEADINGS. 

BY  GBOBaB  SHELDON. 

That  I  may  not  be  wholly  absent  from  yon,  my  friends,  on 
this,  to  me,  day  of  days,  I  have  found  this  Journal  a  convenient 
peg  on  which  to  hang  a  little  free  and  easy,  and,  it  may  turn 
out,  a  personal  converse  with  old  companions  assembled  to  cele- 
brate the  anniversary  we  call  Memorial  Day.    On  such  occar 


Dwighfs  Journal  a/nd  Its  Leadings,  361 

sions  we  are  wont  to  gather  ap  scattered  threads  of  experienoe 
or  discovery,  dark  with  sadness  or  bright  with  cheer;  the 
tragic  tale  of  witch  or  wizard  ;  the  tradition  or  evidence  of 
Indian  inroad ;  the  early  trials  and  sufferings  of  the  widows 
and  the  fatherless,  and  their  strong  trust  through  it  all  in  the 
God  of  Isaac  and  Jacob.  And  withal  the  lighter  shades,  the 
laughter  and  wit,  the  games  and  gayeties  of  blithesome  youth, 
careless  and  free ;  the  common  every-day  incidents  of  home  life, 
and  every-day  industries.  These  tiiousand  and  one  things  in 
the  lives  of  our  forbears  are  the  very  material  needed  for  the 
pattern  of  the  woof,  as  we  are  weaving  the  web  of  history — 
not  yet  adequately  portrayed— of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of 
the  Connecticut  valley. 

It  is  with  such  thoughts  in  mind  that  I  come  to  you  to-night. 
I  shall  have  no  definite  theme  or  thesis  other  than  the  before- 
mentioned  peg,  but  shall  wander  at  will  in  highway  or  by-way, 
where  any  chance  thread  may  appear  to  lead.  The  start  will 
be  from  Memorial  Hall,  that  storehouse  wherein  we  gather  the 
fruits  of  our  industry  for  the  benefit  of  our  children  and  our 
children's  children ; — for  it  is  no  selfish  labor  in  which  we  are 
engaged. 

Through  the  thoughtful  kindness  of  the  Eeverend  Melatiah 
E.  Dwight,  of  New  York,  our  library  is  the  richer  for  the  pos- 
session of  a  copy  of  Dwight's  Journal.  Mr.  Dwight  has  rev- 
erently  preserved  this  journal  of  his  anoeetor  in  a  fine  quarto 
edition  of  twenty-five  numbered  copies,  of  which  ours  is  the 
fifth.  It  was  printed  last  year  in  New  York.  The  value  of 
this  book  to  students  in  Provincial  history  may  be  guessed  at 
from  its  published  title  : — 

"  The  Journal  of  Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight,  of  Belchertown, 
Mass.,  during  the  Crown  Point  Expedition,  1755. 

Containing  an  Account  of  the  Battle  of  Lake  Oeorge  and  of 
the  Crown  Point  Expedition,  of  his  Journey  to  Lake  Greorge, 
and  his  services  while  stationed  there,  the  men  of  his  Company, 
the  building  of  Fort  William  Henry  and  its  dimensions;  to 
which  has  been  added  a  New  Plan  of  that  Fort." 

A  large  portico,  you  may  say,  for  a  small  structure  of  only 
twenty-one  pages.  It  is ;  but,  in  addition,  we  will  on  this  occa- 
sion read  between  the  lines.  Fort  William  Henry,  on  the  dark 
debatable  ground  at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  every  rood  of 
which  has  witnessed  a  conflict  between  civilization  and  savagery, 


862  Annual  Meeting— \90Z. 

if  not  actually  planned  and  laid  out  by  Oaptain  Dwight,  was 
certainly  built  with  the  assistance  of  himself  and  company,  in 
October  and  November,  1755.  Besides  its  historical  importance 
as  a  military  post,  Fort  William  Henry  will  always  be  sur- 
rounded  with  the  glamour  of  romance,  which  was  thrown  over 
it  by  the  fascinating  pen  of  J.  Fenimore  Cooper.  Who  that 
has  read  ^^  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  in  his  Leather  StockiDg 
Series,  can  ever  forget  the  scenes  at  this  fort,  notably  the 
truthfully  told  tragedy  which  befell  the  occupants,  August  9, 
1757.  It  was  an  event  which  shocked  the  civilized  world.  How 
many  Deerfield  men  were  involved  cannot  be  certainly  told. 
At  least  eight  were  in  the  jaws  of  death  in  that  ferocious 
butchery  by  the  Indian  allies  of  France,  which  followed  the 
surrender  of  the  fort.  Honorable  terms  had  been  given,  after 
a  gallant  defence  against  a  superior  power ;  the  massacre  was 
in  base  violation  of  these  terms.  Sad  stories  long  lingered 
around  many  a  New  England  hearthstone  concerning  the  hor- 
rors of  that  barbarous  massacre,  perpetrated  under  the  very 
eyes  of  Montcalm  and  his  French  army.  Not  even  the  heroic 
death  of  Montcalm  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham  can  wipe  out 
this  red  stain  upon  his  escutcheon. 

Captain  Nathaniel  D  wight,  like  his  father  and  grandfather, 
was  a  civil  engineer.  His  name  is  often  met  with  on  old  plans 
as  the  surveyor,  and  he  was  on  occasions  employed  by  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut  in  making  official  surveys  and  maps. 
In  this  journal  Captain  Dwight  gives  full  field  notes,  all  tiie 
metes  and  bounds  from  which  the  plan  of  the  fortification  here 
given  was  plotted,  and  also  all  the  details  of  the  interior  works. 
Have  we  not,  therefore,  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  fort 
was  originally  designed  and  laid  out  by  our  journalist  ?  He 
was  at  work  upon  it  as  early  as  October  9,  and  he  says :  ^^  Sun- 
day, November  9, 1  still  work  at  the  fort."  Would  a  captain 
and  an  experienced  engineer  be  set  to  work  on  the  fort  of  a 
Sunday  unless  in  some  official  capacity  ?  I  doubt  if  the  editor 
of  this  journal  makes  this  claim  in  behalf  of  his  ancestor  as 
strongly  as  the  facts  warrant. 

Captain  Dwight  had  in  his  make-up  not  only  the  blood  of 
the  engineer,  but  also  that  of  the  soldier.  His  grandfather, 
Captain  Timothy  Dwight,  was  comet  of  the  "  Three  County 
Troop,"  at  the  Bay,  and  later  a  captain  of  foot,  serving  in 
Philip's  war.    On  ten  occasions  he  was  out  against  the  enemy, 


DwigMa  Jowmal  wad  lU  Leadings.  363 

and  if  tradition  be  trae,  he  killed  or  captured  nine  of  the  In- 
dians in  that  war.  Captain  Timothy  was  also  prominent  in 
civil  life ,  ho  ™  per«.Ly  ^^U  with  Kl»|  PhiUp,  h... 
ing  been  twice  commissioned  by  the  town  of  Dedham  to  nego- 
tiate with  him  for  the  purchase  of  land ;  he  was  also,  as  we 
shall  see,  prominently  employed  by  Dedham  in  the  settlement 
of  Pocumtuck. 

Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight  was  bom  and  brought  up  in  a 
family  of  military  men  ;  his  brother  Timothy  was  a  colonel ; 
Samuel,  another  brother,  was  a  captain.  Among  the  sons  of 
his  uncle  Henry  Dwight,  were  Brigadier-General  Joseph; 
Colonel  Josiah ;  Colonel  Simeon  and  Captain  Edward.  Their 
sister  Lydia  was  the  wife  of  Major  Elijah  Williams,  the  com- 
missary at  Deerfield,  when  Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight  marched 
there  in  September,  1765.  Of  Captain  Dwight's  children, 
Justice  became  a  captain  and  Elijah  a  colonel  His  maternal 
grandfather.  Colonel  Samuel  Partridge,  was  also  of  a  distin- 
guished Massachusetts  family.  Through  him  Nathaniel  in- 
herited the  blood  of  the  Rev.  John  Williams  family. 

We  learn  by  the  journal  that  Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight  left 
his  home  in  Belchertown,  September  22,  1755,  with  his  com- 
pany, raised  in  Eastern  Hampshire  County,  in  order  to  rein- 
force the  army  under  Sir  William  Johnson  at  Lake  Gleorge. 
He  marched  "  with  a  Desine  to  Dearefleld  that  Day,  but  went 
to  Hatfield,  there  being  some  Difficulties  by  reason  of  some 
News  from  the  Army." 

A  few  words  about  the  war  then  in  progress.  In  1755  three 
grand  movements  were  made  against  the  enemy ;  one  to  Pitts- 
burg, under  Oeneral  Braddock,  with  an  army  from  England. 
Braddock  was  killed  with  most  of  his  command.  One  to  Os- 
wego, under  Governor  Shirley  of  Massachusetts,  which  ended 
in  disaster.  The  third  was  against  Crown  Point,  under  Sir 
William  Johnson.  Late  in  August,  Johnson  learned  from  spies 
that  a  large  army  was  on  the  march  from  Canada,  and  he 
called  for  reinforcements.  September  6,  the  Massachusetts 
government  responded,  and  ordered  a  levy  of  two  thousand 
men  for  Johnson's  army.  The  companies  under  Captain 
Dwight,  and  Captain  William  Lyman,  were  the  quota  from  the 
regiment  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hampshire  County. 

But  the  French  did  not  wait  for  this  reinforcement.  They 
were  heard  from  as  marching  on  Fort  Edward ;  and  September 


364  Annual  Meeting— 190S. 

8,  Johnson  sent  Colonel  Ephndm  Williams  to  find  oat  what 
they  were  about.  He  foond  out.  His  ^lumn  of  one  thousand 
men  marched  into  an  ambush,  where  the  colonel  fell,  and  his 
regiment  was  cut  to  pieces  by  the  French  and  Indians  under 
Bsuron  de  Dieakau.  This  was  the  ^^  Bloody  Morning  Scout" 
Dieskau,  over-elated,  pushed  on  against  Johnson,  attacked  his 
camp  at  Lake  George,  was  defeated,  and  was  himself  wounded 
and  captured.  Johnson  was  also  wounded.  September  25, 
Governor  Shirley  writes  Johnson  from  Osw^o,  urging  him  to 
push  on  to  Crown  Point ;  if  unable,  by  reason  of  his  wound,  to 
put  Brigadier-General  Phineas  Lyman  at  the  head  of  the  army. 
This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Captain  Dwight  was 
diverted  from  his  march  to  Deerfield,  and  went,  as  he  says,  to 
Hatfield  on  account  of  ^^  Difficulties  by  reason  of  some  News 
from  the  Army.'*  This  difficulty  may  be  inferred  by  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  Colonel  Williams  to  Acting-Go  vemor  Phips: 

"Hathbld,  Sept.  23,  1756. 
Sm, — Pursuant  to  y'  Honors  Orders,  I  have  raised  the  Number  of  men 
appointed  me  to  raise  out  of  my  Regiment  to  reinf oice  the  Army  destined  for 
Crown  Point,  who  are  ready,  and  here,  would  have  been  a  Day  forward  on 
their  March,  had  not  some  unexpected  Difficulties  appeared.  Notwithstand- 
ing which,  they  will  be  on  their  March  to-morrow.  I  am  well  assured  from 
the  Army  that  their  provision  is  very  short,  some  sorts  entirely  ap^it,  and  of 
those  not  quite  gone,  they  have  only  from  Hand  to  Mouth. 

Their  Enemies  are  very  numerous  at  Crown  Point,  and  I  nmke  no  Doubt 
will  be  well  prepared  for  their  Reception.  The  Event  of  these  things,  I  leave 
to  the  Wise  Govemour  of  the  World. 

I  am,  in  utmost  Distress, 

Your  Hcmor's  most  humble  servt 

!«•  WnuAMB." 

P.  S.  Some  of  the  Officers  in  the  County  now  going  in  the  Exped  ag* 
Crown  Pt  are  very  desirous  y'  Honour  would  appoint  Mess"  Moses  Graves 
&.Elisha  Pomroy,  to  aid  and  assist  in  getting  Provisions  from  Albany,  to 
Lake  George. '^ 

I  have  fonnd  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  was  undoubtedly  ex- 
pressed to  Colonel  WUliams,  and  it  explains  his  assurance : 

''Manor  LnrmasTONB,  Sept.  22, 1755. 
Mr.  Em  [m^ble]. 

Sir, — I  just  received  a  letter  from  Colo  Wendell,  desiring  me  to  supi^ 
you  with  a  peroell  of  Bread  for  your  Forces  &  with  other  necessaries  you  might 
want  for  them  that  your  Government  was  sending  2,000  men.  This  I  would 
willingly  do,  but  at  present  not  in  my  power,  having  sent  all  my  Bread  to 
Gov.  Shirley  &  320  head  of  Cattle,  &  am  to  send  him  130  head  more,  w^  will 
be  very  difficult  for  me  to  git,  so  that  I  can  neither  assist  you  with  Bread  or 


DwighVs  J(ywrnal  and  Its  Leadmgs.  365 

Beef  at  this  time,  but  sh^  you  want  Bread  next  spring  I  would  supply  you 
with  a  Quantity  of  it,  on  timely  notice. 

I  heartily  wish  our  troops  all  the  desired  success,  but  I  fear  its  too  late 
in  the  season  to  do  any  great  matters  this  year.    I  remain  with  reepect,  sir. 

Your  most  humble  ser^, 

ROBT.  LiVINGSTONB,  Jr." 

Bat  even  with  this  supply,  Governor  Shirley  writes  from 
Oswego  September  24,  that  he  is  ^^  hindered  by  want  of  provi- 
sions." 

The  distress  of  Colonel  Williams,  expressed  in  his  letter,  was 
shared  by  the  community.  The  French  were  working  with 
energy  and  success  for  the  conquest  of  the  country.  A  dark 
cloud  was  settling  over  New  England ;  the  only  bright  spot  on 
the  horizon  this  year  was  the  success  of  Sir  William  Johnson  at 
Lake  George,  September  8.  This,  however,  was  in  eclipse  here 
by  reason  of  the  great  local  loss.  Fear  rather  than  hope  con- 
trolled, as  a  new  consignment  of  our  young  men  went  forth  to 
the  bloody  arena. 

After  a  day's  delay  at  Hatfield,  Captain  D wight  and  his  men 
marched  to  Deerfield,  September  24.  They  had  passed  through 
Hadley,  but  the  myth  of  the  repulse  of  the  Indians  by  the  regi- 
cide Gk>ffe  had  not  then  been  invented.  They  had  been  shown 
the  scenes  of  the  Indian  attacks  on  Hatfield,  and  had  looked 
upon  the  swelling  mounds  over  many  a  victim.  With  varying 
emotions  they  traversed  the  line  of  Lothrop's  fatal  march,  and 
the  scene  of  the  First  Encounter ;  they  passed  at  Bloody  Brook 
a  monument  marking  the  site  of  the  Lothrop  massacre ;  and  at 
the  Bars,  the  field  where  ten  years  before  Samuel  Allen  died 
the  death  of  a  hero  in  the  defense  of  his  young  children  against 
savage  ferocity.  When  they  reached  Deerfield  in  the  gloaming, 
the  air  was  tUck  with  stories  of  the  horrors  of  February  29, 
1704.  This  was  a  day  of  experience  to  daunt  the  weak  and 
nerve  the  daring. 

At  Deerfield  four  men,  at  least,  joined  the  company  of  Cap- 
tain Dwight,  raising  the  number  to  sixty-five.  One  of  them. 
Sergeant  John  Hawks,  the  hero  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  was 
his  lieutenant.  Dwight's  company  was  billeted  in  Deerfield 
Street ;  the  captain  lodged  that  night  with  Major  Elijah  Wil- 
liams, a  son  of  the  "Redeemed  Captive,"  in  the  house  now 
standing  on  the  Old  Albany  Boad.  Here  supplies  awaited 
them,  powder,  lead,  and  flints,  which  had  been  carted 
from   Boston;   blankets,   knapsacks,  bullet  bags,  worms  and 


866  Annual  Meeting— 190Z. 

wires,  tin  oamp  kettles  and  hatchets,  which  came  np  the  Con- 
necticut by  boat.  These  were  landed  at  Sunderland,  and  were 
forwarded  to  Deerfield,  September  23.  On  the  25th,  the  soldiers 
drew  their  marching  outfit  from  the  commissary  at  the  ^'  Old 
Comer  Store "  which  stood  on  the  southeast  comer  of  the  old 
Parson  Williams  lot.  Captain  Dwight  drew  for  himself  five 
extra  kettles. 

In  the  meantime,  Captain  William  Lyman,  of  Northampton, 
with  a  company  raised  in  western  Hampshire,  had  arrived  to 
join  Captain  Dwight  in  the  same  service.  He  was  supplied  by 
the  commissary  at  the  same  time  and  place.  Fourteen  men 
were  here  added  to  this  company  by  Major  Williams,  from  his 
own  command,  raising  it  to  fifty-nine  men.  The  names  of  these 
fourteen  men  are :  Samuel  Smith,  Daniel  Kellogg,  John  East- 
man, John  Clary,  Elisha  Hubbard,  Joseph  Lyman,  Jr.,  Jonathan 
Russell,  Charles  Wright,  David  Smith,  Nathaniel  Coleman,  Eben- 
ezer  Marsh,  Jr.,  Jonathan  Warner,  John  MiUer,  Peter  Smith. 
At  the  close  of  a  busy  day.  Captain  Dwight  went  over  to  Green- 
field and  spent  the  night  with  his  old  Belchertown  pastor,  Bev. 
Edward  Billings,  who  had  recently  been  settled  there  in  the 
ministry.  In  the  morning  Mr.  Billings  rode  over  to  Deerfield 
with  his  guest,  to  bid  him  godspeed  on  his  perilous  way. 
Thereby  hangs  a  tale. 

September  26, 1755,  was  a  day  of  high  excitement  in  Deer- 
field. Early  in  the  morning  124  men  in  marching  order,  armed 
and  equipped  for  conflict  with  the  French  and  Indians,  were 
paraded  on  the  Street  near  the  meetinghouse.  Captain  Dwight 
makes  record  that  "  after  prayer  to  almighty  God  for  preserva- 
tion in  our  journeying  through  the  wilderness  and  success  and 
victory  over  the  Enemies,  and  a  Safe  return.  Performed  by 
Mr.  Billings  in  Deerfield  Street,  I  marched  out  of  Deerfield.'' 
Dwight  does  not  tell  us  why  this  service  of  prayer  was  not  held 
in  the  meetinghouse  instead  of  the  Street,  and  why  it  was  not 
conducted  by  Mr.  Ashley,  the  minister  of  Deerfield,  as  we  might 
naturally  expect.  But  that  is  a  story  which  must  be  read  be- 
tween the  lines. 

The  imminent  danger  from  the  united  French  and  Indians 
did  not  weld  the  community,  as  it  should  have  done,  into 
a  solid  harmonious  whole.  There  was  another  war  raging 
in  the  Province.  The  foreign  war  ended  with  the  conquest  of 
Canada ;  the  other  conflict,  like  the  poor,  we  have  always  with 


IhoigkPB  Jowmal  a/nd  Its  Zeadmga.  867 

us.  It  was  a  theological  war.  There  were  intrioate,  fine-drawn, 
metaphysical  knots  to  be  tied,  or  untied ;  time-hallowed  super- 
stitions to  be  cherished  or  combated.  The  fire  and  sword  of  the 
enemy  was  to  many  of  comparatively  small  importance,  being 
but  temporary ;  while  in  the  other  matter  consequences  of  eter- 
nal import  were  supposed  to  be  involved.  At  this  time  the 
storm  center  was  at  Northampton ;  the  Jonathan  Edwards  con- 
troversy was  at  its  height.  Mr.  Ashley  was  a  leader  in  the 
ranks  of  those  opposing  Mr.  Edwards,  and  he  had  even  dared, 
not  long  before,  to  preach  a  sermon  against  him  in  his  own  pulpit 
in  Northampton.  This  sermon  was  published  and  can  be  found 
in  our  library.  On  the  other  hand,  Eev.  Mr.  Billings  had  been 
all  along  a  warm  defender  of  Edwards.  Captain  Dwight  had 
joined  the  church  of  Mr.  Edwards  at  the  age  of  twenty-one. 
When  Dwight  removed  from  Northampton  to  Belchertown,  he 
was  transferred  to  the  fold  of  Mr.  Billings,  with  whom  he  was 
in  full  sympathy.  Here,  then,  is  the  explanation  of  the  im- 
ported chaplain  and  the  service  in  the  Street. 

Mr.  Ashley  was  at  that  time  comparatively  popular  in  Deer- 
field,  and  a  guard  of  three  soldiers  had  recently  been  detailed 
to  garrison  his  house.  On  the  occasion  in  question,  the  pastor 
was  doubtless  conspicuous  by  his  absence,  and  we  may  imagine 
Deacon  Childs  and  Deacon  Field,  aghast  at  the  boldness  of 
Captain  Dwight  in  bearding  the  lion  at  the  very  mouth  of  his 
den,  standing  aloof,  or  perchance  prolonging  their  morning 
prayers  beyond  the  hour  for  the  march,  to  testify  against  the 
affront  put  upon  their  pastor.  If  tradition  may  be  trusted, 
we  may  think  of  Major  Williams  as  secretly  enjoying  the 
situation. 

Aside  from  all  this,  however,  we  may  be  sure  that  many 
another  petition  for  Divine  protection,  beside  that  of  Mr.  Bil- 
Ungs,  must  have  gone  up  as  these  young  men,  of  the  choicest 
blood  of  the  valley,  went  forth  into  the  wilderness  to  meet  and 
drive  back  an  enemy  then  drenching  the  frontiers  with  the 
blood  of  men,  women,  and  children.  Many  had  gathered  to 
bid  a  tearful  farewell — it  may  be  a  last  one — ^to  sons,  brothers, 
or  lovers.  Captain  Dwight  cannot  look  unmoved  upon  these 
partings.  He  must  call  to  mind  his  wife  and  family  of  young 
children, — the  youngest  a  boy  of  two  years, — and  a  feeble 
mother  of  eighty.  We  see  lieutenant  H^wks  passing  from 
group  to  group  bidding  them  be  hopeful  and  of  good  cheer. 


368  Aminal  MeeUnff— 1908. 

He  had  met  the  savage  hordes  face  to  face,  aye,  and  the  French- 
men, too,  and  is  eager  to  do  the  same  agam  and  pay  off  old 
scores,  as  he  eventually  does.  His  cousin,  Zadock  Hawks, 
whose  sister  Submit  was  torn  from  her  home  three  months  be- 
fore and  is  now  a  captive  in  savage  hands,  bravely  responds,  is 
erect,  alert,  manly,  while  young  Mary  Bardwell  turns  timor- 
ously away  to  hide  her  emotions  and  her  maidenly  tears.  Abi- 
gail Bardwell,  her  cousin,  is  taking  a  tender  and  solemn  farewell 
of  Samuel  llAttoon,  the  young  surgeon,  whose  bride  fortune 
wiUs  her  to  be  within  the  year.  But  Dorothy  Stebbins  openly 
clings  with  convulsive  sobs  to  Lawrence  Kemp,  until  her  father, 
who  had  himself  borne  for  years  the  bitterness  of  an  Indian 
captivity,  takes  her  away  and  comforts  her  as  best  he  can,  when 
the  drum  beats  the  march.  Abner  Arms  is  the  center  of  an- 
other group.  Phineas  Arms,  his  cousin  and  daily  companion 
from  infancy,  had  fallen  by  a  bullet  from  an  Indian  ambush  at 
Charlemont  three  months  before.  We  see  William  and  Doro- 
thy Arms  look  upon  Abner  with  yearning  eyes  and  pained 
hearts,  as  they  commend  him  to  the  care  of  the  Most  High, 
praying  that  he  may  be  spared  the  fate  of  their  lost  one  whose 
grave  he  will  pass  before  the  setting  sun. 

Light  sketches  like  these  shed  but  a  faint  gleam  upon  the 
reality  of  scenes  enacted  all  along  the  frontiers  by  our  fore- 
fathers and  foremothers  during  the  days  and  years  of  French 
and  Indian  warfare-— scenes  which  will  wring  the  heart  and 
blanch  the  cheek  of  woman  so  long  as  hell-bom  war  poUutes 
God's  earth. 

Captain  Dwight  calls,  "  Attention  I "  The  resounding  drum- 
beat stirs  the  air ;  the  piercing  note  of  the  fife  stirs  the  blood. 
"  March  1 "  and  the  two  companies  file  past  the  Old  Comer 
Store,  down  the  Albany  Boad,  and  wade  the  Pocumtuck  River 
at  the  "  Old  Ford."  The  measured  throb  of  the  drum  grows 
fainter  and  more  faint,  and  is  lost  on  the  listening  ear  as  the 
soldiers  climb  the  hill  and  disappear  on  the  heights  beyond 
"Little  Hope."  With  these  ominous  words  on  their  hearts, 
those  who  had  followed  to  the  river  for  a  very  last  word  joined 
those  who  had  lingered  about  the  Comer  Store,  and  all  soon 
scattered  to  attend,  as  best  they  could,  the  imperative  call  of 
duty  to  labor  and  to  wait. 

Meanwhile  Captain  Dwight  pushed  rapidly  on  through  the 
woods  northwest  by  the  compass,  and  striking  the  Pocumtuck 


Dwighiffs  Jottmal  wnd  Its  Lecbdings.  869 

at  the  Falls,  the  soldiers  receive  a  cheering  welcome  from  its 
dashing  waters,  with  a  promise  to  guide  them  on  their  winding 
way.  So  with  the  gleaming  river  on  their  left  they  march  up 
the  valley ;  greet  Deerfield  friends  at  Taylor's  Fort,  but  do  not 
bide ;  pass  Rice's  Fort,  and  the  not  yet  grass-grown  graves  of 
Moses  Rice  and  Phineas  Arms ;  onward,  until  darkness  falls 
upon  them  at  Hawks's  Fort,  where  more  Deerfield  friends  gladly 
welcome  the  weary  soldiers,  and,  as  best  they  may,  entertain 
them  for  the  night.  The  second  day's  march  takes  the  band 
over  the  Hoosac  Mountain  to  Fort  Massachusetts,  where  nine 
years  before,  that  man  of  heroic  mold,  John  Hawks  their 
lieutenant,  had  won  an  imperishable  fame. 

A  word  of  this  in  passing.  In  August,  1746,  Sergeant 
Hawks  was  in  charge  of  the  fort  with  twenty-one  men,  three 
women,  and  six  children.  Eleven  of  the  men  were  on  the  sick 
list,  and,  writes  Chaplain  John  !(Torton,  '^  scarcely  one  of  us  in 
perfect  health."  With  this  force  and  thus  handicapped  the 
brave  and  resourceful  sergeant  defied  and  fought  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  French  and  Indians — ^more  than  thirty  against  one — 
repelling  all  assaults  of  the  infuriated  foe  for  twenty-eight 
hours,  and  until  their  ammunition  gave  out.  They  then  capitu- 
lated on  honorable  terms.  This  was  also  familiar  ground  to 
Captain  Lyman,  for  he  had  been  in  command  here  after  the 
fort  had  been  rebuilt  in  1748. 

As  this  talk  is  largely  of  Deerfield  and  the  D  wights,  we  will 
turn  the  leaves  backward,  and  we  shall  see  that  Captain  Na- 
thaniel was  by  no  means  the  first  of  his  name  to  make  connec- 
tion between  the  two.  In  the  spring  of  1664,  one  Dwight, 
Henry  by  name,  was  sent  out  by  Dedham  to  find  a  place  where 
she  could  locate  her  "  8,000- Acre  Grant."  He  reported 
nothing  satisfactory,  but  he  was  the  first  Dwight  connecting 
Deerfield  with  the  Dedham  Grant.  In  September  of  the  same 
year  a  party  of  four  men  was  despatched  on  the  same  errand. 
Timothy  Dwight  was  one  of  the  four.  They  came  to  the 
Pocumtuck  valley,  returned  with  a  favorable  report,  and  were 
sent  back  with  a  compass  and  chain.  In  May,  1665,  they  re- 
port the  Grant  located,  and  present  a  plan  of  the  same  to  the 
General  Court.  So  early  was  Surveyor  Dwight,  the  grandsire 
of  Captain  Nathaniel,  linked  with  our  town.  As  you  know. 
Major  John  Pynchon  bought  the  tract  so  laid  out,  of  the  In- 
dians who  laid  claim  to  it,  in  1666.  The  deeds  to  show  this 
24 


370  Annual  Meeting— 1908. 

transaction  are  in  onr  library.  The  pay  waa  almost  equal  to 
the  real  estate  price  current  among  the  English.  Of  this  tract 
Timothy  Dwight  was  granted  150  acres  in  payment  for  his 
services  in  the  preliminary  work  of  the  settlement  of  Pocum- 
tuck.  Here  I  beg  your  indulgence  in  introducing  a  personal 
matter, — my  interest  in  this  grant.  Captain  Timothy  Dwight 
sold  this  land  to  Rev.  John  Russell,  the  fearless  and  true-hearted 
protector  of  the  regicides  Gk>ffe,  Whalley  and  Dix  well  at  Hadley. 
From  Mr.  Russell  it  passed  to  one  of  my  ancestors  two  hundred 
years  ago,  and  I  take  pride  in  saying  that  a  part  of  it  has  never 
been  alienated  from  the  blood,  and  is  now  in  my  hands.  But  I 
have  even  a  more  lively  sense  of  connection  with  Captain 
Dwight.  By  virtue  of  his  being  a  citizen  of  Dedham  he  drew  a 
homestead  on  the  town  plot  in  1671.  This  he  sold,  with  the 
above-mentioned  150-acre  grant,  to  Mr.  Russell,  and  it  has  come 
down  to  me  in  the  same  line  as  the  above.  It  is  the  old  Shel- 
don lot  at  the  North  End,  where  I  was  bom  and  lived  for  more 
than  threescore  years  and  ten.  Captain  Timothy  also  owned 
another  home  lot  with  which  I  have  personal  interest.  It  is  that 
where  my  very  great-grandfather,  David  Hoyt,  lived  on  that 
disastrous  day  in  Feb.,  1704,  and  whence  he  was  led  to  a  death 
by  starvation  in  the  wilderness.  I  hope  you  will  consider  these 
associations  a  fair  excuse  for  bringing  in  this  personal  equation. 

In  July,  1698,  there  was  in  Deerfield  another  Henry  Dwi^t, 
a  brother  of  Captain  Timothy,  and  later  himself  a  captain.  He 
was  one  of  the  troopers  who  made  the  night  march  from  Deer- 
field  to  Pomroy's  Island,  and  rescued  Samuel  Dickinson  from 
his  Indian  captors. 

When  Father  Rasle's  war  broke  out,  Deerfield  was  on  the 
exposed  northwest  frontier,  and  a  just  sense  of  fear  pervaded  the 
air;  it  was  a  glad  sight  when  another  Captain  Timothy  Dwight 
marched  into  the  Street,  February  8,  1724,  with  a  party  of  sol- 
diers, and  workmen  with  teams.  He  was  on  his  way  to  build 
a  fortification  for  the  protection  of  the  frontier,  right  in  the 
path  of  northern  invasion.  This  was  later  named  Fort  Dam- 
mer.  Captain  Dwight,  while  in  command  of  this  fort,  was  in 
close  touch  with  our  town.  Part  of  his  stores  were  kept  here 
by  Captain  Jonathan  Wells — the  same,  by  the  way,  to  whom 
the  children  of  Deerfield  placed  a  granite  monument  in  the 
memorable  Old  Home  Week  of  1901,  thus  linking  themselves 
to  the  historic  past. 


Dwigh£%  Journal  and  Its  Leadmga.  871 

Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight  was  not  the  first  of  his  name  to 
visit  the  Old  Comer  Store  on  official  business.  Three  years 
before,  his  ooasin,  Colonel  Josiah  Dwight,  of  Northampton,  com- 
missioned by  the  governor,  called  upon  his  brother-in-law.  Major 
Williams,  ^e  commissary.  He  was  a  messenger  sent  to  make 
a  friendly  visit  to  the  Mohawks  and  bear  them  a  present  He 
and  his  fellow  commissioner  here  bought  a  large  bill  of  calico, 
garlic,  and  other  dry  goods  to  bestow  upon  their  dusky  allies  to 
keep  them  neutral,  during  the  impending  war.  Largess  flowed 
lavishly  from  either  side,  and  the  shrewd  Mohawks  valued  the 
friend^p  of  their  English  or  French  '^brothers"  according  to 
which  had  the  longest  purse.  Finding  they  could  get  more 
goods  by  deceiving  both  sides,  they  remained  neutral  through 
the  war.  So  the  calico  and  the  garUc  from  the  Old  Comer  Store 
served  for  a  good  end. 

The  first  wife  of  Major  Elijah  Williams  was  Lydia  Dwight,  a 
cousin  germain  to  Captain  Nathaniel.  The  Mrs.  Williams  by 
whom  he  was  entertained  September  24, 1755,  was  a  sister-in-law 
to  his  cousin  Joseph  Dwight.  The  wife  of  Captain  Jonas  Locke, 
who  led  the  Deerfield  Minute  Men  to  Boston  on  the  Lexington 
alarm,  April  20, 1775,  was  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Colonel  Joseph 
Dwight  of  Brookfield.  Captain  Locke  lived  at  the  Bars,  in  tike 
house  later  the  home  of  one  whom  Deerfield  delights  to  honor, 
George  Fuller,  the  artist.  We  may  think  of  Jonas,  not  yet 
Captain,  and  Mary,  his  wife,  as  going  up  to  the  Street  to  greet 
cousin  Nathaniel,  and  talk  over  family  matters  and  the  military 
affairs  of  the  country. 

As  Captain  Dwight  and  his  men,  with  faces  set  sternly  west- 
ward, marched  down  the  Albany  Eoad,  they  were  watched  by 
Anna  Williams,  a  Deerfield  lass  of  twelve  years,  with  more 
than  general  interest.  They  were  bound  to  the  very  field  where 
her  uncle.  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams,  had  fallen  in  the  Bloody 
Morning  Scout,  eighteen  days  before.  Her  father,  who  was  a 
surgeon  in  the  ill-fated  regiment  of  his  brother,  escaped  unhurt, 
and  it  was  he  who  had  dressed  the  wounds  of  the  captured  French 
general.  Baron  de  Dieskau.  Zadock  Hawks,  a  neighbor  across 
the  way,  was  doubtless  burdened  with  messages  of  affection  and 
solicitude  from  the  wife  and  daughter.  Anna's  interest  would 
have  been  more  intense  had  she  known  that  Elijah  Dwight,  a 
kinsman  of  the  stalwart  leader,  would  become  her  husband,  and 
that  the  twain  would  found  a  distinguished  family  in  the  very 


872  Annual  Meeting— 190B. 

region  towards  which  he  was  then  faring,  and  that  in  the  ooorse 
of  events,  she,  as  Madam  Dwight,  would  have  the  satisfaction 
of  entertaining  the  captive  General  Burgoyne,  while  on  his 
march  over  the  Berkshire  hills  from  Saratoga^  where  he  had  been 
intercepted  by  General  Gates. 

Diana  Hinsdale,  another  young  girl  whose  home  overlooked 
the  Common,  saw  the  departure  of  the  soldiers.  Can  it  be  that 
the  bearing  of  the  gallant  leader  impressed  her  young  head  with 
the  idea  that  he  would  make  an  ideal  father-in-law  ?  Hardly, 
at  her  age ;  but  her  fortune  was  so  shaped  that  she  became  the 
the  wife  of  his  son,  another  Elijah  D  wight,  of  Belchertown. 

The  bride  was  a  granddaughter  of  Mehuman  Hinsdell,  the 
first  white  man  bom  in  Deerfield.  The  ring  which  was  the 
pledge  of  their  union  is  now  back  in  the  home  of  her  childhood. 
That,  and  her  father's  silver  watch,  are  among  our  choice  treas- 
ures in  Memorial  Hall. 

In  the  years  following  the  date  of  this  journal,  the  name  of 
Dwight,  borne  by  men  and  women,  is  often  met  with  in  the 
social  circles  of  Deerfield.  In  one  of  the  strenuous  events  of 
the  Eevolution,  the  dismission  of  the  Tory  parson,  William 
Dwight,  appears  on  the  council  Within  two  or  three  years  a 
young  Timothy  Dwight  was  engaged  to  preach  in  the  South 
precinct.  Later  he  was  evolved  into  the  distinguished  theo- 
logian, author,  and  president  of  Tale  College.  He  was  of  the 
same  Northampton  stock  as  Captain  Nathaniel,  the  journalist. 

Thomas  Asa  Gates,  a  minuteman  under  Captain  Jonas  Locke, 
married  Margaret  Dwight,  of  Belchertown,  probably  daughter 
of  Captain  Nathaniel,  although  she  may  have  been  a  sister  of 
Mary  Dwight,  wife  of  Captain  Locke. 

In  the  revival  of  business  that  followed  the  dose  of  the 
Eevolutionary  War,  when  Conway  was  the  largest  town  in 
Western  Massachusetts,  Deerfield  was  in  the  fore  front  of  bus- 
iness for  the  Connecticut  valley.  A  deep  felt  want  was  for  better 
facilities  for  transportation,  and  a  movement  was  here  started 
for  an  improvement  in  the  navigation  of  the  Connecticut  River, 
the  main  channel  of  communication  with  the  commercial  world. 

John  Williams,  a  son  of  Major  Elijah  the  commissary,  and 
Jonathan  Dwight,  a  kinsman  of  Captain  Nathaniel,  were  two 
of  a  commission  of  three  men  who  built  two  of  the  earliest  canals 
in  the  country — those  at  South  Hadley  and  Turners  Falls. 

In  another  important  and  lasting  enterprise,  Deerfield  was 


Dwighfa  Jov/mal  and  lU  Leadinga.  873 

agaiii  in  tonoh  with  the  Dwights.  In  1824,  the  town  voted 
that  the  new  meetinghouse  to  be  erected  should  be  patterned 
after  that  ^^  recently  built  at  Springfield  by  Jonathan  D wight, 
Esq. "  Among  the  judicial  officers  of  Franklin  County,  in  1853, 
is  found  the  name  of  William  Dwight  of  Deerfield.  Last,  but 
not  least,  we  note  that  William  Dwight,  M.  D.,  of  Amherst,  be- 
comes a  member  of  our  Association  in  1889.  And  so  at  last) 
the  peg  on  which  I  have  hung  my  line  of  Dwights  to-night,  is 
driven  home  in  Memorial  Hall. 

^^  But  there  are  others,"  and  there  is  another  word  to  be  said 
about  the  soldiers  mustered  on  Deerfield  Street,  September  26, 
1755,  for  the  march  to  Lake  George.  I  have  before  said  that 
Captain  William  Lyman,  a  brother-in-law  of  Captain  Dwight, 
with  his  conmiand,  was  of  that  force.  Like  Captain  Dwight, 
he,  too,  was  of  a  fighting  stock.  And  no  more  than  Captain 
Dwight  was  Captain  Lyman,  the  first  to  connect  his  name  with 
Deerfield,  or  the  first  of  his  name  to  walk  Deerfield  Street  in 
martial  array.  On  the  memorable  night  of  May  18, 1676,  his 
grandfather,  John  Lyman,  led  a  company  of  volunteers  from 
Northampton  over  the  very  ground  where  Captain  William 
paraded.  He  was  under  Captain  William  Turner  on  that  seem- 
ingly reckless  enterprise  when  the  fated  leader  resolutely 
marched  through  the  black  woods  and  the  midnight  storm, 
and  in  the  dawning  light  snatched  victory  out  of  danger  at 
Turners  Falls.  Eighteen  years  later  Richard  Lyman,  a  garrison 
soldier,  another  ancestor,  was  wounded  in  repelling  an  assault 
made  on  this  very  acre,  by  Baron  Castine  and  his  Canadian 
horde. 

About  the  6th  of  June,  1704,  while  Deerfield  Street  was  still 
clothed  in  garments  of  sackcloth  and  ashes,  Caleb  Lyman,  of 
Northampton,  uncle  of  Captain  William,  followed  the  trail  his 
father  John  made  through  Deerfield,  twenty-eight  years  be- 
fore, and  out  into  the  lone  forest  still  stretching  away  to 
Canada. 

He  was  on  that  famous  scout  to  Cowass  with  his  Mohegans, 
which  created  such  a  sensation  in  Canada,  and  which  was  such 
a  prominent  factor  in  shaping  for  years  the  events  of  the  frontier 
warfare.  Caleb  tarried  in  desolate  Deerfield  only  long  enough 
to  receive  the  blessings  of  Captain  Jonathan  Wells,  and  his  ensign 
John  Sheldon,  and  to  draw  marching  rations  of  raw  salt  pork 
at  the  fort.    The  scout  had  hardly  disappeared  in  the  north 


874  Annual  Jieeting— 1908. 

when  Wells  learned  that  the  woods  were  fall  of  Indian  war  par- 
ties, and  he  feared  that  Lyman  was  sorel J  marohing  to  his  doom. 
Lyman  learned  it,  too,  but  thanks  to  his  knowledge  of  wood- 
craft and  to  his  trusty  aUies,  his  mission  was  executed  and  he 
returned  in  safety.  At  Oowass,  Lyman  might  have  seen  the 
bleaching  bones  of  my  great-great-grandfather,  David  Hoy  t,  a 
victim  of  February  29,  who  had  died  there  of  starvation,  a 
month  before. 

Here  I  again  beg  once  more  to  introduce  the  personal  element 
Brave  Caleb  Lyman  was  connected  by  marriage  with  the 
Sheldons;  the  ^e  of  his  oldest  brother,  John  Lyman,  was 
Mindwell,  sister  to  Ensign  John  Sheldon.  Moses  Lyman,  his 
nephew,  married  another  Mindwell  Sheldon,  a  niece  of  Ensign 
John,  all  of  Northampton.  At  the  time  of  this  scout.  Ensign 
Sheldon  was  meditating  a  journey  through  the  wilderness  to 
Canada  in  the  coming  winter,  in  search  of  his  captive  children, 
and  it  is  easy  to  imagine  his  eager  inquiries  of  Caleb,  on  his 
return,  concerning  woodcraft  and  the  wiles  of  the  Indians, 
gaining  from  him  information  which  was  soon  to  be  of  vitally 
practical  importance  in  his  knightly  quest. 

I  like  to  think  of  these  two  hard-headed,  hard-working 
farmers,  talking  over  the  chances  of  life  or  death  on  sach  an 
adventurous  journey.  Caleb  had  barely  escaped  starvation  in 
summer  weather ;  what  were  the  odds  against  John  in  the  cold 
and  snow  of  winter  I  But  as  they  sat  by  the  desolate  hearth 
stone  in  the  Old  Indian  house,  and  only  silence  answered  the 
listening  ear,  the  bereaved  husband  and  father  felt  that  no  odds 
were  too  great  to  be  attempted  in  the  effort  to  bring  back  his 
scattered,  motherless  children.  He  could  but  lose  that  whidi 
was  of  little  value  to  him  else,  and  his  purpose  held  him  fast. 
You  all  know  the  results. 

During  Father  Basle's  war,  Joseph  Lyman,  an  older  brother 
of  Captain  William,  was  employed  by  the  government  as  a  Post 
Bider.  This  occupation,  if  less  conspicuous  and  less  blazoned 
than  that  of  the  soldier,  was  not  less  hazardous.  While  on  his 
lonely  trips  over  the  long  trails  stretching  through  the  dark 
forests  and  bosky  swamps,  to  and  from  the  Bay,  with  news  of 
the  latest  Indian  raid,  or  orders  from  the  governor  to  the  fron- 
tier posts,  he  was  liable  at  any  time  to  meet  a  band  of  prowling 
savages.  It  happened  in  September,  1725,  just  thirty  years 
before  the  advent  of  his  brother,  he  rode  through  De^eld 


DwighPs  Journal  cmd  It$  Leadings.  375 

Street  with  800  pounds  in  bis  custody^  sent  by  tbe  governor  to 
Captain  Timotby  Dwight  at  Fort  Dammer  to  pay  off  bis  men. 
Josepb  doubtless  stopped  to  bait  his  horse  and  see  his  cousins 
at  the  Old  Indian  house.  He  executed  his  trust  and  returned 
to  its  shelter  in  safety. 

Joseph  Lyman,  Jr.,  who  enlisted  at  Deerfield  and  marched 
under  Captain  William  Lyman,  in  1755,  was  doubtless  son  of 
tbe  post  rider.  Whatever  of  romance  may  have  attended  this 
affair  is  hopelessly  lost. 

Captain  William  Lyman  of  the  journal  was  a  nephew  of  one 
Mind  well  Sheldon,  mentioned  above,  and  cousin  to  the  other. 
His  wife,  Jemima  Sheldon,  was  connected  with  both.  Un- 
doubtedly Captain  Lyman,  while  waiting  for  supplies  at  Deer- 
field,  called  to  see  his  relatives  in  the  Old  Indian  house.  One  of 
these  was  my  grandmother  Sheldon.  Seventy-four  years  ago 
she  might  have  told  me  about  this  visit,  seventy-four  years  before 
that,  and  the  impression  made  on  her  young  life  by  the  appear- 
ance of  Captains  Lyman  and  Dwight  and  their  men.  She  was 
then  eight  years  old.  So  near  do  I  come  in  contact  with  the 
special  event  round  which  my  remarks  are  revolving.  She  may 
have  seen  her  grandfather,  lieutenant  Jonathan  Hoyt,  shoulder 
his  crutch  and  tell  how  fields  were  won,  or,  in  more  homely 
phrase,  give  the  boys  points  about  fighting  the  Indians,  amongst 
whom  he  had  been  a  captive  for  years. 

Captain  William  Lyman,  bom  in  1715,  was  son  of  lieuten- 
ant Benjamin,  of  Northampton.  His  mother  was  Thankful 
Pomroy,  of  the  family  of  Medad  Pomroy,  the  first  recorder  of 
Pocumtuck.  One  of  his  sisters,  Hannah  Lyman,  was  the  wife  of 
his  comrade,  Captain  Nathaniel  Dwight  The  Lymans, 
Dwights,  Pomroys,  and  Sheldons  of  the  Connecticut  valley  are 
mixed  up  in  almost  innumerable  marriages.  I  will  notice  only 
the  issue  of  Captain  William. 

Captain  Dwight  says  in  his  journal  that  at  the  end  of  the 
campaign  the  Massachusetts  forces  marched  home  under  Major- 
Gen.  Phineas  Lyman, — a  second  cousin  of  Captain  William, — i 
and  that  they  left  Fort  William  Henry  Nov.  27,  and  reached 
Deerfield  Dec.  8,  at  noon.  So  this  march  from  the  head  of 
Lake  George  to  Deerfield  was  made  in  six  and  a  half  days ;  the 
half  day  was  from  Taylor's  fort  in  Charlemont.  Dwight  says 
of  one  day :  "  It  was  the  worst  of  all  traviling."  The  next 
day  he  says :  **  We  came  Down  to  Saritogo  Eiver  Striped  and 


876  Atmual  JUeeUng— 1908. 

waded  throagh  in  Ice  and  Water."  Nine  miles  more  and  they 
were  in  the  midst  of  a  winter  rain.  Dec.  1  was  a  ^'  cold  Sower 
Snowblast  Day/'  '^  anker  Ice  in  the  river  and  Brooks, "  and 
more  of  the  like.  But  what  recked  these  hardy  men  for  cold, 
or  ice,  or  snow  1  They  were  homeward  bonnd.  We  find  no 
delay  at  Deerfield,  and  so  Captain  Lyman  would  be  at  home 
the  same  night,  and  his  steps  would  grow  lighter  at  the  end  of 
each  of  the  sixteen  miles.  We  must  imagine  how  welcome  he 
was  to  the  eyes  of  Jemima,  who  within  the  week  gave  birth 
to  William,  their  first  boy. 

Captain  William  Lyman  and  Jemima  Sheldon  raised  a  notable 
family.  Their  first  son  became  prominent  in  both  the  military 
and  the  civil  life  of  the  country.  He  was  a  general  in  the 
United  States  army  and  was  a  member  of  Congress.  He  was 
also  in  the  United  States  diplomatic  service  in  England. 

He  died  in  London  about  1810,  and  was  buried  in  Gloucester 
Cathedral 

Cornelius,  the  second  son,  ranked  high  among  his  f  ellovTs  and 
was  a  captain  in  the  Continental  line,  or  the  United  States  army, 
or  both. 

Samuel,  another  son,  also  bore  the  title  of  captain,  but  in 
what  service  I  cannot  say.  He  married  Mary,  the  only  child 
of  General  Joseph  Warren,  of  Bunker  Hill  renown  and  lament 
Captain  Samuel  Lyman  was  living  in  Greenfield  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  but  his  grave  is  in  Northampton.  His  widow  mar- 
ried Judge  Bichard  £.  Newcomb,  a  predecessor  of  Judge 
Thompson.  Their  only  child  was  Joseph  Warren  Newcomb, 
who  married  Sarah  Wells  Alvord,  of  Greenfield.  Their  only 
son  bore  the  name  of  his  father.  A  few  years  ago  the  news- 
papers were  telling  the  romantic  story  of  his  marriage  to  a 
great-granddaughter  of  General  Israel  Putnam,  the  commander 
at  Bunker  HUL 

As  all  roads  lead  to  Bome,  so,  as  you  know,  all  roads  that  I 
travel,  like  this  among  the  Lymans  and  the  D  wights  are  very 
apt  to  lead  to  our  Memorial  HalL  It  will  therefore  be  no  sur* 
prise  to  hear  that  among  our  treasures  are  several  pieces  of  In- 
dia china  that  were  a  part  of  the  household  goods  of  Captain 
Samuel  and  Mary  Warren  Lyman.  And  I  may  here  note  that 
from  our  collection  can  be  grouped,  in  pleasant  association 
with  the  above  china,  a  carving  knife  and  fork  which  belonged 
to  Captain  Seth  Lyman  of  Bevolutionary  fame,  and  a  punch 


D\mgh£%  Journal  wad  lU  Leadings.  877 

bowl  from  the  family  of  Caleb  Lyman,  out  of  the  oapacious 
depth  of  which  many  a  Eevolutionary  veteran  has  been  re- 
freshed.   Seth  and  Caleb  were  both  cousins  of  Captain  SamneL 

November  3, 1774,  in  the  times  when  men  were  tried  as  in  a 
famaoe,  a  Fast  was  ordered  by  the  Massachusetts  ^^Committee  of 
safety.''  Parson  Ashley,  of  Deerfield,  would  have  none  of  it, 
and  another  Joseph  Lyman,  a  true  Whig,  appeared  in  the  meet- 
inghouse on  the  old  Common  and  conducted  the  service  of  that 
day.  Six  years  later  he  was  again  in  Deerfield;  he  was  then 
concerned  in  the  council  called  to  dismiss  Parson  Ashley,  in 
May,  1780.  Ashley  died  before  the  matter  came  to  a  conclusion, 
and  Parson  John  Taylor  was  installed  in  his  place. 

Deerfield  Academy  had  been  organized,  a  building  erected, 
and  January  1, 1799,  it  was  dedicated;  the  same  Joseph  Lyman 
preached  the  dedication  sermon  and  the  academy  was  formally 
opened.  And  here  we  are  again  at  home.  The  preacher  was 
one  of  the  trustees,  and  later  Benjamin  Lyman  was  made  precep- 
tor. 

In  1806  Parson  Taylor  asked  a  dismissal  on  account  of  fail- 
ing health,  and  Dr.  Lyman  was  called  to  take  part  in  the  ofBicial 
action  for  dissolving  his  connection  with  the  church.  Once 
more,  when  Samuel  Willard  was  called  to  fill  the  vacant  pulpit, 
Dr.  Lyman  was  one  of  the  council  for  ordination. 

Other  Lymans  also  have  their  names  connected  with  Deerfield. 
When  Cheapside  was  the  head  of  river  navigation  for  this 
region,  and  John  Williams,  son  of  Major  Elijah  the  commissary^ 
with  David  Saxton,  General  Epaphras  Hoyt,  Captain  Elisha 
Mack,  Captain  Jonas  Locke,  and  other  Deerfield  men,  were 
struggling  to  increase  the  traffic  on  the  Connecticut  by  dams 
and  canals,  Elias  Lyman  and  his  brother,  Justice  Lyman  of  the 
Northampton  tribe,  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  were  active  in  send- 
ing fall  boats  to  trade  at  Cheapside,  the  Deerfield  port  of  entry, 
exchanging  foreign  goods  for  the  productions  of  our  farms  and 
shops,  one  of  the  latter  being  that  of  Augustus  Lyman,  the 
blacksmith,  on  the  Dr.  Porter  lot. 

On  our  beautiful  and  historic  Common  stands  an  impressive 
pile.  It  is  elegant  in  design,  artistic  in  execution,  fitting  for  its 
purpose.  It  is  eloquent  in  its  teaching — a  memorial  for  service 
and  sacrifice  erected  by  a  grateful  people.  Upon  its  sides  are 
emblazoned,  as  upon  their  country's  shield,  the  names  of  those 
from  Deerfield  who  fell  in  the  late  Civil  War. 


378  Annual  MeeHng— 1903. 

Standing  where  Oaptain  Lyman  stood  when  calling  the  roD 
of  his  sturdy  men  in  line,  awaiting  the  order  to  march  for  the 
defense  of  threatened  New  England,  September  26,  1755,  one 
might  read  the  names  and  call  the  roll  of  those  sons  of  Deerfield 
who  died  that  the  Union  might  live,  one  and  indivisible. 
Among  the  unheard  voices  responding  to  the  call  would  be 
that  of  young  Henry  Lyman. 

The  grave  of  Oaptain  William  Lyman  is  at  Northampton. 
On  the  gray  slab  at  its  head  one  may  read : — 

The  wife  and  the  Just,  the  pious  and  the  braTe» 
Lire  in  their  death,  and  flourieh  in  the  grave. 


FIELD  MEETING— 1903. 


FIELD  MEETING 


OF  THB 


FOOUMTUCK  VALLEY  MEMORIAL  ASSOCIATION, 

WITHIN  THX  OLD  fiTTOOKADB  AT  DBBBFIBLD,  WSDNXSDAY,  JULY  29, 

1903,  9.80  A.  M. 

Servioes  in  oommemoration  of  the  Bi-Centennial  of  the  Mas- 
sacre at  Deerfield  by  the  French  and  Indians,  Febroary  29th, 

1703-4. 

DEDICATION  OF  HBMOBIAL  8TONB8. 

President  of  the  Day,  Hon.  Obobob  Shbldon. 
Assistant,  Judob  F&anois  M.  Thompson. 
Chief  Marshal,  Euobnb  A.  Nbwcomb. 
Assistant  Marshal,  William  P.  Saxton. 
Chairman  Entertainment  Committee,  John  H.  Stbbbinb. 

Obdbb  of  Exbboisbs. 

1.  Mnsio. 

2.  Ebynotb  of  THB  Dat.  Hon.  Gtoorge  Sheldon 

3.  Invocation.  Bev.  Bichard  E.  Birks 

4.  Addbbss  of  Wbloomx.  Hon.  Herbert  C.  Parsons 

5.  Singing  under  the  direction  of  Charles  H.  Ashley. 

6.  Historical  Addbbss — The  Colonial  Conquest.    Dr.  Edwin  A* 

Grosvenor. 

879 


880  Fidd  Meeting— 190S. 

7.  Dedioatioh  of  Memorials.  Lyman  Whiting,  D.  D. 

Tablets  in  Memorial  Hall ; 

to  Zbohariah  Fibld,  by  Marshall  Field  of   Chicago 

to  Nathaniel  Sutoliffe,  by  B.  H.  Sutliflfe  of  Conn. 

to  Godfrey  Nims,  by  Franklin    A.   Nims  of    Colo. 

to  Sampson  Feaey,  by  Levi  P.  Morton  of  New  Tort 
Bowlder  at  the  Bars 

to  Samuel  Allen,  by  his  descendants. 

