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Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Obituaries
Died in Springfield Sept. 18, Ruah D.Kellogg, widow of Ira Kellogg, formerly of Montague, and mother of Bela Kellogg, Esq. of Greenfield, age 83. Funeral at Bela Kellogg's today at 1 p.m.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Wendell
Wendell - There are growing signs of an upward tendency, all things included. A new hearse house has just been completed, and a new hearse is, we are assured, under way, and it is time, for the old one had become so frightful that no one would consent to be put into it on any condition.
The remark has often been made that there has been a decided improvement within the last few years in the expectation of men regarding the near future of these old hills, and in the actual effort that is being made to restore the place to its former relations, so far as that may be done. Although our population is the lowest that it has reached for 6 decades, yet there is a future for these hills and valleys that but few dream of at the present day of trial and tramps.
In the mercantile line a new change has occurred. J.N. Beach, successor of Danforth Putnam and the company he represented, as the legitimate successors of O.H.H. Powers, himself the successor of Messrs. Oatman & Fisk, who succeeded Mr. Creagh after the fire, who came in after M.M. Stebbins made the mistake in leaving the place and O. Leach, his immediate successor in quitting the business when it was prospering in his hands.
There is no trouble in trade here except the scarcity of paying, ready paying customers, and this seems to be the general complaint all around. There is one item in this matter which the welfare of the place requires to be stated. It is this: Orange and elsewhere have completely succeeded in deluding a large class of the people with the notion that they are, in coming to them with their trade, doing first rate when they just fleece them, with the expectation that they are getting things cheap.
But there is the other side to this matter. Where did the money come from to build up those fine blocks and shops and sich [sic]? Now quite a large slice of it came off from these hills. But Orange and elsewhere don’t pay any taxes to keep things up here moving; don’t build up anything here and don’t propose to do it.
What these greedy places evidently want is to have us get what we can and run down and bring it to them at the price they think best to give, and take their truck and dicker at their own price.Don’t suppose they feel any pangs of guilt in the matter; but this past and present state of things up here shows that there is a screw loose somewhere.But things will change sometime, if not sooner, when the valleys will be obliged to conform to the old hills, or go without potatoes.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Oration of Hon. George B. Loring at Bloody Brook, Sept. 17, 1875
Oration of Hon. George B. Loring at Bloody Brook, Sept. 17, 1875 - Fellow citizens: 200 years ago an event occurred on this spot, which on account of its significance and its touching details, has passed into that long heroic line over which the mind of man is compelled to pause and ponder...At the name of Bloody Brook the men, women, and children of New England started and held their breath in horror, in that primeval time when the sickening tidings were borne on the wings of the wind as it were from hamlet to hamlet...
The sad event of the 18th of September 1675, calls upon us still to remember the trials through which our fathers passed and to rejoice over that fraternal spirit which bound them together in their day of sorrow, and watered the soil of this charming valley with the choicest blood of the sons of Essex. I stand on ground made sacred to you by the sacrifices of your hardy and devoted progenitors; but I meet here the names of Lothrop and Stevens and Hobbs and Manning and Dodge and Kimball and Trask and Tufts and Mudge and Pickering, of the three-score braves who died that you might possess this goodly land and these pleasant homes...
How would they who were familiar with the cruel warfare of the savage; whose ears had heard the shrieks of the tortured mother mingling with the groans of her dying child, and whose eyes had beheld her fear, her patience and her despair; whose highway was an Indian trail, and whose home was a frontier block-house - how would they rejoice over these sunny fields, these laughing harvests, these busy towns, these tasteful homes, this cultivated landscape adorned with these institutions of learning and religion; and how would they count their own sufferings but small when compared with the manifold blessings which have descended upon the spot made sacred with their blood?
...Deerfield two centuries ago, was on the very confines of civilization - one of the outposts of a feeble Christian people, who had hardly a foothold on this continent, and between whom and the strongholds of power and wealth and learning, rolled 3000 miles of stormy and almost unknown sea. The fate of a great and wide spread empire rested then in the hands of a few colonists scattered along the Atlantic seaboard, divided in interests and tastes, perishing continually from exposure and want, not all actuated by the highest motives, but all recognizing, as by an unerring instinct, the fundamental principle out of which was to grow the American government, and all in danger of being exterminated at any time by the "pestilence which walketh in darkness and the destruction which wasteth at noonday".
Scattered up and down the great extent of territory stretching from the Passamaquoddy Bay to the capes of Florida were but about 200,000 souls, of whom Massachusetts, with Plymouth and Maine, may have had 44,000; New Hampshire and Rhode Island, with Providence each 6000; Connecticut from 17,000 to 20,000; that is, all New England, 75,000...
These people had come largely from that "Germanic race most famed for the love of personal independence". They were not men of high estate, but they were men who possessed an inherent love of land, with all the individual honor and freedom which go along with it...
Of one colony said "Spotswood, a royalist, a High churchman, a traveler", "I have observed here less swearing and profaneness, less drunkenness and debauchery, less uncharitable feuds and animosities, and less knaverys and villanys than in any part of the world where my lot has been"...
In all their customs they were obliged to exercise the utmost simplicity and they voluntarily regulated their conduct by those formal rules, which, in their day, constituted the Puritan’s guide through the world. We are told, as an illustraton of their character and manners, that by the laws of the Plymouth Colony, in 1651, "dancing at weddings was forbidden". In 1660, one William Walker was imprisoned one month for courting "a maid without the leave of her parents".
In 1675, because "there is manifest pride appearing in our streets", the "wearing of long hair or periwigs", and so "superstitious ribands, used to tie up and decorate the hair were forbidden under severe penalty"; the keeping of Christmas was also forbidden "because it was a popish custom". In 1677 an act was passed "to prevent the profaneness of turning the back upon the public worship before it was finished and the blessing pronounced".
Towns were directed to erect a cage near the meeting house, and in all this all offenders against the sanctity of the Sabbath were confined. At the same time children were directed to be placed in a particular part of the meeting house, apart by themselves, and tything-men were ordered to be chosen, whose duty it shall be to take care of them. So strict were they in their observance of the Sabbath that "John Atherton, a soldier of Col. Tyng’s Company", was fined 40 shillings for wetting a piece of an old hat to put into his shoes, which chafed his feet on the march; and those who neglected to attend meeting for 3 months were publicly whipped.
Even in Harvard College students were whipped for gross offenses in the Chapel, in presence of students and professors, and prayers were had before and after the infliction of the punishment. As the settlers of Deerfield are described as being of "sober and orderly conversation", we may suppose that these laws and customs were here rigidly enforced.
[Here follows a section on "subsistence and diet of your ancestors". Also talks about how they were good farmers, fishermen and readers]...
...Possessed evidently of a common origin, for "between the Indians of Florida and Canada the difference was scarcely perceptible", they were divided into tribes, which differed from each other mainly in their fighting capacity, and the vigor with which they roamed from place to place; and they were liable at any time to be swept off by disease, or exterminated by war, or absorbed by other and more powerful tribes.
In language, the North American Indian was limited by the material world, an abstract idea finding no birthplace in his brain and no expression on his tongue. "In marriage the Indian abhorred restraint, and from Florida to the S. Lawrence polygamy was permitted". Divorce meant merely desertion. The wife was a slave. Domestic government was unknown. The Indian youth grew up a warrior, adorned with vermilion and eagle’s feather, as fleet of foot as the deer, and as tolerant of hunger as the wolf; the Indian girl grew up a squaw, degraded and squalid and servile.
