Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter 78: Brookfield, 1889 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 78: Brookfield

A LITTLE south of what is nearly the centre of Massachusetts there is a territory about eight miles square lying for the most part within the limits of Worcester County and including a small tract of land in Hampshire County, which, as early as the year 1647, attracted the attention of settlers along the coast, who were seeking favorable spots for farming and pasturage. It was occupied by the Quabaug tribe of Indians, and had been cleared by them to such an extent that its hillsides and plains, together with the meadows watered by the rivers and streams flowing through them, offered a rich prize to those who were adventurous enough to wander into the wilderness so far from the more thickly-settled villages and towns along and near the shore. The Quabaug Indians by some historians have been called a distinctive tribe, and by others they are supposed, with the Agawams and Waranakes and Naunotuks and Pacomptucks and Squakheags, along the Connecticut River, the Nipmucks proper, a little farther to the eastward, and the Nashaways, a little farther to the north, to have formed the great Nipmuck tribe. They exhibit, however, in their history, an individuality which warrants the belief that they were an independent tribe, acting only by voluntary association with other tribes and under the rule of sachems not their own. It is stated on undeniable authority that when suffering from the hostile attitude of other tribes they ajjpcaled to Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanosgs, for assistance, and that late in life that sachem dwelt among them and became their ruler. Indeed, it is more than probable that the famous warrior of Mount Hope was the sagamore of the Quabaugs in 1661, and that in that year or the next, while Wamsutta, his son, was the acting sachem of the Wampanoags, died among his new-found followers.

At the time at which this narrative opens Springfield, settled in 1636, was the only town on the west and the nearest towns on the east were Lancaster, planted in 1643 ; Concord, settled in 1635, and Sudbury, in 1639. These new settlements were reached by the Indian trails or paths, along which the immigrant could only travel on horseback or on foot ; but these trails leading from the villages of the Indians to various points on Massachusetts Bay, Mount Hope Bay and Long Island Sound were looked on by the early settlers, inured as they were to hardship and fatigue, and eager in their efforts to secure the ownership of land, as easy avenues to the prizes they sought.

The territory to which we have referred was called Quabaug, and gave its name to the tribe occupying it. As pronounced by the Indians, it was Squapauke or Squabaug, and signified "'red water place," or "red pond,'' and was so called from the reddish color of the bottom underlying the various sheets of fresh water with which it abounded. According to J. H. Temple, whose exhaustive and interesting "History of North Brookfield'' hasaftbrded much material for this narrative, the various villages of the Quabaug tribe lay along the different trails which intersected its territory, the largest of which was the Wekabaug village, in what is now West Brookfield. The native word was Wekapauke, meaning " at the end of the pond," and was adopted by the English as the name of Wekabaug Pond, containing about three hundred acres and lying near West Brookfield village. Another large village was Quobagud or Quobacutt, in the east part of Brookfield, near wh.at is now called Quabaug Pond, and still another was Ashquoach village, north of Great Pond, in Brimtield, and others still were the Quassuck, in what is now Sturbridge, and Putikookuppog, on the south side of the Quinebaug River, near the present line between Sturbridge and Bromfield.

The Quabaug territory is watered by the Quabaug River, which is formed by the union of the Five Mile River and the Seven Mile River and flows into Quabaug Pond. It leaves the pond at its westerly end and flows through what is now the town of Warren, uniting afterwards with Ware River, where it takes the name of Chicopee River, and empties into the Connecticut in the town of Chicopee. Numerous brooks, of more or less size and importance, enter Quabaug River at various points, including Moore's Brook, Stone's Brook, Coy's Brook, Sucker Brook, New Mill Brook, Cheney's Brook, Mason's Brook,

Salmon Brook, Dean's Brook, Wigwam Brook and miuiy other small streams, some of which in early and later times have furnished water for wheels of industry. Among the ponds which dot the territory, are the Quabaug Pond, more than five hundred acres in extent; South Pond, nearly two hundred acres; Wekabaug Pond, three hundred acres, and Cranberry, North. Horse and Perry Ponds, of smaller dimensions. Such was the territory when, in 1647, it first came within the notice of the government of the Massachusetts Colony. In that year the Quabaug tribe suffered from the raids of marauding Indians of other tribes, and applications for aid were sent by Quacunquasit, the sachem of the tribe, to the Massachusetts Governor. At the same time John Eliot became interested in the tribe, and in 1649 made a visit to their vilUiges, an account of which he gave in a letter, from which the following is an extract, dated Roxbury, December 29, 1649:

There ie another iigtd Sachem at Qviobagud, three score miles westward, and he dotb greatlj' desire that I would come thither and teach them and live there ; and I made a journey thither this summer and I went hy Nashaway ; but it so fell out that there were some stirs betwixt the Narraganset and Monahegan Indians, some murders committed, etc., which made our church doubtful at fii"stof my going; which, when llie Nashaway Sachem (Sholan) heard, be commanded twenty armed men {after their manner) to be ready, and himself, with these twenty men, besides sundry of our near Indians, went along with me to guard me ; but I took some English along with me also, so that hereby their good aftection is manifested to me and to the work I have in hand. Here also (at Quobagud) I found sundry hungering after instruction; but it pleased God to exercise us with such tedious rain and bad weather that we were extreme wet, in so mucli that I was not dry night nor day from the third day of the week unto the sixth, but so travelled, and at niglit prll off my boots, wring my stockings and on with them again and so continued. The rivers also were raised, so as that we were wet riding through ; but that which added to my afiBiction was my horse tired so that I was forced to let my horse go empty and ride on one of the men's horses, which I took along with me. Yet God slept in and helped ; I considered that the word of God (2 Tim. 2: 3), "Endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ," with many other such like meditations. . . - And I thank the Lord neither I nor my company took any hurt.

The Indian trail followed by Eliot was doubtless one of the Connecticut trails which ran through the present towns of Weston, Sudbury, Stow, Lancaster, Princeton, Barre, New Braintree, Wa'-ren, Brimfield and Springfield. This simple record of the Indian a(..ostle shows the bold and adventurous spirit which characterized the early settlers of New England, who, having migrated from comfortable English homes and experienced the comparative discomforts with which a life in the towns and villages along the coast were surrounded, were willing and even eager to push still farther into the wilderness to unknown regions, where to hardship and exposure and want were added the dangers which the nearness of savage Indians constantly threatened. No explanation of this spirit is satisfactory that does not emphasize the greedy desire which every Englishman must have felt for that which the opportunity offered - the possession of land. To most, if not all, of the immigrants to our shores such a po>^ses>ion was a new privilege. Landed possessions, which in the old country were confined to the noble or wealthy classes, inspired them with hopes newly born, with aspirations never before experienced, and laid before their eyes visions of untold prosperity and worldly success.

Such as has been here described was the Quabaug territory, when only a few years later, in 1660, some of theinhabitantsof Ipswich petitioned the General Court for a grant of land, which was accorded ia the following language of the records:

In ansr to the peticon of severall the inhabitants of Ipswich this Court Judgeth it meete to Graunt the petitioners sixe miles square or so much land as shall be coutejned in such a Compasse in a place nere Quoboag ponds provided they have twenty lixmilyes there resident within .3 yeai-s & that tbey have an able minister settled there within the said terme such as ther court shall approve & that they make due provision in some way or other for the future either by setting apart of land in what else shall be thought meete for the Continuance of the ministry amongst them ; and that If they shall faile in any of these particulars above mentioned this Graunt of the Court to be Toyd & of none etfect.

Precisely who the grantees were is not known, but John Warner, John Ayres and William Prichard were probably among their number. John Ayres and John Warner appeared first at Ipswich in 1648, and William Prichard in 1G49. These three men are supposed to have visited Quabaug in 1660 with the view of selecting definitely a place of settlement; but owing to Indian troubles no further action was taken under the grant until 1665. In that year it is believed that John Warner, with his son Samuel, John Ayres, Thomas Parsons and Thomas Wilson, took up a settlement, building houses and making other preparations for a permanent home. Wilson was probably a young man, and was the sonof Theophilus Wilson, who first appeared at Ipswich in 1636. Parsons was also a young man, only twenty years of age, and was born in Windsor. It is not unlikely that his father had removed from Essex County and was thus naturally associated with the settlers of Quabaug.

Previous to this settlement in 1665 and since 1647, at which date this narrative opened, new towns not far distant had been organized. Hadley, earlier known by the Indian name, Norwottock, was incorporated May 20, 1661, and Northampton October 18, 1654, and these towns with Springfield constituted Hampshire County at the date of its incorporation. May 7, 1662.

These three towns, though they had long enjoyed the privileges of municipal government, had not previously been included in either Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk or Middlesex Counties, the four counties into which the colony of Massachusetts was divided in 1643. Special enactments were at various times passed providing for the administration of justice within their limits, but they were associated with no county organization. As will be seen by the following act incorporating Hampshire County in 1662, the Quabaug territory fell within its boundaries, and

Forasmuch as the inhabitants of this jurisdiction are much encrsased 80 that niiw tliey are planted farre into tlie country upon Conecticott River, who, by reason uf tlieir remotenes cannot conveniently be annexed to any of the countyes already setled &, that publicke affaires may, with more facility, be transacted according to lawes heere established, it is ordered by the Court & authority thereof that henceforth Springfeild, Northampton and Hadley shall be & hereby are constituted as a county the bounds or Ijmitts on the south to be the south Ijne of the pattent, the extent of other bounds to be full thirtj" miles distant from any or either of the foresajd tonnes, & what tonnes or villages soever shall hereafter be erected w'tiin the foresajd precincts to be & belong to the sajd county ; and further that the sajd county shall be called Hampshire, & shall have & enjoy the libertjee & priviledges of any other County ; & that Springfeild shall be the ehiie toune there, & the Courta to be kept one time at Springfeild & another time at Northampton ; the like order to be observed fur their ehire meetings, that is to say, one yeere at onetouuo A the next yeare at the other, from time to tjine. And it is further ordered that all the inhabitants of that shire shall pay their publicke rates to the countrey in fatt catle or young catle, aiich as are fitt to be putt off, that so no unnecessary damage be put on the country ; &, in case they make payment in corne, then to be made at such prices as the lawo doe comonly passe amongst themselves, any other former or annuall orders referring to the prices of corne notwithstanding.