8.  CoBNET  Solo.  Maj.  Frank  Hntchins 

Intermission. 

Basket  Picnic.    Coffee  provided  for  alL 

9.  The  Deerfield  members  of  the  Grand  Army  will  lead  the 

march  to  the  Old  Burying  Ground,  where,  at  the  grave 
of  The  Dead  of  1704,  there  will  be  music  and  an  address 
by  Miss  C.  Alice  Baker. 
Betum  to  the  stockade  and  assemble  at  the  roll  of  the 
drum. 

10.  Addresses  by  Hon.  Alfred  S.  Koe  of  Worcester. 

John  B.  White,  Pres.  Ohio  Historical  Society. 
Arthur  Lord,  Pres.  Pilgrim  Society  of  Plymouth. 

11.  Music. 

12.  Addresses  by  Gen.  Francis  H.  Appleton,  Boston,  Yice- 

Pres.  Essex  Institute. 
Dr.  Henry  D.  Holton,  Brattleboro,  Yt. 
Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Dean  of  Amherst  College. 
Prof.  Francis  B.  Denio,  Bangor,  Me. 
Frederick  G.  Bauer,  Old  South  Historical  Society. 
Hon.  Kittredge  Haskins,  M.  C,  Brattleboro,  Yt 
Dr.  Frederic  Corss,  Kingston,  Pa. 
B.  H.  Sutliffe,  Plymouth,  Conn.,  and  members  of  the  As- 

sociation. 
The  Martha  Pratt  Memorial  Building  will  be  open  for  the  use 
of  visitors. 

Committbe  of  Asrangements  : 
Mb.  and  Mbs.  George  Sheldon,  Mbs.  Madeline  Y.  Wynne, 
Mb.  John  J.  Gbeenouoh,  Mb.  John  Sheldon,  Mb.  William 
L.  Habbis. 


Mdd  Meeting— 190S.  381 


REPORT. 

To^ay,  Deerfield  has  had  a  worthy  exposition  of  its  history 
and  its  hospitality,  each  of  the  typical  New  England  sort  The 
historic  event  celebrated  was  one  of  the  few  which  in  the 
long  range  are  sure  of  permanence  in  the  common  mind,  for 
the  Deerfield  massacre  will  never  be  forgotten  so  long  as  the 
story  of  the  New  England  frontier  has  interest.  To-day's  hos- 
pitality was  a  part  of  the  observance  of  Old  Home  Week,  and 
no  town  has  better  claim  upon  widely  scattered  sons  and 
daughters. 

The  celebration  may  be  said  to  have  begnn  with  the  first 
hours  of  the  week,  as  the  Sunday  services  in  the  old  church, 
with  its  much  older  weather  cock  and  its  still  more  ancient 
traditions,  took  on  a  special  character.  To-day  the  Pocumtuck 
Yalley  Memorial  Association  in  its  annual  field  day  commemo- 
rating the  sacking  of  the  town  in  1703-4,  brought  an  array  of 
speakers  of  even  unusual  number  and  quality. 

The  center  of  the  site  of  the  old  stockade  was  the  scene  of 
the  principal  exercises,  with  an  interesting  departure  from  it  to 
the  old  burying  ground,  where  the  mound  that  marks  the 
graves  of  the  victims  of  the  massacre  was  the  center  of  impres- 
sive services.  There  might  have  been  other  pilgrimages  to 
Memorial  Hall,  for  the  dedication  of  the  tablets  recently  placed 
there,  and  to  the  Bars  to  see  the  bowlder  just  now  taken  there 
and  inscribed  to  the  memory  of  Samuel  Allen  by  his  descend- 
ants, but  the  dedicatory  journey  was  taken  only  in  imagina- 
tion, the  service  of  blessing  the  stones  being  made  a  part  of  the 
exercises  on  the  common  with  Dr.  Lyman  Whiting  very  fit- 
tingly filling  the  place  of  dedicator. 

The  sound  of  the  fife  and  drum  called  the  people  together 
around  the  speakers'  stand  which  had  been  erected  on  the  com- 
mon. Here  near  a  fiag  raised  for  the  day  was  a  placard  an- 
nouncing that  it  stood  at  about  the  center  of  the  palisaded  fort 
of  1703-4  and  that  the  inclosure  was  about  60  rods  north  and 
south  and  40  rods  wide.  With  this  to  guide  them  and  the 
speaking  of  the  day  to  portray  the  conditions  and  events  of  the 
day  commemorated,  the  people  were  both  physically  and  in 
spirit  at  the  very  heart  of  Deerfield's  most  tragic  event. 


382  Meld 

The  ^^  keynote  of  the  day  "  was  straok  by  George  Sheldon, 
who  proveB  that  he  has  no  small  measore  left  to  sapport  him 
in  carrying  out  the  designs  his  mind  is  still  fertile  in,  by  mak- 
ing the  arrangements  for  the  day  in  detail,  and  then  presiding 
over  a  considerable  part  of  the  exercises.  Mr.  Sheldon  did  not 
venture  far  into  the  history  of  the  day  but  with  the  mastery  of 
it  which  he  above  all  others  possesses  gave  it  its  proper  setting  in 
the  wide  sweep  of  the  period's  events. 

Mr.  Sheldon  continued  to  preside  throughout  the  morning, 
turning  the  task  over  to  Judge  F.  M.  Thompson  for  the  Httm- 
noon.  After  his  ^^  keynote "  he  called  upon  Bev.  R  K  Birks, 
the  present  minister  of  the  old  church,  to  make  the  invoca- 
tion. It  was  a  prayer  for  the  continued  interest  of  the 
people  in  the  days  and  deeds  of  the  fathers  and  the  blessing  of 
Ood  on  the  town  whose  beginnings  were  so  costly  and  so 
fateful. 

The  formal  address  of  welcome  was  given  by  H.  0.  Parsons 
of  Oreenfield,  one  of  the  councilors  of  the  Association.  He  con- 
trasted the  conditions  in  Deerfield  on  the  most  tragic  night  in 
New  England  history  and  at  the  present  time,  and  assured  a 
hearty  welcome  to  all  who  had  come  through  the  open  gates 
of  the  palisades  to-day.  He  sketched  the  Association's  work 
and  paid  a  tribute  to  Mr.  Sheldon. 

Following  this  a  choir  under  the  direction  of  Charles  H. 
Ashley  sang  with  spirit,  Longfellow's  ^'  Ship  of  State." 

The  address  by  Prof.  Edwin  A.  Orosvenor  of  Amherst,  the 
principal  one  of  the  day,  was  a  stirring  speech  on  the  Colonial 
Conquest,  a  subject  which  he  treated  with  strength  and  elo- 
quence. 

Then  followed  the  dedication  of  the  new  memorials.  Dr. 
Whiting  speaking  eloquently  of  their  teaching.  They  included 
four  tablets  in  MemorLekl  Hall,  one  presented  by  Ez-Yioe  Presi- 
dent Morton  in  memory  of  his  ancestor,  Samson  Frary;  one 
from  Marshall  Field  of  Chicago,  to  Zechariah  Field;  one  to 
Nathaniel  Sutcliffe,  by  B.  H.  Sutliffe  (as  now  spelled)  of  Con- 
necticut, and  one  to  Gk)dfrey  Kims,  by  Franklin  A.  Nims  of 
Colorado.  A  bowlder  at  the  Bars,  erected  to  honor  Samuel 
Allen  was  included  in  the  dedication.  The  audience  was  made 
up  in  very  large  part  by  visitors  from  the  towns  up  and  down 
the  valley. 

The  comet  playing  by  Major  Frank  Hutchins  was  a  feature 


JPiOd  MeeHng—190S.  888 

of  the  morning.  He  played  patriotic  airs  from  an  upper  win- 
dow of  the  academy  building,  at  the  back  of  the  common  and 
they  were  very  effective  and  romidly  cheered. 

After  loncheon,  served  under  the  trees,  the  line  of  march  was 
formed  to  the  old  burying  ground,  where  there  was  music  and 
brief  exercises.  Miss  C.  Alice  Baker's  paper  was  a  r6sum6  of 
the  lives  of  some  of  the  eariy  planters,  buried  there,  the  his- 
toric events  that  led  to  the  sacking  of  Deerfield,  and  of  the 
persons  killed  or  captured  February  29, 1703-4.  She  described 
in  her  graphic  style  the  old  Street  and  its  inhabitants  and  the 
massacre  and  succeeding  days.  In  closing  she  made  a  stirring 
plea  for  peace,  in  town  and  church  and  state. 

Thb  Aftbbnoon'b  Spbakino. 

The  rain  which  began  soon  after  noon  turned  the  audience 
into  a  congregation — ^from  the  open  air  to  the  pews  of  the  old 
brick  meetinghouse.  Here  Judge  F.  M.  Thompson  presided 
and  called  from  an  unusually  rich  list  of  speakers ;  among  these 
was  Hon.  Alfred  S.  Eoe  of  Worcester. 

Arthur  Lord,  president  of  the  Pilgrim  Society  of  Plymouth, 
gave  a  deeply  impressive  address.  He  pictured  the  scene  in  the 
"  common  house "  at  Plymouth  when  Governor  Carver  and 
Massasoit  met  there  for  treaty-making  and  noted  that  from 
that  time  until  King  Philip's  War,  54  years  later,  the  English 
did  not  possess  a  foot  of  land  in  the  colony  that  was  not  fairly 
obtained.  Mr.  Lord  linked  the  Plymouth  days  with  the  early 
days  of  Deerfield. 

Bev.  Francis  B.  Denio  of  the  Bangor  Theological  Seminary, 
and  a  descendant  of  Aaron  Denio  of  Oreenfield,  then  spoke.  He 
asked  permission  to  speak  for  the  many  descendants  of  Deerfield, 
who  had  never  seen  the  place  or  its  people,  and  whose  knowl- 
edge of  it  is  confined  to  second-hand  information.  He  was 
proud  of  his  ancestry,  and  he  brought  a  message  of  gratitude 
jbo  the  historical  workers  of  Deerfield  for  their  preservation  of 
all  this  mass  of  historic  information,  which  enabled  many  de- 
scendants like  himself  to  learn  their  own  &mily  traditions.  He 
was  thankful  for  the  work  that  had  kept  bright  and  glowing 
the  memory  of  the  early  heroism  and  tragedy. 

Judge  Thompson  then  introduced  General  Francis  Appleton 
of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  as  a  representative  of  the 
^^  Flower  of  Essex  "  and  a  descendant  of  the  Capt  Samuel  Apple- 


884  Fidd  MeetixLg—\WiZ. 

ton  who  came  up  to  the  Deerfield  valley  as  a  oommander  of  the 
pioneer  forces.  Gten.  Appleton  spoke  of  the  rnral  surroundings 
of  historic  places  and  paid  an  eloquent  tribute  to  President 
Sheldon.  He  brought  the  greeting  of  the  old  Essex  Institute, 
which  is  engaged  in  much  the  same  w<H*k  as  the  P.  Y.  M.  A. 

Dr.  H.  D.  Holton  of  Brattleboro,  who  has  been  a  frequent 
attendant  at  the  field  meetings,  was  called  upon  to  speak  for 
Yermont.  He  spoke  of  his  home  town  as  the  base  of  opera- 
tions of  the  French  and  Indians  against  Deerfield.  The  prin- 
ciples of  our  fathers  sometimes  leave  an  impression  of  bigotry, 
but  in  reality  their  lives  were  founded  on  llie  teachings  of  the 
great  Master.  Children  were  brought  up  to  obey  God  and 
their  parents,  to  be  useful  and  to  perform  the  duties  of  life.  He 
referred  to  the  Smith  charities  as  a  fine  example  of  the  Puritan 
spirit  manifested  by  a  descendant  of  the  Puritans.  He  thought 
modem  life  has  so  many  distractions  as  to  interfere  with  true 
home  life.  There  is  too  much  reading  of  newspapers,  too  little 
time  for  instruction  of  the  children.  He  spoke  of  the  boy 
who  said  that  when  he  was  bom  his  mother  had  gone  to  the 
club,  and  there  was  no  one  at  home  but  grandmother. 

Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock  made  a  characteristic  address  in  which 
he  proved  himself  a  loyal  grandson  of  Deerfield,  and  a  true  son 
of  his  father,  Edward  Hitchcock,  the  eminent  scientist  and  Presi- 
dent of  Amherst  college. 

B  H.  Sutlifle,  who  gave  one  of  the  memorial  tablets,  was 
on  the  platform,  but  declined  to  speak. 

Frederick  G.  Bauer  of  the  Old  South  Historical  Society  paid 
a  tribute  to  the  Puritans.  He  disliked  the  patronizing  tone  com- 
mon to-day  of  those  who  say  that  the  Puritans  must  be  judged 
in  the  light  of  their  own  times,  and  he  declared  that  the  Puri- 
tans need  no  apology  and  will  stand  high  judged  by  the  stand- 
ards of  any  time.  The  notion  that  they  ill-treated  the  Indians 
had  been  shown  to  be  so  thoroughly  false  by  the  speakers  of 
the  morning,  that  he  need  not  refer  to  it.  It  is  also  charged 
that  the  Puritans  were  intolerant.  One  has  said  that  the  schis- 
matics whom  they  expelled  sought  the  overthrow  of  the  colony 
and  were  only  expelled  because  they  had  been  guilty  of  seditious 
utterances.  Mr.  Bauer  urged  the  study  of  history,  not  merely 
because  it  is  a  pleasant  and  instmctive  avocation,  but  because 
history  is  the  chart  and  compass  of  life  and  enables  us  to 
breathe  in  the  spirit  of  the  pioneers.    He  eulogized  the  Puri- 


Keynote  of  the  Day.  385 

tans  of  Cromwell's  time,  showing  that  a  large  part  of  the  prog- 
ress in  English  political  life  for  the  past  200  years  had  been 
merely  the  realizing  in  permanent  constitutional  form  the  prin- 
ciples laid  down  by  Cromwell  and  his  followers. 

Col.  Kittredge  Haskins  of  Brattleboro  spoke  of  the  changes 
since  he  had  passed  through  Old  Deerfield  Street,  and  expressed 
his  pleasure  in  visiting  the  old  historic  spots.  He  then  spoke 
of  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  discovery  that  had  been  charac 
teristic  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  Had  they  been  content  to 
stay  in  Deerfield  there  would  have  never  been  the  nation  of 
to^y.  But  they  pushed  on  conquering  the  West,  spreading  to 
the  Pacific,  acquiring  Hawaii,  freeing  Cuba  from  Spain's  yoke, 
and  lastly  spreading  to  the  Philippines,  where  they  would  give 
the  people  a  freer  government  than  they  had  ever  known  before. 
Dr.  Frederic  Corss  of  Kingston,  Pa.,  then  spoke  briefly.  A 
telegram  was  read  from  Franklin  Asa  Nims  of  Greeley,  Colo. 

Among  the  many  visitors  to  Deerfield,  special  mention  may 
be  made  of  Mrs.  Taft,  mother  of  Judge  Taf t,  the  president  of 
the  Philippines  Commission.  Her  home  is  now  in  Millbury  and 
she  accompanied  Mrs.  Grosvenor,  her  cousin,  to  Deerfield  for 
the  day.  Bev.  Thomas  A.  Emerson  of  the  Wakefield  Histori- 
cal society.  Miss  Ellen  Chase  of  Brookline,  one  of  the  Founders 
of  the  association  known  as  the  Trustees  of  Public  Besarva- 
tions  of  Massachusetts,  Mrs.  Kittredge  Haskins  of  Brattleboro 
and  Mrs.  Gk)odrich  of  Korth  Adams  of  the  Fort  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society. 

J.  H.  Burdaldn  of  the  Dedham  Historical  Society  and 
Sheriff  Capen  of  Norfolk  county  were  companion  visitors. 


ADDRESS  OF  GEORGE  SHELDON. 

Ladiee  and  gentlemen^  friends  a/iid  ei/rangere^  fellow  memhera 
of  the  Pocumtuch  VaUey  Memorial  Association : — We  meet 
this  day  in  the  valley  from  which  we  take  our  name,  and  upon 
the  very  rood  where  occurred,  two  centuries  ago,  the  tragic 
event  upon  which  was  founded  our  Memorial  Association.  Just 
ono-third  of  a  century  ago  we  adopted  measures  to  give  this 
Association  a  habitation  and  a  name.  Our  declared  object  was 
the  keeping  in  remembrance  the  lives  and  the  deeds  of  our  fore- 
fathers and  our  foremothers.  The  day  fixed  for  our  annual 
25 


886  Fidd  Meeting— 190Z. 

meeting  was  the  anniversaiy  of  the  most  memorable  event  ever 
enacted  in  the  Pocumtuck  valley,  the  fateful  day  of  February  29, 
1703--4  which  has  now  become  familiar  to  us  all  as  Memc»rial 
Day,  and  the  bi-oentennial  of  which  we  now  conmiemorate. 

This  is  not  a  day  for  rejoicing,  and,  save  for  our  heritage,  we 
do  not  rejoice.  It  is  not  a  day  for  sadness.  Time  has  softened 
the  horrors  of  that  terrible  day,  and  we  are  not  sad. 

We  gather  quietly  in  the  shade  of  these  beautiful  trees,  know- 
ing that  their  roots  penetrate  the  blood-soaked  soil,  and  try  to 
recall  dimly  the  shocking  scenes  of  200  years  ago,  contrasting 
then  and  now,  while  we  draw  lessons  for  our  own  guidance. 

The  founders  of  Pocumtuck  were  of  the  second  and  third 
generation  from  the  Puritan.  Spreading  westward  over  the 
vast  extent  of  virgin  soil  and  interminable  forest  it  was  inevit^ 
able  that  their  minds  should  expand.  They  were  less  austere 
than  the  emigrants.  They  were  an  honest  yeomanry  who  came 
to  this  fertile  valley  to  better  their  estate  and  to  found  a  church 
in  the  wilderness.  Ko  glamour  of  romance  shines  about  their 
coming.  They  claimed  to  wear  no  crown  of  martyrdom.  They 
were  6od-f earing  men,  filled  with  a  faith  and  a  trust  that  never 
&iled  them.  When  the  hour  of  trial  came,  their  manliness  was 
put  to  the  test  and  was  not  found  wanting. 

We  honor  our  ancestors  for  their  bravery  and  steadfastness ; 
we  sympathize  with  them  in  their  sufferings,  and  are  grateful  to 
them  for  the  results — which  are  ours.  They  filled  that  measure 
which  the  world  of  to-day  demands  as  the  price  of  its  homage 
— ^they  were  successful. 

We  meet  here  to-day  in  vain  if  we  are  not  stronger  for  their 
strength,  and  more  faithful,  persevering,  industrious  and  eco- 
nomical for  their  example. 

Say  that  the  Pilgrim  and  Puritan  were  bigots,  bound  in 
chains  of  superstition,  seeking  expansion  for  themselves  only, 
and  intolerant  of  others.  This  cannot  be  denied.  But  speak- 
ing broadly  in  the  perspective  of  the  centuries,  this  otber  fact 
remains :  we  see  in  them  a  people  sifted  out  from  the  deeper 
darkness  and  despotism  which  they  left  behind  them  in  Old 
England :  we  see  them  as  the  pioneers  and  the  vanguard  of 
civil  and  religious  freedom  for  the  nations. 

It  is  no  less  trite  than  true  to  say  they  planted  better  than 
they  knew ;  that  for  them  the  harvest  never  ripened.  It  is 
eqtially  true  that : 


Address  of  Welcome.  887 

But  for  the  woes  and  tolls  our  fathers  bore 
In  the  stem,  sad  centuries  gone  before, 

not  for  us  would  the  tree  of  liberty  be  growing  broadcast  in  the 
land,  not  for  us  would  the  clouds  of  superstition  have  become 
so  thin,  not  for  us  the  horizon  be  so  bright  with  the  promise  of 
free  speech  and  untrammeled  thought. 

I  welcome  you  all  to  this  historic  spot,  but  the  formal  wel- 
come of  the  hour  will  be  given  by  another. 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 

BY  HON.  HEHBBRT  0.  PABSONS  OF  OBBBNFIBLD. 

Human  fancy  can  picture  no  more  unwelcome  visitor  than  he 
whose  tomahawk  beat  upon  the  stout  door  of  the  Sheldon  house 
on  the  night  of  February  29, 1703-4.  It  would  be  daring,  in 
even  this  hospitable  moment,  to  say  that  the  guest  who  passes 
through  the  open  gate  of  the  palisades  we  rebuild  in  memory 
to-day,  were  welcome  in  the  same  measure  that  the  savage  in- 
truder was  abhorrent. 

But  this  is  a  day  of  tremendous  contrasts.  Against  the  darkest 
background  the  history  of  New  England  frontier  can  furnish 
we  assemble  to-day,  a  group  of  people  whose  faces  tell  the  story 
of  content  and  joy  in  the  blessed  conditions  of  our  modem  life. 
The  choice  of  this  fair  midsummer  day  for  the  study  and  com- 
memoration of  the  occurrences  of  the  night  when  the  severities 
of  deep  winter  were  to  add  to  the  torture  of  its  hateful  business 
itself  deepens  the  lines  of  contrast.  To  another  and  master  hand 
is  left  the  task  of  drawing  the  picture  of  that  hideous  night  and 
placing  against  it  the  calm,  the  peace,  the  security  and  the  hap- 
piness of  this  bright  day.  But  let  me  use  the  sombre  back- 
ground for  the  cordial  greeting  to  Deerfield. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  the  Pocumtuck  Valley  Memorial 
Association  has  been  going  about  its  annual  visits  to  the  towns 
of  the  old  frontier  and  receiving  the  salutations  of  the  people. 
Its  procedure  has  kept  singularly  close  to  the  programme  of  its 
first  open-air  meeting,  but  there  is  one  change  which  has  a  clear 
significance.  For  years  the  form  was  adhered  to  of  impressing 
into  the  act  of  extending  a  welcome  some  resident  of  the  neigh- 
borhood visited.    To  his  always  cordial  words,  a  chosen  official 


888  Udd  Meeting— 190i. 

of  the  society  would  respond.  It  was  always  a  cheering  and 
edifying  spectacle. 

But  now  the  Association  has  been  so  many  times  assured  of 
its  w^comeness  that  it  takes  it  for  granted  and  commits  to  one 
speaker  both  the  extending  of  the  cordial  hand  and  the  return- 
ing grasp  of  gratefulness.  The  dialogue  has  become  a  soliloquy. 
In  one  voice  is  spoken  the  ^^Come  in,  we  are  glad  to  see  you  " 
of  the  old  Kew  England  style  of  greeting  and  the  ^^  Thank  you, 
we  will ;  how  kind  and  how  good  you  are.''  It  is  the  Associa- 
tion taking  itself  by  the  hand  or,  not  waiting  for  the  flattering 
word  of  approval  it  has  learned  to  expect,  patting  itself  on  the 
back  as  altogether  the  worthiest  guest  to  pull  the  municipal 
latchstring. 

Ko  one  will  arise,  I  am  sure,  to  deny  that  this  self -pride 
is  warranted.  The  Association  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  the 
conservator  of  the  history  and  traditions  of  this  fruitful  portion 
of  New  England.  In  the  first  year  of  its  being  it  went  to  the 
field  where  Capt.  Turner  gave  the  Indians  their  historic  sur- 
prise. Presently  it  raised  its  first  memorial  on  a  spot  closely 
associated  with  the  event  we  recall  to-day,  the  scene  of  the 
death  of  Eunice  Williams.  It  nobly  celebrated  the  valor  of 
Capt.  Lothrop  and  his  men  and  their  fall  at  Bloody  Brook.  It 
helped  Northfield  to  celebrate  fittingly  her  two  hundredth  birth- 
day. And  so,  in  annual  pilgrimages,  it  has  visited  one  after  an- 
other the  scenes  of  memorable  frontier  events.  It  has  touched 
the  soil  of  the  earlier  towns  and  left  its  impress — perhaps  in 
memorials  of  stone,  always  in  a  revival  of  interest  in  their  his- 
tory, and,  best  of  all,  in  the  permanent  form  of  the  printed  page 
bearing  liie  researches  of  the  students  it  has  raised  up.  Shel- 
bume  and  Charlemont,  Montague,  Sunderland,  Erving,  Bernards- 
ton,  Ashfield,  Gill,  Leverett,  Whately  and  Oolerain  have  felt  its 
awakening  presence.  It  has  ventured  once  over  the  border  into 
Vermont  to  help  define  the  bounds  of  Fort  Dummer,  and  it  has 
gone  down  into  Hampshire  to  link  the  history  of  Hatfield  with 
that  of  the  towns  in  younger  Franklin.  Its  path  is  marked 
by  the  memorial  stones  it  has  raised.  It  has  inspired  the  his- 
toric pen  and  noble  histories  of  the  towns  that  have  come  forth 
to  testify  to  its  work. 

And  now  it  returns  to  Old  Deerfield.  This  is  its  home.  Here 
is  its  treasure  house.  Here  it  gathers  by  the  hearthstone  of  the 
man  who  was  its  founder,  has  been  its  strong  inspiring,  oft- 


Addre$B  of  Weloome.  889 

times  oorreotiiig  bat  always  leading  and  enoonraging  guide.  It 
has  a  right  to  welcome  itself  and  its  gaests  here,  if  anywhere. 
If  the  Association  owes  a  debt  to  Mr.  Sheldon — ^the  debt  for  its 
very  existence — ^it  owes  a  greater  one  as  trustee  for  the  people, 
to  whom  he  has  given  priceless  work. 

Looking  back  to  the  beginnings  of  the  Association's  life  we  find 
that  of  the  men  who  constituted  its  numerous  first  corps  of  offi- 
cers, but  two  survive, — ^Mr.  Sheldon  and  James  M.  Crafts.  Mr. 
Sheldon,  we  insist,  is  not  older  now  than  then.  The  proof ! 
Let  it  be  found  in  the  fact  that  this  celebration  to-day  is  his 
work.  He  planned  it,  he  framed  its  programme,  he  carried  on 
the  correspondence  which  has  brought  here  such  an  array  of 
gifted  men  laden  with  gems  which  they  shall  presently  display 
for  your  delight,  as  perhaps,  never  before  gathered  at  his  call, 
and  he  is  here  presiding,  directing  and  inspiring. 

When  the  worthy  president  reaches  his  one  hundredth  birth- 
day and  proves  by  his  alertness  and  soundness  that  he  belongs 
to  that  minority  of  this  earth's  being  which  Dr.  Holmes  de- 
scribed as 

Little  we  have  and  value  here 
Wakes  on  the  mom  of  its  hundredth  year 
Without  looking  and  feeling  queer, — 

when  Mr.  Sheldon  reaches  that  point,  and  concludes  that  the 
remainder  of  his  Uf e  must  be  free  from  the  burden  of  making 
plans  for  field  days  for  himself  to  execute,  I  can  imagine  that 
the  presidency  of  the  P.  V.  M.  A.  will  be  so  generally  recog- 
nized as  the  assurance  of  longevity  that  there  will  be  nothing 
less  than  a  stupendous  struggle  for  the  distinction — and  the  ad- 
vantage— of  being  his  successor.  The  campaign  is  not  now 
open — we  have  our  ever  young  president  for  years  of  service 
yet. 

The  Association  has  wrought  richly.  It  has  wrought  perma- 
nently. It  has  illumined  the  fading  pages  of  the  past  and  re- 
written them  with  truth.  It  has  taught  the  youth  of  the  pres- 
ent a  lesson  of  humility  and  gratitude.  It  has  put  a  new  value 
on  citizenship  in  these  towns  of  painful  birth.  It  has  held  up 
the  sturdy  manhood  of  the  early  days  as  both  a  lesson  and  an 
inspiration.  And  it  is  impossible  that  it  shall  not  have  taught 
a  sounder  patriotism. 

Visitors  to  Old  Deerfield,  from  near  and  far,  you  are  heartily 


390  FiOd  Meeting— 19QZ. 

weloome  here  to-day,  to  this  historic  ground,  to  the  aocamih 
lated  stores  of  the  Association's  work,  to  the  evidences  of  Deer- 
field's  new  birth  of  industry  and  enterprise.  For  you,  [taming 
now  to  Mr.  Sheldon]  yon  will  grant  me  the  privilege  of  extend- 
ing our  congratulations  upon  your  achievements  and  your  per- 
manent youth. 


ADDEE8S  OF  DE.  EDWIN  A.  GROSVENOR  OF 

AMHERST. 

The  Old  Home  Week  is  the  most  precious  period  in  the  life  of 
a  historic  town.  In  the  decking  of  a  Thanksgiving  board  the 
brightest  ornaments  are  the  faces  of  children  and  children's 
children.  The  mother  counts  no  flowers  fairer  than  her  chil- 
dren's forms ;  she  knows  no  music  sweeter  than  their  voices. 
Those  whose  daily  life  is  cast  in  other  scenes,  and  those  who 
still  abide  beneath  the  &mily  roof-tree,  are  alike  dear  and  weir 
come  in  her  sight. 

From  widely  sundered  fields  of  thought  and  action,  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  Deerfield  gather  here  to-day  at  their  mother's 
call.  Many  of  them  bear  the  old  names,  f  aniiliar  in  the  records 
of  the  town  and  of  New  England.  In  the  veins  of  all  of  them 
courses  blood,  transmitted  from  pioneers  and  builders  of  the 
state  and  nation.  Nor  do  they  come  as  merely  passive  heirs  of 
a  proud  inheritance.  The  old,  homebred  virtues  of  industry, 
of  honesty,  of  integrity,  were  well  taught  here,  have  been  since 
transmitted,  and  are  still  maintained.  In  philanthropy,  in  art, 
in  poetry,  in  belles  lettres,  in  romance,  in  the  noblest  spheres  of 
human  culture  and  activity,  in  the  home  life  and  the  life  outside 
the  home,  the  children  of  Deerfield  are  doing  their  work  as 
faithfully  and  as  well  as  their  grandfathers  and  grandmothers 
performed  theirs  in  the  battle  and  the  siege.  Fidelity  of  service 
on  the  part  of  descendants  is  the  grandest  and  most  eloquent 
monument  to  the  character  and  influence  of  progenitors. 

Deerfield,  moreover,  has  given  birth  to  towns.  Greenfield, 
celebrating  a  few  weeks  since  its  hundred  and  fifty  years  of 
prosperous  maturity,  is  her  child.  So  too  are  Conway  and  Shel- 
bume.  Deerfield,  Greenfield,  Conway  and  Sbelburne,  animated 
by  the  same  initial  spirit  and  united  in  the  tradition  of  many 
ties,  are  partakers  in  a  common  renown.    Still  at  the  center  of 


Address  of  Edwin  A.  Chosvenor.  891 

the  four,  Deerfield  sits  as  queen.  On  the  soil  she  still  retains, 
she  was  working  out  her  immortality  during  the  eighty-four 
years  before  any  of  her  township  offspring  were  bom. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  extol  or  even  to  name  the  living.  Or- 
dinary words  of  praise,  however  well  deserved,  for  the  men  and 
women  on  whose  faces  we  are  gazing,  would  be  inappropriate 
on  this  occasion.  Yet  there  is  one,  without  whose  presence— 
though  all  the  rest  of  us  were  here — ^this  memorial  celebration 
would  be  incomplete.  Upon  the  Honorable  George  Sheldon 
this  company  looks  with  admiring  gratitude  and  reverent  affec- 
tion. As  long  as  the  name  of  Deerfield  lasts,  so  long  will  his 
fame  and  the  memory  of  his  services  endure.  By  book  and  pen, 
preserver  and  custodian  of  the  past ;  author  of  a  monumental 
history ;  himself  adding  new  lustre  to  his  illustrious  ancestral 
line;  venerable  in  learning,  vigorous  in  intellect,  warm  and 
youthful  in  heart ;  we  hail  him  as  patriot  and  sage,  as  the 
teacher  and  inspirer  of  us  alL 

We  commemorate  to-day  the  most  tragic  event  in  the  history 
of  Kew  England.  Yet  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  that 
history  was  one  continuous  tragedy.  It  differed  from  and  sur- 
passed any  tragedy  ever  presented  upon  the  stage. 

The  tn^gedy  of  New  England  began  before  1620.  It  went 
on  until  1760.  It  ceased  only  when  the  last  Indian  within  its 
borders  had  been  rendered  powerless  for  harm,  and  when  the 
last  Canadian  foe  had  been  subdued.  It  was  limited  to  no  sin- 
gle hamlet  or  river  or  shore.  Let  some  one  of  the  schoolgirls 
or  schoolboys  hang  up  here  before  us  a  large  map  of  New  Eng- 
land. At  each  point,  wherever  in  the  early  days  there  was 
famine  or  outrage  or  distress,  wherever  there  was  midnight  as- 
sault or  massacre,  wherever  smoke  arose  from  burning  homes 
or  moaning  of  captured  survivors  was  heard  over  butchered 
dead,  wherever  in  forest  or  harvest  field,  at  spring  or  hearth- 
stone, man,  woman  or  child  was  stricken  down  remorseless — 
let  him  mark  a  star.  Beginning  from  the  east  and  proceeding 
westward,  those  marks  will  crowd  upon  one  another,  grow  co- 
terminous, and  the  map  itself  become  one  eloquent,  appealing 
blur.  Let  those  marks  be  made  in  red.  The  lakes  and  the 
ponds  will  be  crimsoned.  The  Penobscot,  the  Kennebec,  the 
Merrimac,  the  Nashua,  the  Quaboag,  the  Westfield,  the  Deer- 
field  rivers,  all  of  them  will  seem  like  larger  Bloody  Brooks, 
carrying  ensanguined  waters  toward  the  sea. 


398  Fidd  Meetimg—VWl. 

Our  bmti  giov  eoid: 

We  tigjid^  hold 
Ths  ri^itB  wliieli  bn^e  moi  cfiod  to 

The  Aze,  the  evonl. 

The  eteke,  the  eavd, 
Qrim  mueee  a4  the  birth  of  pern. 

We  flit  here  t<Hlay  in  elegant  ease.  The  rustle  of  benigmiift 
trees^  the  note  of  gladsome  birds,  the  whir  of  the  electiic  car 
— ^its  rush  procdaiming  that  the  most  titanic  of  Natore's  f ovoeB 
has  been  harnessed  for  oar  coQTenience  and  comfort — alone 
disturb  the  stillness.  No  danger  Inrics  in  the  woods  or  threat- 
ens  from  the  hills.  Onr  streams  ^de  crystal  and  clear.  Xo 
fOTeign  enemy  desires  to  make  the  trial  of  oor  ma jestic  strength. 
O^er  OS  stretches  the  shield  of  equal  and  universal  law.  In 
a  bounteous  land,  which  the  children  of  the  East  call  ^  God^ 
country,^  we  dwell  serena 

The  overflowing  price  of  it  all  was  paid  in  that  tragedy 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  years.  The  Bevolutionary  War  bat 
affixed  the  seal  to  what  was  already  won.  The  myths  and 
legends,  wrapped  around  the  founding  of  other  states — Athens, 
Carthage,  Bome — ^fade  to  insignificance  in  comparison.  The 
wide  earth  over,  there  has  been  no  fairy  tale  of  any  political 
birth  since  time  began,  to  rival  the  authentic  record  of  the 
birth  of  New  England. 

The  story  of  Deerfield  is  at  once  typical  and  unique.  Typi- 
cal, in  that  it  represents  every  politick  phase  in  the  planting 
and  establishment  of  an  early  New  England  town.  Typical, 
in  that  its  founders  endured  every  experience  of  self-sacri- 
fice, hardship,  suffering,  agony,  that  hallows  the  memory  of 
onr  colonial  settlements  and  makes  their  names  holy.  Typical, 
in  that  those  founders,  living  or  dying,  were  faithful  and  tri- 
umphant, alike  in  life  or  death,  and  have  built  the  principles 
for  which  they  lived  and  died  into  the  permanent  fabric  of  our 
national  estate.  Typical,  in  that  we  may  turn  to  old,  heroic 
Deerfield  and  ask  and  receive  an  answer  as  to  why  the  Ameri- 
can people  are  strong  and  Ood-fearing  to-day. 

But,  while  typical,  the  story  is  no  less  unique. 

Unique,  because  the  tale  of  that  one  town,  which  was  thrust 
farthest  into  the  unknown,  wild  territory  of  the  northwest  and 
which  was  more  exposed  than  any  other  in  Massachusetts  in 
the  warpath  of  the  Indian  and  the  Frenchman.    Unique,  in 


Address  of  £dwin  A.  Gfrosvenor.  393 

that  during  more  than  fifty  years  it  was  the  often  desolated, 
the  sometimes  destroyed,  and  yet  the  always  resurrected,  the 
always  enduring  bulwark  of  the  Commonwealth.  Unique,  in 
the  intensity  and  long  continuance  of  its  people's  suffering  and 
of  their  dauntless  endurance.  Unique,  in  the  quenchless  reso- 
lution of  the  survivors,  that,  however  their  numbers  shrank  and 
however  the  death-roll  lengthened,  they,  the  living,  would  not 
desert  the  spot  which  their  fellow-colonists  and  God  had  trusted 
them  to  guard. 

The  history  of  Massachusetts  has  always  been  packed  full  of 
heroisms.    All  over  her  tormented  soil. 

Great  deeds  and  feelings  find  a  home, 
That  put  in  shadow  ail  the  golden  lore 
Of  classic  Greece  and  Rome. 

The  Old  Home  Week  in  Deerfield  in  1901,  whoever  was  pres- 
ent never  can  forget.  Nature  conspired  with  man  to  render 
the  scene  both  memorable  and  beautiful.  One  might  roam  over 
the  world  in  vain  for  a  spectacle  more  entrancing  than  the 
spacious  street,  over  which  the  giant  elms  bent  their  outstretched 
arms  in  blessing.  At  the  formal  exercises  there  were  glowing 
utterances  from  orators  and  poets  but  the  spirit  of  the  occasion 
in  its  unspoken  eloquence  transcended  words. 

In  the  funeral  hymn  of  a  dead  American  president,  a  Oala- 
had  in  virtue  and  a  Launcelot  in  valor,  who  never  fought  save 
in  a  righteous  cause,  occurs  the  line.  ^^  Let  him  pass  with  his 
sword  to  the  presence  of  God."  And  so  from  the  lonely  grave 
at  Bloody  Brook  and  from  the  swelling  mound  in  the  graveyard, 
but  a  few  rods  away,  their  long-rusted  weapons  in  their  still 
clutching  fingers,  may  our  colonist  soldiers  who  fought  the 
savage  pass  to  the  presence  of  God.  For  nowhere  on  the 
earth's  surface  did  men  ever  strive  harder  to  act  justly  and  to 
do  right  than,  during  the  first  100  years  of  Massachusetts  his- 
tory, did  the  colonists  of  Massachusetts  by  the  Indian. 

Their  scrupulous,  even  excessive  care,  to  treat  the  savage  as  a 
man,  to  avoid  an  infringement  upon  his  rights,  or  a  shock  to 
his  prejudices,  or  a  wound  to  his  pride,  often  provokes  a  smile 
as  one  reads  the  early  colonial  records. 

Beligious  fervor  spurred  the  Puritans  on.  Apostles  no  less 
than  pioneers,  they  deemed  it  their  mission  to  Christianize  the 
native  tribes.    Even  where  they  could  not  convert  they  sought 


394  FiOd  Meeting— 1903. 

to  foroe  the  oatward  life  of  the  Indian  into  conformity  with 
their  own  rigid  code  of  morals  and  Ufa  In  the  mind  of  the 
nnregenerate  savage,  each  proselyte  to  Christianity  was  a 
traitor  to  his  people.  Often,  when  about  to  sign  a  treaty,  he 
begged  for  the  insertion  of  a  promise  that  all  further  effort  at 
his  conversion  should  be  renounced.  The  iron  conscience  of  the 
time  could  answer  only  with  a  relentless  ^^  No".  Statecraft  would 
have  prompted  a  different  reply.  Having  regard  solely  to  their 
own  temporal  advantage  and  perhaps  to  the  temporal  advantage 
of  the  savage,  it  would  have  been  better  for  the  colonists  had 
they  left  the  primitive  forest  faith  unassailed. 

However  honestly  and  kindly  treated,  in  the  savage  breast 
there  was  certain  to  rankle  suspicion  of  the  stranger  and  jeal- 
ousy at  bis  growing  strength.  Distrust  and  aversion  might 
smoulder  for  a  time.  At  last  they  were  sure  to  burst  into  those 
consuming  flames,  which  we  call  Indian  wars.  Perfect  justice, 
forbearance,  long  endurance  on  the  part  of  the  colonist^  could 
not  have  prevented  or  even  have  delayed  the  explosion. 
And  after  all,  the  colonists  were  but  men,  highminded  yet 
human. 

One  cannot  too  strongly  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  early 
colonists  respected  the  territorial  claims  of  the  Indian,  dealt 
justly  with  him,  and  sought  what  they  believed  his  good. 

We  must  always  lament  that  self-preservation  forced  the 
earlier  colonists  into  treaties,  not  merely  of  peace  but  of  alli- 
ance, offensive  and  defensive,  with  certain  native  tribes. 

Little  less  repulsive  was  the  Indian  as  an  ally  than  as  an 
enemy.  Fellowship  with  him  in  fight  must  have  seemed  as 
odious  then  as  it  now  seems  to  us.  Indian  warfare  meant  all 
that  is  cowardly  and  treacherous  and  merciless.  It  mattered 
not  whether  the  scalps,  his  proudest  badges  of  honor,  were  torn 
from  the  head  of  the  babe  or  the  maiden  or  from  a  festering 
corpse  or  from  a  still  resisting  warrior.  A  scalp  from  whatever 
source  was  equally  token  of  Indian  nature  and  trophy  of 
Indian  prowess.  In  the  darkness,  with  the  creep  of  a  panther 
rather  than  the  step  of  a  man,  he  stole  to  the  attack.  In  vic- 
tory he  submitted  to  no  restraint.  No  bounds  could  be  set  to 
his  inhuman  ferocity. 

Yet  with  such  aid  Captain  Mason  crushed  the  Pequods  and 
secured  partial  peace  for  a  generation.  With  such  aid  Edward 
Winslow  and  l^jor  Appleton  and  Major  Treat  broke  the  might 


Address  of  Edvsin  A.  Orosvenor.  396 

of  the  Narragansetts  and  blotted  the  Indian  as  an  independent 
factor  from  the  life  of  New  England. 

Necessity  knows  no  law.  Alliance  with  the  Indian  against 
the  Indian  was  at  the  start  an  absolute  bat  a  most  deplorable 
necessity  of  the  tuna  Between  snch  alliance  and  extermina- 
tion the  choice  lay.  Oar  fathers  chose  as  in  their  places  we 
woald  choose  oarselves. 

Bat  the  practice  no  less  to  be  lamented  becaase  inevitable, 
was  afterward  continued  for  the  sake  of  mere  advantage.  In 
subsequent  wars  in  America  the  odious  help  of  the  savage  was 
sought  and  employed  without  reserve  by  the  Europeans  against 
one  another.  This  was  done  by  all,  by  the  English  and  French 
colonists,  by  the  English  and  Americans  after  1776,  by  each 
no  more,  no  less,  according  as  opportunity  permitted. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  between  the  41st 
and  50th  parallels  of  north  latitude,  beside  the  Atlantic  coast, 
two  political  figures  stood  forth  distinct.  These  were  New 
England  and  New  France.  They  were  the  protagonists  in  the 
combat,  which  was  to  decide  whether  English  or  French  ideas 
should  dominate  North  America.  Both  had  been  set  up  by  men 
of  high  ideals  and  lofty  purposes.  Upon  the  fathers  of  Quebec 
and  Montreal  rests  a  halo  no  less  saintly  than  gilds  the  fathers 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Lsuiguage,  creed,  outward 
sign — minor  distinctions— differed,  but  in  each  there  was  the 
same  sincerity  and  intensity  of  conviction  and  the  same  devotion 
to  duty. 

Yet  in  the  character  of  the  two  colonies  the  first  100  years 
had  already  developed  an  essential  difference.  Favorites  of  the 
mother  country,  in  entire  sympathy  with  its  government  and 
national  church,  under  their  direct  control,  the  initiative  and 
dependence  of  the  French  colonist  was  in  the  court  at  Ver- 
sailles. Self-government  he  had  never  undertaken  or  desired. 
The  initiative  of  the  English  colonist  was  in  himself.  Upon 
himself  alone  was  his  actual  dependence.  The  real  government, 
that  which  concerned  and  touched  him,  was  of  his  own  mak- 
ing. 

In  1700  the  accession  of  a  Bourbon  king  to  the  throne  of 
Spain  and  the  arrogant  folly  of  Louis  XIY  convulsed  the  Old 
World  with  war.  The  leading  European  states  took  part. 
William  III  of  England  and  Louis  XIY  of  France  headed  the 
respective  sides.    This  conflict  is  known  in  Europe  as  the  War 


896  Field  Mee^g—19QZ. 

of  the  Spanish  Suooession,  aud  in  Amerioa  aa  the  Old  French 
and  Indian  war.  It  lasted  a  dozen  years.  It  drew  into  ito 
Yortez  New  England  and  Kew  France  and  hurled  them  against 
each  other. 

We  come  now  to  February  28, 1704,  200  years  ago.  The 
darkness  gathering  as  the  sun  of  that  winter  day  goes  down  is 
to  shroud  the  most  tragic  event  in  the  history  of  Kew  England. 
Yet  the  two-score  and  one  houses,  which  make  up  the  village 
of  Deerfield,  are  tranquil  and  stilL  Ominous  sounds,  a  few 
days  before,  had  been  imagined  in  the  night.  A  sort  of  tramp- 
ling noise  seemed  heard,  as  if  the  stockade  were  beset  by  In- 
dians. But  the  fancied  omens  may  well  be  forgotten.  The 
stealthy  foe  has  given  no  sign  of  possible  approach.  Montreal, 
whence  alone  danger  may  be  apprehended,  is  almost  300  miles 
away  and  there  are  no  hostile  posts  between. 

Moreover,  Deerfield,  bulwark  of  the  northwest,  is  strongly 
fortified  and  easy  of  defense.  The  26  houses  outside  the  stock- 
ade are  fortresses  no  less  than  dwellings.  The  stockade  itself 
is  well-nigh  impregnable  to  any  conceivable  attack.  The  in- 
habitants are  veterans,  versed  in  all  manner  of  Indian  warfare. 

Meanwhile  for  weeks  200  French  soldiers  and  140  Indians 
have  been  pushing  their  laborious  march  against  every  natural 
obstacle  toward  the  village. 

On  the  watch  at  Deerfield,  surely  faithful  in  the  ceaseless 
vigil,  hang  all  the  issues  of  this  night.  Nearer  and  nearer  creep 
the  sinuous  forms,  and  yet  no  warning  gun  is  fired,  no  warning 
shout  rings  out.  Over  the  drifted  snow  the  palisade  is  scaled. 
The  sudden  hideous  yell  startles  the  night  Two  hours  before 
morning  breaks  the  foe  has  reached  the  center  of  the  town. 

No  resistance  could  be  more  hopeless  or  more  heroic  than  that 
in  which  the  suddenly  wakened  men  and  women  engaged. 

Everywhere  there  was  the  same  determined  stand  but  almost 
nowhere  else  the  same  success.  For  three  hours  the  savage 
reaped  his  demoniac  harvest  of  captives  and  scalps.  Then  the 
victors  turned  to  their  triumphant  homeward  way.  At  sunset, 
February  28,  Deerfield  sheltered  291  souls  beneath  her  roof- 
trees.  When  the  next  sun  went  down,  44  of  that  little  com- 
pany were  lying  slain,  111  being  dragged  in  captivity  to  Can- 
ada—19  of  them  to  be  butchered  along  the  way — while  only 
136  remained  to  ransom  the  living  and  bewail  and  bury  the 
dead. 


Address  of  DedicoiUon.  397 

It  has  been  my  purpose  to  attempt  only  tbe  bare  outline  of  a 
heartrending  story.  Nor  have  I  sought  to  describe  the  pursuit 
of  the  enemy  by  a  handful  of  desperate  survivors,  nor  to  trace 
the  various  after-fate  of  the  captives,  nor  to  set  forth  the  gallant 
efforts  at  their  rescue. 

The  sack  of  Deerfield,  with  its  attendant  and  subsequent 
horrors,  looms  in  lurid  preeminence  above  all  kindred  events  in 
the  life  of  Massachusetts.  Here  the  utmost  limit  of  human 
capacity  for  suffering  was  reached.  Imagination  can  conceive 
no  agony  which  was  not  endured  here.  Nowhere  else  in  New 
England  in  such  acme  of  pain  and  anguish  were  so  many  human 
beings  involved. 

It  is  that  event,  in  accumulated  tragedy  without  peer,  which 
we  commemorate.  No  words  of  any  living  speaker  can  do 
justice  to  the  spirit  of  this  occasion.  What  I  have  said  is  uttered 
with  a  sense  of  diffidence  and  awe  which  I  cannot  express.  One 
may  well  hesitate  attempting  in  the  presence  of  children  to  touch 
upon  the  crowning  event  in  the  life^3tory  of  their  parents.  Ton 
are  the  living  representatives,  the  lineal  descendants  of  those 
who  died,  or  were  led  into  captivity,  or  remained  in  bereave- 
ment here.  On  your  faces,  in  the  strange  heredity  of  human 
nature,  exist  the  lineaments  of  your  distant  sires. 

Over  this  spot  hover  now  and  to  all  time  will  hover  figures 
we  call  departed.  Feet  in  silence  shod  glide  over  this  consecrated 
soil.  Unseen  hands  are  stretched  to  us  in  blessing  and  welcome. 
Invisible  listeners  in  the  viewless  air  catch  the  words  we  utter. 
Tread  lightly ;  speak  softly.  Our  feet  are  pressing  ground  that 
quivers  still.  In  the  heart  of  the  old  stockade  we  are  in  the  very 
presence  of  the  living  dead. 


ADDRESS  OF  DEDICATION. 

BY  BBV.  DB.    LTHAK  WHrTINO  OF  BAST  OHARLEMTOHT. 

Mr.  President^  Members  of  the  Poaamtuck  Valley  Memorial 
Association,  and  Friends: — We  to-day  assemble  to  trace  a 
few  sentences  of  our  tragic  history  in  a  form  unused  be- 
fore in  our  varied  memorials.  Back  from  first  historic  times, 
memorial  tablets  have  had  a  place.  They  are  a  simple,  brief 
lettering  upon  disks  or  plates  of  clay,  of  stone  or  metal,  mov 
able  or  fastened  upon  walls,  for  keeping  in  the  knowledge  of 


398  FiM  MeeUnff— 1908. 

men  those  who  have  done  something  worth  remembering,  or 
of  precepts  or  events  which  deserve  record.  The  two  tables 
given  upon  Mt.  Sinai  are  an  early  example.  To  the  prophet 
Habakkuky  600  b.  o.,  Jehovah  directs — ^^  Write  the  vision  and 
make  it  plain  upon  tablets  that  he  may  run  that  readeth 
it."  They  are  thus  keepsake  epitomes  of  lives  and  of  deeds, 
which  are  the  initials  of  human  history.  When  aflBb^ed  to  a 
building,  as  are  these,  they  are  termed  ^^  mural  tablets?^ 

Three  special  forms  of  service  may  be  found  in  them :  First, 
they  give  to  living  generations  a  reality  of  the  persons  and  events 
named  upon  them.  The  hazy,  empty  spaces  between  the  living 
and  the  long  departed  become  peopled  with  fellow  beings  in 
the  realities  of  life,  through  them.  And  not  this  alone.  They 
transmit  something  of  the  life  forces  they  tell  of,  into  the  souk  of 
those  who  preserve  and  peruse  them.  The  poet's  line,  "  They 
in  example  live,"  is  verified  through  them. 

Second,  they  thus  enlarge  and  enrich  the  lives  of  those  who  cher- 
ish them  by  recalling  the  virtues  and  worth  of  those  they  keep  in 
mind.  Our  lives  are  fuller  and  stronger  when  the  story  of  those 
gone  before  us  comes  into  our  conversation,  and  we  recount  the 
benefits  their  lives  and  deeds  have  won  for  us.  The  traditions 
and  history  they  have  left  us  are  a  schooling  for  us  in  the  annals 
and  records  of  our  homes  and  customs  which  it  is  a  disgrace  not 
to  know.  These  four  Tablets  and  yon  stones  in  the  town  are 
so  many  primers,  or  school  books,  if  you  choose,  out  of  which 
the  rudiments  of  our  valley  history  are  to  be  learned.  Boys 
and  girls  through  years  to  come  will  take  from  them  names  and 
dates,  and  go  to  search  behind  them  for  the  fuller  and  contem- 
porary history  to  which  they  point  and  which  make  up  the 
thrilling  chronicles  of  these  valley  towns. 

Upon  the  four  TcMets  and  yon  Bowlder^  to-day  dedicated,  are 
the  names  of  above  a  score  of  men,  women  and  locations,  and 
of  year  dates  a  like  number,  and  let  us  remember,  each  one  of 
these  is  in  itself  historic  and  will  ever  guide  in  any  search  for 
lines  of  kindred  and  for  homes  of  early  settlers.  And  how  know 
we  but  some  gifted  soul  may  have  birth  here,  who  shall  frame 
a  Deerfield  lUad,  which  will  match  the  marvelous  thesaurus 
of  the  times  and  lives  in  our  iN'estor's  town  history  I 

Third,  these  memorial  erections  affirm  a  lasting  merit  to 
those  who  bestow  them  and  to  those  giving  them  honorable 
place  in  the  Memorial  HaU.    These  donors  prove  by  their  gifts 


Address  of  Dedication,  399 

a  true  descent  from  their  worthy  anoestry,  which  in  torn  ap- 
proves them  worthy  of  the  esteem  of  a  grateful  posterity.  They 
do  a  service  to  those  now  living,  as  before  shown,  and  to  those 
who  come  after  us,  by  keepmg  in  memory  the  men  and  women 
whose  courage,  virtues  and  sacrifices  are  united  in  a  priceless  in- 
heritance to  us  and  to  those  who  may  follow  in  the  possession. 

The  occasion  neither  caUs  nor  permits  me  to  recite  one  by  one 
the  heroic  names  and  deeds  traced  upon  these  stones.  That 
would  be  a  task  for  hours,  while  we  have  only  minutes.  Other 
observances  and  other  eulogists  will  in  future  time  make  the 
fitting  tributes. 

And  now,  Mr.  President  and  Associate  Members  of  the 
Pocumtuck  Memorial  Association  and  friends ;  with  gratitude  to 
the  God  of  our  fathers  for  an  ancestry  so  brave  in  peril,  so 
faithful  in  trusts,  so  blameless  in  life  and  so  true  to  God  and  to 
each  other,  and  also  for  a  piety  in  these  their  descendants  which 
has  moved  them  to  set  here  these  impressive  sculptured  Tablets 
and  yonder  Stone  for  the  durable  commemoration  of  their  pro- 
genitors, we  do  now  declare  them  dedicated  as  memorials  of 
worthy  exemplars  to  this  and  to  generations  to  come. 

The  inscriptions  for  the  tablets  are  as  follows : 

Zechariah  Field 

1645-1674. 

A  settler  at  Pocumtuck 

Before  Philip's  War. 

remains  lie  in  an  imknown  grave 

In  the  old  burying  ground. 

Many  of  his  descendants 

Have  attained  international  fame. 

In  his  honor 

This  tablet  is  placed  in  1903 

by 

Marshall  Field  of 

Chicago. 