A rude agriculture, resulting in a weedy corn crop, and a few squashes and beans, was the Indian’s, or rather the Indian woman’s occupation; he had neither trade nor manufactures. "There can be no society without government; but among the Indian tribes on the soil of our republic, there was not only no written law - there was no traditionary [sic] expression of law; government rested on opinion and usage and the motives to the usage were never imbodied [sic] in language; they gained utterance only in the fact, and power only from opinion...
The Indian had a government without laws; a State without institutions; a church without faith, or creed, or head; a town without schoohouse or meeting house; a punitive system without jails or gibbets; a history based on tradition; a religion based on superstition; he was ignorant of the ownership of land; and knew nothing of a system of inheritance.
As in peace he was an idler - so in war he was a marauder. An organized army was to him unknown. He fought in small bands, seldom over 50 in number, to surprise and slaughter. He pursued, and killed, and scalped. He had neither commissariat nor hospital. He fought his enemy in the rear and in ambush; and he tortured and roasted and devoured his captives. These were the national characteristics which our fathers found on this continent.
Nor did their attempts to modify and humanize and Christianize them meet with much success. The Indian could be tamed, but he was the Indian still...Neither John Eliot nor Roger Williams was able to change essentially the habits and character of the New England tribes..."They are unspeakably indolent and slothful; they deserve little gratitude; they seem to have no sentiments of generosity, benevolence or goodness".
The Moravian Loskiel could not change their character...In New Hampshire and elsewhere schools for Indian children were established; but as they became fledged they all escaped, refusing to be caged. Harvard College enrolls the name of an Algonquin youth among her pupils; but the college parchment could not close the gulf between the Indian character and the Anglo American.
The copper colored men are characterized by a moral inflexibility, a rigidity of attachment to their hereditary customs and manners. The birds and brooks, as they chime forth their unwearied canticles, chime them ever to the same ancient melodies; and the Indian child, as it grows up, displays a propensity to the habits of its ancestors...
The trouble lay deeper. Year after year the Indian discovered an irreconcilable difference between himself and the stranger...When he entered the home of the settler, he discovered that the joys of the fireside could never be found in the group squatted beneath the shelter of the wigwam. He felt the antagonism - and his soul burned within him. The strife was not for land...It was for supremacy. And as revenge is stronger than ambition, and hate is stronger than avarice, so the war raged with unspeakable fury, and was as cruel as the passions of a desperate savage could make it.
The great contest which grew out of this antagonism, and lasted more than a year, unabated either by the heat of summer or the frosts of winter, threatening destruction to the New England colonies, was known as Philip’s War. With the story of this conflict you are all familiar. The peaceful death of Massasoit at a good old age, after a long life of friendly relations with the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies; the sadder death of his son Alexander, worried out of life by the failure of his intrigues against the colony, and the exposure of his meanness and his crimes; the gradual development of the worst of passions in the breast of Philip, and his passage from treachery to war are all fresh in the memory of all who have traced the hard path which our fathers traveled in the work of settling these shores.
The war which began in Swanzey on the 24th of June, 1675, reached this spot on the 18th of September - three months of murder, and fire, and all the bloody horrors of savage warfare. At the time the war broke out Deerfield had been settled 10 years, or had been deeded for the purposes of settlement to John Pynchon that length of time. It was then, as it is now, one of the most delightful spots in New England...
And here in the luxurience of that natural beauty, and in the wealth of wood and stream, the Indian found his favorite resort. In this town and in the towns of Hadley and Hatfield he mustered a numerous and a powerful tribe. And upon these lands purchased by the settlers, with titles confirmed by the court, the whites and Indians lived together in peace for years. It is amazing with what rapidity the war, once opened, spread from village to village, and from tribe to tribe in this wilderness...
The Pocumtucks had received their orders - and in a day had stepped from the blessings of peace to the misery of war. having promsied to deliver up their arms, on suspicion that they might misuse them, they broke their promise, fled to Sugar loaf Hill, engaged with Captains Beers and Lothrop commanding the English here, lost 26 of their number, and then sought shelter under the standard of King Philip...
Deerfield too was abandoned; and the attempt to secure a quantity of wheat which had just been partially threshed by the farmers there before their flight, resulted in the massacre which still thrills me with horror, and the anniversary of which we have met to commemorate...From behind hundreds of trees the savages poured their deadily [sic] fire. At the first volley many were killed, and the remainder were panic stricken...Lothrop...was among the first to fall. The savages, numbering nearly 700, "rushed upon the defenceless men, and the work of slaughter was soon complete.
But 6 or 7 Englishmen escaped to tell the tale, of whom one had been shot and tomahawked and left for dead, and another forced his way through the yelling ranks of the savages with the but [sic] of his musket...
While the Indians were employed in mangling, scalping and stripping the dying and the dead, Captain Moseley, who, as has been observed, was ranging the woods, hearing the report of musketry, hastened by a forced march to the relief of his brethren. The Indians, confiding in their superior numbers, taunted him as he advanced, and dared him to the contest. Moseley came on with firmness, repeatedly charged through them, and destroyed a large number with the loss on his side of but 2 killed and 11 wounded...
A quantity of bones lately found in that quarter is very probably the remains of the Indians who fell there at the close of the action. The united English force encamped for the night at Deerfield. They returned in the morning to bury the dead and found a party of the Indians upon the field stripping the bodies of their victims. These they quickly dispatched, and the remains of the brave young men, or some portion of them, were committed to the earth near the spot which we have this day consecrated anew to their memory.
The stream on whose banks they fell, and whose water ran red with their blood, has been called from that day, in memory of the disaster, Bloody Brook...[Two more entire columns follow, but they are quite blurry and unreadable].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Died
Moore, Lucretia, age 76, widow of Martin Moore, late of Montague and formerly of North Leverett, died in Northampton Aug. 3. Her remains were taken to North Leverett for interment.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Conway
Conway - A tramp attempted to enter the house of one of our citizens, through the window, 2 or 3 days since, while the parents of the girls left alone were absent attending a relative's funeral. Instead of the croquet mallet and ball our young ladies must learn the use of fire arms, for their own protection, in these perilous times where the law is found insufficient.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Conway
Conway - An Irish wake held the past week at the funeral of one of their number here, was frought with some unpleasant occurrences from imbibing too freely. Rows, broken carriages, run away horses, etc., are disgraceful to say the least, from such causes at such times. Is this the Hibernian way of showing grief? Not with all of them we are sure, but all nations have their peculiarities.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
South Deerfield
South Deerfield - The week just passed has been one long to be remembered by the citizens of our little village. Seldom are so many stirring events crowded into one short week. Three deaths - one of threescore years, one in the prime of life and one in infancy. The two first, George W. Bardwell and Loren Hayden, prominent citizens of the place for years.
These, together with the disastrous fire of Sun. morning, with its many hairbreadth escapes and exciting incidents, not the least of which was in caring for and removing the sick who were unable to care for themselves, and lastly, the startling developments of dishonesty in one, who in his lifetime enjoyed the general confidence of the people, creating an intense excitement throughout the entire community.
The funeral of Mr. Bardwell was attended at the Congregational Church on Sun., that of Mr. Hayden from the residence of D. Bryant on Thurs., Rev. Mr. Brooks officiating on both occasions. The attendance on Thurs. was very large, many coming from the surrounding towns.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
A man murdered in Coleraine
A man murdered in Coleraine - He is killed and robbed by two young ruffians - It is now 8 years since Simeon Peck killed Miss Cheney at Griswoldville, and Coleraine is again the scene of a tragedy, which in all its details has never had a parallel in the criminal annals of the County. The victim of this terrible crime is Joseph R. Farnsworth [i.e. Joseph Riley Farnsworth], known among his townsmen as "Riley", a quiet, inoffensive man, who dwelt with his wife and two children on his mother’s farm, on what is known as "Catamount Hill", some 2 miles and a half from Shelburne Falls.