The settlement of these western towns, together with the grant of fonr thousand acres near Quabaug to John Eliot, stimulated the Quabaug grantees to occupy the lands before it was too late. Even at the date of their occupation the three years' limitation of their grant had expired, and a petition was presented to the General Court by the settlers, asking for a new grant, to which the court responded by the passage of the following order :

May 15, 1GG7. In ans' to the petition of the inhabitants at Quabaug ; This Court having perused the grant which the Generall Court made anno 1060 to the tirst undertakers from that place, doe fiude that

1. By their non observance of the condition of their grant, the same is altogether vojd, & that now the ordering & disposing tbereof i* wholly in this Court's power ;

2. Considering that there is already at Quabatige about sixe or seven familyes, &, that the place may he capable of receiving many more, this Court will readily grant them the liberty of a township when they shall be in a fitt capacity.

3. In the meane time this Court appoints Cap*. John Pynchon, John Aires, W"'. Prichard, Richard Coy & John Younglow, or any three of them, whereof Capt. Pinchon to ho one of the three who shall have power to admitt inhabitants, grant lands & to order all the prudentiall affaires of the p!ace in all respects untill it shall appeare that the place shall be so farr settled with able men, aa this Court may judge meete to give them the full liberty of a touneship according to lawe.

4. Because the inhabitants of Ipswich made the first motion for that plantation, A some of them have hinn at charges about it, although by their remisse prosecution they have now lost all their right, yet such of them as shall setle there by midsummer come twelve moneth, they shall have an interest in the lands there in proportion with others ; but if, by that time, they shall not he there setled, they shall then loose their lauds &. all their charges, which they have been att upon ye place.

5. They are to take care for the getting & mayntayning of a godly minister among them, i- that no evill persons, enemjes to tbe lawe of this commonweale in judgment or practice, be receaved as inhabitants.

G, For promoting of tbe aforesajd plantation &, incouragemeut thereof tl'.is Court dooth now grant that plantation seven yeares freedom from all publick rates & taxes to tbe country, provided these inhabitants of Ipswich, which intend to inhabit at Quabauge by midsummer come twelve month, doe engage to give security to the abovesajd committee, within three moneths after the date hereof, that they will performe accordingly, that so others that would setle there may not bo hindered.

Richard Coy was probably an Essex County man, though not of Ipswich, and John Younglow was probably son of Samuel Younglove, who appeared in Ipswich in 1G35. Captain John Pynchon was born in England in 1G27, and came to New England in 1630 with his father, William Pynchon, a leader iu the settlement of Springfield in 1636. William, the father, who was at one time treasurer of the Massachusetts Colony, and for many years an assistant iu the government, published in England in 1650 a book entitled "Meritorious Price of Christ's Redemption," in opposition to the Calvinistic view of the atonement, which caused his deposition from the magistracy. His book was burned on Boston Common by order of the Court, and, in consequence of persecutions which followed, he returned to England in 1652. His son, John, mentioned in the grant above-quoted, was for fifty years a magistrate of Springfield and one of the founders of Northampton in 1654. He died January 17, 1703. It was undoubtedly thought judicious by the General Court to appoint one alien member on the committee, and that, unlike the occupants of Quabaug lands, who were men probably of no experience iu public affairs, he should be familiar with the methods and requirements of municipal administration.

In the mean time, before the regrant was made by the court, the old grantees took measures to secure a release from the Indians of their title in the lands which their grant covered and negotiated with Ensign Thomas Cooper, of Springfield, to take a deed in his own nacbe. This he did, but afterwards assigned his interest to the grantees. The following is the Indian deed :

These Presents Testify That Shattoockquis, alias Shadookis, the sole & propper owner of certayne lands at Quabauge, hereafter named, Hath for gootl & valluable Considerations, him, the said Shattooquis thereunto moveinge given, graunted, bargayned & Sold, And by these presents Doth fully, clearily & absolutely give grant, bargayne & sell unto Eusigne Thomas Cooper, of Springfield, for the use & behoofo of the prsent English Plantera at Quabaug & their Associates & their successonj, & to them & their heires for evuer certayne pcells of land at towards or about the North end of Quabauge pond, that is to say, beginning at a little Jleddow at the North end of the pond Qua bauge, wch meddow is called Podeek, wth the land about it & soe to a little bill Wullamauick & from thence Northward or North & by East about Tliree nn'les, & soe Westward off to ye North end of Wecobaug Pond, taking in all the playnes, meddowes & upland from Podunk by Quabaug to Wecubaug pond, all the lantl betwixt as that called Nacommuck (vis' a brook where meddow is), and soe to Massequockummes vis* another brook where meddow is and soe through the playn to Wecobaug pond & then down to Lashaway, vis* the River wch comes from Quabaug pond all ye land as aforesaid on the East or Northeast side of that River, and about three miles North or North & by East from the River together wth the said River & the lands on tbe west side, or south, 'or southwest side of the said River, & particularly from Lashaway down the River to a brook or streame called Naltaug, & 800 up that brook to the head of it Southward, & then from the head uf tliat brook to verge of a hill called Asqiioach, A soe down Southward or Southeast to ye pond Quabauge, taking in all the wett meddow & nieddows called Masquabamick & Nanantomqua, it being about foure miles from the river to the verge or foote of the hill aforesaid, called Asquoach, and about six miles or neere thereabouts from the River at tbe mouth of ye brook called Naltaug to Quabaug pond. All tbe coinodityes & adrantages thereof & thereunto belonging the said Ensigne Thomas Cooper, for himself and for the present Plantere at Quabang; and their Associates & successors is to have, hold and enjoy, & that for ever.

And the said Shattookquis, as well for other considerations, as alao for & in consideration of the sunime Three Hundred fadom of Wampanipeage in hand Received, doth grant, bargayne & sell All & Singular the aforenamed Tract of land to Ensigne Thomoa Cooper, his sue cessors & assignes as aforesaid, & to their heires for ever. And the said Shattoockquis doth hereby covennate & promise to & the said Ensigne Thomas Cooper that he will save ye said Thomas Cooper harmless from all manner of clamyes of any person or psons lawfully clayuiing any right or interest in the said lands hereby sold, or in any part thereof, & will defend the same from all or any molestation & incumbrence by any Indians lawfully laying clayme or title thereunto. In witness whereof the said Shattoockquis hath herewith sett his hand, this tent^j day of November, lliGfj :

An Indian witness, who, challenging some interest in the land above sold, received part of ye pay & consented to the sale of it all. Subscribed & delivered in ye presence of

Elizue Holtoke, Samuell Chapin, ,Japhett Chapin. Shattoockquis, an Indian above-mentioned, did own & acknowledge this to be bis act & deed, resigning up all his right, title & intrest in the lands above-mentioned unto Thomas Cooper, his Associates & Assignes, as above said, this Tenth day of November, 1065.

The wampumpeage, three hundred fathoms of which were paid for the land, was made from the purple and white parts of the quaw-haug shell, and consisted of flat, round, button-like pieces of shell, about a sixteenth of an inch in thickness, and a quarter of an inch in diameter, with a hole in the middle for stringing on strings of bark or hemp. The purple and white pieces alternated on the string, the purple being of double the value of the whi e, and tlie whole valued at five shillings per fathom. After wampumpeage went out of use as currency, it long retained a place among the Indians for the adornment of their persons. Before the days of the Pilgrims, it had a very limited use, and that only among the tribes on the seaboard. In 1627, when the Plymouth Colony effected a settlement with the London merchants, by which they were found to owe an indebtedness of twenty-four hundred pounds to them and other creditors, the debt was assumed by William Bradford, Miles Standish, Isaac Allerton, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, John Rowland, John Alden and Thomas Prence, together with their friends, James Sherley, John Beauchamp, Richard Andrews and Timothy Hatherly, of London, and the trading privileges of the Colony were assigned to them as security. In order to pay the debt, these gentlemen caused all the inland tribes to be instructed in the value and use of wampumpeage, and by its use they carried on so profitable a trade in the purchase of furs and their exportation to England as within nine years - the time prescribed in their settlement -

Until 1673 the committee appointed by the court held in their hands the entire management of the lands, and by them the allotments were made. They kept their Books of Records and Mr. Pynchon was the recorder. Their first book was probably destroyed by fire in 1676, and the only knowledge extant of the methods and plan of land distribution is derived from memoranda and extracts found among the papers of Mr. Pynchon. From them it appears that what were called the home-lots were laid out so as to take in what is now known as Foster's Hill, extending from Hovey's Brook on the southeast to Coy's Brook on the nor.hwest, including in all about five hundred acres. Beginning at Coy's Brook, the lots lay in the following order: 1. Richard Coy; 2. Thomas Parsons; 3. John Warner; 4. Samuel Kent; 5. Samuel Warner ; 6. John Youuglove ; 7. Thomas Wilson ; 8. Thomas Millet; 9. Meeting-House ; 10. John Ayres ; 11. William Prichard ; 12. James Travis; 13. Judah Trumble ; 14. Daniel Hovey; 15. James Hovey; 16. Thomas Hovey. The lot on which probably the first meeting-house was built was in the middle of the allotted territory, and was probably a little northwesterly of the present barn of Mr. D. H. Richardson. These lots contained twenty acres each, with a right to twenty acres of meadow and eight or ten acres of plain land, and larger lots were assigned to the minister and to fathers of grown-up sons. Each home-lot was also entitled to forty acres of upland and all undivided lands were held in common.