In  honor  of 

Nathaniel  Sutdifife, 

of  Dedham  before  1661, 

Medfield  in  1663, 

A  settler  at  Pocimituck  in  1673 

"With  his  wife,  Hannah  Hympton, 

A  soldier  in  Philip's  War, 

Killed  with  Capt.  Turner 

May  19,  1676. 

Erected  by  B.  H.  Sutliffe 

Of  Hymouth,  Conn., 

1903. 


400  Fidd  Meeting— 190S. 

SftmsoQ  Fniy 

Son  of  John  of  Medfidd, 

Married  there  Maiy  Danid. 

He  was  at  Hatfield  in  1668. 

Was  one  of  two  {danters  at  Deei^d  in  1670. 

Driven  off  by  the  savages,  he  came  back 

At  the  final  settlement, 

And  was  slain  at  the  sacking  of  the  town 

Feb.  29,  1703-4. 

Bdd,  brave,  persistent. 

Line  of  descent,  from  Samaon  Fraiy. 

Nathaniel  Fraiy  1675, 

Nathan  Frary  1719-1794, 

Electa  Frary  Parsons,  1759-1824, 

Lucretia  Parsons  Morton  1789-1862, 

Levi  Parsons  Morton,  by  whom 

This  stone  is  placed. 

(Godfrey  Nims 

Ancestor  of  the  Nims  family  in  America, 

Settler  at  Pocumtuck  before  Philip's  War, 

A  soldier  under  Capt.  Turner  at  the  FsiUa  Fight  1676, 

Prominent  in  the  civil  affairs  of  Deerfidd. 

In  1692  he  bought  the  home  lot 
Where  his  life's  tragedies  were  enacted. 
And  upon  which  stands  this  Memorial  Hall. 
In  honor  of  Godfrey  Nims  and  Mary  Miller  his  wife. 
This  marble  Ls  jdaoed  here  by  Franklin  Asa  Nims, 

Gredey,  Colcnrado, 
1903. 


ADDRESS  OF  0.  ALICE  BAKER 

Every  foot  of  this  old  burial  ground  is  sacred  to  ns  from  a 
thousand  tender  recollections.  All  about  us  lie  the  graves  of 
our  ancestry,  who  by  their  fortitude,  courage  and  endurance, 
earned  for  us  the  heritage  we  here  enjoy.  Here  lie  buried 
Mehuman  Hinsdell,  the  first  male  child  bom  in  Deerfield, 
"  twice  captivated  by  the  Indian  salvages ; "  Mrs.  Eunice  Wil- 
liams, killed  on  the  second  day  of  the  retreat  to  Canada  and  rev- 
erently buried  here  by  loving  neighbors ;  Rev.  John  Williams, 
with  his  son  Samuel,  Deacon  Thomas  French  and  his  son 
Thomas, — all  redeemed  captives.  Nor  can  we  to-day  forget, 
those  here  sleeping  who  in  later  days,  stood  bravely  for  lib- 
erty and  a  united  country. 


Address  of  C.  AUce  Baker.  401 

Standing  on  this  hallowed  spot,  we  cannot  help  reoaUing  the 
events  that  led  up  to  the  tragedy  at  Deerfield. 

After  the  horrible  carnage  at  Oyster  Kiver,*  under  the  lead- 
ership of  YiUieu  and  Father  Thory,  mass  having  been  said,  the 
victors  retreated  in  a  body  to  the  river  bank  where  their  canoes 
were  hidden.  "  Here,"  says  Villieu  in  his  diary,  the  savages 
of  Pentagoetf  under  Taxous  and  Madockawando,  piqued  at  the 
little  booty,  and  the  few  captives  they  had  taken,  resolved  to 
strike  another  blow.  Some  of  the  bravest  of  the  Kennebec  In- 
dians joined  them  to  go  above  Boston, "  where"  contmues  Villieu 
^^  they  mean  to  divide  into  bands  of  four  or  five  and  knock 
people  on  the  head,  which  cannot  fail  of  having  a  good  effect." 
A  few  days  later  they  fell  upon  the  settlements  near  Groton 
and  killed  some  forty  persons ;  Yillebon  writing  to  the  French 
minister  September  19,  of  that  year  (1694),  speaks  of  this  party 
under  Taxous  and  Madockawando,  as  ^'  important  because  of  the 
blows  they  will  strike,  but  they  have  not  yet  been  heard  from." 
Let  us  go  back  to  Deerfield  as  it  was  four  days  before  the  date 
of  Yillebon's  letter.  The  old  street  lay  basking  in  the  sunshine 
of  a  warm  September  day.  The  people  were  doubtless  busy 
about  their  fall  work.  On  the  soft  air  came  the  droning  voices 
of  the  children  in  Hannah  Seaman's  school,  where  is  now  the 
home  of  the  Misses  Allen.  Unseen  by  the  scouts  who  were 
ranging  the  woods,  a  party  of  savages  led  by  Castine  came 
down  from  the  ravine  east  of  the  William  Sheldon  home  lot, 
stealthily  creeping  towards  the  rear  of  what  is  now  our  village 
store.  Prematurely  discovered  by  the  son  of  Joseph  Severance, 
who  lived  on  this  lot,  they  fired,  killing  him,  thus  giving  the 
alarm.  Then  Hannah  Beaman  fled  with  her  flock  for  the  north 
gate  of  the  fort,  at  the  foot  of  meetinghouse  hill.  ^^  It  was  a 
race  for  life,"  says  Mr.  Sheldon,  ^^  the  dame  with  her  charge 
up  the  street,"  the  enemy  up  the  swamp,  "  expecting  to  cut  her 
off  before  she  should  reach  the  gate."  Inside  the  fort,  well 
trained  for  such  a  surprise,  each  man  snatched  his  firelock,  and 
rushed  towards  the  gate  ready  to  sally  out  to  the  rescue  of  the 
children, — ^but  they  amid  a  shower  of  bullets  reached  the  fort 
in  safety  and  the  gate  was  shut.  As  Castine,  who  commanded 
this  attack,  was  the  son-in-law  of  Madockawando,  why  may 
not  this  have  been  the  very  blow  struck   by  Taxous  and 

♦  Now  Durham,  N.  H. 

t  Now  Castine. 
26 


402  Field  Meeting— IWZ. 

Madockawando,  foretold  by  Yillebon  in  his  letter  above 
quoted? 

There  are  petitions  in  our  urohives  for  allowances  for  ex- 
pense of  chirargeons  by  Zebediah  Williams  and  John  Beaman 
wounded, — the  former  ^^  having  lately  come  of  age,  having 
little  to  begin  with  all.^  The  latter  exhibited  his  wounds  in  the 
House  of  Bepresentatives,  and  ^^  cals  ....  for  a  due  considera- 
tion of  his  hurt, —  ....  besides  y^  misery  and  Paine  hath  dis- 
abled him  from  Labor  for  now  neire  eight  months  ....  whei^e- 
f ore  he  prays  for  Oompashun  and  speedy  ordering  of  just  re- 
lief e,  that  he  may  not  stay  in  Boston  where  it  is  too  expensive 
for  him  y*  hath  noe  Money." 

The  repulse  of  Oastine  gave  the  people  fresh  courage.  In 
1695,  GK>vernor  Stoughton  asks  Oonnecticut  for  men  and  pro- 
visions. He  says,  ^^  Our  interests  cannot  be  divided.  It  is  a 
common  Enemy,  we  are  engaged  agt,  and  tho  y«  Seat  of  War 
dos  prudentially  lye  nearer  to  our  doors,  yet  it  is  y«  over 
Turning  and  Exterpation  of  y«  whole  y^  is  sought  and  En- 
deavoured and  if  we  be  necessitated  to  give  way  and  draw  in 
you  may  not  expect  to  stand."  Sharp  correspondence  (be- 
tween the  two  colonies)  follows. 

While  no  serious  attack  was  made  on  our  frontiers  this  year, 
small  bands  of  Indians  prowled  about  the  English  towns  keep- 
ing the  settlers  in  continual  alarm.  A  party  of  friendly 
Indians,  under  one  Strawberry,  was  surprised  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Ashuelot  Biver.  Strawberry's  son,  severely  wounded, 
escaped  to  Deerfield,  bringing  the  news.  Captain  Wells  sent 
to  f^nchon  for  help.  He  was  called  out  of  bed  an  hour  before 
day  on  August  12,  and  summoned  Captain  Colton,  who  had 
24  troopers  ^^  well  mounted  and  fixed "  by  eight  o'clock  who 
left  Springfield  for  the  north,  a  little  after  the  first  bell  rang 
for  meeting.  Before  Colton  had  got  up  the  river,  the  enemy 
was  well  up  towards  Canada.  The  danger  to  Deerfield,  averted 
for  a  while,  still  threatened.  March  1,1694-5,  Joseph  Barnard 
was  chosen  town  clerk  for  the  year  ensuing.  Six  months  later, 
Thomas  French  was  elected  to  the  same  office.  Between  these 
two  dates  one  may  read  the  tragedy  known  in  the  annals  of 
Deerfield  as  the  massacre  at  Indian  Bridge.  On  the  morning 
of  August  21st,  Joseph  Barnard,  living  on  the  Charles  Jones 
lot,  mounted  his  horse  to  go  to  mill,  three  miles  below.  His 
bag  of  grain  was  slung  over  his  horse  and  his  gun  lay  across 


Address  of  C.  Mice  Baker.  403 

his  saddle.  As  he  rode  on,  he  was  joined  by  Henry  White, 
Gkxlfrey  Nims  and  Philip  Mattoon.  Captain  Wells,  having 
been  warned  of  impending  danger,  came  out  of  his  stockade  at 
the  foot  of  the  street  to  stop  them,  but  trusting  to  Barnard's 
prudence,  let  them  go  on.  They  had  jogged  on  about  a  mile, 
when  one  of  them  cried  out  ^^  Indians,  Indians,"  and  they  turned 
about.  Barnard's  arm  was  shattered,  his  body  pierced  by  a 
bullet  and  his  horse  was  shot  under  him.  Godfrey  Nims  ^^  took 
him  up,  but  his  horse  was  shot  down  and  then  he  was  mounted 
behind  Mattoon  and  came  of  home."  He  died  Sept.  6,  ^^a 
humbling  providence,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  he  being  a  very 
vseful  and  helpful  man  in  y^  place."  His  gravestone  bears 
the  earliest  date  in  this  old  burial  ground.  After  Barnard's 
death  the  garrison  was  reenforced,  but  the  year  1696  was  one 
of  great  anxiety.  September  16,  John  Smead  and  John  Gillett 
being  in  the  woods  tracking  bees,  were  beset  by  French  Mo- 
hawks; Smead  escaped.  Gillett  being  taken,  was  left  in  charge 
of  three  savages,  while  the  rest  ^^  hastened  towards  the  town." 
It  being  Lecture  Day  the  people  had  left  the  meadows  ^^  so  that 
y^  enemy  came  as  far  as  Mr.  Daniel  Belding's  house  within 
gun-shot  of  the  fort  and  captured  Belding  and  some  of  his 
family."  When  Belding  and  company  came  to  the  fort  called 
Oso,*  they  were  forced  to  run  the  gauntlet.  Belding  being  a 
very  nimble  or  light-footed  man  received  but  few  blows.  The 
next  summer  he  was  sold  to  the  Seminary  priests  to  ^^  wait  upon 
them,  cutt  wood,  make  fires  and  tend  the  garden."  He  ac- 
counted himself  favorably  dealt  with.  The  27th  of  December 
1698,  the  town  ^^  voted  that  Daniel  Belding  and  Martin  Smith 
being  new  returned  out  of  captivity,  their  heads,  together  with 
what  Eatable  estate  was  on  their  hands,  were  freed  from  Town 
Taxes." 

The  peace  of  Byswick  was  of  short  duration.  When  in  1702 
Dudley  left  England  to  become  governor  of  Massachusetts,  it 
was  evident  that  war  between  England  and  France  was  immi- 
nent. As  ever  since  the  peace  of  1698,  the  Canadian  government 
had  lost  no  opportunity  to  excite  the  eastern  Indians  to  hostility 
under  the  pretext  of  protecting  them  from  the  encroachments 
of  the  English,  it  was  inevitable  that  war  between  the  two  nations 
in  the  Old  World,  must  be  followed  by  a  renewal  of  atrocities 
in  New  England.    As  a  precautionary  measure,  Dudley  ap. 

*Au  Sault  or  Sault  au  RecoUet  near  Montreal. 


404  Field  MeeUng— 1908. 

pointed  a  conferenoe  with  the  sachems  at  Casoo  in  Jane,  1703. 
There,  after  brilliant  oratory  on  both  sides,  the  &roe  was  en- 
acted of  heaping  fresh  stones  on  the  pillar  called  The  Two 
Brothers,  set  up  at  the  last  treaty.  Tmly  did  Penhallow  say, 
^^  Their  voice  was  like  the  voice  of  Jacob,  but  their  hands  like 
those  of  Esao,''  for  six  weeks  after,  they  with  their  Canadian 
allies  set  the  whole  country  in  flames.  In  the  antmnn  follow- 
ing, Zebediah  Williams  and  his  half-brother,  John  Nims,  look- 
ing for  their  cows  in  the  North  Meadows  were  seized  and  carried 
to  Canada.  The  alarm  at  Deerfield  increased,  and  the  people 
began  to  make  ready  to  meet  the  impending  tempest  from  the 
north.  The  fort  was  righted  up.  The  schoolmaster,  Mr. 
Bichards,  was  asked  to  help  the  selectmen  in  wording  a  petitioa 
to  the  governor  for  help.  Such  was  the  alarm  and  distress  of 
the  people  that  they  besought  their  minister  to  write  to  the  gov- 
ernment in  their  behalf.  His  letter  is  a  credit  to  pastor  and 
people.  **  Strangers  tell  us,'*  he  says,  "  that  they  would  not 
live  where  we  do  for  twenty  times  as  much, — ^the  enemy  have 
such  an  advantage  of  the  river  to  come  down  upon  us.  Several 
say  they  would  freely  leave  all  they  have,  and  go  away  were 
it  not  disobedience  to  authority,  and  a  discouraging  their 
brethren."  He  asks  for  help  in  repairing  the  palisade.  He 
says,  ^^  we  have  mended  it,  it  is  in  vain  to  mend.  We  must 
make  it  all  new  and  fetch  timber  for  206  rods,  three  or  four 
miles  if  we  get  oak.  .  .  .  The  sorrowful  parents  and  distressed 
widows  of  the  poor  captives  taken  from  us  request  your  Excel- 
lency to  Endeavour  that  there  maybe  an  exchange  of  prisoners 
to  their  release.  The  blessings  of  y™  y*  are  ready  to  perish 
will  surely  come  upon  you  in  Endeavours  of  this  kind."  Later, 
Mr.  Williams  set  apart  a  day  of  prayer  to  ask  Qod  "  either  to 
spare  and  save  us  from  the  hands  of  our  enemies,  or  prepare  us 
to  sanctify  and  honor  Him  in  what  way  soever  He  should 
come  forth  towards  us." 

Let  us  rebuild  the  little  hamlet  as  it  was  at  that  time.  North 
of  Meeting  House  hill  on  the  west  side  of  the  Street,  lived  Dan- 
iel Belding,  in  the  old  Stebbins  place ;  Deacon  David  Hoyt,  on 
the  John  Stebbins  lot ;  Ebenezer  Brooks  then  held  the  home- 
stead of  our  Antiquary.  John  Stebbins  and  his  wife  Dorothy 
dwelt  where  Mr.  Samuel  Childs  now  lives ;  Martin  Kellogg  next 
north,  and  Hannah  Beaman  next.  The  fortification  inclosed 
the  whole  of  Meeting  House  hill,  including  the  sites  of  both 


Address  of  O.  AUce  Baker.  406 

meetinghoTises.  Towards  the  northwest  comer  of  the  palisade 
was  the  well-built  house  of  Ensign  John  Sheldon,  and  at  a  right 
angle  south,  Benoni  Stebbins.  iN'ext  south  the  home  of  Parson 
Williams.  The  well  that  stood  in  his  yard  is  still  in  use.  From 
the  minister's  to  Mehuman  HinsdelPs  now  Miss  Whiting's,  there 
were  no  houses  except  a  few  temporary  structures  for  those  who 
in  time  of  danger  fled  for  shelter  within  the  palisades.  Next 
south  of  Hinsdell  lived  the  schoolmaster,  opposite  was  Godfrey 
Nims,  and  next  north  Samson  Frary  in  1698  built  the  house 
which  is  still  standing.  Still  to  the  north  within  the  palisade 
Mr.  John  Catlin,  then  Thomas  French,  and  in  the  Willard 
house  Samuel  Carter.  A  little  to  the  northwest  of  our  Sol- 
diers' Monument  stood  the  meetinghouse,  a  square  two-story 
bailding  with  pyramidal  roof  surmounted  by  a  turret,  tipped 
with  a  weather-cock.  At  the  south  end  of  the  street  were 
Jonathan  Wells'  stockade,  Philip  Mattoon  and  the  Widow 
Smead. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  uneasiness,  private  affairs  went 
on  as  usual  Birth,  marriage,  death,  like  time  and  tide,  stay 
for  naught.  Winter  wore  to  spring.  Soldiers  were  still  billeted 
in  the  homes  of  the  people.  The  minds  of  all  were  tense  with 
anxiety.  The  air  was  thick  with  omens,  March  came  in  like  a 
lion.  The  village  lay  buried  in  snow, — the  people  in  sleep.  In 
that  hour  before  dawn  when  night  is  darkest  and  slumber  deep- 
est, the  long-dreaded  storm  burst,  unexpected  at  the  last,  like 
all  long-expected  events.  '^  Not  long  before  break  of  day,  the 
enemy  came  in  like  a  flood."  Pouring  over  the  palisade,  the 
frightful  tide  swept  on,  overwhelming  with  destruction  all  that 
lay  in  its  path.  On  what  a  wreck  the  morning  broke !  The 
meetinghouse  that  so  lately  had  echoed  with  psalm  and  prayer 
now  resounded  with  groans  of  anguish.  There  lay  the  captives, 
ignorant  of  the  fate  of  friends  and  kindred.  There  too,  stretched 
upon  the  hard  benches,  were  the  enemies'  wounded.  There 
Hertel  de  Bouville  himself,  smarting  under  his  hurt,  rushed  in 
for  a  moment  to  cheer  his  wounded  brother.  There  were  those 
whom  we  saw  but  late  so  happy.  Hannah  Chapin  listening 
eagerly  for  every  sound  while  her  husband,  young  John  Shel- 
don, to  whom  love  lent  wings,  was  flying  for  aid  to  Hatfield. 
Elizabeth  Price,  mute  with  woe,  for  Andrew  had  been  slain  at 
her  side.  Abigail  Stebbins  not  utterly  cast  down,  for  De  Noyon, 
her  father  and  mother  and  brothers  and  sisters  were  all  with 


406  Fidd  Meetinff—1908. 

her,  aitd  De  Noyon  had  told  her  that  his  home  was  near  Mon- 
treal and  they  wonld  soon  be  released. 

A  few  hours  completed  the  devastation.  The  sun  as  it  rose 
above  the  mountain,  looked  down  on  a  dreadful  sight.  Benoni 
Stebbins,  after  fighting  for  hours  like  a  tiger  at  bay,  lay  dead 
in  his  house  while  his  valiant  comrades,  supported  by  the  cour- 
age of  women  as  brave,  still  fought  on.  Godfrey  Nims'  house 
was  still  burning,  three  of  his  little  girls  somewhere  dead  among 
the  embers,  his  daughter  Bebecca  Mattoon  and  her  baby  slain, 
with  his  wife  and  other  of  his  children, — and  little  Abi^dl,  the 
darling  of  his  heart,  among  the  captives.  His  opposite  neigh- 
bor, Mehimian  Hinsdell,  bereft  of  wife  and  child, — also  a  cap- 
tive with  his  little  cousin,  Josiah  Rising.  John  Catlin  with  his 
son  Jonathan  dead  among  the  ashes  of  their  ruined  home. 

Boused  by  the  hoarse  cries  of  young  John  Sheldon  as  he  sped 
on  bare  and  bleeding  feet  through  the  hamlets  below,  thirty 
men  guided  by  the  light  of  our  burning  village  were  riding  fast 
to  the  rescue.  As  they  entered  the  stockade  the  foe  fled  pre- 
cipitately from  the  north  gate  across  the  frozen  meadows  reach- 
ing the  river  at  the  Bed  Bocks.  Captain  Wells  at  once  took 
command  of  the  rescuing  party,  reinforced  by  fifteen  of  his 
neighbors  and  five  garrison  soldiers  ^^  pursued  the  enemy  vigor- 
ously, causing  many  to  fall  ....  but  p'rsued  to  farr  impru- 
dently ....  not  for  want  of  conduct,  for  Captain  Wells  caJled 
for  a  retreate  which  they  Litle  mynded  ....  hotly  pursuing 
the  Enemy  for  a  mile."  Then  ambushed,  eleven  of  our  men 
fell,  fiercely  fighting.  The  enemy  went  six  miles  that  nighty 
camping  in  Greenfield  meadows. 

Then  the  scanty  remnant  of  the  townsfolk  cautiously  creep 
from  their  hiding  places  and  gather  in  groups  asking  for  tidings. 
As  the  dreadful  tale  is  told,  they  know  not  whether  most  to  re- 
joice or  lament  that  they  have  been  left  behind.  Among  them 
is  Mary  Baldwin  Catlin.  While  waiting  with  her  children  and 
children's  children,  the  order  to  march  into  captivity,  she  had 
ministered  to  the  needs  and  soothed  the  sorrows  of  her  friends 
and  neighbors.  Nor  had  she  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  cry  of 
her  enemy  for  help.  She  had  held  the  cup  of  cold  water  to  the 
parched  lips  of  the  wounded  French  oflicer,  craving  it  with  pit- 
eous appeal.  In  the  hurry  of  the  retreat  none  had  claimed  her 
as  his  captive.  Her  neighbors  look  upon  her  as  one  risen  from 
the  dead.    They  go  with  her  to  the  ruins  of  her  home,  where 


Address  of  C.  AUoe  Baker,  407 

t  she  learns  the  fate  of  her  husband  and  seoond  son.    They  find 

her  little  grandson  dead  on  the  threshold  of  his  father's  empty 

i:  house.    Then  some  one  says  that  Captain  Wells  has  been  re- 

i  pulsed  and  that  Joseph,  her  eldest  son,  has  fallen  in  the  meadow 

\  fight, — and  her  heart  breaks. 

I  Meantime,  men  eager  to  pursue  the  foe  were  coming  in  by 

squads  from  the  towns  below  until  about  midnight.^    I  quote 

•  from  one  of  them,  '^  were  gathered  neer  about  80  men  which 

had  thought  with  that  number  to  have  assaulted  the  Enemy 
that  night,  but  y^  snow  being  at  least  three  foot  deep  and 
impassable  without  snow-shoes  we  being  in  a  oapacitie  to 
follow  y°^  but  in  their  path  they  in  a  capacitie  to  flank 
us  ...  .  being  fitted  with  snow-shoes  and  with  treble  our 
number  and  some  were  much  concerned  for  the  captives 
....  whome  y«  Enemy  would  kill  if  we  come  on,  it  was  con- 
cluded we  should  too  much  Expose  our  men.  The  next  day 
....  Coniticut  men  began  to  come  in,  and  by  parties  till 
within  night,  at  w<^  tyme  we  were  Baised  to  250  men  in 
Deref d,  but  the  aforesd  objections  and  the  weather  very  Warme 
....  we  judge  it  impossible  to  travill  but  ....  to  utter- 
most disadvantage  ....  we  judge  we  should  Expose  o'rselves 
to  y^  loss  of  men  and  not  be  able  ....  to  offend  the  Enemy 
or  Rescue  our  Captives  which  was  y^  End  we  aimed  at  in  all, 
therefore  desisted." 

Nothing  was  now  left  but  to  bury  the  dead,  which  was  done. 
Here,  in  one  grave,  equal  in  death,  they  lie  together.  Infants 
and  children  of  tender  years,  young  men  and  maidens.  An- 
drew, the  Indian,  Parthena,  the  slave,  faithful  unto  death  to  her 
charge,  Martin  Smith  freed  from  the  sorrow  and  shame  that 
beset  his  life,  Benoni  Stebbins,  the  hero,  Samson  Frary,  the 
pioneer,  the  dauntless  nine  slain  in  the  Meadow  fight,  and  the 
rest  of  the  48  as  if  named,  who  fell  that  day  all  victims  of  hor- 
rid war. 

It  was  the  greed  of  territory,  on  both  sides,  backed  by  reli- 
gious bigotry,  that  desolated  our  frontier  200  years  ago.  Con- 
trasting the  storm  and  stress  of  that  February  morning  with 
the  calm  and  peace  of  this  midsummer  day,  it  behooves  us  to 
consider  whether  we  have  really  progressed  in  a  true  civilization 
as  far  as  we  are  apt  to  believe ;  to  resolve  to  cultivate  hence- 
forth the  things  that  make  for  peace, — ^peace  in  town  and  church 

*  L  e.,  March  1. 


408  Meld  Meeting— 1908. 

and  state;  to  do  our  best  to  check  the  desire  for  expaDsion  of 
territory  regardless  of  the  rights  of  others,  and  cease  to  be  domi- 
nated, either  as  individuals  or  a  nation,  by  the  lost  of  power. 

Let  us  remember  that  ^^  War  is  utterly  and  irreconcilably  in- 
consistent with  true  greatness,"  and  that  ^^  Peace  is  the  longing 
and  aspiration  of  the  noblest  souls,  whether  for  themselves  (h* 
for  country."! 


AFTERNOON  EXERCISES  IN  THE  BRICK  MEETINQw 

HOUSE. 

▲DDBBSS  OF  HON.  ALFSBD  S.  BOB  OF  WOBOBSTEB. 

While  we  regret  the  weather  exigency  which  drives  us  from 
the  platform  reared  beneath  yonder  trees,  we  do  enjoy  the  com- 
pensation of  a  view  of  the  interior  of  this  ancient  edifice,  next 
to  the  site  of  the  Stockade  itself,  the  most  fitting  place  for  the 
continuation  of  these  exercises,  and  it  becomes  my  fortune  to 
open  the  afternoon  proceedings  from  this  lofty  and  circum- 
scribed pulpit,  so  far  away  from  the  people  that  I  fear  that  my 
friend,  the  Pastor,  will  some  day  here  freeze  to  death. 

I  know  of  no  reason  why  I  should  have  a  part  in  the  observ- 
ance of  this  day,  save  the  invitation  of  your  revered  President, 
Mr.  Sheldon,  whose  presence  is  a  continued  benediction,  for  I 
have  no  Deerfield  affiliations.  I  am  not  Massachusetts  bom, 
nor  even  a  native  of  New  England,  for  just  one  half  the  way 
back  to  the  events  commemorated  today  or  one  hundred  years 
ago,  my  ancestors  were  driving  ox  teams  from  this  eastern 
country  by  the  aid  of  blazed  trees  to  that,  then,  remote  West, 
known  as  the  Genesee  country  of  New  York,  given  to  them  for 
services  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  whose  refluent  waves  had 
not  even  then  altogether  subsided.  That  journey  took  more 
time  and  caused  vastly  more  discomfort  than  would  be  required 
to^y  for  a  trip  to  the  Philippines. 

I  would  that  other  than  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  ear- 
liest settlers  were  here  to  at  least  witness  the  exercises  of  this 
day.  We  are  daily  taking  into  our  body  politic  a  vast  array  of 
humanity  that  has  little  or  no  notion  of  the  sacrifices  made  in 
the  long  ago  that  this  might  truly  be  the  *^  Land  of  the  Free," 

t  Charles  Sumner,  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,  and  other  Addresses. 


Address  of  Alfred  S.  Hoe.  409 

and  the  address  under  the  trees  this  morning  and  that  in  the 
burial  ground  this  afternoon  would  do  much  to  waken  in  them 
a  proper  appreciation  of  what  the  fathers  did  and  suffered.  I 
would  have  them  hear  the  strains  as  they  came  from  the  bugle 
in  the  schoolhouse  window,  strains  which  recalled  other  and 
later  days,  patriotic  airs  we  call  them,  every  one,  laden  with 
suggestions  of  times  when  the  lives  of  men  were  lost  in  the 
grand  struggles  for  national  independence.  In  a  way  these  les- 
sons are  being  imparted  all  through  this  glorious  New  England 
of  ours.  Foreign  born  are  taught  to  speak  plain  the  word  coun- 
try, and  they  learn  it  early.  Why  only  last  winter,  in  one  of 
our  evening  schools,  where  in  addition  to  the  common  branches 
of  school,  are  taught  the  songs  of  our  land,  I  heard  a  class  re- 
peat the  words  of  ^^  America,"  and  when  the  recitation  was 
over  a  young  man,  not  yet  nine  months  this  side  the  sea,  said 
with  childish  self-consciousness, "  I  can  sing  that,"  "  Sing  it  then  " 
came  the  response,  and  in  his  broken  English,  this  man  bom  in 
Poland  of  the  nationality  that  furnished  the  assassin  of  mar- 
tyred McEinley,  as  well  as  Washington's  friend,  Kosciusko,  sang : 

Land  where  my  fathers  died, 
Land  of  the  Pilgrim's  pride, 
From  eveiy  mountain  side, 
Let  Freedom  ring. 

When  I  saw  the  rapt  attention  given  by  swarthy  Italians, 
dark-browed  Jews,  Bussian  bom.  Frenchmen,  Syrians  and 
Turks,  and  marked  their  evident  appreciation,  however  fierce 
the  storms  that  may  break  upon  us,  I  will  not  despair  of  the 
Bepublic. 

I  had  hoped  and  expected  that  certain  of  the  members  and 
officers  of  our  Worcester  local  society  would  accompany  me  on 
this  excursion,  so  well  worth  the  time  of  all  interested,  but 
other  engagements  seem  to  have  held  them,  hence  I  find  myself 
the  only  representative  of  the  heart  of  the  Commonwealth  on 
this  significant  occasion.  Worcester  has  a  story  to  tell  of  Indian 
depredations,  of  her  settlements  broken  up  and  of  her  early  set- 
tlers killed,  but  nothing  like  the  misfortunes  which  befell  this 
sentinel  hamlet  along  the  western  borders  of  two  centuries  since. 

Those  were  sad  days  for  the  fathers,  when  leaving  behind 
them  their  ruined  homes  they  started  on  the  long  and  trying 
joumey  to  Oanada,  but  what  unlimited  material  for  subsequent 


410  mdd  MeeUng—190Z. 

story  they  thus  left  to  their  children.  In  both  local  and  gen- 
eral history,  the  privations  and  snfferings  of  the  pioneers  have 
been  told  o'er  and  o'er,  yet  never  does  the  ear  weary  at  the  re- 
cital. This  hamlet  by  the  waters  of  the  Connecticut  has  beeai 
specially  fortunate  in  her  story  tellers.  From  ^'  The  Eedeemed 
Oaptive  "  of  the  Eev.  John  Williams  to  the  "  History  of  Deer- 
field/'  by  Gtoorge  Sheldon,  reciters  of  fact  and  tradition  pertain- 
ing to  this  ancient  township,  have  been  such  as  to  merit  and 
receive  the  highest  praise  from  every  direction. 

Little  did  I  think  in  my  boyhood  that  it  would  ever  be  my 
lot  to  view  the  scenes  which  in  legend  and  story  were  presented 
to  my  childish  mind  of  the  devastation  wrought  in  this  beauti- 
ful valley  by  the  hands  of  the  savage.  Hundreds  of  miles  to 
the  westward  we  read  the  heartrending  tales  of  hardship 
and  death ;  in  fancy  we  saw  the  blazing  homes  and  heard  the 
screams  of  slaughtered  innocence  as  depicted  in  the  books  of 
adventure  which  the  migrants  bore  with  them  to  the  newer 
homes  in  the  unsettled  regions  of  western  New  York.  The 
greater  number  of  those  who  thus  read  and  dreamed  have  taken 
up  their  line  of  march  to  stiU  remoter  lands  in  the  illimitable 
West ;  a  few,  a  very  few,  have  reversed  the  advice  of  Horace 
Greeley, "  Go  West,  young  man.  Go  West,*'  and  as  a  conse- 
quence one  of  their  ranks  appears  here  with  you  in  this  village 
so  fragrant  with  history  and  rich  in  associations. 

As  Achilles  was  happy  in  his  Homer,  so  may  we  congratu- 
late Deerfield  on  having  a  historian  whose  work,  appreciated 
though  it  be  to-day,  will  grow  brighter  and  brighter  as  the 
years  advance.  For  many  a  day  the  antiquarian  and  genealo- 
gist have  sought  Bond's  Watertown,  Paige's  Hardwick  and 
Oambridge,  Coffin's  Newbury,  Barry's  Framingham,  Jackson's 
Newton  as  veritable  treasure  houses.  To  them  and  others  of 
equal  note,  ever  since  its  publication,  has  been  added  Mr.  Shel- 
don's labor  of  love,  his  result  of  a  lifetime  of  devotion  and  work. 

Raleigh,  BoUins,  Bidpath  and  the  many  who  have  essayed 
to  write  the  history  of  the  world  undertook  a  task  far  too  great 
for  any  one  mortal  and  too  far  away  from  the  individual  to  be 
really  entertaining.  The  nearer  we  keep  our  story  to  the  per- 
sonality and  the  place  the  greater  will  be  the  interest  excited. 
Hence  it  is  that  we  welcome  the  biography  of  the  good  man, 
even  if  his  deeds  were  not  so  glorious,  the  pen-pictures  of  places 
though  they  are  not  battlefields.    We  doze  over  the  pages  of 


Address  of  Alfred  S.  Jioe.  411 

a  general  writer  whose  figures  are  nameless,  but  we  follow  with 
breathless  zeal  the  steps  of  a  poor  captive  whose  fortunes  really 
have  little  or  no  bearing  on  the  sequence  of  events. 

For  such  reasons  we  gather  here  to-day  to  recall  an  incident 
in  the  early  existence  of  a  settlement,  then  remote  from  the 
older  portions  of  the  colony.  Thanks  to  the  painstaking  dili- 
gence of  Mr.  Sheldon  and  those  who  wrought  before  him,  we 
may  draw  a  mental  picture  of  each  and  every  one  who  suffered 
in  those  far  away  days.  Indeed,  as  I  have  read  the  story  it 
required  no  great  stretch  of  the  imagination,  especially,  here 
where  so  many  memorials  continue,  to  hear  the  ydl  of  the  sav- 
age and  to  see  the  gleam  of  his  tomahawk. 

When  in  yonder  cemetery,  where  rest  the  mortal  remains 
of  so  many  who  fell  in  defending  their  homes,  I  esteemed  it  a 
great  privilege  to  hear  the  words  of  one  who  has  given  many 
years  of  her  life  to  the  unearthing  of  facts  pertaining  to  those 
far-away  days.  So  real  have  the  faces  and  forms  of  those 
ancient  worthies  become  to  her  that  I  fancied,  as  she  was  read- 
ing, there  was  a  tremulousness  in  her  voice  as  in  fancy  she 
came  back  to  the  burning  house  and  there  found  on  the  thresh- 
old the  dead  forms  of  loved  ones ;  to  her  it  was  not  history, 
the  story  of  far-off  penl,  but  an  actual,  dread  reality  of  the 
present.  The  near  by  mound  seems  to  give  up  its  dead  of  these 
twice  one  hundred  years  and  they  teem  with  life  in  our  very 
midst. 

After  all,  had  there  been  no  detennined,  tireless  enthusiasts 
to  seek  out  and  to  mark  these  suggestive  spots  there  would  be 
no  gathering  here  to-day,  no  society  devoted  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  legend  and  story,  no  museum  filled  with  the  choicest 
relics  of  interesting  and  tempestuous  past.  Deerfield  has  sent 
forth  from  her  homes,  Kichard  Hildreth,  the  historian  of  the 
nation,  John  Williams,  the  bishop  of  Connecticut,  Hitchcock, 
the  college  president  and  Saxton,  the  soldier,  but  her  giving  has 
not  impoverished  her.  She  still  retains  her  ineradicable  history, 
her  unrivaled  scenery,  her  heirlooms  whose  price  is  above  rubies. 
Fortunate  the  people  who  rise  equal  to  their  privileges  and  hav- 
ing a  pardonable  pride  in  themselves  are  not  averse  to  giving 
the  world  the  reasons  for  the  faith  that  is  in  them. 

Justiy  proud  may  the  dweUers  in  this  village  be  over  their 
antiquity  and  its  incidents.  Happy  too  should  they  be  that  the 
fathers  also  had  an  adequate  sense  of  the  value  of  the  part  they 


412  Fidd  Meeting— 1903. 

and  their  posseBsions  bore  in  the  trying  time  of  long  aga 
Happily  they  allowed  to  remain  so  many  of  the  stractores  oon- 
neoted  with  the  stirring  history  of  Deerfield  till  to-day  it  would 
seem  that  the  average  citizen  of  this  hamlet  would  be  ashamed 
to  live  in  a  house  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  old  and 
so  ancient  do  many  of  your  residences  look.  We  should  not 
say  you  "Kay"  did  you  aver  that  all  of  them  had  survived 
that  terrible  night  of  two  hundred  years  since  ?  Every  one  has 
a  deep  interest  in  your  museum  where  you  have  gathered  the 
reminders  of  a  sad  yet  precious  past,  relics  that,  in  all  this  wide 
world,  cannot  be  duplicated,  constituting  wonderful  illustrations 
on  the  pages  of  a  history  too  vivid  for  other  portrayal 

Kor  did  your  story  end  when  the  deeds  of  1704  were  done. 
To  them  you  have  piously  added  those  of  the  Bevolutionary 
struggle  and  that  sturdy  soldier  in  freestone,  on  the  site  of  your 
early  church,  teUs  us  how  you  remember  the  dark  Bebellion 
days  and  whatever  perils  coming  years  may  bring,  such  care 
as  you  manifest  to-day  and  have  ever  shown,  will  make  sure 
the  record  of  Deerfield. 


ADDRESS  OF  HON.  AETHUE  LORD  OF  PLYMOUTH. 

Among  the  stirring  scenes  of  Pilgrim  History  there  is  no 
more  striking  picture  than  that  in  the  Common  House  of  Plym- 
outh when  the  treaty  between  the  Pilgrims  and  Massassoit 
was  made.  On  the  morning  of  that  March  day,  in  1621,  from 
out  the  woods  upon  the  slope  of  the  hill  and  separated  from  the 
little  settlement  by  a  narrow  stream,  known  as  Town  Brook^ 
comes  Massassoit  with  his  train  of  sixty  warriors.  In  person 
the  Indian  chief  was  ^^  a  very  lusty  man,  in  his  best  years,  an 
able  body,  grave  of  countenance,  spare  of  speech."  In  dress  he 
differs  slightly  from  the  warriors  who  gather  round  him ;  bis 
face  was  painted  with  a  dark  red,  while  the  faces  of  his  follow- 
ers were  painted,  some  yellow,  some  red,  or  black,  or  white.  A 
great  chain  of  white  bone  beads  seems  the  only  insignia  of  the 
chieftain's  rank.  With  the  aid  of  Squanto,  the  interpreter,  who 
spoke  English  and  who  was  familiar  not  only  with  the  woods 
and  shores  of  Plymouth  Bay,  but  with  the  streets  of  London,  an 
interchange  of  hostages  was  arranged,  and  also  that  Massassoit 
with  twenty  of  his  braves  should  meet  the  governor  and  the 


Add/reBB  of  Arihv/r  Lord.  413 

leaders  of  the  little  colony,  whose  nmnbers  had  been  so  sadly 
redaoed  by  the  deaths  in  the  first  winter. 

Massassoit  and  his  twenty  followers,  all  strong  men  in  ap- 
pearance, cross  the  brook  and  are  met  by  Captain  Miles  Stand- 
ish  with  his  musketeers  behind  him,  and  in  formal  order  they 
march  down  the  first  street  to  the  house  then  building  where 
Carver,  the  first  governor,  whose  early  death  the  Pilgrim  Com- 
pany are  soon  to  mourn,  appears  with  drum  and  trumpet  and 
escorted  by  guards.  And  now  in  the  Common  House  they 
assemble,  on  one  side  the  painted  savages,  armed  only  with 
bows  and  arrows  and  dressed  in  skins ;  on  the  other  side  the 
little  band  of  Englishmen,  armed  with  sword  and  gun,  and 
still  wearing  pieces  of  ancient  armor.  In  the  center  stand 
forth  the  two  leaders,  the  Pilgrim  Governor  and  the  Indian 
Chief,  fit  types  of  the  two  races  who  in  the  future  and  for  long 
years  to  come  were  to  contend  in  deadly  rivalry  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  soil  of  the  new  world.  The  treaty  was  concluded. 
It  was  a  compact  of  offense  and  defense.  The  Pilgrims  were 
to  receive  his  support  and  assistance,  and  were  in  turn  to  render 
aid  to  him  in  case  of  unjust  war.  It  secured  that  protection  to 
the  Pilgrim  Company  which  was  vital  to  its  safety,  and  enabled 
it  to  acquire  peaceful  possession  and  title  to  the  lands  to  be 
occupied  by  the  Plymouth  Colony.  For  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury the  provisions  of  the  treaty  were  faithfully  kept.  It  is  a 
significant  fact  that  until  the  breaking  out  of  King  Philip's  War, 
fifty-four  years  later,  it  could  be  fairly  said  by  Governor  Wins- 
low  that  ^^  the  English  did  not  possess  one  foot  of  land  in  this 
colony  but  what  was  fairly  obtained  by  honest  purchase  of  the 
Indian  proprietors.  We  first  made  a  law  that  none  should  pur- 
chase or  receive  of  gift  any  land  of  the  Indian  without  the 
knowledge  of  our  Court.'* 

King  Philip's  War,  though  begun  in  plain  violation  of  recent 
treaty  stipulations,  was  the  inevitable  result  of  an  irrepressible 
conflict  for  race  supremacy  which  was  to  determine  the  fate  of 
the  English  settlements  and  the  right  of  the  aboriginal  owner 
to  remain  in  secure  and  undisputed  possession  of  the  soil  over 
which  he  and  his  ancestors  had  roamed  and  hunted  and  fought 
for  countless  generations.  The  immediate  causes  of  the  out- 
break are  no  longer  important.  The  details  of  the  conflict, 
which  only  ended  when  the  head  of  Philip  was  carried  in  tri- 
umph through  the  streets  of  Plymouth,  need  not  now  be  re- 


414  Fidd  MeeUnff— 1903. 

corded.  The  whole  frontier  was  in  a  blaze,  from  Plymoath 
on  the  southeast,  where,  in  March,  1676,  a  garrison  house  was 
attacked  on  the  Sabbath  when  most  of  the  men  had  gone  to 
church  and  eleven  persons  were  killed  and  the  house  con- 
sumed, to  the  then  distant  western  line  on  the  banks  of  the 
Connecticut.  The  attacks  on  Deerfield  are  a  part  of  the  history 
of  New  England,  and  Bloody  Brook,  where  the  flower  of  Elssex 
was  carelessly  led  into  that  fatal  ambush,  flows  on  forever, 
eloquent  with  the  story  of  the  tragedy,  the  anguish  and  the 
despair  of  that  disastrous  day.  The  resistless  tide  of  emigration 
sweeps  ever  on,  delayed  for  a  brief  moment  at  this  point  or 
that,  it  is  only  to  gain  a  fresh  impetus  for  its  onward  flow. 

The  Border  wars  of  New  England  hereafter  are  not  the  vain 
and  fruitless  efforts  of  a  weaker  race  to  resist  the  tide  of  emi- 
gration, but  are  to  be  inspired,  directed  and  aided  by  the  wily 
agents  of  a  foreign  foe.  King  William's  War,  or  the  Lamenta- 
ble Decade,  as  C!otton  Mather  terms  it,  marks  the  closing  years 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  Queen  Anne's  War,  proclaimed 
at  Westminster,  May,  1702,  brings  into  the  quarrel  over  the 
Spanish  succession  French  and  English  settlers  in  the  new 
world. 

It  is  said  there  were  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  persons 
of  all  ages  in  New  England  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  the 
Spanish  succession.  Differing  widely  in  temperament  and  train- 
ing from  the  French  Canadian,  they  were  citizens  by  choice 
and  soldiers  by  necessity,  they  lacked  leaders  of  military  edu- 
cation, though  they  were  not  without  men  qualified  by  expe- 
rience in  border  warfare  to  command  the  small  detachments. 

The  alarm  gun  and  the  beacon's  blaze  called  them  reluctantly 
from  peaceful  pursuits.  A  standing  army  always  in  readings 
for  possible  wars,  was  not  only  impracticable  in  these  scattered 
and  distant  colonies,  but  was  one  of  the  dangers  which  they 
deemed  it  important  to  avoid,  a  burden  alike  perilous  and  un- 
necessary. The  forays  along  the  frontier  line  of  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Maine  were  soon  followed  by  attacks  on  the  settle- 
ments of  Western  Massachusetts. 

The  French  Canadian  hunters  and  trappers  with  their  Indian 
allies,  undismayed  by  the  winter's  cold  and  snow,  passed  rap- 
idly over  the  border.  The  attack  on  Deerfield  was  typical  of 
these  incursions.  It  would  be  unnecessary  in  this  company, 
even  if  the  limits  of  time  permitted,  to  repeat  the  minute  de- 


Address  of  Arthwr  Lard.  416 

tails  of  that  fatal  night  in  February,  1704.  But  to  the  atten- 
tive ear  and  listening  mind  the  scene  which  greets  us  to-day  for 
a  moment  disappears.  The  stillness  of  a  summer's  noon  becomes 
the  silence  of  a  winter's  night  The  soft  summer's  breeze 
changes  into  an  icy  blast  These  well-tilled  fields,  green  with 
the  summer's  bounty,  are  covered  with  snow.  The  street, 
where  arching  trees  furnish  a  grateful  shade  and  happy  homes 
extend  their  hospitable  welcome,  changes  into  an  inclosed 
stockade.  Within  are  the  simple  houses  of  a  frontier  town, 
and  without,  like  a  winding  sheet,  the  snowdrifts  pile  up  to 
the  level  of  the  rude  palisade.  Two  miles  away  De  Bouville 
with  his  French  soldiers  and  their  Indian  allies  are  waiting  for 
the  moment  of  attack.  Here  the  peaceful  villagers  are  sleep- 
ing soundly  and  the  unsuspicious  sentinel  neglects  his  post.  In 
the  hour  before  daybreak,  so  often  in  history  the  chosen  time 
of  attack,  the  invading  force  sweeps  over  the  palisades  and 
through  the  street.  The  silence  is  broken  by  the  rattle  of 
musketry  and  the  blood-curdling  war-whoop,  the  darkness  is 
dispelled  by  the  light  of  burning  homes.  Resistance  seems 
impossible,  so  complete  the  surprise,  yet  the  story  of  the  gal- 
lant defense  of  Sergt.  Stebbins'  house  by  seven  determined 
men  and  a  few  brave  women  against  the  main  force  of  French 
and  Indians  will  long  live  in  the  annals  of  New  England,  illus- 
trative of  those  stirring  qualities  of  fortitude  and  valor  which 
have  made  New  England  strong.  Where  has  the  morning  sun 
looked  down  upon  a  sadder  sight .  Smouldering  heaps  mark 
the  spots  where  yesterday's  sun  beheld  the  happy  homes.  The 
wounded  and  the  dead  lie  on  every  hand ;  and  there  the  long 
line  of  weary  and  saddened  captives,  men,  women  and  children 
are  taking  up  their  toilsome  march  to  distant  Canada. 

I  saw  in  the  naked  forest 

Our  scattered  remnant  cast 
A  screen  of  shivering  branches 

Between  them  and  the  blast. 
The  snow  was  falling  round  them. 

The  dying  feU  as  fast, 
I  looked  to  see  them  perish, 

When,  lol  the  vision  passed. 

It  is  a  scene  which  has  too  often  marked  our  frontier  line. 
Whether  that  frontier  was  on  the  seaboard,  or  on  its  western 
way  the  blazing  homes  of  the  sturdy  emigrant  have  been  a  pil- 


416  Fidd  MeeUng—190S. 

lar  of  smoke  by  day  and  of  fire  by  night  to  mark  its  steady  and 
resistless  advance.  What  stories  of  valor,  of  suffering  and  of  eor 
terprise  have  been  inseparably  woven  into  this  nation's  history 
from  the  day  of  the  landing  at  Plymouth  in  1620  till 

From  Eastern  Rock  to  sunset  wave 
The  continent  is  ours. 

In  grateful  recognition  of  those  brave  days  of  old,  in  loviog 
memory  of  those  early  settlers  whose  names  you  bear  and 
whose  blood  runs  in  your  veins  you  gather  on  ^ese  recurring 
anniversaries  to  pay  your  tribute  of  admiration  and  respect  to 
their  indomitable  courage,  their  unfailing  fortitude  and  their 
sublime  faith. 

I  noticed  a  fine  inscription  as  I  passed  along  your  street : 

His  descendants  honor  his  memory,  and  cherish  his  old  Home. 

It  is  here  and  in  towns  like  this,  these  ancient  towns,  either 
upon  the  shores  of  some  bay,  no  longer  whitened  by  the  sails  of 
commerce,  or  upon  some  quiet  hillside,  or  on  the  banks  of  some 
winding  river,  where  wealth,  nor  power,  nor  fame  among  the 
cities  of  the  earth  has  ever  come,  that  men  will  most  sorely 
find  the  ideal  home.  The  word  ^^home"  has  no  equivalent 
and  no  synonym  in  our  language,  and  no  single  line  can  define 
it.  It  has  a  deeper  and  broader  meaning  than  that  merely  of 
the  place  where  one  lives  or  dwells.  The  student  who  lives  at 
Amherst  during  his  entire  four  years'  course  still  keeps  his 
home  on  the  distant  shores  of  the  Pa:cific ;  there  need  even  be 
no  continuous  occupancy  of  a  place  and  yet  still  it  is  defined  as 
a  home.  The  sailor  pursuing  adventurous  voyages  in  distant 
seas  may  never  dwell  for  more  than  a  few  months  in  a  long 
life  on  that  wind-swept  hillside  on  Cape  Cod  which  he  calls  his 
home.  Judge  Bradley,  late  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  sought  to  define  the  word  ^^home"  in  these 
words :  "  The  house  where  a  family  permanently  dwells,  col- 
lects its  comforts  and  forms  its  attachments  and  memories." 

The  stronger  these  attachments  and  memories  the  clearer  and 
more  perfect  the  meaning  to  its  possessors  of  the  word  home. 
Here,  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  in  those  homes  which 
for  generations  the  same  family  has  kept,  where  men  still  till 
the  same  fields  that  their  fathers  have  tilled,  and  pass  along  the 
same  streets,  scarcely  changed  in  the  lapse  of  time,  which  their 


Address  of  Francis  B.  Denio.  417 

ancestors  have  trod  before  them,  and  especially  where  the 
memories  of  heroic  deeds  still  linger,  and  the  traditions  of 
valor  and  suffering  and  enterprise  are  tenderly  cherished, 
there  is  found  the  true  significance  and  the  real  meaning  of 
the  word  home.  Thrice  fortunate  that  community  whose 
history  and  traditions,  whose  associations  and  memories  are 
indissolubly  bound  with  great  events  and  heroic  deeds. 


ADDRESS  OF  PROF.  FRANCIS   B.  DENIO  OF 

BANGOR,  ME. 

Mr.  President  wad  Members  of  Hie  Pocumtuck  Valley  Associa- 
tion:— At  this  time  I  shall  venture  to  take  it  upon  myself  to  repre- 
sent the  many  and  widely  scattered  sons  and  daughters  of  Deer- 
field  who  have  never  seen  this  home  of  ancestors,  and  most  of 
whom  will  never  see  it.  On  their  behalf  I  wish  to  thank  you 
for  what  you  have  done  and  are  still  doing  to  keep  alive  the 
memory  of  the  courage,  the  endurance  and  the  worth  of  our 
common  ancestors. 

It  is  very  fitting  that  I  represent  these  unknown  children  of 
Deerfield.  Few  can  have  so  good  a  right  to  do  so.  Nowhere 
have  I  found  so  many  ancestral  roots  as  here  in  old  Deerfield. 
Not  only  do  I  count  among  my  forbears  John  Stebbins  whose 
daughter  Abigail  was  the  wife  of  James  Denoyon  and  the 
mother  of  Ren6  Denoyon,  better  known  as  Aaron  Denio,  but 
also  I  derive  descent  from  Godfrey  Nims  and  Edward  Allen 
among  the  first  settlers  of  Deerfield. 

We  should  know  little  of  the  worth,  and  scarcely  the  names, 
of  our  Deerfield  ancestors  but  for  your  labors.  My  own  imme- 
diate branch  of  our  family  was  widely  sundered  from  Deerfield 
more  than  a  century  ago.  Communication  was  difficult,  letter- 
writing  an  unpracticed  art.  A  vague  tradition  of  descent  from 
Deerfield,  of  connection  with  the  events  commemorated  to-day 
was  a  part  of  my  childhood  inheritance.  As  I  came  to  ma- 
turity I  wondered  and  questioned  about  our  family,  its  name, 
its  origin,  in  short,  about  the  race  from  which  I  sprang.  To 
your  President,  Hon.  George  Sheldon,  and  to  Miss  Baker  I 
owe  the  fact  that  for  me  the  vague  tradition  has  been  replaced 
by  a  measure  of  definite  knowledge.  The  debt  which  I  owe 
to  you,  officers  and  members,  is  a  debt  which  a  great  many 
27 


418  FMd  Meeti/ng—XWZ. 

others  share  with  me.  The  pages  of  Sheldon's  History  of 
Deerfield  contain  records  which  must  have  made  known  to 
many  others,  as  to  me,  the  lineage  to  which  they  might  trace 
their  origin.  For  the  means  of  attaining  this  knowledge  we 
thank  the  writer  of  this  history,  and  all  those  whose  support 
made  possible  the  publication  of  these  invaluable  volumes. 

This  debt  we  owe  has  been  recognized  in  some  degree  in  the 
past,  and  future  generations  will  gladly  recognize  it  in  increas- 
ing measure.    They,  as  I,  your  kin,  whom  you  know  not,  who 
will  never  know  you,  will  learn  more  and  more  to  take  pride 
in  our  common  ancestry.    This  power  to  trace  our  ancestry  so 
as  to  connect  ourselves  with  the  early  life  of  Deerfield  is  but 
one  part  of  our  debt.    We  owe  it  to  you  that  we  are  able  in 
some  degree  to  realize  properly  the  courage  and  heroism  of  our 
Deerfield  forbears.    This  realization  comes  to  us  while  we  read 
the  History  of  Deerfield  and  the  narratives  given  us  by  Miss 
Baker.    To-day  as  I  heard  her  story  of  the  years  in  whioh 
Deerfield's  most  famous  tragedy  occurred,  a  story  with  epic 
simplicity  and  vividness,  I  felt  more  deeply  than  ever  before  the 
meaning  of  the  life  in  this  town  two  hundred  years  ago.    It  is 
by  means  of  Deerfield's  history  thus  given  to  us  that  we  learn 
to  honor  our  ancestors  more  and  more  for  the  days  and  weeks 
and  months  and  years  of  steadfast  endurance  of  the  privations 
and  incessant  perils  of  this  frontier  life.    This  steadfastness 
seems  to  me  even  more  worthy  of  honor  than  the  successful 
endurance  of  the  tragedy  of  the  night  of  February  29th,  1703-4, 
prolonged  as  it  was  into  months  and  years. 