The circumstances of the affair are these: On Tues. last Farnsworth, who served in the late war, went to Greenfield to be examined by a surgeon, as required, before making out an application for pension. He went back to Shelburne Falls on the train, and at the office of H.M. Puffer Esq., had his pension paper made out. When this business was finished, he started for home, getting a chance to ride with Levi Davenport, a neighbor.
They rode together until they came to the fork of two roads which led to the mountain. Farnsworth took the road up the ravine on the easterly side, while Davenport went the other way to his home. It had by this time begun to grow dark, and Farnsworth pushed along alone through a wood and came to a place where the road separates, a path leading up to Jack Woodard’s on the one hand and to his mother’s place on the other.
At this point someone steps suddenly from the cover of bushes by the roadside and, without a word of warning, strikes him a blow upon the forehead with a stick which prostrates him upon the ground. The blow is followed up with others or with kicks, until the man’s head is covered with ghastly wounds. He is then robbed of the few dollars which he had in his pocket book.
Farnsworth was not long wholly unconscious. Within half an hour he must have rallied sufficient strength to get upon his feet, and staggering and frequently falling, he made his way home, some one hundred rods distant, and which he reached by half past 7. He was able to tell his mother and a neighbor present a part of what had happened, and Dr. Canedy of Shelburne Falls was immediately sent for.
He arrived in the evening, but found the man so badly wounded there was little that could be done for him. Farnsworth could not tell who struck him, and becoming unconscious, he lingered until about 10 o’clock Wed. morning, when he died.
The news of the affair had by this time spread over the town, and efforts made to ascertain who were the perpetrators of the crime. Suspicion soon rested upon two young men who live in the vicinity, and who had not been seen since the murder. These were Daniel Dwight, a son of Josiah J. Dwight, and Herbert Davenport, a son of widow Roxana Davenport, and a nephew of the murdered man.
The former is 19 years of age and the latter 18, and both had borne a hard name among the people of the town. Going to the scene of the assault, a heavy print of a shoe was found, where the desperado stood when he gave the murderous blow, and a few feet in front was found the pool of blood which flowed from the wounds of his victim, and a bloody trail was made by Farnsworth as he rested and stumbled home.
Not far from his place a hickory stub was found where the stick, about an inch in diameter, had been cut; and in another direction the stick itself was discovered, which corresponded with the stub, and which had been thrown away after the assault. The stick, which is in the possession of one of the officers, was evidently cut by a left handed person. Dwight is known to be left handed.
It seems that the two boys had been to Farnsworth’s house the afternoon that he was away, borrowed fifty cents from his wife, all the money that she had - they agreeing to pay her back before the time of the county fair, when she wanted to spend it. They also took away a cheap watch which belonged to Farnsworth.
Before going to Greenfield Farnsworth had made known his errand to the neighbors, and the boys probably thought that he was going to bring home his pension money and so made their plans to waylay and rob him. But the money Farnsworth had on his person could not have exceeded 2 or 3 dollars. There had been ill feeling between the boys and Farnsworth before. He had not got along happily with his wife, being frequently jealous, it is thought by some, without cause, and the fellows had taken her part.
They have been heard to threaten him on her account. Dwight, who was married and lived with his wife in a house on his father’s farm, took away with him two suits of clothes, but young Davenport is not known to have carried away only such clothes as he happened to have on, and left behind a little money and a bank book.
Wed. aft. upwards of 50 men were out scouring the woods of Coleraine, Whitingham and Heath, under Officers Henry A. Howard of Coleraine and Deputy Sheriff [?] S. Frost of Shelburne Falls, and the search by some of the party was kept up all night, but was fruitless. Dwight and Davenport are both familiar with the woods for miles around, having hunted and roamed over them together.
It was thought that perhaps the fugitives had gone in the direction of North Adams, and an officer was sent there Thurs. morning, while the general search was partly abandoned. Though the young ruffians may evade their pursuers for a while, it is hardly possible to make a successful escape. Their photographs and descriptions will be sent broadcast. The Selectmen have offered a reward of $500 for their recovery, and mean to bring them to justice.
As there is no coroner in the vicinity, S.D. Bardwell Esq. of Shelburne Falls, as a Justice of the Peace, summoned a jury to view the remains. The jury consists of Hezekiah Smith, C.W. Shattuck, A.A. Smith, Thomas D. Purrington, H.C. Millington and Russell J. Smith. They visited the scene of the murder Wed. aft., and will meet again today, when probably a verdict in accordance with the facts we have related will be rendered.
Farnsworth’s funeral took place Thurs. morning and was largely attended by the people of the town. Rev. Mr. Cole, the Methodist clergyman of Coleraine, conducted the services. Farnsworth leaves a boy of 9 and a girl of 7. His age was about 35, and his mother, with whom he lived, is about 75. The family, though poor and ignorant, were considered of average respectability. The mother of the Davenport boy has always opposed his keeping company with Dwight, who is generally supposed to have been the leader in the matter, but the two were together a great deal, and had become hardened and desperate.
A note received by J.B. Clark, one of the Selectmen of the town on Sat., stated that there was no trace then of the murderers, but that the watch supposed to have been stolen by one of the boys, was found, and was in his possession.
Latest - Intelligence from Shelburne Falls yesterday, states that Dwight was caught about half past 10 Sat. eve. Half a dozen men were laying in wait for him around his house, and he came home at that time and fell into their clutches. The whereabouts of Davenport is not known. Dwight was put into the lock-up at Shelburne Falls yesterday morning.
[A followup to this murder can be found on p. 371 of Google Books "Publications of the American Statistical Association", 1892 - 1893. There is also mention of the sentence on p. 5 of Google Books "Public Documents of Massachusetts", 1876].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
The Bloody Brook celebration
The Bloody Brook celebration - Though crippled and discouraged by the disastrous fire, the people of South Deerfield do not propose to "back out" of the Bicentennial Celebration of the Massacre of Bloody Brook which had been arranged for next Fri. With the aid and the cooperation of the residents of Old Deerfield and neighboring towns, they propose to carry out the programme, giving the thousands who may come to participate in the honors and pleasures of the day a cordial and generous welcome.
The services of commemoration are held in connection with the sixth annual field meeting of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. The President of the day is Hon. George T. Davis of Portland, Me., with Hon. George Grennell, Hon. James S. Whitney, Col. David Wells, Rev. C.S. Brooks, James C. Arms, Henry Childs, George W. Jones, Hon. W.B. Washburn, Rev. F.A. Warfield, Rev. J.F. Moors, Col. Austin Rice for Vice Presidents.
A grand procession will be formed at the depot on the arrival of the train from the north at 10 1/2 a.m., Col. J.B. Parsons of Northampton acting as Chief Marshal. Participating in the parade will be 7 companies of Col. Parson's command, the 2nd Regiment, the South Deerfield Band, members of the Grand Army and Veterans of the late war, the officers, speakers and poets of the day, Patrons of Husbandry, aged citizens, invited guests and other civic bodies and citizens generally.