After this liberal division of lands, it was found, nevertheless, that the demand of the settlers for pasturage, mowing land, timber and fuel was far from being met, and the following petition for a further grant was sent to the General Court :

This honored Court being pleased upou petition presented to them by some of the inhabitants of Ipswich for land to settle a plantation at Quaboag ; so far to favor their notion or to grant them a tract of land of six miles square for that end, and farther since to encourage the poor inhabitants that are upon it. The humble petition, therefore, of the poor inhabitants of Quaboag to this honored Court is, that according as they were pleased to intimate their readiness to grant us the liberty of a township (whereby meet inhabitants upon the place we should be capable of it) so they would be pleased at this time to do it. Our humble petition to this bon'd C't is farther, that they would be pleased to enlarge our grant, if they see good, for that we may go six miles every way from the centre. The reason of this, our request to the hon'd C't, is because we find the meadiw to lie very much scattered about the place in many small parcels far distant one from the other, and therefore we fear that unless the hon'd C't grant us some considerable further enlargement, we shall not be able to fetch within our bounds a sufficient quantity of meddows to accommodate families enough to make a comfortable society in a place so remote in the wilderness as ours is. We would further crave leave to acquaint the honored C't that there is a great farm of land laid out very near our plantation for Peter Taft, as we do adjudge, within a matter of three or four miles from the river, which runs through our place to Springfield, as we humbly conceive that it will fall within our bounds. If it should not, we humbly crave that the hon'd C't would grant that it may pay public charge with us ; it being very difficult to carry on a place so remote from all otlier plantations in the wooda as ours is. And tbis hon'd C't BO fiir countt-nancing us as they have already, doth persuade, as by way of humble petition, to prcseut theee tbiugs to this hood C't, submitting ourselves tbeir good pleasure concerning ub herein. Wee, whose nauies are here underwritteu, have sub&ciibed , hereto in the behalf o(

In 1673 application was made to the General Court for an act of incorporation as a town. We are told by Mr. Temple that the original petition was found in a junk-shop by Dr. John F. Pratt, of Chelsea, and he has saved it from oblivion by giving it a place in his valuable history. The petition reads as follows:

The humble Petition of the inhabitants of Quaubauge Sheweth That whereas wee being not yet allowed a Township, wee are disabled as to comfortably carrying on ye aflTaires of the place as is requisite for the publieke &. our own conveniences in diverse respects as for the ordering the Prudentiall affaires of the Town proper, to select men, makeiug & collecting of Rates, &c. Wee have, indeed, a Committee to heipe in these mattere, but in regard we caunot rationally desire or expect the p'sence & assistance of One of the Committee (vest the Honno'd Major Pynchon) soe often as we need by reason of his remoteness. And yett w^iiout his p'sence or concurrence the Committee cannot make a valid act. The p^mises considered, Our Humble request is, that this much Honno'^ Corte would be pleased to grant us the Priviledge & Libertyes of a Township, whereby we may be the better iuabled to carry on our onne matters wtiiout too much disti-action.

It is probable, judging from the names in this petition and from the allotment of lands, that most, if not all, of the old Ipswich grantees had taken advantage of the privilege accorded to them in the re-grant. John Warner, Samuel Warner, John Younglove, Thomas Wilson, John Ayres, William Prichard, Daniel James and Thomas Hovey were all from Ipswich, while Richard Coy, Samuel Kent, Jymes Travis and Judah Trumbull were Essex County men and probably associated with the Ipswich men in the original grant.

Accompanying the petition was a letter from John Pynchon, desiring to be discharged from the committee for Quabaug, and this letter also Mr. Temple has reproduced in his history. The deputies of the court, as the record states, judged

The record also states that the *'magis'« Consent hereto, provided they divide not the whole land of yo Tounsiiip till they be forty or fiv«ty familyes in y" nieane time, yt their dividings, one to another, exceed

On the 19th of December in the year of the incorporation Thomas Cooper, the grantee in the deed from Shattoockquis, assigned his interest in the lands conveyed to him to the inhabitants of the new town by the following instrument:

I, Thomas Cooper.above mentioned, doe hereby relinquish & resigne up all my right & title in ye lands within mentioned, to be bouglit of Shattoockquis, hereby declaring that my acting in ye p^^mises was only In the behalfe &. for the use and behoofe of the inhabitants of Quabauge (now called Brookfeild) & their successors. The purchase of the abovementioned land being at their pper cost and charge, who had obteyned a grant thereof from ye Honn""* Gen'^* Corte, & are now allowed a Toune ; I doe therefore hereby deliver up this instrument, or deed of sale to John John Warner, Richard Coy & William Pritchard, of Quabauge, alias Brookefeild, for the use & as the prop^i^ right of the inhabitants of Brookefeild , the said Persons beiugo betrusted by the Toune, or present inhabitants of Brookefeild, for taking in & receiving this present Deed; wherefore I doe hereby deliver it up to them, hereby declaring it &. the land therein mentioned to be sold to be & belong to the present Inhabitants of Brookefeild, as they are a Township, and to particular psons only, according as they have or shall have grants of land confirmed to them. The whole tract of land above mentioned I doe fully & absolutely resigne up to the Inhabitants of Brooketield aforesaid, and to their successors & their beires for Ever, As witness my hand this 19th day of December, 1073.

December 19*i», 1073. Lieut. Thomas Cooper, above mentioned, subscribed hereunto & acknowledged the resigning up this De«d & all his intrest in the premises to the Inhabitants of Brookefeild,

Thus it will be seen that by the early part of 1673- 74 the town was organized, had acquired full possession of the lands, and was ready under favorable auspices to begin a career of municipal prosperity. But unforeseen disasters befell the town. In 1675, within two years of its incorporation, it was entirely destroyed by the Indians in King Philip's War, its meetinghouse and ail its dwellings were burned, some of its leading men, among whom were John Ayres, Richard Coy, William and Samuel Prichard, and James Hovey, were killed and families were otherwise broken up by the murders of wives and children. The Quabaug Indians, with whom for ten years the settlers had lived in harmony, were under the sway of Philip, and among the most earnest in the relentless war he waged. It is not necessary in this narrative to recount the details of this war, as they may be found in a score of historical works to which readers have easy access, and may at almost any time and place refer.

With the death of Philip, on the 10th of August, 1676, the war ceased, and with the return of peace the Quabaugs left their old homes, and the scattered remnants of their tribe retreated westward beyond the Hudson River never to return.

So the young frontier town of Brookfield disappeared. Its twenty families, with all their remaining provisions, migrated to new homes; the meetinghouse, in the erection of which, as the seal of their municipal union, they had taken special pride, and in which John YouDglove and Thomas Millet had preached to them the word of God, was burned, their fields were devastated and their houses in ashes, and for ten years the territory of Quabaug was a deserted waste. The memory of past disasters and the fear of their recurrence prevented during that long period its renewed occupation and settlement. So far as the incorporation of the town was concerned the privileges of a town were annulled by the following act of the General Court, passed May 28, 1679, and approved on the 9th of the following month:

For the greater comfort and safety of all people who are intended to resettle the villages deserted in the late war or the planting any new Plantation within this jnrisdiction.

It is ordered and enacted hy this Court and the authority thereof That no deserted town or new Plantation shall be inhabited until the people first make application unto the Governour and Council or to the County Court within whose jurisdiction such Plantation is. And tlie Council or County Court are hereby ordered and empowered to appoint an able and discreet committee (at the charge of the people intending to plant) which Committee are ordered and impowered to view and consider the place or places to be settled and give directions and orders in writing under their hands in what form way and manner snch town shall be settled or erected, wherein they are required to have a principal respect to nearness and conveniency of habitation for security against enemies and more comfort for church communion & enjoyment of God's Worship and education of children in schools and civility with other good ends.

And all such planters are hereby injoined to attend and put in practice such orders and directions as shall be given by such committee upon the penalty of five hundred pounds fine to the country to be inHicted upon them by order of the Council or County Court for their neglect or refusal to attend this order.

In 168G, as has been already mentioned, the resettlement of Brookfield began, but only the family of John Ayres, of all the original settlers, returned. The new occupants of the land w'ere chiefly from Marlborough, Springfield, SuflSeld and Hadley, while a few were from the more distant settlements of Essex County. The first effort in behalf of a reorganizaiion is to be found in the following petition :

*' Whereas there was a Township formerly granted by the Hon'>i General Court at a place called by the Indians Qnaboag & by the English Brookfield which was settled but by the Incursions and outrages of the Indians Wiis depopulated and layd waste & and hath been so for many years: the Ancient Inhabitants wholly deserting the same and it being a place very commodious for scittuation in the Road to Springfield Ac and may bo beneficial and profitable as well to the Country as to particular pei-sous ; and whereas some are already seated and others would be willing to settle the said place againe were there some encouragement from the Honi Council and one to guide & order the prudential affaires for such a Plantation.