For  myseU  I  thank  Gkxi  that  I  may  number  myself  among 
the  descendants  of  such  men  and  women.  So  must  also  the 
numerous  and  increasing  circle  of  your  kin  and  mine. 

To  you  in  this  beautiful  valley  the  task  of  perpetuating  the 
memory  of  our  common  ancestors,  by  the  printed  page  and  by 
the  erection  of  local  memorials  has  been  a  work  of  filial  piety, 
and  the  fruit  of  an  imagination  kindled  by  the  constant  pres* 
ence  of  scenes  and  reminders  of  a  past  rich  in  historic  fact  and 
discipline  of  worthy  character.  For  these  works  by  which  you 
have  made  a  multitude  of  remote  kin  your  debtors,  and  for 
which  I  feel  sure  many  fed  indebted  to  you  from  whom  you 
have  received  no  message  of  thanks,  and  from  whom  you  will 
receive  none  in  person — I  on  their  behalf  now  express  to  you 
our  hearty  and  sincere  gratitude. 


AddreM  of  Francis  H.  Ajppletan.  419 


ADDRESS  OF  GEN.  FRANCIS  H.  APPLETON  OF 

PEABODY. 

Mr.  Chmvman: — ^First  of  all  I  wish  to  thank  my  fellow 
Trustee  and  our  honored  Yioe-President,  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  Public  Reservations,  Hon.  George  Sheldon,  for  having 
invited  me  to  participate  in  these  interesting  exercises,  and  to 
meet  your  people  here ;  at  a  place  where  an  ancestor  of  mine, 
Captain,  and  later  Major,  Samuel  Appleton,  led  brave  and  true 
men  from  Essex  County — ^my  beloved  county — ^in  defense  of  the 
principle  of  establishing  a  stable  form  of  government,  under 
which  life  and  property  might  be  respected,  and  be  safe  against 
savage  or  lawless  attack. 

The  incentive  of  your  invitation  led  me  to  collect  a  few  books 
upon  the  subjects  that  to-day  engage  our  attention,  more  than 
I  have  been  able  to  fully  read,  including  Mr.  Sheldon's  complete 
work,  but  with  great  interest  to  myself  so  far  as  I  have  done 
so ;  and  to  learn  of  your  brave  ancestry.  And  I  have  been  quite 
at  a  loss  as  to  what  I  should  select,  to  refer  to  now,  relating  to 
those  early  days. 

I  knew,  with  your  programme  before  me,  that  the  historic 
ground  would  be  admirably  covered  by  scholarly  addresses, 
such  as  I  have  been  privileged  to  listen  to  already,  and  which 
we  shall  hear  this  afternoon. 

I  shall  ask  your  attention  very  briefly  to  a  few  matters  bear- 
ing more  upon  our  natural  surroundings  of  the  present  time, 
which  are  the  same  lands  as  of  those  early  days. 

A  word  only,  before  doing  so,  of  that  man  of  action  from 
whom  I  am  descended,  and  through  whose  acts  I  am  enabled 
to  wear  the  button  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  which  society,  by  its  winter  monthly  lectures,  by  its 
excursions  to  historic  spots,  and  by  its  memorial  markings  is 
doing  much  towards  bringing  to  the  front  unfamiliar  and  his- 
toric facts  of  the  colonial  period,  that  redound  to  the  glory  of 
our  ancestry,  and  intensify  the  interest  throughout  our  Nation, 
in  this  old  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

Captain  Samuel  Appleton  appears  to  have  been  a  participant 
in  civil  as  well  as  military  duties.  He  died  at  Ipswich,  and  was 
a  brave  and  true  man,  like  his  men,  worthy  of  coming  under 
that  honorable  phrase  '^  The  Flower  of  Essex." 


420  Fidd  JTM^tn^— 1903. 

It  has  been  my  agreeable  duty  to  have  been  more  or  less  oon- 
nected  with  the  promotion  of  agricoltoral  interests  in  our  state 
for  many  years — as  our  lives  mn — in  several  of  its  branohee. 

And  I  wonld  remind  you  that  arboriculture,  f orestiy,  farming, 
horticulture,  good  roads,  etc.,  come  under  that  heading. 

I  would  appeal,  to  such  an  audience  as  is  now  preset,  for  all 
such  encouragement  (wherever  may  be  their  homes)  on  these 
lines,  as  shall  make  all  parts  of  the  sur&ce  of  this  state  of  to- 
day to  flourish,  and  increase  in  productiveness  and  beauty; 
towards  which  ends  Mr.  Sheldon  has  contributed  so  mucdi  en- 
couragement so  that  the  cultivated  part  of  our  landscape,  and 
the  natural  beauty,  shall  be  continued,  a  beautiful  frameworic 
to  glorious  deeds. 

In  this  quiet  valley,  with  its  surrounding  hills  of  grandeur, 
where  near-by  scenes  of  bloodiest  strife  have  been  vividly  recalled 
to  us  to-day,  let  those  branches  of  agriculture,  that  will  best 
suit  its  soil  and  climate,  be  encouraged  by  the  application  of 
scientific  knowledge  to  prevail,  and,  in  the  state  at  large,  may 
such  intelligent  care  be  fully  applied  on  those  lines  of  arbori- 
culture, and  the  proper  development  of  Public  Beservations, 
that  you,  Mr.  Sheldon,  so  much  love  to  promote  and  care  for, 
in  the  interest  of  the  state  and  her  people. 

May  the  locations  of  the  heroic  deeds  that  especially  mark 
the  stepping-stones  in  the  gradual  founding  of  this,  now  power- 
ful Nation,  be  preserved  as  object  lessons,  and  as  places  of 
healthful  recreation  and  rest  for  present  and  future  generations. 

While  we  sacredly  strive  to  preserve  the  grand  old  trees  that 
our  ancestors  so  thoughtfully  planted  to  make  prominent  and 
comfortable  many  a  Massachusetts  and  New  England  village, 
town  or  city,  let  us  not  forget  that  tree  life  is  prolonged  and 
promoted  by  the  wise  use  of  saw  and  pruning  hatchet,  but  only 
under  most  expert  guidance. 

Let  the  wounds  made  by  limbs  torn  off  during  storms  be 
early  mended  by  proper  filling,  and  may  the  insect  pest  be  kept 
at  a  minimum. 

May  such  beautiful  towns  as  this  be  perpetuated. 

I  bring  to  you  and  the  citizens  of  this  beautiful  inland  terri- 
tory of  Deenfield,  the  greetings  of  the  descendants  of  ^^the 
Flower  of  Essex." 

We  of  the  seacoast,  and  of  a  denser  population,  are  endeav- 
oring to  promote  conditions  to  favor  business  on  land  and  8ea» 


Memarka  of  Hen/ry  D.  HoUon.  421 

which  are  promoting  markets  for  inland  products ;  while  for  re- 
freshment from  the  wear  and  tear  of  city  toil,  the  more  quiet 
and  restful  beauty  of  such  inland  lands  as  you  have  here,  are 
what  are  essential  to  the  well-being  in  mind  and  body  of  hu- 
manity. 

May  this  valuable  work  of  building  up  collections  of  historic 
things  grow,  and  may  the  bond  of  union  among  such  societies 
increase  to  their  mutual  good ;  and  may  the  village  improve- 
ment idea  be  alive  within  their  membership,  as  has  been  found 
a  useful  combination. 

I  assure  you  that  I  fully  appreciate  your  courtesy  in  asking 
me  here  from  old  Essex  County  to  old  Deerfield's  County  and 
Township,  as  a  descendant  of  one  who  so  long  ago  aided  your 
people  for  the  public  good. 


WORDS    BY   DR.   FREDERIC  CORSS    OF 

KINGSTON,  PA. 

Mr.  Chai/rmcm^  Friends  and  Neighbors: — ^Although  we  now 
meet  for  the  first  time,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  I  feel 
very  much  at  home  here.  My  father  was  bom  near  by  a  little 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  and  spent  his  boyhood  here. 
Many  of  my  kindred  are  buried  in  the  cemeteries  hereabout. 
My  boyhood's  ears  were  delighted  with  stories  of  the  fish  caught 
in  Deerfield  River  which  were  much  larger  and  finer  than  any 
found  in  the  streams  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  there  was  the  bee 
tree  on  Shelburne  hills  where  they  shot  the  bear. 

An  occasion  such  as  this  does  much  to  promote  patriotism 
especially  among  the  young  people,  who  are  so  numerous  on  the 
grounds  to-day.  All  this  helps  to  confirm  our  early  motto,  B 
FluriJyue  Tlrmra^  which  really  meant  but  little  until  it  had  been 
established  in  a  fearful  struggle,  many  of  whose  heroes  are  here 
to-day. 


REMARKS  BY  DR.  HENRY  D.  HOLTON  OF 

BRATTLEBORO,  VT. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  unite  with  you  to-day,  oflfering  an 
obligation  to  the  memory  of  the  sturdy,  Gk)d-fearing  patriots 
who  first  pushed  into  the  then  primeval  wilderness  and  founded 


422  Mdd  I£eetwg—\^^Z. 

a  town  endowed  with  civil  and  religions  liberty.  It  is  perhaps 
espeoially  appropriate  that  I  should  do  this  as  onr  own  town  of 
Brattleboro,  then  unknown,  was  made  the  base  of  the  invading 
army  of  the  French  and  Indians  when  they  made  their  cnielly 
morderons  assault  upon  this  settlement.  They  left  their  dogs 
and  sledges  in  the  care  of  some  of  their  number  at  the  mouth 
of  West  River  where  they  cut  on  the  rocks  various  sym- 
bols which  remain  to  this  day,  undoubtedly  intended  to  be  a 
record  of  their  expedition. 

It  is  not  only  a  duty  but  a  privilege  for  all  the  people  of 
this  valley  to  meet  from  time  to  time  and  keep  fragrant  the 
memory  of  the  victims  who  gave  their  lives  or  endured  suffe^ 
ings,  privations  and  tortures  worse  than  death  itself.  Pos- 
sessed of  courage,  fortitude  and  unfailing  faith  in  God,  by  perse- 
verance, industry  and  economy  they  subdued  the  wild  soil  and 
their  savage  foes  and  left  a  heritage  of  productive  beauty,  a 
government  in  which  each  of  us  are  sovereigns,  only  so  circum- 
scribed and  bound,  that  while  we  engage  in  what  ever  legiti- 
mate pursuit  we  vnll,  we  shall  not  in  any  way  interfere  with 
the  same  right  of  our  neighbors. 

They  wrought  out  this  glorious  legacy  by  the  exhibition  of 
certain  traits  of  character  which  grew  and  expanded  in  suc- 
ceeding generations,  becoming  the  broad  foundations  upon 
which  this  nation  was  founded.  First  was  the  strong  religions 
faith,  which  from  a  cursory  view  might  to-day  seem  narrow 
bigotry,  but  which,  when  we  carefully  analyze,  we  find  con- 
tained the  true  teachings  of  the  Oreat  Master,  which  have 
gradually  broadened  out  into  a  catholicity  of  spirit  as  the  gene- 
rations have  studied  the  principles  expounded  in  the  valleys  of 
Judea  twenty  centuries  ago. 

Second  to  this  was  the  home,  the  most  sacred  place  in  all 
the  world,  where  the  children  were  taught  to  love  God,  respect 
their  elders,  obey  implicitly  their  parents,  and  industriously 
use  their  time  in  useful  pursuits ;  in  fact  to  perform  the  duties  of 
life  because  those  duties  were  for  them  and  could  only  be 
performed  by  them ;  this  duty, 

By  the  bedside,  on  the  stair, 
Waited  for  them  everywhere; 
At  the  threshold,  near  the  gates, 
With  its  menace  or  its  prayer. 
Like  a  mendicant  it  waits. 


Rema/rkB  of  Henry  D.  HoUon.  428 

In  the  home  they  were  taught  all  the  great  moral  principles 
which  were  the  especial  foundations  of  the  New  England 
character,  which  has  moulded  the  character  of  the  nation. 

Next  came  the  common  school,  free  to  all,  where  were 
taught  the  rudiments  of  an  education,  which  were  to  be  ex- 
panded into  the  highest  accomplishments  of  human  intellect^ 
as  circumstances  and  subsequent  environment  might  permit 
What  is  to  be  said  of  the  great  debt  of  gratitude,  a  debt  ever 
increasing,  which  descended  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  vallej ; 
aye,  to  the  people  of  this  country,  by  reason  of  provisions  made 
by  descendants  of  one  of  the  captives  (not  of  this  town  but  all 
the  same  of  kindred  spirit  in  this  valley),  the  offspring  of 
Canada  Wait  in  the  establishment  of  the  Smith's  charities. 
Human  language  cannot  adequately  express  the  infinite  bless- 
ings which  are  constantly  flowing  from  the  wonderful  bene- 
faction : 

A  kind  act  is  a  kernel  sown. 
That  wiU  grow  to  a  goodly  tree, 
Shedding  its  fruit  when  time  has  flown 
Down  the  gulf  of  eternity. 

The  question  which  comes  home  to  us  to-day  is,  are  these 
trusts  which  have  come  to  us  from  these  forbears  of  two 
centuries  receiving  the  nurture,  care  and  all  the  force  which 
will  conserve  and  perpetuate  them*  Especially,  are  we  keeping 
the  home  the  center  of  purity  and  influence,  and  fostering  the 
habit  of  devotion  to  duty  simply  as  one  paramount  trait  of 
character  that  should  never  be  supplanted  by  anything  else  ? 

In  the  strenuous  life  into  which  these  days  have  launched 
our  lives,  let  us  not  neglect  the  fundamental  precepts  that 
governed  the  lives  of  those  who  lived  two  hundred  years  ago, 
whom  we  honor  to-day;  precepts  which  have  come  to  us 
through  all  these  years  laden  with  blessings  of  such  incal- 
culable value. 


434  Anmud  Meeting— 190^ 


ANNUAL  MEETING— 1904. 


REPORT. 


Old  Deerfield  waa  yesterday  oDe  of  the  most  interestiiig  towns 
in  the  country.  There  was  celebrated  the  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  one  of  the  most  tragic  events  in  the  history  of  the 
Massachosetts  colony,  the  saddng  of  the  place  and  the  massacre 
or  capture  of  most  of  its  inhabitants  by  the  French  and  Indians. 
The  people  of  Deerfield  have  long  famished  a  shining  example 
to  otiier  towns  of  the  best  way  to  keep  alive  interest  in  their 
local  history,  as  the  Pocumtnc^  Yalley  Memorial  Associatd<HL 
has  for  many  years  been  gathering  records  and  relics  of  the 
past  until  hardly  any  other  town  bulks  so  large  in  self-knowledge 
from  the  first  settlement  until  the  present  day.  As  Mr.  Sheldon 
well  said  in  his  curator's  report,  when  the  organization  was 
formed  interest  in  such  matters  was  confined  to  a  few  elderly 
people ;  now  it  is  constantly  more  widespread. 

Mr.  Sheldon,  the  president,  not  being  able  to  come  to  Deer- 
field, and  Judge  F.  M.  Thompson,  first  vice-president,  being  ill, 
Samuel  O.  Lamb  presided.  Mr.  Lamb  piloted  the  meeting 
through  the  rocks  of  parliamentary  procedure  with  all  the 
courtly  grace  which  is  his  second  nature.  When  frisky  colts 
attempted  expedition  at  peril  of  unseemly  haste,  by  such  modem 
methods  as  electing  all  the  ofScers  by  casting  one  ballot,  Mr. 
Lamb  sternly  held  them  to  the  path  of  dignity,  by  showing  the 
course  already  marked  out  by  the  Association.  Mr.  Lamb's 
methods  of  presiding  include  some  dignified  forms  not  often 
heard  by  the  younger  generation.  For  instance,  in  announcing 
the  results  of  the  vote  upon  a  motion,  he  would  say  ^^  The  ayes 
appear  to  have  it, — ^the  ayes  have  it,  and  it  is  a  vote." 

The  business  of  the  Association  was  disposed  of  at  the  after- 
noon session  in  the  council  chamber,  which  has  taken  the  place 
of  the  kitchen  as  the  gathering  place.  The  reports  were  highly 
satisfactory,  that  of  the  treasurer,  John  Sheldon,  showing  a  cash 
balance  of  $3,312.    The  receipts  from  admission  to  Memorial 


AnniuU  Meeting — 1904.  425 

Hall,  $659,  the  fee  being  10  cents,  indicated  the  popularity  of 
the  collection  as  a  place  for  popular  resort. 

The  report  of  the  curator,  G^rge  Sheldon,  showed  that  there 
had  been  5,396  visitors  the  past  year,  representing  nearly  every 
state  in  the  union,  also  France,  England,  Wales,  Ireland,  Scot- 
land, Finland,  Canada,  Kova  Scotia,  Australia,  India,  Turkey, 
Russia,  Japan.  Mr.  Sheldon  spoke  of  the  overflowing  condition 
of  the  library,  and  of  the  readiness  of  a  finely  lighted  room  for 
the  overflow  from  the  old  room.  One  alcove  is  to  be  devoted 
to  literary  products  by  native  and  adopted  citizens  of  Deerfield. 
For  this,  contributions  of  such  literary  work,  including  books, 
pamphlets,  magazine  articles,  newspaper  clippings,  essays,  ad- 
dresses, and  personal  correspondence  of  Deerfield  people  are 
asked.  One  of  the  rooms  newly  thrown  open  is  guarded  by  the 
old  Pocumtuck  cannon,  and  has  relics  of  colonial  fortifications, 
and  this  had  been  christened  ^'  The  Fort."  Miss  C.  Alice  Baker 
had  offered  to  re^tablish  the  bedroom  in  the  large  room  over 
the  library  annex.  In  the  past  it  had  been  necessary  to  decline 
many  articles  of  interest,  because  there  was  no  room  to  show 
them.  Now  there  is  room  enough,  and  the  Association  is  in  a 
receptive  mood  again.  Mr.  Sheldon  speaks  of  the  interesting 
group  of  articles  given  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Champney,  and 
collected  by  her  husband. 

It  was  voted  to  proceed  with  the  publication  of  Yolume  IV 
of  the  Proceedings  and  George  Sheldon  and  Mrs.  Sheldon  were 
made  the  committee  to  have  it  in  charge.  The  election  of  offi- 
cers resulted  as  follows : 

President :  George  Sheldon. 

Yice-Presidents :  Francis  M.  Thompson,  Samuel  O.  Lamb. 

Becording  Secretary :  Miss  Margaret  Miller. 

Corresponding  Secretary :  Mrs.  M.  E.  Stebbins. 

Treasurer :  John  Sheldon. 

Councillors :  Miss  C.  Alice  Baker,  Bobert  Childs,  Charles  E. 
"Williams,  Edward  A.  Hawks,  Bichard  R  Birks,  G.  Spencer 
Fuller,  Frances  E.  Ball,  William  L.  Harris,  James  K.  Hosmer, 
Anna  C.  Putnam,  Ellen  L.  Sheldon,  John  A.  Aiken,  Eugene  A. 
Newcomb,  Herbert  C.  Parsons,  George  D.  Crittenden. 

An  historic  association  which  not  only  pays  its  way,  but  accu- 
mulates a  reserve  may  be  something  of  an  anomaly,  but  such  a 
one  is  the  Pocumtuck  Yalley  Memorial  Association.  Aside 
from  its  considerable  revenue  from  the  smaU  fee  charged  for 


426  Annual  Meetmg—lWH. 

the  admission  to  the  Memorial  EEall,  with  its  nmrivaled  cot 
lectioD  of  antiquities,  it  is  in  constant  receipt  of  generoos  and 
anonymous  gifts. 

Its  recently  bnilt  custodian's  house  was  the  gift  of  ^'  a  friend." 
Its  addition  to  the  old  building,  giving  fine  quarters  for  the 
Solon  Newton  collection  and  other  accretions,  is  shown  by  the 
treasurer's  report  just  now  completed  to  have  been  entirely  paid 
for  by  an  unknown  contributor.  The  enthusiasm  of  almost 
chance  visitors  finds  substantial  expression. 

An  instance  of  spontaneous  giving  was  that  of  a  woman  from 
Germany,  who  one  day  last  summer  visited  the  museum  and 
expressed  her  delight  in  it  and  the  work  of  the  Association  to 
Mr.  Sheldon.  She  wanted  to  show  her  appreciation  and  asked 
how  she  might  do  it.  Mr.  Sheldon  suggested  membership  and 
acting  under  an  impulse  made  bold  to  mention  that  life  mem- 
bership was  a  matter  of  $25. 

The  next  day  the  woman  called  again  on  the  president  and 
caused  him  almost  to  faint  by  handing  him  a  hundred  dollar 
bill,  saying  she  had  concluded  to  become  ^^  life  councillor." 

The  Association  has  improved  buildings,  no  debt  and  a  cash 
balance  of  over  $3,000.  All  its  revenue  is  devoted  to  the  work 
of  preserving  local  history  and  its  publications  are  evidence  of 
its  enterprise  and  good  use  of  whatever  comes  its  way  in  the 
form  of  money. 

The  memorial  addresses  were  the  feature  of  the  afternoon 
and  consisted  of  appreciative  sketches  of  John  £.  Bussell,  J.  W. 
Champney,  J.  M.  Crafts,  Zeri  Smith,  Baxter  Stebbins  and  John 
M.  Smith. 

The  sketch  of  the  life  of  John  £.  Bussell  was  written  by 
George  Sheldon  and  read  by  his  son,  John  Sheldon  of  Green- 
field. It  was  chiefly  a  setting  forth  of  the  main  facts  of  Mr. 
Bussell's  life,  but  it  had  its  note  of  appreciation  of  bis  services 
as  a  public  man  and  naturally  gave  particular  attention  to  his 
interest  in  local  historic  work. 

Miss  C.  Alice  Baker  read  Miss  Coleman's  feeling  tribute  to 
the  artist,  James  Wells  Champney.  Mr.  Champney  was  one  of 
the  earliest  members  of  the  Association  and  became  a  life  mem- 
ber in  1879,  always  holding  its  interests  as  one  of  the  good  ob- 
jects which  profited  by  his  enthusiastic  aid. 

H.  C.  Haskell  sent  an  interesting  sketch  of  Zeri  Smith,  a 
model  and  progressive  farmer  and  citizen.    S.  B.  Crafts  read 


Annual  Meeting— 1904.  427 

that  on  James  M.  Crafts  who  was  one  of  the  Association's  first 
ofScers,  a  trae  antiquary  and  a  faithful  town  historian.  The 
sketch  of  John  M.  Smith  was  by  Miss  Abby  Montague  and 
treated  of  his  public  services  and  his  thorough  historical  service 
as  the  editor  of  Sunderland's  history. 

Mrs.  M.  E.  Stebbins  read  an  account  of  A.  B.  Stebbins,  and 
spoke  of  him  as  a  man  of  decision  who  could  not  be  swerved 
from  the  path  of  duty. 

When  tiie  papers  were  finished  Mr.  Lamb  volunteered  some 
recollections  of  Mr.  Bussell,  Mr.  Grafts  and  Mr.  Smith  and 
branched  out  in  a  particularly  interesting  talk  about  William 
C.  Whitney  and  Joseph  Mason,  the  two  sons  of  Franklin  county 
who  had  filled  a  large  place  in  affairs.  While  Mr.  Lamb  spoke 
off-hand  his  contribution  was  methodical  and  comprehensive 
and  added  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  proceedings. 

The  admission  of  Deerfield  schools  to  Memorial  Hall  without 
charge  was  briefly  considered  and  referred  by  the  council  to 
President  Sheldon. 

Supper  was  served  in  the  townhall  and  there  was  such  a 
crowd  that  the  tables  were  twice  filled. 

The  conclusion  of  supper  was  the  signal  for  the  opening  of 
the  evening  session,  the  first  half  of  which  was  occupied  by 
Miss  Baker  in  her  continued  account  of  the  adventures  of  Bap- 
tiste,  and  the  essays  of  the  Greenfield  boys,  Fred  Amidon  and 
William  Jones,  the  former  upon  Greenfield  taverns,  and  the  lat- 
ter upon  ^^  Long  Tavern."  Mias  Baker's  recital  of  the  adventures 
of  the  French  privateersman,  Baptiste  Guyon,  was  as  interest- 
ing in  its  second  installment  as  in  the  first,  and  she  was  given 
the  closest  attention. 

Kev.  G.  Glenn  Atkins  of  Burlington,  Vt.,  followed. 

It  was  the  exact  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  massacre, 
an  event  which  had  special  consideration  in  the  field  meeting  of 
last  sunmier  and  now  gave  Mr.  Atkins  his  fruitful  theme.  He 
made  no  attempt  to  take  the  rdle  of  historian,  as  a  mere  narra- 
tor of  the  dramatic  events,  making  a  striking  departure  from 
the  traditions  of  the  Pocumtuck  Association,  in  bds  address  on 
the  massacre  of  1703-4.  It  is  not  the  habit  of  historic  associa- 
tions to  make  applications.  This  has  been  farthest  from  the  prac- 
tice and  intent  of  the  P.  Y.  M.  A.  It  has  been  content  to  delve  in 
the  secrets  of  the  past,  preferably  the  remote  past,  and  leave  to 
the  hearer  or  the  student  the  drawing  of  lessons  in  patriotism 


428  Annual  Meeting— 190^ 

and  the  proper  condnot  of  himself  in  his  public  relatdons.  But 
Mr.  Atkhis  dwells  in  the  present.  He  is  of  the  present  tenae^  with 
a  strong  outlook  towards  the  future.  He  is  far  from  indifferent 
to  the  claim  of  the  past  to  investigation.  But  he  brings  the 
reading  of  history  alongside  the  problems  of  society  which  at- 
tract him  most  and  lets  them,  or  better  makes  them,  enforce  a 
lesson.  This  is  what  he  did  at  DeerfteljL  It  was  a  variation 
that  was  pleasing  to  a  popular  audience  and  of  the  highest  in- 
fluence. Whether  it  is  such  a  one  as  could  safely  be  made  per- 
manent in  the  proceedings  is  debatable,  but  for  the  onoe  at 
least  it  was  welcome.  Not  every  man  could  venture  on  a  con- 
troversial ground  with  such  courage  and  at  the  same  moment 
such  prudence. 

It  was  an  obvious  lesson  Mr.  Atkins  drew.  The  logic  is  irre- 
sistible and  it  is  a  needed  antidote  to  the  perversions  of  men 
like  Lyman  Abbott  whose  misreading  of  American  destiny 
needs  just  this  historical  correction.  The  marvel  is  that  audi 
words  as  these  are  necessary.  But  they  are.  It  would  not  be 
surprising  if  some  comphiint  should  be  heard  that  this  earnest 
speech  was  ^^  politics  "  and  so  out  of  place,  but  it  is  politics  ia 
no  other  sense  than  the  teaching  of  certain  truths  that  have  im- 
mediate application  to  political  conditions. 


REPORT  OF  CURATOR,  GEORGE  SHELDON. 

We  are  at  the  close  of  another  prosperous  year.  Our  Hall 
has  been  more  attractive  than  ever  before.  More  people  have 
called  upon  us  and  from  more  distant  parts  of  the  earth.  I 
quote  from  the  report  of  the  Assistant : — 

^'  Another  year  of  unusual  activity.  The  amount  of  business 
transacted  far  exceeds  that  of  any  previous  year.  The  Register 
shows  the  names  of  5,396  visitors,  and  they  represent  nearly 
every  State  in  the  Union,  two  Territories,  and  the  following 
countries : — ^France,  England,  Wales,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Finland, 
Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  Australia,  India,  Turkey,  Prussia  and 
Japan.  The  spirit  of  historical  research  is  notably  increasing. 
Teachers  and  students  from  the  higher  institutions  of  learning 
make  a  large  figure  among  our  visitors." 

With  the  expansion  of  space  has  come  considerable  change 


Report  of  Curator.  429 

in  the  arrangement  of  our  belongings,  partioolarly  in  the  Me- 
morial Boom.  That  had  become  terribly  congested  with  no 
means  for  relief  until  the  new  wing  was  available.  All  our 
Civil  War  relics  were  bestowed  here.  These  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  northeast  room  on  the  second  floor  which  is  oc- 
cupied as  the  Military  Boom.  There  were  in  the  Memorial 
Boom  some  large  pieces  of  furniture  dropped  there  temporarily, 
but  which  remained  there  of  necessity  for  lack  of  room  else- 
where. These  have  been  taken  to  the  Council  Boom,  as  have 
also  some  pictures,  not  of  a  memorial  character. 

Notable  additions  to  the  Memorial  Boom  are  four  mural 
tablets,  given  by  descendants  of  early  settlers  of  Deerfield : — 
to  Sampson  Frary,  by  Vice-President  Levi  Parsons  Morton,  of 
New  York ;  to  Zechariah  Field,  by  Marshall  Field,  of  Chicago ; 
to  Godfrey  Nims,  by  Franklin  Asa  Nims,  of  Greeley,  Colorado ; 
to  Nathaniel  Sutdiffe,  by  B.  H.  Sutliffe,  of  Plymouth,  Conn. 
These  are  fitting  memorial  tributes ;  we  may  also  say  that  they 
are  tokens  of  the  widespread  and  growing  interest  in  our  As- 
sociation and  its  work. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  one  of  our  directors  is  a 
subject  of  the  German  Emperor,  but  such  is  the  fact.  One  day 
last  summer,  I  met  at  the  Hall  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Marvin  Kanff- 
mann,  of  Berlin,  who  came  to  see.  She  was  so  well  pleased 
that  she  concluded  to  stay,  so  far  as  an  hundred  dollar  entrance 
fee  would  allow. 

Special  mention  should  be  made  of  two  portraits  in  oil  by  a 
skilful  but  unknown  artist,  presented  by  Miss  Philomela  Arms 
Williams  of  Bloody  Brook.  They  are  of  Capt.  Elijah  Arms, 
born  at  the  South  End,  in  1727 ;  and  his  second  wife,  Naomi 
Lyman  of  Northampton,  married  1774.  These  portraits  have 
descended  to  Miss  Williams  through  Capt.  Elijah  Arms,  Jr.,  the 
oldest  child ;  his  oldest  child,  Amelia  Arms,  who  married  Arte- 
mus  Williams,  to  their  oldest  living  child,  the  donor. 

As  you  all  know  our  Library  has  been  overflowing  for  years. 
Now  a  finely-lighted  room  opening  from  it,  filled  up  with  cases 
covered  with  glass  is  nearly  ready  for  occupancy.  The  capacity 
for  books  will  be  nearly  doubled.  One  alcove  will  be  devoted 
to  the  literary  work  of  native  and  adopted  citizens  of  Deerfield. 
A  circular  relating  to  this  alcove  is  herewith  transmitted.  The 
additions  to  the  Library  this  year  are  120  books  and  pam- 
phlets. 


430  Annual  Meetmg—190^. 

With  the  expansion  and  rearrangement  of  the  Library  oomeB 
the  obvious  necessity  of  a  new  oatalogae.  The  modem  cud 
catalogue  is  the  most  expensive  at  the  first,  but  it  is  indefinitely 
expansive  and  eminently  satisfactory.  I  recommend  its  adop- 
tion. 

A  new  catalogue  for  the  reUc  department  will  also  be  a  nec- 
essity for  the  best  results  in  its  use  by  the  public.  Here  a 
printed  book  will  be  more  desirable.  Ite  sale  will  in  some  de- 
gree be  a  source  of  income.  Some  considerable  portion  of  oar 
present  catalogue  can  be  made  use  of. 

The  west  entry  will  be  utilized  for  an  overflow  from  the 
kitchen. 

As  to  the  Council  Boom  I  invite  you  to  look  about  you.  Note 
particularly  the  desk  from  Mrs.  Stephen  Higginson  of  which 
for  years  I  have  had  the  conditional  use ;  and  also  the  new  loca- 
tion of  the  Boston  Harbor. 

In  1901  we  received  under  the  will  of  Solon  L.  Newton  of 
Greenfield  a  large  collection  of  pewter,  crockery,  brass,  iron 
ware  and  some  furniture — ^rare  articles  lovingly  gathered  by 
Mr.  Newton  through  years  of  labor.  This  gift  remained  un- 
packed for  many  months,  as  we  then  had  absolutely  no  room 
for  its  exhibition.  Now  the  large  northwest  room  on  the  sec- 
ond floor  is  wholly  devoted  to  this  fine  exhibit,  and  it  is  called 
the  Newton  BoonL  £xperts  have  stated  that  the  display  of 
pewter  here  is  the  best  in  the  country. 
•^In  a,  ««  of  ft,  T«,abal,  i,  .  Zm  o<»t«M,^  a«  ™e  W 
fied  collection.  After  considerable  search  no  generic  name  for 
this  miscellany  could  be  found.  But  a  name  was  necessary, 
and  this  has  come  to  pass.  The  entrance  to  the  room  is  guarded 
by  the  old  Pocumtudc  cannon,  and  the  first  objects  seen  on 
entering  are  relics  of  old  colonial  fortifications.  I  have  there- 
fore cut  the  knot  by  calling  this  room  The  Fort. 

It  has  been  proposed  to  reestablish  the  bedroom  in  the  large 
room  over  the  Library  Annex.  Miss  C.  Alice  Baker  has  of- 
fered to  carry  out  this  scheme.  The  whole  east  end  of  the 
Main  Hall  will  then  be  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  depart- 
ment, now  in  an  absolute  jam. 

The  machinery  for  making  brooms,  now  set  up  in  the  Fort 
was  given  in  his  lifetime  by  ^^  Oommodore ''  Albert  Smith  of 
Riverside.    Only  now  have  we  found  room  for  it. 

In  the  past  we  have  been  obliged  to  decline  many  offerings. 


Report  of  Cvrator.  431 

Now  we  shall  he  obliged,  to  have  the  stream  turn  our  way  again, 
for  we  have  plenty  of  room. 

I  hardly  need  call  attention  to  the  handsome  new  signs  over 
the  doors  indicating  the  several  departments.  I  do  this  only 
to  say  that  for  these  we  are  indebted  to  the  generous  heart  and 
skilful  hand  of  Bev.  Eichard  £.  Birks. 

For  a  gift  to  cover  all  the  bills  of  expense  for  the  permanent 
repairs  to  the  Memorial  Hall,  and  the  premises,  we  are  indebted 
to  a  generous,  but  anonjrmous  contributor. 

The  ancient  clock  now  in  the  Vestibule  was  given  by  Samuel 
Willard  who  died  at  Hingham  in  1885.  The  gift  was  encum- 
bered by  a  life  tenure  to  me ;  this  lease  is  hereby  cancelled. 

The  history  of  the  old  family  clock  goes  so  far  back  that  it 
is  lost  in  the  dim  past.  It  is  simply  the  '^  Old  Willard  Clock." 
It  is  an  excellent  timepiece,  and  I  suggest  that  the  Curator  be 
directed  to  keep  it  on  time. 

We  have  received  from  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Champney  an  in- 
teresting group  of  articles  collected  by  her  lamented  husband. 
This  includes  a  sheaf  of  Indian  arrows  gathered  on  a  trip  to 
the  Indian  Territory  in  company  with  the  late  G^n.  Armstrong. 

Mrs.  Stebbins,  our  Assistant,  is  an  active  and  earnest  worker, 
and  meets  the  public  need.  She  is  the  right  person  in  the  right 
place.    I  am  glad  to  say  that  I  see  no  present  signs  of  a  divorce. 

When  our  Association  was  formed  in  1870,  the  interest  in 
our  object  was  generally  confined  to  elderly  people ;  few  others 
became  members.  Naturally,  as  will  sadly  appear  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  to-day  our  ranks  are  fast  growing  thin.  Times  have 
changed,  however ;  in  the  present  generation  there  is  a  growing 
interest  in  the  past  which  promises  much  for  the  future,  and 
new  workers  must  be  harnessed  to  our  car. 

Respectfully  Submitted 

Gbobob  Sheldon, 

Curator. 

Deerfield,  Feb.  29, 1904. 


432  Annual  Meeting— 190^ 


HONORABLE  JOHN  K  BUSSELL 

BY  GEOBGB  SHELDON. 

Mr.  President: — As  a  fitting  introduction  to  my  subject,  I 
quote  the  following  from  Vol.  Ill  of  oar  Proceedings^  page 
409. 

^^  I  appear  to-night  at  the  request  of  your  Society,  which  de* 
sires  to  have  on  its  records  some  memorial  of  one  who  was 
connected  by  blood  with  the  makers  of  Deerfield."  These  are 
the  words  of  John  E.  Bussell,  spoken  of  his  father  at  our 
Annual  Meeting  in  1897. 

Hon.  John  Edwards  Bussell  was  a  life  member  of  our  Asso- 
ciation. He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  note.  He  filled  a 
large  space  among  the  sons  of  men  in  our  day  and  generaticm. 
He  attained  not  only  a  local  but  a  national  reputation.  Not  a 
graduate  of  any  collegiate  institution,  he  was  untrammeled  by 
any  traditionary  academic  bonds.  He  was  an  original  thinker, 
a  man  of  decided  opinions,  a  forceful  writer  and  fluent  speaker ; 
intense  in  utterance,  as  a  man  of  his  mold  must  be,  yet  so  kindly 
was  his  nature  that  I  do  not  think  his  sharpest  philippics  ever 
left  a  sting.  He  was  a  delightful  companion  and  a  warm- 
hearted friend. 

Mr.  Bussell  died  at  his  home  in  Leicester,  October  28, 1903. 
His  funeral  seryice,  which  was  attended  by  many  distinguished 
men  and  women,  was  held  in  the  Cremation  Society  Chapel  at 
Forest  Hills,  Boxbury,  October  31.  His  ashes  are  deposited  in 
the  Pine  Grove  Cemetery  at  Leicester. 

In  the  address  from  which  I  have  quoted,  John  E.  Bussell 
traces  his  line  of  ancestry  to  the  emigrant,  John  Bussell,  who 
came  over  in  the  ship  Globe  of  London,  in  1634 ;  he  was  of 
Cambridge  with  sons  John  and  Philip  in  1636,  and  he  seems  to 
have  been  a  man  of  affairs.  He  was  surveyor  of  arms  in  1638 ; 
selectman,  1642 ;  constable,  1643 ;  and  clerk  of  the  writs  in  1645. 
He  was  by  trade  a  glazier.  Philip  followed  his  father's  calling. 
John  was  sent  to  college  and  was  graduated  in  the  third  class 
of  Harvard  College,  in  1645,  the  seventeenth  student  on  her 
catalogue.  In  a  class  of  seven  he  was  the  fourth ;  so  holding 
a  medium  social  status  in  the  community. 

June  25,  1649,    John  Bussell,  Jr.,  married  Mary  Talcott. 


John  Edma/rds  Ru%%dl.  433 

She  was  the  daughter  of  John  Talcott,  who  was  an  emigrant 
from  London  to  Cambridge  in  1632,  was  the  founder  of  the 
distinguished  Talcott  family  in  Connecticut^  whither  he  re- 
moved in  1636.  Mary  Talcott  was  doubtless  the  magnet  which 
attracted  young  John  Bussell  to  Wethersfield.  Eev.  Henry 
Smith  died  in  1648,  and  John  was  chosen  his  successor.  John 
Bussell,  senior,  also  succeeded  Mr.  Smith,  by  marrying  Dorothy, 
his  widow,  in  1649.  His  son  Philip  in  due  time  married  a 
daughter,  Joanna  Smith. 

On  account  of  some  senseless  contention  in  the  church  at 
Wethersfield,  there  was  a  schism,  and  in  1659  John,  with  a 
large  part  of  his  congregation,  including  his  father  and  brother, 
removed  to  the  wilderness  at  Hadley,  where  he  could  have  a 
free  field  for  his  particular  'ism. 

It  was  at  Hadley  that  John  Bussell  proved  his  daring  and 
his  nobility,  by  taking  the  proscribed  regicides,  Whalley  and 
Goffe,  into  his  own  house  for  concealment.  It  was  a  pious 
but  a  difficult  and  dangerous  act.  Discovery  by  the  prowling 
minions  of  Charles  II.  meant  destruction  to  himself  and  his 
confederates.  There  were  in  the  Bussell  family,  while  the 
judges  were  concealed  at  Hadley,  the  two  Johns  and  Philip 
with  their  wives,  who,  it  seems,  must  have  been  in  the  secret, 
and  how  could  the  inquisitive  eyes  of  the  growing  children  of 
John  and  Philip  be  possibly  kept  in  the  dark.  However  that 
may  be,  all  in  the  secret  kept  it  bravely  and  well.  It  is  from 
this  group  of  Hadley  BusseUs  that  John  E.,  the  subject  of  this 
notice  claims  descent  He  found  a  general  family  tradition 
that  their  Connecticut  ancestors  were  from  Hadley  without 
designating  any  particular  Une.  After  a  long  and  careful 
search  I  have  picked  up  a  few  items  on  which  I  base  a  proba- 
ble line  of  descent — ^but  this  is  not  proven — ^I  oflfer  this  for 
the  clues  it  may  contain  for  further  investigation. 

[Since  writing  this  paper  I  have  (1905)  established  the  line 
between  the  Hadley  and  Connecticut  BusseUs.  I  shall,  there- 
fore, omit  the  details  of  my  speculations  and  insert  in  place  of 
it  the  ascertained  facts  and  give  a  skeleton  line  of  the  ancestors 
of  Mr.  Bussell  from  John  of  Cambridge,  1636,  to  John  of 
Deerfield,  1756,  although  it  will  involve  some  little  repetition.] 

I.    John  Bussell,  who  came  over  in  the  ship  Globe  of  Lon- 
don in  1634,  was  of  Cambridge,  with  sons  John  and  Philip  in 
1636.    He  appears  to  have  been  prominent  in  the  municipal 
28 


434  Annual  Meeting— 19M. 

affairs  of  the  town,  holding  various  offioes  of  honor  and  re- 
sponsibility. By  trade  he  was  a  glazier.  The  diamond-shaped 
window  panes  of  the  day  gave  added  importance  to  the  craft 
Kothing  is  known  of  his  wife.  When  his  son  John  was  called 
to  Wethersfield  he  went  also ;  there  he  married  Dorothy,  the 
widow  of  Bev.  Henry  Smith.  He  thence  followed  his  son 
John  to  Hadley  in  1659,  where  he  died  May  8, 1680,  aged  83, 
and  widow  Dorothy  died  in  1694. 

II.  Philip,  son  of  John,(l)  came  with  his  father  from  England, 
followed  him  to  Wethersfield  and  to  Hadley ;  settled  eyentaally 
in  Hatfield ;  d.  May  19, 1693.  He  m.  Feb  4, 1664,  Joanna,  dan. 
of  Eev.  Henry  Smith.  She  died  Deo.  29,  1664.  (2)  Jany.  10, 
1666,  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  Stephen  Terry.  She  was  killed  in  the 
Ashpelon  raid  on  Hatfield,  Sept.  19, 1677.  (3)  Dec.  25,  1679, 
Mary,  dan.  Edward  Church,  of  Hadley,  whose  brother  John 
had  been  killed  at  the  Falls  Fight,  May  19,  1676.  She  d.  in 
Sunderland,  May  1, 1743,  aged  87. 

CM. :  Joanna,  Oct  31, 1664,  d.  Dec.  29, 1664. 

John,  Jany.  2, 1667,  (3). 

Samuel,  1669.  Oaptured  by  Ashpelon  at  Deerfield,  Sept.  19, 
1677,  and  died  on  the  march  to  Camula. 

Philip,  Jany.  24, 1671. 

Stephen,  Oct.  12, 1674 ;  killed  by  Indians  Sept  19, 1677. 

Samuel,  Dec.  31, 1680 ;  was  of  New  York,  1720. 

Thomas,  February  12,  1683,  was  one  of  the  Hatfield  men 
who  rode  to  the  rescue  of  Deerfield,  Feb.  29, 1704,  and  was  in 
the  Meadow  Fight ;  was  a  soldier  at  Deerfield,  and  killed  while 
out  on  a  scout  Aug.,  1704. 

Mary,  Feb.  10, 1685 ;  d.  an  infant. 

Mary,  May  21,  1686 ;  m.  Feb.  16th,  1710,  Joseph  Root,  of 
Sunderland.    She  died  Jany.  23, 1738. 

Daniel,  Oct.  8, 1691 ;  m.  Nov.  18,  1713,  Jerusha  Dickinson, 
dau.  John  of  Hatfield,  b.  1693.  He  d.  June  28, 1737.  She 
m.  (2)  Oct  25, 1744,  Simon  Oooley. 

III.  John,  8.  of  Philip  (II),  b.  1667.  Sett  in  Wethersfield, 
Conn.,  where  he  d.  Jany.  10, 1746.  He  m.  April  9, 1691,  Martha, 
dau.  of  Nathaniel  Graves  of  Wethersfield ;  d.  July  16, 1740,  (2) 
Nov.  20, 1740,  Susanna  Nichols. 

Cfhil. :  Abigail,  Dec.  8, 1692. 

Elizabeth,  May  12, 1695 ;  m.  Feb.  (?)  24, 1714,  Ephraim  Wil- 
liams. 


John  EdAD<urd%  HusaeU.  4S5 

John,  Oct.  8, 1698,  (4). 

Martiia,  Maroh  2, 1701 ;  m.  David  Deming. 

Jonathan,  March  7, 1707 ;  d.  Aug.  21, 1826. 

Stephen,  Oct  20,  1710;  m.  May  17,  1734,  Ruth  Morton. 
Sett,  in  Wethersfield.  She  d.  Nov.  14,  1747.  (2)  Sept.  14, 
1749,  Abigaa  Wright    He  d.  1761.    Abigail  died,  Oct  4, 1805. 

IV.  John,  8.  of  John  (III),  b.  1698.  Sett  in  Wethersfield, 
where  he  d.  Aug.  16, 1773,  aged  74.  His  son  Timothy  was 
administrator  on  the  estate;  m.  Dec.  1,  1725,  Elizabeth,  dau. 
of  Israel  Orane.  She  d.  Nov.  10,  1745,  aged  41;  m.  (2) 
Abigail  She  d.  Sept  8, 1756,  aged  38 ;  m.  (3)  Elizabeth  Petti- 
bone  of  Simsbury,  Conn. 

ChU. :  David,  Aug.  29, 1726. 
Elizabeth,  May  17, 1729. 

John,  Sept  8,  1731,  O.  S.,  bapt  Sept  14.  Settled  in  Deer^ 
field,  1756,    (5). 
Hezekiah,  Feb.  13, 1739. 
William,  June  29, 1741. 

Timothy,  Dec.  31, 1744 ;  d.  Jany.  27, 1832,  aged  87. 
Elizabeth,  his  wife ;  d.  July  6, 1808,  aged  50. 

V.  John,  s.  of  John  (IV).    See  Hist  of  Deerfield  II,  p.  275. 
With  the  John  Eussell  who  came  to  Deerfield  in  1756  we  are 

on  solid  ground.  After  having  served  an  apprenticeship  of 
seven  years  with  a  tailor,  he  went  out  into  the  world  to  seek 
his  fortune.  In  his  account  book,  now  preserved  in  our  Ar- 
chives, we  find  upon  a  fly  leaf  the  following  statement : — 

"  Early  in  July,  1756,  I  cum  first  to  live  at  Deerfield  at 
Mr.  John  Sheldon's  House  and  Began  to  work  att  my  trade 
and  was  taken  sick."  His  brother,  Hezekiah,  hearing  of  his 
sickness,  wrote  John,  August  2:  ^^  Brother  I  expect  to 
hear  every  day  when  Mother  is  Dead  and  you  in  a  Strange 
Land,  but  I  will  Come  and  live  with  you,  if  you  grow 
wors."  Hezekiah  settled  in  Northampton.  There  was  an- 
other brother,  Timothy,  who  remained  in  Connecticut. 
Although  Hezekiah  writes  that  his  brother  John  was  ^*sick 
and  in  a  Strange  Land,"  John  was  not  comfortless.  His 
lines  had  fallen  in  the  House  of  Mercy.  True  to  the  name 
and  attribute.  Mistress  Mercy  Arms  Sheldon  had  opened  her 
heart  to  the  forlorn  stranger;  he  was  nursed  and  mothered 
and  restored  to  health.  Then  there  was  Hannah,  that  daughter 
of  Mercy,  whose  gentle  ministrations  cheered  and  perhaps 


436  Anmud  Meeting— 190^ 

prolonged  his  oonvalesoenoe.  The  ^'  Strange  Land  "  blossomed 
like  the  rose.  John  continued  to  ^'  work  at  his  trade,"  meaQ- 
while  working  himself  into  the  heart  of  Hannah.  December 
22,  1758,  they  celebrated  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  by  tak' 
ing  ship  on  the  connubial  seas.  ^^  Hence,"  says  John  K 
Russell,  ^^all  their  descendants  are  as  much  Sheldon  as  Bos- 
sell  and  are  proud  of  a  stock  which  goes  back  to  the  begin- 
nings of  Deerfield."  This  stock  includes  Stebbins,  Arms, 
Chapin,  Nash,  Hawks,  Edwards.  On  his  maternal  side  John 
E.  was  descended  from  the  settlers  of  Pennsylvania,  but  not 
one  drop  of  sluggish  Dutch  blood  appeared  in  his  make-up. 
John  Sheldon,  the  father  of  Hannah,  lost  his  father  when 
nine  years  old.  His  mother  married  second,  in  1719,  Capt 
Timothy  Ohilds,  who  lived  on  the  lot  now  called  the  Champ- 
ney  place,  where  she  died.  Probably,  on  the  death  of  her 
grandmother  in  1765,  Hannah  and  John  Russell,  her  husband, 
went  to  live  with  the  bereaved  Oapt  Childs  in  the  house 
where  her  father  was  brought  up;  and  they  bought  the 
place  in  1767.  Here  a  shop  was  built  for  John  by  Benja- 
min Munn,  and  here  he  ^^  worked  at  his  trade,"  adding  inn- 
holding  and  storekeeping.  Here  another  John  Russell  was 
born,  July  30, 1767.  Other  children  were  Hannah,  1760 ;  Wil- 
liam, 1762 ;  Elijah,  1765 ;  Lemuel,  1769.  Lieut.  John  Russell 
seems  to  have  taken  a  place  among  the  foremost.  He  was 
constable,  1771 ;  was  one  of  those  who  combined  in  1772  to 
establish  a  post  route  between  Deerfield  and  Boston,  that  they 
might  keep  in  closer  touch  with  the  Patriots  at  the  Bay ;  he 
was  lieutenant  in  the  train  band ;  and  January  23, 1775,  he  was 
chosen  one  of  the  Committee  of  Inspection,  "  to  see  y*  y®  Re- 
solves of  y®  Continental  Congress  be  strictly  adhered  to  in  this 
Town  " ;  he  was  one  of  the  selectmen  the  same  year ;  but  the 
Whigs  were  soon  fated  to  lose  his  strong  support;  he  died 
August  17,  1775.  His  widow  brought  up  the  children  and 
successfully  continued  the  business,  paying  off  the  last  mort- 
gage on  the  estate  in  1787.  Her  son  John  was  too  young  to 
take  part  in  the  Revolution ;  he  was  indentured  to  Isaac  Parker 
of  Deerfield,  to  learn  the  ^^  art  and  mystery  "  of  the  goldsmith 
and  watchmaker,  at  his  shop  on  the  Old  Albany  Road.  John 
set  up  a  shop,  probably  on  the  old  homestead,  but  about  1794 
his  mother  sold  the  place  and  John  removed  to  N orthampton« 
There  he  married,  tfuly  8, 1796,  Electa,  daughter  of  Nathaniel 


Johm,  Edwa/rda  B%L8seU.  437 

and  Bath  (Strong)  Edwards,  and  soon  after  removed  to  Green- 
field, where  he  established  himself  in  bosiness.  His  advertise- 
ments were  for  many  years  a  familiar  feature  in  the  Greenfield 
newspapers.  He  was  generally  known  as  Major  BnsselL  About 
1832  he  made  for  my  mother  six  silver  teaspoons  from  six  silver 
dollars ;  five  of  these  are  of  my  choicest  possessions.  Major 
Bussell  died,  October  30,  1839.  His  children,  all  of  whom 
survived  him,  were  John,  born  March  30,  1797;  Kathaniel 
Edwards,  born  1799;  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  1801; 
Buth  Strong,  1804;  Francis,  1806;  Hannah  Sheldon,  1809; 
and  Mary  Clapp,  1811. 

John,  his  firstborn,  was  taken  into  the  shop  to  learn  the 
business  of  his  father,  but  for  unknown  reasons  about  1816, 
he  left  Greenfield  and  went  to  Georgia.  There  he  dealt  in 
cotton  for  a  dozen  years  and  accumulated  what  he  consid- 
ered a  fortune.  There  he  met  Juliana,  daughter  of  Abram 
Witmer,  and  Ann  Catharine  Burg,  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  whom  he 
married  in  1830.  Following  the  example  of  his  father, 
John  Bussell  brought  his  young  wife  back  to  Greenfield  in 
1832.  Soon  after,  he  engaged  in  his  great  life  work  at  Cheap- 
side,  where  he  established  the  first  fine  cutlery  works  in  Ameri- 
ca. In  spite  of  English  obstruction  and  competition,  he  made 
a  name  and  acquired  a  fortune.  The  Green  Biver  Works  of 
John  Bussell  soon  became  known  all  over  the  civilized  world 
and  its  products  found  a  ready  sale.  John  Bussell,  the  third, — 
and  probably  the  fifth, — of  that  name  in  succession,  died  De- 
cember 27,  1874.  His  children  were :  Ann  Katherine,  bom 
October,  1831 ;  John  Edwards,  bom  January  20, 1834;  Charles 
Witmer,  born  November,  1836;  and  Francis  Burg,  born  De- 
cember, 1838.  It  may  be  worth  nothing,  that,  such  was  the 
respect  shown  to  motherhood,  out  of  the  eleven  children  of 
John,  and  Major  John,  the  names  of  eight  of  them  perpetuate 
those  of  maternal  ancestors. 

Just  why  John  Bussell  sent  his  son  John  Edwards  away 
from  Greenfield  for  his  early  training,  does  not  appear ;  but  he 
was  educated  under  the  care  of  Henry  Jones  of  Bridgeport. 
John  E.  left  Jones  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  French  and 
Spanish,  which  soon  came  in  play.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two 
came  the  most  important  event  in  the  life  of  John  E.  Bussell ; 
March  18,  1856,  he  was  married  to  Caroline,  the  adopted 
daughter  of  Bev.  Dr.  John,  and  Zibian  Nelson  of  Leicester. 


488  Annual  Meeting— 1904:. 

Soon  aft^  this  marriage  the  young  couple  went  to  C^itral 
America  in  search  of  material  for  a  history  of  that  interesting 
r^on.  But  that  history  was  not  to  be  written.  The  young 
man  came  under  the  observation  of  men  who  discovered  his 
worthy  and  he  was  soon  employed  by  the  Panama  Bailroad  and 
by  the  Pacific  Mail  and  Steamship  Company  as  diplomatic  agent, 
with  a  salary  of  $25,000.  He  spent  seven  years  in  this  serv- 
ice in  Central  America,  having  intimate  diplomatic  relations 
with  several  South  American  States,  and  was  also  more  or 
less  in  the  diplomatic  service  of  England.  He  came  back 
about  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  and  spent  three  years  in 
Washington,  coming  freely  in  contact  with  the  leading  m^i 
of  the  nation.  He  was  on  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Trib- 
une and  correspondent  of  the  Springfield  BepubUcan;  he 
also  wrote  papers  upon  agricultural  and  scientific  topics. 
Later  he  was  in  the  office  of  the  John  Bussell  Cutlery  Com- 
pany at  New  York.  In  1867  he  settled  down  on  a  farm  in 
Leicester  where  he  lived  the  life  of  a  ^^  gentleman  farmer,^ 
breeding  fine  horses  and  sheep,  and  cultivating  his  acres  on  a 
scientific  basis.  Meanwhile  he  was  gathering  about  him  a 
library  of  5,000  rare  books  and  hundreds  of  paintings  and  works 
of  art.  Mr.  Bussell  was  not  especially  interested  in  local 
history,  but  on  seeing  some  indications  of  interest  in  our  As- 
sociation he  was  invited  to  join  us  and  at  once  became  a  Life 
Member;  he  lightly  complained  at  not  being  called  upon 
sooner,  '^  for,"  said  he,  ^^  I  am  one  of  your  family,  and  take  a 
great  interest  in  my  Deerfield  ancestry." 