The order of exercises will be as follows: Dirge by the South Deerfield Band; opening address by George Sheldon, Chairman of the Committee; an original ode by E.W.B. Canning, sung by the Quartette Club; prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. C.S. Brooks; music by the Band; oration by Hon. George B. Loring of Salem; collation; music; poem by William Everett of Cambridge; ode by Miss Eliza A. Starr, sung by the Quartette Club; and then will follow short addresses, music, etc.
The collation will be served in the same way as at the Whatelly Centennial - paper napkins being distributed and the provisions then passed around. The Deerfield Guards had invited several companies of their regiment, intending to provide for their entertainment, but as the fire destroyed some $500 or $600 worth of property belonging to the Guards, they are almost in a bankrupt condition, and the citizens of the town have now come forward and guarantee to furnish the military with a collation.
The people who attend are supposed to carry their lunch baskets and are requested to furnish what they can for our guests of the town who come unprovided. As the hotels of the place have been destroyed, all strangers will be dependent upon the citizens for entertainment. Passengers over the Connecticut River Railroad will be transported for half fare. and the same courtesy will be extended from North Adams and stations west of Greenfield on the Vt. & Mass. road.
All Grangers who attend the Bi-centennial are requested to report at the house of Norman B. Clark, a little south of the monument near the grave of Lathrop, where a committee of the order will be in readiness to receive and wait upon them. The people of Deerfield will be called upon to contribute provisions for the occasion by solicitors in each neighborhood, and they should be prepared to contribute biscuit, cold meats and plain cake.
The Pocumtuck Lodge of Odd Fellows of Greenfield have voted to attend the gathering and parcipate in the parade. The committee of arrangements though not issuing special invitations, desire the attendance of all organizations, including the Grand Army and other secret societies.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Probate Court Record
Probate court Record - Greenfield - Administration granted on estates of George W. Bardwell of Deerfield, Jane F. Bardwell and Cyrus A. Stowell, Adm'rs.; Jeremiah Dow of Erving, Edmund M. Dow of Erving, Adm'r.; Joseph M. Townsend of Coleraine, Sarah Townsend of Coleraine, Adm'r.
Wills proved - Samuel Alexander of Northfield, George P. Alexander of Northfield, Ex'r.; Sarah Cook of Greenfield, John J. Graves and R.W. Cook of Greenfield, Ex'rs.; Ansel C. Delano of Sunderland, Jesse L. Delano and Edward A. Delano of Sunderland, Ex'rs.; Moses Hubbard of Sunderland, Cyrus M. Hubbard of Sunderland, Adm'r. with the will annexed.
Accounts rendered - on estates of William W. Alcott of Bernardston, Clark Ellis of New Salem, Clarissa Battle of Orange, Mary J. Gore of Monroe, Harriet M. Brown of Greenfield, A.M. Kingman of Deerfield, George S. Boyd of Deerfield.
License granted to sell real estate - Of John Arms of Gill, Andrew Welch of Montague, Walter D. Thompson of Troy, Ohio.
Widows' allowance - Made in estates of Rufus S. Phillips of Greenfield, $500; Edward Thayer of Greenfield, $9018.
Affidavits filed - in estate of Charles S. Brown of Greenfield, Baxter Harding of Conway, P. May Buddington of Greenfield, Rufus S. Phillips of Greenfield, Moses Field of Leverett.
Estate of Ephraim Murdock, late of Orange, represented insolvent, H. Woodward and G.A. Whipple, Commissioners.
Commissioners' report filed in estate of John Haskins, late of Shutesbury. Distribution ordered in estate of George S. Boyd, late of Deerfield.
John Quinton of Greenfield adopted infant child of William H. Seley; name changed to John George L. Quinton. Name of Flora M. Reynolds of Shutesbury changed to Flora M. Freeman. Next Probate Court at Northfield next Tues. (tomorrow).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
The Catamount Hill Coleraine Reunion
The Catamount HIll Coleraine Reunion - The reunion of the present and former members of Catamount Hill, Coleraine occurred on Wed. Sept. 1. There was quite a large gathering of people, and the exercises which were as follows, were interesting and endorsed by those present: Reading of Scriptures by Andrus Shippee [also seen as Andros Shippee], President of the day, from Benjamin Farley’s old family Bible; Prayer by Daniel Davenport, an old resident of the hill; Hymn, Coronation Chronological History, by Dr. A.F. Davenport; Hymn, arranged for the occasion:
"This mountain, ’tis of thee
Land of sweet memory
Of thee we sing
Land where our fathers died
Land of their early pride
Aye from this mountain side
Let music ring.
Our native Mountain, thee
Land of the parent tree
Thy name we love.
We love the rocks and rills
Thy woods and towering hills
Our heart within us thrills
Like that above.
Welcome from Western lands
Thrice welcome in our hands
Ye friends of yore.
From distant home released
To mingle in glad feast
With kindred from the east
As wont before.
Let music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees
Sweet memory’s song
Let every tongue awake
Let all that breathe partake
Let rocks their silence break
the sound prolong.
Our fathers, God, to thee
The highest praises be
To thee we song
Long may our lives be bright
Protect us by Thy might
Great God our King.
Family History, by Miss Emma Farley; Song, by Miss Gertrude Baker; Old Oaken Bucket, by David Cary; Sixty Years Ago, by Miss Nellie Ives; Dinner; After dinner there were speeches from a number of those present. The following is Dr. Davenport’s http://archiver.root...Y/2001-06/0991943526 address:
Chapter 1
And it came to pass in the reign of George and Martha, that certain tribes of the people who dwelt in many parts of the land, bethought themselves that they would leave their birth right to their brethren, and depart from the land of their fathers and go into a far off country, and make by the sweat of the brow a more noble inheritance, both to themselves and to their children.
And there was in these days a mighty wilderness, and no man kneweth the end thereof. Neither did any man dwell therein, save a few of the wandering tribes of the Gentiles called the "red man". And these did neither plant nor gather into barns; only slay a few wild beasts with the bow and arrow, for they were archers.
And now in the midst of the wilderness arose up even into the heavens an exceedingly high mountain, which was fair to look upon from the plains below, for it was covered with mighty trees even into the brow thereof. And then did roam upon this mountain many wild beasts, but the one that did most abound was one which was very fleet of foot, and did prey upon the lesser beasts of the forest, and upon the flocks of those who journeyed hither, and was called the catamount, and the region did very much abound in rocks which were the fastnesses of these beasts, and there was a cave which did reach even to the bowels of the earth in which these beasts did make their dens, and so much had they increased and multiplied that they were a terror to the coming tribes of the mountains, wherefore that place is called Catamount HIll to this day.
Chapter 2
Now the names of some of the tribes who first journeyed hither were these: Aaron, whose surname was Cary, Israel and Peter, and Amasa of the tribe of Shippee. Alden, who was also named Willis. Elihu of the tribe of Holden, and Paul, who was also called Davenport. And these said among themselves, come, let us get up and make some war upon the forests, and drive out the wild beasts, and make unto ourselves habitations.
And all the elders of the tribes said they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. And Aaron said unto Jemima, his wife, come, let us gather ourselves together, even from the middle of the Borough, and let us with our children travel westward, and they came and took up their abode upon the east side of the mountain.
And behold Hezekiah, whose surname was Smith, dwelt also on the east side of the mountain, even unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river. And their flocks were multiplied, for they dwelt among plants and hedges. And Peter went up and Amasa and all lsrael unto this mountain, and the tribe of Farly.
And Anan, also called Bass, went with Joseph, whose surname was Farnsworth, and they dwelt near together in the hollow according to their generations. And in those days came Paul and Alice, his wife, and they made war upon the wild beasts of the forests, and they pitched their tent and dwelt at the border thereof, where they cleared the land and had green pastures, and their flocks and herds were multiplied and they also begat children, whose names were Zacheus, Thomas and Paul, Daniel and Levi; and they also had daughters given unto them: Lydia, Sally and Alice.