Yor Petitioner humbly requests your Hou^a -would be pleased to appoint and impower some prudent and able persons as a Committee to admit Inhabitants and order the affaires of the place in forming yo Tonne granting Lotts & directing & ordering all matters of a prudential Nature till such time the Place be sattied and a competent number of Inhal'itautH A persons of discretion to order the affaires thereof and your Petitioners as in duty bound shall even pray &c.

In response to this petition, and doubtless others sent by the inhabitants, action was taken by the Council, which is stated in the records as follows:

November 9, 16SG, Maj. John Pinchon, Joseph Hawley, Capt. Samuel Glover. Mr. Samuel Marshfield, Mr. Samuel Ely, & Mr. John Hitchcock all of Springfield, are appointed a Committee for settling the Town of (^uabaag & the Petition of the said Town is grant«d and the aforenamed tientleinen are to receive the claims of the sd Inliabitants, grant lotts to others & give necessary orders for the more orderly settlement of the said Toune.

Under the operations of this committee lands were allotted as required, and new settlers continued to come in until 1688, when new troubles arose with the Indians and the growth of the settlement was checked. Its inhabitants lived in constant fear of savage raids, and what was called Gilbert's Fort, which contained barracks for soldiers and refugees, served as a garrison to which those in the neighborhood might flee in case of an alarm.

In 1693 an Indian raid was made on the houses of Joseph Woolcott, Thomas Lawrence and Joseph Masfm, which stood at some distance from the fort, and Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Mason, with his son and the wife and two children of Mr. Woolcott, were killed. But notwithstanding the cons' ant fear of Indian depredations, the town increased in numbers, and a determination was manifested to make the settlement, under any and all circumstances, a permanent and prosperous one. Indeed, not only was every effort made by the General Court to aid and encourage the outlying settlements, but direct and positive measures were taken to prevent their abandonment. On the 23d of March, 1699-1700, it waa voted by the court that no town or precinct being a frontier of the province which the towns hereafter named are to he accounted ; that is to say Wells, York, Kittery, Amesbury, Haverhill, Dunstable, Chelmsford, Groton, Lancaster, Marlborough, Brookfield, Peerfield, Mendon and Woodstock; nor any of the towns following to wit Salisbury, Andover, Billerica, Hatfield, lladtey, Westfield and Northampton . . shall bebroken uporvoluntardy deserted without application first made by the inhabitants and allowance had & obtained from the Governor and Council in Court & Council for their drawing off if it appear to them that it may be of public advantage or that the place is not tenable. Nor shall any inhabitant of the frontier & other towns or precincts before named, or any of them having an estate of freehold in lands or tenements within the same at the time of any insurrection or breaking forth of any war, remove from them with intent to sojourne or inhabit elsewhere without special license firet had and obtained as aforesaid.

Firstly. That we seenie to be called of God to continue our habitation In this place ; we are low in the world and it would be a breaking thing to our estates to remove to any other plantation, and the Land here ia very capable of entertaining a considerable body of people ; the inhabitants have been slow to come to us by reason of ye War, yet the land ia very Incouraging, capable to afford a comfortable subsistence to many ffamilies. /

2, That it is an Intolerable burden to continue as we have done without the preaching of the Word. God doth require his people to attend not only ffamily woi"ship but His public worship ; it is the ordinance of God that on the Sabbath Day there should be an holy convocation, and that his Word be preached by those that are able and faithful, and our necessitys put us upon it earnestly to desire it. Both we and our Children need the Instructions, rebukes and encouragements of the Word, the darkness and deadiiees of our own hearts, together with the many snares that are in the world, are nn experimental conviction to us that we need al those helps and advantages that God hath sanctifyed for our good.

3. That we are not aljle at present to maintain the Worahip of God. We are biit twelve ffaniilies, and we are not of estate sufficient to give suitable encouragement to a minister. We are willing to do to the outside of our ability, but tho' we do as much as can be expected from us, it will not amount to such a Bumra as a Minister may reasonably require for his labour.

4. Thnt if this Hon^ Court would please to pity us and grant us some help fur a few yejins for the maintenance of a godly, able Minister, besides the advantage it may be to these few familys that are here, it would be a means to draw many other Inhabitants to us, whereby we shall be BO far assisted that we may, of ourselves, be able to uphold the Worship of (_Jod and not be burdensome to others.

Under th<;so circumstances we humbly beg that this Hon** Conrt would exercise compassion to us & arregne some reliefe to us out of the Publick Treasury, which we shal look \ipon not onely a testimony of your zeal for the worship of God, but alsoe of your tender compassion to the souls of those wliom God hath made you ffathers of. And your Petitioners shall ever pray, Ac.

In response to the above petition the court ordered that twenty pounds be paid out of the public treasury towards the support of an orthodox minister for one year. The payment of this sum was delayed until 1701, when Rev. George Phillips, a graduate at Harvard in the class of 1686, and son of Rev. Samuel Phillips, of Rowley, was engaged to preach one year, and the money was drawn from the Province Treasury.

Whereas, by the Providence of God by allowance from the General Court and our nwu necessites and inclinations we have and are now settled at Brookfield and altbo' we are now but fewe in number, yethere is accommodations for a considerable Township; being new in our beginnings, and througli the difficulties and hazzards of the times people tho* otherwise well inclined to come & settle bore, yet have been slow in motion ibis way by reason whereof wo labour under many difficulties at present - Therefore move to this Court that they would be pleased to grant us some allowances for oure encouragement & help as foUoweth :

First, that we may. in some measure, be in a capacity to obtain the benefit of an orthodox ministry of God's word (which we are in necessity of). That this Court would grant us such allowances towards the maintenance of such an one a year or two or three, which together with what we might do among ourselves, might incourage a minister to settle amgbt us which would tend much to advantage both as to £cclesiastical and Civil alliiii-s.

Second, With reference to Publick chargesiamongst us. That this Court would order that all men that make good a claim of a proprietie within the bounds of our place might he engaged to bear their part in due proportion of all charges arising, and when notified of their Rate or proportion be obliged to pay on the place from time to time or quit their lands, etc.

Third, That this Court do settle and state the bounds of our Township, the centre to be the place wheie the fii-st meeting-house stood and to extend six miles Ka«t, West, North and South, viz., twelve miles B<]iu»re extending from said centre as aforesaid.

These things we apprehend might be a means to promote tlie welfare of our place so as in tiiu(* wo might be beneficial to the publick interest

John Pvnchon, Saml. Partrtgo, John Hitchcock, In the name of the Committee. Henry Gilbert, Thomas Barns, Thomas Rich, Sani^i Davis, Steven Jennings, Abijah Bartlet, Samei Wheeler, Benj. Bartlett, Samuel Owen, Thom s Parsons, Thomas Gilbert. Brookfield, May 2G, 1701.

As a result of this petition a i>]an was made of eight miles square, the quality of land stated and boundary lines described and the whole reported to the court in obedience to its order. In consequence of the loss of this plan another survey was made by Timothy Dwight in 1719 and the boundaries of the town were established by the court.

Shortly after the engagement of Rev. Mr. Phillips the coming on of what was called Queen Anne's War once more subjected Brookfield to the dangers of Indian warfare. In this state of things, upon a renewed application to the General Court for assistance, the sum of twenty pounds were allowed to be paid towards the support of a chaplain to the garrison in the town. No meeting-house had been erected since the first was burned in 1675, and it is probable that until the erection of the second house of worship in 1715 Sabbath services were held in the garrison. Rev. Joseph Smith, a son of Lieut. Philip Smith, of Hadley, and a graduate at Harvard in 1695, was appointed chaplain and was the second minister of the town since its reconstruction. Mr. Smith remained tuitil 1705, and was afterward settled in Cohansey, New Jersey, and Middletown, Connecticut. During the whole of his ministry in Brookfield and for some years after the sum of twenty pounds was annually paid by order of the court for the support of the ministry.

In 1704 the condition of the town had again reached a low ebb. The war continued and though some new settlers came into the town, they for the most part were refugees from more exposed settlements, and brought little with them for the promotion of their own comfort or of the public good. This unhappy condition is well illustrated in the following petition :

We hues names are underwriten do humbly beage your Excelancy's favor and that you wod consider our weke condishone ; the favor we beg is that we all ov us, not that such of us as find they are under such disadvantages that they cant subBist there, might remove into some other towne where they may works fore there liveinge. by the deficulty of the times we are reduste to such pverty that we cant subsist except your onors will plese to grant us wages as soldiers k pay for our diat, for we raize little or none of our provision by rezen of our being draun so far frome our improvements of Lands. Our families are so large and our means are so small that we cant live without sume other imploye than any wo have at present. And if the honoured Cort ceases to put us in as soldiei-s we will as we do account it our duti conform to the orders of authority - but we rather, if it may be granted, choose to remove into other towns, and we humbly intrete that the onors of the Corte would pk'so to grant us pay for our diat for the time we have served as soldears. No more at present, but we remain youavs as foUoweth :

Tills petition was probably acted on favorably by the court, as the records show that the muster-roll for wages and subsistence of .soldiers posted at Brookfield and Springfield was increased from £271 9s. Id. for the four mouths ending October 18, 1704, to £426 15«. lOd. for the three months ending January 31, 1705.