In  1880  Mr.  Bussell  was  chosen  secretary  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Agricultural  Society  and  occupied  the  post  six  years, 
doing  most  effective  work  among  tiie  farmers.  He  visited 
every  town  in  the  state,  making  public  addresses  and  organi- 
zing  eflforts  to  improve  agricultural  methods. 

In  1886,  Mr.  Bussell,  a  Democrat,  was  elected  as  a  Bep- 
resentative  to  Congress  from  the  Worcester  district.  A  split 
in  the  BepubUcan  party  favored  him,  and  his  own  popular 
stump  speeches  carried  him  through.  He  was  a  Free  Trader 
first  and  last,  and  his  eloquent  speeches  in  Congress  on  the 
tariff  question  brought  him  into  a  prominent  position,  unu- 
sual for  a  new  member.  He  served  on  the  Committees  for 
Foreign  Affairs  and  Pensions.  Congressional  strife,  however, 
was  not  to  his  taste,  and  he  declined  a  renomination.    In  1889- 


John  Edwao'ds  Buasell.  489 

90,  with  his  wife^  who  was  always  his  good  angel,  at  his  side, 
he  visited  Egypt  and  traveled  much  in  the  East.  He  declined 
the  Democratic  nomination  for  governor,  in  1890,  recommend- 
ing and  supporting  ^'  that  other  Bussell,"  William  E.,  who  was 
elected. 

In  1893  Mr.  Bnssell  traveled  in  Spain;  on  his  return  he 
accepted  a  nomination  for  governor,  as  he  did  also  in  1894, 
but  failed  of  an  election.  About  this  time  President  Cleveland 
offered  him  a  seat  in  his  Oabinet,  the  CoUectorship  of  the  Port 
of  Boston,  to  appoint  him  Minister  to  Italy,  or  Minister  to 
Spain.  All  these  tempting  offers  he  declined,  saying,  ^^  I  can- 
not take  office,  it  would  chill  my  influence  with  the  people." 
Here  was  an  exemplary  politician  who  would  sacrifice  himself 
to  what  he  considered  the  good  of  his  party,  and  of  course  the 
good  of  his  country. 

In  1895,  Mr.  Bussell  was  one  of  three  Commissioners  appointed 
by  the  President  under  an  Act  of  Congress,  to  join  with  others, 
of  England's  selection,  to  examine  the  waterways  from  the 
Great  Lakes  to  the  Atlantic,  with  reference  to  constructing  a 
ship  canaL  He  was  secretary  of  the  Commission,  and  made 
the  Beport  to  Congress,  which  favored  the  scheme.  Compli- 
cations on  the  Canadian  border  occurred  soon  after,  and  no 
action  on  its  behalf  could  be  secured.  In  a  delightful  account 
of  his  Canadian  experiences,  Mr.  BusseU  assured  me  of  his  strong 
faith  that  the  two  countries  would,  sometime,  not  far  distant, 
unite  in  carrying  out  this  great  enterprise.  I  believe  this  was 
his  last  great  public  service ;  his  heidth  failing,  he  spent  two 
years  in  quiet  travel  about  Europe,  returning  in  1901  without 
improvement ;  from  that  time  he  remained  in  seclusion  at  his 
home  in  Leicester.  Although  he  had  given  up  all  hopes  of 
recovery,  he  retained  to  the  end  his  customary  cheerfulness. 
In  his  last  letter,  written  October  22,  to  Frank  B.  Sanborn,  he 
says: — 

^^  You  are  very  kind  to  think  of  me  and  send  me  your  letter. 
You  did  not  know  how  much  I  was  in  want  of  comfort,  I  have 
been  in  bed  of  late  with  Angina,  and  sick.  There  is  a  Spanish 
saying,  ^  Who  takes  a  cat  to  bed  must  not  complain  of  claws.' 
So  in  the  Spanish  way  I  mean  to  be  respectful  to  Angina ; 
indeed  I  pay  her  no  attention,  I  merely  keep  quiet.  To-day  I 
have  been  up  since  noon  and  begin  to  live  again.  Your  two 
letters  a  wedc  are  my  delight,  I  wish  I  lived  in  Concord,  bat 


440  AnntkU  Meeting— 190^ 

we  can't  have  ^  oar  drothers,'  and  then  I  fear  yon  would  get 
tired  of  me  for  I  grow  old.  Even  immortals  most  be  yoang  to 
be  agreeabla  This  was  some  time  a  paradox,  but  without 
connting  the  experience  of  Aurora  (which  was  not  a  case  of 
esteem)  we  have  the  high  authority  of  Dean  Swift  .  .  . 
Eemember  me  to  Mrs.  Sanborn — also  to  the  agreeable  Mrs. 
Dutton,  and  the  stately  Mrs.  Sherman  Hoar.  The  death  of 
Monroe  is  a  blow  to  ns,  the  line  of  oar  generation  wanes  to 
extreme  thinness." 

This  line  became  farther  attenuated  when  John  Edwards 
Bussell  died  four  days  later. 


JAMES  WELLS  CHAMPNET. 

BT   EMMA  L.    COLEMAN. 

Oar  Association  has  lost  by  death  this  year  Mr.  James  Wells 
Ohampney,  of  New  York  and  Deerfleld.  He  joined  us  in  our 
earliest  days,  and  became  a  life  member  in  1879.  Several  times 
he  was  chosen  councillor  and  he  was  always  ready  to  hdp  us 
whether  in  making  the  Seal  of  the  Society  or  in  any  trifling 
service  with  his  pencil. 

The  name  of  Champney  is  not  common,  I  think,  in  England, 
nor  in  America.  Indeed,  a  letter  addressed  to  ^'  Mr.  Champney, 
New  York,"  would  have  been  delivered  to  our  friend. 

It  is  easy  to  believe  that  he  inherited  his  vivacity  and  charm 
of  manner  from  those  remote  French  ancestors,  who  gave  him 
his  name,  which  is  derived  from  ^4e  Champagnois"  (an  immi- 
grant from  the  province  of  Champagne). 

When  one  listened  to  his  delightful  reading  of  the  ^  habitant " 
dialect,  he  surely  seemed  nearer  ^^  le  Champagnois  "  than  to  bis 
earliest  American  ancestor,  the  Buling  Elder  of  the  Cambridge 
Church,  "  Mr."  Eichard  Champney,  one  of  those  "  most  dear 
saints "  of  whom  Mr.  Shepard  wrote  in  his  autobiography  as 
having  embarked  with  him  in  1635. 

Later  generations  of  Champneys  made  their  home  in  Box- 
bury  (at  the  comer  of  Parker  and  Tremont  streets)  where  also 
lived  that  maternal  ancestor,  James  Howe,  the  baker  who  sup- 
plied bread  all  winter  without  charge  to  the  American  soldiers 
on  ^^  the  Boxbury  line "  daring  the  siege  of  Boston.    [From 


Jamies    W.  Champney,  441 

James  Howe's  bakehouse  down  the  New  Lane,  now  Warren 
street,  Colonel  Learned  daily  formed  his  regiment.] 

James  Wells  Ohampney  was  bom  in  Boston,  the  son  of  James 
H.  and  Sarah  (Wells)  Ohampney. 

His  art  education  began  when,  as  a  boy  of  sixteen,  he  was 
taught  wood-engraving. 

In  1863  the  young  artist  became  a  soldier,  serving  as  corporal 
in  the  Forty-fifth  Massachusetts.  This  Boston  regiment,  which 
enlisted  for  nine  months,  was  held  a  longer  time  because  of  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Ohampney  studied  in  Europe  for  several 
years  with  Edouard  Fr6re  in  Paris,  in  the  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts  at  Antwerp  and  in  Rome. 

He  married  at  Manhattan,  E^nsas,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Judge  Samuel  Williams.  Soon  after  the  marriage  Judge  Wil- 
liams left  his  Kansas  home,  which  he  and  his  wife  had  sought 
for  conscience  sake,  to  dwell  in  his  father's  old  house  in  Deer- 
field,  and  here  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ohampney  have  ever  since  made 
their  summer  home. 

Here  Mr.  Ohampney  sometimes  had  sketching  classes,  and 
for  seven  years  was  Professor  of  Art  in  Smith  OoUege. 

In  the  early  years  of  his  artist  life  Mr.  Ohampney  traveled 
much  through  the  Southern  States,  making  sketches  for  Ed- 
ward King's  "The  New  South,''  in  Brazil, — ^and  during  the 
Oarlist  war  he  worked  in  Spain ; — ^in  his  later  life  he  usually 
spent  his  summers  in  Europe,  traveling  and  working  in  the 
galleries. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Society  of  Painters  in 
Water  Oolors  and  an  associate  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Design. 

No  one  enjoyed  Uvi/ng  more  than  Mr.  Ohampney ;  his  indus- 
try was  marvelous ;  he  loved  his  work,  he  loved  his  play ;  there 
were  no  duU  hours  for  him. 

The  custodians  of  foreign  galleries  where  he  worked  were 
surprised  by  his  remarkable  rapidity  and  by  the  accuracy  of  his 
copies  or  translations,  as  he  preferred  to  call  some  of  them.  Of 
Mr.  Ohampney  as  a  painter  I  will  let  his  fellow-artists  speak, 
quoting  from  the  very  appreciative  and  sympathetic  notices  of 
Mr.  Shirlaw  and  Mr.  La  Farge. 

Mr.  Shirlaw  writes  that  "  he  found  his  special  felicity  in  the 
fascinating  pastel,"  "  he  was  alive  to  what  was  best  in  art," 


442  Annual  Meeting— 190i. 

**  bringing  to  his  and  oar  gain  the  beautifal  copies  he  made  ci 
the  work  of  the  great  masters," — ^^  that  it  would  be  a  good  ob- 
ject lesson  and  deserved  tribute  if  the  best  of  his  copies  could 
be  held  together  and  placed  in  a  museum."  Of  some  original 
work  Mr.  Shirlaw  says  ^'  the  technique  was  distinctly  refined 
and  seemed  to  qualify  him  especially  to  understand  the  work  of 
the  French  masters." 

May  not  this,  too,  have  been  an  inheritance  from  those  dwel- 
lers of  ^^  la  Ohampagne  t" 

Of  his  ^^  translations  "  Mr.  La  Farge  writes :  ^^  They  have  the 
merit  and  the  quality  of  the  originals," — ^^  the  appearance  of 
personal  work,  the  last  thing  we  get  from  the  usual  copies,  be- 
longing to  the  manner  of  copy  of  which  the  great  masters  were 
so  fond."  ^^  Even  Bembrandt  himself  has  been  followed  by  Mr. 
Champney  with  a  perception  of  the  manner  and  a  rendering  of 
the  appearance,  that  I  have  been  able  to  gauge  myself  with  the 
original  alongside  of  it"  ^^  There  have  been  none  such  before 
and  any  repetition  of  the  like  must  be  extremely  rare."  ^  Mr. 
Champney  was  given  to  continuous  study — everything  interested 
him." 

In  the  exhibition  lately  held  in  New  York,  while  most  of  the 
pictures  shown  were  pastels,  there  were  a  few  oils  and  some 
water  colors,  which  Mr.  La  Farge  describes  as  "  very  beautiful " 
with  such  a  note  of  sincerity  '^  and  quality  of  truthfulness  "  ^^  as 
to  give  the  time  of  day,  the  weather,  even  the  very  different 
kind  of  light  in  France  or  England." 

It  is  more  difficult,  because  more  intimate,  to  speak  of  Mr. 
Champney  as  our  own  friend.  We  knew  him  as  the  genial 
host  and  charming  guest.  As  the  kind  neighbor,  not  one 
has  been  more  considerate  nor  more  generous  to  those  less  tor- 
tunate. 

He  identified  himself  with  the  best  interests  of  our  village ; 
with  its  past  history  and  its  future  progress.  By  his  effort  the 
site  of  the  fort  weU  was  marked.  His  latest  interest  here  was 
in  a  union  of  the  two  churches. 

We  thought  of  him  as  husband,  father,  neighbor,  soldier  and 
painter,  as  the  little  group  of  veterans  walked  with  fife  and 
drum  on  Memorial  Day  to  our  old  bury  ing-ground,  where  among 
the  graves  of  those  who  were  killed  in  the  devastation  of  tiie 
town  two  hundred  years  ago  this  night,  and  the  Soldiers  of  the 
Revolution  who  fought  to  make  a  nation,  they  laid  their  laurels — 


James  M.  Crafts.  448 

flower  and  leaf— on  the  new  grave  of  the  only  one  there  bnried 
who  served  in  the  war  that  saved  the  nation. 

This  spot  chosen  years  before  by  himself  is  marked  by  a  sim- 
ple slate  stone  inscribed : 

JAMES  WELLS  CHAMPNEY 
bom  July  16th,  1843 
died  May  Ist,  1903 


JAMES  M.  CRAFTS. 

BY    8BTH   B.   0BAFT8. 

James  Monroe  Crafts  was  bom  at  Whately,  Mass.,  February 
26, 1817.  His  opportunities  for  education  as  with  most  men  of 
his  time  were  quite  limited.  On  arriving  at  manhood  he  learned 
the  potter's  trade  and  with  his  farming  he  carried  on  the  pot- 
tery business  with  his  father,  the  firm  known  as  Thomas  Crafts 
&  Son.  They  sold  the  pottery  in  1851,  he  continued  forming 
to  which  he  added  the  business  of  buying,  assorting  and  selling 
seed-leaf  tobacco. 

In  1873  he  removed  to  Shelbume  Falls  and  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  cigars  and  run  a  tobacco  store.  In  1876  he  re- 
turned to  Whately  and  took  up  farming.  He  held  most  of  the 
various  town  offices,  selectman,  assessor,  treasurer ;  was  on  the 
board  of  school  committee  many  years,  was  special  county  com- 
missioner, president  of  the  Franldin  County  Agricultural  Soci- 
ety, was  an  officer  of  the  Pocumtuck  Memorial  Association. 
He  helped  J.  H.  Temple  compile  a  history  of  Whately  in  1871, 
and  in  1893  with  William  F.  Crafts  compiled  a  Genealogical 
and  Biographical  History  of  the  descendants  of  Griffin  and 
Alice  Crafts,  from  1630,  the  time  when  they  came  from  Eng- 
land and  settled  in  Boxbury,  Mass.,  to  1893.  AU  the  Crafts 
families  in  this  State  trace  back  to  these  common  ancestors. 
He  has  written  a  History  of  the  Sanderson  and  the  Bardwell 
Families.  He  helped  in  compiling  a  History  of  the  Graves 
Family.  He  was  appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1851, 
holding  an  appointment  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Fraternal  Orders  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Masons. 

In  1899  the  town  of  Whately  voted  to  ask  Mr.  Crafts  to  pre- 
pare a  EQstory  of  the  Town,  recognizing  that  records  are  perish- 


444  Annual  Meeting— 190^. 

able,  and  are  always  incomplete ;  thej  are  at  best  bnt  the  OQi- 
lines,  the  filling-ap  must  come  from  personal  reminiscences  of 
character  and  actions,  and  those  items  of  civil  and  social  afTairs 
which  are  transmitted  by  tradition,  but  with  enough  of  truth 
to  explain  the  records,  and  enough  of  reality  to  help  the  practi- 
cal historian  in  giving  a  life-like  picture  of  the  time  of  which  he 
treats.  Mr.  Crafts'  knowledge  of  the  genealogy  of  the  Whately 
Families,  his  memory  of  the  days  gone  by,  being  an  eye  witness 
of  the  events  transpiring  for  nearly  80  years,  gave  to  him  a 
peculiar  fitness  for  the  work.  He  was  a  man  well  posted  on 
all  current  topics  of  the  day,  pleasing  in  conversation  and  man- 
ner, large  hearted,  ever  thoughtful  for  others  and  very  liberal 
in  his  religious  views. 
His  death  occurred,  September  18, 1903. 


SKETCH  OF  ZERI  SMITH. 

BY  HBNBT   O.  HASKELL. 

Zeri  Smith,  an  original  member  of  this  Association,  passed 
away  on  May  13, 1903,  after  a  short  illness. 

He  was  born  on  June  17, 1814  (Bunker  Hill  day),  upon  what 
is  called  ^^  Grindstone  Hill,"  about  one  and  one  half  miles  from 
the  farm  that  he  afterward  purchased. 

He  remained  with  his  parents  until  twenty  years  of  age. 
He  then  went  to  North  Hadley,  and  learned  the  broom  busi- 
ness, working  there  some  three  years ;  a  certain  number  of 
brooms  being  a  day's  work.  One  year  he  did  not  lose  a  day 
and  made  one  and  one  half  day's  work  in  one,  thus  doing  one 
and  one  half  years'  work  in  one. 

Again,  at  the  age  of  87,  he  grew  five  acres  of  tobacco,  and 
plucked  the  tops  from  the  whole  of  it  himself,  rather  than  to 
trust  the  job  to  the  help. 

In  1837  he  purchased  the  farm  upon  which  he  afterwards 
spent  his  life,  commencing  farming  at  that  time.  He  also  be- 
gan the  manufacture  of  brooms,  in  which  he  continued  for  six 
years  when  he  abandoned  it  and  went  into  the  lumber  business, 
but  still  cultivated  his  farm. 

He  furnished  the  lumber  for  the  first  public  aqueduct  f(» 
supplying  the  City  of  Springfield  with  v^ater. 


Alfred  B.  Stebbms.  445 

In  1852  he  engaged  in  the  growing  of  tobacco,  being  one  of 
the  first  to  grow  the  weed  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  a  business 
which  he  followed  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

In  1860  he  began  to  buy  tobacco  for  New  York  parties,  in 
which  he  continued  for  a  number  of  years. 

He  was  married  three  times,  outliving  his  third  wife  several 
years. 

He  had  by  his  first  marriage  three  children :  One,  a  daughter, 
died  in  infancy.    His  two  sons  survive  him. 

In  his  younger  days  he  experienced  much  sickness  in  his 
family,  and  this  with  some  business  reverses  would  have  dis^ 
couraged  many,  but  with  pluck  and  perseverance  he  after- 
ward achieved  success  in  his  undertakings. 

He  was  a  man  who  must  be  known  to  be  appreciated. 


ALFRED  BAXTER  STEBBINS. 

BT   MART   ELIZABETH    8TEBBINS. 

Alfred  Baxter  Stebbins,  born  in  Deerfleld,  February  4, 1829; 
died  in  Deerfield,  January  31, 1904. 

He  was  one  of  ten  children  of  Zebina  and  Ruby  Graves  Steb- 
bins, and  was  born  and  lived  on  the  farm  now  known  as  the 
^'  Ely  Place,''  until  he  was  fourteen  years  old.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  district  school  and  the  Deerfield  Academy. 

In  April,  1844,  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  the  Meadow 
Mill  district,  his  father  purchasing  the  property  there,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  gristmill  business.  The  ^^  Stebbins  Mill "  was  a 
noted  one  in  those  days,  and  here  he  worked  for  some  years, 
with  his  father  and  brothers.  He  was  an  expert  in  making 
flour,  that  being  his  specialty.  Thoroughness  and  honesty 
were  characteristic  of  him  all  his  Hfe. 

He  was  a  man  of  dedsion,  with  no  equivocation,  and  he 
could  not  be  swerved  from  the  path  of  duty  and  right,  as  he 
saw  it,  after  he  had  made  up  his  mind.  He  was  of  a  retiring 
disposition,  even  to  difi&dence,  but  his  friendships  were  loyal 
and  permanent. 

Remaining  unmarried,  he  made  his  home  with  his  parents 
until  their  death. 

The  memory  of  his  mother  was  ever  sacred  to  him,  and  his 


446  Annual  Meetmg—190^. 

love  and  reverence  for  her  were  the  crowning  affections  of  his 
life. 

From  1882  until  1898  he  was  engaged  in  business  at  Black 
Biver  Falls,  Wisconsin.  But  a  longing  for  the  old  scenes  and 
old  friends  called  him  back  to  his  native  town,  and  the  last 
years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  Greenfield  and  Deerfidd 
amid  the  old  haunts  and  memories,  and  '^  having  won  " 

The  bound  of  man's  appointed  yean  at  last, 
Life's  blessings  all  enjoyed,  life's  labors  done, 
Serenely  to  his  final  rest  he  passed. 

This  is  a  brief  record  of  one  of  the  early  members  of  this 
Association  who  has  recently  passed  away.  One  by  one  they 
leave  us  as  the  years  glide  by,  and  the  world  moves  on  seem- 
ingly forgetful ;  but  the  memory  of  a  life  of  integrity  is  never 
wholly  lost,  for  the  record  of  individual  good  citzenship  is  the 
standard  by  which  the  character  of  a  community  is  judged. 


JOHN  MONTAGUE  SMITH. 

BY  ABBIB  S.  MONTAOUB  OF  SUKDEBLAin). 

A  brief  sketch  written  during  his  lifetime  opens  with  the 
statement,  which  probably  no  one  would  question,  that  no  resi- 
dent of  Sunderland  of  his  generation  was  more  widely  known 
within  and  without  the  town  than  was  he. 

Should  we  ask  why  he  was  so  well  known,  we  should  not 
find  our  answer  in  the  circumstances  attending  his  early  years, 
for  his  advantages  were  not  very  different  from  those  usually 
enjoyed  by  the  young  people  of  his  day  in  that  town,  and  his 
education  was  not  more  liberal  than  that  afforded  by  the  pri- 
vate academy  of  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  We  should 
judge  rather,  that  it  was  because  of  native  ability  joined  with 
a  willingness  to  respond  wherever  and  whenever  he  was  needed, 
and  a  desire  to  give  to  the  world  the  very  best  which  it  was 
in  his  power  to  bestow. 

He  was  of  unmixed  Connecticut  valley  ancestry ;  every  one 
of  the  more  than  100  of  his  American  ancestors  of  whom  we 
have  trace,  lived  at  some  time  in  his  or  her  life  in  a  town  bor- 
dering on  the  Connecticut  Biver.  We  have  not  time  to  speak 
of  all  of  whom  we  might  speak,  to  show  that  his  ancestors  were 


John  M.  Smith.  447 

men  and  women  of  much  worth,  but  on  this  day  of  all  others 
we  must  not  fail  to  mention  Benjamin  Waite. 

From  him  he  descended  through  his  daughter,  Oanada,  who 
was  bom  in  captivity. 

He  was  a  descendant,  in  the  9th  generation,  of  Lieut.  Sam- 
uel Smith  who  sailed  with  his  wife  Elizabeth  and  four  children 
from  Ipswich,  England  in  1634,  who  settled  in  Wethersfield, 
removed  to  Hadley  in  1659  and  became  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  latter  town. 

He  was,  in  both  Wethersfield  and  Hadley,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  citizens.  Among  other  honors,  he  was  chosen  dep- 
uty to  the  General  Court,  about  twenty-five  times.  The  links 
connecting  lieut.  Samuel  and  John  Montague  Smith  are  Philip 
of  Hadley,  Jonathan  of  Hatfield,  Elisha  of  Whately,  Benja- 
min of  Whately,  Elihu  of  Hadley  and  Austin  of  Sunderland. 
We  can  also  trace  his  descent  from  Lieut.  Samuel  in  three  other 
lines. 

He  was  a  son  of  Austin  and  Sally  (Montague)  Smith.  Has 
mother  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Dea.  John  Montague, 
one  of  the  prominent  men  of  Sunderland,  who  was  for  many 
years  clerk  of  both  town  and  church,  who  held  all  of  the  im- 
portant town  offices,  who  was  for  a  long  time  teacher  of  the 
town  school,  and  who  established  a  social  library  in  the  eight- 
eenth century. 

Dea.  Montague's  wife  died  when  his  daughter  Sally  was  two 
years  old,  and  the  latter  was  adopted  by  a  childless  man,  Na- 
thaniel Smith,  Esq.,  who  became  an  associate  in  various  suc- 
cessful business  ventures,  and  was  held  to  be  Sunderland's 
wealthiest  citizen.  He  was  a  man  of  great  liberality ;  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  Amherst  College. 

After  this  daughter  was  married  to  Austin  Smith  of  North 
Hadley,  they  shared  in  common  the  then  fine  house  which  is 
now  Sunderland's  only  hotel.  Here  John  M.  Smith  was  bom, 
July  6,  1825,  and  here  the  family  lived  until  the  deaths  of 
the  foster  parents,  which  occurred  only  a  few  days  apart,  in 
1833. 

Nathaniel  Smith  was,  eminently,  a  trader,  but  he  owned 
farm  property.  Austin  Smith  was  eminently  a  former,  and 
after  the  death  of  Nathaniel  the  latter  moved  to  a  place  farther 
down  street,  the  land  of  which  joined  a  large  tract  which 
Nathaniel  owned,  and  which  was  thus  rendered  by  far  the 


448  Annual  Meeting— 190^. 

largest  and  most  valaable  &urm  in  the  village,  and  which  was 
ever  after  the  home  of  both  Austin  and  John  M.  Smith. 

Mr.  Smith  was  married,  January  9, 1850,  to  Eliza  Hubbard, 
daughter  of  Horace  Lyman,  Esq.  She  died  September  30, 1S98. 
Their  only  children,  two  daughters,  died  at  early  ages.  Their 
adopted  daughter,  Mrs.  Charles  E.  Smith,  shared  his  home  from 
early  childhood. 

His  lifelong  occupation  was  farming.  He  was  thoroughly 
conversant  with  agriculture  and  was  considered  an  authority 
on  any  branch  of  the  subject.  Although  on  a  larger  scale,  like 
other  Sunderland  farmers  he  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  a 
variety  of  crops,  but  unlike  most  of  them  he  carried  on  largely 
the  business  of  raising  and  dealing  in  beef  cattle,  notwith- 
standing the  Western  competition  of  later  years.  While  a 
member  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  1865-68,  it  is  evi- 
dent, from  the  reports,  that  his  opinions  on  the  subject  of  beef 
raising  were  considered  authoritative,  and  it  is  equally  evi- 
dent that  his  was  a  high  standing  in  the  councils  of  die  Board. 

If  we  study  thoroughly  his  connection  with  agricultural  or- 
ganizations, we  must  go  backward  66  years.  A  number  of 
young  men  banded  themselves  together  in  an  organization 
which  existed  for  many  years,  for  the  twofold  object  of  co- 
operative farming  and  practical  benevolence.  The  youngest 
subscriber  by  far,  was  John  M.  Smith,  then  twelve  years  old. 
When  25,  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  establishing  the  Sun- 
derland Farmers'  Club.  For  over  30  years  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Franklin  Harvest  Club,  and  at  the  time  when  it  was  do- 
ing its  best  work  as  an  agricultural  society.  From  1872-76, 
he  was  its  secretary.  He  was  president  of  the  Franklin  County 
Agricultural  Society  1862-65  and  was  helpful  in  institute  woA 
and  in  other  ways,  and,  as  we  have  said,  a  member  of  the 
State  Board  of  Agriculture  from  1865  to  1868. 

In  politics  he  was  a  Eepublican,  and  very  loyal  to  his  party. 
He  was  frequently  chosen  to  important  town  offices,  serving 
as  town  clerk  for  35  years.  He  was  one  of  the  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  town  for  building  the  present  townhall  and 
school  building,  and  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  rendering 
the  Sunderland  bridge  free  to  tJie  public.  He  served  two 
terms  as  special  county  commissioner  and  two  terms  as  com- 
missioner. When  elected  to  the  latter  office  in  1873  he  re- 
ceived in  Sunderland  162  of  the  169  votes  cast,  and  in  1876, 


John  M.  Smith.  449 

167  out  of  176,  the  Democratic  vote  for  governor  being  in 
those  respective  years,  30  and  43.  In  1875  he  was  one  of  a 
commission  to  build  the  suspension  bridge  at  Turners  Falls. 
There  was  very  much  opposition  to  the  chosen  location  but 
the  judgment  of  the  commissioners  has  since  been  vindicated. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church  from  boy- 
hood, and  he  was  as  ready  to  give  his  best  service  to  the 
church,  as  to  the  public,  whether  as  Sunday  School  superintend- 
ent or  teacher,  as  a  frequently  appointed  delegate  or  committee 
or  as  a  participant  in  its  prayer  services.  He  was  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Congregational  club  during  most  of  the 
years  since  its  organization. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  P.  Y.  M.  A.,  in  1873  and  he 
always  had  at  heart  its  interests.  For  nine  years  he  was  coun- 
cillor, and  for  three  years  vice-president,  and  he  did  efficient 
work  on  committees  of  arrangement.  He  presided  at  the  after- 
noon session  of  the  annual  meeting  of  1900,  which  was  the  last 
meeting  that  he  was  able  to  attend.  He  thoroughly  enjoyed 
his  connection  with  this  organization,  as  he  was  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  its  objects.  The  same  motive  which  impelled 
his  loyalty  to  this  society  impelled  him  to  the  work  of  editing 
the  History  of  Sunderland,  which  was  largely  written  by  his 
cousin,  Henry  W.  Taf  t,  Esq.,  but  which  was  laid  down  on  account 
of  physical  infirmity.  Mr.  Smith  spent  two  years  in  adding  to 
Mr.  Taft's  work  and  in  bringing  the  whole  into  shape  for  publi- 
cation. After  an  illness  of  two  years,  he  died  of  pulmonary 
tuberculosis,  July  3, 1902.  The  offices  which  he  filled  so  faith- 
fully and  so  well  have  long  since  been  taken  by  others,  but 
as  no  history  of  Sunderland  will  ever  be  written  which  will 
wholly  displace  his,  this  book  will  ever  be  a  monument  of  his 
love  of  the  study  of  local  history,  and  of  the  faithful  work 
which  characterized  his  life. 
2<) 


460  AnntKU  Meeting — 1904. 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  BAPTISTK 

BT   O.    ALIOS   BAKBB. 

Pabt  IL 

Oar  last  glimpse  of  our  hero  was  in  May,  1697,  when,  aoooid- 
ing  to  letters  carried  by  his  wife  to  Yillebon,  Baptiste  had  set 
out  from  the  month  of  the  river  St.  John  to  go  privateering 
^^  with  one  of  the  fishing  boats  which  he  formerly  took  and  a  crew 
of  twenty  five  men."  *  Baptiste's  holiday  was  short !  About  a 
month  later  a  stop  was  put  to  his  sport.  On  the  6th  of  June, 
1697,  he  and  21  of  his  crew  were  committed  to  Boston  jaO, 
where  as  we  have  seen,  Captain  Yillieu  and  his  men  had  abeady 
been  sentf  Side  by  side  on  the  lists  of  Caleb  Ray,  jailer,  are  the 
names  of  Yillieu  and  his  men,  with  Baptiste  and  his  crew  up  to 
December  4th,  1697,  when  "  Yillieu  went  to  Salem  In  order  to 
goe  to  OTorto."  X 

The  treaty  of  Ryswiok  was  signed  September  20th,  1697. 
Rumors  of  this  must  have  reached  the  authorities  at  Boston,  and 
probably  influenced  them  to  release  Yillieu,  that  he  might  sail 
from  Salem  at  the  earliest  date  after  the  formal  proclamation  in 
New  England,  thereby  saving  the  government  further  expense 
for  his  maintenance. 

The  Thursday  lecture  had  been  in  such  a  state  of  decline  that 
Mr.  Cotton  Mather  in  April  had  reproved  the  Boston  people 
for  their  small  attendance,  and  had  given  notice  that  there- 
after it  would  begin  at  eleven  of  the  clock,  an  hour  earlier 
than  formerly .§  It  was  probably  very  well  attended  on  the  9th 
of  December,  1697,  and  Sewall  with  his  dinner  guests  doubtless 
discussed  the  prospect  of  peace.  That  afternoon  at  3  o'clock 
Captain  Gillam  sailed  into  Marblehead  harbor  after  "  a  *very 
extraordinary  Passage'  of  3  months  and  1  day  from  Cowes."  I 

Captain  Balston,  a  passenger,  went  up  to  Boston  that  night, 
and  early  in  the  morning  of  the  lOtii,  Captain  Clark  told 
Sewall  of  the  arrival  of  the  ship. 

It  was  a  day  of  great  excitement  in  Boston.     The  Post  room 

*  Doc.  Rd.  k  THist.  de  la  NouveUe  France,  Vol.  11,  p.  284,  Tlbierge  to 
Frontenac. 

t  March  23,  1696-97. 

t  GoodeU  Acts  and  Resolves,  Vol.  VII,  p.  586. 

I  Sewall's  Diary,  Vol.  1,  p.  464. 

II  Sewall's  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  465. 


Adventures  of  Ba^pUate.  461 

in  the  old  State  House  was  thronged  with  people,  and  some 
were  merry  and  some  were  sad,  as  they  opened  their  letters 
from  old  England.  Among  the  ship's  passengers  was  John 
Willard.  He  had  fled  to  England  to  escape  persecution  for 
aiding  Mrs.  Gary  to  escape  from  Cambridge  jail,  where  she  was 
confined  under  the  charge  of  witchcraft. 

"Willard  came  up  from  Salem  that  morning  bearing  dispatches 
to  the  Boston  government,  including  an  order  for  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  peace  between  England  and  France.*  Between  3 
and  4  o'clock  that  afternoon,  two  heralds  with  trumpets  pro- 
claimed the  glad  tidings  of  Peace  from  the  balcony  of  the  old 
State  House,  which  was  followed  by  the  beating  of  ten  or 
twelve  drums,  and  received  by  the  people  in  the  street  below 
with  loud  acclamations. 

The  beautiful  Council  Chamber  had  been  lately  fitted  up  with 
new  ceiling,  painting  and  glazing,  a  new  floor,  and  hearthstone 
built  up  to  its  level. 

There  the  Lieutenant  Gtovemor  (Stoughton)  with  his  Council, 
all  in  their  robes  of  state,  and  many  of  the  principal  gentle- 
men of  Boston,  exchanged  congratulations  upon  the  important 
event.  Afar  in  the  southwest,  the  sun  was  sinking  in  a  golden 
glory,  when  "  the  prison  doors  were  opened,  and  the  French 
prisoners  cheered  with  wine,  but  more  with  Liberty."  f  The 
jailer's  last  charge  for  keeping  Baptiste  is  as  follows : — 

"  To  Keeping  of  Captain  Baptiste  from  13th  of  8  ber  to  y* 
18th  December  Is  9  wks  3  Days  at  6  sh  per  wk."  The  auditors 
of  this  account  ^^  judging  4  sh  per  wk  to  be  a  sufficient  allow- 
ance for  Keeping  the  within  named  Captain  Baptiste,  (who  is 
not  kept  better  than  y^  ordinary  prisoner),  ^  subduct '  accord- 
ingly in  settling  with  Eay. " 

Little  cared  the  North  American  savage  for  treaties  signed 
across  the  sea.  The  subsequent  pillage,  murder  and  captures 
at  Haverhill,  Spruce  Creek  and  Hatfleld,  made  it  apparent 
that  the  Eastern  Indians  must  be  treated  with  as  an  independent 
nation,  bound  by  their  former  treaties  to  recognize  the  sover- 
eignty of  England.  Our  retention  in  Boston  jail,  after  the 
peace  of  Bomazeen,  one  of  their  most  cruel  sagamores,  being 
their  excuse  for  renewed  atrocities,  it  was  decided  after  much 
discussion,  to   set  him  free.      In  the  jail  keeper's    account^ 

*  Council  Records,  Vol.  2,  p.  510. 
t  Sewall's  Letter  Book,  Vol.  I,  p.  194. 


462  Annual  JUeeUng— 1904. 

the  last  date  of  his  imprisonment  is  the  18th  of  November, 
1698. 

Nothing  more  is  said  of  Baptiste  after  the  18th  of  December, 
1697,  to  which  date  as  we  have  seen,  his  board  is  charged.  He 
probably  escaped  with  some  late  squad  at  the  general  release. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  he  was  in  Canada  before  the  date  of  a  letter 
written  the  16th  of  April,  1699,  by  the  French  Minister  at  Ver- 
sailles to  Yillebon,  in  which  he  says : 

^^  His  Majesty  is  very  glad  to  hear  of  Captain  Baptiste's  re- 
turn, and  will  bear  him  in  mind  when  he  has  an  opportonily  to 
do  him  a  favor."  * 

Baptiste  was  soon  at  his  old  tricks  again,  as  we  learn  from 

^^  The  humble  Petition  of  John  Harraden  Mariner,  late  oom- 
mandr  and  owner  of  the  Sloop  Blackthorn  which  Sheweth 
That  on  the  tenth  day  of  May  Anno  Domi  1702,  before  the 
war  was  proclaimedf  y  o'  Petitioner  being  bound  with  his  s*^  Slo(^ 
on  a  ffishing  voyage  to  Cape-Sables  was  met  by  the  Jean  Bap- 
tiste who  took  yo'  Petitioner,  and  sent  him  and  his  Company 
into  Port  Boyall,  and  in  about  two  months  time  yo'  Peti- 
tioner being  discharged  and  his  Company  brought  home  with 
him  two  Ketches  which  the  ffrench  had  taken  from  us,  and  de- 
livered them  to  the  owners  at  Salem,  and  presently  waited  upon 
his  Excellency,  and  gave  him  an  acc^  of  what  had  happened, 
who  was  pleased  to  grant  yo^  Petitioner  his  Commission  to  go 
in  search  after  recover  and  retake  his  s4  sloop  dk  c^  "  [cai^]. 

When  Harraden  met  Baptiste,  it  was  Oreek  meeting  Greek, 
for  the  former  was  as  famous  a  privateer  as  the  Frenchman, 
and  as  he  goes  on  to  say, 

**  The  said  Baptiste  being  notoriously  known  to  have  been 
a  most  mischievous  enemy  to  this  Country  last  warr,  having 
taken  a  great  number  of  vessells  from  the  Merchts:  of 
this  Province  Several  Merchts:  and  Gentlemen  of  good 
worth  promis'd  yo'  Petitioner,  he  should  be  very  well  re- 
warded if  he  could  take  efi  Baptiste.  But  now  so  it  is  may  it 
please  yo^  Excellency  and  Honors,  that  yo'  Petitioner  did 
pursuant  to  his  s^  Commission  find  out  &  take  s^  Baptiste 
and  bring  him  Prisoner  to  Boston,  but  in  our  way  home  met 
with  a  flfrench  man  of  War  of  seaventy-five  men  who  were 
fitted  out  from  Port  Boyal  on  purpose  to  take  yo^  Petitioner 

*  Doo.  Rel.  k  VBiBt.  de  la  NouveUe  France,  Vol  m,  p.  316. 
t  /.  e.,  Queen  Anne's  War. 


Adventures  of  BapHete,  468 

(as  the  Capt.  himself  boasted  when  we  hailed  him),  but  we 
killed  the  Captain  and  13  or  14  of  his  men  (as  the  ffrenoh 
themselves  reported)  and  sent  her  back  to  Port  Eoyal,  Mon- 
sieur Baptiste  having  had  the  satisfaccon  to  be  a  spectator  of 
the  action  whereby  (as  he  humbly  conceives,)  he  did  a  very  con- 
siderable service  for  his  Country,  the  Satisfaccon  whereof  he 
looks  upon  to  be  a  sufficient  reward  for  all  the  Pains  and  haz- 
ard he  has  sustained  in  the  enterprize.  But  his  particular  per- 
sonal Loss  has  been  very  great  for  besides  that  the  Sloop  ffur- 
niture  &c:  cost  him  near  four  hundred  pounds  which  is  aU 
lost.  ^  ...  he  is  moreover  by  the  Loss  of  his  Sloop  put  out 
of  all  employment,  &  all  means  to  support  himself  and  ffamily 
taken  away  from  him  whereby  he  is  reduced  to  great  straits." 

Thus  the  fortunes  of  war  brought  Baptiste  for  the  third 
time  to  Boston  jail,  from  which  he  was  not  soon  again  to 
escape. 

The  jail  being  overcrowded,  some  of  the  principal  French 
prisoners  of  this  period  were  sent  down  to  the  Castle  in  the 
harbor,  f 

December  2, 1703,  the  Representatives  in  asking  the  Governor 
^'  for  the  Redressing  of  several  things,"  and  evidently  feeling 
that  Baptiste  is  not  well  guarded, 

"  pray  that  John  Battiste  prisoner  at  y*  Castle  be  Removed 
into,  and  kept  in  y*  Roome  there  formerly  prepared  for  him." 

Doubtless  the  matter  was  promptly  investigated,  as  I  find 
that  at  the  next  ^^  meeting  of  the  Council,  Dec.  13,  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Povey,  Commander  of  the  Castle,  made  answer  *  As 
to  the  keeping  of  Battiste,  he  is  kept  in  the  same  place  where 
he  always  has  been.'  " 

The  news  of  his  capture  made  a  great  stir  in  Acadia,  as  is 
proved  by  the  following  letters.  The  first  is  from  Tibierge, 
the  Company's  agent  at  Naxouat,  to  Mr.  John  Nelson  at 
Boston : 

Port  Royal,  22nd,  Aug.  1702. 
Sir. 

The  advices  reodved  here,  that  Mr.  Baptiste  has  been  taken  by  one  of  yo* 
veesells  armed  for  war  by  order  of  yo*  Govt,  gives  me  opertunity  of  writing 
you  these  lines  to  pray  you  that  if  y«  S<1  Mr  Baptiste  has  need  of  your  Suc- 
cour as  far  as  the  sum  of  fiFifty  of  sixty  livres,  to  furnish  him  with  it  and  take 
his  receit  for  it.    I  wiU  satisfy  you  with  honour  for  the  said  Summ,  In  re- 

*  Goodell,  Acts  and  Resolves,  Vol.  Vm,  p.  278. 
fNow  Fort  Independence. 


464  Annual  Meeting — 1904. 

paying  it  to  yo*  Order  where  you  please.    I  diaU  be  vefymueh  obliged  to  jtn 
for  this  favour  which  I  expect  from  you  Bdng  most  trudy 
S^  yo*  moet  humble  and  meet  obedt  Servt 

TiBIBROB. 

Do  Brouillant  writes  to  Dudley  and  to  the  Council  at  the 
same  date. 

Sir. 

I  had  reason  to  brieve  that  after  I  had  sent  jrou  one  of  my  offioere  to  ad- 
vise you  of  the  honor  that  the  King  had  done  me  in  giving  me  the  Govern- 
ment of  this  Province  ....  you  would  have  honoured  me  Sir  with  answer- 
ing and  advising  me  what  you  oould  doe  on  those  overtures  I  made  you; 
but  very  far  from  that  under  pretence  of  some  vessels  taken  by  the  Indians, 
you  have  sent  on  our  coast  Privateers  to  take  our  French  fishermen,  althou^ 
those  taken  [by  the  Indians]  were  returned  to  you,  which  in  rigour,  bad  been 
good  prizes,  not  only  respecting  the  declaration  of  warr  but  alsoe  because 
you  have  noe  right  to  come  a  fishing  on  our  lands;  I  doe  not  believe  that 
you  would  demand  that  veesell  taken  by  Mr.  Baptiste  which  was  found 
without  Passeport  or  Commission  trading  in  the  harbours  of  our  coast  for 
peltry  feathers  and  other  effects  ....  which  is  directly  contraiy  to  the 
Treaty  ....  soe  that  I  believe  myselfe  to  be  well  grounded  in  demand- 
ing the  restitution  of  the  French  vessells  taken  on  our  coasts,  with  the  Ef- 
fects of  the  men  taken  ....  and  by  name  Mr.  Baptiste  whom  I  Hftmm^fMl 
as  a  subject  of  the  King,  and  protest  in  reprisal  of  the  violence  and  ill  treat- 
ment that  shall  be  done  him.     I  expect  that  you  will  the  more  readily  reflect 
aa  the  vertue  of  my  demand,  in  that  I  did  not  deferr  one  moment  in  send- 
ing you  the  vessells  which  I  took  out  of  the  Indians'  hands,  at  the  time  yon 
demanded  them  and  was  just  about  ....  to  advise  you  of  my  design  to 
return  them  to  you  ....  that  soe  I  might  correspond  faithfully  with  the 
engagement  which  the  gentlemen  of  the  Boston  Council  had  made  with  me 
in  engaging  me   in  a  neutrality  ....  in  Letters  which  they  wrote  me. 
....  where  you  may  remark  that  they  assure  me  that  they  are  obliged  that 
those  of  your  nation  shall  not  begin  any  irruption.    You  cannot  suspect  me 
of  any,  since  as  I  have  already  said,  I  have  sent  back  to  you  your  vessells 
with  their  Effects,  and  the  men  belonging  to  their  crews  without  standing 
on  my  good  right  to  retain  them  by  reason  of  the  warr.  .  .  . 

I  am  Sir,  your  moet  obedient  and  faithful  Ser^ 

Bbouillant. 

De  Broaillant  also  wrote  to  Baptiste  who  had  written  him 
after  his  capture : 

I  have  received  your  letter,  and  am  very  sorry  for  your  accident.  I  have 
not  been  wanting  in  my  care  to  get  your  liberty,  but  the  courser  went  too 
well.  I  have  sent  to  Boston  to  reclame  the  vesseUs,  you  and  the  crews,  by 
virtue  of  the  word  which  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Council  of  Boston  gave  me, 
that  they  would  not  make  any  irruption  on  their  side;  I  have  done  as  much 
on  ours,  since  I  have  returned  them  the  vesseUs  taken  from  them,  exo^t 
that  which  contraiy  to  the  treatys  of  the  Crownes  of  England  and  ours 


Adventures  of  JSaptiste.  455 

traded  with  our  Frenchmen  and  Indians  without  any  commiaBJon  or  paswport 
I  hope  they  will  give  me  a  reason  for  that. 

Be  at  quiet  expecting  your  destiny  which  can't  be  bad,  once  you  have  done 
nothing  but  by  my  orders.  Ebcpect  that  I  will  interest  the  King  in  your 
retention,  and  that  I  will  take  soe  just  measures  to  have  you  again,  that 
the  English  gentlemen  shall  find  them  agreeable. 

Your  family  is  in  health.  Do  not  disturbe  yourself  about  it,  yo*  wife 
writes  you.  LeF^vre  will  deliver  you  two  Louis  d'ors,  and  I  have  caused 
Mr.  Nelson  to  be  wrote  to,  to  furnish  your  wants.  I  hope  he  will  doe  it. 
I  am  always,  with  all  my  heart  Sir,  Yours. 

Brouillant. 

Port  Royal  25th  Aug.  1702. 

In  Dudley's  reply  to  Be  Brouillant's  letter  he  says : 

I  have  by  your  Messenger,  Mr.  LeFebore,  received  two  letters,  one  for  my- 
self and  the  other  for  the  gentlemen  of  her  Majesty's  Council  of  this  Prov- 
ince but  you  have  reserved  the  date  of  both  of  them  so  as  they  may  be  pre- 
tended to  be  written  before  the  commencement  of  the  warr  and  thus  might 
have  been  the  ....  for  the  restoring  the  sloopes  and  men  lately  taken 
from  the  subjects  of  the  French  King,  but  as  the  matter  now  stands  I  have 
nothing  further  to  say  to  it.  ...  In  the  meantime  I  must  desire  that  the 
subjects  of  her  Majesty  the  Queen  ....  may  have  the  good  fortune  to 
keep  themselves  out  of  the  Inconveniences  of  a  captivity,  tiiough  never  so 
easy  and  short.  This  is  in  answer  to  yours  Received  the  fifteenth  of  Sep- 
tember instant.* 

All  this  was  dated  in  the  summer  of  1702,  as  is  proved  by  a 
letter  from  Be  Brouillant  to  the  French  Minister  dated  Octo- 
ber 30, 1702.t 

The  Acadian  Governor  b  evidently  in  a  great  rage.  He  says  that  he  is 
"so  piqued  by  the  bad  treatment  of  the  Acadian  French  by  the  English  that 
if  his  Majesty  wiU  give  him  a  large  enough  force,  he  will  wager  his  head  that 
he  will  make  a  successful  enterprise  against  Boston.  He  had  engaged  the 
Acadians  in  fishing  the  length  of  the  coast,  and  this  year,  would  have  had 
at  least  15  or  20  barks  employed  there,  if  an  English  corsair  t  had  not  seized 
those  who  had  begun  to  do  it.§  He  had  at  once  armed  a  barque,  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant  Neuvillette  H  to  try  to  overtake  this  corsair.  That 
officer  was  killed  in  the  conflict.  .  .  .  Having  been  informed  that  an  arma- 
ment was  fitting  out  at  Boston  for  an  attack  on  Acadia,  he  has  made  his 
people  work  hdidays  and  Sundays,  to  put  Port  Royal  in  a  state  of  de- 
fence, and  sent  a  man  T  overland  to  Boston,  under  pretext  of  reclaiming 
the  fishermen  that  have  been  taken,  but  really  to  fimd  out  exactly  what 

*  AU  the  above  letters  may  be  found  in  Mass.  Archives,  Vol.  11,  pp.  603 
to  612. 
t  Doc.  Rel.  k  THistoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  Vol.  n,  p.  995. 
t  Harraden's  vessel. 

§  /.  e.,  Baptiste,  see  Harraden's  petition  above. 
II  Brother  of  Portneuf . 
TLeFfevre. 


456  Annual  Meeting— 190^ 

preparations  are  makiiig.  He  has  ohaiged  this  man  to  redaim  l^  nanie  the 
Sieur  Baptiste,  (who  thoroughly  knows  the  Acadian  coast,  and  who  waa 
seised  on  a  vessel  that  he  had  put  out  to  fish  in  order  to  induce  others  to  do 
the  same,)  on  information  he  had  received  that  the  Boston  gov^mxKent 
intended  to  hang  him  because  he  had  formerly  been  with  the  EngJish. 

A  later  letter  to  the  French  Minister,  from  the  Gk>Temor  and 
Intendant  at  Qaebec,  between  whom  and  the  Acadian  Gov- 
ernor there  was  jealousy,*  notes  the  return  of  LeF^vre,  "  who 
had  been  sent  to  Boston  to  negotiate  the  return  of  the  vesseb 
and  prisoners  that  the  English  had  taken  from  Acadia,"  and 
says  that  ^^  the  Boston  governor  had  laughed  at  Brouillant's  of- 
fer to  return  as  many  to  him  when  he  should  catch  thenoL" 

The  letter  also  notes  that  ^^  LeFdvre  had  been  shut  up  while 
he  stayed  in  Boston  to  prevent  his  finding  out  what  was  going 
on." 

On  the  night  of  William's  death.  Queen  Anne  had  told  the 
Privy  Council  that  she  should  carry  on  the  war  for  which  he 
had  been  preparing  which  was  accordingly  declared  on  the  4th 
of  May,  1702.  [O.  S.]  It  was  in  the  autunm  of  that  year  that 
LeF^vre  was  sent  to  Boston,  as  we  have  seen. 

Next  in  the  sequence  of  events  is  the  tragedy  we  commemo- 
rate to-day :  a  tragedy  perpetrated  in  retaliation  for  the  seizure 
of  Baptiste.t  Mr.  Williams  reached  Montreal  towards  the  last 
of  April,  1704. 

^^  At  my  first  coming  to  Montreal,"  says  the  Bedeemed  Cap- 
tive, '^the  Governor  told  me  I  should  be  sent  home  as  soon  as 
Captain  Battis  was  returned,  and  not  before ;  and  that  I  was 
taken  in  order  to  his  redemption." 

^^  The  miserable  devastations  made  on  Deerfield,"  and  other 
atrocities  of  which  he  had  been  a  witness,  caused  the  impetuous 
Capt.  Church  to  say  that  if  he  were  commander-in-chief  of 
these  provinces  he  '^  would  soon  put  an  end  to  these  barbarities, 
....  making  it  his  whole  business  to  fight  and  destroy  the 
savages^  as  they  did  our  poor  neighbors.  .  .  .  His  blood  boiled 
within  him,  making  such  impulses  on  his  mind,  that  he  forgot 
all  former  treatments,  which  were  enough  to  hinder  any  man, 
especially  the  said  Major  Church,  from  doing  any  further  service. 
Notwithstanding  which,  having  a  mind  to  take  some  satisfac- 

*  Doo.  Rel.  k  PHist.  de  la  NouveQe  France,  Vol.  n,  p.  402. 
t  Other  reasons  for  the  attack  may  be  found,  ante,  pp.  12,   13  —  and 
po&t  pp.  477,  478.  [EDrroB.] 


Ad/oenture%  of  Baptiste.  457 

tion  on  the  enemy,  his  heart  being  full,  he  took  his  horse  and 
rode  from  his  own  habitation,*  seventy  miles,  to  wait  npon 
his  Excellency,  and  offered  his  services  to  the  Queen,  the  Gov- 
ernor and  the  country,  which  the  Governor  readily  accepted, 
and  desired  Major  Church  to  draw  up  a  plan  of  action." 
Church's  commission  made  him  ^^  Colonel  of  all  the  forces  raised, 
....  and  Captain  of  the  First  Company  of  the  said  forces." 

Among  the  forces,  was  a  company  under  our  old  acquain- 
tance, Capt.  John  Harraden. 

The  expedition  sailed  about  the  middle  of  May  and  ^^  got  safe 
into  Montinicus,  undiscovered  by  the  Enemy ."f 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  give  the  details  of  the  Fifth  and 
Last  Expedition  of  Capt.  Church, — except  as  they  throw  light 
upon  persons  and  places  we  meet  in  connection  with  this  story 
of  Baptiste. 

The  next  morning  after  their  arrival  at  Matinicus,  Church 
sent  two  whaleboats  to  Green  Island,  one  to  one  part,  and 
the  other  to  the  other,  so  that  they  might  miss  nothing.  Here 
they  met  with  one  whom  Church  calls  LaFav/re  and  Penhal- 
low,  LaFebure^  whom  I  beUeve  to  be  none  other  than  our  old 
friend  LeFhvre. 

He  with  his  two  sons,  Thomas  and  Timothy,  and  a  Canada 
Indian,  were  gathering  ducks  and  eggs.  They  at  once  threw 
down  their  eggs,  and  running  for  their  boats,  put  out  to  sea. 
Soon  overtaken,  they  were  quickly  captured,  kept  apart,  and 
carried  to  Church,  who  finding  papa  LeFivre  "  very  surly  and 
cross,  so  that  he  could  gain  no  intelligence  from  Mm,"  set  up 
two  stakes  at  some  distance  apart,  surrounded  by  larire  heaps 
of  wood,  and  ordering  his  InLn^  to  put  on  their  wlr  pain^ 
he  had  Thomas  and  Timothy  bound  to  the  stakes,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  examine  them  separately. 

Taking  Timothy  first.  Church  promised  to  spare  his  life  and 
take  him  into  his  service,  if  he  would  tell  the  truth,  to  which 
Timothy  agreed.  After  some  questions.  Church  asked  Tim- 
othy whether  his  brother  did  not  know  more  than  he  did, 
when  he  divulged  the  fact,  that  Thomas  had  a  commission  from 
the  Governor  of  Canada,  to  command  the  Indians  gathered  at 
a  place  where  some  French  officers,  lately  arrived  from  Canada, 
were  to  take  command  of  those  that  were  going  to  fight  the 

♦  TiTertofn,  R.  I. 

t  Montinious  Idand  about  20  miles  south  of  Fox  Island,  Penobscot  Bay. 