And now Alice lay sick of a fever, and great fear came upon the whole household for she was nigh unto death. And Paul saddled his beast and did go for one Nathaniel, who dwelt in the valley by the river, and whose appellation was "Dr. Nat". And he came with saddlebags and he gave unto her pills of buckthorn and aloes,and the drink of herbs, queen of the meadow, motherwort and sarsaparilla, and after many days she recovered, and great rejoicing came upon all the household.
And behold Nathaniel found that she was fair to look upon, and he said, come in unto me and let us dwell together. And Alice said, I will go; and they went to dwell at the head of the meadow, in a house builded by one Artemas and Ruth. And now it came to pass after this, Joel, one of the Chiefs, and Zenas, the son of Cary, sent messengers to Nathaniel, and timbers of cedar, with masons and carpenters to build him a barn. And they builded it 40 cubits long; the stable thereof was 10 cubits, and a threshing floor 10 cubits and 20 cubits for a bay.
Chapter 3
Now it came to pass in those days, as Aaron sat in his house, that Aaron said to Jemima, his wife: "Behold, our meal getteth low, and our children hunger for bread, give unto me! I pray thee a bag that I may fill it with corn and go to the grinders". And Jemima said, go do all that is in thy heart. And Aaron arose and went. And it came to pass as he was journeying homeward from the mill, the even was come and darkness fell upon the whole land, and a great fog encompassed him about, and his way was lost. And Aaron lifted up his voice and cried aloud "Jemima! Jemima!! JEMIMA!!!"
Now Jemimah heard the cry of Aaron and answered, In here am I. But he heard her not, for her voice was weak. So she straightway took a stick and beat vehemently upon the side of the house, and Aaron hearing the sound thereof hastened homeward. Now the sons of Aaron were Zenas and Levi, but Levi died before his father and had no children. And the children of Zenas and Sally, his wife, who were of the tribe of Maxam, were these: Charlotte and Mariettie, John and George, William, David and Levi, 7 in all.
But the days of Mariettie on the earth were as a shadow, and she was not, for God took her; and Charlotte had wisdom and knowledge granted unto her, and she came in and went out before the children and taught them. And the sons of Zenas were skillful to work in stone and in timber and in tilling the land.
And behold, William was wiser than the others about bees, and the queens of Italia, and did make unto himself a great name. And David, like one of old, was a mighty man and a slayer of beasts and of cattle, and behold, the flesh thereof he did keep in markets, and with it he did feed the tribes of Aaron.
And now after many days it came to pass that Aaron and Jemima, being full of years, died. And Zenas and Sally reigned in their stead.
Chapter 4
Now Amasa, Israel and Peter were the three divisions of our tribe, who came to dwell in the hill country and they went even unto the top of the mountain and sought pastures for their flocks. Even over against the habitations of the wild beasts. And behold the house of Amasa increased greatly, and Andrus, Nancy, Jesse, Alvira and Jerusha, Henry, Chauncey, Nathan, Thankful and Kate, all these mentioned by their names, were the children of Amasa and Rhoda.
And after these days Rhoda saith unto Amasa, behold how our house has been multiplied, let us enlarge our borders, I pray thee, that there may be room in our house to dwell there. And this saying pleased Amasa and he straightway brought his cattle and his oxen, and gathered stones and timber and did build him an house, such as one as had not been there before him. He also made shingles of cedar and spruce and covered his house therewith.
Now Amasa was a man of great stature, even 5 cubits high. And Rhoda wrought fine linen and kersey, and with it did make clothes for her family and for Andrus, her first born. For behold, Rhoda was an helpmeet unto Amasa.
Now the children of Israel were Ira, Zovia, Azuba, Anan, Amasa, Catherine, Abraham, Israel, Martha and one younger called Darling. Now the children of Ira, the first born, were these: Delana, Dordana and Diana, and a son, a shepherd, who died in his youth. And Ira spake unto Dilla, his wife, to appoint their daughters to be the singers. So the daughters were appointed, and with their neighbors did often make merry with corn huskings and apple pearings [probably meant parings] with playing and dancing, making great noise with viols and with harps.
And it came to pass in these days that George took wives from the daughters of Ira, and went to dwell with Zenas, his father. And Zenas saith "Unto thee will I give the land of our fathers, even the house of Aaron, for the lot of thine inheritance" and he abode there many days. And George had exceeding much riches and honor, and he made himself treasures of silver and gold. Also storehouses for the increase of corn and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks, for God had given him substance very much.
And George prospered in all his works, and now sleeps with his fathers; and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of Aaron. And all the inhabitants of the hill town did him honor at his death, and Clark, his son, reigned in his stead.
And behold, Ira dwelt many years upon the mountain heights, well content with his lot. And one door of his house opened southward, and he was wont to remove his waistcoat and tarry long, even in the heat of the sun. Before his door, even near the steps thereof, the sweet-heart which Dilla had planted and watered waxed strong. And the sunflower towered high, even 6 cubits, and their fowls, their geese and their turkeys did gather in the shade thereof.
After these things it came to pass that Ira was stricken with a malady too grievous to be borne, and he died and rested with his father. And Dilla went to dwell in the house of her daughter, near the banks of the river; and in fullness of time she died. And behold, now the house of Ira was left desolate.
Chapter 5
And it came to pass in those days that Peter saw that it was not good for man to dwell alone. Now Dorcas was of the tribe of the Pikes, and Peter saw that she was fair, and he said unto her: "Dorcas, if you love me less buss [?] and they went to dwell together; and they builded them an house near the brook by the side of a rock, and nigh unto the habitations of Paul and of Levi. And lo! a mighty storm arose and it beat vehemently upon the house, but it fell not for it was founded by the rock, and darkness was upon the whole land for it was night.
And lo! while Peter and Dorcas slept, a thunderbolt descended from the heavens and did rend the house, and even the bed whereon they slept! and behold, it did divide in twain the soap trough, and did scatter the contents broadcast over the house and the children. And the dog and the swine were killed, and grat fear came upon all the household. And Peter arose and spake unto Dorcas, his wife, "Come, let us arise and give thanks unto the Lord, for he has been merciful unto us; He has saved us from the mighty judgments of the Lord".
And the next day was the Sabbath, and many people gathered in the house of the Lord, and as they went, they tarried at the house of Peter and Dorcas, and with them did offer up thankofferings [sic] that they were saved from the terrors of the thunderbolt, and He had made their lives precious in his sight. And Peter gathered with all the people in the house of the Lord, and Myres, the Elder, arose and said "The Lord hath been good unto his people; yea, He hath showed a great mercy even unto the house of Peter".
So Peter arose and sang a hymn:
"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm".
And all the people said amen. And the Lord blessed Peter and his seed was multiplied: Peter, Susie, Rolly and Fanny, Annie,, Josiah, Patience, Eliza, Paul, Silas and Mila. These were his children - 11 in all.
Chapter 6
And it came to pass in those days that Daniel the prophet was joined to one of the tribe of Barnes, and her name was Patty: and Daniel was famous in his time as an expounder of the Scriptures, mighty in speech, and all the people came to hear him declare the truth on his day. And behold, he was sorely distressed, inasmuch as his substance was oftimes destroyed by fire, and desolation came upon his whole household.