On the 24th of October, 1705, Rev. William Grosvenor was engaged to take the place of Mr. Smith and remained until August 25, 1708. Mr. Grosvenor was the son of John Grosvenor, who came from Chester County, in England, to Roxbury, and who was one of the settlers of Pomfret, Connecticut, who obtained a grant of land from the General Assembly in 1686 and an act of incorporation as a town in October, 1713. The son William graduated at Harvard in 1693. After the departure of Mr. Grosvenor, as far as can be learned, the people of Brookfield were without a minister until May 1, 1711, when Rev. John James was engaged and received, as his predecessor had done, a stipend of twenty pounds from the province. Mr. James remained at Brookfield until May 1, 1714, when he removed to Wethersfleld, Conn., where he died August 10, 1729.

The year 1713 brought to a termination the Indian hostilities, which during nearly forty years had intimidated the inland towns of the province and checked their growth. The people of Brookfield almost for the first time since its original settlement could now without distraction and alarm turn their attention to the pursuits of peace. In that year, in consequence of the death of Joseph Hawley and John Hitchcock and the age and infirmity of Medad Pomroy, Samuel Porter, Ebenezer Pomroy and Luke Hitchcock were appointed on the town committee, which now consisted of these gentlemen and John Pynchon, Medad Pomroy and Samuel Partridge the surviving members. At a meeting of the committee held on the 4th of September, 1713, it was agreed that all grants of land should thereafter be upon the following conditions: 1st, that the grantees should work on the land within six months from the grant ; 2d, that they should live on it within a year; 3d, that they shall live on it three years from the date of the grant, and 4th, that in case the grantees fail in any of the above conditions the grants should be void.

On the 1st of May, 1714, Rev. Mr. James terminated his ministry, and in the same year Rev. Daniel Elyier was engaged to preach. Mr. Elmer remained only six months and consequently received only ten pounds from the province treasury. He was a graduate at Yale in 1713, and after leaving Brookfield preached at Westborough, Mass., and at Fairfield, New Jersey. On the 17th of September, 1714, it is recorded that the committee unanimously agreed

That the inhabitants build a meeting-house wherein to attend the worship of God, which shall be set up and erected in said place where fornierI.v the meeting-house was built uear old John Ayers' House Lett, lying near about the center of the Town ; And the Committee here and do by these presents order that the Constable, together with Edward Walker, Sen., and Joseph Banister, talce an exact list of the ratable estates, both real and personal, within the precincts of Brookfield, and cause a rate to be made for the payment of their minister and other charges.

The inhabitimta of Brookfield agreed by the consent of the conmiittee to build a mecting-houee wherein to carry on the worship of Gwl ; in the form and manner as followetli, viz. : 45 feet in leusth and 'J^i feet in width and to put in Galery pieces so that they may build galeriee when they shall have occasion ; and to carry ou the building the said house as far as they can conveniently with their labour ; aud what shall be required in money for the carrying said work to be raised by a Town rate ; and if any person or persons refuse to labour having suitable warning by the committee hereafter Darned shall pay their proportion in money. The inhabitants likewise agree to get the timber this winter. The committee chosen to oversee and take care for the carrying on of said work are Thomas Barns, Henry Gilbert, Lieut. Philip Goss, Ena. Thomas Gilbert Joseph IJanister, Edward Walker, Joseph Jennings, John Woolcott, Wm. Old. TlTen ordered that a rate of 15U pounds be made towards building the meeting-house.

On the same day that the above vote was pas-*ed, Rev. Thomas Cheney was engaged to preach. On the 16th of October, 1716, the church was organized and he was ordained. On that occasion the new meetinghouse was for the first time used. The inhybitants voted to give him fifty-two pounds annually for three years and to raise the salary forty shillings a year until it reached seventy pounds. He was to have also all the land which the committee proposed to give him, to have a house and barn built for him suited to his wishes, he finding the glass, nails and iron, to have twenty-five cords of wood annually during his life, and one day's labor annually from each man. He was also to have eight acres of land fenced and made fit for sowing, four of which were to be on the hill. At his ordination Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, preached the sermon, and the following covenant was subscribed :

Ton do now, in the presence of the great and holy God, the elect Angels and this assembly of witnesses, enter into a solemn and perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten, never to be broken.

You sincerely and cordially give up yourself to that God whose name alone is Jehovah; taking God the Futher to be your God and Father, God the Son to be your only Saviour and Redeemer, God the Holy Ghost to be your sanctifier and comforter.

You submit yourself to Christ and accept him as the Prophet Priest aud King of your soul the Great Head of the Church, and the only Mediator of the covenant of grace ; promising that by the assistance of the Holy Spirit you will keep the coveimnt of the Lord invioUbly ; that you will cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and Gospel obedience ; and will endeavor to reform your life us to all known sin whether open orsecret - will live in the conscientious discharge of all duty towards God and man - walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blumelessly ; that you will endeavor that the inward temper of your mind be conformed to God's will and word ; and that you will follow the excellent example which Christ has set you for the rule of your life.

nant and bind yoiireolf tu walk as a regular member of Cbrist's Church ; to obey tbeni tluit have rule ov*-r yon in the Lord : to read God's word and to live in the practice of social an<l secret prayer and in diligent attendance on the word preached and ordinances administered ; - relying on the grace and all-sufticiency of Christ, which are sufficient for you - you promise to walk according to what you now know, or shall know, to be your duty.

We then receive you as a sincere disciple of Christ and a member of the same church with ourstdves - promising so long as God shall continue you among us, to watch over you with meekness and brotherly love ; - and may the Lord add to the numbers and graces of bis church, and finally bring us all to join tlie general assembly and Church of the Fii-stborn, whose names are written in heaven. Amen.

So far as the church is concerned this may be considered to have been its birth. Though religious services had been held for many years and ministers employed, there was no formal church organization until the date above mentioned, October 16, 1717. The meeting-house, though occupied, was not completely finished for several years, but the church was fairly launched, and afterwards, with few interruptions, successfully maintained. The salary of the minister was paid by a rate or tax, which included also the current expenses connected with the erection of the meetinghouse. This rate was made on the 22d of April, 1717, and amounted to £121 3s. Sd. The names of the persons taxed with the amounts of their tax are included in the following list of laud-owners who had received grants from the town committee from the date of the earliest grants down to 1768, which was the last year in which the aft'airs of the town were managed by the committee :

Chaptee Lxxix

Up to the year 1718 the town of Brookfield through all the vicissitudes of its life can hardly be said to have enjoyed full municipal privileges. To a certain extent it had been under the guardianship of the committee appointed first by the Massachusetts Colony Court and after the charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692 by the government of that province. This committee had always been composed of trustworthy men, and there seems to be no record of any serious dissatisfaction on the part of the people with their administration. In the above year the c(immittee then in commission asked to be discharged from the further performance of their duties in the following petition :

To nU Excellettcy, Bamuel Shute, Etq., and the Hoiihl. Cotmcil and Hou*e of liepresentatives, convened in Geneynt Court the 2Sth of Slay, 1718. We nudereigued, tbe Cummitt<?e for BrookfielJ. after many Disappoint ' nients by wan- and otherwise, wliicli for a long time the people have laboured under, by the good providence of God are now so increased that they are now near fifty families on the place have near finished a very convenient meeting-house, have settled a church and ordained an orthodox and learned Minister. Wo humbly propose that they be ni«de a Township according to the directions of the Law by themselves & said Committee released - which we submit to the Courts' determination. And for your Excellency and Honor's shall ever pray.

This petition was granted and the following order was passed by the House of Representatives, November 12, 1718, and after concurrence by the Council, was consented to by Governor^Shute:

Ordered that the prayer's of this petition be granted, and that the Inhabitants of the Town of Brooivfield be invested with all the powers, privileges and authorities to direct, order and manage all the affairs of said Township that other towns are or ought to be invested with. And that the Committee be dismisr- from the care of them with the thanks of this Court for their good and faithful service. The said Town to lye to the County of Hampshire.

The first town meeting was held on the 15th of December, 1718, at which Philip Goss acted as moderator and Thomas Gilbert was chosen treasurer and clerk. At an adjourned meeting at which Thomas Baker acted as moderator, Thomas Barns, Philip Goss, Elisha Rice, Samuel Barns and Thomas Gilbert were chosen assessors; Tilly Merrick, Joseph Brabrook and Thomas Parsons a committee to examine town debts; Joseph Jennings and Joseph Banister measurers, and Elisha Rice, Thomas Gibbs and Jonathan Jennings a committee "to see that tbe grants made by the former committee do pay equal proportion to the rate committed to Constable Walker to collect for the meeting-house." At th's meeting it was voted that Tilly Merrick, Henry Gilbert, Edward Walker and Joseph Jennings be a committee to see that the town is supplied by the grist-mill with meal according to an arrangement which had been made with John Hayward. The grist-mill here referred to was built on land granted to Mr. Hayward about the year 170(3. The grant included " forty acres of upland in the west part of the town, and fifteen acres of meadows ; also seventy acres joining the first lot and twenty-four acres of meadows for his encouragement to build a grist-mill in Brookfield, and on condition that he maintain the same in such repair as the town may be supplied at all times with grinding from said mill for the term of twenty-five year.s." The mill was built on the New Mill Brook, and according to Mr. Temple, the remains of its dam may be seeu near the home of Mr. Sexton Douglass.