458  Annual  Meeting— 190^. 

English,  and  that  a  quantity  of  ammunition  and  stores  had  been 
sent  to  his  father,  and  brother  Tom,  for  that  army ;  and  that 
the  Canada  gentlemen  were  Monsieur  Qourdeau  and  Mr.  Shar- 
kee,  who  were  at  Passamaquoddy,  building  a  fort  Tom  being 
questioned,  and  told  that  the  savages  should  roast  him  if  he 
did  not  tell  all  he  knew,  solemnly  promised  that  he  would,  and 
would  pilot  Church  to  everything  he  knew.  This  melodrama 
being  played  out,  Church  ordered  the  whaleboats  to  be  got 
ready,  and  went  directly  and  seized  the  stores.  At  dusk,  pi- 
loted by  Tom  and  Timothy,  Church's  men  paddled  to  the  main 
land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot,  and  visited  every  habita- 
tion thereabouts  both  of  French  and  Indians. 

In  this  they  were  assisted  "  by  one  De  Young  whom  they 
carried  out  of  Boston  jail  for  the  same  purpose,  and  he  was 
serviceable  to  them."  Penhallow  writes  this  name  D'Young. 
It  has  been  printed  D.  Young — I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  the  name  is  Dion,  formerly  Ouion. 

Two  Acadian  brothers,  Joseph  and  Francois  Guyon,  well- 
known  pilots  and  filibusters  of  that  period  had  been  captured 
with  their  crew  and  committed  to  Bo^n  jail  at  about  the  same 
time  as  the  seizure  of  Baptiste  by  Harraden.*  Their  surname 
being  the  same  as  that  of  Baptiste,  their  exploits  similar  and 
cotemporaneous,  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
them. 

At  Penobscot,  Church  killed  or  took  every  one,  both  French 
and  Indians.  Among  the  captives  was  Castine's  daughter. 
The  prisoners  all  corroborated  the  statement  of  Tom  and  Tim- 
othy, that  there  were  no  more  Indians  thereabouts,  but "  enough 
of  them  "  at  Passamaquoddy.  Paddling  at  night  and  resting 
by  day.  Church  scoured  the  coast  with  his  whaleboats. 

On  June  7, 1704,  they  entered  the  west  harbor  at  Passama- 
quoddy. • 

On  an  island  there  they  seized  a  French  woman  and  her  chil- 
dren (who  evidently  knew  more  than  she  would  tell);  and 
what  other  prisoners  they  could,  including  ^^  old  Lotrell  and  his 
family." 

Leaving  Col.  Gorham  to  guard  these  prisoners.  Church 
moved  up  the  river  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  with  diffi- 
culty by  reason  of  the  fierceness  of  the  current.    The  two  pilots, 

*  See  Mass.  Arohives  for  statement,  petitions  and  list  of  the  crew  of  the 
brothers  Quion. 


Adventures  of  Baptiste.  459 

Ouion  and  Fellows,  to  discourage  him,  told  him  that  a  part  of 
Lottrell's  family  had  been  drowned  there. 

I^othing  daunted,  Churoh  went  on,  and  at  daybreak  Le 
Fdvre's  son  directed  them  to  Gourdean's  hut,  who  came  out 
and  was  granted  quarter  for  himself  and  &mily.*  From  Gour- 
deau.  Church  learned  that  '^  Monsieur  Sharkey "  (eio)^  lived 
several  leagues  up  the  river,  but  was  coming  down  that  day 
to  advise  with  him,  about  the  Indian  army  that  was  to  go  west- 
ward. Church,  knowing  that  delays  are  dangerous,  left  Otowr- 
deau  under  guard,  and  pushed  on  in  search  of  Sharkee,  whom 
they  took  with  his  family.  Then  with  a  store  of  fish  and 
beaver,  and  the  other  prisoners,  they  sailed  away  in  the  trans- 
ports for  Minas.  On  June  20,  Church  demanded  the  sur- 
render of  Minas, 

^^  because  of  many  cruelties  ....  you  and  the  Indians  have 
been  guilty  of  towards  us  ...  .  particularly  the  horrid  action 
at  Deerfield  this  last  winter,  in  killing  ....  and  scalping, 
without  giving  any  notice  at  all,  or  opportunity  to  ask  quarter 
....  and  carrying  the  remainder  into  captivity  in  the  height 
of  winter  of  which  they  killed  many  in  the  journey ;  and  ex- 
posed the  rest  to  the  hardships  of  cold  and  famine  worse  than 
death  itself.'' 

The  pilot.  Fellows,  after  lying  about  the  depth  of  the  creek, 
gave  Church  the  slip,  and  while  waiting  for  the  tide  to  serve,  he 
was  attacked, — but  finally  fired  the  town,  and  digging  down  the 
dams,  "  let  the  tide  in  "  and  flooded  the  fields.  Cruising  among 
the  islands  on  his  way  back  to  Mount  Desert,  Church  found  the 
wife  of  one  Dubois,  whom  he  had  formerly  carried  captive  to 
Boston.  She  was  glad  to  see  him,  and  with  her  two  sons,  told 
him  that  there  were  no  Indians  left  there. 

In  his  speech  to  the  General  Court,  August  16, 1704,  Dudley 
thus  summarizes  Church's  last  expedition :  ^ 

"  Gentlemen, 

Since  your  Last  recess  the  forces  eastward  under  Colonel 

*  Jacques  Gourdeau  Seigneur  de  Beaulieu.  He  and  his  family,  with 
much  peltiy,  seized  by  Church. 

fRen^  Louis  Chartier  Sieur  de  Lotbiniere.  He  and  his  shallop  were 
carried  to  Boston  by  Church.  Also  his  family,  and  a  store  of  fish  and  beaver. 
He  had  been  commissioned  to  form  an  expedition  against  the  English. 

IMass.  Archives,  Vol.  108,  p.  21. 


460  AfMual  JUeeiinff—lQOi. 

Cbaroh,  with  the  Assistance  of  her  Majestyes  ships  have  past 
thro'  all  the  Eastern  parts  of  Laoadie  &  Nova  8ootia  &  have 
burnt  and  Destroyed  all  the  frenoh  settlements  exoept  The 
Town  of  port  Koyall  &  Killed  their  Cattle  &  broken  their  dames 
&  have  brought  home  about  100  prisoners  &  a  good  plunder  so 
that  I  am  not  sensible  there  are  five  houses  left  in  any  part  of 
the  f rench  settlements  out  of  sight  of  the  fort,  nor  any  maner 
of  support  for  the  Inhabitants  which  was  what  we  projected  in 
the  spring,  and  the  forces  are  returned  &  Disbanded  without 
the  Loss  of  any  more  than  six  men  for  which  we  have  all  reason 
to  render  thanks  to  Almighty  god." 

Even  before  Church's  return,  our  Qovemment  had  began  ne- 
gotiations for  the  return  of  our  captives. 

April  10th  and  again  August  21st,  Dudley  sent  letters  by  way 
of  Albany  to  the  Canadian  Governor,  remonstrating  against 
his  unlawful  and  unchristian  method  of  carrying  on  war ;  de- 
manding the  withdrawal  of  these  Christian  captives  from  the 
hands  of  the  savages ;  offering  an  equal  exchange  of  prisoners ; 
and  threatening  reprisals  if  he  does  not  receive  a  guarantee  of 
better  treatment  for  his  people. 

Impatient  at  receiving  no  answer  to  these  letters,  Dudley  on 
the  25th  of  September  (1704)  proposes  to  his  Council  to  send 
*•  Arthur  Jeffrey,  attended  with  two  French  prisoners  of  War 
by  way  of  St.  John's  river  to  Quebec  ....  to  concert  a 
method  of  exchange."* 

In  many  papers  read  before  this  society,  I  have  quoted  at 
length  the  correspondence  of  the  two  governments  in  relation 
to  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war.  I  shall,  therefore,  on  this 
occasion,  omit  the  repetition  of  this  correspondence,  quoting 
only  that  which  relates  to  Baptiste. 

Dudley's  plan  of  sending  Arthur  Jeffrey  to  Canada  was  frus- 
trated by  the  appearance  in  Boston  of  John  Sheldon  and  John 
Wells  of  Deerfield.  "  Very  urgent  to  have  License  to  travail 
thither."  f 

Fortunately  for  them,  within  the  week.  Captain  John  Living- 
ston arrived  in  Boston,  and  arrangements  were  made  with  him 
to  conduct  Mr.  Sheldon  and  Wells. 

Duplicates  of  Dudley's  letters  of  April  and  August  being  pre. 

*  CouncU  Records,  1703-1708,  p.  70. 
t  CouncQ  Records,  1703-1708,  p.  125. 


Adventures  of  Bapiiete.  461 

pared,  and  a  third  written  December  20tby  1704,  Sheldon  and 
Wells  took  the  Bay  Path  for  Deerfield,  and  the  last  of  the 
month,  strode  bravely  down  the  Albany  road,  to  push  on  over 
Hoosac  mountain  to  Albany. 

Panse  a  moment  to  think  of  it, — ^you  who  amid  all  the  com- 
forts of  modem  civilization  have  found  it  just  now  difl9cult  to 
endure  the  rigor  of  a  Deerfield  winter.  We  have  a  glimpse  of 
them  at  Albany  before  they  plunged  into  the  pathless  forest,  in 
a  scrap  of  paper  containing  an  account  on  which  is  indorsed  in 
Sheldon's  handwriting,  ^^  what  i  paid  to  captain  levenston  at 
hotsoen  river.'* 

The  governor  of  Canada  received  the  envoys  with  the  cour- 
tesy of  a  Frenchman  but,  ^^  knowing  Mr.  Dudley's  resolution 
not  to  set  up  an  Algiers  trade,  by  the  purchase  of  prisoners 
of  the  Indians,  he  dares  not  take  the  responsibility.  As  to  ex- 
changing those  in  the  hands  of  the  French,  he  hardly  sees 
on  what  basis  that  can  be  arranged  ....  Moreover,  there  is 
Baptiste." 

In  closing  a  letter  written  April  2d,  1705,  to  his  son  John  in 
Deerfield,  Mr.  Sheldon  says,  ^^  i  may  let  you  noe  i  haint  sene 
none  of  my  children  but  here  they  are  gone  a  hunten." 

This  letter  was  sent  with  others,  April  7th;  by  Samuel  Hills, 
a  Wells  captive,  who  gladly  gave  his  parole  for  this  chance  to 
visit  his  friends  in  New  England.  He  was  escorted  by  two 
Frenchmen  named  Dubois.  De  Yaudreuil's  letter  is  an  irrita- 
ting pretense  in  excuse  for  his  delay  in  sending  back  our  cap- 
tives. Early  in  May,  however,  escorted  by  the  Sieur  de  Courte- 
manche,  a  distinguished  officer,  with  eight  French  soldiers, 
Sheldon  and  his  companion  with  five  redeemed  captives,  one  of 
his  own  children,  his  son  John's  wife,  Esther  Williams  and  two 
others  unknown,  set  out  on  their  journey  home. 

By  his  artful  selection  of  a  few  captives  for  release,  De  Yau- 
dreidl  had  quieted  Mr.  Williams,  and  rid  himself  of  John  Shel- 
don for  a  time.  His  instructions  to  Oourtemanche  were  pri- 
marily to  ^^  demand  absolutely  the  return  of  Baptiste  vnthotU 
which  there  could  he  no  exchcmge^'* ....  and  finally, "  to  protest 
against  the  retention  of  one  Allain,  who  went  with  a  passport 
from  Sieur  de  Brouillant  to  effect  an  exchange,  and  is  ille^dly 
held." 

In  his  letter  to  Dudley,  sent  by  Oonrtemanohe,  De  Yaodreuil 
says. 


462  Animal  Meeting— 190^. 

''  The  Sieor  Brouillant  in  giving  me  an  account  of  his  deal- 
ings with  you,  tells  me  that  for  17  English  that  he  has  sent 
back  to  you,  you  have  returned  him  only  10  French ;  and  be- 
sides you  will  not  give  up  the  man  named  Baptiste,  whom  yoa 
took  even  before  war  was  declared,  because  under  De  Bronil- 
lant's  order  he  had  seized  one  of  your  boats  which  was 
without  permission,  within  our  limits.  As  he  did  only  his 
duty  I  am  sorry  to  tell  you  that  it  is  useless  to  talk  about 
exchange  if  Baptiste  is  not  in  it." 

On  the  14th  of  June,  1705,  '^  His  Excellency  acquainted  the 
Council  with  the  advances  he  had  made  in  his  proposals  to 
Mr.  Courtemanche  relating  to  the  exchange,  ....  and  that 
the  whole  affair  stuck  at  Baptiste,  which  Mr.  Courtemanche 
insisted  on  as  a  particular  article  in  his  instructions  and  de- 
clined to  do  anything  unless  Baptiste  was  included." 

The  governor  asks  advice  of  his  council  and  desires  that 
"  certain  of  them  with  the  Representatives  take  the  matter  into 
consideration,  without  speaking  of  the  same  without  doors." 

The  next  day  the  Representatives  sent  a  message  to  Dudley 
^^  That  he  should  use  his  utmost  endeavors  to  obtain  the  exchange 
without  releasing  of  Baptiste.  But  if  finally  it  cannot  be  ob- 
tained without,  that  Baptiste  be  exchanged  Rather  than  our 
Captives  be  retained  in  the  hands  of  the  Enemy."  * 

Notwithstanding  the  injunction  of  secrecy,  it  was  noised 
abroad  that  the  Governor  intended  to  give  up  Baptiste.  Wher^ 
upon  a  strong  remonstrance  against  his  release  was  sent  in  by 
the  leading  "Merchants,  Traders  and  Sailers  in  y*  Town  of 
Boston  and  other's  in  y*  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay."t 

The  petitioners  say, 
**  Whereas  by  the  Providence  of  God,  Wee  of  these  parts  have 
beene  hitherto  Signally  Preserv'd  from  any  Attacks  or  Insults 
on  our  Sea-Coasts  by  the  French,  Which  we  cheifly  Attribute 
unto  the  Good  Success  Wee  have  had  in  taking  and  Since  by  the 
due  retention  of  One  Baptiste  A  pretended  ffrenchman  Whose 
former  Piracies  Murder's  and  Villanies,  have  been  Notorious, 
which  together  with  his  Circumstances,  readdiness  and  Capaccity 
of  further  raischeif  to  her  majesties  good  Subjects  In  these  Parts, 
the  sence  of  which  Constrains  from  us  this  our  humble  Appli- 
cation To  prevent  as  fan*  as  in  us  lies  the  Dangerous  Conse* 

*  Council  Recordsi  Yd.  91,  p.  145. 
t  liaas.  Archives,  Vol.  71,  p.  152. 


Advenhires  of  Baptiste.  463 

quence  which  will  unavoidably  attend  his  Belease,  Whereof  wee 
are  (to  our  Great  Surprise  &  Greif)  inform'd  That  your  honours 
have  in  a  manner  Concluded :  Which  doubtless  must  arise  for 
want  of  Due  knowledg  of  these  following  Circumstances  relat- 
ing to  y«  Prisoner  Which  Wee  here  humbly  Offer.  1st  that 
said  Baptist  is  not  by  birth  a  Subject  to  y«  French  King, 
therefore  cannott,  as  such  be  reclaimed  by  any  of  his  Gov- 
emours. 

2dly  That  in  y^  Late  Warr  he  submitted  himself  under  the 
Obedience  of  the  Crown  of  England,  and  as  a  Protestant  was 
here  received  by  the  French  Chh ;  and  as  such  was  Imploy'd  in 
Divers  Sea  Services  Whereby  he's  becom  knowing  in  ail  our 
Coasts,  harbours,  and  Circumstances. 

3dly  That  after  having  remain'd  with  us  a  Considerable  Time 
upon  some  disgust  or  rather  his  own  Wicked  Inclination  Did 
Confederate  himself  With  some  of  the  ffrench  Prisoners  With 
whome  he  Took  and  Surprised  Diver's  Vessells  without  any  com- 
mission and  having  hereby  Effectually  recommended  himself 
unto  the  French  (to  whom  other  waies  by  his  former  Thefts  and 
Piracies  he  Stood  a  criminal)  he  was  by  the  Governor  of  St. 
Johns  recommended  unto  the  cheif  Ministers  of  State  in  France 
who  finding  him  Proper  to  Anoy  us,  was  Immediately  preferr'd 
to  a  small  ship  of  Warr  in  which  (thro  the  Goodness  of  God)  he 
miscarried,  was  by  us  taken  before  he  cou'd  do  anything  Notable 
upon  us  on  which  the  Peace  then  Immediately  Ensuing  Wee 
neglectfully  omitted  the  due  Inquiry  &  Punishment  of  his 
crimes,  and  at  the  Generall  release  of  the  ffrench  prisoners,  he 
made  his  escape  amongst  them. 

4th  That  his  Braggs  and  Threats  even  before  and  since  the 
breaking  out  of  this  P'sent  Warr,  have  been  verry  frequent  and 
Notorious. 

5tly  That,  Whether  in  Sincerity  or  otherwaies  itt  matters  not, 
but  so  itt  is,  that  sometime  since  in  the  last  winter,  he  did  be- 
fore severaU  Witnesses,  as  also  by  writeing  under  his  own  hand 
Signify  to  the  Govemr  his  Solem'n  repentance  and  Greif  for 
what  he  had  formerly  Don  against  our  Nation  &  that  could  he 
be  but  reconsiled  he  was  willing  and  readdy  to  enter  into  the 
English  Service,  and  as  a  mark  of  his  faithfulness  Did  then  give 
Memoirs  on  Divers  heads,  relating  to  y*  Warr,  offering  to  Prose- 
cute them  to  Effect  in  his  own  Person. 

6tly  That  besides  what  the  Nature  of  the  thing  in  respect  of 


464  Atmual  Meeting— IWA. 

our  own  Preseryation  does  require:  The  ffrenoh  have  given 
Yerry  Notable  &  recent  examples  of  the  Method  for  Detaining 
such  Prisoners  of  Warr  who  shall  have  the  misfortune  to  &1I 
under  their  suspicions  ....  and  by  only  changing  this  Stile  of 
a  Prisoner  of  Warr  into  that  of  a  Prisoner  of  State,  and  then 
without  rendr'ing  or  assigning  any  other  reason,  keep  them 
During  their  Pleasure  which  Seldom  Terminates  until  the  end 
of  the  Warr  as  was  Lately  acted  with  Mr.  Nelson.* 

7tbly  The  foregoing  Circumstances  being  Duley  Oonsidered 
Wee  humbly  Conceive  that  it  is  Inconsistent  with  the  Honour 
of  Her  Majtes  and  of  this  Government,  as  well  as  the  safety 
thereof,  to  give  up  into  the  Enemies  hands  a  Pson  so  circum- 
stanced, especially  Since  with  his  own  Consent,  Wee  might  Im- 
prove him  in  our  Service  and  happily  if  Prudent  Measures  were 
taken  he  himself  would  Chuse  to  remaine,  Which  Wee  presume 
Cannott  be  Deny'd  him 

Sly  Were  there  nothing  else  but  the  manner  and  the  Urgency 
of  the  French  Demanding  off  him  is  a  verry  Sufficient  reason 
why  wee  shou'd  Pserve  him  to  ourselves 

91y  All  the  objections  that  Wee  can  Conceive  reasonably  to  be 
made,  are  either  the  release  of  o'  Prisoners  with  them  or  the 
charge  of  theirs  with  us.  To  which  we  humbly  answer :  .  .  .  • 
that  y^  Same  Instant  demand  was  prest  upon  us  the  Last  year, 
by  Monsieur  de  Brouillant  Govemr  of  Port  Royall,  but  when 
he  saw  that  his  Arguments  could  work  no  Effect,  he  then  de- 
sisted and  So  Submitted  to  a  totall  exchange  without  any  fur- 
ther mention  off  him.  And  if  our  Impatience  do  not  prevent 
the  same  with  better  reason  may  be  expected  from  Canada, 
For  that  wee  have  in  our  Possession  more  men ;  and  those  of 
Better  Consideration,  than  they  have  of  ours  (except  Mr.  Wil- 
liams for  whom  may  be  some  especiall  provision  made  towards 
his  Subsistence).  And  as  to  the  charge  of  maintaining  the  French 
pr'oners  here  Doubtless  Methods  might  be  found  out  by  Imr 

*  John  Nelson,  a  gentleman  of  high  social  position  in  Boston,  and  a  political 
leader.  Being  sent  by  Phips  to  induct  the  English  governor  into  office  at 
Port  Royal,  he  was  seized,  while  returning,  by  a  French  vessel  and  carried 
to  Villebon  and  later  to  Quebec.  During  his  captivity  there  he  sent  im- 
portant information  to  the  Boston  Government  for  which  those  whom  he 
employed  were  executed  in  his  presence,  and  he  was  sent  to  the  Bastile 
in  Paris  and  imprisoned  over  four  years  as  a  "Prisoner  of  State.''  Nelson 
was  one  of  the  signers  of  this  Petition  of  the  Merchants,  and  possibly  framed 
this  clause  of  the  Petition. 


Ad/oenVwteB  of  Bwptiste.  465 

ploying  &  Settdng  of  them  To  work,  as  they  do  to  ours,  So  that 
the  most  of  this  Charge  will  thereby  be  taken  off." 

After  much  fruitless  discussion,  Dudley  in  his  torn  drew  up 
proposals  for  the  exchange,  making  generous  conoessions.  His 
letter  to  De  Vaudreuil  is  most  conciliatory.  Beplying,  point  by 
point,  he  says, 

**  As  to  Baptiste,  I  believe  that  the  Sieur  de  Courtemanche 
has  learned  so  many  things  about  him  and  his  infamous  deeds, 
that  all  things  considered,  you  will  agree  that  he  is  a  rascal  who 
does  not  deserve  that  you  should  want  him  back,  and  perhaps 
you  will  think  that  he  is  not  worth  my  Keeping.  This  is  why 
I  have  resolved  to  send  him  back.  ...  So  if  my  terms  are 
accepted  and  the  exchange  takes  place,  I  will  have  him  taken 
with  the  others,  and  that  will  be  the  end  of  that  matter." 

These  were  harassing  days  for  Dudley. 

Meanwhile  Courtemanche  was  making  himself  agreeable  in 
Boston  where  he  was  dined  and  wined.  We  may  imagine  him 
going  out  to  Cambridge  to  commencement,  seven  miles  by 
way  of  Brighton,  with  the  Gk>vemor  in  his  state  carriage,  es- 
corted by  six  halberdiers  with  swords. 

Courtemanche  falling  iU,  or  perhaps  indisposed  to  return  on 
foot  to  Canada,  Capt.  Yetch,  with  an  eye  to  trade,  offers  to  con- 
vey him  in  his  vessel  to  Quebec.  Courtemanche  orders  Sam- 
uel Hill  to  accompany  him  by  sea.  The  two  Dubois  are  sent 
home  by  land.  Young  William  Dudley  sails  too,  as  the  guest 
of  Courtemanche,  the  Governor  not  doubting  that  his  terms 
will  be  accepted. 

But  '^the  best  laid  plans  of  mice  and  men  gang  aft 
agley." 

The  negotiation  of  the  exchange  was  unsuccessful.  Young 
Dudley  returned  crestfallen  to  his  father  on  the  21st  day  of 
I^ovember,  with  Stephen  Williams,  Jonathan  Hoit  and  a  few 
other  Deerfield  captives. 

He  brought  new  proposals  from  the  French  government 
These  were  rejected  by  our  Legislature  as  "  not  consistent  with 
Her  Majesty's  honor,"  and  again  it  was  left  to  Dudley  to  answer 
De  Yaudreuil. 

To  set  an  example  of  generosity,  and  to  avoid  their  subsis- 
tence during  the  winter,  Dudley  sent  home  early  in  Decem- 
ber, 57  Port  Boyal  captives,  retaining  Baptiste  and  others  of 
importance.  Then,  on  the  25th  of  January  1706,  he  sent 
30 


466  Annual  Meeting— IW^ 

» 

John  Sheldon  as  envoj  on  another  dreary  winter  jonmej  to 
Oanada. 

Though  the  despatches  carried  by  Sheldon  were  not  satu- 
factory  to  Yaadreaii^  he  felt  himself  in  honor  boond  to  release 
some  English  captives  in  return  for  those  sent  by  Dudley. 

At  last,  reluctantly,  he  sent  forty-three*  with  Mr.  Sheldon  in 
the  Barque  Marie  to  Port  Eoyal,  with  orders  to  the  GK>vemor 
to  retain  them  there  till  all  the  French  prisoners  without  dis- 
tinction should  be  returned  there ;  Mr.  Williams  being  left  be- 
hind in  Canada,  until  the  fact  of  Baptiste's  release  should  be  as- 
sured. The  Intendant  threatened  ^^if  Captain  Maure  should 
bring  back  word  that  Battis  was  in  prison  he  would  put  him  in 
prison  and  lay  him  in  irons.'* 

Leaving  the  prisoners  at  Fort  Boyal,  Maure  was  to  proceed 
at  once  to  Boston  with  Mr.  Sheldon  and  his  attendants,  the 
two  Frenchmenf,  also  returning  to  Boston  with  De  Yaudrenil's 
ultimatum.  The  date  of  the  sailing  of  the  Marie  is  not  given. 
It  was  probably  soon  after  De  Yaudreuil's  letter  to  Dudley  was 
written,  "  At  Quebec,  June  2, 1706."  %  ^^  ^^  letter  he  says 
he  has  not  said  anything  about  exchange,  because  Vetx^h  and 
yoang  Dudley  simply  made  proposals  of  peace. 

^^  However,  Sir,  considering  what  you  have  done  in  sending 
fifty-seven  prisoners  to  Port  BoyaJ  ....  of  which  I  ha ve  no  in- 
formation except  through  you,  ....  although  no  formal  ex- 
change has  been  signed  on  either  side,  I  send  by  the  Marie, 
commanded  by  Thomas  Maure,  forty-three  of  your  prisoners 
to  Port  Boyal,  with  orders  to  the  Sieur  de  Brouillant,  to  send 

them  to  you I  also  send  orders  to  Sieur  de  Brouillant^ 

to  send  you  the  Marie  with  Mr.  Sheldon,  and  to  keep  your  pris- 
oners that  I  sent  to  him,  and  to  send  them  back  to  yon  only 
when  you  shall  have  sent  back  all  the  French  prisoners  with- 
out distinction.  Messieurs  Marchand  and  Eartier,  whom  yoa 
sent  me,  have  offered  themselves  for  this  journey. 

I  will  inform  you  in  regard  to  the  treaty  of  exchange  that 
I  will  change  nothing  in  it,  and  if  you  choose  to  accept  it  as 
it  is,  you  will  keep  the  copy  of  it  which  I  have  signed,  and 
will  send  me  back  the  other,  signed  by  yourself.  The  two 
copies  have  been  given  to  M.  Marchand,  who  vrill  have  the 

*  Bir.  Sheldon  says  44,  Penhallow  45. 

t  Cbartier  and  Marchand. 

t  Doo.  Rel.  k  I'Histoiie  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  VoL  n,  p.  462. 


Adventurer  of  Baptieie.  467 

honor  of  presenting  them  to  yon.  In  it  I  demand  of  jon  (M 
onr  oaptivee,  and  I  absolutely  will  not  send  hack  yoursj  unM 
mine  shall  have  arrived  at  Port  Royal. 

I  have  been  very  mnch  surprised,  sir,  not  to  learn  of  the 
sending  back  of  Mr.  Baptiste  to  Acadia,  relying  on  what  yon 
had  written  me,  that  you  would  send  him  back  to  Fort  Boyal. 
I  learn  on  the  contrary,  that  he  is  still  in  prison, — and  also 
that  you  treat  with  the  same  severity,  the  man  named  Fenoe 
[Le  Fdvre],  and  it  is  said  still  worse,  since  his  children  have 
not  yet  been  allowed  to  see  him.  If  yon  continue.  Sir,  to 
keep  Messieurs  Baptiste  and  Le  Fevre  in  prison,  and  do  not 
treat  my  prisoners  without  distinction,  I  shall  be  obliged  to 
change  my  conduct  in  regard  to  yours,  and  I  warn  yon  that 
they  shall  answer  to  me,  for  your  treatment  of  mine.  .  .  . 
I  confess  that  the  manner  in  which  you  treat  Messieurs  Baptiste 
and  le  Fevre,  seems  to  me  the  more  severe,  compared  with  the 
kindness  shown  to  your  prisoners  in  this  country, — ^the  pains  I 
have  taken  to  get  them  out  of  the  hands  of  the  savages  and  the 
humanity  shown  by  my  people  in  buying  them  out  of  slavery. 

I  send  you  back  two  named  James  Adams  and  Timbulectoo 
Fletcher.* 

As  to  the  Frenchmen  who  you  say  have  escaped  from  Bos- 
ton we  will  not  talk  about  them,  since  four  Englishmen  f  have 
escaped  from  us,  for  whom  I  demand  no  reparation." 

De  Yaudreuil  then  goes  on  to  demand  the  return  by  the 
Marie  of  all  the  French  prisoners  and  by  name, 

['^  le  Sieur  Gordeau,  and  his  family,  Dion  and  Pierreottiere 
Le  Fevere  and  his  children  and  De  Ohaufour."]:^ 

The  Marie  was  detained  a  long  time  at  Port  EoyaL  Whether 
De  Brouillant,  notwithstanding  the  strict  instructions  he  had 
received  to  the  contrary,  took  the  responsibility  of  forwarding 
the  captives  with  Mr.  Sheldon,  we  know  not ;  but  they  arrived 
with  him  in  the  Marie  at  Boston  on  the  1st  day  of  August^ 
1706.§ 

*  James  Adams  and  Pendleton  Fletoher  of  Wells,  Me. 

t  Nims,  Petty,  Kellogg  and  Baker. 

I  Louis  d'Amours  desChaufotirs,  Sieur  de  Jemsee,  brother  of  De  Vaudreufl's 
wife. 

I  Bir.  Sheldon  in  his  Hist,  of  Deerfield  says  Aug.  2d,  following  the  date 
given  in  John  Sheldon's  petition.  Sewall  in  his  letter  to  Rev.  John  Williams, 
Aug.  22,  says  they  arrived  on  the  2d.  [Airived  Aug.  Ist,  landed  Aug.  2d. — 
Editor.] 


468  AnntMl  Meeting— 190i. 

On  the  2d  Dudley  infonned  his  oooncil  of  the  letters  ^' 
ceived  yesterday  by  a  Flag  of  Trace  with  40  odd  English 
prisoners." 

A  week  after  the  arrival  of  the  Marie,  the  Council  advised 
Dudley  to  reject  the  proposals  brought  by  her,  ^^  and  yet  s^id 
away  the  French  prisoners  without  exception  to  Port  Royal 
and  Quebeck,  and  demand  ours  in  return." 

A  guard  was  put  on  board  the  Marie,  the  prisoners,  some  of 
whom  were  scattered  in  other  towns,  were  collected  in  Cam* 
bridge,  also  under  guard.  Captain  Bonner  and  his  vessel  were 
taken  up.  Mr.  Samuel  Appleton  of  the  Council  was  appointed 
as  bearer  of  dispatches.  Mr.  Appleton  also  carried  a  letter  to 
the  Bev.  John  Williams  from  his  friend  Samuel  Sewall,  which  I 
cannot  forbear  quoting : 

Boston,  Aug.  22,  1706. 
Sir: 

The  reodving  Mr.  Sheldon  and  your  Letters,  and  not  you;  the  Receiving 
many  of  the  captives  and  not  you,— caused  in  me  a  mixture  of  joy  and  sos^ 
row.  ...  It  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  Poet's  description  of  our  mortal  State 
NuUa  eH  stncera  volupUu.  .  .  .  Weill  God's  times  are  best,  and  I  endeavcx' 
to  wait  and  hope  that  your  merciful  Return  will  be  a  plain  Instance  of  it. 
As  you  prayed  earnestly  for  those  that  returned  last;  so  you  will  be  g^ad 
to  hear  that  they  Landed  wdl  here  the  2d  inst.  I  took  the  Widow  Hoit 
into  my  House. 

It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  see  Mr.  Willard  baptize  Ebenezer  Hinsdal  and 
Seaborn  Burt,  two  little  sons  bom  in  the  passage.  The  captives  most  of 
them  began  their  journey  homeward  the  12th  inst.  I  spake  with  one  to-day 
who  met  them  well  at  Flainfield  ....  I  have  sent  you  a  new  Psalm  Book 
with  a  plain  cover,  of  which  I  ask  your  acceptance.  The  Perils  to  be  gone 
through  by  Sea  and  Land  hindered  my  Sending  one  more  costly.  Inwardly 
'tis  as  Golden  as  any. 

Towards  the  last  of  the  month,  the  Brigantine  Hope,  con- 
voyed the  Marie,  with  Baptiste  and  all  but  one  of  the  French 
prisoners,  out  of  Boston  harbor.  Who  this  one  was,  appears 
in  the  following  letter  from  the  Governor  and  Intendant  of 
Canada  to  the  French  minister : 

Quebec,  Nov.  3, 1706. 
The  Sieur  Dudley  having  sent  a  part  of  the  prisoners  to  Port  Royal 
they  *  had  sent  a  boat  to  Boston  with  a  part  of  the  English  captives.  This 
boat  [i.  e.f  The  Marie]  arrived  a  few  days  ago  in  this  port  with  an  Englifih 
brigantine  [i.  e.,  The  Hope]  that  comes  for  the  rest  of  the  captives,  the  Sieur 
Dudley  having  sent  to  Port  Royal  all  the  French  he  had,  except  Mr.  Guion, 
who  has  taken  service  with  the  English  and  will  not  return  to  this  oountiy, 

*  /.  e.,  De  Vaudreuil  &  Raudot. 


Adventures  of  Baptiete.  469 

fearing  the  penalty  that  his  treason  merits,  sinoe  it  was  he  who  piloted  the 
English  to  Port  Rojral  two  years  ago,  and  as  eveiy  one  knows,  caused  the 
destruction  by  them  of  Minas,  Beaubassin  and  many  private  dwellings. 
Messieurs  De  Vaudreuil  and  Raudot  have  sent  home  by  this  brigantine,  all 
the  English  here  who  wished  to  return."  * 

Replying  to  the  above  letter,  the  minister  says  that  ^'  His 
Majesty  desires  De  Yaudreuil  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  get  back 
this  man  in  order  to  punish  him  for  leading  the  English  to  Port 
EoyaL"  t 

In  December,  1706,  Daniel  Auger  de  Suberoase  succeeded  De 
Brouillant,  as  Governor  of  Acadia.  I^ot  long  after,  he  des- 
patched a  sloop  with  Captain  Du  Forillon  to  Boston  under  flag 
of  truce,  with  34  or  35  English  prisoners.  Detained  at  Ogun- 
quit,  Maine,  to  give  an  account  of  himself,  Du  Forillon  X  arrived 
in  Boston  on  the  18th. 

He  was  delayed  there  while  the  French  captives  were  being 
collected,  that  had  been  taken  by  our  cruisers  since  the  sailing 
of  the  Marie,  and  accounts  adjusted. 

The  French  Minister  writing  to  Mr.  Suberoase  that  he  ap- 
proves of  his  sending  Du  Forillon  with  the  English  prisoners 
taken  at  Newfoundland,  adds  § 

^^  I  am  very  glad  that  the  Boston  Qovemor  has  sent  back  the 
man  named  Baptiste,  who  has  been  a  captive  there  for  four 
years. 

You  might  employ  him  in  teaching  navigation  to  the  youth 
of  the  country  since  they  prefer  this  trade  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil." 

One  smiles  at  Baptiste  as  an  instructor  of  youth, — ^but 
as  we  shall  see  he  soon  found  work  better  suited  to  his 
talents. 

Even  while  Du  Forillon  was  in  Boston,  Dudley  wrote  to 
Gov.  John  Winthrop  of  Connecticut,  urging  his  cooperation  in 
fitting  out  an  expedition  against  Port  EoyaL  Although  Con- 
necticut declined,  the  expedition  sailed.  The  list  of  officers  is 
most  interesting,  containing  Massachusetts  names,  then  as  now 
distinguished.  | 

*  Doc.  Rel.  k  PHistoire  de  la  Nouvdle  Franoe,  Vol.  n,  p.  462. 

t/Wd,p.471. 

t  Louis  Aubert  de  la  Chenuye  du  Forillon. 

I  Doc.  Rel.  k  THist.  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  Vol.  11,  p.  475. 

II  Among  the  captains  are  an  Appleton,  a  Wainwright,  Otb  and  Putnam; 
a  Jackson  and  an  Ellis  as  surgeons;  a  Moody  and  Barnard  as  chaplains. 


470  Annval  Meeting— 190^ 

Among  the  ^^pylots  good  for  Nova  Sootia  is  one 
Browne,  a  prattling  old  fellow,  chiefly  knowing  on  y  land, 
amongst  y*  habitations  at  Port  BoyaL" 

The  fleet  sailed  from  Nantasket  on  May  13, 1707,  anchoring 
in  Port  Boyal  Basin  on  the  26th.  The  story  is  one  of  bad  man- 
agement and  want  of  harmony  among  the  officers,  and  distrost 
and  insubordination  among  the  soldiers,  which  could  not  fiul 
of  an  ignoble  ending. 

The  fleet  broke  up,  and  one  by  one  the  ships  made  their  way 
home.  The  Province  Galley,  awaiting  further  orders  at  Caaoo 
Bay,  sent  three  messengers  to  Dudley.  They  were  met  cm 
landing  at  Scarlett's  wharf  by  a  crowd  of  women  who  cried, 
*^  Welcome  soldiers  Shame  on  you  I  Pull  ofF  those  iron  spitts 
that  hang  at  your  sides.  Wooden  ones  is  y*  fashion  now.^  A 
mob  with  wooden  daggers  followed  them  to  the  town-house. 
By  afternoon,  hundreds  of  boys,  with  wooden  swords,  a  red 
rag  for  a  flag,  and  a  little  drum,  marched  out  to  the  Neck 
and  waited  for  them  to  come  in  from  the  GK>vemor's  in  Box- 
bury,  escorting  them  back  to  the  town-house,  shouting  ^^  Pwt 
Eoyall  Port  Royal  1"* 

English  and  French  accounts  agree  that  the  English  mi^t 
have  had  an  easy  victory. 

Subercase  says  that  his  men  fled  at  the  first  encounter  with 
the  enemy.  He  then  sent  the  Sieur  Baptiste  with  about  fifty 
men,  who  unfortunately  fell  into  an  ambuscade  near  a  little 
stream, — but  held  their  ground  bravely,  firing  repeatedly  and 
killing  several  English.  Then  seeing  that  about  three  hundred 
of  the  English  were  attempting  to  cut  him  off,  Baptiste  beat  a 
retreat,  and  Subercase  sent  a  shallop  to  take  him  off.  Later  on, 
Subercase  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  accompanied  by 
De  La  Tour,  De  La  Bonde,  Faillant  and  Baptiste  undertook  to 
prevent  the  English  from  crossing  the  Gaspereau,  but  his  horse 
being  killed  under  him,  and  being  unable  to  rally  his  panic- 
struck  men, — ^the  English  crossed  the  river.f 

A  French  deserter  said  in  Boston  that  ^'  the  English  might 
have  taken  the  fort  if  they  had  stayed  there,  for  there  were 
but  two  mortars,  and  one  of  those  broken :  and  that  Subercase 
and  Battis  said  they  had  but  so  many  days'  provision  and 
must   have   surrendered.    There  was    a   break   in  the  Fort 

*  Qoodell,  Mass.  Acts  &  Resolves,  Vol.  Vm,  p.  727. 

t  Doc.  Rd.  k  lUistoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  VoL  11,  p.  478. 


AdverUures  qf  Baptute.  471 

walls  which  was  mended  while  the  English  were  considering 
whether  thej  should  go  home  or  not." 

Sunday  October  1, 1710,  was  a  memorable  day.  Then  Port 
Boyal  was  delivered  into  English  hands. 

One  almost  pities  the  Grande  Monarque,  old  and  feeble, 
writing  to  his  plenipotentiaries  who  were  arranging  the  terms 
at  Utrechty 

^'  the  King  will  give  up  both  Acadia  and  Cape  Breton  if  nec- 
essary ....  but  by  this  double  cession,  Canada  will  become 
useless,  as  access  to  it  will  be  closed ;  the  fisheries  will  come  to 
an  end,  and  the  French  marine  be  utterly  destroyed." 

Then  he  goes  on  to  ofFer  this  and  that  concession,  if  the  English 
will  only  give  Acadia  back  to  him.  But  the  best  terms  his  minis- 
ters could  make  for  him  were  that  he  might  keep  Cape  Breton. 

Its  best  harbor,  then  known  as  Port  a  1'  Anglois,  was  later 
chosen  as  the  site  of  a  mighty  fortress,  named  in  honor  of  the 
French  King,  and  ever  memorable  in  New  England  annals  as 
Louisburg.  In  1714,  by  his  order,  the  French  of  Newfound- 
land were  sent  back  to  what  he  calls  ^^  my  Isle  Boyale,  vul- 
garly called  Cape  Breton." 

Notwithstanding  many  efforts  made  by  him  to  induce  the 
Acadian  French  also  to  remove  to  his  Isle  Boyale,  most  of 
them  preferred  to  remain  in  Acadia,  and,  says  Mr.  Parkman, 
^'  while  declaring  with  sincerity  their  devotion  to  their  ^  invin- 
cible monarch,'  as  they  called  the  King  who  had  just  been  com- 
pelled to  surrender  their  country,  they  clung  tenaciously  to  the 
abodes  of  their  fathers." 

With  a  few  exceptions  they  were  free  to  go  or  stay,— enjoy- 
ing under  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  "  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of  Bome ; "  and 
they  stayed  until  the  political  intrigues  of  their  priests,  who 
labored  to  keep  them  in  the  interest  of  France,  finally  led  to 
their  expulsion. 

I  cannot  doubt  that  Baptiste  remained  in  Acadia,  and  with 
his  usual  adaptability  to  circumstances,  served  the  English  or 
the  French,  according  to  his  own  interest.  Bemembering  that 
at  the  time  of  his  release,  the  French  Minister  had  written  to 
M.  Snbercase  that  the  Acadian  young  men  appeared  to  prefer 
a  sailor's  life  to  that  of  a  farmer,  we  cannot  for  a  moment  sup- 
pose that  Baptiste  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  haying,  picking 
apples  and  digging  dykes. 


472  Annual  Mee(n/ng—19(A. 

Piracy,  as  it  is  baldly  called  in  our  archives,  had  become 
alarmingly  common  in  New  England  waters  and  the  pirates  of 
this  early  day  were  by  no  means  from  over  seas,  but  from  Bos- 
ton and  other  New  England  seaports. 

Indeed  as  early  as  1632,  one  Dixey  Bull,  '^  a  man  of  note 
upon  the  coast,  had  turned  pirate,  and  inducing  sixteen  others 
to  join  him,  took  several  vessels  off  Pemaquid." 

In  1686  piracy  flamed  up  again,  and  two  crews  of  desperate 
young  men  under  Thomas  Hawkins  and  William  Coward  (a 
strange  misnomer)  were  seized  and  tried  before  Judge  Sewall 
in  Boston. 

The  next  year  Sewall's  brother's  sloop  was  taken  by  the 
French,  and  Sewall  wrote  "  to  Mr.  Nelson  to  see  if  Brother 
might  have  his  ketch  again."  In  1691  William  Eidd  was  com- 
missioned by  Governor  Bradstreet "  to  suppress  an  Enemy  pri- 
vateer now  on  this  coast."  The  later  career  of  Captain  Eidd 
as  he  sailed,  will  never  be  forgotten  in  New  England. 

May  1,  1724,  Sewall  writes  in  his  diary :  * 
"  After  Lecture  I  heard  the  good  news  of  Andrew  Harraden 
and  others,  rising  up  and  subjugating  Phillips  the  Pirate." 

Briefly,  the  story  as  told  in  the  Boston  News  Letter  of  that 
week,  is  that  on  the  14th  of  April,  1724,  Andrew  Harraden  in  a 
sloop  off  Cape  Ann,  was  boarded  by  John  Phillips,  a  notorious 
pirate.  Four  days  later,  Harraden  and  John  Fillmore  f  with  six 
others  before  seized  by  Phillips,  overpowered  the  pirate  crew 
and  took  them  to  Boston  jail.  They  were  tried  and  "  Ten  of 
the  crew  being  forced  men  were  acquitted  by  the  Honorable 
Court,"  Two  were  hung,  and  two  reprieved  for  a  year.  A 
John  Baptiste  was  one  of  the  ^'  forced  men  "  acquitted. 

Whether  this  was  our  Baptiste,  I  can  not  say.  He  was  doubt- 
less roving  the  sea  at  that  period,  and  it  is  a  striking  fact  that  a 
John  Baptiste  should  again  have  been  captured  by  a  Harraden. 
You  may  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  our  Baptiste,  if  again  in 
Boston  jail  could  have  got  out  on  the  plea  of  being  ^^  forced " 
into  the  pirates'  service.  To  this  it  might  be  said,  that  our  gov- 
ernment had  had  enough  trouble  on  his  account  and  might  not 
have  cared  to  re-open  the  subject  with  the  French. 

In  our  archives  %  there  is  ^^  A  Petition  of  Samuel  Doty, 

♦  Sewall's  Diary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  335. 

t  Great-grandfather  of  Millard  Fillmore  of  our  day. 

X  Council  Records,  Xm,  p.  241,  &  House  Joiunal,  p.  30. 


Adventures  of  Bwptiate.  473 

ner,  Master  of  the  Sloop  Tryal  and  his  Oompany,  Shewing  that 
in  August  last  They  were  taken  in  the  harbor  of  Marlagash  to 
the  Eastward  of  Cape  Sables  by  one  JoJm  Baptist  and  others 
a  Piratical  Crew,  that  Some  Time  after  the  Petitioners  were 
taken,  they  rose  upon  the  Pirates,  And  by  the  good  Providence 
of  God  they  Overcame  them,  and  brought  Eight  French  and 
Indians  to  Boston,  And  delivered  them  up  to  Justice,  where 
five  of  them  were  tried  and  Convicted  of  Piracy,  and  have  Suf- 
fered the  Pains  of  Death  . .  .  ." 

Circumstances  indicate  that  this  was  our  Jean  Baptiste.  If 
so,  he  again  escaped  the  halter,  and  I  believe  he  helped  to  pilot 
the  English  fleet  to  the  siege  of  Louisburg.  The  very  name  of 
Louisburg  brings  up  such  a  picture  of  New  England  character, 
such  a  superb  example  of  New  England  pluck  that  I  must  beg 
pardon  for  yielding  just  here  to  my  pedagogical  instinct  to  urge 
the  Deerfield  Academy  girls  and  boys  to  study  the  siege  of 
Louisburg.  As  Mr.  Parkman  tells  the  story,  it  is  more  thrilling 
than  any  romance.    He  says, 

^*'  Perhaps  there  was  not  one  officer  among  them,  whose  ex- 
perience of  war  extended  beyond  a  drill  on  muster  day,  and  the 
sham  fight  that  closed  the  performance." 

A  gentlemen  then  living  in  Boston  wrote  that  ^^  the  Louis- 
burg expedition  had  a  lawyer  for  contriver,  a  merchant  for 
general,  and  farmers,  fishermen  and  mechanics  for  soldiers." 

Stephen  Williams,  a  Deerfield  born  boy,  was  in  it  as  chap- 
lain to  one  of  the  regiments,  and  '^  though  sorely  smitten  with 
homesickness,  he  sturdily  kept  his  post."  He  wrote  in  his  diary 
that  an  English  officer  told  him  ^^  tiiat  he  had  tho't  y^  New  Eng- 
land men  were  Cowards,  but  now  he  tho't  that  if  they  had 
a  pick  axe  and  spade,  they  w'd  dig  y^  way  to  Hell,  and  storm 
it." 

Seth  Pomeroy,  gunsmith  of  Northampton,  then  seventy  years 
old  was  there,  desperately  seasick  day  and  night  on  the  pass- 
age, but  doing  grand  work  after  landing. 

lieut-Oolonel  William  Williams  of  Old  Deerfield  stock,  raised 
a  company  for  Louisburg,  was  too  late  for  the  siege  but  did  gar- 
rison duty  there  that  winter.  And  there  was  the  redoubtable 
Parson  Moody  of  York,  Maine,  as  Pepperell's  chaplain  the  old- 
est man  in  the  army,  who,  according  to  a  tradition  in  York  to  this 
day,  carried  an  axe  with  him  and  was  actually  seen  hacking 
and  hewing  at  the  altar  and  images  of  the  French  church.    I 


474  Annual  Msetinj^l90L 

wonder  if  it  were  he  that  brought  home  as  a  trophy  the  small 
iron  oross  from  that  church,  which  long  surmounted  a  porch  of 
the  college  library  at  Cambridge.  At  the  dinner  which  Pep- 
perell  gave  bis  officers  in  celebration  of  the  victory,  it  fell  of 
course  to  Parson  Moody  to  ask  the  blessing.  Oontrary  to  the 
expectation  of  those  who  knew  his  habitual  long-windedness,  he 
simply  said, 

^  Otood  Lord  we  have  so  much  to  thank  thee  for,  that  time 
will  be  too  short,  and  we  must  leave  it  for  eternity.  Bless  our 
food  and  fellowship  on  this  joyful  occasion,  for  the  sake  of 
Christ  our  Lord,  Amen." 

From  an  '^  abstract,  in  journal  form,  of  various  news  since  the 
sailing  of  the  ships  for  France  in  December  1745.*  We  learn  that 
one  Mr.  Dou  ville  of  the  island  of  St.  John,  scared  by  the  rumors 
that  the  English  were  soon  coming,  had  removed  with  his  family 
to  Quebec ;  that  in  the  summer  he  had  learned  from  two  of  his 
neighbors  at  St.  John,  much  news  about  affairs  at  Louisburg. 
Among  other  things  that  the  English  had  several  French  pilots, 
to  wit :  Jasmin  an  Acadian,  f  Brisson,  a  native  of  Nantes,  who 
is  with  his  family  at  Louisburg,  and  some  others." 

This  Brisson,  a  little  later,  was  captured  at  Port  La  Joie.  X 
He  was  piloting  two  ships  with  English  soldiers,  who  were  col- 
lecting cattle  for  the  proposed  expedition  against  Canada.  Being 
carried  before  De  Bamezay  at  Beaubassin,  Pierre  Brisson  re- 
ported English  gunships  with  regulars  collecting  at  Louisburg. 
He  said  also  that  ^'  they  were  expecting  there,  fourteen  ships  and 
three  bomb  ketches  for  Quebec,  and  that  Admiral  Warren  had 
gone  to  New  York  to  collect  the  militia  of  that  quarter  for  the 
same  place." 

'^That  the  Frenchman  named  BaptUte  Dion  bad  told  him 
that  he  was  to  have  2,000  Uvres  for  piloting  the  English  fleet 
to  Quebec,  and  that  the  man  named  Jcumin^  also  a  Frenchman, 
1,000  livres  for  the  same  business.  He  said  also  that  he  was 
expected  to  take  the  cattle  to  Louisburg  on  the  24th  of  July." 
De  Bamezay  sent  Brisson  and  seven  English  taken  with  him  to 
Quebec,  where  they  told  the  same  story,  adding  that  they  had 
paid  cash  for  the  cattle  to  the  settlers  on  the  Island.  There  is 
good  reason  for  believing  that  Brisson  was  at  this  time  in  the 

*  Doc.  Rd.  k  I'Histoire  de  la  NouveUe  France,  VoL  m,  p.  281. 
t  Frimid  and  comrade  of  Baptiste. 
t  Now  Charlotte  Town,  P.  E.  Island. 


Adventiwes  of  Baptiste.  475 

service  of  Capt.  John  Boose,  then  attached  to  Admiral  Town- 
send's  fleet,  and  doing  duty  near  Annapolis  and  Minas. 

After  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  small  parties  of  French  and 
Indians  continually  harassed  our  frontier.  Their  captives  re- 
ported that  a  great  expedition  was  fitting  out  in  New  England 
against  Canada.  John  Beaman,  taken  at  Yemon  told  his 
captors  that  active  preparations  were  making  for  an  attack  on 
Canada,  that  warships  and  men  were  all  ready,  that  bounties 
in  addition  to  their  regular  pay  as  soldiers  were  offered  to  the 
farmers. 

French  documents  of  the  period  show  that  Canada  was  panic- 
smitten,  but  pushed  her  preparations  for  defense  with  energy. 

It  was  a  needless  alarm,  for  though  it  was  true  that  Shirley, 
flushed  with  the  success  of  the  Louisburg  expedition,  and  sup- 
ported by  the  English  ministry,  was  collecting  an  armament 
for  an  invasion  of  Canada,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  after  long 
delay,  wrote  him  that  the  Canadian  expedition  was  '^  impracti- 
cable and  that  he  must  stand  on  the  defensive  and  attempt  no 
further  conquest."  Massachusetts  thus  rudely  awakened  from 
her  dream  of  victory,  was  further  disturbed  by  the  rumor  of  a 
French  fleet  on  its  way  to  recapture  Louisburg  and  Acadia, 
and  burn  Boston.  It  behooved  us  to  be  ready.  Our  harbor 
defenses  were  strengthened ;  our  militia  encamped  on  Boston 
common,  and  as  usual  a  Fast  Day  was  appointed.  Thomas 
Prince  in  the  Old  South  Meeting  House,  held  forth  on  that 
solenm  occasion,  and  prayed  fervently  and  long,  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  hostile  fleet. 

The  result  is  grandly  told  by  Mr.  Longfellow  in  his  ^^  Ballad 
of  the  French  Fleet." 

I 

A  fleet  with  flags  arrayed 

Sailed  from  the  port  of  Brest, 
And  the  Admiral's  ship  displayed 

The  signal:  ''Steer  south-west." 
For  this  Admiral  d'Anville 

Had  sworn  by  cross  and  crown 
To  ravage  with  fire  and  steel 

Our  helpless  Boston  town. 

n 

There  were  rumors  in  the  street. 

In  the  houses  there  was  fear 
Of  the  coming  of  the  fleet, 

And  the  danger  hovering  near; 


476  Aimual  MeeHng—lQOL 

And  iHifle  fr(»n  mouth  to  mootli 
Spread  the  ttdm^B  of  dttmay, 

I  stood  in  the  Old  South 
Saying  humbly:  "Let  us  pray." 

m 

"OIx»dI  we  would  not  adyise; 

But  if  in  thy  providenoey 
A  tempest  should  arise 

To  drive  the  French  fleet  henoe» 
And  scatter  it  far  and  wide. 

Or  sink  it  in  the  sea, 
We  should  be  satisfied. 

And  Thine  the  g^oiy  be." 

IV 

This  was  the  prayer  I  made. 

For  my  soul  was  all  on  flame; 
And  even  as  I  prayed 

The  answering  tempest  came. 
It  came  with  a  mighty  power, 

Shaking  the  windows  and  walls. 
And  tolling  the  bell  in  the  tower 

As  it  tolls  at  funerals. 

V 

The  lightning  suddenly 

Unsheathed  its  fl«ttning  sword, 
And  I  cried:  "Stand  still  and  see 

The  salvation  of  the  LordI" 
The  heavens  were  black  with  cloud. 

The  sea  was  white  with  hail. 
And  ever  more  fierce  and  loud 

Blew  the  October  gale. 

VI 

The  fleet  it  overtook. 

And  the  broad  sails  in  the  van 
Like  the  tents  of  Cushan  shook. 