And Daniel humbled himself before the God of his fathers, and the Lord favored Daniel and greatly blessed his household. And these were the sons of Daniel: David, Thomas, Alonzo, Orrie, Tirtious and Hiram; but the names of his daughters were Lucinda, Emily and Caroline. And it came to pass that these all went by themselves in families, some even to the four quarters of the earth, but David and Lucinda did abide near the house of their father.
And after these days Patty the Prophetess died, and Daniel lamented sore. But in process of time, it came to pass that Mary entered into Daniel’s house, and lo! there was restored unto him sevenfold in Mary, who was greater by far than all his former household. For since the time of the fathers there was not found the like in all the tribes of the mountain.
Chapter 7
Now it came to pass that Abraham, the son of Farnsworth, dwelt in the house of Joseph; and after many days Joseph died and Abram [sic] reigned in his stead, with Dolly, who was of the house of Holden. Now Abram was a tiller of the land, and behold, he was barefooted on the top of his head, as was also his father before him. And it came to pass that Orin was pleased with Roxy, the daughter of Abram, and he took her to wife, and they went to dwell in the house left by Nathaniel; and after many days Orin died, and Roxy tarried and reigned there.
And Riley, her brother, did dwell in the house of their father Abram. Now Dolly’s two brothers, Elihu and John, dwelt also on the south side of the mountain near the house of Anan, whose surname was Bass, and behold Anan had an impediment in his speech, and when he was old and infirm he rested from his labors; and Adna and Rebecca reigned there many years after.
Chapter 8
And it came to pass that Abram, the son of Shippee, said unto himself, Behold, I myself am a man, and I will leave even the house of my father Israel. And he married a wife from the tribe of Farley, and her name was Lucy, and they builded them an habitation and dwelt on the north side of the mountain. Now there were daughters born unto them (but behold the son shone not his face in all their household).
Fanny, Jane and Nancy, Martha, Almira and Parthena were the names of the daughters of Abraham. And it came to pass that when men did multiply on the mountains, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons saw the daughters, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. And one, a Levite, took the firstborn of Abram; and behold all the daughters were scattered abroad. And after the death of Lucy desolation came upon the whole house. And again, after many days, Abram was joined to another and went to dwell near the plains, in an Ashfield.
Chapter 9
And it came to pass that Peter, the brother of Paul and Silas, said unto Polly, let us pitch our tent and dwell near the house of our fathers, for so it seemeth good. And now behold near by their habitation was a dense swamp, and Peter was a man of great daring, and he fain would have walked upon the surface thereof, but his faith was weak, for there was much water there.
And behold a great calamity fell upon Peter, inasmuch as his nose was divided asunder and one of his eyes were blinded by the kick of old Gilpin, and Peter was sore discouraged, and all his household; and he said unto Polly, "Come, let us journey into a far country, where peradventure we shall find greener pastures for our flocks, and a richer inheritance for our children".
And they went on their journey and Nathaniel possessed the land. And behold Nathaniel was a man of great stature and of large understandings, and he was wont to remove the coverings thereof, and to tarry long among the eels and turtles that did much abound in the meadow ditches.
Now the length of this meadow, and the breadth thereof, was exceedingly great, and in it were many islands, both great and small, covered with trees and shrubs, and with herbs; and lo, Nathaniel and Alice were wont to go out and bring in of the abundance thereof in their season; for behold Nathaniel was a disciple of Hippocrates, and was possessed of the healing art in a great degree; and he had vessels of wood and of iron in which he did compound medicines for the cure of divers maladies.
And now it came to pass when the harvest was ended, and winter drew near, Nathaniel spent the long evenings thereof making baskets of willow, and hooping the sieves which Alice did weave from hair, and did bind with the leaves of the flag. And now Robert, their firstborn, was skillful to work in brass and in iron, and to grave all manner of graving, and to find out any device that was put to him.
And lo, it came to pass that he was pierced with a chisel, and so were his days numbered. And now Nathaniel’s 4th son was called Truair, after one, a high priest, who traveled the circuit of the hill country. Now Truair did in habits much resemble his father; he was a tiller of the ground, and he bethought himself that he would journey in a far country, where he might find more fertile fields; and he bought a parcel of land where he spread his tent.
And there his possessions increased much. And it came to pass in the sixth month - the month Sivan - that he was cultivating the land, when lo, there descended upon him a thunderbolt; and he was taken up dead, and they buried him in the field of burial, in the land of strangers.
And now it came to pass that there was born unto Nathaniel a daughter, and her name was called Lydia. Now Nathaniel and Alice did set their hearts upon her, because she was their only daughter, and well favored. So Lydia dwelt in her father’s household until his death. And she did many things that were praiseworthy, for behold she was a woman zealous of good works. And after many days it came to pass that Lydia was beloved by one Emerson, of the tribe of Cary, and they dwelt henceforth with the Adamonians.
Now Ammon, Joseph, and Jason were also of the household of Nathaniel, and behold they were diligent in sowing wild oats among the rooks and the hedges, and even over the ridgepole of the houses and barns. And after they were well brushed in, it came to pass that they did leave their father’s house, and did join themselves into the society of the Odentologues. And behold they were skillful in the making of gold and silver and of ivory, and did make appliances of cunning device and workmanship, which did even eat and speak for themselves; and all the Edentulous did greatly rejoice.
So they were very diligent in repairing the crumbling incisors, bicuspids and molars, and in all that, pertained to "restoring the contour of the human face divine". And behold one went to dwell with the Gothamites, by the border of the sea; but Joseph builded him an habitation in the Norwood of the Connecticut. and lo, it came to pass, that the house of Ammon was sawn asunder, and again, after many days, it was joified and perfected; and the household of Ammon did rejoice greatly in that they did dwell in broader fields, even in the "valley view" of the winding Hoosac River.
Chapter 10
And it came to pass that Levi was a shepherd born (not made) and behold to him fell the inheritance of Paul his father, and he took up his abode there, and did build him an house of hewn logs and timber. Now the house of Levi was more comely than that of Paul, inasmuch as it was broader and higher and was divided into diverse compartments for the convenience of his family. And behold Susan was exceeding glad and said, Come now, let us build storehouses for our flocks, houses for bees, and also for our cheese.
And now Levi was a man of great cunning and he was skillful int he hiving of bees, and their swarms did greatly increase and behold their household did flow with milk and honey. Now Levi possessed lands in great abundance, and his pastures did much abound in rocks and stones, and no beast could feed thereon, save that their noses were well sharpened. So their pastures did run over with sheep and with lambs, both great and small.
And in these days it came to pass that Levi and Susan did take in abundance of the first fruits of flocks, and of cheese and of honey, and of all the increase of the fields, and the tithe of all these things brought them in abundantly, and their coffers were filled with gold and silver. And behold Levi begat great honor unto himself, inasmuch as he tarried long to possess the lands of his fathers.
Chapter 11
And it came to pass that sundry members of Amasa’s household did journey westward; and one of the daughters tarried just over the mountain, and was joined to one David whose surname was Ives. And Kate, the younger, did worship the son of Simeon the Myres, and again she was made one of the tribe of Benjamin. And behold after many days she did return to the house of her father.
Now Nathan did much resemble his father in that he was tall and of a comely countenance, and he went to dwell in the Hub, where he did dispense to the tribes thereof of the milk of human kindness.
And now Chauncey the brother of Nathan was exceeding tall, even 5 cubits and over. And it came to pass in the reign of King Winter, when he did give his snow like wood, and did scatter his ice like morsels, and his hoar frost like ashes, that one Barton did gather together all the children of the hill tribes saying: harken ye unto me, and I will dispense unto you knowledge and wisdom, and learning in great abundance.