The first year after what might be called the second birth of the town, was characterized by a movement to establish public schools. On the 5Lh of Januari, 1719-20, the town granted forty acres of land for a school, and it is probuble that a school was opened near that time. On the 23d of January, 1728, it was voted that a school be built in four several places in town, the town to be divided into four parts by a committee, consisting of Wm. Old, E|)hraim Hayward, Wm. Ayres, Samuel Barns and John Hinds, and twenty pounds were appropriated for the salary of a school-master. On the 15th of May, 1732, it was voted to direct the selectmen to hire four women to -keep school, and the sum of fifty pounds was appro* priated. On the 23d of November, 1739, it was voted to have two school-masters, and the sum of one hundred pounds was appropriated. In 1746 the town granted one hundred and fifty pounds, old tenor, for the support of a grammar school, and in 1749, three hundred pounds, of the same tenor. But it is not necessary to follow the evolution of the school system of the town, and state the various steps by which its present condition has been reached. It was voted by the town after the three precincts were formed, that each precinct should have the care of its schools, and from that time each precinct raised its own school money, selected teachers, and had the general management of education within its borders. There are at present in the town fifteen schools, including the high school. These are the high school, a grammar, first intermediate, second intermediate, first primary and second primary, in the centre village, a grammar, intermediate, first primary and second primary, in the east village, the Potopoag, Rice Corner, Upper Podunk, Lower Podunk and the school over the river, with enrollments numbering six hundred and thirty-eight and average membership of five hundred and thirteen.

Little of interest occurred in the life of the town until 1744. There had been occasional alarms on account of Indian raids, and at various times companies of men had been raised to serve as scouts, and proper safeguards had been adopted. Brookfield was now scarcely enumerated among the bordtr towns, and its people lived to a certain extent behind the shield and shelter which newer towns farther to the west aud north had raised to protect them. Sheffield had been incorporated in 1733, Stockbridge, in 1739, Deerfield in 1682, Northfield in 1713, Saunderland in 1714, Brimfield in 1731, Westfield in 1669, Hatfield in 1670 and Sturbridge in 1738. But, nevertheless, occasional Indian attacks served to keep them on the watch, and to more or less obstruct and delay that development of business and trade which the older and better guarded settlements on the seaboard enjoyed.

With the settlement of new towns a new adjustment of counties became necessary. Middlesex and Suffolk counties, incorporated in 1643, had become with the incorporation of new towns disproportionately large, and an exigency seemed to exist for the formation of a new county. In the adjustment which ensued the town of Brookfield was involved. On the 2d of April, 1731, an Act was framed incorporating Worcester County, which included Worcester, Lancaster, Westborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Leicester, Rutland and Lunenburgh, which had previously been included in Middlesex county, Mendon, Woodstock, Oxford, Sutton and Uxbridge, which had before been iucluded in Suffolk county, and Brookfield, which as has* already been stated, had previously been included in Hampshire county.

In March, 1744, war was declared between England jmd France, and what has always been known in our history as the old French and Indian AVar, followed until the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in October, 1748. In this war several Brookfield men took a prominent part. Joseph Dwight commanded a regiment in the expedition against Louisburg; Jabez Olmstead commanded a company in the same expedition, and the following soldiers entered into the service of the province :

In the second French and Indian War, extending from 1754 to 1763, Brookfield also performed her full share in furnishing men. Her soldiers in this war, without specifying the commands to which they were attached or the special service in which they were engaged, were :

Besides the above, the following muster-rolls are on record of men enlisting iu 1757 for various terms of service, many of whom had before enlisted: that in that year sundry inhabitants in the southwest part of the town joined with inhabitants in parts of Brimfield and of a district then called Kingsfield, but afterwards, in 1752, incorporated as the town of Palmer, and petitioned the General Court to be set off and incorporated as the town of Wt stern, now Warren. The act of incorporation obtained by them, passed January 16, 1741, provided that the new town should consist of lands bounded as follows :

Begiuning at Brookfield, eoutUweat corner, then runniug half a mile north on said Bruukfield line ; then west thirty-four degreei, north three iiiileB and eighty rotls to the river and hounded with a small walnut etaddle etanding in tlie Kplit of a rock; thence running up the river to an elm tree marked ; thence crossing the river and running north forty-four degrees east ahout three miles and an half to Brookfleld west line to a heap nf stones near a chestnut tree marked ; and running east eleven degrees and thirty minutes ; south one mile and an hundred and fifty rods, to a heap of stones on a rock at the end of a meadow on mill pond, then hounded on Cornelius White's land, till it comes to Mill Brook, bo called ; then hounded with the Mill Brook to the river, as the hrook ruus ; then crossing the river and extending southeasterly to a white oak tree, known by the name of the northeatst corner of the mile sfjnaro ; thence extending southeasterly to Brookfield south line, inter*^ecting that tine two miles and three-quartci's from said first mentioned aouthwoat corner bounds.

On the 11th of December, 1747, Rev. Thomas Cheney, the first settled pastor of the church, died. Mr. Cheney was born in Eoxbury, January 29, 1(388- 89, and was the son of William and Rebecca (Newell) Cheney. He graduated at Harvard College in 1711, and married two wives, - the first Dorothy, daughter of Joseph Hawley, of Northampton ; and second, Mary, great-granddaughter of Rev. John Cutton, of Boston. The death of Mr. Cheney and the loss of a portion of the southwestern section of the town, changing its geographical centre, stimulated a movement for the formation of a second precinct in the northerly part of the township.

Ebenezer Wilt and others petitioned the town in that year to build a new meeting-house as near the new centre as possible, or set them off as a distinct precinct. At the annual meeting in March the town refused to grant the petition, and voted down both propositions, concerning the meeting-house and the precinct.

In the mean time, Rev. Elisha Harding, a graduate of Harvard in 174.5, was invited to settle, and on the 28th of November, 1748, the town concurred with the church in the invitation, and at an adjourned meeting, on the 22d of December, voted, after considerable debate, as the record states, one thousand pounds, old tenor currency, " for his encouragement to settle in the Gospel ministry," and for his annual salary the sum of five hundred pounds, old tenor, "accounting it as though it be in Indian corn, at twenty shillings a bushel ; Rye, thirty shillings ; Wheat, forty shillings - - and so the five hundred pounds to be increased or diminished yearly, as the prices of the grain varied." He was also to have free liberty to cut wood for fuel on the common land of the town, known by the name of the Rocks.

that what was called old tenor currency was in value only one-tenth of sterling - that is, that one thousand pounds of old tenor was really only one hundred pounds in sterling.

Mr. Harding was ordained September 1.3, 1749, on which occasion Rev. Nathan Buckman preached the sermon. After the settlement of Mr. Harding, the dissatisfaction of the people in the north part of the town continued, and on the 29th of March, 1750, the second or north precinct was incorporated. Previous to that date, the town having signified that the formation of the precinct would be assented to in case fifty or more persons signed a request therefor, in les-s than ten days after such a condition was agreed upon more than the requisite number of signatures had bfen obtained, and thus, with the assurance that no further objection would be raised, a meeting-house was begun in April, 1749.

On the 16th of the following October a covenant was signed by forty-two of the inhabitants, and some dissatisfaction having manifested itself witt\ the location of the meeting-house, then still unfinished, it was agreed to submit the location to the arbitration of disinterested men. The location, as originally selected, was approved and the building by slow degrees went on to its completion.

The incorporation of the second precinct was granted by the General Court in response to a petition signed by Thomas Hale and fifty-six others, reciting the grievances under which the inhabitants of the north part of the town labored and the advantages of a separate precinct. The order of the court, passed by the House of Representatives March 28, 1750, passed in concurrence by the Council March 29 and consented to by Spencer Phipps, Governor, was "that the prayer of the petition be so far granted as that the petitioners, with their families and estates, together with such persons and their estates who shall, within three months from this time, signify their desire therefor under their hands to the clerk of the town of Brookfield, be and they hereby are set off a distinct Parish, and are endowed with all the privileges and subjected to all the duties which the other inhabitants of Parishes are by the laws of this Province endowed with or subjected to - Provided, their possessions do not exceed one-third part of the said town of Brookfield for quantity and quality."

On the 21st of May, 1750, a meeting of the precinct was held at the house of Jabez Ayres, in accordance with a warrant issued by John Chandler, Jr., Esq., at which William Ayres acted as Moderator. At this meeting the following officers were chosen : Wm. Ayres, Precinct Clerk; Wm. Ayres, Ebenezer Witt, Samuel Gould, Noah Harris and Benjamin Adams, Precinct Committee; Joseph Stone, Collector, and Wm. Ayres, Samuel Gould, Wm. Witt, Jason Bigelow and Moses Ayres, Assessors. On the 21st of September, 1750, it was voted by the precinct to raise by as:,es ment on the polls and estates £13,

68. 8(/. <o supply the precinct with preaching, and in 1751 forty pounds were raised for the same purpose. In 1752 Rev. Eli Forbes was invited te settle with the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds as a settlement, and £53. Us. Sd as an annual salary. The final salary agreed on was after 1767 to be £66. 13«. 4d, and thirty cords of wood a year. The church was organized May 28, 1752, and on June 3d, Mr. Forbes was ordained.