Or  the  curtains  of  Biidian. 
Down  on  the  reeling  decks 

Crashed  the  overwhelming  seas; 
Oh,  never  were  there  wrecks 

So  pitiful  as  these. 

vn 

Like  a  potter's  vessel  broke 
The  great  ships  of  the  line; 

They  were  carried  away  as  a  smoka, 
Or  sank  like  lead  in  the  brine. 


The  AcboevUure  qf  Liberty.  477 

O  Lord  I  before  thy  path 

They  vanished  and  ceased  to  be. 
When  thou  didst  walk  in  wrath 

With  thine  horses  through  the  sea. 

It  is  said  that  on  a  olear  day  with  a  smooth  sea,  one  may  see 
the  ships  as  they  lie  rotting  there ;  the  diflSoolty  being,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  to  find  a  clear  day  and  smooth  sea  in  that  place. 

The  rumor  of  this  great  fleet,  the  largest  that  had  ever 
crossed  the  Atlantic  raised  false  hopes  among  the  Acadians, 
that  they  were  to  come  again  under  French  ru]e, — ^and  SO  of 
them  offered  themselves  at  Ohibuctou,  to  pilot  the  fleet  to 
Annapolis. 

What  more  probable  than  that  Jasmin  and  Baptiste  should 
have  been  among  the  number? 


THE  ADVENTURE  OF  LIBERTY. 

BY  O.   OLENN  ATKINS   OF  BUBLINGTON,  VT. 

Mr.  Atkins  began  by  contrasting  the  conditions  under  which 
the  people  of  Deerfield  were  met  with  the  conditions  holding 
exactly  two  hundred  years  ago.  He  spoke  of  having  retraced 
in  his  coming  from  Burlington  the  route  which  John  Williams 
and  his  captors  followed  in  their  long  and  heart-breaking  jour- 
ney to  Canada.  He  also  spoke  of  the  scene  which  they  must 
have  faced,  if ,  as  is  quite  likely,  they  came  out  onto  Lake 
Champlain  from  the  Winooski  as  a  winter's  sun  set  red  in  the 
western  sky  and  glowed  behind  the  serried  summits  of  the  Adi- 
rondacks. 

He  went  on  to  say  that  the  attempt  to  retell  the  story  of  the 
tragic  night  two  hundred  years  ago  with  any  fullness  of  detail 
would,  in  such  a  presence  and  such  a  time,  be  sheer  presumption ; 
he  would  therefore  consider  the  larger  aspect  of  the  greater 
historical  movement  of  which  the  Deerfield  massacre  was  but 
a  single  tragic  incident. 

He  said  in  part  that  the  Deerfield  massacre  was  but  a  play 
of  pawns  in  the  great  game  between  the  English  and  the  French 
for  the  supremacy  of  a  continent.  Hertel  de  Rouville  and  his 
Indians  moved  against  Deerfield,  not  because  Deerfield  could 
ever  be  a  menace  to  the  French  or  because  there  would  be  any 
military  profit  in  its  destruction.    The  aim  of  the  enterprise 


478  Annual  Meeting— 190^ 

was  not  military  bat  political  ^^  I  have  sent  no  warriors  to- 
ward Albany,"  writes  Y audreuil,  ^^  because  we  most  do  noth- 
ing that  might  cause  a  rupture  between  us  and  the  Iroquois, 
but  we  must  keep  things  astir  in  the  direction  of  Boston  or  else 
the  Abenakis  will  declare  for  the  English."  The  object  of  the 
expedition  was  to  fully  commit  the  Abenakis  to  hostility 
against  England  and  to  convince  them  that  the  French  would 
back  their  quarrel 

We  are  able  now  to  see  the  full  significance  of  the  long  strife 
which  constituJ;es  so  largely  the  heroic  charm  of  a  hundred  years 
of  the  life  of  New  England  and  New  France,  a  strife  fought  to 
its  end,  upon  the  most  splendid  stage  upon  which  any  historic 
drama  was  ever  played  out,  a  stage  bounded  on  the  one  side 
by  the  broken  Atlantic  coast,  on  another  by  the  whitenesses  of 
the  far  north,  on  another  by  the  mystery  of  the  unexplored 
heart  of  a  continent,  and  on  another  still  by  a  semi-tropic 
Gulf  of  Mexico ;  a  stage  traversed  by  the  noblest  rivers  whidi 
Aqw  toward  any  sea;  broken  by  hoary,  archaic  mountain 
ranges ;  gemmed  with  sleeping  lakes,  enriched  by  inland  seas 
and  clothed  with  the  primeval  forests  as  with  a  seamless  robe. 
Upon  this  stage  were  grouped  in  hostile  and  long-continued 
combinations  Indian  and  Jesuit,  the  French  courtier,  the  cour- 
iers of  the  woods,  English  regulars,  New  England  militiamen, 
New  England  farmers,  women  of  the  French  court  and  the 
mothers  of  the  New  England  hamlets. 

The  end  of  the  drama  was  something  more  than  the  posses- 
sion of  an  imperial  domain ;  it  was  the  question  of  racial  suprem- 
acy, and  now  upon  land,  now  upon  sea,  now  with  the  sword, 
now  with  the  crucifix,  now  by  soldier,  now  by  diplomat,  the 
momentous  question  was  being  fought  to  an  issue  whether  the 
new  world  should  be  French  or  English,  Latin  or  Anglo-Saxon, 
autocratic  or  democratic,  imperial  or  free,  and  freedom  won 
because  it  was  freedom ;  in  other  words,  the  French  and  Indian 
wars  were  in  the  full  current  of  that  great  human  adventure 
whose  sources  are  to  be  sought  in  the  reformation,  and  whose 
widening  tides  have  flowed  through  all  the  centuries  since,  the 
adventure  of  liberty.  For  liberty  is  an  adventure  not  alone  in 
the  literal,  but  in  the  wider  and  nobler  meaning  of  the  word. 

The  Englishmen  who  dared,  for  conscience  sake,  the  track- 
less sea,  the  unexplored  forest,  were  adventurers  not  only  in  the 
sense  that  they  were  willing  to  cut  themselves  loose  from  safe 


The  AdverUt^re  of  Ltbertjf.  479 

and  established  oonditions  and  ohance  the  dangers  of  the  wave 
and  the  forest^  but  they  were  adventurers  in  the  far  nobler 
sense  that  they  were  willing  to  detach  themselves  from  ancient 
order  and  well-grounded  precedent  in  the  profound  conviction 
that  they  were  equal  to  their  own  destiny,  could  manage  their 
own  affairs.  The  men  who  pushed  up  into  Deerfield  were  ad- 
venturers in  this  double  sense ;  they  were  equal  not  only  to  the 
adventures  of  the  frontier  and  the  Indian,  the  untitled  mead- 
ows and  uncleared  hills,  but  they  were  equal  to  the  adven- 
ture of  untried  social  conditions  and  the  establishment  of  a 
state.  The  men  whom  they  fought  were  adventurers,  but  never 
in  the  same  sense,  for  they  loved  the  adventure  of  license,  of 
quick  gain,  the  boundless  freedom  and  the  chances  of  the  battle- 
field ;  the  Englishman  subordinated  his  adventure  to  law  and 
bore  within  himself  the  daring  and  the  love  of  liberty  which 
was  always  to  be  held  in  subjection  to  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  the  stability  of  the  state. 

Not  only  the  pioneer  work,  therefore,  out  of  which  the  con- 
flict between  the  French  and  English  sprang,  but  the  very 
spirit  which  led  the  English  to  the  Kew  World  and  set  them 
to  the  building  of  a  new  state  was  that  noblest  adventure,  the 
adventure  of  freedom,  in  which  they  were  willing  to  take 
chances,  run  risks,  undergo  hardships  and  break  with  precedent 
in  the  hope  of  establishing  after  the  impulses  of  their  own  free 
spirit  a  social  order  in  which  the  state  should  be  for  men  and 
men  for  freedom,  for  service,  and  for  the  kingdom  of  God. 
And  one  may  pass  on  to  say  that  the  whole  French  and  Indian 
war,  which  was  in  itself  a  war  waged  and  won  by  a  people 
profoundly  committed  to  the  great  adventure  of  freedom,  was 
only  the  beginning  of  two  centuries  of  history  whose  whole 
issue  has  been  in  the  same  direction,  facing  the  same  ultimates. 

Scarcely  had  the  English  pioneers  won,  as  against  the  French, 
room  and  right  to  shape  their  lives  and  their  statutes  in  ac- 
cordance with  their  profounder  impulses,  when  the  colonists 
found  themselves  driven  by  the  same  spirit  to  challenge  the 
mother  coimtry.  It  was  impossible  that  a  New  England  com- 
pletely hemmed  in  by  a  French  empire  should  ever  work  out 
its  rightful  destiny,  equally  impossible  that  the  thirteen  colonies 
checked  by  English  caprice  and  held  down  by  English  stupid- 
ity could  ever  be  true  to  those  same  permanent  impulses,  or 
rightly  found  a  state.    The  Bevolutionary  War  was  a  part  of 


480  Annual  Meeting— 1904u 

the  great  adventure  of  liberty ;  Englishmen  qnestioning  Eng- 
lish precedent,  separating  themselves  from  the  English  consti- 
tutional fabric  and  hewing  oat  for  themselves  a  new  road  not 
only  of  national  life  but  of  constitutional  procedure,  and  all  this 
for  the  sake  of  a  nobler  and  fuller  liberty. 

The  echoes  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars  were  hardly 
dead  before  the  unsettled  farmers  fired  the  shot  which  was 
heard  around  the  world,  and  before  the  guns  of  the  American 
Bevolution  had  reverberated  for  the  last  time  and  become  silent 
the  stupendous  clamor  of  the  French  Bevolution  began  and  the 
French  Eevolution  was  only  another  stage  in  the  adventure  of 
liberty.  Kow  the  French  people  break  with  their  past,  chal- 
lenge precedent,  overthrow  kings,  take  their  own  fortune  in 
their  own  hands,  face  the  future,  and  walk  new  and  shining 
roads.  Napoleon  and  the  Kapoleonic  wars  were  only  an  inter- 
lude in  the  drama.  The  great  service  of  Napoleon  was  that  he 
kept  France  from  being  ground  under  the  heel  of  reactionary 
Europe,  and  when  he  himself  was  overthrown  at  Waterloo  all 
the  real  gains  of  the  French  Bevolution  were  permanently  as- 
sured not  only  for  France,  but  for  Europe.  No  reactionaries 
could  check  the  rising  tide ;  no  unworthy  kings  could  be  kept 
permanently  upon  any  throne.  In  England  liberty  had  her 
way  through  constitutional  procedure  and  great  reaches  of 
change  and  reform.  In  Europe  liberty  came  riding  successive 
waves  of  revolution,  but  always  liberty  did  come,  always  more 
and  more  the  elemental  humanities,  sheer  human  right  and  the 
worth  of  men  triumphed  as  against  caste,  tradition,  or  any  ar- 
tificial distinction  which  tried  to  introduce  or  preserve  any 
classification  of  men  except  the  divine  classification  of  wisdom 
and  folly,  sin  and  righteousness. 

In  America  slavery  was  an  attempt  of  the  fathers  to  make 
exception  to  the  wide  principle  of  the  humanities  and  to  defend 
the  fortress  of  caste  washed  on  every  side  by  the  waves  of  free- 
dom and  that  attempt  was  vain ;  freedom  had  her  way.  Our 
own  Civil  War  was  just  one  more  chapter  in  the  tremendous 
story,  one  more  stand  of  caste  as  against  humanity,  and  privi- 
lege as  against  manhood.  All  the  amendments  which  sprang 
out  of  the  time  of  reconstruction  were  simply  an  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  white  men  to  include  the  black  within  the  terms 
of  the  great  adventure  and  to  stake  for  the  sake  of  the  negro 
all  the  possibility  of  travail  of  strife  which  the  white  man  had 


The  Achenture    of  liberty.  481 

been  for  200  jean  laying  down  as  a  condition  of  his  own  free- 
dom. 

And  now  that  the  200  years  are  ronnded  out  and  democracy 
everywhere  has  become  a  regnant  fact  in  modern  life  the  voice 
of  the  reactionary  is  beginning  to  be  heard  in  the  land,  and  for 
the  first  time  in  200  years  we  are  getting  men  in  America  who 
are  beginning  to  be  aifraid  of  freedom.  The  reason  for  this  is 
not  far  to  seek.  We  are  beginning  to  see  very  clearly  how  tre- 
mendoos  are  the  responsibilities  and  problems  of  freedom ;  we 
are  beginninir  to  see  as  never  before  the  risks  and  uncertainties ; 
^e  ^  begging  to  see  by  what  ceaseless  vigilance  liberty 
must  be  maintained ;  and  we  are  beguming  above  all  to  see 
that  liberty  and  law  are  inseparable,  that  these  old  princi- 
ples of  obedience  and  subordination  must  run  through  a  free 
state  as  through  any  state  which  ever  has,  or  ever  can,  endure ; 
and  because  we  see  all  this  so  clearly,  because  it  bulks  so  big, 
and  because  we  are  paying  the  penalty  of  misadventure  in 
lynchings,  in  mobs,  in  anarchy,  in  the  great  unassimilated  mas- 
ses of  population,  in  debauched  cities,  and  most  of  all  in  the  un- 
settled social  conditions  of  the  south  some  of  us  are  beginning 
to  cry  "halt,"  are  beginning  to  question  whether  Uberty  is 
worth  while  and  are  wondering  whether  there  is  not  some 
safer  and  easier  road  to  the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Now  I  think  that  we  are  first  of  all  to  recognize,  there- 
fore, the  positive  element  of  adventure  in  every  kind  of  lib- 
erty. Liberty  cannot  be  the  safest  way,  the  easiest  thing,  but 
liberty  is  and  ought  to  be  incomparably  the  best  thing.  In 
church  life,  for  example,  an  unfallible  authority  is  safer  and 
easier.  In  all  the  ferment  of  question  and  doubt  and  specu- 
lation which  to-day  makes  Protestantism  a  lumpy  and  storm* 
swept  sea,  one  does  not  wonder  that  people  are  constantly 
turning  back  from  a  sea  which  they  fear  to  navigate,  or 
constantly  seeking  the  safe  harbors  of  authority,  and  are 
crying  out  against  freedom  of  thought  as  an  unsettler  of  the 
sanctities  of  life ;  but  there  are  certainly  goals  which  cannot 
be  reached  save  as  one  sails  stormy  seas.  No  one  can  for  a 
moment  doubt  that  a  free  faith,  based  upon  its  own  convictions, 
armored  in  its  own  strength  and  getting  its  power  from  first- 
hand contact  with  truth,  is  so  unspeakably  better  than  any 
peace  which  comes  through  surrender  or  in  safety  which 
comes  through  cowardice,  that  all  the  restlessness  and  even 
31 


482  Annual  Meeting— 1904:. 

shipwreck  of  the  centuries  since  the  Protestant  Beformation 
have  not  been  too  great  a  price  to  pay  for  the  great  essen- 
tial body  of  faith  into  whidi,  after  all,  we  have  come. 

Bepublics  are  worth  revolutions ;  democracy  is  worth  the 
possibility  of  lawlessness ;  and  a  state  in  which  men  serenely 
and  effectually  govern  themselves  is  so  unspeakably  higher 
than  a  state  in  which  men  are  placidly  governed  that  I,  for 
my  part)  do  not  regret  one  drop  of  blood,  or  one  fire  signal, 
or  one  travail  pain,  or  all  the  vast  waste  and  strife  through 
which  men  have  come  even  to  that  nobler  measure  of  free 
and  regnant  manhood  which  now  holds ;  and  we  have,  to  one 
man's  way  of  thinking,  no  option  but  the  option  of  fighting 
to  the  end ;  and  because  thi^  is  true,  there  is  laid  upon  us  the 
obligation  of  being  true  to  those  obligations  upon  which,  as 
upon  a  rock,  the  American  state  is  based  and  I  believe  there  is 
laid  upon  us  an  obligation  of  contending  for  the  veracity  of  those 
principles  forever  where  ever  they  are  challenged. 

Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  said,  in  Boston  the  other  night,  that  the 
qualifications  which  the  southern  states  are  framing  about 
the  suffrage  are  not  the  denial  of  the  right  of  suffrage  and 
that  the  negro  is  not  being  disfranchised,  but  Dr.  Abbott  knows 
and  every  sane  man  knows  that  behind  all  this  ia  the  settled 
determination  to  remove  the  negro  as  a  factor  in  the  south- 
em  political  life,  not  because  he  is  ignorant  but  because  he 
is  black,  and  any  man  who  defends  the  detail  of  that  proce- 
dure without  assailing  the  principle,  stands  by  and  consents. 

Suffrage  ought  to  be  saved  from  ignorance,  from  shif tlessness 
and  from  crime,  black  or  white,  bond  or  free,  north  or  south, 
east  or  west,  but  the  contention  that  any  body  of  men  be- 
cause their  skins  are  black  are  to  be  debarred  under  any  con- 
ditions from  participation  in  our  national  life  is  an  un-Amer- 
ican contention.  We  have  no  alternative  but  to  take  the  risks 
dean  through  and  raise  the  negro  to  a  vrise  and  efficient 
manhood ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  we  shall  ever  come  to 
that  without  holding  before  him  as  a  perpetual  incentive  the 
one  right  of  manhood,  the  participation  in  the  state.  We 
have  taken  the  risks  of  freedom  and  citizenship  for  the  negro. 
We  cannot  turn  back.  We  cannot  deny.  We  must  fight  tiie  bat- 
tle to  the  end. 

The  same  thing  holds  true  in  our  cities.  We  have  taken 
the  risk  in  Boston,  in  New  York,  in  Chicago,  in  San  Francis- 


The  AchenPare  of  Liberty  483 

CO,  of  self-government.  It  involves  waste,  crime,  partial  fail- 
ure, yet  a  self-governed  city  is  so  incomparably  nobler  than  a 
city  of  other  government  that  the  end  is  worth  the  cost. 

One  seeks,  therefore,  on  this  historic  spot  and  in  this  historic 
event  the  reaffirmation  of  those  convictions  and  impulses 
which  have  rewritten  in  two  centuries  the  story  of  humanity 
in  lifting  men  above  the  clay.  Liberty,  whidi  is  the  inner 
obedience  to  the  inner  law,  is  the  divinest  thing  in  life  because 
it  is  the  life  of  God  in  the  lives  of  men.  It  can  be  attained 
only  by  the  discipline  of  experience  and  by  the  risk  of  set- 
ting men  free  to  work  it  out.  In  the  lat^  of  these  great 
adventures  we  find  ourselves.  Its  problems,  its  perplexities, 
and  its  dangers  surround  us  on  every  side;  its  great  shining 
goals  lift  themselves  into  the  light  ahead  of  us.  By  the  grace 
of  all  that  courage  which  upon  the  battle-field  of  successive  gene- 
rations has  won  fuller  and  fuller  advance  for  humanity  let  us, 
good  soldiers  of  liberty,  commit  ourselves  anew  to  that  adven- 
ture, and  at  whatever  cost  fight  till  men  are  free. 


OFFICERS  AND  MEMBERS  OF  THE 

ASSOCIATION, 

1870-1905. 


[The  date  following  the  name  is  that  of  first  election;  the  succeeding  numerals 
the  term  of  service.    *  Deceased.] 

PreeiderU, 
GEORGE  SHELDON,  Deerfield,  1870;  36. 

V%c&-Pre8ident8, 

C.  ALICE  BAKER,  Boston,  1901:  3. 
ROBERT  R.  BISHOP,  Newton,  1891. 
*EDGAR  BUCKINGHAM,  Deerfield,  1881. 
♦JOSL^H  D.  CANNING,  GiD,  1870. 
♦SAMUEL  CARTER,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  1883:  2. 
*HENRY  CHILDS,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  1881 :  2. 
*JAMES  M.  CRAFTS,  Whately,  1870:  4. 
♦AUSTIN  DEWOLF.  Greenfield,  1877. 
♦Joseph  p.  FELTON,  Greenfield,  1885. 
♦P.  VOORHEES  FINCH,  Greenfield,  1880:  2. 
♦JAMES  S.  GRINNELL,  Greenfield,  1887. 
♦EBEN  A.  HALL,   Greenfield,  1893:  3. 
♦ALLEN  HAZEN,  Deerfield,  1887:  3. 
♦SILAS  G.  HUBBARD,  Hatfield,  1890. 
SAMUEL  O.  LAMB,  Greenfield,  1873:  11. 
♦ROGER  HOOKER  LEAVITT,  Charlemont,  1871 :  4. 
♦JAMES  SMITH  REED,  Marion,  Ohio,  1885:  4. 
♦HARRIET  CLAPP  RICE,  Leverett,  1874:  2. 
JOHN  SHELDON,   Greenfield,  1897. 
♦JOHN  MONTAGUE  SMITH,  Sunderland,  1879:  4. 
FRANCIS  M.  THOMPSON,  Greenfield,  1886:  16. 
♦JOHN  P.  WATSON,_Leverett,  1877:  3. 
♦JOSEPH  WHITE,  Williamstown,  1882. 

Recording  Secretary, 

♦NATHANIEL  HITCHCOCK,  Deerfield,  1870:  31. 
MARGARET  MILLER,  Deerfield,  1901 :  5. 

Corresponding  Secretary, 

♦EDGAR  BUCKINGHAM,  Deerfield,  1883:  11. 
♦ROBERT  CRAWFORD,  Deerfield,  1870:  13. 
HERBERT  C.  PARSONS,  Greenfield,   1895:  6. 
BIARY  ELIZABETH  STEBBINS,  Deerfield,  1901 :  6. 
♦CATHERINE  BROOKS  YALE,  Devfield,  1894. 

486 


486 


Officers  cmd  Members  of  the  Aeeociaidon. 


TreasureTf 

♦NATHANIEL  HITCHCOCK,  Deerfidd,  1870:  31. 
JOHN  SHELDON,  Greenfield,  1901:  5. 

Life  CounciUora, 

♦FREDERICK  L.  AMES,  Boeton,  1892. 

♦GEORGE  ALBERT  ARMS,  Greenfield,  1882. 

C.  ALICE  BAKER,   Cambridge,   1876. 

♦HENRY  CHILDS,  Buflfalo,  N.  Y.,  1870. 

♦MARY  HEMENWAY,   Boston,   1885. 

♦JONATHAN  JOHNSON.  Greenfield,  1878. 

ELIZABETH  MARVIN  KAUFFMANN,  Berlin,  Prussia,  1903. 

MARY  ANN  SAWYER,  St.  Albans,  Vt.,  1883. 

ELLEN  LOUISA  SHELDON,  Greenfield,  1905. 

GEORGE  SHELDON,  Deerfidd,  1883. 

JENNIE  MARIA  ARMS  SHELDON,  Deerfield,  1901. 

♦LYDIA  CUTLER  8TEBBINS,  Deerfield,  1872. 

CounciUorSf 


Aiken,  John  A.,  Greenfield,  1893:  3. 
♦Allen,  Julia  A.,  Deerfield,  1877:  2. 
♦Arms,   Aaron,   Bellows  Falls,   Vt., 
1872:  2. 

♦AviceS.,  Greenfield,  1899. 

♦Frances  W.,  Greenfield,  1880. 

♦George  A.,  Greenfield,  1877:  6. 

Jennie  M^  Greenfield,  1896. 

Obed  S.,  Deerfield,  1873:  2. 

♦Otis    B.,    Bellows    Falls,    Vt., 
1882:  2. 

Winthrop  T.,  Deerfield,  1889. 
♦Avery,  Walter  T.,  New  York,  N.  Y., 

1879:  4. 
Baker,  C.  Alice,  Cambrid^.  1871:  7. 

♦Catharine  C,  Cambridge,  1879. 
Ball,  Frances  W.,  Deerfield,  1901:  4. 
♦Bardwell,    Jarvis    B.,    Shelbume, 

1873:  3. 
Barrett,  Geoi*ge  P.,   Portland,  Me., 

1897. 
♦Bartlett,  Geoi^  B.,  Concord,  1886. 
Billings,  Henry  W.,  Conway,  1893. 
Birks,  Richard  E.,  Deerfield,  1903:  3. 
Bishop,  Robert  R.,  Newton,  1894:  2. 
♦Brooks,  Silas  N.,  Chicago,  111.,  1871. 
♦Brown,  Lorenzo,  Vernon,  Vt.,  1873: 

2. 
Bryant,  Chauncey,  GTd,  1881:  2. 
♦Buckingham,  Edmr,  D'fd  1870:  10. 
♦Canning,  Josiah  D.,  Gill,  1871:  4. 
♦Carter,  Samuel,   Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 

1880:  4. 
♦Champney,  James  Wells,  Deerfidd, 

1880:6. 
Chase.  Ellen,  Brookline,  1894:  2. 
♦Childs,  Dexter,  Deerfield,  1873:  3. 

♦Henry,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  1883:  2. 

♦Robert,  Deerfield,  1870:  26. 

Samuel,  Deerfield,  1901:  2. 
Coleman,  Emma  L.,  Boston,  1883:  3. 


♦Corss,  Charies,  Lock  Haven,  Pa., 

1888:  2. 
♦Cowing,  Julia  A.,  Deerfield,  1874:  2. 
♦Crafts,  Chester  G.,  Whately,  1880: 6. 

♦James  M..  Whately,  1876:  3. 
♦Crawford,  Robert,  Deerfield,  1882: 

14. 
Crittenden,    George   D.,   Shelbume, 

1871:  5. 
Cutler.  Nahum  S.,  Greenfield,  1893: 4. 
♦DeWolf,  Austin,  Greenfield,  1873: 4. 
Everett,  Edward  J.,  Deerfield,  1901 :2. 
Farren,  Barney  N.,  Montague,  1885:2. 
♦Felton,  Joseph  P.,  Greenfield,  1896. 
Fessenden,  Franklin  G.,  Greenfield, 

1896. 
♦Fidd,  Phinehas,  Charlemont,  1870:4. 
Putnam,  Greenfield,  1883:  3. 
♦Reuben  W.,  Shelbume,  1887: 3. 
♦Finch,  P.  Voorhees,  Greenfield,  1870: 

14. 
♦Fisk,  D.  Orlando,  Shelbume,  1870:  Z. 
Fuller,    George    Spencer,    Deerfield, 

1902: 1. 
Furbush,    Caroline    C,    Greenfield, 

1900:  4. 
♦Grinnell,  James  S.,  Greenfield,  1892: 

3. 
Griswold,    Freeman    C,    Greenfield, 

1889:  2. 
♦Hwrer,  Charles,  Deerfield,  1875:  2. 
♦HaD,  Eben  A.,  Greenfield,  1873:  8. 
Hammond,  George  W.,  Boston,  1889: 

3. 
Harris,  William  L.,  Deerfieid.  1904: 2. 
Hawks,    Edward    Allen,    Deerfield, 

1901 : 6. 
♦Frederick,  Greenfield,  1871:  6. 
♦Susan  Belle,  Deerfield,  1872. 
Winfield  S.,  South  Hadl^,  1881: 

3. 


Officers  and  Members  of  ike  AssooiaHon. 


48T 


♦Hazen.  Allen,  Deerfield,  1885:  2. 
Hildretn,  John  L.,  Cambridge,  1895: 

2. 
^Hitchcock,  Heniy,  Galeebuig,  HI., 

1879:  2. 
'CHollister,    Joseph    H.,    Greenfield, 

1876:  3. 
*Holton,  Ezra  L.,  N'f'd,  1873:  2. 
Horr,  Georee  W.,  Athol,  1895:  4. 
*Ho6mer,  George  H.,  Bridgewater, 

1880:  2. 
James  Kendall,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 

1879:  6. 
Hoyt,  John  Wilson,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 

1892:  3. 
*Hubbard,  Silas  G.,  Hatfield.  1882:  2. 
Huntington,   Eunice  K.,  Cleveland, 

Ohio,   1880:  4. 
♦Hyde,  William,  Ware,  1883:  2. 
♦Johnson,  Jonathan,  G'f'd,  1870:  8. 
♦Jones,  Charles,  Deerfield,  1877:  26. 
♦Kimball,     Delancy    C,    Lev^ett, 

1887:  2. 
Kingslev,   Elbridge,  Hatfield,   1896. 
Lainb,  Samuel  O.,  GTd,  1874:  13. 
♦Leavitt,    Roger    Hooker,    Charle- 

mont,  1873:  2. 
♦Lincoln,   Luther  J.   B.,   Hingham, 

1879:  6. 
Lowell,  Charles  R.,  Greenfield,  1903. 
♦Marshall,  James  F.  B.,  Weston,  1892. 
Moors,  John  F.,  Gre^ifield,  1880. 
♦Munn,  Asa  B.,  Chicago,  1890. 
♦Philo,  Deerfield,  1882:  3. 
Newcomb,    Eugene   A.,    Greenfield, 

1894: 10. 
♦Parsons,  AJbert  C,  Northfield,  1872: 

4. 
Herbert  C,  Greenfield,  1891:  7. 
PhiUips,  Henry  M.,  Sp'gfield,  1883:  5. 
♦Simeon,  Greenfield,  1880:  4. 
♦Smith  R.,  S'f'd,  1874. 
Plimpton  Henry  R.,  Boston,  1893:  2. 
♦Porter,  Ransom  N.,  DTd.  1873:  3. 
♦Pratt,  Frank  J.,  Greenfidd,  1881 :  4. 
♦Martha     Goulding,     Deerfield, 

1876:  6. 
Putnam,  Annie  Cabot,  Boston,  1903: 

3. 
♦Reed,   James  Smith,   Biarion,   O., 

1882:  2. 
♦Rice,  David,  Leverett,  1877:  2. 


♦Rice,  Harriet  C,  Leverett,  1872:  2. 

♦Levi  W.,  Greenfield,  1870:  3. 

♦Sarah  C,  Greenfield,  1882. 

Rumrill.  AnnaC,  Springfield,  1893: 2. 

♦Russell,   John   Edwards,  Leicester, 

1898:  2. 
Ryerson,  Julia  Newton,  New  York, 

N.  Y.,  1882. 
Sawyer,  Maiy  Ann,  St.  Albans,  Vt. 

1879. 
Sheldon,  Ellen  L..  Greenfield,  1890: 5. 
John,  Greenfield,  1881 :  4. 
♦William,  Deerfeld,  1876:  4. 
Smead,  Elihu,  Newtonville,  1884. 
♦Smith,  James,  Whately,  1881. 
♦John  M.,  Sunderland,  1874:  9. 
♦Zeri,  Deerfield,  1874:  11. 
♦Snow,  Newell,  Greenfield,  1880:  4. 
Solley,  George  W.,  Deerfield,  1900:  3. 
Stebbins,  Albert.  Deerfield,  1879:  10. 
♦Lydia  Cutler,  Deerfield,  1872. 
♦Moses,  Deerfield,  1870:  3. 
Stratton,  Mary  Turner,   Northfield, 

1876. 
♦Taft,  Henry  Walbridge,  Pittsfield, 

1877:  8. 
Thompson,  Francis  M.,   Greenfield, 

1877:  5. 
♦Thornton,  R.  S.,  Montague,  1897. 
♦Tilton,    Chaunc^    B.,    Deerfield, 

1875:  6. 
♦Warner,  Whitn^  L.,  Sunderiand, 

1887:  2. 
Watson,   Charles   Herbert,    Boston, 
1902. 
♦John  P.,  Leverett,  1876. 
♦Wells,  Elisha,  Deerfield,  1881 :  6. 
♦Henry.  Shelbume,  1883:  2. 
Laura  B.,  1901 :  3. 
♦Wentworth,    Mary    P.,    Deerfield, 

1896:5. 
♦White,  Joseph,  Williamstown,  1885. 
♦Williams,  Ahnon  C,  DTd,  1899:  2. 
Arthur,  Brookline,  1885:  2. 
Charles  E.,   Deerfield,  1879:  8. 
♦Electa  Lucilla,  Deerfield,  1888: 
2. 
♦Wright,  William  Westwood,  Geneva, 

N.  Y.,  1883:  2. 
Wynne,    Madeline   Yale,    Deerfield, 

1901:  2. 
♦Yale,  Catherine  B.,  D'f'd,  1890:  9. 


Corresponding  Members, 


♦Hon.  Charles  C.  Baldwin,  LL.  D., 

Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Hubert   Howe   Bancroft,  Historian, 

California. 


♦Hon.  Benjamin  H.  HaU,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
~       "        -  g^^  Worces- 

ter, Mass. 


President  G.  Stanley 


Hon.  Stephen  A.   Hubbard,  Hart- 


Btepi 
ford. 


Conn. 


Hon.  Edward  Y.  Jones,  Binghamp- 

ton,  N.  Y. 
Daniel   Sc^tgrave,   Esq.,   Worcester, 

Mass. 
♦Hon.  Henry  Wyllys  Taylor,  Can- 

andaigua,  N.  Y. 
Henry  F.  Waters,  A.  M.,  Salem.  Mass. 
♦Justm  Winsor,  LL.  D.,  CamDridgBy 

Mass. 


488 


Qfficef  and  Meniben  of  ike  As$oci<aUm. 


Life   Members, 


^AJkn,  Catherine  E.,  Deerfield,  1874. 
^Anna,  Geom  A.,  Greenfield,  1870. 
Jennie  Maria,  Gf 'd,  1880. 
*Otis  Bardwell,  BdlowB  FaHs, 

Vt.,  1882. 
♦Seneca,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  1871. 
♦Aveiy,  Walter  T.,  New  Yoric,  1871. 
Baker,  C.  Alice,  Cambridge,    1870. 

♦Catharine  C^  1872. 
Barrett,  George  r.,  Portland,  Me., 

1803. 
♦Bartlett,  George  B.,  Conccml,  1871. 
Bishop,  Kobert  R..  Newton,  1890. 
Catlin,  Geoige,  Chicago,  Bl.,  1899. 
♦Champnev,  Jamee  'WelLs,  Deerfidd, 

1879. 
Chaae,  Ellen,  Brookline,   1890. 
Childs,  Alfred  Heniy,  Deerfield,  1870. 
♦Robert,  Deerfidd,  1870. 
Rodolphns,  Dover,  Bl.,  1873. 
♦Comstock,  Cornelia  C,  New  Canaan, 

Conn.,  1886. 
♦Corss,  Charles,  Lock  Haven,  Pa., 

1887. 
Creosoy,  Noah.  Amherst,  1870. 
Delano,  Elinbeth  Reed,  1882. 
♦Doggett,  George  N.,  Chicago,  1872. 
Farren,  Bam^  N.,  Montague,  1884. 
Fessenden,  Franklm  G.,  Greenfield, 

1895. 
♦Fithian,  Eliza  Barnard,  St.  Louis, 

M!o.,  1884. 
Fuller,    Agnes    Gordon,    Deerfield, 

1905. 
Furbush,    Caroline    C,    Greenfield, 

1895. 
♦Hawks,  Belle  Sheldon,  DTd,  1880. 
♦Frederick,  Greenfidd,   1879. 
♦William  H.,  Greenfield,  1879. 
♦Hitchcock,  Heniy,  Galesbuig,  Bl., 
1872. 
♦Nathaniel,  Deerfield,  1870. 
Horr,  Geoive  W.,  Athd,  1893. 
Hoemer,     James    Kendall,    Yellow 

Springs,  Ohio,  1871. 
♦H<^,  Cattorine  Wells,  Deerfield, 
1876. 
♦Henry.  Boston,  1870. 
John  W.,  Cincinnati,  O.,  1887. 
♦Hyde,  William,  Ware,  1884. 
♦Kimball,  Delan^  D.,  Leverett,  1877. 
Lamb,  Samud  O.,  Greenfield,  1880. 
Leavitt,  John  H.,  Waterioo,  Iowa, 
1903. 


♦Lmcoln,  Luther  J.  B.,  Deeifield. 

1879. 
♦Mary  Agnes,  Deerfield,  1879. 
♦Marshall,   James   F.    B.,   Weston, 

1888. 
Morton,  Levi  E.,  New  Ycvk.  1903. 
Phillips,  Heniy  M.,  I^rin^d,  1882. 
♦Smith    KobinBon,    Springfield, 

1871. 
♦Pkatt,  Franklm  Josiah,  Cheenfield, 

1880. 
♦Martha    Goulding,    Deerfield, 

1872. 
♦Reed,  James  Smith,  Marion,   O^ 

1872. 
♦Richards<m,  John  J.,  G'fd,  1879. 
♦Russell,  J(^   Edwards,   Leioeflter, 

1897. 
Sawyer,  Mary  Ann,  St.  Albans,  Vt., 

1879. 

Sheldon,  Ellen  Anns,  Greenfield,  188a 
Ge(»ge,  Deerfieki,  1870. 
Georse  Arms,  Greenfield,  1900. 
Jenme  Edith,  Greenfield,  1900. 
John,  Greenfiekl,  1880. 
ifiusan  Stewart.  Deerfield,  1870. 
♦Smith,  Cornelia  Allen,  Fhila.,  Pk, 
1892. 
♦James,  Whately,  1879. 
♦Snow,  Newell,  Greenfidd,  1879. 
♦Stebbins,    Evander   G.,    Deeifield. 

1870. 
♦Stone,    Mary   Lowdl,   Cambridge, 

1888. 
♦Taft,  Heniy  Walbridge,  Httsfield, 

1873. 
Thompson,  Francis  M.,  Greenfield, 

1882. 
•Thornton,  R.  S.,  Montague,  1896. 
Watson,   Charles   Herbert,   Boston, 

1900. 
♦Wells,  Heniy.  Shelbume,  1880. 
♦White,  Joseph,  Williamstown,  1880. 
Salome  Elizabeth,   New  Yoik, 
N.  Y.,  1880. 
♦Whitn^,  James  S.,  Brookline,  1872. 

Laurinda  C,  Brookline,  1872. 
♦Williams,  Ahnon  C.  Deerfield,  1886. 
Sophronia  Reea,  Chicago,  BL, 
1882. 
♦Wright,  William  Westwood,  Geneva, 

N.  Y.,  1880. 
♦Yale,  Catherine  Brooks,  Deerfield, 
1888. 


FuU  Membership, 

Aberorombie,  Elizabeth,  Brookline,  ♦Alien,  Catherine  Eliaabeth,  Deer- 
1900.  field.  1874. 

T^^lliamHvslop,  Brookline,  1900.  Orin  Pierre,  Palmer,  1892. 

Aiken,  John  Adiams,  Greenfield,  1891.  ♦Ames,  FrederidiL  L.,  Boston,  1892. 


Officers  and  Members  of  the  Association. 


489 


AnderaQn.  Lafayette.  Shelburne,  1872. 
^Anns,  Aaron,  BeUowB  Falls,  Vt., 
1870. 

'^Avice  StebbinB,  G'f'd,  1871. 

^FranoesWaid,  Greenfield,  1871. 

'KSeorge  Albert,  Greenfield,  1870. 

Jennie  Maria,  Greenfield,  1889. 

Lillie  J.,  Bellows  Falls,  Vt.,  1872. 

Obed  S.,  Deerfield.  1871. 

*Otb  Bardwell,  Bellows  Falls, 
Vt.   1882. 

•Seneca,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  1871. 

Winthrop  Tyler,  Deerfield,  1885. 
♦Aveiy,  Walter  Titus,  N.  Y..  1871. 
Baker,  Charlotte  Alice,  Cambridge, 
1870. 

•Catharine  Catlin,   Cambridge, 
1872. 
Ball,  Frances  Williams.  D'f'd,  1900. 
•Barber,  H.  H.,  Meadville,  Pa.,  1905. 

Hervey,  Warwick,  1873. 
•Bardwell,  Jarvis  B.,  Sbelbume,  1870. 
•Barnard,  Lemuel,  Canandaigua,  N. 

Y.,1875. 
Barney,  Edward,  Deerfield,  1870. 
Barrett,  George  P.,  Portland,  Me., 

1893. 
•Bartlett,  Geor^  B^  Concord,  1871. 
Bemis,  Itobert  £.,  Cnicopee,  1891. 
Billing,    Henry    William,   Conway, 

1892. 
Birks,  Richard  E.,  Deerfield,  1903. 
Bishop,  Robert  K.,  Newton,   1890. 
Boyden,  Frank  D^  Deerfield,  1885. 
•Brooks,  Silas  N.,  Bemardston,  1870. 
•Brown,  Lorenzo,  Vernon,  Vt.,  1872. 

Mrs.  N.  H.,  Dorchester,  1888. 
Br3rant,  Chauncev,  Greenfield.  1872. 
•Buckingham,  Edgar,  Deerfield,  1870. 
Buddin^n,  Heniy  A.,  Grecnifield, 

1872. 
•Canning,  Josiah  D.,  Gill,  1870. 
•Carter,   Samuel,   Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 

1878. 
Catlin,  George,  Chioaso.  Bl.,  1899. 
•Champney,    James    Wells,    D'f'd, 

1879. 
Chase,  Ellen,  Brookline,  1890. 
Childs,  Alfred  H.,   Deerfield,   1877. 

•Dexter,  Deerfield,  1870. 

•Henry,  Buflfalq.  N.  Y.,  1870. 

M.   Anna   V.,   Deerfield,    1900. 

•Robert,  Deerfidd,  1870. 

Rodolphus,  Dover,  Bl.,  1873. 

Samuel,  Deerfield,   1900. 
Cdeman,  Emma  Lewis,  Boston,  1881. 
•Comstock,    Cornelia    Carter,    New 

Canaan,  Conn.,  1886. 
•Corss,   Charles,    Lock   Haven,  P^., 

1887. 
•Cowing,  Julia  A.,  Deerfield,  1871. 
•Crafts,  Chester  G.,  Whately,  1872. 

•James  Munroe,  Whately,  1870. 


Crafts,  Seth  B.,  Whately,  1872. 
•Crawford,  Robert,  Deerfield,  1870. 
Cressey,  Noah,  Amherst,  1876. 
Crittenden,   George   D.,   Shelbumey 

1870. 
Cutler,  Nahum  S.,  Greenfield,  1892. 
Delano,  Mizabetii  Reed,  New  Bed- 
ford, 1882. 
Denio.  Herbert  W.,  Westfield,  1905. 
•DeWolf,  Austin,  Greenfield.  1870. 
•Doggett,  George  Newell,  Chicago, 

111.  1872. 
•Dwight,  Villiam,  Bemardston,  1870. 
•EasUnan,  Samuel  Sheldon,  Green- 
field, 1870. 
Everett,  Edward  J.,  Deerfield,  1901. 
Farren,  Barney  N.,  Montague,  1884. 
•Felton,  Jofi»ph  P.^  Greenfield,  1870. 
Fessenden,  Iranklm  G.,  Greenfield, 

1895. 
•Held,  Phmehas,  Chariemont,  1871. 

Putnam,  Greenfield,  1875. 

•Reuben  W.,   Buckland,   1886. 
•Finch,  Peter  Voorhees,  Greenfield, 

1870. 
•Fisk,    David   Orlando,   Shelbume, 

1870. 
•Fiske,  Mrs.  Georro  I.,  Boston,  1888. 

•Geom  S.,  Boston,   1888. 
•Fithian,  Misa  Barnard,  St  Louis, 

Mo.    1883. 
Forbes,  IVank  P.,  Greenfield,  1905. 
Freeman,  Hattie  E.,  Boston,  1891. 
Fuller,  Agnes  Gordon,  Deerfidd,  1905. 

•George,  Deerfield,  1871. 

George  Spencer,  Deerfield,  1901. 
Furbush,    Caroline    C,    Greenfield, 

1895. 
•Goes,  Elbridge  H.,  Mehx)se,  1871. 
Gray,  O.  W.,  Bemardston,  1891. 
•Gnnnell,  George,  Greenfidd,  1875. 

•James  Seymour,    G'f'd,   1886. 
Griswold,   Fre^cnan   C.,   Greenfield, 
1888. 

•Whiting,  Greenfield.  1874. 
•Hager,  Charles,  Deerfield,  1872. 
•Hall,  Eben  A.,  Greenfield,  1870. 
Hammond,  Ellen  L.,  Boston,  1887. 

George  W..  Boston,   1887. 
•Harding,    WHbur    F.,    Greenfield, 

1870. 
Harris,  William  L.,  Deerfield,  1899. 
Hawks.  Edward  Allen,  D'f'd,  1900. 

•Frederick.  Greenfidd.  1870. 

•Susan  Belle,  Deerfield,  1880. 

Susan  Belle,  Jr.,  Deerfield,  1900. 

•William  H.,  Greenfield,  1879. 

Winfield  S.,  South  Hadley,  1878. 
•Hazen,  Allen,  Deerfield,  1885. 
•Hemenw^.  Maiy,  Boston,  1885. 
Hildreth,  Jonn  L.,  Cambridge,  1891. 
•Hitchcock,  Heniy,  Galesbuig,  DL, 
1872. 


490 


Officers  and  Members  of  the  Association. 


♦Hitchcock  Nathaniel,  DTd,  1870. 
♦Hollister,   Joseph   Harvey,   Green- 
field. 1870. 
♦Holton,  Enra  L.,  Northfield,  1872. 
Horr,  Georae  W.,  Athol,  1803. 
♦Hosmer,   George  Herbert,   Bridge- 
water,  1871. 
James  Kendall,  Yellow  Springs, 
O.,  1871. 
*H<^,  Catherine  Wells,  Deerfield, 
1870. 
♦Henry,  Boston,  1870. 
John  Wilson,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
1887. 
♦Hubbard,  Silas  G.,  Hatfield,  1882. 
Huntington,    Eunice    Kimberiey, 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  1870. 
♦Hyde,  William.  Ware,  1884. 
♦Johnson,  Jonathan,  Montague,  1870. 
♦Jones,  Charles,  Deerfield,  1876. 
Kauffmann,  Elizabeth  Marvin,  Ber- 
lin, Prussia,  1903. 
♦Kimball,  Delancy  C,  Leverett,  1877. 
Kingsley,    Elbrioge,    Northampton, 

1876. 
Lamb,  Samuel  O.,  Greenfield,  1870. 
Leavitt,  John  H.,  Waterloo,  Iowa, 
1903. 
♦Roger    Hooker,     Charlemont, 
1871. 

Leavitte,  Helen  A.  R., ,  1881. 

Lee,  Samuel  H.,  Greeoifield,  1871. 

♦Lincoln,   Luther  J.   B.,   Hingham, 

1872. 

♦Mary  Anies,  Hingham,   1879. 

♦Marv  Wfllard,  Hingham,  1884. 

Lowell,  Charies  R.,  Greenfield,  1902. 

♦Luey,  Lester  L.,  Greenfield,  1902. 

♦Lyman,  Daniel,  Mendota,  111.,  1878. 

♦mrk,  GeorKe  W.,  Greenfield,  1870. 

♦Marshall,    James    F.   B.,  Weston, 

1888. 
Merriano,  Edwin  D.,  Greenfield,  1870. 
Miller,  Ellen,  Deerfield,  1904. 
Margaret,  Deerfield,  1900. 
Simeon,  Deerfield,  1870. 
Montague,    Abbie    T.,    Sunderland, 

1904. 
♦Moors,    John    Farwell,    Greenfield, 

1871. 
Morton,  Levi  K.,  New  York,  1903. 
Munger,  Orett  L.,  Chicago,  111.,  1895. 
♦Munn,  Asa  B.,  Chicago,  111.,  1887. 
♦Charles  H.,  Greenfield,  1871. 
George  A.,  Holyoke,  1893. 
♦John,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  1871. 
♦Philo,  Deerfield,  1870. 
Newcomb,    Eugene   A.,    Greenfield, 

1893. 
Nims,    E.    D.,    RofiP,  Indian  Terri- 
tory, 1903. 
Franklin    Asa.,    Greel^,    Cal., 
1903. 


Orr,  Mary  Moore,   Deerfield,   1904. 
♦Parsons,  Albert  C,  Northfield,  1870. 

Herbert  C,  Greenfield,  1890. 
Phillips,  Henry  M.,  Springfidd,  1882. 
''Simeon,  Greenfield,   1872. 
♦Smith    Robinson,    Springfidd, 
1871. 
♦Herce,  William,  Chariestown,  1872. 
Plimpton,  Henry  R.,  Boston,  1891. 
♦Porter,  Ransom  N.,  Deerfield,  1870. 
♦Potter,  George  W.,  Greenfield,  1871. 
♦Pratt,  Franklin  Josiah,  Greenfidd, 
1880. 
♦Martha    Goulding,     Deerfidd, 
1870. 
Putnam,  Annie  Cabot,  Boston,  1900. 
♦Reed,  James  Smith,  Marion,  Ohio, 

1882. 
♦Rice,  David,  Leverett,  1873. 

♦Harriet  Clapp,  Leverett,  1871. 
♦Levi  W.,  Greenfield,  1870. 
♦Sarah  C,   Greenfield,   1880. 
♦Richardson,    John    J.,    Greenfidd, 

1873. 
Root,  Asabd  Wright,  Deerfield,  1903. 

♦Hiram,  Deerfidd,  1873. 
Rumrill,  Anna  Chapin,  Springfidd, 

1889. 
♦Russell,   Edmund   W.,   Greenfidd, 
1871. 
♦John  Edwards,  Ldoester,  1897. 
Ryerson,  Julia  Newton,  New  York, 

N.  Y.,  1881. 
♦Sanderson,    George   W.,   Amherst, 

1871. 
Sawyer,  Maiy  Ann,  St.  Albans,  Vt., 

1871. 
♦Severance,  Harv^,  Deerfidd,  1870. 
Martha  L.,  Greenfidd,   1905. 
WUliam  S.,  Greenfidd.  1905. 
Shddon,    Ellen    Louisa,   Greenfidd, 
1880. 
George,  Deerfidd,  1870. 
Geor^  Arms,  Greenfidd,  1900. 
Jenme  Edith,  Greenfidd,  1900. 
Jennie   Maria   Arms,   Deerfidd, 

1901. 
John,  Greenfidd,  1870. 
♦Susan    Bdle,    Deerfidd,    1870. 
♦Susan  Stewart,  Deerfidd,  1870. 
♦William,  Deerfidd,  1870. 
Smead,  AmeUa,  Newtonville,  1881. 

Elihu,  Newtonville,  1881. 
♦Smith,  Albert,  Gill,  1900. 

♦Comdia    Allen,    Philaddphia, 

Pa.,  1892. 
♦James,  Whatdy,  1879. 
♦John    Montague,    Sunderland, 

1873. 
♦Zeri,  Deerfidd,  1870. 
♦Snow,  Newell,  Greenfidd,  1879. 
Solley.  Georse  W.,  Deerfidd,  1898. 
Stebbms,  Albert,  Deerfidd,  1878. 


Officers  and  Members  of  the  Aseoeiation, 


491 


^Stebbins,  Alfred  Baxter,  Deerfidd, 
1878. 
Charles  Heniy,  Deerfield,  1900. 
♦Evander  G.,  Deerfield,  1870. 
Joseph,  South  Boston,  Va.,  1899. 
*Lydia  Cutler.  Deerfield.  1872. 
Maiy  Elizabeth,  Deerfield,  1900. 
'^Moses,  Deerfield,  1870. 
^Stevens,     Humphrey,     Greenfield, 

1872. 
*Stockbridffe,  Levi,  Hadlev,  1873. 
*Stone,    Blaiy    Lowdl,    Cambridge, 

1888. 
Stratton,  Mary  Turner,  Northfield, 

1874. 
*Taft,  Heniy  Walbridge,  Httsfield, 

1873. 
Thompson.  Francis  MoGee,   Green- 
field, 1871. 
^Thornton,  R.  S.,  Montague.  1896. 
*Taton,  Chaunoey  B.,  Deerfield,  1874. 
♦Wait.  Thomas,  Greenfield,  1870. 
♦Ware,  Frances  Stebbins,  Deerfield, 

1870. 
♦Warner,  Whitn^  L.,  Sunderland, 

1873. 
Watson,   Chaiies   Herbert,    Boston, 
1900. 
♦John  P.,  Leverett,  1872. 
♦Wells,  Curtis  B.,  Springfidd,  1871. 
♦Elisha,  Deofield,  1871. 


♦Well8.George  M.,  Deerfield,  1870. 
♦Henry,  Shelbume,  1880. 
Laura  Baicer,  Dewfidd,  1900. 
♦Samuel  F..  Deerfield,   1870. 
♦Wentworth,    Mary    P.,    Dewfield, 

1896. 
♦White,  Joseph,  Williamstown,  1880. 
Salome  Minbeth,  Brooklyn,  N. 
Y.,  1886. 
Wluting,    Julia    Draper,    Deerfield, 
1901. 
Maigaret    Christine,    Deerfield, 
1904. 
♦Whitney,  James  S.,  Brookline,  1872. 

Laurinda  C,  Brookline,  1872. 
♦Williams,  Almon  C,  Deerfield,  1885. 
Arthur,  Brookline,  1881. 
Charies  E.,  Deerfield,  1878. 
♦Electa  Lucilla,  Deerfield,  1885. 
Philomela  Arms,  Deerfield,  1903 
Sophronia   Reed,   Chicago,   SI., 
1882. 
Wing,   Albert   L^  Greenfield,   1904. 
♦WrW^^  Luke,  Deerfield.  1870. 
♦William    Westwooa,    Geneva, 
N.  Y,   1880. 
Wynne,    Madeline   Yale,    Deerfield, 

1900. 
♦Yale,  Catherine  Brooks,  Deerfield, 
1888. 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Lyman,  428, 
82. 
Abercrombie,  Eluukbeth, 

488. 
Williain  Hyslop.  488. 
ActLdemy.  Deerfiela,  377. 
Adams,  Abi^ul,  34,  36. 
James,  467. 
John  Quincy,  341. 
Samuel,  38,  339. 
Addresses, 
Lyndon  S.  Crawford, 

4. 
Francis    M.    Thomp- 
son,   9,    100,    236, 

313. 
George   Shddon,    11, 

64,    111,    19,    206, 

360,  86,  432. 
C.   Ahce   Baker,   28, 

292,  342,  400. 
Kate  Upson  Clark,  61. 
Lyman  Whiting,  69. 
Lucy  C.  KelloflK,  74. 
Maiy  P.  Wdls^nith, 

86. 
Charies  Jones,  106. 
Geoive  P.  Lawrence, 

117. 
Herbert   C.    Parsons, 

118,  76.  387. 
Rowena  Buell,  134. 
Ralph  M.  Stoughton, 

Isabdla  H.  Williams, 

162. 
George  W.  Solley,  197. 
Charies  £.  Park,  202. 
Edward     Hitchcock, 

211. 
Hennr  H.  Barber,  213. 
Frank  W.  Pratt,  216. 
Charies  Barnard,  219. 
William  L.  Banmrd, 

222. 
Caleb  Allen  Starr,  226. 
Elisabeth  W.  Champ- 

ney,  227. 
Hubbard  S.Allis,  230. 
J.  M.  Arms  Sheldon, 

242. 


Addresses, 
Albert    E.    Winship, 

261. 
William  H.   Leavitt, 

336. 
F.  B.  Denio,  383, 417. 
Hennr  D.Holton,  384, 

420. 
Frederick  G.   Bauer, 

384. 
Kttredge      Haskins, 

386.  

Edwin  A.  Grosvenor, 

390. 
Alfred  S.  Roe,  408. 
Arthur  Lord.  412. 
Francis  H.  Apideton, 

419. 
Frederic  Corss,  421. 
Adventure  of  Liberty, 

477. 
Aflassis,  Louis,  330. 
Aiken,  David,  81. 

John  A.,  426. 
Albany  Road,  368,  71, 

461. 
Alexander,  Adeline  M. 

D.,  64,  68,  82. 
Alien,  John,  234. 
Joseph,  2S. 
Julia  A.,  486,  8. 
Mary  E.,  193-6, 

274-7. 
Mercy,  28. 
Ndiemiah,  28. 
Orin  P.,  488. 
Robert,  296. 
Samud,  28. 
Samuel,  28. 
Samuel,   226;   monu- 
ment,   226;   killed, 
226;  380,  1. 
Samuel,  226, 7. 
William  S.,  334. 
Allis,  Hubbard,  230, 1. 