And now much learning did make Chauncey mad, and so he did sit down heavy upon his seat, and low the teacher was sore vexed, and commanded Chauncey that he rise and sit down again. And lo, Chauncey did all that was commanded him in that he did sit down threefold heavier than before, whereupon the teacher did rend his clothes and he drew forth a raw hide and with it Chauncey was beaten with many stripes until the ire of his wrath was kindled.
And behold he leaped over the counter and seized the teacher by the throat, and held him down until he begged for his life. And behold they armed themselves with shovels and with tongs, that they might be defended against the assaults of each other, and there arose a great tumult, and all the children quaked with fear and trembling. And it came to pass that when the noise of these things went abroad, Joel, Zenas and Levi consulted together, and Mary, the daughter of Smith reigned in his stead.
And now Andros the first born of Amasa was a captain and a man of great might, in that he did brave the storms and tempests of the mountain; he was also a man of great courage and daring in that he did dwell many years nearer the lions than any of the other tribes of the mountain; even after all his father’s household had forsaken him and gone. Now Andros did search diligently among all the daughters of the hill country, but found not one who would do him honor. So he chose to dwell alone in single blessedness, and verily he shall not lose his reward.
Chapter 12
Now it came to pass in those days that Alice said unto Emily, Behold, how sin doth abound, and the love of many doth wax cold. Come, let us assemble ourselves together, there am I in their midst. So they took their hymn books and journeyed to the old school house and lighted their candle and placed it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it might give light unto all the house. Then after Alice had arisen from her knees they did sing an hymn. And Emily arose and said "Behold, this is the house of the Lord, let us assemble often together"; so Alice lifted up her voice and said "Amen" and they departed to their own households.
And it came to pass that the noise of these things did spread abroad throughout all the region round about. And behold all the tribes of the hill country were greatly moved and they came together by scores and by hundreds. Now Haynes, one of the elders of the people arose, and behold he was like unto Saul the son of Kish, in that he was taller by head and shoulders than the rest of the people, and he cried with a loud voice "Brethren and sisters, hearken unto me". and a great silence fell upon all the multitudes and he said "behold we are all gathered together from near and from far, let us give thanks unto the Lord, sing psalms unto his name".
Now Daniel, whose surname was Dwight, broke forth into singing:
"My chains fell off: glory! I cried
Was it for sinners Jesus died etc. etc. [sic]"
And all the people said amen and amen. And Zenas, who was greatly beloved by all the people, arose and said "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever". And behold he did free his mind of a great burden which lay heavily upon it in that he did tell to the brethren and sisters that "he dreamed a dream; and it amounted even unto a vision". And all the people gave ear unto him, and after he had sat down behold Alice broke forth into singing:
"Oh that my load of sin were gone".
And scarcely had the voice of singing died away, when Sarah the Prophetess, the daughter of Hanshaw arose, and as she spoke a great silence fell on all the multitude for she spake of one Joel who had been suddenly taken to his death.
Now all the brethren and sisters knew and loved Joel, and they did mourn sincerely for him. And when these words sounded in their ears, their hearts were filled with sorrow; and they expressed themselves in singing mournfully. And it came to pass that Rebecca arose. Now Rebecca was a woman greatly beloved, and all the people gave ear to her as she said "It rejoiceth my heart greatly to meet with the brethren and sisters, who have come from near and from far". And when she had sat down all the people said amen.
Presently Peter arose, and his head was white and glistening, and a halo glowed around it, and his face did shine even as the light; and he blessed God with all his heart and soul; and behold, all his kinsfolk and neighbors became as lambs for quietness. But Per was greatly beloved, and when he had made an end of his sayings, he sang with a loud voice:
"On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land
Where my possessions lie".
And after this Samuel whose surname was Brown, arose and opened his mouth and said unto them "Men and brethren, it is with me as with Naaman the Syrian, when Elisha bade him go wash in Jordan; yea, more, it was as if the Jordan had been frozen over, and he had been bidden to go wash 7 times in the river. But he essayed the task, and said "Behold I have been ashamed of my brethren in the days that are past, but now do I greatly rejoice to see them zealous of good works". And Nathan, the son of Burns arose, and all the people knew that he had somewhat to say.
And Nathan said "He felt somewhat cold and lukewarm" and sat down, and all the people broke frorh into singing:
"Come Holy spirit heavenly dove
With all thy quickening powers
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours"
And now it came to pass that Daniel the prophet arose. Now behold he was a prophet born (not made) and when the spirit seizeth him, the voice of Daniel was like the balm of Gilead, even like precious ointment upon their heads, that ran down upon the beard; even Aaron’s beard that went down to the skirts of his garments.
Now after this it came to pass that the hour was late and Myres the elder arose, and behold he was halt, and like Samson of old his locks were long and flowing. And he said "My brethren and sisters, if any man does ought to his neighbor, he must go to him and make restitution, or he can never enter into the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem". and all the people said amen and amen.
Now what shall I say more, for the time would fail me, to speak of Sister Farley and others who through faith wrought righteousness and obtained the promise. So after they had sung an hymn, they all departed and slept. And as for the rest of the doings of the tribes, are they not all written in the chronicles of our memory?
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Died
Whitney, Daisy Gertrude, age 7 months, daughter of J.D. Whitney and Emma M. Whitney, died in Greenfield on Sept. 3. "Death gathers in their earthly bloom / these little human flowers..."[Poem follows].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Died
Wilson, Dr. Milo, age 68, died in Shelburne Falls on Sept. 3. He received his medical education and diploma from the Medical College in Pittsfield, then a department of Williams College, in 1838. He commenced his practice of medicine in Ashfield. He was married in 1839 to the lady who now survives him. He removed to this village in 1845, and continued here the practice of his profession.
He has always taken an active part in local politics. He was of decided opinions, seldom on the popular side, and never shunned, rather courted opposition, thereby making some warm friends; he also incurred a good deal of enmity. He served as Representative in 1853, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1854. He was a strictly honest man, and more kindly in feeling and more charitable than others often give him credit for.
The last few years of his life were spent in great weakness of body, but his decease was sudden and unexpected. He leaves but one child, a son, Dr. C.M. Wilson, who has just commenced the practice of medicine, and in whose establishment the father has taken every lively interest. Dr. Wilson's funeral will occur today at 3 p.m.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Vernon Vt.
Vernon Vt. - The town has just completed a very nice tomb, 8 ft. by 10, and 7 ft. high, inside. The front wall is of granite, 25 tons from Black Mountain, Dummerston. The work is done in a neat and substantial way by David J. Bailey of West Dummerston. The back and side walls are 2 or more ft. thick, of coarse slate laid in water cement, plastered with same on inside and lined with 4 or 5 large flag stones, also floor of the same material.
The roof consists of 2 heavy flagstones, resting in the center on 2 large bars of iron. The shelves on either side are of slate planed smooth, 2 ft. wide, 2 inches thick and 2 ft. space between them. Shelves from Granby Center, N.Y., door from New Haven, Ct. of boiler iron with space in centre [sic].
The whole, except the front wall, is neatly covered with earth. The estimated weight of stone used is 100 tons. The structure is pronounced as good as the best and reflects great credit to the builder, Tyler L. Johnson. It costs the town about $700. The building committee were W. Whithed, J.F. Burrows, and L. Brown (Vermont Record).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Sunderland
(Sunderland) Ansel C. Delano, who died on the 25th, age 68, was born and has passed his life near the church in S., of which he was many years an exemplary member. He buried two wives and 3 children, and left 4 sons to mourn the loss of the "best of fathers".