The ministry of Mr. Forljes continued until March 1, 1775, and June 5, 1776, he was installed over the first church in Gloucester, where he died December 15, 1804. His dismission, given at his own urgent request, was the result of indignities shown him in consequence of his suspected disloyalty. It is undoubtedly true that he was not by nature an enthusiast and did not enter into the revolutionary spirit with extreme ardor, but his immediate settlement and satisfactory ministry in Gloucester precludes the belief that he entertained other than patriotic sentiments during his residence in Brookfield. Mr. Forbes entered Harvard College in 1741 and during his freshman year enlisted in the Provincial army during the first French and Indian War.' After his discliarge he returned to college and graduated in 1751 in the class with Judge William Gushing, Rev. Mather Byles and Rev. John Willard, receiving the degree of 8. T. D. from his Alma Mater in 1804, the year of his death.

On the 23d of May, 1776, a call was given to the Rev. Joseph Appletou, of Ipswich, a graduate at Brown University in 1772, to succeed Mr. Forbes in the ministry, with the oft'er of one hundred and thirtythree pounds, sixteen shillings and eight pence as a settlement, and of seventy pounds as an annual salary for two years and eighty pounds afterward. Mr. Appleton was ordained October 3, 1776, and died in his pastorate July 25, 1794.

Rev. Thomas Snell succeeded Mr. Appleton and was ordained June 27, 1798, and continued in his pastorate until his death, May 4, 1862, with a salary never exceeding five hundred dollars a year. He was born in Cummington November 21, 1774, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1795. Until September 21, 1851, for fifty-three years he was the sole pastor and senior pastor, with a colleague from that date until his death closed a ministry of sixty-four years. At this point the sketch of the Second Precinct will be closed in this narrative, as that precinct was incorporated as the town of North Brookfield in 1812 and will be found further referred to in the history of that town in another part of this County History.

After the incorporation of the Second Precinct a movement was initiated in the First Precinct to build a new meeting-house. The question of location became a serious one and three localities were proposed - the site of the old house on the hill, the plain and Mr. Seth Banister's lawn. The plain was in what is now West Brookfield, Mr. Banister's lawn was in what is now Brookfield and the hill was between the two. Tne people of the west village, though preferring the plain, were willing to compromise on the old site on the hill but the people of tlie south village would consent to nothing but the lawn within their own special territory. The people of the south part formed a majority of the First Parish and at a meeting held November 20, 1753, it was voted to build a meeting house on the height near Seth Banister's house. On the 4th of December Jedediah Foster, Abner Brown, John Go^s and forty othei's living in the west part asked to have the parish divided into two, equal as to quantity and quality of lands and number of inhabitants. The majority objected to the terms and conditions of the petition, but were willing that the petitioners themselves might be set off as another parish. In the meantime the erection of tlie meetinghouse went on and the petitioners in the west part applied to the General Court for an injunction. Without, however, going further into the details of the controversy it is sufficient to state that on the 8th of November, 1754, an act was passed by the General Court incorporating a third precinct and making an addition to the Second Precinct, which was incorporated in March, 1750. The following is the text of the Act:

Whereas, it is made evident to this court that the annexing some of the inhubitanta of the first precinct in the town uf Brookfield, with their lands, to the second precinct in said town, and the dJvidinj; the remainder of said first precinct into two precincta would serve very much to rt-iiiove many difficulties and inconveniencies which divers of the inhabitants of said first precinct at present labour under, and also very much to accommodate the greatest part of the iuhabitanta of said first precinct, -

Sect. 1. That all the lands in the present first precinct in said town, lying mrlhward of a line beginning at the northt-ast corner of George Harrington's lands, upon Spencer line, and runuinf^ westward by his, the said George's hinds, to Five Mile River Bridge at the country road ; from thence westerly on the most southerly parts and lines of the lands of Thomas Slayton, Captain Nathaniel Woolcet, Thomas Moor, Ebenezer Jennings, John Jennings, Obadiah Rice, W"". Parks, Josiah Con, verse, Francis Dodge, Paul Deland, tlie heirs of John Green, deceased, Stephen Green and Joseph Ranger, Jun. ; and from said Ranger's southwest corner to the southwest corner of Ayrea' meadow, on Coy's Brook, eo-called, near the place where the old school-house stood ; and from thence northward on the must eastward parts and lines of the lands of Jolin Tuff and Josiah Gilbert, and on the most westward parts and lines of tlie land of Jeremiah Woodbury and John Hill to Abner Tyler's land ; and from thence on the most eastward part and lines of the lands of Jacob Abbot and Joshua Dodge and Joshua Dodge, Jun., to the center line of said town ; and from thence all the lands eastward of that part of said center line, wliicb is northward of the place where the above descril)ed line meets with tlie said center line to New Braintree District be and hereby are annexed to the second precinct in Siiid town of Brookfield; and that all those persons that now are or hereafter may be inhabitants on said lands, be and Iiereby are incorporated with the second precinct, and shall be always hereafter obliged to do all precinct duties, and shall receive all precinct privileges in the said second precinct.

Sect. 2. That tlie remaintler of tlie lands in the said first precinct in said town of Brookfield be divided into two precincts in manner following, viz. : the dividing line shall begin at the southeast corner of Paul Deland's land, and shall run from thence to the country road in said Brookfield, so as to take in and include all John Rich's land where he dwells, into the West Precinct or division ; and from said country road Baid dividing line shal' run in the midst of tile town road that leads Bouthwarii from said country road to the river called Qnabaug River, to the southeast corner of Ephraim Bartlet's land ; and from thence westward, southward of all Ephraim Bartlet's and Obadiah Wright's land, to Quaboag River ; and from thence the said river shall be the dividing line down said river to the mouth of Salmon Brook ; and from thence the dividing line shall run straight to a large white oak tree standing in the northeast corner of a tract of land called the Mile Square ; said tree being a boundary between the townships of Brookfield and Western ; and that the lands lying in the said town of Brookfield {and not included in the second precinct) westward of the above dividing line be and hereby .are made a precinct by the name of the First Precinct in the Town of Brookfield ; and that the inhabitants of said land westward of the said dividing line above described be and hereby are invested with all the powers and privileges and subjected to all the duties that precincts in this province by law are invested with and subjected to ; and that the lands lying in the said town of Brookfi'dd (and not included in the second precinct), eastward of the above dividing lino be and hereby are made a separate precinct by the name of the Third Precinct in the Town of Brookfield ; and that the inhaliitants of the said lands eastward of the said dividing line above described be and hereby are invested with all the powers and privileges and subjected to ail the duties that precincts in this pi'ovince by law are invested with and subjected to, and be it further enacted,

Sect. 3. That all the inhabitants of the lands which by this act are made the first precinct and all the inhabitants of those lauds which by this act are annexed to the saitl second precinct bo and hereby are and shall forever hereafter be exempted from paying or contributing any part towards the charges and debts that have already arisen or may hereafter arise by reason of the building the new meeting house which has lately been erected in said town on the lands by this act made the third precinct in said town, any of the votes of the late first precinct notwithstanding; and that all the materials of the old meeting-house which was lately standing in said town was taken down be equally divided between the said three precincts ; and that all the ministerial revenues arising from all and auy lands lying in any piirt of the said town of Brookfield heretofore sequestered to the use of the ministry in said town shall be always hereafter equally divided between the said three precincts ; and that the charge of the committee who were appointed by this court in April, one thousand seven hundred and fiftyfour, to view the said town be borne and paid by the inhabitants of said town.

On the 22(1 of January, 17-55, the people of the first precinct voted to build a meeting-house "at the turning of the county rode, near the northeast corner of a plow-field belonging to John Barns, being on the plain in said first precinct." It was to be forty-five feet long and thirty- five feet wide, and so far as can be learned it was finished without serious delay. The question now arose as to which church the Rev. Mr. Harding belonged. The General Ciurt had provided that the estates of the first parish should be held for the payment of his salary up to the time of the division, but did not determine his future relation. Owing to the embarrassments attending this question he was at his own request dismissed May 8, 1755. Two years later, February 1, 1757, Rev. Nehemiah Strong, of Hadley, was chosen pastor to succeed Mr. Harding, but declined on account of the insufficiency of the proposed salary. Rev. Joseph Parsons, of Bradford, a graduate at Harvard, in 1752, was then called and was ordained November 23, 1757. Mr. Parsons served until his death, in 1771, when be w^s followed by Rev. Ephraim Ward, a graduate at Harvard in 1763. Mr. Ward was ordained October 23, 1771, and served until his death, in 1818. Rev. Eliakim Phelps was settled as his colleague October 23, 1816, and alter a service often years and two days, two years as colleague and eight years, as p.istor, he resigned October, 1826 and assumed the preceptorsbip of the Biookfield "Classical Female School." On the day of the dismission of Mr. Phelps Rev. Joseph I. Foote was installed, and after six years' service retired, and died on the day before his proposed inauguration as President of Washington College, in the Slate of Tennessee. Mr. Foote was succeeded by Rev. Francis Horton, a Harvard graduate of 1826. His ministry began August 15, 1832, and continued to September 15, 1841. Rev. Moses Chase was settled January 12, 1842, and was followed by Rev. Leonard S. Parker, a graduate of Oberlin Collegiate Institute, December 19, 1844. During his pastorale the first precinct was incorporated as West Brookfield in 184.S, and for a continued sketch of the parish reference must be had lo the history of that town in these volumes.

On the 15th of April, 1756, the third precinct, which is now the town of Brookfield, was organized with a niember.-hip of twenty-five males and fourteen females. The Rev. Nathan Fiske, a graduate of Harvard, in the class of 1754, was ordained May 24, 1758. He was in the class with John Hancock, Daniel Treadwell and Samuel West, and received the degree of S. T.D., in 1792. His pastorate continued until his death, May 24, 1799, when he was succeeded by Rev. Michael Stone, who was ordained March 11, 1801.