William,  90,  230. 
Alsop  K^,  122. 
Alvord,  Sarah  W.,  376. 
Ambrose,  Alice,  293. 
Ames,  Frederick  L.,  486, 
8. 


Amherst,    Jeffery,  828y 

9. 
Amidon,  Fred,  427. 
Amsden,  Oliver,  226. 

Simeon,  226. 
Anderson,  Lafayette, 

489. 
"Andrew,  y*  Indian," 

407. 
Appleton,    Francis  H., 
380,  3,  4,  419. 
Samud,  383,  94,  419, 
68,  69. 
Arms,  Aaron,  486, 89. 
Abner,  368. 
Amelia,  429. 
Avice  S.,  2,  81,  246, 

4oO,  v. 

Daniel,  246. 
Dorothy,    368. 
Eleanor  M.,  193,  262, 

74. 
Ellen  L.,  246. 
Eliiah,    429. 
Mijah,    429. 
Frances  W.,  486,  9. 
Georae  A.,  486, 8, 9. 
Jennie  M.,  486, 8, 9. 
John,  234,  66,  303. 
Lillie  J.,  489. 
Moses,  104. 
Obed  S.,  486, 89, 
Otis  B.,  486,  88,  89. 
Phineas,   68,  71,  72, 

368,  69. 
Seneca,  488,89. 
William,  234,  46,  368. 
Winthrop  T.,  486,  89. 
Armstrong,  Samuel   C, 

431. 
Arnold,  Benedict,  39, 42, 

237. 
John.  348. 
Matthew.  219. 
Arts  and  Crafts,  193-6, 

272-9. 
Ashley,  Charies  H.,  3, 

84,  166, 193-6,  242, 

79,  281, 83,  379, 82. 
Gertrude  P.,  3,  166, 

96,  205,  79. 

(493) 


494 


Index. 


Ashley,  John,  258. 
Jonathan,     209,     33, 

341.  66,  67,  77. 
Jonathan  P.,  193, 262. 
Tirza  Field,  341. 
Ashpelon's     Raid,     93, 

434. 
Atherton,    Hope,    122, 
46-49. 
Humphrey,    122. 
AtkinB,  G.  Glenn,  427, 

28,77. 
Avery,  Walter  T.,  486, 
88,89. 

Baker,  C.  Alice,  3, 11, 
13,  28, 39, 152,  94, 
95,  234,  240,  48,  83, 
326,  34,  42,  80,  83, 
400,  17.  18,  25,  27, 
30,  50,  85,  86,  88, 
89. 
CatharineC.,486,8,9. 
Mary,  28. 

Remember,  32, 33, 37. 
Thomas,  325. 
Baldwin,  Charles  C,  487. 
Keturah,  277. 
Loammi,    180. 
Balwin,  Cyrus,  34. 
Ball,  Frances  W.,  153, 

334,  425,  486,  9. 
Ballad    of    the  French 

Fleet,  475. 
Bancroft,  George,  81. 

Herbert  H.,  487. 
Baptism,  123-30. 
Baptiste,    14,    26.    27; 
Adventures  of,  342, 
450. 
Barber,  Henry  H.,  192, 
205,    10,    11;    Ad- 
dress, 213,  19,  228, 
50,  69. 
Herv^,  489. 
Parson    54. 
Bardwell'  Abigafl,  368. 
Jarvis  B.,  331-3,  486, 

9. 
Maiy,  368. 
Bam  Party,  281. 
Barnard,  Abigail,   339. 
Charies,  205,  19,  70, 

80,  81. 
James  M.,  192,   222, 

44. 
Joseph,    192;    Monu- 
ment, 221;  222-25, 
27,  33,  43,  44,   70, 
402. 
Lemuel,  489. 
Rachael,  339 
Sally,  340. 


Barnard,  Samud,  234. 
William  L.,  192,  93, 

222. 
Barney,    Edward,    112, 

^9. 
Barrett,  George  P.,  486, 

8  9. 
Bars  Fight,  225. 
Bartlett,  George  B.,  112, 

486,  88,  89. 
Bauer,     Frederick    G., 

380,  4. 
Baxter,  Benjamin,  130. 
JosiaJi,  skmned,  130. 
Beaman,  Hannah,  235, 

401,  404. 
John,  402. 
John,  473. 
Belcher,  Jonathan,  233, 

36. 
Belding,     Daniel,    233, 

324,  403,  64. 
Hannah,  240. 
BeUingham,  Richard, 

129. 
Bell  of  St.  Re@s,  209. 
Bemis,  Robert  £.,  489. 
Bickford,  Thomas,  355. 
Billings,    Edward,    366, 

Henry  Williain,  489. 
Birks,  Richard  E.,  283, 

334,  79,  82,  425,  31, 

486,  89. 
Bishop,  Robert  R.,  485, 

86,  88,  89. 
Bloody    Brook,    91-93, 

135,  37,  46,  216,  28, 

32-35,  365,  88,  414. 
Bloody  Morning  Scout, 

9,  328,  63,  71. 
Blue  and  White  Society, 

194,  277. 
Bonner,  Capt.,  468. 
Bowles,  Samuel,  184. 
Boyden,  Frank  D.,  489. 
Brackett,  Nathaniel,  86. 
Braddock,  Gen.,  363. 
Bradley,  Judge,  416. 
Bradstreet,  Anne,  86. 

Simon^,  344-6, 49. 
Brattle,  Thomas,  345. 
Breckenridge^James,  32. 
Briggs,  Mrs.  F.  E.,  117. 
Bronson,  Harriet,  287. 

Mary,  29. 
Brooks,  Ebeneser,  233, 

404. 
Nathanid,  233. 
Silas  N.,  486;  89. 
Broom    com    mdustry, 

105. 
Handles,  110. 


Broom  Shops,  112. 

Wire,  110. 
Brown,  Cyrus,  234. 
John,  39,  45. 
Julia,  15i9. 
Lorenzo,  486,  89. 
Mrs.  N.  H.,  489. 
Browne,       Chiistopber, 

470. 
Broughton,Thoma8, 233. 
Brush  Crean,  30-34;  es- 
cape, 35;  death,  36; 

37,  38,  51. 
Bryant,  Chaunoey,  112, 

486,  89. 
Buchanan,  Capt.,  36. 
Buckinghsim,        Edgar, 

112,  485,  86-89. 
Buckley,  John,  265. 
Buddington,  Henry  A., 

489. 
Buell,  Rowena,  155, 17; 

address,  134. 
Bulkley,  Gersham,  14. 

Peter,  214. 
Burdakin,  John  H.,  385. 
Burg,    Ann    Catherine, 

437. 
Burgoyne,  John,  371. 
Bumham,  Nelson,  113. 
Burt,  Asahel,  68. 

Calli^res,  M.  de,  13. 
Camp,      breaking 
up,    52d   Regi- 
ment, 7. 
Campbell,  Andrew,  3. 

Archibald,   48. 
Canals,  372. 
Canning,  Josiah  D.,  274, 

485,  86,  89. 
Capen,  Samuel  H.,  385. 
Carlton,  Gov.,  44-47. 
Carter,  Ebenezer,  326. 
Joshua,  235. 
Samuel,  405. 
Samuel,  2, 485, 86, 89. 
Carver,  John,  383, 413. 
Castine,  Baron,  208,  35, 
304,  73,  401,  2,  68. 
Catlm,  George,  488,  89. 
John,  405,  406. 
John,  209. 
John,  234. 
Jonathan,  406. 
Joseph,    killed,    248, 

Mary  Baldwin,  406. 

Samuel,  234. 

Seth,  171. 
C^loron,  Mother,  56. 
Challoner,  John,  104. 
Champlain,  Samuel,  313. 


Index. 


495 


Champney,      Elizabeth 
Williams,   192,  94, 
95,  222;  poem,  227; 
31,  7g-80,  425. 
James  Wells,  112,  94, 
95,273,78,426,31; 
memoir,    440;    86, 
88,  89. 
Richard,  440. 
Sarah  Wells,  441. 
Chapin,  Hamiah,  405. 
Chapman,   Mercy,   297, 

303. 
Charlemont,  58. 
Charies  U.,  257,  433. 
Chase,  Ellen,  246,  385, 

486,  88,  89. 
Chenery,  Ellen,  88. 
Childs,    Alfred    Henry, 
488,  89. 
Dexter,  486,  89. 
Henry,  485,  86,  89. 
Lucy  E.,  161. 
M.  Anna  V.,  152,  94, 

95,  489. 
MerriU  F.,  156. 
Robert,    2,    112,    53, 
283,  334,  425,  86, 
88   89. 
Rodolphns,  488,  89. 
Samuel,  209. 
Samuel,   367. 
Samuel,  153,  404,  86, 

89. 
Timothy,    103,    234, 
436. 
Church,  Benjamin,  359, 
456-60. 
Edward,  434. 
John,  434. 
Mary.  434. 
Qapp,  Joshua,  339. 
Clark,  Kate  Upson,  2, 
58,  60,  62-65. 
William,  102. 
Clary,  John,  366. 
Clesson,  Joseph,  235. 

Matthew,  235. 
Cleveland,  Grover.  439. 
Colden,  Cadwallaaer,  31, 

321. 
Coleman,  Bethiah,  93. 
Ebenezer,  94,  96. 
Elijah,  96,  97. 
Elijah,  97. 

Emma  L.,  193,  277, 
78,  83,  334,  426,  40, 
86,  89. 
Hannah,  93, 94. 
John,  93;  his  wooing, 

94;  95,  97. 
Mehitable,  94-97. 
Nathaniel,   94-97. 


Coleman,  Nathaniel,  366. 
Sarah,  93,  95. 
Thomas,  93. 
Cdton,  Capt.,  402. 
Conmion  House  at  Fly- 
mouth,  412,  13. 
Comstock,  Cornelia  C, 

488,89. 
Conant,  Chester  C,  112. 
Cooley,  Simon,  434. 
Cooper,     J.     Fenimore, 

362. 
Comer  Store,  258. 
Corss,  Charles,   2,  486, 
88,  89. 
Frederic,  380,  85,  421. 
Cotton,  John,  123,  214. 
Courtemanche,  Sieur  de, 

461,  62j  65. 
Cowing,  Julia  A.,  486, 

89. 
Cowles,  Mary,  194,  95, 

279. 
Coyne,  Josephine,   117. 
Crafts,  Alice,  443. 
Chester  G.,  486. 
Griffin,   443. 
JamesM.,  81,112,  57, 
93,  230,  31,  89,  426, 
27;    obituary,  443; 
485,  86,  89. 
Seth  B.,  426,  43,  89, 
Thomas,  443. 
William  F.,   443. 
Crane,  Bruce,  194,  95. 
Elizabeth,  435. 
Israel,  435. 
Crawford,  James,  4. 
Jane  Kennedy,  4. 
Lvndon  S.,  3,  4,  270. 
Marian,  4. 

Robert,  3;  memoir,  4; 
112,  485,  86,  89. 
Cressey,  Noah,  488,  89. 
Crittenden,  Geoige  D., 
81,112.425,86,89. 
Crocker,  Alvah,  185. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  385. 
Curator's  Report,  154. 
Curtis,  Benjamin  R.,  81. 
Cutler,  Nahum  S.,  486,^9. 

Dana,    Richard    H., 
189. 
Daniels^Mary,  400. 
Davis,  Wenddl  T.,  156. 
Dawes.  Mrs.,  63. 
Day^  Charles  J.,  334. 
Dedication  of  Memorial 

Stones,    192,    222, 

41,  61,  399. 
Deed  of  Site  for  Turner 

Monument,    117. 


Deerfield,  1,  2,  6, 12, 15, 
66,  89-92,  103,  105, 
19,  39,  62,  92,  97, 
98,  204,  207,  32-37, 
42-56,  58,  59,  72, 
74,  82,  333,  91,  93, 
418. 

Attacks  on: 

In  Philip's  War,  134, 
228,  30,  31^38,  43. 

In    King    William's 
War,  207,  208,  23, 

27,  43,  401-3. 
Queen  Anne's  War,  9, 

12-18,  225,  245-48, 
55,  56,  325,  386,  87, 
91,  96,  405-7,    15, 
34    77. 
Old  French  War,  225. 
Bam  Party.  281;  Bi- 
centennial,      1903, 
379;  Historic  Ride, 
221;    Old    Cannon, 
333;  port  of  Entry, 
377;  Soldiers'  Mon- 
ument, 377;  treaty 
with  Indians,  23/. 
Delano,    Elizabeth    R., 
488,  89. 
Jesse,  112. 
De  Meneval,  €rov.,  346 

-50. 
Deming,  David,  435. 
Denio,  Aaron,  383,  417. 
Francis  B.,   380,  83, 

417. 
Herbert  W.,  489. 
De  Noyan,  James,  405, 
406,  17. 
Ren^,  417. 
De  Rouville,  Hertel,  415, 

77. 
Dewey,  Jedediah,  36. 
DeWolf,    Austin,    485, 

86,  89. 
Dickinson,  Consider,  40. 
David,    233. 
Elijah  M.,  68. 
Jerusha,  434. 
Nathaniel,  168. 
Obediah,  95. 
Philander,  109. 
Samuel,  370. 
Thomas,  333. 
Thomas,  233. 
Thomas  W.,  39,  40. 
Dieskau,  Baron,  328, 64, 

71. 
Doggett,  George  Newell, 

488,   89. 
Doty,  Samuel,  472. 
Drinker,  Ed¥wd,  124, 

28,  31. 


49G 


Index. 


Drowne,  Shem,   210. 
Dudley,  Joseph,  13,  S05, 
06,  25-2nr,  43,  403, 
54, 55, 59-62, 65, 68 
-70. 

William,  465. 
Dummer,  Fort,  328. 

William,  327. 
Dutch  settle  New  Yoric, 

314,  15. 
Dutton,  Mrs.,  440. 
Dwight,  Edward,  363. 

EXjah,  372. 

Elijah,  363,  71,  72. 

Hemy,  363-9. 

Hemy,  370. 

Jonathan,  372. 

Joseph,  363,  71. 

Joeiah,  363,  70. 

Josiah,  258. 

Justice,  363. 

Lydia,  363,  71. 

Margaret,  372. 

Mary,  371,  72. 

Melatiah  £.,  335,  61. 

Nathaniel,  334;  Jour- 
nal of ,  335, 360, 362; 
Nathaniel,  362. 

Samuel,  363. 

Simeon,   363. 

Timothy,   362,   70. 

Timothy,  363,  69,  70, 
74. 

Timothy,  372. 

William,  373. 

William,  489. 
Dyer,  Maiy,  274. 

Eastman,  John,  366. 
Samud  S.,  489. 
Easton,  James,  39, 42. 
Edwards,    Electa,    436. 
Jonathan.  215,  357. 
Nathaniel,  436. 
Ruth,  437. 
Eels,  Lucretia  W.,  274. 
Eliot,  John,  214,  15,  54, 

60. 
Emerson,  John,  339. 

Thomas  A..  385. 
Endioott,  Jonn,  214. 
Enfield  Falls,  164. 
Evacuation  of  Boston, 

34. 
Everett,    Edward,    67, 
251,  69. 
Edward  J.,   153,  94, 
95,  249,  334,  486, 9. 
Mn.  Qeorge,  156. 


F 


ales,  Mrs.  Leal,  117. 
FaUs  Fight,  137- 
50. 


Famswotth,    MatHivw, 

306. 
Farren,  Barney  N.,  189, 

486,  88,  89. 
Fay,  Jonas,  37. 

Stephen,  37. 
Felton,     Joseph,     112, 

4od,  oO,  oV. 

Fessenden,  John,  199. 
Franklin  G.,  152,  59, 
486,  88,  89. 
Field,  David,  234. 
Marshall,  380,  82,  99, 

429. 
Phineas,  65,  68,  112, 

486,  89. 
Putnam,  486,  89. 
Reuben  W.,  486,  89. 
Rodney  B.,  83. 
Samuel,  367. 
Zechariah,    380,    82, 
99,429. 
Fillmore,  John,  472. 

Millard,  472. 
Finch,  P.  v.,  58, 81, 152, 
53,  57,  58,  283,  84, 
life  of,  286;  485, 86, 
89. 
Edward  B.,  287. 
First    Encounter,    230, 

365. 
Fisher,  Daniel,  236. 
Fisk,  D.  Oriando,  486,89. 
Fiske,  John,  215. 
George  I.,  489. 
Mrs.Geoige,  489. 
Fithian,  Elisa  B.,  488, 

89. 
Five  Nations  (Six),  314 

-25. 
Fletcher,  Benjamin,  321, 
22. 
Timbulectoo,   467. 
Flower   of  Essex,   383, 

419,  20. 
Forbes,  Frank  P.,  489. 
Forts,    Deerfield,    381, 
401,  404-6. 
Dummer,  370,  88. 
Hawks,     60,     71-73, 

3o9* 
Massachusetts,  369. 
Oso  (Au  Sault),  403. 
Rice,  60,  64,  71-73, 

76,  368. 
Taj^or,  60,  65,  71-73, 

367. 
William  Henry,  258, 
59;  buUt,  361. 
Foster,  Aaron,  341. 

Electa,  400. 
Frary,  John,  400. 
Nathan,  400. 


FWtfy,  Nathaniel,  400. 
Samson,  334,  80,  82, 
400,  405,  407,  29. 
Freeman,  HatUe  £.,  489. 
French,    Thomas,    208, 
98-302,    400,    402, 
405. 
Thomas,  Jr.,  400. 
Fr^re,  Edouard,  441. 
Frothingham,   Richard, 

34    38 
Fiy,  Andr^,   300,   302, 
307,  309,  10,  13. 
Adrian,     294-7, 

300-3. 
Joseph,  283;  story  of, 

292. 
Sarah,  295,  96,  313. 
William,  295-7,  303. 
Fuller,  Agnes   G.,  488, 
89. 
Elizabeth,  272. 
George,  194,  95,  222, 
72,73,371,486,89. 
Mary  F.,  193,  281. 
Spencer,  221,  72,  73, 
83, 84,  333, 34,  425, 
89. 
Furbush,   Caroline,   81, 
153,  277,  83,  334, 
486,  Sc-,  89. 

Gage,  Gen.,  34. 
Gardner,    Heniy 
J.,  187. 
Gates,  Horatio,  49,  372. 

Thomas  A.,  372. 
General  Court  asks  ad- 
vice, 125,  26. 
GUbert,  John,  146. 

Jonathan,   265. 
GUes,  Mr.,  338. 
Gill,  Samud,  302. 
Gillett,   Adonijah,   226. 
John,  324,  403. 
Joseph,  234. 
Gilmore,  Esther,  117. 
Goffe,  William,  132, 365, 

70, 433. 
Goodrich,  Jennie  P.,  64, 

385. 
Gordon,  Thomas,  5. 
Goss,  Elbridge  H.,  489. 
Gould,  Thomas,  124-8. 
Graves,  Martha,  434. 
Moses,  364. 
Nathanid,  434. 
Gray,  O.  W.,  489. 
Greeley,  Horace,  410. 
Green  Mountain  Boys, 

32,  33,  37-40,  43. 
Greenoufl^.  John  J.,  880. 
Griffin,  Men,  6. 


Index. 


497 


Qdrinnell,    Geoige,   183, 
489. 
JameB  8.,  162, 55, 485, 
86.89. 
Griswold,  Freeman  C, 
486. 
Whiting,  3,  486. 
Groeyenor,    Edwin   A., 
270, 71,  379,  82,  90. 
Mrs.  Edwin  A.,  385. 

Hager,  CharioB,  486, 
89. 
Dexter  F.,  193,  228. 
Hale,  Edward  E.,  229. 
Hall,  Benjamin  H.,  487, 
89. 
Eben  A.,  2,  112,  52, 

55,  485,  86,  89. 
G.  Stanley^93,  487. 
Hammond,    Ellen    L., 
489. 
George  W.,  486,  89. 
Harding,  Alpheus,  199. 

WUbur  F..  489. 
Harmon,  Jonnson,  306. 
Harraden,  Andrew,  472. 

John,  452,  58. 
Harris,  William  L.,  2, 
59, 152,  93,  95,  284, 
380,  425,  86,  89. 
Harvev,  Simeon,  162. 
HaskeU,  Henry  C,  426, 

44. 
Haskins,  Kittredge,  380, 
85. 
Mrs.  Esther  M..  385. 
Hatfield  attacked,  135, 

50. 
Hathome,  Jdm,  359. 
Haupt,  Herman,  186, 87. 
Hawks,  Belle  Sheldon, 
488. 
Edward  A.,  80,  153, 
283,  334,  425,  486, 
89. 
Eleiaw  killed,  225. 
Elieier.  101. 
Frederick,    81,    112, 

486,  88,  89. 
G^rsham,  70. 
John,  208. 
John,  17, 81, 101, 226, 
27,  34,  37,  365,  67, 
69. 
Joshua,  70. 
Sarah,  101. 
Seth,  70. 

Susan  Belle,  486,  80. 
Susan  Belle,  205,  489. 
Submit,  367. 
William  H.,  81,  488, 
89. 

32 


Hawks.  Winfiflld  S.,  486 
9. 
Zadock.  367,  71. 
Haaen,  Allen,  112,  485 

87,  89. 
Hemenway,   Abl^   M. 

56. 
Maiy.  486. 
Hertel  oe  Rouville,  9, 17 

18,  20,  405. 
Hertel  de  Shambly,  26 
HijKginson,  Agnes,  273 
Stephen,  430. 
Thomas  W.,  272. 
Hildreth,  Jdm  L.,  487 
89. 
Mrs.  Ridiard,  196,  9 
Richard,  411. 
Hill,  Hannah,  298. 
HiUs,  Samuel,  303,  461 
Hinman,  Col.,  43. 
Hinsdale,  Barnabas,  233 
Coat  of  Arms,  88. 
Diana,  372. 
Ebeneaer,  88,  96,  235 

468. 
Ephndm,  93. 
Ebcperience,   137,  46 
Mary,  89,  96. 
MemtaUe,  84,  86,  88 

90-93,   96. 
Mehitabie,  89. 
Mehiunan,  84,  90-92 
96,  234,  372,  400 
405,  406. 
Robert,  88,  234. 
Samuel,  88, 233, 34, 39 
Samuel,  96. 
Samuel,  286,  88-92. 
Sarah,  89. 
Hitchcock,  Edward,  3 
159,    97,    211,    33 
384   411. 
Edward,  193,  205,211 

69,  380,  84. 
Henry,  159,  487,  88 

89. 
Justin,  159. 
Nathanid,   1,  2,  80- 
82, 152,  55,  485, 86 

88,  90. 
Hoar,  George  F.,  193 

268,  69. 
Sherman,  440. 

Hollister,    Joseph    H. 

487   90. 
Hohnes,  OUver  W.,  389 

William,  253. 
Holton,   Enra  L.,  487 
90. 

Henry   D.,    118,   93 

269,  335,    80,    84 
421. 


Hdiydce,  Samuel,  133, 

47,  48. 
Hooker,  Samuel,  339. 
Sarah,  339. 
Thomas,  214. 
Hoosac  Tunnel,  150,  76. 
Horr,  George  W.,  2,  3, 
81,  82,  487,  88,  90. 
Hosmer,  Geoige  H.,  487, 
90. 
James  K.,  7, 112, 425, 
87,  88,  90. 
Hough,  William,  281. 
Howard,  H.  A.,  63. 
Howe,  James,  440, 41. 

Lord,  34. 
Hoyt,  Adeline,  162. 
Arthur  W»  162. 
Catherine  W.,  488, 90. 
Clarence  P.,  196,  278. 
David,  207,  208,  370, 

404. 
David,  162. 
Epaphras,  10, 156, 62, 

212,  377. 
Fanny,  162. 
Henry,  488,  90. 
Horatio,   108,  284. 
Horatio,  278. 
Isabella,  162. 
John  W.,  2,  487,  88, 

90. 
Jonathan,    233,    375, 
465. 
Hubbard,  Elisha,  366. 
Silas  G.,  485,  87,  90. 
Stephen  A.,  487. 
Hudson,  Hendrick,  313, 

14. 
Hull,  John,  30. 
Humphreys,       Marie 
Ohampney,  274,  78, 
79. 
Huntington,   Dan,  192, 
99. 
Eunice  K.,  2,  487,  90. 
Hutchins,       Benjamin, 
302. 
Frank,  380,  82. 
Jonathan,  302. 
Hutchinson,      Edward, 

IJ^. 
Hyde,  William,  487,  88, 
90. 

Indian  Bridge,  244, 
402,403. 
Indian  House  Door,  274. 
Indians,  143;  supplied 
with  arms,  315; 
treatment  of,  393, 
94j  character,  394; 
alliance,  394. 


r 


498 


Index. 


Indianfl.  Qraylock,  327. 
Maahiliak,  90. 
Manaeamet,  90. 
Peeicus,   137. 
Sagmore  George,  15, 

Samoset,  141. 
Towcanchasson,   137. 
Wattanamon,  15,  26. 
Wuttawwaluno  k  a  i  n , 
90. 
Indian  Trails,  220. 
Indian  Treaties,  13, 237. 
Irving,  Washington,  39, 
42,  49. 

Janes,  Benjamin,  96. 
Massacre,  96. 
Samud,  95, 96. 
Sarah,  96. 
Jeffrey,  Arthur,  460. 
Jennie,  C.  F.  R.,  335. 
Johnson,  Humphrey,  87, 
88. 
Isaac,  87;  kiUed,  88. 
John,  87,  88. 
Jonathan,  2,  59,  155, 

57,  486,  87,  90. 
Mehitable,  86-88. 
Robert.  190. 
Sir  WiUiam,  328,  63- 
65. 
Jones,  Charies,  2, 80, 81, 
84,  105,  12,  13,  53, 
94,  95,  233,  83,  331 
-4,402,  87,  90. 
Edward  F.,  487. 
Henry,  437. 
Journal  of  Qen.  Epaph- 
ras  Hoyt,  162. 
Gapt.      Nathaniel 
Dwight,  360. 

Kauffman,  Elizabeth 
M.  426, 29, 86, 90. 
Kelley,  Cornelius,  276. 
Kellogg.  Danid,  366. 
Joseph.  235. 
Lucv  C.,  2,  58-60,  63, 

Martin,  235,  325,  404. 
Kemp,  Lawrence,  368. 
Kennedy,  Douglas,  4. 
James,  4. 
Jane,  4. 
Kenyon,  Anna  C,  246. 
Kimball,    Delancy    C, 

487.  88,  90. 
King  FhUip's  War,  85, 
87,  88, 91-93,  120- 
40,      151-7,      228, 
267-77,   413. 


Eng,  Titus,  71.  72. 
Kingsley,  Elbridge,  487, 

90. 
Kosciusko,  409. 

La  Far^e,  441,  42. 
La  Fayette,  49. 
Lamb,  Samuel  O.,  58, 
63,  81,  82,  152,  53, 
56,  93,  283, 84, 332- 
34,  424,  25,  27,  85, 
87,  88,  90. 
Lane,  Susan  M.,  274. 
Lawrence,    Qeorge    P., 
63,    84,    115,    17, 
93. 
Leavitt,  Clarissa,  389. 
Freegrace,  335. 
Hart,  339. 
Hooker,  342. 
John  H.,  488,  90. 
Jonathan  vindicated, 

Jonathan,  339,  41. 
Joshua,  340,  41. 
Mrs.  C.  H.,  62. 
Roger,  340. 
Roger  H.,  65,  68, 112, 

485,  87,  90. 
Roswell,  341. 
William^334, 35. 
Leavitte,  Hel^  A.  R., 

490. 
Lee.  Samuel  H.,  490. 
Lemngwell,     Hesekiah, 

176. 
Leisler,  Jacob,  320. 
Leverett,  John.  139. 
Lincoln,  Abranam,  67, 
151. 
Benjamin,  105. 
Levi,  177. 
Luther       B.,       198, 

269. 
Luther,  J.  B.,  331,  32, 

487,  88,  90. 
Mary  A.,  488,  90. 
Mary  W.,  490. 
Littleneld,  Aaron,  306. 

Tabitha,  57. 
Livingston,   John,   240. 
Phflip,  304,  305. 
Robert,  364. 
Locke,  Jonas,  176,  210, 
371,  72,  77. 
Mary,  371. 
Wilfiam,  265. 
Longfellow,  Henry  W., 

30. 
Lonffley,  Lydia,  57. 
Lord,  Arthur,  380,  83, 
412. 
James,  48. 


Lothrop,   Thomas,   91, 
135,  37,  46,  230, 34, 
65.  365,  88. 
Loverioge,  Alanscm,  113. 

Clet,  109. 
Lowell,  Charles  R.,  334, 

487,90. 
Luey,  Lester  L.,  490. 
Lyman,  Augustus,  377. 

Benjamin,  375. 

Benmmin,  377. 

Caleb,  373,  74,  76. 

Cornelius,  376. 

Danid,  490. 

Edward,  B.,  3. 

Elias,  377. 

EUsa  H.,  448. 

Hannah,  375. 

Henry,  378. 

Horace,  448. 

J^nima,  376. 

John,  373. 

John,  374. 

Joseph,  377. 

Joseph,  374. 

Joseph,  366,  75. 

Justice  j377. 

Maiy  W.,  376. 

MoseSj  374. 

Naomi,  429. 

Phineas,  328,  64,  76. 

Richard,  373. 

Samuel,  376. 

Seth,  376. 

William,  363,  66,  69, 
73-78 

Mack,  Elisha,  377. 
Manly,  John,  35. 
Mann,  Ensign,  203. 
Maouas,  15-25. 
Mark,  George  W.,  490. 
Marsh,  Ebenezer,  366. 
Marshall,  James  F.  B., 
478,  88,  90. 
Maria,  155,  246. 
Martha  Pratt  Memorial, 

193,  95,  239,  74. 
Mason,  John,  394. 

Joseph,  427. 
Massasoit,  383,  412,  13. 
Mather,  Cotton,  88,  345, 
414,  50. 
Samuel,  206. 
Mattoon,    PhiUp,    223, 
403,405. 
Rebecca,  406. 
Samud,  368. 
Maxwell,  Hugh,  65, 341. 

Sadie,  58,^,  77. 
Moaellan,  Charles  H., 

63. 
MoCloud,  Capt.,  45. 


Index. 


499 


McKensie,  Alexander,  5. 
McTaggart,  Archibald,  4. 
Meadow  Fight,  406,  407. 
Mealand,  A.  J.,  334. 
Mears,  Samuel.  305. 
Meekins,  Tabitna,  97. 

Thomas,  97. 
Meetinghouses,    205-10, 

33,  74,  372,  405. 
Milboume,  Jacob,  320. 
Memorial  Hall,  270-3, 
361,  72,  73,  81,  82, 
85,  98,  400,  26-31. 
Memorials  dedicated, 

379, 97-400. 
Merriam,  Edwin  D.,  490. 
Messengers  of  War  and 

Peace   9. 
MiUer,  Ellen,  490. 
John,  366. 

Margaret,     152,     56, 
283,   334,  425,  85, 
90. 
Mary,  400. 
Simeon,  490. 
Miner,  C.  P.  C,  59,  60. 
Montague,  Abby  S.,  427, 
46,  490. 
John,  447. 
Lady  Maiy,  237. 
Montcalm,  258,  59,  61, 

329,  62. 
Montgomery,    Richard, 

44. 
Montrdsor,  Frances,  30, 
36,  51. 
Margaret,  30,  36. 
Monuments;        Allen 
Bowlder,  398. 
Arms,  245. 
Barnard,  222. 
Charlemont,    58,    60, 

64. 
Liberty  Pole,  249. 
Sheldon,  249. 
Sheldon,  245. 
Stebbins,  250. 
Stebbins,  246. 
The    Dead    of    1704, 

248. 
Wells,'  247,  61;  paid 
for  by  children,  62. 
Williams,  247. 
Report  on,  242. 
Moody,  Parson,  474. 
Moors,  John  F.,  6,  487, 

90. 
Morey,  Thomas,  153. 
Morrow,  H.  E.,  84. 
Morton,   Levi   P.,   380. 
82,  400,  29,  88,  90. 
Lucretia  P.,  400. 
Ruth,  435. 


Moseley,  Samuel,  91. 
Mott,  Edward,  39,  40. 
Munger,  Orett  L.,  490. 
Munn,  Asa  B.,  487,  90. 

Benjamin,  436. 

Charles  H.,  490. 

George  A.,  490. 

John,  490. 

Philo,  487,  90. 

Navigation    on    the 
Connecticut  Riv- 
er, 162,  377. 
Nelson,  Caroline,  437. 
John,   453. 
John,  345,  48,  464. 
John,  437. 
Zibian.  437. 
Newcomo,   Eugene  A., 
2,  59,  81,  162,  53, 
94,  95,  283,  84,  333, 
34,  79,  425,  87,  90. 
Joseph  W.,  376. 
Richard  E.^  376. 
New  Hampshire  Grants, 

31-33. 
Newton,  James,  285. 
Roger,  103. 
Solon  L.,  283:  life  of, 
284;  426,   bequest, 
430;  Newton  Room, 
430. 
New  Tracks  in  an  Old 

TraU,  11. 
New  York  Militia,  167, 

68. 
Nichols,  Susanna,   434. 
Nicholson  F.,  305,  23. 
Nims,  Abigail,  406. 
E.  D.,  490. 
Fanny  B.,  84,  162. 
Franklin  A.,  380,  82, 

86.  400,  29,  90. 
Godfrey,  208,  23,  24, 
34,380,82,400,403, 
405,  406,  17,  29. 
John,  325,  404. 
Northampton  attacked, 

135. 
Northfield  attacked,  134, 

35. 
Northwest  Frontierj258. 
Norton,   Charles   Eliot, 
193. 
John,  369. 

Obituaries — 
Jarvis    B.   Bard- 
well,331. 
James  Wells  Champ- 

ney,  440. 
James  Monroe  Crafts, 
443. 


Obituaries — Confd, 
Peter  Voorfaees  Finch, 

286. 
Eben  A.  HaU,  159. 
Nathaniel  Hitchcock, 

158. 
Jonathan       Johnson, 

158. 
Charles  Jones,  331. 
Luther   Joshua    Bar- 
ker Lincoln,  331. 
Solon     L.     Newton, 

284. 
Albert    C.     Parsons, 

331. 
Franklin     J.     Pratt, 

160. 
John    Edwards   Rus- 
sell, 432. 
John  Montague  Smith, 

446. 
Zen  Smith,  444. 
Alfred    Baxter   Steb- 
bins, 445. 
Mary  JP.  Wentworth, 
161. 
Officers   and   members, 

485. 
Old  Albany  Road,  365, 

68,  71,  436. 
Old    Buiying    Ground, 
380,    81,    83,    442, 
43. 
Old  Comer  Store,  365, 

68,  70,  71. 
Old  Home  Week,  192, 
96,  97,  204,  206, 16, 
36,  379,  81,  90. 
Old  Indian  House,  240, 

45,  374. 
Old  Lidian  House  Door, 

6,  17,  245. 
Old  Songs.  113. 
Old  Weathercock,  210, 

33,  81. 
Oliver,  Anthony,  305. 

James,  128. 
Orr,  Maiy  M.,  194,  95, 

279,  490. 
Osgood,  George,  200. 

Packard,  Horatio  G. 
[See  Parker.] 
Palfrey.  John  G.,  87. 
Park,  Charles  E.,  202. 
Parker,  Horatio  G.  [not 
Packard],  156. 
Isaac,  436. 
Parkman,   Francis,   54, 
471,  73. 
George,  3. 
Parsons,  Albert  C,  331. 
32,  487,  90. 


fiOO 


Inde». 


PttfBODB,  Eleola  Franr, 
400. 
Herbert  C,  2,  58,  62- 
64,  81,  115,  18,  53, 
56,  76,  93,  268,  83, 
331,  34,  79,  82,  87, 
425,  485,  87,  490. 
John,  326. 
Samuel  H.,  38,  39. 
Parthena,  407. 
Partridge,  Samuel,  265. 

Samuel,  326.  27,  63. 
Ftebody,  W.  B.,  199. 
Penhallow,  Samuel,  404, 

66. 
Penniman,    Jazeb,    52, 

56. 
Pepperell,  William,  473, 

74. 
Bettibone,      Elizabeth, 

435. 
Ptotty,  Joseph,  325. 
Philadelphia    fae^ons, 
171;    Bteamhoats, 
172;    miUtia,    172; 
streets,  172. 
Phihp's   War,    70,    92, 
120,  30-34,  39,  50. 
Phillips,  Heniy  M.,  2, 
487,  88,  90. 
John,  472. 

Simeon,  112,  487,  90. 

Smith  R.,  487,  88,  90. 

Phips,  William,  207, 319, 

45-50.    64. 
Pierce,  William,  490. 
Pilgrim's    trea^    with 

Indians,  412,  13. 
Piper,  George  E.,  269. 
Piracy,  472,  73. 
Rtt,  William,  328. 
Race,  Capt.  de  la,  41. 
Plimpton,  Hannah,  399. 
Heniy  R.,  487,  90. 
John,  83,  234. 
Jonathan,   234. 
Pocumtucks,      135  -  50, 
205, 207, 39, 40, 52- 
54,  60,  61,  69. 
Pompadour,     Madame, 

258   60. 
Pomroy,'  Elisha,  364. 
Medad,  375. 
MiB0,    156. 
Seth,  473. 
Thankful,   375. 
Poole,  Jonathan,  132. 
Porter,  Ransom  R.,  112, 

377, 487, 90. 
Potter,  George  W.,  490. 
Horatio,  286. 
Mrs.  A.  D.,  160. 
Orlando  B.,  68. 


Povey,  Tlioinas,  453. 
Pratt,  Catharine  HaU, 
160. 
Franklin  J.,  155,  60, 

487,  88,  90. 
Frank  W.,  192,  205; 
address,    216;     28, 
69. 
John.  122. 
Josian,  160. 
Martha  G.,   193,  95, 
212,  39,  74, 487, 88, 
90. 
Mary,  122. 
Prescott,  Gen.,  45,  46, 

49. 
Pressey,  E.  P.,  269. 
Preston,  George,  293, 94, 
Price,  Andrew,  405. 

Elisabeth,  405. 
PuUic       Reservations, 

419,  20. 
Puritan  Spirit,  215,  67, 

384,  86,  93. 
Putnam,  Annie  C,  152, 
94,    95,    275,    334, 
425,  87,  90. 
Israd,  376. 
Rufus,  49. 
Pynchon ,  John,  207, 208, 
36,  319,  69. 
Joseph,  258. 


Q 


uakers,  123,  293-5. 
Queen  Aime,  456. 


Railways,      wooden, 
179. 
Ray.  Caleb,  450. 
Reed,  James  S.,  485, 87, 

88,  90. 
.    Thomas,  137, 46. 

Thomas,  217. 
Reid,  J.  D.,  283,  86. 
Rice,  Artemas,  71,  72. 
Asa,  71,  72. 
David,  487,90. 
Dinah,  62. 
Harriet  C,  485^   87, 

90. 
Hart,  71. 

Leonard  B.,  59, 60, 64. 
Levi  W.,  487, 90. 
Moses,  59,  60,  64,  68, 
70-73.  75,  76,  369. 
Sarah  C.,  487,  90. 
Richards,  John,  404. 
Richardson,    John    J., 

488,90. 
Roads,  Zeckaryah,  125. 
Robinson,  E.  A.,  58,  61. 
John,  124,  25. 
Judge,  51. 


Roe,  Alfred  8.,  380,  8S. 
Roem,  Robert,  101. 

Mrs.  Wmthrop,  194, 
95,  96,  279. 

Winthiop,  96. 
Root,  Asahel  W.,  333, 
490. 

Hiram,  490. 

John,  92,  93. 

Joseph,  434. 

Mehitable,  92-94. 

Thankful,   92-96. 

Thomas.  92,  93. 
Ross,  William,  107. 
Rouse,  John,  475. 
RumrQl,  Anna  C,  487, 

90. 
Running  the  gauntlet, 

102. 
Russell,  Ann  Katharine, 
437. 

CharioB  C.  P.,  437. 

Charles  W^  437. 

Edmund  W.,  490. 

Elijah  L.,  436. 

Francis,  437. 

Francis  B.,  437. 

Hannah,  436. 

Hannah,  436. 

Hannah  S.,  437. 

Hesekiah,   435. 

John,  432-4. 

John,  132,  370,  48»- 
6. 

Jdm,  164,  430-7. 

John,  433,  35;  char- 
acter of,  436. 

John,  437,  38. 

John  E.,  2,  426,  27; 
memoir,  432;  437, 
87,  88,  90. 

Jonathan,   366. 

Lemuel,  436. 

Maiy  C,  437. 

Nathanid  E.,  437. 

PhiHp,  432-4. 

Ruth  S.,  437. 

Timothy,435. 

William  E.,  439. 

William,  436. 

Genealogy.  433,  34. 
Ryerson,  Juha  N.,  487, 
90. 

Sagamore,  George,  15, 
26. 
Salisbuiy,  Calvin,  109; 

"Cab,"  113. 
Samoset,  141. 
Sanborn,  Frank  B.,  439, 

40. 
Sanderson,  Geoige  W., 
490. 


Index. 


501 


Sauter,  Jacob  H.,  334. 
Savage,  Thomas,  131. 
Sawyer,  Mary  A.,  486- 

88,90. 
Saxton,  David,  377. 

Rufus,  268,69,  411. 

S.  WiUard,  246. 

WiUiam  P.,  221,  71, 
379. 
Savward,  Mary,  67. 
Schuyler,  Abraham,  322. 

fjien.,  44, 4o. 

John,  313,  16,  19,  20, 
23-27,   28. 

Peter,  313,  16-27. 

Philip,  324. 
Seagrave,   Daniel,   487, 

90. 
Severance,  Daniel,  235. 

Harvey,  490. 

Joseph,  401. 

Martha  L.,  490. 

Martin,  102. 

Matthew,  102. 

William  S.,  490. 
Sewall,  Samuel,  86,  305, 

44,  450,  67,  68.  72. 
Seward,  William  H.,  3. 
Sewell,  E.  E.,  186. 
Shapleigh,     Alexander, 

292. 

Nicholas,  292,  94,  95. 
Shay's   Rebellion,    104, 

105. 
Sheldon,  David,  108. 

EUen  L.,  81, 153,  246, 
334,  425,  86-88,  90. 

George,  1-3,  11,  38, 
39,  58,  61-63,  80, 
81;  Curator's  re- 
port, 82-84 ;  1 1 1 , 1 5, 
17-19,  37,  40,  52; 
report,  154-56;  92 
-95;  address  on 
meetinghouses,  205; 
208,  13,  36,  40^2, 

45,  51,  61,  68-71, 
80,  81^«4,  330,  31, 
34,  35,  79,  80,  82, 
85,  89-91,  401,  408, 
10,  11,  17-20,  24- 
28,  31,  32,  66,  67, 

85,  86,  88,  90. 
Qeorge  Arms,  152,  55, 

488,90. 

Hannah,  240,  401. 

Hannah,  435,  36. 

Jemima,  375,  76. 

Jennie  Edilii,  155. 

Jennie  M.  A.,  152,  55, 
93-95,  242,  78-80, 
82,    330,    80,    425, 

86,  88,  90. 


Sheldon,   John,   9,   96, 

207,  208,  33, 40, 41, 

48,  49,  373, 405, 60, 

61,66-68. 
John,  61,  405,  406. 
John,  435,  36. 
John,  2,  3,80,81,153, 

95,  246,  83, 84,  330, 

33,  34,  80,  424-6, 

85-88,   91. 
Mercy,  435. 
Mindwell,  374. 
Persis,  375. 
Seth,  108. 
Susan  Belle,  490. 
Susan  Stuart,  488, 90. 
Thomas,  96. 
William,  235,  40,  41, 

87,90. 
Sheldon        Homestead, 

233 
Shiriey, '  William,    258, 

363-5. 
Sibley,  Mr.,  156. 
Silver,  Adelaide,  57. 
Sloughter,  Gov.,  320, 21. 
Smead,  Amelia,  490. 
Charles  W.,  105. 
EUhu.  487,  90. 
Elisabeth,  405. 
John,  403. 
Jonathan,   105. 
Judith,  101. 
MehitaUe,  105. 
William,  101,  234. 
William.  234. 
Smith,  Albert,  430, 90. 
Arthur  A.,  63. 
Austin,  447,  48. 
Benjamin,  447. 
Charles  K.,  448. 
Cornelia  A.,  488,  90. 
David,  366. 
Elihu,  447. 
Elisha,  447. 
EUzabeth,  447. 
Henry,  433,  34. 
James,  487,  88,  90. 
Joanna,  433,  34. 
John  M.,  2,  63,  80,  81, 

426,  27;  life  of,  46; 

485.  87,  90. 
Jonatnan,   447. 
Martha,  97. 
Martin,  324,  403,  407. 
Mary  P.  Wells,  80, 84, 

85,  193,  262. 
Nathaniel,  447. 
Peter,  366. 
PhiUp,  447. 
Philip  H.,  38. 
Preserved,  199. 
Sally  M.,  447. 


Smith,  Samuel,  90,  265, 
447. 
Samuel,  366. 
Zeri,  81,  426,  44,  487, 
90. 
Snow,  Newell,  487,  88, 
90. 
Sophia  P.,  84,  98. 
SoUey,  George  W.,  80- 

82,  153,  92,  93,  96, 
97,  202,  20,  36,  71, 

83,  487,  90. 
Southaok,  Cyprian,  357, 

58. 
Sprague,  Peter,  331. 
Standii^,  Miles,  413. 
Starr,  Caleb  A.,  225. 
EUza  A.,  3,  8,  201. 
Stebbins,  Abig^,  405« 
417. 
Albert,  487,  90. 
Alfred  B.,  426,  27,  45, 

91. 
Benoni,  17,  18;  house 
defended,  19;  233, 
48,  405-7,  15. 
Charles  H.,  226,  491. 
Dennis,  109,  10,   13. 
Dorothy,  404. 
Dorothy,  368. 
Edward,  146. 
Evander  G.,  488,  91. 
Henry,  233. 
John,  404,  17. 
John  H.,  2,  233,  379. 
Joseph,  65,  233,  49. 

homestead,  50. 
Joseph,  269,  491. 
Lyd&  C,   235,    486, 

87,  91. 
Mary,  156. 
Mary  E.,  152,  53,  66, 
61,283,331,34,425, 
27,31,46,485,91. 
Moses,  487,  91. 
Ruby  G.,  445. 
Zebina,  445. 
Stevens,        Humphrey, 

491. 
Stiles,  Ezra,  339. 
Stockbridge,  Levi,  491. 
Stockwell,  Quintin,  92, 

234. 
Stoddard,  John,  17,  328. 
Stone,  Mary  L.,  488, 91. 

John,  339. 
Stoughton,    Ralph   M., 
115,  17,  40. 
Timothy  M.,  80,  103, 

15-17. 
William,  344;  402,  51. 
Stratton,  Edwin,  156. 
Biary  T.,  487,  91. 


502 


Index. 


Stuben,  Baron,  49. 
Sumner,  Charles,  408. 
Sutcliffe,  Nathaniel,  235, 

80,  82,  99,  429. 
Sutliffe,  B.  H.,  380,  82, 

84,  90,  429. 
Swamp  Fight,  145. 
Swansea,  attack  on,  144. 
Sweet,  Capt.,  162,  64. 

Tablets       dedicated, 
379,  97,  98. 
Tack,  Augustus  V.,  152, 
94,  95,  272,  73,  77, 
78. 
Taft,  Henry  W.,  2,  449, 
87,  88,  91. 
WUIiam,  385. 
Mrs.,  385. 
Talcott,  John,  433. 

Mary,  432,  33. 
Taylor,  Henry  W.,  487, 
91. 
John,   377. 
Jonathan,  70. 
Othniel,  70. 
Temple,  Annie,  58,  62. 
Sir  William,  345,  48. 
Terry,  Elizabeth,  434. 

Stephen,  434. 
The  Dead  of  1704,  407. 
Theological  War,  366. 
Thompson,   Albert   M., 
236. 
Francis  M.,  1-3, 9,  60, 
63,  80,  81,  84,  100, 
17, 18, 52, 56, 57, 93 
-95,  236,  42,  83,  84, 
313,  30,  33,  34,  79, 
82,83,424,  25,  85, 
87,  88,  91. 
Thorn,  Edwm  C,  276. 
Thornton,  R.S.,  487, 91. 
Ticonderoga,     38-40; 

capture  of,  41;  42. 
Tilton,     Chauncey     Bi, 
112,  487,  91. 
Peter,  90. 
Tomkins,  Afary,  293. 
Trafton,    Charles,    302, 

306. 
Trask,  John,  112. 
Treat,  Robert,  91,  131, 

394. 
Troy     and     Greenfield 

Railroad,  183,  88. 
Trumbull,  Jonathan,  43. 
Tryon,  Gov.,  33,  36,  48, 

51. 
Turner,    William,    116, 
19.    24-33,    46-48, 
62,  373,  88,  99. 
William,  123, 31. 


Turners  Falb.  115. 
Turners     Falls    Fight, 

146-9. 
Turner's  Monument,  1 33. 
Two  Brothers,  The,  404. 
Tjder,  Major  H.,  3. 

Unitarian  Meeting- 
house, 196,  97, 
202,  10. 

Vane,    Sir     Harry, 
214. 
Vaudreuil,  Philip  de  Ri- 
gaud,  9,  13,  14,  24- 
28,  240,  304-6,  24, 
43,  461,  65,  67-69. 
Vetch,  Samuel,  305, 465. 

Waite,      Benjamin, 
101,  46. 
Mary,  101. 
Thomas,  491. 
WaU,  Patrick,  36. 
Walker,  George,  189. 
War,  King  Philip's,  70, 
92,  120,  30-34,  39, 
50,  373. 
King    William's,    96, 

223,  401-7,  14. 
Queen  Anne's,  9,  12- 
28,  99,  375,  85,  87, 
91,  96,  400, 15. 
Father   Rasle's,   370, 

374. 
French    and    Indian, 

370-7,  94,  95. 
Revolutionary,  34,  38 
-50,  100,  392. 
Ward,   Charles  E.,   58, 

60-63. 
Ware,  Frances  S.,  491. 
Warner,  Seth,  32,  37,  40 
-43. 
Whitney  L.,  487. 
Warren,    Charies    Dud- 
ley, 61. 
Jonathan,  366. 
Joseph,  38,  376. 
Mary,  376. 
Warriner,  Ryland,  161. 
Washington,  George,  49, 

167,  75,  328. 
Waterloo^480. 
Waters,  Heniy  F.,  487, 

91. 
Watson,  Brook,  46. 
Charles  H.,  155,  283, 

487,  88,  91. 
JohnP.,  485,  87,91. 
Wattanamon    (Stephen 
Williams'    Master), 
15,  26. 


Weathercock,   210,   33, 

381. 
Webster)  John  W.,  3. 

Dani^  67. 
Weller,  Thomas,  232. 
Wells,  Agrippa.  84,  100 
-105. 
Curtis  B.,  491. 
David.  101,  102. 
Ebenezer,  101. 
Elisha,  109,  10. 
Elisha,  112,  487,  491, 
Elizabeth;   234. 
George  Ml,  491. 
Henry,  487,  88,  91. 
Hugh,  101. 
John,    9,    240,    460, 

61. 
Jonathan,  101,  47,  48, 
208,    23,    27,    34; 
Boy  Hero,  247;  61- 
67,    370,    73,  402- 
407. 
Katherine,  276. 
Laura  B.,  115,  17,  53, 
56,    233,    83,    334, 
487.  91. 
Lincoln  B.,  233. 
Noah,  103. 
Samuel,  F.,  491. 
Sarah,  276. 
Thomas,  96,  267. 
Thomas,  233. 
Thomas,   101,  209. 
Thomas,     101,    209, 
233. 
Wentworth,    Benjamin, 
161. 
Benning,  30-32,  35. 
Mary  P.,  2,  81,  152, 
54,  55,  61,  487,  91. 
Whalley,  Edward,  370, 

433. 
Wharton,  Edward,  293. 
Wheelwright,      EstJier, 

303 
Whipple,  John,  131. 
White,  David,  335. 
Henry,  208,  23,  403. 
John  B.,  380. 
Joseph,   68,  485,  87, 

88,  91. 
Salome  E.,  488,  91. 
Whitfield,  Geoi^,  29. 
Whiting,  Julia  D.,  84, 
405,  91. 
Lyman,  2,  58-62,  64, 
69, 115,  92,  380-82. 
Margaret  C,  491. 
James  S.,  488,  91. 
Whitney,  Laurinda,  488, 
91. 
William  C,  427. 


Index. 


603 


Willard,  Hiram,  236. 

Joseph,  202. 

Mary,  202,  10. 

Samuel,  202,  468. 

Samuel,  192;  hymn, 
196;  settled  as  min- 
ister at  Deerfield, 
197;  Deerfield  col- 
lection of  music, 
198;  sets  out  shade 
trees,  198;  blind. 
199;  organized 

Franklin  Evangeli- 
cal Association,  1 99 ; 
political  speech, 
200,  201;  inscrip- 
tion tablet  to,  202; 
sketch  of  life,  202; 
school-da^,  203; 
minister  in  Deer- 
field, 203;  204,  10, 
69;   ordained,   377. 

Samuel,  431. 

Samuel,  202. 

Susan  B.,  196,  210. 

William,  202. 
Willard  Memorial,  192, 

96. 
William  of  Orange,  208, 

67. 
Williams,  Almon  C,  2, 
156, 487,  88,  91. 

Anna,  371. 

Artemusy  429. 


Williams,  Arthur,  191. 

Charies  £.,  81,  426, 
487    91. 

Electa  L.,  487,  91. 

Elijah,  363,  66-67, 
71,  72.  77. 

Elizabeth,  441. 

Ephraim,  237,  328, 
63;  kiUed,  371. 

Ephraim,  212. 

Esther,  461. 

Eunice,  26,  26,  303, 
26,  26. 

Eunice.  388,  400. 

H.  Isabella,  166,  62. 

Israel,  363-66. 

John,  12,  14,  21;  try- 
ing march,  22;  23- 
28,  208,  209, 14,  33, 
36,  46,  47,  306,  26, 
26,  63,  400,  404, 
406,  10,  66,  64-68, 
77. 

John,  372,  77. 

John,  286,  411. 

Philomela  A.,  429, 91. 

Ralph,  108. 

Roger,  214, 

Samuel,  279,  441. 

Solomon,  162,  69,  71. 

Sophronia  R.,  488, 91. 

Stephen,  12,  20,  26, 
466,  73. 

Thomas,  233,  37. 


Williams,  William,  234, 
473. 
Zebediah,    326,    402, 
404. 
Wilson,  John,  214. 
Winchester,  Robert,  302, 

303. 
Wing,   Albert   L.,   333, 

491. 
Winship,  Albert  E.,  193, 

261. 
Winslow,  Edward,  143, 

394,  413. 
Winsor,  Justin,  387. 
Winthrop,  John,  17,  87, 
469. 
John,  214. 
Witmer,  Abram,  437. 

Juliana,  437. 
Wolfe,  Gen.,  329. 
Wright.  Charies,  366. 
Judah,  28. 
Luke,  491. 
Mercy,  28. 
William  W.,  487,  88, 
91. 
Wriston,  Rev.,  68,  64. 
Wynne,    Madeline    Y., 
163,    93,    276,    83, 
380,  487,  91. 

Yale,  Catherine  B., 
166,  486,  87,  88, 
91.