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
The Belchertown tragedy
Of course the death of Nettie Barrett, aged 17, by her own hand at Belchertown, and the narrow escape of her companion, Frances S. Bridgman, 14 years old, from a like fate, have created the profoundest sensation in that quiet community’, and the funeral of the former at the Methodist Church Sun. was largely attended. Indeed the whole affair is such a strangely sad one that there is a wide interest to learn all possible particulars concerning it.
The girls were bright and attractive, belonging to the higher village circles. Miss Barrett was sent to Belchertown last April by her mother, who lives at south Amherst, to continue her education, and was to have been examined for the High School Sat., and baptized Sun. in the Church which witnessed her burial; and Miss Bridgman, who had been her almost constant companion of late, was the adopted daughter of Calvin Bridgman.
Miss Barrett had the reputation of being a rather wild person, and the girls were in the habit of being out late nights. Miss Barrett was the leader, and her conduct had become so notorious that her guardian, Franklin Dickinson, had a serious talk with her Thurs. on her behavior. When she returned that eve., she remarked to Mrs. Daniel Packard, with whom she was stopping, that they "wouldn’t be troubled with her being out any more nights".
At 8 o’clock, she and Miss Bridgman - who had been secreted in the room - were observed by neighbors to leave the house. They procured the fatal morphine at the drug store of Mr. Barnes, the elder, a few days before, they had unsuccessfully undertaken to get the poison of the son, who refused to give it without a prescription. Mr. Barnes claims that he supposed it was for Calvin Bridgman. At what time and how the girls got into Packard’s house again is not known.
About half past 7 o’clock Fri. morning, Mrs. Owen, with whom Frances Bridgman was boarding during her parent’s absence, came over in the greatest alarm about her, saying that the night before the girl had left, after bidding them a tearful farewell. Mrs. Packard went immediately to the room and there the victims lay, one in a deadly stupor and the other writhing in terrible agony.
The bed was covered with candy, and Miss Bridgman explained that they had overeaten of this. Efforts were made to revive Miss Barrett, who refused to take anything but cold water, and then determinedly said "Go away, I want to sleep". When Mrs. Packard had left the room for help, Miss Bridgman hailed a little girl and threw down this note, written in a confused, uncertain hand, and unsigned:
"Mr. Barnes - will you be so kind as to send me as much chloroform as here is money enough, five cents’ worth?"
She threw down also two letters directed to George T. Slauter, Belchertown, and Wilbur F. Nichols, at Wilbraham Academy, bidding them farewell and asking them to act as bearers. Then followed an exciting scene in the little bedroom Poor Nettie Barrett was dying. Miss Bridgman confessed that they had taken the morphine, that the candy was only a ruse, that there had been scandalous stories in the town about them, that she did not wish ever to see her parents again, and hoped and expected to die.
She quietly watched her dying companion and waited for the expected chloroform. With the death of Miss Barrett however, came the desire to live, and she requested salt and water to enable her to vomit more.
The wonderful nerve and mingled frankness and cunning of these little misses as displayed during the whole affair, are brought out by the scenes immediately preceding the tragedy. Only 5 hours before they entered the little bed room, they gayly played croquet with some young people, holding in their hands the candy which they were to sprinkle on the bed.
Miss Bridgman wrote what she thought was her last letter to her father, in simple, affectionate, yet determined words. She would meet her parents in a world where there were no scandalous tongues, and where they could live in peace.
[Now don’t ask me how I got there, but I believe that Frances S. Bridgman is actually Emma Francis Bridgman, daughter of Franklin A. Bridgman, born in 1860].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
News of the week
Emily A. Cowell, Adella N. Cowell and Ellen L. Cowell, 3 sisters, and all of them former teachers in the High School at Waterbury, Ct. were recently buried on 3 consecutive days.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
Solomon Ray (poem)
A hard close man was Solomon Ray
Nothing of value he gave away
He hoarded and saved
He pinched and shaved
And the more he had the more he craved
The hard-earned dollars he toiled to gain
Brought him little but care and pain
For little he spent
And all he lent
He made it bring him twenty per cent
Such was the life of Solomon Ray
The years went by, and his hair grew gray
His cheeks grew thin
And his soul within
Grew hard as the dollars he worked to win
But he died one day as all men must
For life is fleeting and man but dust
The heirs were gay
That laid him away
And that was the end of Solomon Ray.
They quarreled now who had little cared
For Solomon Ray while his life was spared
His lands were sold
And his hard-earned gold
All went to the lawyers, I am told.
Born in Keokuk, Iowa Aug. 14, a son to Sedgwick Harding, formerly of Conway.
[Sedgwick is mentioned in the will of Esther Harding Dickinson, which can be found at the Deerfield Memorial Hall Museum Online "American Centuries" site].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
Hampshire County items
By a peculiarly hard fate, the aged Michael Flynn of Westfield, who had been confined at the Northampton jail, died Sat. 21st, the very day his sentence of 5 years expired. He was 70 years old, and had prepared for death by willing his several hundred dollars worth of property to the Northampton Catholic Church.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
Shelburne Falls
(Shelburne Falls) A remarkable instance of honor has lately been shown where a poor man has paid the amount due on a note which had been outlawed 20 years. We shall have an honest tear to drop at that man's funeral.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
An old story
The following was told me by the late Theodore Hoyt of Bernardston, father of Richard Hoyt. Mr. Hoyt’s father was Jonathan Hoyt, born in the old Indian House at Deerfield and son of landlord Hoyt. He built a house upon his father’s land at West Deerfield, probably around 1760, where he lived to old age, and sent out into the world a large family of children and grand-children. Here Mr. T. Hoyt was born.
The family were obliged to cross the Deerfield river to attend the public meetings of the town, and to the post office and store. Much of the time the river was crossed in a wooden canoe, which was kept near the old cemetery , as the river at this time was making its way very near its sacred enclosure, and it was feared that it would disturb the sleeping inmates.
Mr. Hoyt was returning from the village, and had entered a ravine on the farm now owned by Salmon Chapman, when a raccoon started up and ran. Mr. Hoyt went for him. He said in those days they did not let any thing disturb them. The raccoon ran under some rubbish and roots of trees, which he began to remove, when he saw a large copper kettle, which he thought was taken by the Indians from the village of King Philip’s time, or in 1704, and buried there.
The old kettle was taken home, but a large hole was found in it, making it unfit for use; but neighbor Deacon Jehiel Jones, grandfather of G.W. Jones and Charles Jones, gave him an old kettle to mend it with, and it did good service for many years. Near where the kettle was found, the Indians had a cemetery and an armory, or a spot for burying arrowheads and other war implements.
The Indians were mostly buried in a sitting posture. This brought the head near the top of the ground. Mr. Hoyt said, when they plowed this land, the plows would cut off and turn out the Indians’ skulls. Oh, what a harvest Mr. Sheldon and Dr. Hitchcock would have gathered from that field! - enough to have filled several shelves of their cabinet.
This farm was then owned by Mr. Hoyt’s brother, father of S.B. Hoyt of Bernardston. The present owner, Mr. Chapman, found deposited in a cavity, 60 or 70 arrow heads, showing it to be a place of deposit. These, we are sorry to say, fell under the eye of Dr. Hitchcock a little too soon after they were found, and are now deposited in the Indian cabinet at Amherst College, with a promise to be returned to Deerfield and deposited in the Memorial Hall when completed. (N. Hitchcock)
- Sat, Feb 13, 2010