In 1827 the society became Unitarian, and settled Rev. George R. Noyes October 30, 1827, who remained six years, and afterwards became professor of sacred literature in Harvard University. Mr. Noyes was a graduate of Harvard in 1818. Rev. Seth Alden followed, remaining ten years, and was followed November 8, 1845, by William B. Greene, a graduate of West Point, who, in the war of 1861, commanded a regiment of Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. Rev. S. S. Hunting succeeded October 5, 1852; Rev. R. D. Burr November 18, 1858; Rev. Edward I. Galvin April 15, 1863; Rev. A. Judson Rich October 31, 1870, and later by Rev. Henry W. Woude and Rev. Samuel Hamlet. The society is at prfsent without a pastor.

On the retirement of Mr. Stone from the society, at the time of its change of theological belief, a new society was org.mized called the Evangelical Society of Brookfield, anr) he became its pastor. Rev. Richard WoodrufT was selected as his colleague February 5, 1838, and dismissed September 12 in the same year- On the day of his dismissal Rev. Washington A. Nichols was ordained as colleague, and remained until January 11, 1843. Rev. Lyman Whiting was ordained on the day of the dismissal of Mr. Nichols, and remained four years. Mr. St^ne died in September, 1852. He was followed by Rev. Je.sse R. Bragg, who remained eight years ; Rev. Josiah Coit, who remained seven years ; Rev. Joel M. Seymour, who officiated from 1873 to 1876, and afterwards by Rev- Charles E. Stebbins. The Revs. Charles P. Blanchard, A. F. Schaufflin and Charles F. Moore have at various times supplied the pulpit, but at present the society is without a pastor.

About the time of the incorporation of the Third Precinct, a Baptist congregation held meetings in that part of the town, and without any further organization continued at intervals to hold services for forty years. It had no settled minister, nor any special place of worship. In 1788 Rev. Jeremiah Haskell was engaged to preach, and served several years. In 1795 a meeting-house was built, and in 1800 a formal society was organized. Various ministers officiated until 1818, including Rev. Nathaniel Price, Rev. Laban Thurber, and Rev. John Chase. On the 10th of June in that year a church was formed with thirtyseven members, and Mr. Chase was ordained as its pastor. He died July 28, 1833, and has been followed in the pastorate by Rev. Benjamin B. Manning, Rev. Winthrop Morse, Rev. J. H. Rickett, Rev. Job Boomer and Rev. Andrew Dunn.

During the Revolution Brookfield assumed and faithfully performed its full share. At a town-meeting held May 17, 1773, at which Jedediah Foster presided, a committee was appointed consisting of Joseph Gilbert, Benjamin Adams, Benjamin Babbet, Samuel Hinckley and Joshua Dodge, whose report was accepted and sent by copy to tlie Committee of Correspondence at Boston. The report declared that :

The town will be ever ready to aesist, and in every legai and pro per way maintain those rights and liberties for our children, which with ?o much labor, blood and treasure were purchased by our ancestors, whose memory is and ought to be esteemed by us ; and we hope, notwithstanding the attempts of the enemies of our constitution, to deprive us of those riglits, yet by a steady, firm and constant exertion we shall not finally be deprived of them.

At a meeting held on the 3d of the following December, another committee was chosen, of which Jedediah Foster, Jeduthun Baldwin, Joseph Gilbert, Benjamin Rice and Phinehas Upham were members, whose report, which was accepted by the town, stated that:

We think it our indisponsablo duty, in the most public manner, to let the wurld know our utter abhorrence of the last and most detestable j-chenie in the introduction of tea from Great Britain, to be paddled out umongat us, by which means we were to be made to swallow a poison more fatal in its effecta to the national and political Rightu and Privileges of the People of this country than ratsbane would be to the natural body.

There/ore Resolved that we will not, by aoy way or means, knowingly encourage or pi-omote the sale or consumption of Tea, whatever, subject to a duty, payable in America, but all persons, whoever they may be, who shall be concerned in a transaction so dangerous, shall be held by us In the utmost contempt, and be deemed enumies to the country.

On the 12th of September, 1774, Jedediah Foster, Joshua Dodge, John Phijips, Jeduthun Baldwin, Joseph Gilbert, John Lyscara, Rufus Putnam, Phinehas Upham, John Hobbs, Asa Biglow and Jonathan King were chosen a Committee of Correspondence. On the 19th of April, 1775, the following company of minute-men, attached to the regiment commanded by Col. Jonathan AVarren, marched for Boston in consequence of the commencement of hostilities at Lexington.

There were other Brookfield men who marched for Boston on the 19th of April, 1775, under Capt. John Woolcott, but, aa it is difficult to distingulbh them from the Spencer men in the same company, they are omitted.

Brook Field

The above is an incomplete list of the soldiers furnished by Brookfield, but it indicates plainly enough the active and patriotic part which the people of the town took in the War. Not only were men furnished, but the resources of the inhabitants were largely drawn upon and seriously depleted by the demands constantly arising from bounties and supplies. The action taken by the town at various times to meet the exigencies of the period shows that its aftairs were in the hands of earnest and devoted men who were determined that, so far as the burden of the War rested on them, it should be borne with courage and hope. Tlie names of the first committee ofcorrespondence,chosenin 1774, have already been given. In 1775 they were: Jedediah Foster, David Hitchcock, John Phipps, Daniel Gilbert, Thomas Moore, John Lyscam, Josiah Hobbs, Ephraim Walker, Ithamar Wright. In 1776 they were: Thomas Moore, .lohn Wait, Tilly Rice, David Hitchcock, Jabez Crosby, Ithamar Wright, John Hamilton. In 1777 they were: David Hitchcock, Thomas Wheeler, Daniel Watson, Joseph Chadwick, Onesiph Ayres, Jonathan Bond, Ithamar Wright, Esekiel Olds, Jabez Crosby.

At a town-meeting held May 22, 1776, under a resolve of the General Court the question " whether the town would support the Honorable Congress in the measure if they for our liberty should see fit to declare thecolonie.s independent of Great Britain " was decided almost unanimously in the affirmative. Indetd, the support of the War and the defense of the rights and liberties of the colonies received the united sympathies of the people. There was little or no disloyalty to the patriot cause. Joshua Upham was one of the few pronounced loyalists in the town. He was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1763, and among his classmates was Sampson Salter Blowens, a noced loyalist, who rose to high judicial distinction in Nova Scotia, having risen from the bar through the grades of attorney-general and speaker of the House of Assembly to the seat of chief justice of the Supreme Court of the province. Mr. Upham retired to Boston,

He was with Arnold in the expedition to New London, and in 1781 was Deputy Inspector-General of Refugees at Lloyds Neck, Long Island. He settled in New Brunswick after the war, and became a member of the Council and judge of the Supreme Court. He was the father of the late Hon. Charles Wentworth Upham of Salem. His death occurred while on a business visit in England, in 1808.

Daniel Murray was another loyalist, a son of Colonel John Murray, and a graduate of Harvard in 1771. Mr. Murray entered the service of the crown, and was major of the King's American Dragoons. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and, retiring to New Brunswick, where he lived after the war on half pay, was, in 1792, a member of the House of Assembly. He died in Portland, Maine, in 1832. Colonel John Murray, of Rutland, the father of Daniel, with the other sons, Samuel, Robert and John, two of whom, it is believed, lived in Brookfield, were also loyalists.

In 1777-78-79 committees were appointed by the town to provide for the families of non-commissioned ofiicers and soldiers of the Continental Army. In 1778 one hundred pounds per man and a blanket, were given for the soldiers in the second precinct, for the Continental Army; seventy pounds each to the militiamen, and one hundred pounds each for four men who were already in the field. In the same year it was voted to raise £988 8«. to defray the expenses of hiring the Continental and militia men recently enlisted, and also in the same year to "accept the confederacy of the Continental Congress, andito enjoin it on their representatives that they consent to the same." In 1779 it was voted to form a State convention, " for the sole purpose of forming a new con.stitution." An effort had been made by the Legislature to form a constitution, which failed. In 1780 the vote in favor of the new constitution stood one hundred and forty-three to eleven. In November of that year Brookfield furnished fifty-two head of cattle, thirty-three blankets, sixty-seven shirts, sixtyseven pairs of shoes and sixty-seven pairs of hose.

In 1781 it was voted in the second precinct that " the sum of £1080 in hard money be assessed upon the polls and estates of the precinct for the purpose of hiring twelve soldiers for three years' service, at £90 each." This vote of the second precinct was followed in the other two precinct*, and was in obedi- . ance to a vote of the town that " the three precincts should raise soldiers for three years, or during the war, and choose committees to enlist men, and hire such sums of money as might be needed." " In the same year Brookfield furnished the army thirty-three blankets, sixty-seven shirts, sixty-seven pairs of shoes and sixty-seven pairs of hose, at a cost of £10,411, and before the close of the year, thirty-one blankets, sixty-two shirts, sixty-two pairs of shoes, and 15,450

After the treaty of peace the people once more resumed their old occupations, and sought by determined effort to repair their individual and corporate condition. Since the date of the original grant, in 1660, there had been, up to this time, few years free from the alarms, and annoyances, and horrors of war ; now, for the first time, there seemed to be a pathway before them in which tbey might walk with prosperous steps.